Scenes From A Date...

"Don't cry for a man who's left you, the next one may fall for your smile."

-Mae West

Fun! Fun? What's that again? Oh yeah, I remember! Despite all the stress in our lives lately, Alan and I do remember how fun, fun can be. The trouble is, due to the crashing economy, everything has gotten so expensive. Heck, a nice dinner and a movie could cost about $65.00 dollars! If we did go out for an evening like that, and enjoyed it, we would probably be ruminating over the cost the next day. That's not fun. So what's a married couple, who likes to date each other even after nearly 18 years of marriage, do for date night? Well, if they keep their eyes open, something really special might just present itself. And last Friday night... it did!

Dunsmuir House & Gardens, held a "Movie on the Lawn" night! The cost of the tickets were $5.00 each, and the movie was non other than, our movie, "So I Married An Axe Murderer." I know it sounds funny to have that as our movie, but it is such a cute movie, and we are both big fans of Mike Meyers. And it doesn't hurt that the movie was filmed in San Francisco, and that a portion of the film was also shot right here in the Oakland hills at... you guessed it... Dunsmuir House! LOL. I can't even tell you how cool it was to watch the movie, see Dunsmuir house on the screen, and also know it was right behind us at the same time. It was almost like stepping into the movie. :)

The gates opened to the general public at 6:00 pm, and we were encouraged to bring some blankets, some comfortable chairs and picnic dinner. We did just that. We brought some sodas, and a couple homemade roast beef sandwiches, and had a blast just hanging out, playing Travel Scrabble, and reminiscing until the movie started at 8:30 pm. The Jensen Family, who hosted the event, had an extra special reason for being there that night, it seems their son, Jessie, had found the girl of his dreams in the lovely Amanda, and the evening was serving as their engagement party! Love was in the air. To make it all just a little more romantic, we found out that Jessie's parents were married at Dunsmuir House 30 years ago! Aren't family traditions like that just the best?

I hope Dunsmuir House will hold another movie night this year. There are lots of films that have been shot on the grounds, such as, Phantasm, A View To A Kill, and Burnt Offerings, which would be a hoot to see on the lawn screen. I would love to go back again before the cold weather comes in. We had such a good time, and the crowd was a lot of fun. Each time we saw the bridge in the movie, a cheer would go up, and when Dunsmuir House appeared, the sound was downright deafening. FUN! It was good to get away from all the stress, if even for just a little while. It's good to date your spouse. It's good to never lose the things you enjoyed when you were young, and stress seemed like something that happened to other people.

:)

-OndineMonet
Dunsmuir House & Gardens
Oakland, California
Friday, August 22nd, 2008
Afternoon