Stuff I Hate-Movie Edition

I can't stand Robin Williams.

Tom Hanks. He was fine in You've Got Mail, but he ruined DaVinci Code. And I want the three hours of my life back that I wasted watching Castaway.

Waiting who knows how many years for the Simpsons movie, only to get The Simpsons Movie. It just wasn't that funny. At least it only cost me a dollar at the dollar movie.

Not a big Nicholas Cage fan. Why can't they find someone who's good looking to take his parts?

How the Bring It On franchise keeps making movies and they keep getting progressively worse.

How they show all of the Bring It On movies back to back so you end up watching them, wondering why you are wasting your life this way.

Waterworld. Ugh.

Not a huge fan of Robert Pattinson as Edward. Casting could have been better.

Speaking of casting, the Davinci Code was completely miscast.

How the books are always better than the movie.

That they cut the funniest Weasley twin moments out of the Harry Potter movies.

Grease and Grease 2. There aren't enough words in the English language to describe how much I loathe these movies.

I was very disappointed with 2012. It didn't live up to my expectations as a disaster movie. The best park was the driving sequences. The rest of it—well, not so much.

How almost every Disney movie features a single parent home. Sure, Sleeping Beauty had parents, but she was raised by fairies. It seems like you can't have adventures if you have two parents.

Finding Nemo. Just don't like it.

Remakes. They are hardly ever as good as the original. Star Trek wasn't a remake, it was a retelling that took things in a different direction, so it doesn't count.

Sequels just to make money. Shrek 2, 3, 4 anyone?

The fact that everytime I get a complete set of Star Wars formats change and I have to buy them again. Maybe I'll skip blu-ray and wait until the next format comes along.

Domesticity 4

We don't talk about the fourth attempt at making macaroni and cheese. However, the fifth attempt is pretty darn close to what I want it to be. I think just a little more salt in the sauce and replacing the white cheddar with a more flavorful cheese will put it just where I want it.

While grating the cheese I managed to drop the top of the food processor and break the pusher. It's $5 for a replacement, and $6 for shipping. It's still cheaper than buying a new one.

I can start thinking about the next dish I want to master, since the mac and cheese is so close. Maybe brioche…

Weddings

I love watching the show Four Weddings on TLC. I love seeing the different takes on weddings, and the style and expense of weddings is so far beyond what I am used to. Here in Utah it is rare to attend a wedding that is a full-day event and includes a sit-down dinner. Only a few close friends and family members are invited to the ceremony; a larger number of people are invited to the reception. After the ceremony there is usually a luncheon or breakfast for members of the wedding party and the guests that attended the ceremony. The reception is generally held in a backyard or a church building, with a few brides taking advantage of the few reception centers available.

I suppose I should state that some brides in Salt Lake City do have more lavish affairs, but it's not the standard.

Guests arrive at the reception, sign the guest book—the current trend is scrapbook pages to sign that can be placed directly into the wedding scrapbook. Guests either place their gift on a table or a young child comes and carries it for them. Usually the guests then stand in line to congratulate the bride and groom. Depending on the size of the wedding party, this can take a long time. After the line, you get a cup of punch and a small dessert. Sometimes someone will bring it to you. A lot of times you pick it up yourself.

A recent trend that I quite enjoy is the chocolate fountain at weddings. Let's face it, anything you dip in chocolate is a good dessert. Ice cream bars are becoming quite popular as well.

You can actually have a nice wedding in Utah for under $1,000. My SIL Katlyn had a lovely casual wedding in my dad's backyard. We rented some round tables, borrowed chairs from friends and family. She wore a beautiful gown that cost around $600. My brother wore a tux and the groomsmen wore matching polo shirts and khaki shorts. The bridesmaids wore matching shirts and white capris or skirts. Since it was July 5^th and very hot we were all very happy about not having to be formal. Katlyn opted not to have a wedding cake, deeming it an unnecessary expense. Her stepmom did the food. My husband did the music. The flower girls wore the cutest matching tank tops and shorts. They got married, had a nice reception, and didn't break the bank.

I have yet to go to an all-day wedding. Sometimes the ceremony will be right before the wedding at the same location, but I've yet to see a full meal served for all wedding guests.