I probably should have posted this about a week or so ago, but I’m just now getting to it. Honestly, I think I was a little bit too ambitious at the film festival this year. I took Friday, the first day of movies at the fest, off of work and made plans to see SEVEN movies. And I did. I saw all seven of them. It was less each day. I saw five on Saturday, five again on Sunday, and then I skipped the weeknights just to recover from my weekend! It really was a good weekend, though… I had a blast seeing what were mostly great movies. I was joined for most of the fest by my friend Haley and also by Michelle for a couple of movies. And then the following week I ended up getting sick, which I’m still recovering from. At any rate, I’m finally taking the opportunity to sit down and write about my experience. I thought I’d do my recap first, and then follow up with some blog post reviews of my faves. How’s that sound? So here we go… the fifteen movies I saw at Phoenix Film Festival 2016, along with their ratings. (I’m using a 4-star rating system, since that’s what they used for the audience votes during the fest.)

Well, first of all, I’m sorry for not posting about this sooner, but if you know me, you saw the pictures and posts about it on Facebook and Instagram, at least. But I felt it deserved a blog post as well. See, the story actually starts at the end of 2012. I had considered volunteering for a dog rescue when we moved to Arizona earlier that year, and so I had added a few of the local ones on Facebook, specifically dachshund rescues. Well, they are always posting pictures of the dogs they have available for adoption… and one day I fell in love. Happy Tails Dachshund Rescue posted a photo of a dog named Charlie Brown, named just because his paperwork from Animal Control only said “brown dog”. So I ended up taking Sophie (our other dog) to meet him, and Ricky agreed, so Charlie soon became a part of our family. And life has never been the same!

So I think I might have figured out one reason that I got burnt out on blogging last year. I was starting to try to get a bunch of hits on my blog in order to try to monetize it. And I just didn’t get there, probably because it became too much of a chore, and I ended up just not blogging. Planning my blogs, installing plugins to try to optimize SEO for each post, worrying about keywords and all of that… it just got to be too much work and took the fun out of blogging. So, I think I’m just going to blog for fun for the time being. If I get hits or followers, then I do. If not, then I don’t. I actually had someone at one point kind of insult my blog, saying that no one reads it. I think at this point I get enough comments to know that people do. But if they don’t, oh well… I’m really blogging for me, no one else. If you enjoy it, great. If not, then don’t read. No biggie.

On that note, I was trying to think of some things to blog about. In light of the name of my blog and because it’s what I enjoy writing about, I think if I had to give a one-word explanation of what my blog is about, I’d say “experiences”. Whether it’s traveling across the world, going to a beer festival in town, or even just watching a movie, I like sharing my experiences. And I kind of think people actually do like reading about them. So that’s what I’m going to continue to write about (along with anything else that happens to strike my fancy, of course!).

So thinking through it, I thought I’d give you all a bit of a teaser of what you can look for in the coming weeks and even months of the kinds of things I’m planning that I hope to blog about. Doing this also holds me somewhat accountable for blogging about these things and not just being a slacker. So, here is what’s coming up on my calendar!

Wiener Mania
This is a local fundraising event here in Phoenix at a horse racing track. It’s a fundraiser for Arizona Adopt a Greyhound as well as Happy Tails Dachshund Rescue, which is where I adopted Charlie from. I didn’t know that Happy Tails was a sponsor of the event until after I’d signed up, but it’s awesome that they are! This event includes a wiener dog race, which is something I’ve thought about entering Charlie in for a while now. I’m not sure how well he will race (or if he will even do it – haha) but we will find out and have fun either way!

Chandler Ostrich Festival
I may or may not be visiting this one. My friend Tom and I have talked about it before, and I think he’s actually been. I haven’t, but he sent me an email about going, and I’m free on Sunday, so we may hit that up this weekend. What’s second best to watching wiener dogs race? Watching ostriches race, duh!

Phoenix Film Festival
You’re all groaning, right? I have attended this the last few years that we’ve been in Arizona, and it is always a blast. The movies are great, and I usually end up meeting some really cool people. I’m hoping to attend as press again this year, which means I will be writing reviews of some of the movies I see. And there are always plenty of great movies there. I can’t wait.

Las Vegas Trip
I’ve been to Las Vegas several times now, but my friend Stacy has never been! She and her husband are going in May, and Ricky and I are meeting up to hang out with them there. It should be a lot of fun, and I think Stacy will enjoy it. Maybe I can get her to write a guest blog from a first-timer’s perspective.

Europe Trip
Ricky and I are planning another trip to Europe later this year as well. This time we want to visit Berlin, Amsterdam, and some places in Belgium. This is still in the planning stages, but you know it will include beer.

So those are some of the things I have upcoming. Hopefully this will hold me accountable, and I will be blogging about some or all of these experiences. Just stay tuned!