#24 – One Winter Weekend

Even though its only Tuesday, it’s time to wander off into One Winter Weekend, starring people you’ve seen in other Hallmark movies.  This one starts with an artful flurry in Seattle, where we quickly run into a very stark, white office of some kind of publication.Our heroine is Cara, a writer on the relationship desk at this magazine and within the first 2 minutes, we meet Sassy Friend! Sassy Friend likes to snowboard, but Cara is way too busy to have some kind of life outside of writing and pleasing her micro-managing boss…until magically, boss becomes un-Scrooge-like and tells them to go celebrate New Year’s Eve.

At Cara’s apartment, they fiddle with dresses, and Cara has a pink scarf over a lamp for some kind of ambiance. That is a clear fire hazard, and you know she is not going to turn lights out before they head over to her very new boyfriend Jesse’s place for a party. Cara got in to a creative writing workshop at UC Berkeley, and apparently she wrote a mystery novel. They head over to the party to celebrate, but at the midnight kiss part, Jesse’s kissing some other girl. What a dick!

New Year’s Day – and hero Ben is treating HIS Sassy Friend to wheatgrass shots.  Ew. But they are at the same coffee shop/bookstore that Adam from Frozen in Love would have LOVED (see previous blog).

As Cara has sworn off dating, Cara’s weird boss dangles the idea of a possible Editorship in front of her if she writes about not dating in a relationship column – and for the sake of plotstuff, Cara and Sassy Friend Megan are now off to a snowboarding weekend in the mountains. If all of this sounds stupidly contrived and way more complicated than it needs to be – it is.

Ok, this mountain lodge thing is pretty. While I don’t do outdoor sports, I can look fetching in a chunky scarf in the window while I sip cocoa and watch others fall down in the snow.

Cara and Hero Ben meet-cute over a rental of some kind of snowboard – it’s like the Nimbus 2000 or something. Ben is smitten by how much she knows about snowboards, and how she has pretty eyes.

And Ta Da! Mistake at the lodge has Ben and Cara sharing the same wood cabin chalet! They both freak out, but it’s not like this chalet is not bigger than my house or anything. Male Sassy Friend is named Sean, and he’s a doctor, and he is super happy to have Female Sassy Friend Megan to bond with while Ben and Cara seem to be pissed at each other for no real reason.

It seems Ben is some kind of fancy famous guy, but it’s very unclear as to what he actually does. He mentioned something about a charity for kids…and he knows a lot about snowboarding – is he like Shaun White or something?

In a nice twist, Cara is encouraging Sassy Friend to go for what SHE wants (which is not to be the assistant to the crazy boss). They are sitting in a sauna wrapped in towels. I feel like that defeats the purpose of a sauna.

Cara and Ben banter nicely.

OK – both girls are going to go snowboarding, and no one is wearing a turtleneck. They are going to get pneumonia just for the sake of wearing a v-neck shirt.

While getting on the slopes, they see Ben talking to some girl, and are suspicious about what he’s doing. But never fear, it’s nothing shady – he’s donating snowboards to an event (which he doesn’t want to attend because he has to stay out of the public eye for reasons that have not been explained yet) and he’s just coordinating the boards delivery. You know, as you do.

I do NOT believe that Cara knows how to snowboard.

Sassy Friend Megan has to do stuff for the crazy boss (on the weekend) and now Cara and Ben are on the chair lift all by themselves. They are having a very in-depth conversation about wine charms, which I thought stopped being a thing in 1999.

For reals, this “chalet” is gorgeous. Ben picks up Cara’s mystery manuscript, which he loves, and she says “Oh, it’s something that I threw together.” That is a crap way of talking about what clearly is something she is proud of and wants to do full time. But don’t worry, because now they are being cute over bratwurst. That’s not a euphemism, they are going to have sausage and coffee. I don’t think those two things go together.

Sean plows into Megan on the slopes and her one wrist is broken and the other one is sprained or something.  Good thing he’s a doctor!

Ben gets talked into going to this Camp Snow benefit by the blonde girl from earlier. He just wants to give back, you know?

Ooooh, Ben has some kind of secret – that is available to read about on the internet – and he’s scared that Cara will find it! Wonder what it is! But he’s throwing caution to the wind and asks her to go with him to the snowboarding fancy function. He’s on a snowmobile, and she climbs on behind him. “What do I hold onto?” she asks.  “Me” he says, pushing his visor down over his grinning face.

Seriously. That just happened.

She’s all dressed up in a mini dress and heels for this thing, but they are still in the mountains in the snow, and she doesn’t bother to put her coat on completely but treats it like a cape. I don’t get this. She will be so cold!

Cara just pulled a “First Edition Arthur Conan Doyle” off a shelf in the lodge. This book has a paper cover. I don’t believe that was a thing when Doyle was writing. I hate inconsistency and bad set dressing – it’s like in plays, when bookcases are filled with Reader’s Digests condensed books – people do not actually own those.

Sassy Friends are at a trivia night. I would much rather be there except for the fact that it seems like all the questions are about snowboarding.

So even though Ben has been publicity shy, someone does snag a photo of him and Cara, which shows up on social media, and evil workaholic boss finds out what Ben’s big secret is – he dumped a girl on the eve of the Olympic trials. Why is that even news? And seriously, workaholic boss, go the hell home! Get some sleep! She immediately calls Cara to spill the beans, and Ben’s publicist calls him to yell about getting a picture taken with a pretty girl.

Now both Ben and Cara are freaking out because Cara thinks Ben is a player, and Ben thinks that Cara is going to write about him because she’s a journalist. And workaholic boss wants her to do it, which leads to conflicting feelings, and you know she’s gonna quit her job. Ben wants to leave the resort, but there’s a blizzard comin! No one is going anywhere. Time for cozy fireside time.

So much honesty right now.  Ben is explaining why his life is hard – he’s the CEO of a snowboarding company, and the board of directors think he … oh you know what? Who cares.

They keep getting kiss blocked by people. And with the quick break in the blizzard weather (that was fast) they all decide they need to drive away from the blizzard because that’s safe. But they have a massive misunderstanding – all because of crazy boss who writes Cara’s headlines for her before Cara writes the articles. That bitch.

Sassy Megan charges forward with her career and puts forward to be the Office Manager, instead of crazy boss’s assistant. And Ben just quit his job. Hope he has COBRA. And Cara quit her job too. Her resignation says it will be effective February 1st. But unless the whole month of January was during that one weekend snowboarding trip, why is she walking out of the office with the requisite box with a plant in it?

Ben writes her a note and they meet at the bookstore cafe. She has a thing about embroidered collars on sweaters. It’s weird. And Ben just quoted the movie title in his big speech about how he likes her. If we were at an 80s teen party, there would be a slow clap right about now. And we’re done.  Oof, this was a hard one.

January is almost over, but you know what is coming next, Hallmark Fans? Countdown to Valentine’s Day! This is gonna be awesome! I’ll fill my DVR in the next 2 weeks, just so you don’t have to.