Remember: Coffee Break is full of odds and ends I’d like to discuss including films I’m watching, links I like, stuff I’m into and oh yeah, coffee!

The last Coffee Break I posted was way back in mid-September and I was stuck in a rut. I was so behind on blogging and just life in general. I did have to put off this damn post for months but I’m happy to report that I’m crawling out of my slump. The end of the year was very busy (no matter how hard I try to avoid them, the Holidays always seem to take a lot out of me) but now I’m catching up on my work and getting on a better schedule.

Since my last post, I’ve met another blogger in their hometown on Halloween, had plenty of hangouts with the FTS crew, survived another movie marathon, celebrated the New Year and Jason’s Birthday and ….oh yeah, welcomed a new best friend into my life! Meet Ellie:

Named after our favorite paleobotanist Dr. Ellie Sattler, of course. Jason and I finally adopted a super cool pooch and it’s really the bees knees. More updates on Ellie and all of the other events I mentioned above can be found in the photos section below.

I’ve been watching a boat load of movies recently (go me!) I don’t even know where to begin so if you want to keep up to date with some flicks I’ve been watching lately, check out my New Year’s resolution posts that I put out with Jess every week.

Video Games I never thought I would be playing so many video games so close to my 27th birthday. Lately, I’ve been looking forward to playing all of the Nintendo classics as well as enjoying game night with friends playing Outlast or Call of Duty. I am terrible at all of the games for anyone wondering.

New Year Resolutions: I’m working on similar resolutions to last year but this year I have a fun weekly challenge for myself: Every week watch 1 new movie (out within the past 3-5 months) 1 movie from my Netflix queue and 1 movie I’ve been meaning to rewatch. I basically spent the entire first week of January watching a ton of releases from 2014 and it just felt good to actually watch some flicks at home for once. I’m looking forward to furthering my film watching in 2015.

Blogging: As I talked about above, I can’t wait to jump back into blogging after stepping away so much in December. I wish I had prepared a bit better for my absence but the only thing I can do now is gear up for the future. I’m ready to write and create new things!

October

At the end of October one of my dreams came true. Jess, Rob, Jason and I traveled down to the crazy state of Florida to meet the awesome blogger/friend Robert Zerbe of FTS and To The Escape Hatch!

Naturally, Robert knew that we would have to pose for a Coffee Break pic. This is us on Halloween at the Maple Street Biscuit Company. I highly recommend this place – very yummy grub that I wouldn’t mind eating daily if a location was near me.

Later that evening, we all headed out to Robert’s for his annual Halloween Bash! I felt honored that my name made it onto his prestigious fridge calendar.

Jason and I scored big with our Re-Animator costumes.

But Jess and Rob could not be stopped with their Jay & Silent Bob get up.

The group of FTS in Florida! Robert went as Max Cady from Cape Fear. Scary indeed.

And at the end of the night we raised a glass of amaretto to Jay – our missing companion in England.

We didn’t have a whole lot of time in Florida but we capped our weekend off at the cinema. The group of us checked our Nightcrawler and were treated to a phenomenal performance (my favorite of the year) by Jake Gyllenhaal. It felt like a fitting way to spend our last moments together. I had so much fun meeting Robert and I’m secretly counting down the days til we meet up again.

November

We welcomed Ellie home! I included a few pics of her above from the past few months because why not!

December

This is just a quick photo snapped at the FTS Christmas meetup where the group went to a local bar Of Love & Regret – for dinner and drinks.

January

FTS celebrated together on New Years and Jason’s Birthday!

And one last pic – a panorama of the group that attened the last ‘Movies Jason Would Never Watch Mega Movie Marathon’ where we went through Holy Motors, The Hunt, Before Sunset, All The Presidents Men, Y Tu Mamá También, and Flirting With Disaster all in one day!

So I finally watched The Lego Movie… and I loved it! I made my share of jokes about Nick & Jay’s love for the movie but I have to take it all back now that I have seen it for myself. It’s creative, attractive and genuinely very funny. The screencap above comes from one of the adorable jokes in the beginning of the film:

Instructions to Fit In: Have Everybody Like You, and Always be Happy: Step 1. Breathe. (Ok Got that one down.)… 3. Exercise 4. Shower…. Wear clothes (Whoops! Almost forgot that one)… Greet your neighbors…. 13. Enjoy popular music. …Don’t forget to smile…. Always root for the local sports team…. Drink Over priced Coffee.
Coffee Vendor: That’ll be $37.00.
Emmett: Awesome!