Date Nights - June

It's hard to believe that we've been in Columbus for nearly a year now. We really started focusing on making it our new city about this time last year. It has been fun finding new places to explore. Chris selected a movie while I found a strawberry festival for us to enjoy.

It was the 25th anniversary of the movie Scarface this year. I'd never seen the classic film so we made our way to Marcus Crosswoods Theater for the event. We were excited to see it together. There was also supposed to be a recorded Q&A with various cast members played after the show, but for some reason that never happened. It was fun to watch it together despite a milk dud pulling out a crown on one of my molars during the previews. Fortunately (or maybe rather unfortunately), it isn't the first time this has happened so I took it in stride...at least until the movie ended!

To be honest, the strawberry festival was a last minute find via facebook. It was a fairly small festival, but packed a big punch with its desserts. They were so tasty that's really all it took to call the day a win. Sometimes the most fun things are the spontaneous ones!

Do you enjoy the traditional dinner and a movie date night? Why or why not?

Andrea :)

2017-2018 Broadway in Columbus - Part 2

If you missed part 1, check it out here.

After we got settled into the new year, we had our next show on the docket - Chicago. Ironically, Chicago was one of the first Broadway shows I saw after moving to NYC. On Broadway, I didn't like the way it was set, but the music never disappoints. The same applied to the Columbus performance. In fact, this particular performance was extra special because Ohio State's own Eddie George played Mr. Razzle Dazzle himself. The crowd was really loving that!

An American in Paris was next for us. I went into this one with no expectations at all because I'd never seen it. I didn't know too much about the story either. We really liked this show. The story was a bit predictable, but I loved how ballet was incorporated throughout. It was truly beautiful to watch. I enjoyed the bits of comedic relief throughout as well. Definitely an enjoyable show!

Our last show for the season was The King & I. We really enjoyed it. The bits of humor in a mostly serious performance were golden. I loved the performance of Uncle Thomas' Cabin in the second act. The cast was quite talented and the story was fantastic. A love story, but also a story of strength and oppression. A hopeful story about overcoming odds and being brave with overtones of sexism and domination that create a perfect dichotomy.

Have you seen any of these Broadway shows?

Andrea :)

Date Nights - May

We only managed to stay local for one of our date nights this month, but part of the reason is that we spent a good chuck of the month out of town. Chris found a documentary festival at Gateway, a local independent theater. I had my eye on the RACE exhibit at the Chicago History Museum.

We watched two very different, but equally interesting documentaries at the Gateway festival. Our first was Big Sonia. Wow! What a lady...and what a story! She is a Holocaust survivor that owned a shop in what had over time become a dilapidated mall complex. Due to the building being destroyed, she was forced to relocate her business. All the while, she tells her story sharing with local students and national media sources alike. The second documentary was in regard to standardized testing and its essentially purposeless existence. It was interesting, but didn't quite ever come to a conclusion or final outcome. The information provided was valuable to know, but it didn't really seem to matter or make a difference. Both were interesting topics, but Big Sonia was by far most compelling.

The main purpose of our little Chicago road trip was to visit our friends, Tarra and Evan. It is always great to spend some time with them! Our secondary goal was to catch the RACE exhibit while it was still at the Chicago History Museum. The exhibit was extremely thorough and covered so many different aspects of race. It was particularly interesting because it offered a number of interactive elements throughout the space. There was a plethora of information - we spent several hours combing through each room. The exhibit was well done - and the rest of the museum was pretty neat, too. Lots of Chicago history to be seen!

Do you enjoy checking out museum exhibits or watching documentaries?

Andrea :)

Book Reviews: Read the Rainbow (Blue)

This year, I decided to link up with Mia to Read the Rainbow. I only managed to read one blue cover this month despite by best intentions to get through a second one.

I really enjoyed Hillary's book, What Happened. It covered what happened that led to the bizarre outcome of our most recent election, but also went further than that to discuss some of Hillary's policies and ideas. It was really neat to listen to her read the book, too. Audiobooks read by their authors are my favorite these days. If you have interest in the media's role in our political process and how a campaign works from beginning to end, I highly suggesting checking out this book.

Andrea :)

Date Nights - April

We continued to find fun events in the Columbus area this month for date night. I spotted a sign advertising a Professional Bull Riding event at the Schottenstein Center. Chris found an event at the Newark OSU campus featuring Tim Wise, one of our favorite podcasters.

The PBR event was exactly like we expected yet also nothing at all like we expected. It was a really fun afternoon of watching the riders and listening to the head rodeo clown say one crazy thing after another. Riders each attempted to ride bulls before having a playoff of sorts to determine a winner for the event. We never were too clear on exactly how the scoring worked at the event nor overall, but that didn't make it any less exciting to watch. We were both surprised by how much we enjoyed the experience. Definitely recommend it if you ever have a chance to catch the PBR tour.

We had been listening to Tim Wise for a few months when Chris discovered he was going to be the keynote speaker at a conference in the greater Columbus area. We initially thought we missed our chance as registration was closed, but I reached out to the director and we were able to get in at the last minute. It was a really neat conference altogether and listening to Tim speak in person was as powerful as we imagined. If you haven't heard of Tim Wise, I'd highly recommend checking him out here. He always has insightful podcasts with a wide range of guests.

Have you ever seen professional bull riding?

What types of conferences interest you?

Andrea :)

Book Reviews: Read the Rainbow (Green)

This year, I decided to link up with Mia to Read the Rainbow. I only managed to get through one green book this month, but I did start a second one that I hope to finish soon.

I was intrigued by the previews for this movie when it was released a few years ago, but never got around to checking it out. I honestly can't decide if I'm more interested or less interested in the movie after reading the book. The story is fairly predictable (and somewhat unbelievable), but it was a quick read and kept my interest as there was significant build out of the characters. The book was just ok, but the story itself is interesting from a psychological perspective. Now I just need to figure out if I want to make time for the movie version of the tale.

Did you read anything interesting this month?

Andrea :)

Date Nights - March

We've been enjoying exploring our new city through our monthly date nights so far this year. This month was no different. I found a massive bookstore in German Village that was quite impressive. Chris got us tickets to see Ohio's own Gary Owen at the Funny Bone.

The Book Loft in German Village is a book lover's dream! There are SO many rooms. It is a really neat place that has a mix of old and new books to buy. We spent a couple hours there, but you could spend all day browsing around. We hope to go back and spend more time exploring in the future. Definitely a great local place to get a gift!

Chris has been a fan of Gary Owen for quite a few years. We watched his reality type TV show together a couple years ago. The man is just plain funny. We had a fun time at the show. The best part about the Funny Bone is there isn't a two drink minimum for the comedy shows. We ended up eating dinner at the show, but it was refreshing to know that we didn't have to meet a minimum amount. I hate when comedy shows have that requirement. Gary Owen is worth the price of admission if you ever have the chance to check him out. We had a fun night!

Have you ever seen any great comedians?

Andrea :)