Spring Fever...

Hello. I hope everyone had a good Valentine's Day. Yes, I know it's a sappy, Hallmark holiday that's really only fun if you have a significant other to share it with. As an old married woman I can tell you it's not always that exciting, though we did use the holiday as an excuse to go see a movie on a week night. The movie we selected was "Lego Batman." We weren't the only ones there without kids; it was about half and half. In fact, for an hour and a half movie starting at 7:30pm, on a school night, I was surprised there were so many kids in the audience (part of me wants to make a crack about bad parenting, but I will refrain), one (child) of which was quite noisy throughout the film, marring our enjoyment somewhat (again, bad parenting anyone?).

Anyway, aside from noise complaints, we enjoyed the content of the movie. In fact, it was so detail-laden that I'm sure I missed things (like 'Bad Wolf' written on the side of a helicopter my husband spotted), plus I was a bit sleepy. Although the critics were a bit mixed about it, I can definitely recommend the movie, whether or not you take a kid with you.

Friday evening we drove to the Gateway Film Center to see the Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts after my uncle reminded me they were currently playing at the cinema (he went to see the Live Action and Documentary shorts). We used to go see the Live Action shorts, but found them to usually be either violent or depressing or a combination. We both enjoyed the selection of shorts and found them to be worthy of their nominations, and thought "Blind Vaysha" to be the most artistic embracing the use of wood block prints. We mutually agreed that "Pearl" was our favorite; a poignant story about the relationship between a young girl and her father that comes full circle.

Saturday was a gorgeous, warm, sunny day too nice to not go out and do something, so after I got back from grocery shopping, I persuaded my husband to join me for an excursion to the nearby town of Grandview.

My plan was to have lunch at Pure Imagination Chocolatier, which we had last visited sometime last year to sample their ice cream (which they don't actually make; someone in Hilliard makes it for them). We were told they were eventually planning on offering sandwiches, etc. I checked the internet and saw info about it, so it was with high expectations we set out. However, upon arrival I didn't see a deli counter or anything to indicate that beyond individual chocolates and a few pastries that there was any other food on offer. Their young employee confirmed my suspicions (saying they were still hoping to do that later in the spring). Feeling a bit disappointed (me anyway), we left to go seek out sustenance elsewhere with the promise to come back later and get some chocolates to go.

Luckily further down the road we stumbled upon a food truck rally of some sort in front of the Balboa restaurant (and a few other trucks nearby). We were certainly spoiled for choice as there perhaps a half a dozen trucks offering everything from barbecue to falafels to pitas. Since the food trucks had only just arrived, many were just setting up asking that people wait a bit, so we took a walk down the street to kill time.

I had always wanted to stop in at State of Devotion that sells Ohio themed gifts. I ended up buying 4 more photo tiles for my collection (which are displayed on the back splash by our kitchen sink). Then we browsed the stacks at Acorn books where I bought a small photo book of Tokyo architecture. By the time we made our way back down the street, the food trucks were up and running, so we both decided to get pitas and ate them in the glorious afternoon sunshine. Since I had my heart set on getting some ice cream, we stopped at Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams and sampled a few flavors before deciding on a couple different scoops each (I got the Bangkok Peanut & the Intelligentsia Black Cat Espresso). Our last stop was back at Pure Imagination to select 8 chocolates to fill a small box. We each chose 4 and then headed home with our purchase.

It was such a beautiful day that we definitely got spoiled considering it's still technically winter for another month or so.

Have a great week everyone! (and enjoy the next 5 warm days).