Review: The Tree of Life

Yesterday, hubs and I watched The Tree of Life. I found it very moving. One major critique I remember hearing when it came out was the 20 minutes of space/nature scenes and nothing else. This somewhat interupts the telling of the story. But I found it does fit, even though is a bit lengthy. If you can manage to sit through it, you will be rewarded for it.

The boy who passes: artist, lover, gentle, kind

This movie takes true patience to watch. A majority of it is told (or more like shown) from the perspective of a boy growing up. The beginning starts off when the parents find out about the death of one of their sons (somewhere in the 70's or so). Then it shifts to current time with one of the boys all grown up and remembering his brother on the day of his death. The movie seems to be about his journey that day remembering his life and how he finally comes to terms with his death.

We see short snippets and poignant scenes of his life as he saw them.  What I found truly great was how much I connected and understood each character. The boy dislikes his father, and we understand why, yet we feel for his father and understand his motivations and why he acts as he does. This is all done through little dialogue and mostly the changing of scenes like memories.  I really loved the Mother. We see a bit of her life growing up, similar to how we see Jack's life. She is gentle and good and very loving. Her spirit and the way she handles the 3 boy children was beautiful.

Pretty dear

I felt that the movie deals with the issue of our life-why are we here, who is God, why did he create us, why do we have pain? Much of it is different scenes with either the mother or the boy, Jack, talking to God specifically in a whisper. It is hard to explain specifically why I found the movie so touching, but I found myself almost in tears at many moments throughout the 2.5 hours.

Overally, I reccommend this movie. But I also reccommend being in the right state of mind to sit and watch something so out of the ordinary when it comes to film.

Tuesday!

Hi!

Happy Tuesday! Just finished picking up a few things around the house and can hear the hubs in the other room practicing for his Moot court tonight. Go hubs! Matt and I had a really nice Easter weekend up in Iowa visiting some family there. I didn't take any photos sadly. But it was great to see everyone as always.

While there, we had an interesting little talk. I told him that maybe I need to stop eating sugar/sweets (prompted by a discussion about my cousin who stopped eating sugar and is now crazy thin) and he told me I couldn't do it. So I told him I could. Now we are having a little contest to see who can go the longest without sweets.

It is day 2. I crave it particularly after dinner because that is when I tend to veg out on yummy things. Tomorrow is going to be a difficult day. I can usually make it two days and be alright. We have a faculty meeting and there are always cookies! I will have to have a lot of self control.

My easter (dark) chocolate bunny is hanging out in the pantry until he caves. We did not decide what we get if we win. I do want to try and cut out more of the processed sugar that I eat on a regular basis. Nothing like a good ol' contest to get me started (Lent didn't do it...)

In other news, I went to zumba last night with my friend Niki. I am so horrible it is funny to watch. I realized I cannot turn backwards, so I've been practicing a bit in anticipation of our next class, which is tomorrow night. Wish me luck! Matt and I went biking today even though it was a bit chilly. Thanks, mom, for the bike bag!! It was very helpful to tote our things!

Still trying to figure out our summer plans exactly. Matt didn't get the job at AT&T. Boo. He has another interview on Friday. Should I teach summer school? What do you think?

What are your plans for the summer? Doing anything exciting or visiting somewhere new?

Have a nice rest of the week

April already!

Hello all,

I can't believe it is April already! Time really has been flying by. Spring break came and went and now school starts again tomorrow. I do not feel that I got to rest as much as I wanted, and I definitely have a lot of planning to do today. The weather is still incredible!
                                   
                                   

We started out break by driving to Nashville. We ate out at Sperry's for Matt's birthday-yum! Reina and I got pedicures and that was nice. I also finished my 7th book of the year-Hole In My Life by Jack Gantos. A fast, easy read about a boy who makes a bad choice and ends up in prison because of it. Enlightening and I believe a good read for my students.

I drove home on Monday and got to spend a lot of quality time with my mom, which was great! We did a few crafts, and I am itching to do more! We started a scrapbook for the wedding photos and I want to get back and help finish it! We also made a camera strap cover which I am just about obsessed with. It took a few tries, but we got it right eventually.

I also got to spend a lot of time with baby Tommy. He is growing so fast and I just can't believe it. When Cyril was little, I got to see him all the time. I pretty much saw all of his developments until he turned 5. Now, he is also growing so fast and is so smart. I felt this time when I was home that he is more distant from me, which I am sure is because I am not around, and it made me sad.

Something nice from last week was that I got to see a few of my good friends from home. Krislyn, Alyssa, and Jen came over for dinner. I am so thankful for these girls and wish we could see each other more often. But our times together are special to say the least.

Matt and I drove to St. Louis on Friday and got to spend time with Glenn and Nancy, who are a lot of fun. They took us out to eat and we got to go to Ted Drewes, a staple of STL. It was so delicious!!! Matt's interview went well and we will find out about the job next week--fingers crossed.

Now to get through another week of school before heading off to Iowa to see my grandparents. I hope the weather holds! We went biking yesterday and may go again today. I just ordered a lot of photos from walgreens to update my album and also to finally make a honeymoon album. Took my long enough!!

Special Congrats go out to Tim Miller and Katie Vogt on their engagement!!!

Have a nice week!