Luke, Jen, and Boy Named Mike

This past weekend, Michael and I spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night watching, in order, a movie from the "Star Wars" trilogy. (Yes, I am an awesome wife.) The first night, we push play, and Mike's face lights up and body tenses as soon as the logo blasts onto the screen and the music starts blaring.

"A long time ago, in a galaxy--" Mike pauses, then turns to look at me. "Oh. I read these out loud."

I nod. "Gotcha."

"--far, far away..."

On Sunday, we met my brother and sister in Philadelphia for the Free Library Book Festival. This is one great thing about where we live; we can hop on a train minutes away and drop ourselves right in downtown Philadelphia later. (The sad thing is, these days, it's cheaper than driving.) Now, I'm about to graduate with a BA in English, but did I stop by the readings, the signings, the literary panels? Nope. We strolled the misty street looking for the best hot dog vendor, then sat at a table for some time until spotting a Starbucks a few blocks away. It was wonderful.

The best part--for some, ahem ahem--were the characters we met. Now, Lily, my two-year old niece, should be an old pro at giant, costumed characters after a few days in Disneyland. This is what happens when, say, Pooh approaches:

"Hi Pooh! Hi Pooh! Hi Pooh!"

Pooh waves, camera-ready. Lily begins to crawl up whoever's arms she is in, digging her knees into a gut and face into a neck. After some prodding from the parents, Pooh begins to walk away. Lily perks up.

"Bye Pooh! Bye Pooh! Bye Pooh!"

See how she is suspiciously eyeing even some of her favorites?




There were, however, two fearless Star Wars nerds who were also very camera-ready.






Last night, Mike and I went to downtown West Chester to watch them set up for filming "Marley and Me," starring Owen Wilson, McSteamy, and Jennifer Aniston. The brick streets of the adorable little borough we live a few minutes from was covered in cinematic snow, and everyone bustled around the barricades to see if they could catch a peek of the first shot. (We strolled around and found where everyone was mobbing Jen's trailer; we kept walking, feeling dirty.) Mike and I, being oh so film savvy as we were, knew they weren't even close to actually filming since there were no cameras out, much less stand-in's or directors. Mike, being oh so generally intelligent as he is, noted how strange it was to plaster snow onto oak leaves. Never thought about it quite like that.