Hello. Would you like a free Xbox? Yes, I thought you might.
I’m partnering with Xbox to do a giveaway around the theme of “staycations.” The idea is that we should stop waiting for some distant day when we have the time and money to “get away,” and start having fun now, right where we are. By playing video games, for example. Up for grabs is two packages for two winners. It’s $500 worth of good stuff:
-An Xbox console
-Three Family Fun Games
-A Gold Subscription to Xbox for a year
For more about the rules, read the italicized bits at the bottom of this post, but the gist is this: Leave a comment about your plan for your perfect day at home, and you’ll be entered to win. Here’s mine:
Snacks and Chick Flicks that Don’t Suck
The best days are days that don’t require pants. This is why I became a writer.
My perfect day at home is all about pajamas, movies, and snacks. As a woman, I prefer movies with women in them, and I particularly enjoy it when those women have speaking roles. (Hollywood, take note! Female audiences are fickle.) If you have a free day, allow me to lay out your gluttonous movie fest:
Breakfast with a plucky Reese Witherspoon. It’s hard to resist a smart movie about high school politics where Ferris Bueller plays the teacher. This movie pairs well with bite-sized waffles.
Bacon and He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not. It’s in French, so get to it early while your synapses are still firing. Amelie aside, this is my favorite Audrey Tatou movie. I would prefer you not know anything else about it before you watch it. Please obtain a copy. And some bacon.
Make some hot cocoa with tiny marshmallows and settle in for a play. I’ll watch anything with Julianne Moore; the woman has excellent taste in scripts. (We’re all just going to pretend Safe never happened.) The Vanya on 42nd St. plot synopsis explains it all: “New York actors rehearse Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” in a rundown theater.” It is arty.
Speaking of arty, have a little olive oil popcorn with your Parker Posey. I love House of Yes for its stilted, whip-smart dialogue. Plus, Tori Spelling in surprising turn as “not bad at playing that guy’s girlfriend.”
Olive oil popcorn and Maggie Gyllenhaal in heat. If you haven’t seen it, I don’t want to ruin it — though the movie poster pretty much says it all. Let’s just say Secretary is about power dynamics.
Sundae bar with fresh whipped cream, spicy hot caramel sauce, and slivered almonds, plus Kicking and Screaming. We’ve talked about this before. Noah Baumbach? Call me.
That’s my ultimate day at home. I’m beginning to wonder why I haven’t made this happen yet. Now your turn! Outline your day in comments, or tell me what would make your movie-day lineup if you were plotting a day like mine.
But wait! This is the contest fine print. Here’s how the giveaway works: You must be 18 or over to enter and live in the U.S. I’ll pick two commenters as potential winners (to be verified by ePrize). Please include your perfect day at home in your comment, and multiple entries will be disqualified. Comments will be open until tomorrow December 9, 2009 at 9 p.m. Eastern. Winners will be chosen randomly using Random.org, and announced on Friday, December 11. Good luck! Read the official rules here
Mighty Girl 
My ultimate staycation involves the couch, pizza, wine and movies.
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A snow day at home with my fiance, which would mean that we both have the same day off, which has not happened in 7 months. We would have a bottomless pot of coffee and a big pile of sausage, French toast and sweet potato hash browns for breakfast. We’d drag our awesome, as-yet-unused sled out to the park, and play until our fingers were numb and our quads were screaming from dragging that sled up the hill. Then home to a bottle of Pinot, something hot and bubbly for dinner, and early to bed. A truly perfect day would all happen in our weekend house, which we don’t own. Yet.
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My perfect staycation is a morning cuddling with the kids and hubby in bed, watching cartoons, before grandma whisks the little ones away so hubby and I can *cuddle* a little more. Then, we’d hop out of bed, share a shower, and head to the kitchen to make some nice homemade butternut squash soup and cranberry orange cookies together. We’d eat lunch, then spend the rest of the day snuggling on the couch with our cookies and tall glasses of milk daydreaming together about home renovations we will never be able to afford. Ah.
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College football all day long with lots, and lots of homebrew.
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My idea of a perfect staycation would involve starting the day with a copiously large mug of cocoa and a stack of my favorite magazines (Somerset Life and Artful Blogging). Following that, baking something to fill the room with a wonderfully cozy aroma and curling up with a good book. Topping it all of would have to be a delicious dinner (perfectly seared ribeye with goat cheese medallions) and a few fun movies. Bonus points for stormy weather!
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Perfect staycation: watching DVDs of Friends and Sex and the City with popcorn and hot chocolate.
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Perfect staycation would be getting up to hot coffee and a giant breakfast (with BACON!) taking the mutts on a walk, then spending the rest of the day doing photo stuff with NO GUILT over what I should be doing instead. I suppose there would be a bottle of wine in there somewhere. Heh.
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Sleep in with the boyfriend, take a bath and read in the tub while he makes us breakfast – scones, tea and fruit. Paint my toes and read the paper. Snuggle in for some movie watching. Drink wine all afternoon. Order thai for dinner. Read in bed and tell secrets to each other in the dark. Ahhh. Just thinking of it makes me feel so calm and happy!
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A staycation should involve bottle of wine, perfecting a new recipe, listening to music I’ve forgotten I own, dancing around the apartment, and calling old friends.
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My perfect staycation would be a day with my husband with the baby at daycare where we didn’t have to work. We’d sleep in and laze around and I’d be allowed to pick all the horrible movies I wanted.
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My perfect day at home would be much like yours with a very different movie lineup. Actually, forget the movie – just pop in a cd with recordings of Morgan Freeman reading the phone book = I AM A HAPPY WOMAN!
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My staycation involves someone to watch the baby while I sew. There would be lots of hot tea with milk and honey and fresh scones baking. In the evening, I would get to watch Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince because I never had enough time to go see it in the theatre back in July. Popcorn with butter and brewer’s yeast sprinkled on top and peanut M&M’s. Then I would get to sleep though the night without having to find a spot away from the baby and his insistence that we must sleep with 90% of our bodies touching.
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I would be at home with a clean house where my husband would rub my feet and we would watch movies and drink wine and have nowhere to no and nothing to do.
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A perfect day at home…. a cozy blanket, a good book, happy children, a husband who makes homemade cookies to share…. ahhhh, bliss!
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In this snowy weather, I’ll turn all the lights on, the heat up, move my potted plants into the living room, and trade off reading a favorite book aloud with a friend. When we get tired of that, there will be burritos to make. Then games to play and movies to watch. Possibly a nap somewhere in the middle.
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Hmmm. How can I fit tea, Chinese food and a massage (three of my favorite things) into a day at home. Oh yes, make tea, order in Chinese food and have my husband give me a massage. Three movies that would go along with my Asian-themed day’s plan:
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
The Joy Luck Club
and
Rush Hour (my husband’s favorite)
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A lovely staycation includes movies or tv marathons (like watching hours of Mike Rowe.. er- Dirty Jobs I mean..), scrapbooking or other crafty adventures, yummy treats and the company of my bf and snuggly kitty!
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The perfect day at home would start with a big mug of coffee, lox & bagels, NPR, a newspaper, and the crossword puzzle.
Movies would start at lunch. Pittsburgh has an awesome pan-Asian noodle place called Lulu’s. Their pan fried noodles and hot & sour soup would be delivered to my house just in time to start the film fest. I’m having a hard time narrowing down film choices. So, off the top of my head, the afternoon selections would be Fast Times at Ridgemont High, The Big Lebowski, and Reservoir Dogs.
Take a break to whip up some margaritas and burritos. Then it’s dinner! With Gross Point Blank and The Royal Tenenbaums.
What an exhausting day. Time for bed- possibly with a good book and a cup of tea, depending on how tired I am. Just lovely.
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My perfect stay at home vacation is to be snuggled on the couch with my Labrador Garth milo and my Hubby with a warm fire, some yummy coffee and my quaker parrot Binky sitting and sleeping on my shoulder. HE loves to cuddle and sleep on you! WOOF WOOF
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My staycation would be on a snowy day, like today. It would involve a fire, movies, and lots of snacks. I agree that any day that you can hang out in pajamas is the best.
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Since retirement staying inside the house doesn’t qualify as a vacation. My idea of a good staycation would be visiting all those museums in this capitol city that I have never been to even after living in this city for 35 years!
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Perfect day…Hmmm, I would wake up and not have to do the laundry or dishes, or cleaning the bathroom. It would already be done. I would make cookies or cupcakes, and start on all the crafts that I put off because I never have enough time. I would split the time between old movies from Netflicks, Playing the Wii (I don’t have an xbox..I am trying to win it!) and reading all the magazines I have built up.
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Easy. Waking up to a perfectly spotless, completely silent house. Followed by a visit from the masseuse, a facial and mani pedi. Gone with the Wind, Meet Me in Saint Louis, and Amelie marathon. Dad and kids would show up after having the best Daddy/kids day of their life with the rest of the family for game night. They would bring all the food and clean up too, of course!
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My dream staycation is a cold rainy day where we don’t feel guilty for not doing yardwork, and can just sack out on the sofa with the kids, playing bingo, and eating grilled cheeses and popcorn that we popped in an old stainless steel pot because it just tastes better that way. We would watch a movie in the afternoon – or at least, the kids would. I would probably nap. My husband would probably have started napping during bingo. We’d have some warm yummy thing for dinner, like lasagne, and we would spend the evening taking turns soaking in our clawfoot bathtub, then curling up with books in our beds.
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My ideal staycation would be a long, cozy day starting with coffee and butternut pancakes and a good book, stretching into movies and warm soup with crusty bread and melty butter…at some point during the day, friend would show up. They’d be wearing their PJ’s (like me) and would be armed with pillows and blankets. We’d all snack and drink and hang out and watch movies until midnight.
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Staycations are the best when you have a reason to be cozy inside, so the rainier the better. But, either way the day must start with homemade belgian waffles eaten in cozy robes and then a day spent watching instant netflix…which really is the reason xbox’s and netflix were invented.
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My staycation would include a wood fire burning in the fireplace, the dog sleeping soundly at my feet, and one of the best books I’ve ever read in my lap. I’ll be so interested in the book I wont even be able to tell the weekend passed me by…
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A perfect staycation aways starts with sleeping in. A good story is a must; it could be a beloved, nearly memorized book like Mansfield Park, or maybe some watching some Stargate re-runs. I’m an avid gamer, so there’d be some playing of the latest obsession. Right now that’s Boggle, but if I win that xbox, the field for latest favorite would be wide open!
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My perfect day at home would include yoga, playing old records from college on my turntable, Uno with my boys, homemade Mexican food and yummy, yummy margaritas. If I’m still sober (enough), an evening of Battlestar Galactica would be the cherry on top after the little guys are in bed.
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I’d take a long, long bike ride with my honey, with a big Mexican lunch in the middle and an eggnog latte at the end. After that we would have little energy to do anything except eat take-out and watch movies (we’d start with a bad comedy for him and then I’d sneak some culture over on him) before passing out on the couch. Heavenly!
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My ultimate staycation involves loads of pasta and a Godfather I-III marathon.
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I’d pick up a box of donuts for breakfast, then teach my 4 year old son how to play the games, then order a pizza for lunch, and then get my butt kicked by my son by 1 p.m. Then I’d try and convince him to take a nap so that I could practice some reverse ass whooping.
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Sleeping late is the key to any good staycation. In our case, sleeping late involves going *back* to sleep, as the animals provide an un-snoozable alarm around feeding time (6am). But, seriously, is there anything more luxurious than going BACK to bed? We even go so far as to straighten the bed back up, tuck sheets and fluff pillows, just so we can turn the comforter right back down again when we climb back in. So, yes, step one, wake up, step two, take a nap.
The best part of our staycation would involve the lack of agenda. No must-do’s. No need-to-be-here’s. On the fly scheduling. That’s us. We work with a wish list and a whim. Sushi Buffet for lunch? (Absolutely) Wanna go shopping today? (Let’s go to that funky 5&10 we can’t ever go to because it’s on the other side of town and closes at 3pm)
Other things we like on our luxurious day at home? Olives and cheese. Unique booze. A well stocked TiVo. Dinner on the deck instead of at the table. But mostly it’s about having no where to be except with each other.
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There would be no breakfast on my ideal staycation day. Because I wouldn’t be out of bed before 10am. Then I’d take a loooong shower, put on a set of fresh, clean PJs and have something delicious for brunch. (Sweet potato pancakes, maple syrup and bacon, perhaps.) After that, a good book and a healthy portion of quiet would suffice.
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Bed, bed, and more bed. (I’m pregnant, so this may be influencing my answer.) I’ll sleep, do some online shopping, catch up on my blogs, and sleep some more. Did I mention sleep?
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My perfect day at home includes an entirely clean house, an adverturous and non-cantankerous daughter, my sisters, the kids, movies/music/videogames for the kids and boys in the background. we read each other tarot, talk about dreams, share book suggestions, eat snacks, drink margaritas and enjoy the sun shining through the window as my cat shares lots of lovin’ with each of us.
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Well ideally it would involve a lot of junk food, and movies, and my kids (of course the kids wouldn’t fight and the junk food would be calorie free!)
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Perfect Staycation? Watching all the episodes of Supernatural with my fiance while I cook to stockpile enough food in the freezer so we don’t have to eat out EVER! Wheee!
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OOOhhhhhh, great taste in movies!
My perfect staycation day would be to wake up early, start a pot of coffee, and then go back to bed while it brews and snuggle with the animals.
Then coffee and some slow yoga to get the day moving, and then make eggs and toast and juice. A walk with the dogs is in order, thenmovies and baking time.
Only You (the one with Maris Tomei and RDJ) for starters while I whip up some buttermilk and bourbon banana bread. The whole searching-for-the-one-its-fate storyline is awesome.
Then Impromptu, with Judy Davis and Hugh Grant, Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters – just fun and elegant movie about love and passion. And then Chocolat after that – I’ll be baking the more complex christmas cookies now – chocolate madeleines and fudge – best accompanied by Johnny Depp and
When its time to start whipping up some jambalaya for dinner it should be accompanied by Like Water For Chocolate – perfect movie about passion and cooking.
Next up when guests arrive – Cinderalla Man – Russell Crowe and Renee Zellweger at thier best in this one. Uplifting story of love and survival.
And for dessert it would be a toss-up either Mistress of Spices with dreamy Dylan McDermott and the gorgeous Aishwarya Rai, or the 1991 movie Where the Heart Is – both confections of light and fun, for different reasons. (But in WTHI Christopher Plummer plays a bloke named “Shitty”.)
Ahhhh, I think I may actually have to do this next week!
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An English breakfast, tea, cashmere blanket, music, sunshine through the windows, sofa, comfy cushions, Netflix, chicken pot pie, a good book, a walk, dim sum, playing The Beatles Rock Band on the Xbox.
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As the mother of a toddler and a 4 month old, my perfect day would involve 8 hours of sleep, then a nap and uninterrupted time to catch up on reading.
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Pajamas, movies and limitless snacks and diet mountain dew. Husband is a necessity while dog is optional since he is not much of a cuddler.
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The perfect staycation, wake up early watch a movie or two, a yummy breakfast, a nap, then more movies, an even yummier lunch, soap operas, painting my nails, a couple good magazines, then a fabulous dinner with hubby and drinks and dancing with friends all in my lovely new home!
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Rain outside. Movies, popcorn, and hot chocolate inside.
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I’d start with fresh pajamas and a clean face, so I feel like I’m going to get stuff done. Stuff like sitting on the couch with hot chocolate and popcorn and watching the classics of my youth: Dirty Dancing, Adventures in Babysitting, Girls Just Want to Have Fun, and Shag.
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I have a two-year-old, so a best day for me would involve me having the magical power to make her nap whenever I needed a break. We could play and then, bam, she naps when I want to read a book or run out of creative things to do. I’d totally use that as my super-hero power spreading parental joy and well-being wherever it was needed.
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Rainy Day, my sweater, Battlestar Galactica marathon, nap, Arbor Mist.
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A great staycation for me involves watching funny movies, eating popcorn, and snuggling. I can do that for days!!!!!!!!!!!
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The perfect day at home is when you wake up to snow outside, make a fire in the fireplace, and snuggle up with your spouse on the couch. Watch endless movies and play games (on the xbox of course!); getting up only to eat or put more wood on the fire. Finish off the day with a nice hot soak in the bath together – candles lit, wine in hand.
Hmm, I think I feel a vacation day coming on…
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It would start with a clean house and completed to-do list, so there would be nothing nagging at me. Then, food I didn’t have to cook, movies, and children who didn’t fight. And maybe martinis.
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