Berlin Maryland-Part 2

There are so many great little shops around the town of Berlin Maryland. This shop "Victorian Charm" was used during the filming of "Runaway Bride." It kept it's own name and it was the bridal store where Julia Roberts was showing off her wedding dress to Richard Gere. If you remember that scene it was when Julia Roberts wanted the wedding dress that was on the mannequin in the shop window. The bridal shop owner was very reluctant. And Richard Gere stepped in and grabbed the mannequin out of the display and said "We're buying the dress! And anything else she wants!" I love that scene!
This store is a very up-scale boutique. And lining the shelves are hundreds of Vera Bradley purses! It was very colorful and beautiful inside! I didn't buy a purse, but I did buy a beautiful ring that reminds me of our vacation!

Just as we were leaving I happened to glance in the display window and seen what I thought was a "fake" dog. It was lying completely still. I said "Alex, is that dog real?" As we got close, it moved! lol Yes, it was a real dog!

Under closer inspection I saw this cute sign! "Pawtected by Maltese Security!" Hooooow cute!

We never attempted to pet the dog. I'm a dog lover, but this dog didn't appear to be very friendly. The shop owner said that when it's in the window, it doesn't want bothered! Here Alex is looking through the window at the dog!

I visited Berlin on three occasions, and each time I came by, the dog was in it's spot right at the window!

I have much more photos of Berlin to share with you tomorrow! I even met another furry friend! Stay tuned for that cutie!

Berlin Maryland-Part 1

Hey everyone! Hope you had a great day! I on the other hand have been feeling crappy! I was really sick last night and today just felt yucky! Hopefully tomorrow I'll be better. Anyway, here are the photos that I wanted to share with you of the photos I took in Berlin Maryland. Remember, where the movie "Runaway Bride" was filmed!

I live in a small town in Pennsylvania, so I'm use to little towns, but Berlin was just "magical!" Maybe because it was a tourist town and is flourishing...I'm not sure!

For example here is a little stand that is built to hold a bucket of children's bubbles. The wand is a handmade bubble wand using copper wire! How cute is this? And it was outside one of the stores for kids to play with! Here's Alex blowing a bubble!

The stores in the town were very "artsy." A lot were boutiques, and most had artwork from local artists! One boutique had an art gallery in the upstairs, but I didn't get a chance to view the paintings! Next year...definitely!

This is a little diner called "Raynes Reef!" It was in the movie "Runaway Bride." In the movie it is called "The Falcon Diner," and it was also changed a little on the outside of the building for the movie. The inside of this diner was used for one scene. There was a scene in the movie when Julia Robert's character was sitting in a diner with her fiance and Richard Gere. They were ordering breakfast. Well here it is! I heard they had really good food, so I had to see for myself!
My husband Chris and son Ben spent the day golfing. So Alex and I spent the afternoon in Berlin! Here he is with his menu! I love the wooden booths with the high backs and the chrome bar stools! It's very retro, and I loved it!

I got a turkey BLT, and it was super yummy! I wasn't thinking and took the photo after I ate half the sandwich! Oh, well! Each sandwich is served with a side of potato chips! We ordered a side of fries, and they were the best french fries I have ever tasted! EVER! They were seasoned with something, and oh sooo good!

The menu was a little pricey. For example Alex got a hot dog chips that came with a side of apple sauce and our lunch was close to $20. That's probably the norm for a tourist area, but I think it was a little expensive, but definitely worth it!

There were a lot of memorabilia from the movie inside the diner. Here is a Runaway Bride movie poster. If you look below the photo you can see part of the directors chair just thrown in the corner! I soooo wanted to acquire about it, because if it was treated like that, maybe they'd sell it! I was too embarrassed to ask about anything regarding the movie!

This sign was on the side of the cash register. It says:

"Please excuse our appearance. Our downtown is being dressed for part of the Paramount Film "Runaway Bride." Some of our names have changed, but all of the shops are open for business as usual. Please feel free to join us. On actual filming days, movie personnel will assist you."

Here is a wall of movie memorabilia. The photos in the frames are still shots from the movie!

And here's one of my favorite photos of course! A photo of Richard Gere! Not sure why there is a Johnny Cash photo. My guess is that he had visited the diner in the past!

And I LOVE this! And take 71...wow!The food was sooo good, that I convinced my husband to take us there for ice cream later! We really wanted to try breakfast there, but we never got the chance! Here we're sitting at the same counter and seats that Julia Roberts and Richard Gere sat at!

There are much more magical places in the town...and I'll share my favorites tomorrow! :) Have a great night!

Movie Monday: Runaway Bride

Edited: I forgot to add my favorite quote from the movie it is:
Ike Graham: [on the perfect proposal] "Look, I guarantee there'll be tough times. I guarantee that at some point, one or both of us is gonna want to get out of this thing. But I also guarantee that if I don't ask you to be mine, I'll regret it for the rest of my life, because I know, in my heart, you're the only one for me."

I am soo sorry that I didn't do "Movie Monday" last week. Like I said in a previous post, the internet connection was sooo slow that I couldn't upload photos! I was really disappointed especially since the following movie was filmed in the town where we vacationed!
So, this week's Richard Gere movie review is of the movie "Runaway Bride!" I LA LA LOVE this Romantic Comedy! Even though it isn't a highly reviewed movie by critics, it's still my favorite!

This movie is about a writer (Ike Graham-played by Richard Gere) who has writer's block, and takes on a story that he heard about in a bar. The story is about a bride (Maggie Carpenter-played by Julia Roberts) who gets engaged multiple times only to leave the men at the altar!

Because parts of Ike's story was fictionalized, his boss (played by Rita Wilson) fired him! Ike Graham goes to the small town, where Maggie lives, to get the facts and prove that his theory, about why she leaves men at the altar, is true!

Ike goes to Maggie's hometown in Maryland because she is due to get married within the week. Once he meets her he follows her around her small town to try to write his story.

Will she get married?????????

I sooo want to go on with this review and tell you ever little detail about this movie, but I don't want to give it away to those of you who haven't seen it!

It has a great cast of people like Hector Elizondo (who plays in many Gere movies), Rita Wilson, Christopher Meloni (from Law & Order), & Joan Cusack (who is extremely funny in this movie as well as others)!

I rank this a 9 on the Richard Gere hotness scale!....Short hair, which I like and it's very gray, so that's a plus! ;)

**This movie was filmed in Berlin Maryland about 5 miles from where our campground was on vacation. In the movie the town is named "Hale Maryland" but they changed it just for the movie. It's funny watching the movie and comparing things to "real life." For example right before Ike Graham drives into the town, he is driving through beautiful farmland. While there is a lot of beautiful farmland in the area of Berlin, the only thing leading to the town is an interstate! lol

I visited the town on a couple occasions, took tons of photos, and I will share more about that tomorrow!

Vacation-Part 2

Our campground was only 7 miles from Assateague Island Park in Berlin Maryland! And for my readers out there from a different part of the country or world...Assateague Island is a wonderful place where wild horses roam the island! Here is some info that I got off of the Assateague Island website:

Some people believe that the wild ponies of Assateague arrived on Assateague Island when a Spanish galleon cargo ship (with a cargo of horses) sank off the coast and the horses swam to shore. Others believe the wild horses arrived there via early colonial settlers. Recently in 1997, a Spanish shipwreck was discovered off Assateague Island, which lends credit to the first theory. In any event, the ponies have become well adapted to the seashore ecosystem where they feed on saltmarsh cordgrass, dune grasses, bayberry twigs, rosehips, and persimmons.
The following photo was taken on our third trip to the island. Much to my surprise, I saw this beautiful little pony nuzzling up to what I believe is it's mom!

In the parking lots of the island are big piles of horse doo doo! You have to watch where your step at all times! lol The same goes for the beach! As you can see by this photo, these horses greeted us in the parking lot.

There are three beaches on this part of the island. This beach here was the only beach on the island that allowed dogs. As you can see it wasn't very busy on this day.

My boys absolutely LOVED the beach! They chased the waves, the tried jumping over them, they ran along the waves, and even tasted their salty water! Ben said it was "Soooo gross!" lol

Here is my favorite photo from my entire vacation! They are sooo sweet, and are finally cooperating with me taking their photo.

Or should I say sometimes cooperating?! lol

Out of nowhere these horses came onto these people's beach towels and started eating their lunch! One of the rules is that you are not allowed to feed or get close to the horses. But how is that possible when they do whatever they want on the island? lol

What's really bizarre about these horses is that they'll just stand there and stare at you for a very long time! These horses here wondered down the beach and stood in front of one family for about an hour! And all they did was stare! I got really close to take a photo and they'll look at you, and it's kind of creepy because they are "wild" and sooo unpredictable!

I'm Back From Vacation!

I'm finally back from vacation! I can't say that I'm happy to be back....I miss the beach! We did have a great time, and have lots of wonderful memories to last a lifetime! Over the next few days I'll share those memories with you!

We took our camper. This was our first "real" trip. If you remember, we went camping on Mother's Day weekend, but that was a local trip. Our trip this time was to Ocean City Maryland, which took us about 7 hours to get there.

The boys did wonderfully well in the car. We only stopped to get gas and for a bathroom break and for all that time in the car they were troopers. Much of the thanks goes to Leapster and the dual dvd players...which kept them occupied! ;)

Here is our view from the camper. We stayed in Berlin, Maryland...which was on the bay across from Assateague Island. We had the closest site to the beach which was awesome because the boys could play in the sand while we watched them from the camper! Many people stopped and told us that we had the best site at the campground, and we certainly did!
Here I am standing on the beach and taking a photo of our camper. As you can see there was just marsh on the other side of us.

Here we are enjoying a campfire! It's funny because we probably took about 10 of these photos. I'd set the timer and we'd take the photo and each time Alex was either sticking his tongue out or looking at Ben! It was really funny!

Here I am on the laptop! The campground had Wifi, but the connection was super SLOW! That is the reason I couldn't upload photos to my blog. It did however after a few days allow me to upload photos to my Facebook account.

Here's me and my love-Chris! ;)

One of the days I caught a starfish! There were lots of starfish lying in the bay! It was kind of creepy, because it's tentacles kept moving!

See it's little arms flipping up? It reminded me of what I would feel like to hold a tarantula!

The same day a boy caught a pregnant sea horse! Look at that little bulging belly! Very cute!

And here we are all looking out at the bay during sunset! We had such a great time!

I didn't want to overload you with a lot of photos at one time, so I will upload more tomorrow! :) Hope you have a great weekend, I'm trying to get use to the real life again! lol

I'm On Vacation!

Sorry guys, I'm on vacation and cannot upload photos! Unfortunately, the internet signal isn't strong enough! I'll be sure to share them with you when I return next week!

We are having a blast and I cannot wait to visit the town of Berlin where Runaway Bride was filmed!

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend! Talk to you soon!

Movie Monday- Dr. T & the Women

This weeks "Movie Monday" is a review of "Dr. T & The Women." Have you seen this movie? Wow! I don't even know where to begin! lol Let me first start out by saying that I'm glad that I have two boys...I cannot imagine my life among a bunch of hormonal women! lol

In this movie Richard Gere plays "Dr. Sullivan Travis" who is a very rich, successful gynecologist. Need I go on? Seriously....you know where this review is going! lol I'll say it and get it over with right now....where is his office and is he accepting new patients?! lol ;)

There are alot of well known actors in this movie: Farrah Fawcett, Laura Dern, Shelley Long, Helen Hunt, Tara Reid, Kate Hudson, and Liv Tyler.
Dr. Travis (Dr. T) is a very busy gynecologist. His office is constantly overflowing with women...loud, bossy, chatty women! Everyone wants to be a patient of Dr. T. But seriously...can you blame them when you see this staring back at you! lol

Dr. T has many women in his life. A wonderful wife, whom he adores, played by Farrah Fawcett. Two daughters who seem to compete for his attention, and a sister-in-law who moves in with her three young daughters. But Dr. T wouldn't change his life for anything!

Just when Dr. T thought he had it all, his wife has a mental breakdown and had to be institutionalized. This all happens when his daughter is planning a huge wedding and his medical practice is booming! He meets Helen Hunt's character and falls in love with her and her laid back life. Dr. T is very use to having needy women around and this is a big reason as to why he finds her so appealing.

Like any man...with all this chaos going on in his life, he sure does find time to hunt and play golf! lol

There is soo much going on in this movie that I don't want to give anything away by going on in further detail. I will say that this movie is very chaotic with all the women that talk all over each other. Like I said, it makes me happy that I have boys, so I don't have to deal with all the girl drama! lol

With all the craziness in his life the movie ends at his daughter's wedding. And of course this doesn't go perfectly either! Did you ever have one of those moments in life where things aren't going as planned and you just laugh and laugh?

This movie was ok. Not one of his better movies I will admit, but it's a comedy and it is really funny! But on the "Richard Gere Hotness Scale" I give it a 9! He was really hot in this movie, love a man in a tie and a lab coat! And he was dresssed in a suit during the wedding scene! YUMMY! But I think of what makes him so appealing is his attentiveness towards women. One of Dr. T's quotes from the movie is this: "I think every single woman I've ever met has got somethin' special about her, somethin' that sets her apart from the rest."

Since it isn't a well known movie of his, below is the trailer. Make sure you turn off my music player along the right hand side so you can hear it!

Oh and later this week I will be going on vacation to the beach! YAY! We are staying in the same town that filmed the movie "Runaway Bride"....which happens to be my favorite Richard Gere movie! Soooo stay tuned towards the end of the week for lots of photos of the town! And next week's movie review will be "Runaway Bride" of course!

Hope you have a fabulous week!

Gnome Garden

I have a gnome obsession! I just love these little old men with pointy hats! They are sooo cute! I have a lot of gnomes. Unfortunately my bigger ones are packed away because they do not go with my current decor. Hopefully next summer I'll landscape with them outside and create something cute!

In the meantime I wanted to create a "Gnome Garden" on a smaller scale. A few months ago, Alex and I picked up a fairy garden kit that was unopened at the thrift store. He had so much fun painting the pot and arranging the little house and stones. We also planted seeds that came with the kit, but unfortunately they never sprouted. So for the last few months I had a decorated planter full of dirt on my kitchen counter! I was so sad, so I decided to make another for outside. And this time I bought real plants for in it! Buying real plants is much more satisfying. You don't have to wait days for your seeds to sprout!

Alex was uninterested this time around, so Ben helped me with the dirt! Here he is making it flat!
Here's a closeup of the sign that I made for the garden. I found this sterling silver spoon for $1 at a local thrift store. I used metal stamps to engrave "Gnome Crossing" into the spoon. I can't wait until the silver tarnishes!

Here is a closeup of one of the many mini gnomes in the garden. He's about 2.5 inches tall.

We even planted some fake carrots that I bought in the miniature section of a craft store! I think they add such a whimsical touch!

Here is a mini fireplace that was a tealight holder. I thought it would add a perfect touch to the gnome garden. I can picture the gnomes and fairies enjoying themselves in front of the fire! I added a flameless tealight so it's safe for the kids to play with.

I planted Irish Moss throughout the garden and used a little mini metal house and white picket fencing that I had in my craft stash.

You are now entering the Gumball Forest! I found this little metal mini gumball machine in the dollhouse miniatures section of a craft store. I thought it was soo cute, and bought it to save for a future project. I wasn't sure what I was going to use it for, so I thought it was perfect for this little gnome garden! A gnome can't be without his gumballs, can he?! And to the left of the gumball machine is a small plant that looks like a tree in a miniature world.

I used those small colored glass pebbles which are also found in craft stores. You can also use aquarium gravel as a path in your garden. That works well too! In our first gnome garden we used green aquarium gravel. It turned out very cute! You can also use small stones from your neighborhood. Use what you already have and have fun with it!

Here is another view of our magical garden! I also added some succulents, which you can see on the right hand side of the garden. I love succulents! They are my favorite plant, and are so easy to care for!

If you had a mini garden, what type of whimsical things would you use for decoration?