cars, vacation, movies, life...

I've been on vacation this week, which has been a very welcome break.:) I've been able to rest up as well as get some things done around here. We had originally planned to camp this week, but since Luke got that security job he's had to work, so we aren't going anywhere until tomorrow morning when we will head to Chicago until Sunday. I'm very excited to get away for a bit; we always have a great time there and we've found that using priceline etc can make it much more affordable. We are planning to visit the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art and take in a White Sox game among other things. We'll be spending an afternoon in Wicker Park area too, which is always a highlight for me.

A couple of weeks ago, after much consideration, we decided to take advantage of the cash for clunkers program as our '89 f150 has been pretty unreliable (not to mention unsafe & terrible on gas). Ordinarily we never would have considered getting a brand new car, but being able to get $4500 out a truck we would have been lucky to make $700 off of was a huge blessing. We've been planning to get a car for sometime and had been saving toward that end, so we kind of felt that this was just another way God was providing for us. Our truck didn't have air bags or a horn and the drivers seat belt definitely wasn't up to par, and neither of us wanted the other party to drive it, so we thought it was time.:) We found a car (nissan versa) that we felt we could afford and bought the very base model (not much to it:). We are pleased with our purchase and it has made car logistics much easier. It's nice to have two reliable vehicles. As many issues as there are with the cash for clunkers program, we felt that it was great solution for the position we were in.

Movies are obviously a frequent topic on my blog (in fact I'm considering starting another blog for my own persoal movie reviews) and I hope that doesn't bore people too much.:) Luke and I both just happen to love movies and it's one of favorite evening activities (complete with our own discussion & assessment:). We recently decided to join Netflix and we are pretty excited about it. When we moved to the southside, we quit getting cable; it was too expensive and we watched movies alot more anyway. We figure netflix is a lot cheaper (ours is $9 a mo.) than cable and for us will be more enjoyable. You can get great classics, documentaries and foreign films that would be hard to find otherwise, not to mention the fact that they arrive in your mailbox.:) We already added over 100 movies to our queue; it can be a bit addictive. I'm not sure how we'll ever get them all watched.:) We just watched "Watchmen" (very good, by the way) and are eagerly awaiting our next selection.

In other movie news, I will be seeing "Julie and Julia" tonight, which should be good. Also, I am ridiculously excited about Tarantino's new movie, "Inglorious Basterds" which opens this weekend. Luke and I seriously can't wait to see it and so we may be finding a theater in Chicago to view it at.:)

Fantasy Football season is quickly approaching, which means fall is almost here. It's hard to believe that summer is all but over. It's felt like a strange one; definitely out of the ordinary. Life has been good, though. Not without it's challenges or moments of being overwhelmed, but God is good and it is such a comfort knowing that He is there taking care of us.