Strawberry Festival

This weekend I had the pleasure of seeing a long-awaited movie and introducing Heidi to and visiting with several friends!

Friday the book club went to see the new Alice in Wonderland in IMAX 3D. The tale is my favorite childhood story, so there was pretty much no way I was going to leave the theatre satisfied. Plus I'm a Disney and Burton fan. Depp wasn't all he was cracked up to be, but it's certain that the Mad Hatter role was tailor fitted for Depp. I thought Mia played a great adolescent Alice (Mia is Australian, you know). I think my favorite character, however, was the Red Queen, played by one of my favorite actresses, Helena Bohnam Carter. She was great! And I ended up liking the Cheshire Cat a lot more than I thought I would based on his looks alone from the previews; though I do wish they had left him pink and purple. The make-up shifting within a single frame was pretty cool (i.e., on the Mad Hatter when his moods went more than "mad"). I wish they'd renamed the movie to something other than one so similar to the title of the first book on Alice's adventures. The story was more mixed with Through the Looking Glass, but, nevertheless, it was a well-done storyline; something new and creative. I enjoyed mapping the characters in Alice's reality to those in Wonderland.

Directly after the movie I went home, grabbed my overnight bag and Heidi, and headed to Melbourne. I arrived at Aunt Joan's, and, after settling Heidi down, finally got to bed around midnight, which is SUPER late for me these days.

The next morning Heidi got to properly meet Aunt Joan, and then Joan and I went to the Strawberry Festival. Starting things off was the pancake breakfast. For $5 we got two pancakes covered in strawberries, whipped cream and syrup, sausage and OJ (that's better than what one could get at any breakfast diner), and it was perfect! Afterwards Joan and I browsed the markets. I ended up buying a few French hair combs that I've been searching for since my days in Australia.

After the festival I accompanied Aunt Joan to Cocoa for her hair cut appointment, during which I caught up with my mom as we hadn't chatted all week. Then Joan and I stopped by a nursery to pick up some tomato seeds and a special fertilizer she needed. We got back to her house, went on a nice but squirrel-free walk with Heidi, then I headed to visit the guys.

Josh was still golfing when I called, but I was able to reach Dan, so Heidi and I went to his place. He was very hospitable and let me stow Heidi at his place while he and I grabbed some amazing Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches. Afterwards we took Heidi on a nice, long walk and enjoyed the day while we waited for Josh to arrive. Josh met Heidi, then the three of us went bowling. I broke 100 the first game and couldn't hit 80 the second game, haha, but both of the guys one a game each. Josh had a few really great streaks!

After bowling Heidi and I headed out and we caught Andy just in time for a quick dinner before I headed back to Orlando. I was so happy to visit with Andy; we had a lot to catch up on together. The only disappointing thing from this weekend was not getting to hang out with Jared and have him meet Heidi.

Today I went to church, and spent lots of time outside with Heidi as it was a lovely day. We played and also grabbed an afternoon nap. Another lovely Sunday.

Cheers,

Amanda