Inauguration Day

Yes, I went to the Inauguration on Tuesday! We got the day off of work plus I live about 2 miles from the steps of the Capitol Building, so why not!? And before that, on Sunday, I went to the We Are One free concert that took place in front of the Lincoln Memorial and which apparently you can watch online from that link. My pics of the two events are below (Click on it for more):

Inauguration Events

There were a LOT of people at both events but I think things went mostly smoothly. On Sunday, the bridge we would have walked over super conveniently was closed so we took the Metro and yes, it was crowded, but there were no problems. It wasn't even that cold. And we got a pretty decent spot even though we didn't really get there until about an hour before the show. On Tuesday, we had zero problems. We walked over from my apartment, it took about 30-40 minutes, and yes it was crowded, but everyone was relatively polite and friendly and we just kept walking towards the Capitol until we could not walk anymore, so we ended up near the Washington Monument, which is not close at all really, but again, we probably got there an hour or 90 minutes before the ceremony started. We couldn't even see the Capitol from where we were standing. And, it was much colder on Tuesday but definitely bearable for the four hours or so that we were outside. For both events, I would estimate 95% of people had to watch via the Jumbotrons anyway so we made no extreme effort to get there extra extra early to get a front row spot. But it certainly was fun to be there!

Finally! General Hospital available online

I found out that ABC.com has finally added General Hospital to the shows it offers online! It's been a long time coming, with every other network offering its soaps available online for quite some time. If only ABC's media player didn't mess up every time I tried to watch it on my computer. Access the free episodes here.

Christmas movie review: 2008 Wrap-Up

Yes, finally, I know you all have breathlessly been awaiting my one post that wraps up all the Christmas movie reviews from 2008. Fifteen of them in total, very exciting.

This year kind of sucked in terms of Christmas movies. None of the new ones were that great (only one new made-for-TV one even cracked the A's), some of them were awful, and I kind of got sick of the genre, which is highly unusual for me. I'll admit that I don't think my grading was consistent this year (some of those B's were probably me being overly generous) but that has a lot to do with the things mentioned in the previous sentence like me getting sick of the genre. I did get comments from a director of one of the movies, though, so that was a highlight of my posting. Here we go:

A+
The Christmas Wish

A-
Borrowed Hearts
Four Christmases
Fred Claus
A Very Merry Daughter of the Bride

B+
The Christmas Choir
A Christmas Proposal

B
Flirting with Forty
Moonlight & Mistletoe
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Our First Christmas
Snow 2: Brain Freeze

B-
Will You Merry Me?

C
Christmas in Wonderland

D
Together Again for the First Time

I Can't Stop Shopping

I've been on this shopping kick for a couple weeks now, shopping online, shopping in stores. I think I've been to just about every mall in Northern Virginia in the last two weeks. I can't stop really. I got two pairs of pants and a pair of tights from TheLimited.com for $32 total. I got two new sweaters from The Gap for $28 total. I got a really cute shoulder bag from Old Navy for $9. I got about 10 items from Bath & Body Works for $25 total. I got a daily calendar for 2009 for 14 cents (I had a really old gift card with a small amount left on it). I've gotten some really good deals but on Saturday I think I found the best one yet. Hopefully, that will curb my shopping fix for awhile. See, I got these boots:
Apparently, I had put them in my "Shopping Cart" at Macys.com awhile ago, when they were $59.99. Macy's recently sent me an email to remind me that they were in my cart and tell me they were no longer available. So I removed them. But before that, I kind of admired them again. I looked online to see how much they would cost elsewhere and if they were available in my size at all. The best price I could find in my size was $79.99. Nah, not worth it.

However, as luck would have it, I was volunteering in Fairfax Saturday and decided to go to the Fair Oaks Mall afterwards. They happen to have a Bandolino store (who manufactures the boots) and there they were for $39.99 plus 20% off. Well, surely they wouldn't have my size, would they? But, they did! So I bought them! I'm very excited about it.

Cavs vs. Wizards game, part two

Last spring, I went to the Verizon Center to watch the Cavs eliminate the Wizards during the NBA Playoffs. I had an awesome seat. They won. It was fantastic. Yesterday, I tried it again and had another pretty good seat (no, not as good as that one) but the outcome wasn't as good. I guess I'd rather them lose a regular season game than the playoffs, especially when it was only their sixth loss of the season, but again, I took a lot of pictures and thought I'd share. Enjoy.

Christmas movie review: Snow 2 - Brain Freeze

Rating: B

Yes, I've been slack about posting the last of my Christmas movie reviews. I apologize. I had a busy weekend. This is the last one and hopefully sometime tomorrow I'll manage to write up the summary.

I am biased in favor of Snow 2: Brain Freeze if only because it stars one of my secret crushes, Tom Cavanagh (from Ed). In it, he plays Santa's son, who has taken over the Christmas responsibilities (as seen in the first Snow film) and currently is concerned about the reindeer's weight. While investigating ways to keep the reindeer in shape, he gets knocked unconscious and loses his memory away from the North Pole. His wife, played by Ashley Williams (who I'll admit normally annoys me greatly but didn't too much here), tries to find him and then make him remember who he is before Christmas Eve. Meanwhile, Ashley's ex-boyfriend, who is still bitter about losing her to Tom's character, sees this as a great opportunity to maybe get her back and also get the power of Santa Claus. It's pretty predictable and, of course, everyone lives happily ever after, but it's sweet and it wasn't too bad. About average.

Christmas movie review: Borrowed Hearts

Rating: A-

I wanted to watch more good movies after what seemed like an entire season of bad ones so I recorded and rewatched Borrowed Hearts, from 1997. It stars Eric McCormack (pre-Will & Grace, I think) and Roma Downey and it's a cute romantic comedy with a touch of Christmas magic. Eric's character needs a family to pull off a big business deal. Roma and her daughter could use extra money and magically find themselves at Eric's house right when he's looking for a family. So they move in and start the charade.... only to eventually find themselves growing closer and closer and - surprise! - fall in love. And, Eric's character starts to become a nicer guy and even messes up the business deal so that hundreds of people do not lose their jobs.

Christmas movie review: A Very Merry Daughter of the Bride

Rating: A-

I mostly enjoyed A Very Merry Daughter of the Bride, which debuted on Lifetime this year, and was just basically a romantic comedy taking place around Christmas. The main character, played by the very appealing Joanna Garcia (seriously, I think I might start watching Privileged now), is a wedding planner who finds herself shockingly planning her mother's sudden wedding. When Luke Perry shows up as the son of the groom, the two join forces to try to destroy the wedding. Of course, they have very different reasons for doing so and Joanna's character starts to rethink her motives and let her mom by truly happy. It's cute, everyone is a decent enough actor and there is even a cameo by Jason Priestly in the movie so overall, not bad.