The Way Way Back

Currently playing in theaters is the wonderful indie film, The Way Way Back, Directed and Written by Nat Faxon (The Descendants). It's a funny, poignant coming of age story about an awkward 14 year old boy named Duncan (Liam James) who starts to come into his own over Summer vacation. He is traveling with his mother (Toni Collette), her overbearing boyfriend (Steve Carell) and his insufferable teenage daughter. It doesn't take long before Duncan begins to feel like the outcast of the bunch, as his mother's boyfriend picks on him relentlessly with his mother standing idly by. His father has apparently taken off to start a new life in California with his new wife, leaving Duncan without a true father figure to help him find his way into manhood.


While trying to avoid spending time with the family, Duncan makes a friend in angsty, but pretty, neighbor Susanna (AnnaSophia Robb). They share much in common, but not being used to dealing with girls, he clumsily struggles to keep up with conversation. It isn't until he meets Owen (Sam Rockwell) that he begins to find the confidence boost he needs. Owen is the juvenile, yet kindhearted, owner of a local waterpark who gives Duncan a job, while offering him the mentorship he is lacking. The experience brings about self discovery and a bit of happiness in the midst of chaos.

The thing I loved most about this movie was its focus on the importance of a good man in a boy's life. I think sometimes we overlook this necessity and forget the impact an absent father can have on a young man. How life-changing it can be when someone is willing to step up and be a mentor and friend in their absence. The teen years are a particularly tender age, but while female sensitivity is understood, we can forget that boys are sensitive in their own ways, though they may not be as vocal. Rather, they often become introverted.


Another notable theme to the movie is that people are not always who they appear to be. Sometimes those who seem to have it all together are a mess and sometimes the people who look like a mess are the ones who are more in tune with reality. Everyone has a story and it's best to examine all the facts before passing judgement.

Along with these wonderfully touching themes, this film is not without its humor and romance. There are many fun moments which make it the perfect summer film you will want to watch again and again. It is shaping up to be one of the best movies of the year, so if you love great writing and acting, be sure to catch this one in the theater while you can...because like the Summer, it may be gone before you know it!


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Labor Day Weekend

Once again we have come to the close of another Labor Day, which for most working people means a 3 weekend.  Although its original purpose was to acknowledge the hard work and contributions of employees, it has also come to be the latter portion of a bookend with Memorial Day, marking the beginning and end of the Summer season.  For many this is an opportunity for a last hurrah before the colder months settle in.  We're really no different, although the warmer temps will certain sustain a bit longer.  Still, we thought we would make the best of the 3 day weekend and enjoy the bright sunshine.

On Friday my husband, Jess, was released from work early, so we decided to hit the beach and then have dinner at our favorite super salad bar, Souplantation.  We stopped at Blockbuster afterward, since they are both conveniently within walking distance, and picked up a movie to finish the evening off.  We chose Summer Rental, starring John Candy and directed by Carl Reiner, which seemed an appropriate choice to squeeze in before the end of the season.

On Saturday we woke bright and early to hit the swap meet and a couple thrift stores for their holiday sales.  Just when it seemed like we weren't going to have much luck finding anything particularly wondrous at the swap meet, we stumbled upon a vendor with a $1 table that contained some surprisingly nice things.  For starters I found a bag of nice misc. shells, a box of ocean theme potpourri and a large shell to hang on the wall.  These are perfect for our beach decor since I was still looking to add a few more things.  Later that night I was able to put it all together for my living room, bedroom and kitchen:







I also found a porcelain nativity for our TV stand, an adorable snowman ornament and 3 spinning ornaments that were originally sold at Blockbuster in 1999. I already had the Charlie Brown Christmas one, so I was happy to complete the collection by getting the ones with Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty The Snowman and Annabelle's Wish:



We spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach once again and had dinner at UNO's Chicago Grill.  On Sunday we decided to stay home and do some deep cleaning around the house and then went to the 5pm service at church.  Afterward we stopped into Trader Joe's for some peanut butter filled pretzels and hot fudge to make our own sundaes, then we cuddled up and watched Mutiny On The Bounty, a movie based on a true story and starring the amazing Clark Gable.  A truly great adventure on the high seas!



Monday was the actual holiday so we had to decide how exactly to spend it.  If I had my choice I would have loved to do some camping, but we just weren't prepared for all that.  Instead, we chose to go to a small waterpark in Vista, called The Wave.  What was also nice about making the trip up to Vista was the fact that it's so close to Oceanside, which has a great little fish and chips shack at the marina near the beach  We decided to have dinner there and walk around the shore a bit.



Overall, we had a wonderful time together and I was definitely sad to see it come to an end.  Hope you had a great one as well!  Summer isn't quite over, so I still have a few activities to look forward to yet, which I will post about in time.

A Trip To The Beach

We thought moving 2 miles from the beach would make it convenient to go any time we wanted.  Of course to some degree that is true, but we've had so much going on lately that we haven't had a chance to indulge as much as we'd like this Summer.  Despite having only a small window of time between finishing laundry and meeting friends for dinner, we decided to pack up our beach bag and head to the Pacific, even if only for a short while.

It turned out to be simply a tease.  The air was warm, the waves were gentle and we found the perfect place to set up our blanket and brand new beach umbrella.  Once we dipped our bodies in we were certain to never want to come out.  Talk about perfection!  This was the ideal remedy to a scorching hot weekend, and apparently everyone else agreed, from the looks of the crowded surf.

After what seemed like a short time of wading about, I mentioned to Jess that we better move to shore if we were gonna get a chance to soak in some rays.  I guess I wasn't surprised when I saw that we had already run over the time we alloted ourselves.  Oh, just five more minutes please?  Needless to say, we were a tad bit late getting to the restaurant, but I give us a pat on the back for showing up at all.