My birthday was last week and Brian's was at the end of July. We don't make a huge deal out of birthdays, but we do like to recognize them by doing something special. For my birthday, I simply wanted to spend the day in a charming town that's about an hour away, just walking around and popping into certain shops, relaxing on the outdoor patio with a drink, and going out for a nice lunch.
Now this is my kind of bike: flowers in the front and a crate of wine in the back!
I could be the neighborhood wine lady, sort of like the ice cream man, but for grownups. 😉
I love the way shopping areas in some towns have stunning displays of flowers in the summer.
For Brian's birthday, we went to Chicago to the Museum of Broadcast Communications, specifically to tour the Saturday Night Live exhibit which will be there until the end of the year.
We're both huge SNL fans, having grown up with the best of it in the 1970's - early 80's. I will never forget watching Gilda Radner, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin, etc. The exhibit was amazing. It took you through many different rooms filled with this history of SNL, from the characters to the costumes to the props to the staging to the design to the brains behind the show - Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. I took a lot of photos and they aren't the best, since we were in a dark museum and the costumes and props were behind glass. But here's a few of my faves, where I'll let the photos do the talking...
Do you remember the charcter, Turd Ferguson?! You can watch the clip here. So stupidly hilarious. (I think you had to grow up with this stuff to appreciate it.)
The Coneheads were some of my favorite characters...
Some of the silly products from the SNL commercial parodies...
The Bass-o-matic was hilarious!
A replica of the control room....
RIP, Gilda...
The regular part of the Museum of Broadcast Communications was very cool and interesting, too, but I'll save that for another day.
Happy Monday - have a great week!
Happy Monday - have a great week!
Those are great ways to celebrate your birthdays! My parents loved the earliest SNL shows too. They say that they would tell people to watch it and every time, it would be an episode that wasn't as funny as the ones they'd seen, so people thought they were crazy for liking it so much. But then it caught on and all their friends loved it.
ReplyDeleteThe 70s and early 80s is when I watched SNL and it's those comedians that I remember. Looks like it was a great tour.
ReplyDeleteWell Happy Birthday to you two! This is a great way to celebrate. I honestly didn't know this museum existed! Is it near Second City?
ReplyDeleteI watched SNL in the very early days, and then picked it up again about three years ago. How about you?
Jane xxx
That town looks so adorable. I do love how we live close to lots of pretty little towns to explore.
ReplyDeleteI want to go to that SNL exhibit!!
We are of the opinion that the earliest SNL cast was the best ever. Sometimes when we're busy at work and I'm helping out the concessions workers and someone orders more than one Pepsi, I've been known to call out "Pepsi, Pepsi, Pepsi, Cheeseburger!". Sometimes it gets a laugh, when the customer is around my age. Or the iconic Mr. Bill's "Oooohhhh Noooo". I made the teens watch Mr. Bill videos one night and still make me laugh.
ReplyDeleteWhat fun! I think the Coneheads actually had their own show for a while also, didn't they?
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday, Melanie! I'm so glad you spent it the way you wanted to and that sounds like a perfect day to me too. I actually prefer lunch out rather than dinner out. We're both SNL fans to and those old shows were hilarious. I loved the Coneheads too! What a springboard the old show was to so many careers and I still miss Gilda so much.
ReplyDeleteI hope you keep celebrating your birthday the whole month, my dear friend, even if it's in the quiet ways you prefer. Love to you,
Dewena
How fun . . . I would have enjoyed both of your birthdays celebrations. We are both fans of the 70's and 80's SNL, but now I can't really get into it, although Steve still loves watch clips.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday!!!
Connie :)
I'll be looking for you pedaling up my street on that bike! Please bring chilled rosé, lots of it, in the carrier - I'll supply the glasses and we'll chill out Melanie.
ReplyDeleteBelated happy birthday to you both - I know you each had a fun time. Can't say I ever watched more than a smidgen of SNL - guess I'm just not big on comedy!
Mary -
That is so funny....when I was in college, I did an internship at The Museum of Broadcasting in NYC. We did all sorts of retrospective and exhibits. My favorites during my tenure there were tributes to Monty Python and George Burns. I got to meet Brooke Shields in the bathroom, as she was Mr. Burns' escort. Fun memories...
ReplyDeleteI have curly hair that I am able to tame thanks to blow dryers and flat irons. But, on humid days, nothing help and I turn into Roseann Rosannadanna. UnfortunatelyI'm not as funny as Gilda.
ReplyDeleteWhat fun to see all the SNL stuff.
ReplyDeleteWhat fun to see the memorabilia from SNL! Sure loved that show.
ReplyDelete