Tampa Theatre Presents Family Favorite Classic Movie Series – Now Playing: The Princess Bride

Disclaimer: My family and I received tickets to the Tampa Theatre’s showing of The Princess Bride in exchange for my review of our experience. I received no compensation and the opinions shared in this post are my own.

When the Tampa Theatre invited us to experience a presentation of one of our favorite films, The Princess Bride, I immediately responded, “As yooooou wiiiiishhhhh.”

I truly love the Tampa Theatre and now with their new Family Favorites classic movie series, my children will grow to adore and appreciate this historic treasure in downtown Tampa which has awed families for nearly a century.

As we waited for our tour to begin, we were told to “Watch for R.O.U.S. (Rodents of Unusual Size)”, which is very good advice, especially in a theatre that is rumor to be haunted, a fact I learned during our tour of the Tampa Theatre.

After our tour, I met the Dread Pirate Roberts in the concession line and I introduced myself. “Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die”, though neither the Dread Pirate Roberts nor this gentleman did anything such thing. Thankfully, no one died in the concession line and we both lived to enjoy the film and our popcorn and beer refreshments.

Even without all the pirates and royalty roaming about, one step in the Tampa Theatre and you are instantly transported into an era of glamour and romance. With its draped balconies, gargoyles, angels without arms (Dr. Who would be pleased.) and rows of red velvet seats, it is the perfect setting for a magical tale such as The Princess Bride. Although we own a copy of the movie on DVD, no flat LCD television can compete with the large projection screen housed in this castle-like show palace atmosphere.

Prior to this showing, my youngest daughter did not recall the movie, but loved it all the same. Fondly, she will always remember the kissing tale, sword fighting fencing revenge story with great escapes, chases, a giant and true love all brought to life on the big screen by the miracle that is the Tampa Theatre.

The Family Favorite Classic Movie Series shows start at 2 p.m. on Sundays and run from April 7 – May 19. Tampa Theatre offers a discounted kids’ ticket price for this series in the hopes to appeal families looking for an affordable weekend outing in downtown Tampa. The films in Family Favorite Classic Movie Series include:

Babe (1995) – April 14
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) – April 21
Annie (1982) – April 28
The Muppet Movie (1979) – May 5
The Neverending Story (1984) – May 12
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) – May 19

Tickets for the Family Favorites Classic Movie Series are $9 for adults and $7 for children at the box office or online ($2 convenience fee applies). The series is presented by Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, with media sponsorship by Tampa Bay Parenting Magazine. For more information, visit www.TampaTheatre.org.

Random Tuesday Thoughts about a Super Sloth with a Cough, a Sociopath, Some Hot Stuff and Track Tuesday

For the past two weeks, I had been suffering from a really nasty cold that I just couldn’t shake. One of the fantastic symptoms of my cold was a horrible, wet hacking cough, like a smoker’s cough. No exaggeration, I sounded as though I had been smoking unfiltered Lucky Strikes for 20 years. With the cough, I also had this horrible tightness in my chest, which made it very difficult to breathe.

Despite not being able to breathe, I decided to go ahead and run in the 5 Miles for Moffitt race. I already had skipped out on the Crazy Sombrero 5K the week before due to my cold and I didn’t want to miss another race. Besides, my aunt spent the better part of two years fighting lung cancer, the least I could do was suck it up and run with a little chest cold. Admittedly, that wasn’t the smartest thing I’ve ever done.

Just as the experts warn you, you shouldn’t run with a chest cold. A runny nose or sore throat is a different story. Limited breathing due to chest congestion is not a good thing and I truly believe running in the race extended the life of my cold. So, let this be a lesson to you. Learn from my mistake. Always listen to the Livestrong Gods.

So while I spent the time recovering from my cold, my blog suffered. Actually, everything suffered. I didn’t have the energy to do much. I missed out on the superhero challenge. I missed out on the Track Tuesday speed work. I missed out on logging miles for the Joggermom Marathon. It made me sad to miss out on it all. For almost two weeks, I was a super sloth with a cough.

Then when I woke up on Saturday morning, I could breathe, but I waited a couple more days just to be safe. I started running again on Monday and today it was back to business as usual with my speed work. I am happy to be back on “track” now.

Now that I’m all healthy again, I’m a #superhero once again doing my Spiderman and Superman sets as well as running and blogging again. The first half of the month may have been a loss, but next couple of weeks and the Joggermom Marathon will end on a high note.

Although my running may be back to business as usual, my blogging still had a slow start because yesterday, I totally flaked on a Music Monday post, which is a first in almost 3 years. I’ve been playing catch up now that I’m feeling better and blogging a music post didn’t make the must-do list. I felt horrible about it too since I’m an honorary co-host this month with Xmas Dolly and 4M crew. Plus, this week’s theme was a song from a movie and movie soundtracks are my thing, a lesson I learned from the late John Hughes. And I had such a good one in my head, but it just never made it to the blog. Aw hell, I’ll share it now.

Is anyone else sad that all the shows are ending? I am not happy about all these season finales and cliff hangers. I am completely addicted to Once Upon a Time and that cliff hanger was the worst best. Of course, if the show is not renewed for another season, I would be happy with the ending, without giving too much away.

Please tell me I’m not alone with my Once Upon a Time obsession! I can’t wait for the Season 1 DVD to be released (August 28) so I can watch it all over again. Seriously, it’s that good.

When I am really into a show, like I am with this one, I visit the show’s website and read all the actors’ bios and watch the interviews. I love reading where the actors studied and what other shows they’ve done. Since I’m a bit entranced by the actor who plays Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold, Robert Carlyle was the first I investigated. Imagine my surprise, when I learned he was the actor who played Begbie in Trainspotting. Actually, I wasn’t truly surprised, because Rumplestiltskin in pretty creepy as is Begbie. But Begbie gave me nightmares.

In case you aren’t familiar with it, here’s a glimpse. Warning: Begbie is a psycho sociopath and these clips are violent and riddled with vulgarities.

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Robert Carlyle may be better known for his role as Gaz in The Full Monty. (Be sure to click on that link and watch the movie clip. Gaz is one sexy thing. lol) Truthfully, I prefer to remember him as Gaz than Begbie. It also demonstrates the depth to his acting ability. Plus, with Donna Summer’s passing over the weekend, this scene and song seem very fitting pretty fitting.

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So, there you have it. My Music Monday post may be a day late, but Track Tuesday is now literally Track Tuesday. And now for the sprints…

1.1 Mile

Time 11:05

Ave Pace 10:05

Lap 1 – 0.25 mile

Time 1:73

Ave Pace 7:37

Lap 2 – 0.25 mile

Time 1:73

Ave Pace 7:37

Lap 3 – 0.26 mile

Time 2:01

Ave Pace 7:53

Lap 4 0.24

Time 1:52

Ave Pace 7:39

1 mile

Time 10:14

Link up and share your speed work and some music for your Track Tuesday/Track Tuesday post.

*Also linking up at*

Denise Mestanza-Taylor+

Random Thoughts about Nutella, Superheroes, a New Challenge, Anxiety and Track Tuesday

So, have you heard the news about Nutella? Are you surprised to hear it’s not healthy? Shocking, I know. How could something with sugar listed as its first ingredient not be healthy? Not to mention, it has 3.5 grams of saturated fat and only 3 grams of protein. How on earth did anyone think Nutella was healthy while peanut butter and eggs get a wrap?!

I have so many runner friends that love the stuff and I’m sure their Nutella power balls are getting soggy from all the sobbing they’re doing since hearing the latest news. Personally, I never liked the stuff because it always tasted fake to me, but I think maybe I’ll make some cookies just to ~~tease~~ smooth things over with my runner friends.

My family and I can’t wait to see The Avengers this week and since we’re so pumped about the new movie, I planned this month’s fitness challenge around it. When I told my oldest daughter, Allana, about the challenge, she told me I should have created exercises specific to The Avengers and then demonstrated some examples.

“You could smash something like the Hulk”, she said and threw a clasped fist as she squatted.

“And then you could throw a shield like Captain America”, she said as she twisted her torso to throw an invisible shield off to the side.

“And then you could smash a mallet like Thor”, she said as she twisted her torso and pretended to smash a mallet to the opposite side. “But I’ll have to think about Iron Man.”

I think she’s onto to something there and I wish I had consulted her sooner. We could still do the Superman exercise but call it Iron Man instead because Iron Man flies too. I’m going to video record Allana and I performing the exercises and maybe we can throw them into the superhero mix. Wouldn’t that be funny?

Last week, I had some terrible bouts of anxiety. I’ve never shared my issues with anxiety before on my blog, because I’m a little embarrassed by it. I’ve always been a “shake it off” kind of person and so it’s hard for me to admit to any issues with anxiety, but last week, I had two attacks and I feel compelled to share.

One happened during a run with my Strider friends. About 3 miles into the run, I pulled back away from the pack to slow down a bit. At the particular point, the path became very dark. Since I had forgotten my flashlight, an overwhelming sense of fear began welling up in me. I tried to stay focused on my pace to avoid crying. It was awful. Next time, I need to stay with a buddy or bring my flashlight or pop a Zoloft. Though, I think fear worked in my favor because I had a pretty good run.

4 miles

Time 39:11

Ave Pace 9:48

Max Pace 7:29

The next panic attack happened the very next day at a media event at Sea World. I became overwhelmed by the crowd, but I powered through it once again. I haven’t had a bad spells with my anxiety in awhile so I was really taken back by these episodes.

Hubby is out of town for a few days, which has put a damper of my training especially my speed work. Therefore, I have no sprints to share this week. Hopefully, Ricole can be a hero and save the day with some faster than a speeding bullet sprints for Track Tuesday.

How about you? Did you do some sprints? Link up and share.

By the way, while you’re here don’t miss out on the Joggermom Marathon and giveaway!

Denise Mestanza-Taylor+

Green is the Colour

Green was the colour that I wore from morning to night on St. Patrick’s Day. For the Spring 5K, I ran in my green tutu and a little leprechaun hat to match. It’s important to accessorize.

*Photo provided by Suncoast Running.*

For the nighttime festivities, I wore green hair to coordinate with my green top and eye shadow. The secret is you have to coordinate. Most people don’t coordinate. You got to coordinate.

Honestly, it was fun to make a spectacle of myself and quite easy to be green for a day. Funny though, even after several pints of cider, I didn’t feel at all green the next morning and that’s a good thing.

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Visit Xmas Dolly , Hairbows & Guitar Picks and Royalegacy for more Music Monday fun.

Denise Mestanza-Taylor+

A Serendipity-Style Date

Last Sunday, Allan and I celebrated our 12^th anniversary. Twelve years, really? Wow.

For our anniversary, I wanted to plan something different other than dinner and a movie. So when I stumbled upon this idea from The Dating Divas on Pinterest, I knew this was the date to plan for us.

Allan and I love the movie Serendipity. Since the way we met happened by chance or nearly met a few times before our first encounter, we love any and all romantic comedies that revolved that theme, however, Serendipity holds the number one spot. (You can watch the trailer here.)

Basically, the two main characters meet by chance in a department store when trying to purchase the same pair of gloves and then spend the rest of day together. At the end of the day, they try to exchange phone numbers but fate steps in so they decide to test fate by writing the numbers on a five dollar bill and in an old book. If either item crosses their paths again, then they’re meant to be together.

When Allan and I celebrated our tenth anniversary in New York City, we tried to replicate Serendipity movie moments, like ice skating in Central Park. Next to our wedding day and our honeymoon (and the birth of our children, of course) that weekend in NYC was the best time ever.

So for our Serendipity-style date, I recreated those special NYC moments with a Tampa flare. I started with an invitation hidden inside the Serendipity DVD case. With snowflakes embellishments and typewriter font, I created an invitation that cleverly outlined our date.

“The best time to ever be
Was our time spent in New York City
And how each moment
Was like a scene from Serendipity.
So let’s relive that date
With some ice and some skates
And lunch at Datz Deli.”

We began the date at Datz Deli. The restaurant was so busy that the only available seating was at the bar. We were all right with that.

To stick with the NYC motif, I ordered the Rockin’ Rueben, but Allan ordered a BBQ Brisket sandwich. I couldn’t eat the whole thing, but I knew I would be hungry again after ice skating.

For the past two holiday seasons, city of Tampa has erected an ice rink at Curtis Hixon Park in the middle of Downtown Tampa, appropriately named Tampa’s Downtown on Ice. Although the rink is small and on this particularly Sunday, very crowded, it filled the bill for the ice skating portion of our date.

Unfortunately, it was hard to hold hands as we skated as we had to swerve around small children. I even fell on my knees at one point, which made me laugh so hard. No matter how small the rink was, we still had huge fun and we left a Serendipity sign to let others know we were there.

Since Allan and I worked up quite a thirst ice skating, we popped over to Taps across the street from Tampa’s Downtown on Ice for a quick pint. We drank to a fun date and toasted twelve great years. Here’s to many more of them!

A Northern Sky, a Cool Yule and a Miracle

Does any else feel like Christmas threw up on them? That’s the ugly metaphor I’m choosing to describe the Christmas chaos I’m feeling. You should see the state of my house. I think the tree is finally decorated, but I still have a gazillion cards to post and a pile of last minute gifts still yet to buy and of course, tons of wrapping to do.

However, all of that will be put on hold, because today I am chaperoning a field trip to Legoland with Allana’s class. I plan to write some cards on the bus on the way, but with how car sick I get, I could literally puke Christmas. I may need to rethink that plan.

Anyhow, this Music Monday post will be a little light today because I’ve got so much to do, like blog about our anniversary date in the midst of the Christmas madness. Yesterday, Allan and I had a fabulously fun Serendipity-style date, but I’ll explain all that in great lengths in another blog post.

While you wait for all the details, I’ll tease you with a movie clip from Serendipity set to Nick Drake’s Northern Sky.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/UYU-8L06rfI?version=3&hl=en_US]

If you didn’t know already, I have this thing for movie soundtracks and I absolutely LOVE the Serendipity soundtrack, so I have to include the song even though it’s not a Christmas song. It’s a very fitting song for our anniversary because my Allan comes from a northern town in England and of course, like I said, a perfect way to tie in a tease about our Serendipity-style date.

But Christmas music has been the Music Monday (and Xmas Dolly’s Monday’s Music Moves Me) theme for the past month, so I’ll share a Christmas song from Serendipity.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/jzVQ4yZo7IA?version=3&hl=en_US]

And since tomorrow night is the first night of Hanukkah, I’ll leave you with some Matisyahu. Besides, it will take nothing short of miracle to help me with all this Christmas chaos.

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Visit Xmas Dolly and Hairbows & Guitar Picks for more Music Monday fun.

Just Wild About Harry

A set of Harry Potter hardcover books sit on my bookcase like trophies on a mantel, my pride possessions. Back in my teaching days, I read the series to my students.

When Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone hit the big screen, Allana was an infant, only a couple weeks old and we dragged her along to see it. By doing so, we created her Harry Potter obsession at a very early age.

A few years ago, Allan began reading the books to Allana. I believe Allan enjoyed having an excuse to read children’s books. Of course, they loved them as much as my students and I did. Allana loved the books so much that she began rereading them again to herself once she was capable of reading the books on her own.

Then, a couple of years ago, she dressed as Hermoine for Halloween, which also happened to be the same year she requested a Harry Potter birthday party.

Of course, being huge Harry Potter fans, we had to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 on opening weekend. Allana wore her Gryffindor robe to celebrate the occasion.

Before The Deathly Hallows: Part 2, The Sorcerer’s Stone had always been my favorite movie because I loved watching the magic of Harry Potter come to life. However, this weekend, The Deathly Hallows became my favorite Harry Potter movie. Perhaps it was the action or the many great lines which I kept quoting afterwards but more likely I enjoyed witnessing the closure for a great epic hero.

On screen, we’ve had ten years of Harry Potter, the same age as Allana. She was a fan from the start. I should have named her Lily Hermoine.

Come on, Tom! Let’s finish the way we started… together! –Harry Potter

The Gun Show

My daughters always roll with laughter whenever they hear me say the following narrative to these photos.

“Hey Baby! Check out the gun show going on over here.

BOOM!

BOOM!

Firepower!”
-The Thinker, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

Stay tuned for more beautiful baby pictures of Liam taken by the talented, Kelly Noel minus my corny childish comments. Well I can’t guarantee that, but the baby pictures are certainly beautiful!

I’ve Got the Beach in Me

This past weekend, my family and I saw Toy Story 3. What a great movie! I laughed. I cried, but my poor little sensitive soul Emmalynn wailed worse than she did we saw Where the Wild Things Are. After the movie, Emmalynn said in a sad sniffle voice, “I love all my toys, Mommy.” And when we returned home last night, both girls gave their favorite toys a little cuddle.

In the movie, Buzz Lightyear is reset to the factory default demo setting. The toys try to restore Buzz back to his old self again, but accidentally set him to Spanish mode which leaves Buzz with some interesting new features and moves.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/Y1a688dXJEI&hl=en_US&fs=1]

I’ve never been a Randy Newman fan, but I love the Gypsy Kings’s version of You Got a Friend in Me. After hearing their version in the movie yesterday, I dusted off out my Gypsy Kings CD.

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On another note, we’re heading to the beach this week. I’ve had the sand and surf on my mind for weeks now and I can’t wait to soak it all up. Of course, any Bob Marley or Jimmy Buffet song will put me in a beachy keen kind of mood.

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But lately, Nick Drake’s From the Morning has been featured in an AT&T commercial which has been making me long for lazy days at the beach even more.

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We can’t get to the beach soon enough.