Saturday night, when things were beginning to feel seasonable and not like I had never left Florida, Jon and I decided to bundle up (finally an opportunity to wear my sparkly new hat) and head to the North Carolina Chinese Lantern Festival at the Koka Booth Amphitheatre in Cary.

It was quite crowded when we arrived, and we waited for about 20 minutes to purchase tickets, but it was totally worth it because of all the pretties. Behold:

(Yes, that is me trying to take a photo with the pandas in the dark).

Beautiful, right? I haven’t even shown you the 175 foot long dragon in the lake:

It had steam coming from its nostrils and was amazing! Dragons are the best.

The event was packed with visitors of all ages: families, couples, friends out for a stroll. The festival was supposed to close on Sunday, but has been extended through January 17, likely because of high demand. Which makes sense, because it is incredibly “OMG BEAUTIFUL.”

Triangle friends: GO SEE THIS BEFORE IT CLOSES. You have almost two weeks, and it is open every night! And a quick FYI: On Saturday nights there are food trucks and cultural demonstrations, such as music and dancing.

Want more info? Here you go! Now, get thee to Cary, and enjoy!

 

 

I love TV (#peaktv). For the past five to six years, watching all the prestige television (#prestigetv?) I can find has been one of my primary, if not my primary, cultural pass times. The majority of my Facebook posts are me, statusing away about the amazing television I am currently watching.

I am also really good at watching the critically acclaimed television that not a lot of other people are watching, such as Fargo, The Americans, and The Leftovers. All so good! Seriously, you should watch these shows.

Frankly, I thought that this was a relatively new development for me: watching the #prestigetv that no one else watches, and telling everyone who will listen about it. However, it is not. Behold, from the May 23, 2003, issue of The Torch, my school newspaper:

 

Within this article, an 18-year-old Lindsay had the following erudite words to share about one of the greatest shows of all time, Buffy the Vampire Slayer:

“I am out of commission from 8:00 to 9:00 every Tuesday night, for I am glued to my television. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the best show on television: witty, funny, moving, and incredibly well-written and well-produced. The demise of Buffy will leave an enormous void in my pop-culture life, and in the lives of my fellow Buffy obsessees around the world. Thank God for DVDs and reruns.”

Buffy, appropriately, ended right as I graduated high school, and this was the last issue of Torch to be published before my graduation. My final words at Pine View: about television. How appropriate.

That said, I have been a television critic since I was a mere youth! Maybe I have missed my calling? Clearly, however, I know what I am talking about in terms of referring television: take my suggestions, friends, for lo, they are awesome!

Our New Year’s Day tradition, and since we have done it two years in a row it is now officially a tradition, is to marathon The Lord of the Rings. The theatrical versions, not the extended releases, we’re not masochists, and it is still over ten hours of movie-watching.

This year, we’ve doubled-down on the sloth and pushed our two sofas together to create a couch fort. This was Jon’s idea, which was given in response to my somewhat ambitious plan to construct a full-out fort in our living room. Much easier, and just as cozy. I’m not sure why we haven’t done this before, it is a truly genius masterpiece, and becomes even more awesome with the addition of furry cats.

As for fuel, over the past two days we’ve consumed eggs-in-a-hole made with challah bread and a ton of butter, a frozen pepperoni pizza, steak and bake potato with cheese and (more) butter, popcorn, hot chocolate from Matthew’s Chocolates in Hillsborough, gelato (also from Matthew’s), and more.

My FitBit stats are at the lowest they have been since I started using one at the beginning of December. Achievement unlocked.

If you’re wondering where we are in the films, we’re well into The Return of the King. The beacons of Minas Tirith have been lit–one of my favorite scenes from the films, because of the sweeping music and drama of the imagery. Hope is kindled! So epic! I figure we’ll finish the marathon just before midnight.

I hope everyone has had an equally relaxing start to 2016. We can all start the business of getting, well, back to business tomorrow. For today, sloth shall reign.

Happy New Year everyone!