The Ramblings of a Redhead

***This review will contain SPOILERS ...you have been warned lol*** Now, before I get started, I would like to preface this blog with this - this review is my own personal opinion. I am in no way a professional film critique. Please don't take it as more than what it is. Exodus: Gods and Kings Directed By: Scott Ridley Rating: PG-13 Run Time: 2 hours and 30 minutes Genre: Action|Adventure|Drama Tag line: Once Brothers, Now Enemies. Plot Summary: The defiant leader Moses rises up against the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses,  setting 600,000 slaves on a monumental journey of escape and its terrifying cycle of plagues. (As found on IMDB.com) Overall I would rate this movie a B-/C.  It is probably not a movie I would pay to go see, or see more than once. While it wasn't a horrible disaster, it wasn't a great movie either. It is very graphic so if you don't do well with that sort of stuff I would suggest steering clear. There are several scenes of brutal family hangings,...

Alright everyone this post is going to be a long one, but I encourage you to read through to the end. Consider this making up for the long spans f nothing when I fail at updating. Here goes... So recently I have been seeing so many of my friends making healthier choices in their lives, and I am so excited for them! Keep it up guys! They are the inspiration for this small glimpse into my own journey. I decided January 1, 2014 to give up all processed sugars from my diet for a month. This wasn't sparked by anything I did or realized. A bunch of people I work with approached me about it saying they were all going in together to try it for the month of January.  I figured okay why not it's just one month. Looking back I see myself a lot like Frodo who had been told he only had to get the ring to Bree, and then he could return to his life in the Shire as though nothing had happened. I didn't realize it then, but there was no way the life I had before would ever return to wh...

Why #2 pencils?  Why not #1 or #3 pencils? Do kids even still have to use #2 pencils? I remember we had to have several #2 pencils sharpened and ready to go. The memory of the scent of the wooden pencil mixed with the smell of the brand new, bright red eraser takes me back to the days of sitting behind a brightly colored desk, recesses, standardized tests, and hoping mom packed a fruit roll up in my plastic disney lunch box, or that my dad had drawn me a cartoon on my napkin. (Did your parents do anything like that for you?) *Shout out to the awesome things are parents surprised us with in our lunch boxes.* It is funny how trivial things like a #2 pencil can spark so many memories. So does anyone know? Why #2 pencils?  Why not #1 or #3 pencils? Do kids even still have to use #2 pencils? MelLew

So I completely fail at keeping this blog updated. I keep thinking life will slow down and let me do what I enjoy doing, but alas...it only seems to get more and more hectic. Vacation to The Great Smoky Mountains National Park was fantastic! It went by way too quickly! I think we got more rain on this trip then we've ever had before during one of our visits there. Since we usually do a lot of outdoorsy type stuff it kept our activities pretty limited. I will try to get a post together and some pictures from the trip within the next week or so (I know what you're thinking-"She's said that before, and we have yet to see an update on time.") Sigh, I wish you were incorrect. Alas, you are not. What would you guys like to read about here? Any places that you would like to see a review on, or a picture you'd like to see me use as a writing prompt. The possibilities are endless. Maybe if I have a goal to shoot for it will keep me on task. Ha ha! Let me know in ...

Dead men tell no tales....dead men tell no tales... Of course I be talkin bout national talk like a pirate day, Tis a day of celebratin those scurvy scum of the seven seas. They used their days to hoard treasure, drink their rum, and terrorizin any who dared to enter their waters. So what are ye standin about here for?! Get out there ya lazy scum and get on yer best inner pirate, yar! Shake yer booties and enjoy yer day like good pirate lads and lasses, says I. Ye ask how I be celebratin? Well, then, I confess, it is my intention to commandeer one of these ships, pick up a crew in Tortuga, raid, pillage, plunder, and otherwise pilfer my weasely black guts out. Yo ho, yo ho a pirates life for me... And really bad eggs....drink up me hearties yo ho! MelLew

The other day at work I was given the rare opportunity to ride a camel. If I have ever ridden a camel I was too little to really remember it, so for me this was pretty exciting! I can scratch another thing off my bucket list. Now, I get to work alongside these amazing creatures as well as many other animals everyday and have done so for the past eight years (Say what?! Has it really been that long already?!), and in those eight years I have never been able to actually ride a camel, a horse yes, but not a camel. I knew I could not let this opportunity pass me by. I was a bit nervous at first. For those who don't know I have a horrible fear of heights, and camels are not a short animal by any means. I was not about to let my fear win the day so I grabbed one of my best friends, and off we went to ride the camel. After waiting in a bit of a line, we finally climbed the stairs so we could easily get into the saddle. I had decided to ride up front. I wasn't sure which was best so...

So, after quite a long few months of silence, I do believe I am back! So many things have been happening! My (not so little anymore) little brother got engaged to an amazing woman!!! I am so happy for them, and excited to get my first sister! I have moved into a new apartment, and I absolutely love it! The backyard had a nice little fire pit perfect for sitting around and writing. Hopefully, now that I am all moved in I will have more time to write in the midst of unpacking and settling in. In the midst of all the other excitement Renaissance Faire is in full swing here. I am there just about every Sunday. It has been great seeing my friends again after a long fall/winter/spring apart. I love wandering around the faire grounds and just exploring everything.  The smells of incense and leather mix with roasting meats and herbs. Mmmm..... if you have never been to a renaissance faire you should go at least once in your life.  It is truly an inf...

As promised, here is the first of my posts on favorite moments from my Romania trip. We spent most of our time up in the village, but on the weekends we came down from the village and stayed in the city of Sibiu.  It was breathtaking to say the least. We got a team picture on the Bridge of Lies. The bridge was built in 1859 by Fredericus Hutte, and it was the first wrought iron bridge in Romania.  Legends say the bridge got its name from the fiery disputes between the merchants that seemed to flare up around it, as well as the passionate but short-lived vows of young lovers that would often meet there. Also, while we were there I was able to see the remains of the original city wall on The Passage of Steps, which dated back to 13th Century if I remember correctly. It connects the Upper Town to the Lower Town. I was pretty excited as I ran my hand along the stone work. I had only ever seen things this old on the television.  It had been my dream for a...

Yesterday i celebrated the 4th of July with some of my very dear friends, and as I laid in the grass watching the fireworks and stars in the sky overhead I remembered that on that day last year I was on the other side of the world in a small village in the middle of Romania. We were celebrating my interpreter's birthday with an American flag cake and some watermelon. Has it really been an entire year already? It feels like just yesterday and yet another lifetime ago all at the same time. That trip was so many firsts for me. My first time out of America.  My first time on a small airplane. My first time teaching a small class of kids. My first missions trip. My first time to Europe. Little did I know then that I would leave a part of my heart in that village so very far away. I remember how nervous and excited I was for this new adventure. I remember leaving my parents at the airport knowing I would be going thousands of miles away and not be able to really contact them till my ...

I sent a text recently to a friend telling them I was tired.  The text consisted of the following "ZzZzZz" This got me to thinking...why is snoring always depicted by the letter 'Z'? My coworker and I decided to do some research...apparently it first appeared in American comics around 1918. It would be zzzz hamdwritten inside of a thought bubble to show that the character was snoring (though now it is used to show that a character is just asleep not necessarily snoring). It also seems that the Americanism ended up catching on all over the world. The only exception I found was Japanese Manga in which a bubble coming from a character's nose depicts sleep. I was reading some comments on the article I found, and one woman had a really great theory:  she said that she did research on the word "snooze" which went back to 1738 and meant "echoic of snoring". She believes that comic artists simply shortened snooze to zzz. These are the thinks I thi...

Adventure seems to always find me when I least expect it.  Allow me to explain... I was getting ready to make the trek back to my own home after visiting my parents for the weekend. It was the same routine as usual:  making my rounds through the house being sure I had everything, packing up the food I brought, my mom piling more food to take back with me, loading up the car.  Nothing really seemed out of the ordinary. Well, my car had been sitting a couple day so it was like an oven.  I decided why not go ahead and start it up get the AC going so it will be cool when I finally hit the road. No big deal right? That's what I thought anyways. Nope, I said my goodbyes and walked out to my car and what did I find? Every. Single. Door. Locked. The best part...the keys were in the ignition, and the engine was running. I felt my heart drop into my stomach. My car is not supposed to lock unless I hit the lock button or I'm driving over 10MPH. At first, I felt really r...

Hello adventurers! Father's Day. A day where we all take a day to spoil the fathers in our life. For my family, we took my dad out to supper at a historic tavern, Cantwell's Tavern. It was my first time adventuring into this establishment, and I have to say, the only disappointment I had was that I had not discovered this hidden jewel sooner. Here is what their website has to say, and I believe it hits the nail on the head: "Cantwell's Tavern is a unique restaurant with a relaxed atmosphere. Featuring upscale, casual dining with farm-to-table offerings in early 19th century ambiance surrounded by beautiful historic settings. Focusing on the scratch-made menu designed by our chef, including house made breads, pickles, mustard and sausages." The food....it is fresh - all of the vegetables in my dish were grown locally in an organic garden, and the meal varies depending upon what they got in from the garden that day. The service....it is fantastic - never...