Saturday Fun

This morning Bo and I woke up and decided to do something we had been planning to do for weeks...go to the Riverside Art and Farmer's Market!  Looking back on it, I don't know what took us so long, but whatever it was, we shouldn't have let it hold us back because this farmer's/art market is seriously awesome!

The Riverside Arts Market is "Jacksonville's Premiere Outdoor Arts & Entertainment Venue [and is] located ...under the canopy of the Fuller Warren Bridge."

Here's a panoramic view of part of the market located underneath the bridge.  

Pretty cool, huh?!

As we began to meander our way up and down the markets' first aisle, whaddya know but a little birdie wanted to let me know that he was overhead.

What, exactly, does that mean - you might ask.  

Well, let me enlighten you. 

It means that a bird pooped on my head!

I mean seriously...what are the odds?!

Thankfully my hair is light enough that you couldn't tell too much.  Bo used one of our re-useable grocery bags to try and pull most of it off of my scalp, but I couldn't perform proper damage control until we got home.  Oh well, I don't think anyone except Bo and I actually noticed.

With that said, now I know that birds pooping on people's heads isn't just something you see in the movies...lucky me. ;)

With the birdie-poop-incident behind us, Bo and I decided to concentrate on the abundance of produce around us.  In addition to the produce being absolutely beautiful, I was particularly thrilled that every fruit and vegetable in the entire market had been grown within two hours of Jacksonville, FL!  It doesn't hardly get more local than that!

And I have to say, buying produce that is locally grown leaves your feeling really good as a customer.  It feels so - I don't know...right?! - to know that you are funneling money right back into the community you call home.

Bountiful ears of corn.

Handmade bars of soap in dozens of flavors.  

I think that these would make great gifts.  At the very least, I know that I would love to receive something like this with which I could pamper myself!  Christmas presents perhaps?!

Sweet potatoes. Eggplant. Zucchini.

Just look at the colors!

Eggplant, zucchini, and crooked-neck squash by the bucket full!

What's red, yellow, and green AND tastes juicy and delicious?!

No. Obviously it's not a stoplight...

...it's a tomato!

These gorgeous portabello mushrooms had me envisioning a mushroom spaghettini right away...

...recipe to (hopefully) come soon!

Citrus of all kinds: lemons, grapefruits, and oranges.

In addition to all the food and art vendors that were selling their goods, there were also a number of food stands that were offering baked goods for breakfast (scones, muffins, turnovers, and doughnuts), hot coffee, freshly squeezed lemonade, raw juices, and one fusion cuisine station that REALLY caught our attention!

Let's just say that the next time we come to the Riverside Arts Market we are coming closer to lunch time AND with empty stomachs!

To top it all off, there was LIVE music to boot!

Next time I envision that, after we have bought our goods for the day, we will grab a bite to eat from the alligator, cop a squat in front of the band, and enjoy a peaceful and relaxing lunch to the sounds of live music and community.  Honestly, what better way is there to spend a Saturday?!

Once we got home, I couldn't wait to spread out all of our purchases on the breakfast table.  I couldn't believe how much we ended up walking away with!

All together now.

I could hardly believe it, but our total haul only cost us $35.00!  

Just in case you can't tell from the pictures above and below, here is a list of all the produce we brought home with us:

• 1 bunch kale;
• 1 bunch arugula;
• 1 basket of green beans;
• 1 basket of portabello mushrooms;
• 2 beets;
• 2 avocados;
• 2 cucumbers;
• 4 tomatoes;
• 4 pears;
• 5 peaches;
• 2 banana peppers; and
• 2 baskets of strawberries. 

It didn't take me long to come up with a delicious use for our farmer's market goods! 

For dinner, to go along with Honey-Roasted Carrots and Bo's Dijon-Basted Chicken Breast, I whipped up an amazing salad that had both of our taste buds dancing!

Farmer's Market Arugula, Strawberry, and Avocado Salad (ASAS)
Serves 2

1/2 medium bunch of arugula, roughly chopped
7 strawberries, sliced
1 avocado, diced
1/8 C sliced almonds
2 T apple cider vinegar
1 T lemon juice
1 T EVOO
1 T Dijon mustard
1 tsp dried crushed mint
1 tsp honey

Directions:

• Add the arugula, strawberries, avocado and almonds to a medium salad bowl.
• In a small Mason jar, combine the apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, EVOO, Dijon mustard, mint, and honey.
• Shake well.
• Pour 1/2 to 3/4 of the dressing over the salad.
• Toss to coat.
• Chill until ready to serve.

Like eating summer on a plate, this salad is light, sweet, and peppery!  I am telling you, the next time you pick up fresh strawberries MAKE. THIS. SALAD.!  It really is delicious.  And if you aren't a fan of cooked carrots (although you should be...if you know how to cook them correctly!), you could make this salad a meal in and of itself my simply topping it with baked chicken or broiled tofu.  Done and done.

Question of the Day:


Is there a farmer's market where you live?  If so, do you visit it regularly?  What is your favorite thing to pick up while you are there?!

Blessings,
Ally and Bo

Movie Review: The Hunger Games

You have all probably heard about The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. Honestly, who hasn't?!  The books have been nothing short of a phenomenon, engaging youth, adolescent, and adult reading audiences around the world.

Interesting sidenote:  The author, Suzanne Collins, graduated from my high school (the Alabama School of Fine Arts).  In this case, it's not six degrees of separation, but more like two!  Pretty cool, huh?!

I, myself, read the trilogy as each book was being released.  I would finish the newest book within a couple of days of its release, and would then have to agonize for over a year awaiting the next installment.  Thankfully, unlike Harry Potter and the Tiger's Saga (each of which have five or more books in the series), The Hunger Games only had three books.  Therefore, the misery of waiting for the next part of the story was confined to a couple of years, as opposed to half a decade.  Hey, book geeks like me have to count our blessings! :)

Every year in the ruins of what was once North America, the evil Capitol of the nation of Panem forces each of its twelve districts to send a teenage boy and girl to compete in the Hunger Games. A twisted punishment for a past uprising and an ongoing government intimidation tactic, The Hunger Games are a nationally televised event in which "Tributes" must fight with one another until one survivor remains. Pitted against highly-trained Tributes who have prepared for these Games their entire lives, Katniss is forced to rely upon her sharp instincts as well as the mentorship of drunken former victor Haymitch Abernathy. If she's ever to return home to District 12, Katniss must make impossible choices in the arena that weigh survival against humanity and life against love. (source)

Last Friday, before leaving to go out of town for two weeks, Bo took me to The Hunger Games movie.  While Lola visited some of her puppy friends in our neighborhood, Bo and I enjoyed our final date night for several weeks.

Note:  This was not a situation where I was dragging my husband to see some chick-flick that I knew he wouldn't like.  On the contrary, Bo read The Hunger Games back in January, and was actually looking forward to seeing the moving almost as much as I was!

Before heading to the theater, I paid close attention to the critical reviews the movie received.  According to Rotten Tomatoes, an online movie review site, The Hunger Games scored an 87% rating...not bad for a young-adult-novel-turned-film adaptation!

I was immediately struck by how precisely the film translated the book into film.  In addition to a true telling of the novel, the movie also visually captured the:

• despair and poverty in the districts;
• outlandish and fashionable style of the Capital; and
• horror of The Games (including the arena, inhumanity behind the scenes, and brutal killings...without any gore).

The Hunger Games film was also successful in capturing the complex histories and relationships among the stories' main characters Katniss, Peeta, Gale, and Haymitch (although much more on Haymitch will be revealed in the second movie).  Katniss, played by the Oscar-nominated Jennifer Lawrence, is a young woman not yet sure of her own heart.  In my opinion, as a result of losing her father in a mining accident, growing up in the poorest district, and being forced to provide for her mother and sister by illegally hunting in the woods, Katniss fears loving others because it opens her up to the vulnerability of loss.

Although Gale is her best friend and most trusted confidant, and she knows that she loves him, Katniss struggles to understand the depth and meaning of that love.

On the other hand, Katniss cares for Peeta; but unlike Gale, she doesn't trust him.   Katniss' affection for Peeta grows only when she begins to see and appreciate his pureness of heart.

In Peeta, Katniss is aware of what she is not: innocent, peaceful, and unselfish.  Although she has the ability to be all of these things, through Peeta, Katniss becomes more aware of her fiery nature, her tendency to think of herself first, and her propensity to quickly judge others.  In this way, Peeta is both her opposite and her equal.

As one critic noted, "while not particularly charming or friendly, Lawrence's Katniss is easy to empathize with, and it is refreshing to see a female protagonist who is driven by more mature, adult motives than adolescent romance, though there is some of that.  Her humanity amid the senseless death around her is what really gets the audience behind her."

Much like A Brave New World, 1984, and Herland - all famous novels in their own right - The Hunger Games presents this generation's dystopian narrative.  Addressing question of power vs. disempowerment, control vs. subjugation, and compassion vs. the selfish desire to live, The Hunger Games is a novel that hits a little too close to home.

Could we ever end up like this?

If Panem is a metaphor for the present, where are the District 12's of the world?

Who/where is the Capitol?

Are there not variations of the Hunger Games going on all the time, albeit on different continents, in different countries, or in different backyards?

Are we the games' audience - passively watching - ignoring the forced suffering of others for entertainment, or worse, calling it entertainment?

Can we all be mockingjay's?

Surprisingly, I found myself thinking that the horrors outlined in both the novel and the movie were not that outlandish; and apparently I wasn't the only one to think so.  In his movie review in the Covington Reporter, TJ Martinell states:

"The police/soldier uniforms looked rather goofy instead of intimidating, which made it hard to understand how anyone takes them seriously, until you remember how goofy the TSA look. The outlandish, over-the-top interviews the tributes have with a ridiculous host could easily pass off as most of the shows I've seen on TV now.  What saddened me the most was that none of it was "shocking" in the sense that I thought to myself, 'That could never happen here!' or 'Glad we don't have to worry about that!'"

Enough of my jibber-jabber.  To close, I will provide you all with a few comments from critics that make their living reviewing films.  If you don't trust my opinion of the film, take it from the experts!

• The Hunger Games features a functioning creative imagination and lots of honest-to-goodness acting by its star, Jennifer Lawrence, who brings her usual toughness and emotional transparency to the archer-heroine Katniss.
• It is so much more than a game.  It is a memorable human experience.  Thank the gods for the wonder of literature and the vision of movies.  Some of us still hunger for eloquence on the screen.
• Finally we have a female lead character who is strong without being brutal, appealing without being objectified, and confident without being female-chauvinistic.
• People regularly complain that films can't be both entertaining and clever.  The Hunger Games exists to prove them wrong.
• The Hunger Games has as much to say about oppressive politics and the bloodthirsty, heartless media as it does about the internal struggle among the combatants. (source)

Not to mention, Peeta - played by Josh Hutcherson - isn't too hard on the eyes either.  He's no Edward Cullen, but he's mighty close! hehehe...

The second film in The Hunger Games trilogy will not be released until fall 2013, ARGH!  Until then, I suppose that I will have to settle for rereading the books.  In the meantime, at least I have the fourth installment in the Tiger's Saga to look forward to...

Question of the Day:

What is the best book-to-movie adaptation you have seen?!

Blessings,
Ally and Bo

Midnight Movie Madness: Twilight Breaking Dawn (Part 1)

WARNING: this post was authored by a sleep deprived, moderately-Twilight-obsessed woman.  Keep this in mind as you continue reading...

I am 27 years old, and last night I went to my very first midnight movie premiere.  It was quite the rite of passage, especially because the movie was the Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn: Part 1.

Okay, so let me just get this out in the open now:

• yes, I do realize that Twilight is a book series/movie franchise geared towards teenage girls that are blindly obsessed with Robert Pattinson's hair, Taylor Lautner's abs, and Bella (the slightly awkward girl-next-door's) ability to get both of these hunks to fall madly in love with her;
• yes, I am fully aware that these movies will not be winning any sort of cinematic and/or acting awards in the near future...or ever; and
• yes, I realize that vampires and werewolves aren't real, that "imprinting" is weird...especially on a newborn baby (you have to read the book to truly understand that one!), and that no man, no matter how good you are in bed, will ever actually break a headboard as a result of your lovemaking skills.

All that being said, I loved the movie, and here are a few simple reasons why.

1. Director Bill Condon wasn't afraid to make fun of the sometimes cheesy storyline (Can you say giant wedding cake made of corpses? Werewolf mind-speak?  And sly, series in-jokes one right after the other?).
2. The wedding dress was beautiful, and although I know it will have its critics, I think it lived up to the hype.
3. The honeymoon scenes lived right on the edge of PG-13 and Rated R, just as they should have.  Enough said...(insert swoon here!)
4. Considering a 19 year-old werewolf was claiming a newborn as his soulmate, the imprinting scene between Jacob and Renesme was shot as appropriately as possible.
5. As the film's director, Condon really goes there in terms of making Bella as sickly and corpse-like as she is described in the book.  It is a little scary to watch, but as a devoted reader, I appreciated the fact that they didn't soften the horror of her pregnancy.  And as for the birth scene...
6. ...it takes a few steps into the horror genre, not because it is evil or demonic or anything remotely of the sort, but instead because Condon doesn't shy away from the terror that is Renesmee's birth, or the desperate fear on Edward's face as he thinks he's lost Bella forever.

Enough of my amateur review skills, here's what one professional movie editor had to say:

It's essential, [to] be able to embrace the ridiculous as Condon has and not go in with an ironic distance. Accept that this particular take on vampires and werewolves exists, and try not to be put off by the romantic moments (which, this go-around, feel like more accurate allegories for actual marital tensions). Granted, there's one late-in-the-game twist involving Jacob (you almost certainly know the one by now) that's over-the-top absurd even for Twilight. Condon pulls it off about as well as anybody could.

Now, someone remind me, when will Breaking Dawn: Part 1 come out on redbox?!  You betcha! I am already looking forward to seeing it again and picking up on all the small little things I missed the first go 'round.  That's how you know I'm a true fan :)

As for the midnight movie madness itself, Colbi and I had quite a good time! 

Although we arrived a little over two hours early (around 9:45 pm), we didn't have to stand outside in the cold for more than 10 minutes, and we caught up on our "girl talk" while sitting in our comfortable theater seats.

The other thing about midnight showings that I liked?  Practically everyone wears sweatpants or pajamas and has bed-head hair.  In that respect, Colbi and I fit right in because we had both come from the weekly yogatluck and were decked out in our best yoga gear!  Hey, at least it made sitting in the theater for over four hours a little more comfortable...

In total, the theater had four theaters simultaneously showing Twilight at midnight, and all four were completely sold out.  (Which, by the way, the theater workers made no jokes about!  Because I didn't have any pockets, I had to tuck my ticket into my bra to go to the bathroom just to make sure I could get back in to the theater afterwards.  Those movie theater employees meant business!)

My apologies, I know that this picture is horrible.  I couldn't seem to figure out my flash last night.  Oh well, this should give you at least a little inking of last night's crowds (this was the line for just one of the theaters!).  Seriously though, every seat in the theater was taken...even the super-front-row-crappy ones.  Man do I feel sorry for the neck-ache those guys are experiencing today!

All in all, the movie lasted until a little past 2:00 am, I got home around 2:30 am, and for some ungodly reason I woke up at 6:45 am.  REALLY body clock?! You couldn't wait at least two more hours to wake me up?!

Now it is 8:45 am.  I have breakfast in my tummy, this post typed, and my eyelids are drooping dangerously low.

I need to regain my energy before teaching my Hatha Yoga III class this afternoon.

I think I hear my bed calling my name...nightie night!

Question of the Day:

Have you ever been to a midnight movie premiere?  If so, which movie?!

Blessings,
Ally and Bo