Yep, you read that right. Austen, Jane not Austin, TX. A few of my anniversary gifts were Jane Austen themed, including Pride and Prejudice and Zombies:

Elizabeth Bennett as an ass kicking zombie killer. How hilarious is that?

Today at the park. Too busy checking out the ducks and squirrels to look my way.

In honor of our 13th wedding anniversary today (and our 18 year dating anniversary tomorrow), I thought I would dedicate a special song to my husband. And Hon, even though I know you will be mortified at my song choice and you will give me heck about picking out something so cheesy (see how the “sometimes I never want to see you again” part is so applicable? hehe) I hope you get the sentiment. Except for the snow and desert part. I have no idea what they are talking about there. Without further ado, I give you Still The One by Orleans: (music embed here, since I have no idea if you’ll see it in a feed reader)

And Chris, you better be nice to me, otherwise next year I’ll dedicate “You Light Up My Life”, maybe something by the Bee Gees or Barry Manilow (cause I know you love ‘em, haha!), or maybe a hair band power ballad.

This is anniversary week for us, both our wedding and dating anniversaries. So, to kick things off we left Daphne with her grandparents and went to see X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I was a little concerned, after reading a few mediocre reviews. One reviewer gave Wolverine a C and in comparison gave that Beyonce “I’ma show you crazy!” movie a B (Really? Because Obsessed never looked like anything I’d ever want to see). Uh oh. But I did appreciate one of the reader comments on the X-Men review, “I am going to see it for the entertainment factor and to get to see Hugh Jackman in as few clothes as possible. I am not going there to have a religious epiphany.” My thoughts EXACTLY! Hahaha!

I do like Hugh Jackman. I think he’s wildly talented and, you know, nice looking. The only role I’ve seen him in that I didn’t like, was his portrayal of Curly in Oklahoma! No one does Curly better than Gordon MacRae. Because that man could SING!

Ok, back to X-Men. I though it was entertaining. Chris didn’t think it was worth seeing in the theater. It wasn’t as good as the first two, and maybe not as good as the third. And as a disclaimer, the only comic books I ever read were Archie or Betty and Veronica, so I don’t have that knowledge to compare to the movies.

Anyway, there’s one of my “May must see movies” that I can cross off my list. Star Trek and Terminator Salvation up next.

This week just didn’t go as planned. From Tuesday’s flood, to swine flu hysteria (And yes, we do have swine flu cases confirmed in our area. The Jr High up the street is closed next week.) it was just one weird thing after another. Plus I was hoping to have some resolution to a few other issues. No such luck.

Today, we decided to get out of the house and headed to the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center. For being free, I thought it was a nice place. Lots of trails and outdoorsy stuff. They even had a discovery area for kids that Daphne enjoyed. And someday, SOMEDAY, I’m going to learn not to wear flip flops on walking trails. I do not appreciate lizards running over my toes. I have a tendency to scream. Yeah, if you haven’t guessed, I’m not the least bit outdoorsy. I just play along because I know my husband and daughter like it and I try to be supportive of their interests.

Here’s a video of Daphne in the kid’s discovery area. They had a learning tree installation with different phones that played informational messages about various animals and bugs. And since Daph is a big phone person, that was a hit. Oh, and just in case you ever wonder why we don’t post more videos. We suck. At making videos, I mean. Really. I’m not sure what is worse, my jumpy camera work, inability to stay focused on the subject being filmed (Wait, you’ll see. Just look at how often the carpet is the feature in this video. Which is not totally my fault. I was helping Daphne hang up phones, etc and couldn’t look at the video screen at the same time.), or my Minnie Mouse voice. Hmmm…