Image Credit: mffanrodders.wordpress.com
The weekend before Christmas, Al and I hosted our group of friends for the first time! We had so much fun.
The main reason we got together: Star Wars: The Force Awakens!!
Everyone was so excited!
On Friday afternoon, I was able to leave work early, around 3:30 p.m. I was making spaghetti for everyone for dinner. Drew was waiting for me outside the house since he was able to work an earlier shift. He brought all of his stuff inside as I finished the last-minute cleaning and prepping.
Al arrived home from work as I started warming up the noodles and sauce, and baking the garlic bread. He brought home the ingredients for Sunday breakfast, along with a bunch of assorted sodas. He and Drew chattered away about Marvel and Star Wars. The house smelled amazing!
Justin kept me updated on their travels via text, since Heaven was driving. The two of them and Katie arrived almost simultaneously. Dinner was ready, and it turned out great!
After dinner, we relaxed and enjoyed our first true Secret Santa gift exchange. My maid of honor, Melissa, took our six names and assigned three sets of pairs via Facebook messages after Thanksgiving. We were all brimming with anticipation!
Our pile of gifts!
Justin gave Al a Funko Pop! Star Wars: First Order Snowtrooper!
Drew gave Justin a Jack Skellington stocking cap!
Heaven gave Laura Beth two things: A book about blogging and writing, and a journal!
Katie gave Heaven two things: An owl necklace and earrings set, and a owl wall hanger with hooks!
Then, unfortunately, both sets of my camera batteries died! So, Al took over the photos with his phone.
Laura Beth had a special Wolverine commission made for Drew! Check out SavyArt for more information! Savy happens to be my future sister-in-law, and she is epic!!
Photo Credit: Al Vardaro
Al bought Katie a Steelers stocking cap!
Photo Credit: Al Vardaro
To end the night, we played Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards: Duel at Mt. Skullzfyre! Drew was the newbie, and it was awesome!!
On Saturday morning, Al left early to get O’doodle Doo’s donuts! Yum!!
We watched so many Player Piano videos! Sonya is amazing!!
After breakfast, for the first time, we split into guys and girls. The girls were on a mission: Going to LUSH in MacArthur Mall in Norfolk. It was amazing!
Heaven brought half of her makeup to the house, so she gave Katie and myself amazing makeovers!
Heaven doing LB’s makeup 🙂
Photo Credit: Justin Clatterbuck
The finished product at Gianna’s! Katie went with an ’80s look, and I went for a more natural look. Heaven, you’re hired!
Photo Credit: Justin Clatterbuck
We visited Gianna’s for lunch. I tried their subs for the first time – Delicious!
Then … It was time for STAR WARS!!!!!!
I took the pledge online to keep my social media accounts free of any spoilers for at least one week after the movie premiered.
Since it’s been approximately 13 days now, I feel it’s now safe to divulge my thoughts.
HOLY SHIT, THIS MOVIE WAS FUCKING AWESOME!!!!!!!!!
I never saw any of the previous movies in theaters, not even the prequels. So this was my first time seeing a Star Wars movie on the big screen.
And holy moly, worth it, it was!
I love the direction they are going.
Rey is awesome.
Poe is kick-ass.
Finn is my favorite 🙂
BB-8 captured my heart from the first trailer well over a year ago.
I squealed when Han Solo, Chewie, and now-General Leia appeared on-screen.
A few observations:
- Jakku is indeed a graveyard in hell. Most deserts are!
- The visual effects are absolutely fucking stunning. So much eye candy!
- The scenery is top-notch. I want to go to every single place where they filmed. I hope TFA gets nominated at the Oscars for visual effects and cinematography!
- The humor was fantastic! One of my favorite scenes in the whole movie was where Poe and Finn escaping in the TIE Fighter!
- I totally did not see Han Solo’s terrible demise coming! I teared up!
- I was so excited when R2-D2 came out of low power mode!
- I forgot how annoying C-3PO can be! Especially his voice, it grates my nerves a bit.
- Initially, I didn’t like how they waited to feature Luke Skywalker at the very end, for the last couple of minutes, without any lines! However, now having seen the movie three times (Thursday the 17th, Saturday the 19th, and Tuesday the 22nd), I understand why they did it. It makes me so ready for Episode VIII. Memorial Day Weekend 2017!
- All the theories about Rey being Luke’s daughter: I can picture that, but I’m not a 100 percent believer, just yet.
For dinner, we headed to JONES’ Restaurant in Portsmouth. Some of the best Southern food around! Justin and Heaven had never experienced it until now. The chicken is worth the 15-minute wait!!
Our waitress, Diane, was the best! She saw all of us in our varying Star Wars shirts and walking up to our table, she says, “Are y’all coming from or going to?”
Drew brought his awesome s’mores maker again! Al and I bought the ingredients, including special s’mores-style marshmallows that were square! How cool is that?!
To cap off the night, we played a nice round of Munchkin 🙂
On Sunday morning, Al and I made breakfast. Okay … Al made most of it! Scrambled eggs, amazing Smithfield cherrywood bacon (!!), and we tested our new Keurig Carafe. I was in charge of the toast and overall distribution.
Lesson learned – Buy more bacon next time! Yummy!!
Before everyone headed home in the afternoon, we played a fantastic game of Cards Against Humanity! So much fun 🙂
As I finish this post, it’s the afternoon of New Year’s Eve. Wow, 2015 has been one of the fastest years yet!
I want to say thank you to all of you, my readers. I started blogging (again) almost two years ago. Because of you, readers, I have grown in so many ways with this writing adventure and endeavor. Thank you!
I never imagined that this little blog of mine would be read across the country, much less around the world. Wow. I look at my WordPress Stats page often, and I’m so tickled when I see a reader from another country. Thank you!
I look forward to writing a lot more in 2016!
I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season so far.
Happy New Year, everyone!
Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂
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