Theater Room? Yes Please!

While we were here looking for houses to rent, we realized very quickly that one of the most popular features was a "Theatre Room". And no, we don't just mean a space in the house that was decked out with nice speakers and a large flat screen.....we mean full on dedicated rooms (with NO windows) that have been purpose built for watching movies in style.
These rooms were all found on the lowest level of the houses, with built in surround sound, theatre level seating at the back of the room (this means a raised platform.....so your guest on the "floor" don't block your view!) and built in ceiling units to house the projectors, playstations, & sound systems. The front main walls were painted with "special" paint to create the perfect screen. It's pretty amazing.....we LOVE LOVE that we found a house with one of these must have rooms. Not only has movie night taken on a whole new meaning, but so has watching our fav football team LFC on the BIG SCREEN!!!!!
This all leads me to this past Sat movie night. We Perry's love our wine, so when the movie "Sideways" came out it was an instant must watch for us :)

If you haven't seen this movie.....shame on you!

This movie had one of the best casts, well ok that's our personal opinion. But seriously, Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen & Sandra Oh made this a pleasure to watch.

 One of my favourite monologues in the movie was by Virginia's character Maya:  

"I like to think about the life of wine, how it's a living thing.

I like to think about what was going on the year the grapes were growing, how the sun was shining that summer or it it rained... what the weather was like. I think about all the people who tended and picked the grapes, and if it's an old wine, how many of them must be dead by now. I love how wine continues to evolve, how every time I open a bottle it's going to taste different than if I had opened it on any other day. Because a bottle of wine is actually alive --it's constantly evolving and gaining complexity. That is, until it peaks --like your '61 --and it begins its steady, inevitable decline.

And it tastes so fucking good."

Of course whilst watching a movie about wine, you really must have a glass....right? So, since we were watching a movie that pretty much dictates that Pino Noir is the best varietal of wine, we of course opened a bottle. Why wouldn't you? (Just so you know we have a different opinion on what the best varietal is....but I'll save that for another day!)

The bottle we chose to open was from California (we thought that we would keep as close to the movie as possible). La Crema, is La Delicious!!!!

This wine was introduced to us by a friend of ours who surprised us with his love of wine and a wonderful wine collection that left us green with envy!

Another wonderful side effect of our move to the States has been the availability of the wines and the prices. Sheesh....it is so cheap here.....one could easily develop a "problem" if you know what I mean! HA!! Don't worry Mom.....we have it under control!

OK.....that's my rant/update for the day....time for lunch!

Tulip Wonderland!!

So who knew that we had moved a mere 45min drive from North America's largest distributor of Tulips!!!! Yep....indeed.....about 5 min from La Connor, Washington there is place that calls itself "Tulip Town". This weekend was the official Tulip Festival weekend. And lots of surrounding areas, such as Oak Harbor, Annacortes, Burlington, & Mt. Vernon to name a few were also hosting celebrations.

We took the opportunity to go for a bike ride and check it out :) It was not only a beautiful day for a ride, but also a wonderful day to hang out with literally THOUSANDS of Tulips.

The regular people and their cars had to park next to one another.....we on the other hand had a much nicer parking space!

These were my favourite ones of the day....loving the colour purple :)

The rows were endless......sooo pretty!

Magic ~ Another Fantastic Cover by Walk Off The Earth

I am in love with this band. Walk Off The Earth just seem to "get it" and even (in my humble opinion) outdo the "original" songs!!! When their cover of "SomebodyThat I Used to Know" hit the internet they went viral!! I like to think I helped with that :) LOVED that one from the get go and I still get goose bumps when I listen to it. My friend Mike posted this today on FB and well.....wouldn't you know....another awesome cover. Check them out who knows....you may fall in love with them too!  Happy Listening :)

40 Something.....

So, one of the first statements out of Shawn's mouth when we got here was "I think it's time I bought a bike." He owned one way back when we first started dating circa 96' and he promptly sold it. So I though that is was a passing phase. Well, for 15+ years I've heard him fondly talk of one day getting back on a bike. Fast forward to 2012 and tada.....I come home from a trip (which I will post about shortly) to find this beauty sitting in our garage :) He is like a proud father around this bike. And I have to admit, after purchasing me a helmet ( a very cool one at that) he took me for my first ride. Sweet is the best word I can use to describe it. I can see why people love the "sport" of riding bikes. There is a good chance that his parents had minor heart attacks when they saw the bike, and I'm still not 100% sure how my parents really took the news.....since they live too far away for us to have done any more than chat about it over the phone. You can say all you want, but let me tell you that the expression on someones face says it all! LOL!!

So, we are slowly kitting our selves out with gear. It's safe to say this has become some what of a new obsession/hobby. My 40 something husband has officially become a hot biker :) He's looking good with the leather jacket..oh baby....

LOL...had to share this "statement"......my sister posted it on Facebook and really....as she said, it is one of the best I've seen so far. Happy Monday Folks!!!

Day 1 of my first blog

Well, I've never done this before, but it looks simple enough?
My name is Sarah and my Husband Shawn and I moved to Washington State last Nov. We are Canadian Military and my Husband is posted here for 18 months. So far....living in the States has been pretty good. I've always loved visiting here (I've been to 38 of the 50 states...not bad eh?) and I love exploring the grocery stores and drug stores for products that we don't get at "home". We are also huge "winos" and love the wines of Washington State.
So far since moving here I have managed to do, well....simply put....not much. Granted I've been back home to Canada a lot. I have now been "unemployed" for 6 months and am loving all the free time I have.....I had such grand plans to catch up on my guitar playing, my scrapbooking, my knitting, get in the best shape of my life....so far all I have completed is 6 full Jillian Michaels work outs. (And that was just in the last week!)
Motivation is the name of the game this week.
On a positive note I did just book my flights for Florida!!!! 16 days of glorious sunshine and family time. (Yep, my sister and her husband are also living in the states - same scenario as my hubby and moi.)
ok...gotta go get primed for my date with Jillian :)