Oh there has been SO much fun stuff happening lately. Which is good, because after the post-wedding high I was on a couple of weeks ago after Torry & Nicole's wedding, I definitely needed to keep the momentum going.
I've lived in Birmingham for about seven years now (I think) and for some reason I had never made it to Rickwood Field until a couple of weeks ago. It's been on my list, but it's kind of one of those things where you really need a reason or an event to go there. Luckily the real estate firm I work for played another firm in a softball game, giving me the perfect excuse to finally make my appearance to America's Oldest Ball Park.
I have to say that I was not disappointed. It truly is a beautiful, historic sight to see and I felt an excitement knowing that I was sitting in the stands and walking on a baseball field where greats like Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb and Jackie Robinson have played. If you haven't already, be sure to check out the movie 42 about Jackie Robinson and you can catch some glimpses of Rickwood Field for yourself.
The rest of my past two weeks have been spent taking advantage of restaurant week at Cantina, Slice, Vittoria and Rojo. I also finally managed to get over to Steel City Pops with J one week night. After the not so great dinner I had made us, it was a welcomed treat :)
Then this past weekend was the long awaited Sidewalk Film Festival. I've written about Sidewalk before. It's one of my favorite things that happens in Birmingham every year. It just unfortunately happens to fall on the weekend of my niece's birthday. So I didn't get to see quite as many films this year because of course, baby girl will always come first. Even so, the films this year seemed to be better than usual. Not sure if that's because J picked most of them or if the movie options were just better general. Either way, I'm great with it.
Here's what we saw at Sidewalk and I can recommend that you see all of them—but especially see the ones with an asterisk by them:
• Lil Bub & Friendz - This was about the Internet meme and cat phenomenon, with a big focus on Lil Bub and her owner Mike.
• *Muscle Shoals* - An incredible documentary about the town of Muscle Shoals, Alabama and how it produced some of the greatest recordings in history, thanks to FAME Studios owner Rick Hall.
• The Suspect - A narrative feature about a small town that gets hits by a bank robbery and the racial profiling that takes place during the case.
• Good Ol' Freda - A documentary about Freda Kelly, the secretary of the Beatles during their 11-year tenure as a band. *A must-see for any Beatles fan.*
• *No Place on Earth* - A documentary about a Jewish family who survived the Holocaust by living in a cave in the Ukraine for almost two years during WWII.
• *Ain't Them Bodies Saints* - Ruth and Bob enter a shoot out with the local police after a bank robbery. When a sheriff gets shot, Bob takes the rap and is sent to prison, but later escapes and comes back for Ruth and his daughter. This is their love story.
I think one of the things I love most about Sidewalk is the opportunity to stay after the movie for the Q&A session. I don't take advantage of it after every film since I am sometimes rushing off to the next one, but it's such an incredible thing to have a director or producer or actor from the film standing in front of you and giving you the chance to ask anything about the film or the process or the budget or anything!
Seriously, if you haven't been to Sidewalk and you live in Birmingham...next year is your year to attend.
