Of Slumdogs and Skating - A “Weekend” in Review

There was nothing flashy or chic on our agenda this weekend.  In fact, the only real plan we had when we woke up on Saturday morning (quite late I might add!) was to  watch the Panthers playoff game on Saturday evening and our Tar Heels in hoops on Sunday.

Alas, the weekend turned out to be lovely, albeit in a pajama pants-homemade pancakes-cuddle up and read-and eventually do laundry but later-kind of way. In short, it was fantastic, if a little less than blogworthy.

Prior to the NFL game on Saturday evening we did venture for a walk around town in the dusting of snow to pay a visit to Dylan’s Candy Bar.  For those of you who know Tracy well, you’ll not be surprised to know that within 10 seconds of entering the 3 story candy paradise, Tracy turned to me and exclaimed, “this is like my dream world!”  The store has every type of candy you can imagine.  We learned later on that evening (completely conincidentally on an episode of Unwrapped on the Food Network) that Dylan’s Candy Bar was founded by Dylan Lauren, the daughter of famous designer Ralph Lauren. 

It’s a good thing we stocked up on sweets for the evening, because the rest of the night was filled with the absolutely putrid play of the Panthers.  So much for a strong regular season!

After church , Tracy and I made our way to our first New York City movie late Sunday afternoon.  We’d heard from a number of people about the greatness that is Slumdog Millionaire, and were thankful that it’s showing in NYC (since it’s still not in NC).  We had high hopes for the film and are excited to say that the movie lived up to the hype.  For those not familiar with the plot, It’s a gripping story of an uneducated 18 year old “slumdog” named Jamal who hails from the dregs of Mumbai, India and makes it on the Indian version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”.  Despite his lack of education, Jamal is able to answer each question by virtue of a perfect storm of experiences from his past.  Along the way you see glimpses of his past - of the grit and grime of Mumbai, the danger of vagabond life, and a romance lost - then found - then lost again.  It’s a masterful story, and one that is told well - by the end you can feel yourself wanting to physically will Jamal to pick the right answer, find his lost love, and complete his destiny against all odds.  I won’t ruin the rest of the movie for you, but I do encourage you to see it - I imagine racking up a bunch of Golden Globes will go a long way towards a broader release in additional theaters.

We won’t speak about the Carolina basketball game against Wake last night except to say that the team was disappointing.  The loss capped a pretty terrible weekend from the perspective of teams we were cheering for.  Wake proved that it’s a very good team (and Jeff Teague is a fantastic player).  But Carolina needs to figure out its identity and quickly. 

In a way we let the weekend spill over into Monday evening as Tracy and I made our way to Bryant Park to try out a little outdoor ice skating.  No one will mistake us for the pair from the movie The Cutting Edge, but we wanted to get the authentic ice skating experience that we never were able to do prior to Christmas.

The goal was to avoid falls, and we were successful in that regard, with the exception of one time when Tracy was clipped from behind by a talented but reckless teen who was zooming by backwards.  Tracy’s legs flew out straight in front of her and she landed with a smack on her tailbone.  It wasn’t a small fall, and the wind was completely knocked out of her as well.  After a few seconds she was OK, but a little sore. We were able to continue but I think tomorrow could be a bit painful!  Thankfully, we were able to cap the evening with a little chocolate medicine from Magnolia Bakery - there’s nothing a little cupcake can’t cure!