Best Movies of the 80's

I've been feeling nostalgic lately. Here is a list of my favorite movies from the 80's in no particular order.  What have I missed?

Stand By Me (1986)


The Last Unicorn (1982)


The Breakfast Club (1985)


Sheena (1984)


Fortress (1985)


The Goonies (1985)


Say Anything... (1989)


One Crazy Summer (1986)


Ghostbusters (1984)


Gremlins (1984)


Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)


Poltergeist (1982)


Raising Arizona (1987)


Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)


Heathers (1988)


A Fish Called Wanda (1988)


Xanadu (1980)


The Big Chill (1983)


Weird Science (1985)


Better Off Dead (1985)


Some Kind of Wonderful (1987)


Lost Boys (1987)


Teen Wolf (1985)


License To Drive (1988)


Lucas (1986)


Valley Girl (1983)


Secret Admirer (1985)


Just One of the Guys (1985)


Legend of Billie Jean (1985)


Girls Just Want to Have Fun (1985)


Once Bitten (1985)


Flashdance (1983)


Splash (1984)


Mannequin (1987)


The Monster Squad (1987)


Labyrinth (1986)


The Neverending Story (1984)


She's Out of Control (1989)


Back to the Future (1985)


The Last Starfighter (1984)


Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)


The Karate Kid (1984)


Runaway (1984)


Overboard (1987)


The Secret of NIMH (1982)


Moonstruck (1987)


The Wraith (1986)


The Witches of Eastwick (1987)


Coal Miner's Daughter (1980)


Shag (1989)


Seven Minutes In Heaven (1986)


The Principal (1987)


The Mosquito Coast (1986)


Clash of the Titans (1981)


Top Gun (1986)


Great Balls of Fire! (1989)


The Princess Bride (1987)


E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)


Big (1988)


Beetlejuice (1988)


A Christmas Story (1983)


The Little Mermaid (1989)


National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985)


National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)


The Dark Crystal (1982)


Grease 2 (1982)



Hope and Glory (1987)


9 to 5 (1980)


Sixteen Candles (1984)


Dirty Dancing (1987)


Adventures In Babysitting (1987)


Body Rock (1984)


The Toy (1982)


Murphy's Romance (1985)


Places in the Heart (1984)


Swamp Thing (1982)


Cujo (1983)


Romancing the Stone (1984)


War Of The Roses (1989)


Brighton Beach Memoirs (1986)


Mr. Mom (1983)


Meatballs II (1984)

I Drove All Night & Jason Priestly

I just learned that Jason Priestly (Beverly Hills 90210) was in Roy Orbison's " I Drove All Night" music video.  How did I not know this?

Goodbye 2017

2017 was a year of mostly ups.  We did have a few bumps at the end of the year (new furnace! new bank account because mine got hacked!) but overall I can't complain.

I had a pretty successful year of travel which was great for my desire to experience new things.  I don't think I have ever traveled so much in a year's time. A couple of these were same trip with multiple destinations but I spent a lot of time sitting on a plane this year!

• Minneapolis, MN
• Minneapolis, MN
• Dallas, TX
• Boston, MA
• London, UK
• Paris, FR
• Minneapolis, MN
• Atlanta and Savannah, VA
• Hilton Head, SC
• Denver, Boulder, and Estes Park, CO
• Palo Alto, CA
• San Francisco, CA
• Minneapolis, MN
• Bangalore, IN

London, Paris, and Bangalore were the highlights of my year of travel.  And 2018 is starting off with a bang as well.  I will be headed to Minneapolis again here in a few weeks, followed up by a trip to The Netherlands and Germany.  

I didn't do so well staying on KETO.  The first half of the year wasn't so bad but with all the travel I did in the second half and my lack of discipline, I definitely fell off the wagon. I can report now that I am happily back on the wagon and intend to stay on for awhile.  I haven't felt great because of it and I know if I am back to eating right, the rest falls into place.  Needless to say, my weight has also crept up so I have some work to do again to get back to where I was.

I managed to read 14 books.  I set a goal to read 20 and if I finished any of the 5 or so books I am in the process of reading, I would nearly be there.  Unfortunately, I am a mood reader.  I often get tired of a certain type of book and start something I am in the mood for which means I am reading 5 books at a time.  

We managed to redo Penny's room which was a big project but has helped to keep her room so much cleaner and easier to organize. I also managed to get my office into better shape.  I shut down most of my online business stuff freeing up space where products were stored.

We managed to meet our financial goals for savings. I don't think I have blogged about this so much but we started 2017 with a more aggressive retirement plan including opening an IRA and putting away more savings than just our 401K.  The market's performance certainly didn't hurt our situation.

I completed several cross stitching projects - A grandkids portrait for my grandma, a family portrait for my cousin and her family, a Pac Man video game for my husband, a flower bouquet for a crafty gift exchange, and a Paris 2017 scene for my mom to remember our trip.  I also worked on two other projects - a Nevertheless She Persisted and a Guns N Roses Album cover both to hopefully be completed later this year.  I also worked on several other crafts including a fun ornament day with family where we made cute unicorn ornaments. I also managed to make a pretty cute Christmas Village as well.

My whole family became more musical.  Tori really picked up more songs once she moved over to an electric guitar.  Penny started playing the drums.  Josh started playing the acoustic guitar and I got a nice keyboard although I have only really gotten Journey's Faithfully down so far.

Josh finally got his long awaited tattoo done.  It is my turn now... and I'm a bit of a chicken considering the size of what I want to get...

I saw another whale in my lifetime now in the San Francisco Bay.  I have this thing about whales too.

I filled my tea cabinet between trips to Davids Tea and Celestial Seasonings Factory in Boulder.  

I went to more weddings than average this year including a cool Star Wars one!

I restarted my Lisa Frank sticker collection from the 80's because really is there anything cooler?

I organized and decluttered a ton.  In fact my pantry and linen closets still don't look too shabby.

I sprouted more gray hairs than I have in all my prior 39 years. 

I planted more succulents and cactus and managed to kill all of them off yet again.  We also planted a lilac bush and a gardenia tree.  We'll see if they come back in the springs.

Here are some of my favorites from 2017:

Book:  My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

Movie: The Big Sick

TV: Dark *Netflix, The Handsmaid's Tale *Hulu

Music: The Chainsmokers - Memories...Do Not Open

Craft: Cross Stitching

Run in with a celebrity: Paula Deen

Art: Everything at The Louvre, Bonaventure Cemetary

Indulgence: L'Occitane

Tea: Chai Masala (India), Caramel Apple (Celestial Seasonings)

Meal: Paneer Butter Masala (India), Ham & Cheese Crepes (Paris), Cornish Pasty (Stratford Upon Avon), Pimento Cheese Sandwich (Hilton Head), Eating M&S Food on the train from London to Paris...

Concert: Paul McCartney 

Destination: Paris, France but so many were awesome

A Trip to the Other Side of the World - Bangalore, India

Some of my team 

              

My month of travel is over.  October was a whirlwind.  And I love October in the Midwest so I'm a bit sad that I missed it...  But I am happy to report that I did travel to other side of the world and back and live to tell the tale.

My team at work is a global team, people work all over the world although there is a concentration of team members who sit in one of our offices in Bangalore, India... along with most large companies who have IT departments.  I've either worked with or had employees who have resided in India for over a decade, I was well due for a trip to visit.

The journey to India:

The journey to India from Wichita, KS is not a small journey.  In fact it is a two-day journey full of exhaustion and backache.  I left out of Wichita on a Friday evening about 5 PM. My first fight was my normal skip to Minneapolis that I make pretty regularly for work.  Once I arrived, I headed to the International Flight area for my connection to London.  It is hard to believe that I managed to fly to London twice this year and up until 2017 I had never been there before.  My flight to London was overnight leaving at 10 PM so I grabbed some dinner and waited for my flight.  My flight from Minneapolis to London was about 10 hours putting my arrival time at about 2 PM in London on Saturday.  I did my best to sleep on the flight but it was tough - nerves were definitely getting to me.  I did manage to watch The Big Sick which I have been wanting to see... so so good, I recommend.
I was nervous because my connection is London was short and I really wanted to make sure I had time to freshen up before getting on my flight to Bangalore.  Luckily my flight got in early and because I had over researched how to maneuver terminal changes at Heathrow, I sailed through my terminal change and security checks quickly.  I had time to spare so I was able to freshen up a bit.
My next flight to Bangalore was 11 hours.  Up until this point, I was on Delta but from London to Bangalore I flew British Airways.  I wasn't impressed.  The plane was dated and uncomfortable... on my flight to Bangalore, I did manage to sleep quite a bit.  We left London about 4 PM and arrived in Bangalore at 4 AM.  It was exciting to see all the exotic places I was flying over... places I never thought I'd be near in my lifetime.


Bangalore, India:

Arriving at 4 AM, I thought it would be pretty quick to get out of the airport. I was wrong.  It took nearly 3 hours to get out of the airport with all the security checks... and I traveled via carry-on.  I also had to exchange USD for Rupees before leaving the airport as cabs only accept cash.  A cab was waiting for me and we began our 1 hour drive into Bangalore and my hotel.  Once I got in the car and we started our journey, I realized quickly that I didn't want to watch the traffic because the traffic is something else.  Had I not been so exhausted, I probably would have gone into full panic attack mode.  People drive whatever way they want, there are people on mopeds and bikes everywhere, pedestrians and cows walking in traffic; mass chaos.  I had never seen an entire family plus groceries ride a moped before or 20+ people inside/on-top of a jeep...

Chaotic traffic

Instead I tried to focus on the background and place my faith in the driving ability of the cab driver.   I arrived at my hotel, a Fairfield Marriott at 8 AM and luckily was able to go directly to my room.  I couldn't wait to take a shower... I cringe now thinking how grimey I felt after that trip.  I slept off and on the entire day.  By midnight I was wide awake so I ended up just staying up until I went to work Monday morning at 830 AM.

My Hotel

The hotel was very nice and had pretty good food options since there wasn't a lot close otherwise that I felt comfortable eating at.  There were many little shack-like places with dirt floors and cheap eats in walking distance but these were the places that I had been warned not to eat at.  I walked to the office each day when not raining.  The walk included a short walk down a busy road and then onto the campus where many companies are located.

View from my room into the office park

The campuses like mine are all over Bangalore... big businesses in fancy buildings right next to dirty, poverty-stricken areas.  It was interesting to me to see how you would find people dressed in business clothes walking next to people who had no shoes and appeared homeless.

Cows hang out in the median

Cows also travel in herds

It did rain every day that I was there except the one day that I ventured out into the city to explore which was lucky.  It was Monsoon season and there was quite a bit of flooding.  One evening I was in a cab in heavy traffic, so heavy you couldn't open your door because cars were so close together.  As the water was rising to the door, I started to get nervous about what I would do if it got much higher and we couldn't open the doors to get out... traffic is that bad and that crazy.

This is some of my team

I ate lunch every day at the cafeteria where Indian lunch was provided by my company.  It actually was a great way to try many different foods.  I can't tell you everything that I ate because I don't know what everything was but mostly really good.  I realized that the way think Indian food is served in the US is much different than how it is served in South India.  I had always assumed curry and gravy dishes were served over rice but India Paratha is used to scoop up the food and eat it instead.  Paratha is kind of like a tortilla.  Most days there were rice dishes, a vegetable dish, some kind of curry or masala, and several yogurt dishes.  There was also a sweet every day which I can describe to be something like fudge, a small square or circle of something sweet and indulgent.  Drinks were another thing that I found interesting.  I am used to having a full glass of tea or soda with lunch and the drinks that were offered were small dixie cups that you would use in the bathroom in the 80's... nothing that would quench a thirst but it seemed many people didn't drink anything at all with lunch.
Afternoon tea, Indian chai tea in particular was also served.  As a huge tea lover, especially a chai team lover, this was one of the best things about my trip!

Dinner Out

I did eat out at a couple of restaurants with different people from my team.  Both restaurants were trendy breweries which appear to be on the rise in Bangalore.  All the food was wonderful.  My favorite meal was a Paneer Butter Masala.  I'm already a big Saag Paneer fan and love it even more with Butter Masala.  I might have already stocked up on some paneer for home so I can try to make it myself!  I also did some shopping for souvenirs for my family.  I picked up some wooden carved elephants, hand woven scarves, and a small hand carved chess set.  By the end of the trip I also started to understand things about the culture that I hadn't realized.  While the traffic is a nightmare, there is no road rage.  People trust and look out for one another.  People are incredibly concerned with making a good impression and take note of details.  Many people went out of there way for me to get me somewhere when it was raining or ensure I made it to the right shop.  I was truly impressed with the kind nature of people.

I would absolutely go again and hope next time to be able to see more.  I did leave right as Diwali was starting which is one of the largest Hindu festivals.  It was very festive with lights and traditional dress.  It would have been nice to see more but I was missing my family and happy to return.

The return:
My return started on Saturday morning at 7 AM.  Another 12 hour flight back to London with an even tighter connection to catch.  I had no time to freshen up and found myself running through Heathrow in order to catch my flight.  I was the last to board and the door shut right behind me.  Whew! I was seconds from not making it... My flight to Chicago was 11 hours.  Luckily I did sleep most of both flights. Once I arrived in Chicago, I quickly moved through security thanks to traveling via carry one again.  My flight into Wichita was 3 hours delayed though so I wasn't happy... and again felt so grimey.  I finally arrived back in Wichita at 1 AM Sunday morning.  Since returning home, my internal clock is off.  I can't sleep past 4 AM so find myself working in the middle of the night.  It is getting better day by day.

A Month of Travel - Minneapolis & San Francisco

I have been on the road for the last month. As I type this I am sitting in my hotel room in Bangalore, India. I will have a full post about India but I thought I woul do a bit of an update covering the last month.

To start, things with my job have been changing.  The travel is associated with part of that. I am in the process of taking over a large area of responsibility at work, still within the same function of Cybersecurity.  While travel has picked up I am still maintaining balance which is most importat to me.  As part of the new responsibilities, I have had to meet with people and join some groups.

3 weeks ago I headed to Minneapolis for a week to meet with my team and work on a large project. I make this trip several times a year so no big deal. While there I did get to do an escape room with my team as a team building exercise.  We were 5 seconds from success when the time went off!  I was putting in the winning code at the very moment. It was a great time.

I headed home for 2 days and then headed back out this time to Silicon Valley. I was there join an executive SAP group with other large customers. I stayed in Palo Alto at a hotel called Dinahs Garden Hotel. I loved the hotel - my room had a sliding glass door that overlooked a koi lagoon.  The food was awesome.  I really loved the location, right near Stanford University and the tech center of the United States.  So may large IT companies besides SAP -- Google, VMWare, Nest were right next door.  I wish Josh would have been there for that because he would have geeked out. I should go back at least annually so looking forward to that.

Josh did join me in San Francisco later in the week and we made a long weekend of it to celebrate our 7 year anniversary.  7 years has flown by!

We stayed at a Hilton near Union Square and right by a BART train stop.  Our room had a great view overlooking downtown San Francisco.

Breakfast was at french bakery called La Boulangerie that was so so good.

We did a whale watch tour which was highest on our list. The last time we did one was in Bar Habor, Maine and we were hoping to see more activity this time.  We did spot a humpback in the bay, right under the Golden Gate bridge that we were able to follow a bit.  Unfortunately, no breaching.  He stayed underwater most of the time. The cruise was enjoyable though.

We at lunch at Fishermans Wharf.  I had crab cakes and clam chowder and reminisced about the first time I traveled there as a kid with my family.  My mom first introduced me to fresh crab there and I have loved it ever since.  I also recalled our trip out to Alcatraz on that same trip.

Fishermans Wharf also had the largest succulents I have ever seen... beautiful!

While in San Francisco we also did a tour around the city that was nice.  Besides going under the bridge we also went over it twice.

We also spent a whole day in Japantown which was the highlight of the trip for me. The girls would have loved it and I would love to bring them back.

I finally got to try authentic Okonomiyaki and Taiyaki.  I loved the Okonomiyaki but the Taiyaki was just ok. I am not so sure it wasnt just how it was prepared.

We hit up several fun shops-- Daiso ( 1 Yen store), a huge bookstore called Kinokuniya that had the largest Anime section I have ever seen and I have a daughter who happens to be obsessed with anime lately.. and anime boys...sigh, boy craziness is starting.  There was also a huge Studio Ghibli section that my youngest would have loved but the majority of the shops had Ghibli items.

There were tons of kawaii stores where the girls lucked out with some cute souveniors, and a special squishy for one... the squishy obsession is high in my house right now.  There was also a Japanese Arcade called Japan Playaland, so fun!

And now a week later I have made the 30 hour trip to Bangalore, India.  It was quite the trek to travel around the world.  My next post will be my India trip and how it all turned out.

It's been awhile

September is here and it feels like the summer blew by.  Not because we were any busier than usual, it was one of our more relaxing summers but I guess everything goes faster as you get older.  

We didn't take our normal big family vacation this summer.  Since we went to London & Paris earlier in the year, we decided to just do a Colorado trip to visit Josh's family and then go up to Estes Park.  The trip ended early due to a horrible hotel experience, an episode of car sickness, and rainy weather.  The highlight for me was the day we spent in Boulder doing some shopping and taking a tour of the Celestial Seasonings Tea Factory.  Celestial Seasonings isn't my favorite but I still love all tea.  And who can resist the cute bear mascot?

It also was the summer of weddings.  I do love a good wedding and one of them was a friend's Star Wars themed wedding.  Josh was in heaven and planned months in advance for his costume.  He now also has something to wear to the opening of the next Star Wars wedding.  It really was a neat wedding.  The other was more traditional style wedding and both Josh and Tori got plenty of dancing in that night (see first pic).

Penny celebrated her 10th birthday in August.  Grandma hosted a Unicorn Trampoline Park party. This was the first year that Penny has actually been able to be in touch with friends over the summer so we were able to have a "friend" party and it seems she had a great birthday.  She also managed to top off her Nintendo Switch savings and have enough to go buy herself a Nintendo Switch.  We have 3 in my house now...sigh.

We did spend some time swimming this summer both at my sister's pool in KC and at the YMCA. While in KC we also hit a up cookie dough stand to try out the cookie dough craze... it was really good and I cheated for it. The girls did the Girls Who Rock Camp for a week and they both loved it.  They played a rock concert at Central Standard Brewing.  I really love how empowering this program is for young girls.

Speaking of music now not only do I have a guitar player I now have a drummer.  Penny finally decided on playing the drums and started lessons a few weeks ago.  We new she was naturally inclined to play the drums because she has always had such a good sense of rhythm.  Tori also upgraded her acoustic guitar to a new electric guitar.  She played bass guitar during rock camp and although she had fun, she decided that she would rather stay with lead guitar on electric.  We ended up keeping her acoustic which now hangs on her bedroom wall. 

Also to celebrate Josh's birthday this year we all got tickets to see Sir Paul McCartney.  The girls are as big of Beatles fans as we are.  The concert was awesome and there was plenty of singing by all of us. 

We redid Penny's room.  She has wanted a cupcake wall for awhile and I figured how to make that happen.  Also she desperately needed a better desk space that she could use for all her arts & crafts as well as working on the computer.  I sought out an Ikea hack that worked out great.  Here is the sneak peak but I plan to do a more involved post about her room later.

I have been working from home almost 100% these days which has been nice.  I get so much more done and life is just more balanced.  I am getting ready to go into a period of travel for work over the next month.  I will be spending a week in Minneapolis, a week in San Francisco, and a week in Bangalore, India.  The India trip is a big one that will take two weekends up in order to travel the 20 hours each way.  My connection is through London... who would have thought I would be in London twice in one year?  My only hope is that I have time to hit up M&S Food in my short layover!

I did take a break from keto the month of July but have been back since the first of August.  I feel like my body isn't adapting as easily as it has in the past.  Unfortunately it is gong to be difficult to stay keto with all the travel.  I'm not worried about Minneapolis or San Francisco but India just isn't going to happen. I love Indian food so I want to eat the carbs but also, it would be difficult to seek out foods that are't made with rice or potatoes.  I am looking forward to the chai though. I can only imagine how yummy it is in India.

Josh & I have also started on our goal to get tattoos that we have been wanting.  He went first.  We spent 5 hours a couple of weeks ago and he has about 2-3 hours left to go to complete his.  It is rather large and includes a silhouette of the girls faces with scenes in each one that are special to each daughter.