How Do I Feel About My Bangs?

How do I feel about getting bangs, you ask?

Well, I'm not sure.

I think my expectations were a bit unrealistic.

Looking back on it now, I'm pretty sure that I went into it with the expectation that having bangs would make me into a more beautiful person. But, instead, I look more or less the same. I still look like me. Except I have bangs now.

And I'm not any more beautiful.

I Got Bangs!

It happened. I did it. I really did.

(I suppose I could have posed for a better picture. Those are my pajamas you're seeing.)

I Love Thomas Merton

So, there is this Catholic Trappist monk who was also kind of into Buddhism and interfaith understanding who I really love. His name is Thomas Merton.

Here is a quote from him, in his especially awesome book, "New Seeds of Contemplation":

"A saint is capable of loving created things and enjoying the use of them and dealing with them in a perfectly simple, natural manner, making no formal references to God, drawing no attention to his own piety, and acting without any artificial rigidity at all. His gentleness and his sweetness are not pressed through his pores by the crushing restraint of a spiritual strait-jacket. They come from his direct docility to the light of truth and to the will of God. Hence a saint is capable of talking about the world without any explicit reference to God, in such a way that his statement gives greater glory to God and arouses a greater love of God than the observations of someone less holy, who has to strain himself to make an arbitrary connection between creatures and God through the medium of hackneyed analogies and metaphors that are so feeble that they make you think something is the matter with religion." 

I just love him really a lot. That is all.

Montessori Schools

I was talking to this lady from church about education the other day. Her kids went to a Montessori elementary school (J.J. Hill Montessori in St Paul, for those of you wondering), and she was wondering how they would transition to a regular school setting when they entered junior high. So, when he entered junior high (Ramsey Junior High in St Paul, for those of you keeping track), she asked him how he was transitioning. And he said, "It's easy. The teachers do all the work for you."

And then we were talking about how our church school (St Mark's in St Paul, for those of you still playing along) wanted to increase their enrollment (they're goal is 50 new students in kindergarten for the new school year, but it's been said that they would be happy getting half of that), and I suggested that they should make it a Montessori school because parents today (at least all of my friends) love Montessori and people are willing to pay for a Montessori education. I know I, personally, would rather pay for my kids to have a Montessori education over a Catholic one (which is what I actually do... but we get a HUGE scholarship.). I just don't see much difference (aside from being able to talk about God in school) between the Catholic school model and a regular school. (Vern used to be an elementary teacher and has taught in a couple of Catholic schools.)

Maria Montessori (the founder behind this whole thing) was a devout Catholic, but there is only one Catholic Montessori elementary school in the Twin Cities area, and that is way up in Blaine.

Maybe I should suggest that to the school board or something. Now, if only I were that type of person...

Retro Vernon (and This Is 36)

Yesterday, Vern and I stopped at this store called Retro Wanderlust in Hopkins, MN during our "Vernon and Allison Date Day", and I requested that he try on some shirts:

Then we went to the movie "This is 40" at the cheap theater in Hopkins, and it was weirdly, kind of embarrassingly, similar to our lives. As in, we had similar faults as the characters in the movie. Vernon said something about that, and I said, "It just means we are similar to Judd Apatow, and that makes us cool."

There is this one scene in the movie where the couple is having a nice, peaceful moment, and she says to him, "Why do we fight? It makes no sense at all?" And he says, "When we get in a fight, look in my eyes. Let’s remember this moment right now and know that we never have to fight."

And Vernon and I have had almost the exact same conversation, word for word. (Except, I went so far as to suggest a code word that would remind us not to fight and remember the peaceful time.)

Anyway, so then we were at church today, and (some of) the kids were being kind of frustrating, and Vern leans over to me and says, "This is 36."

And I say, "Am I 36? I'm not 36, am I?"

And we both thought it over for a bit and came to the conclusion that I was 35 (not quite 36). And so I said, "This is 35... when you can't even remember your own age anymore."

Ah... good times.

Warm Bodies

I've been staring at my MOVIES tab, wondering why the heck I still have a MOVIES tab.

And then it occurred to me... I should write about movies again! (It was one of my New Year's resolutions, remember?)

So, I will.

And I will start with Warm Bodies. Which was awesome. So much fun. But also tenderhearted and meaningful. I laughed. I cried.

Vern said, "That was really well done."

Remember Rob Corddry, from The Daily Show? He was in it. But that doesn't really have anything to do with anything because his role wasn't really that big, but I was kind of excited to see him. Same goes for Dave Franco (James Franco's brother). He is always delightful. I've enjoyed watching him in the 21 Jump Street movie and on Scrubs.

Yeah, so Warm Bodies is about this zombie boy who, in the most unconventional way possible, falls in love with a human girl. And some other interesting stuff happens, and then it's over and you are delighted for having watched such an enjoyable little movie.

(Aren't I good at these movie reviews? It's a wonder I didn't do them more often.)

Our Annual Valentine's Day Picture

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

We do a picture like this every year. Click this link to see years' past. (And last year's.) Oh, how the kids have changed.

Snowmen

Good snowman making weather today.

Thank You.

I reached my goal for my documentary a couple of days ago (with 33 days to go in the campaign). Wow.

It's a weird, kind of embarrassing, and kind of humiliating thing for me to do (asking for money), so I probably won't write much more about the campaign from here on out.

But I do want to say this:

It has also been a powerful and humbling experience for me. It almost brings tears to my eyes every time I see a new donation has come in. Whether it is from people I know really well, people I hardly know, or people I don't know at all... it is an equally powerful and humbling experience. Friends have donated, fellow birth people, filmmakers, and other names that I can't even place.

A total of 39 people so far.

Thank you.

A friend of mine was telling me how she thought it was funny how I had the same perk (an on-screen credit) for any amount given. I told her it was because I had nothing else to give. But I was thinking about it some more, and it's not just that. It's more that every single one of the donations means a great deal to me. Like, maybe one person's $5 is another person's $50, you know? The intention behind it is the same: somebody is giving money in love and support of me or my project.

And that means a lot.

Thank you.

As a good friend of mine told me when I was crying about this at playgroup one day (long story, don't ask): "It's okay to ask for things."

And so it is.

Thank you.

Netflix Recap

Our month of free Netflix streaming has come to an end. Here is a recap.

Movies Vern and I watched together:


Drive - Ryan Gosling. Boring.
Take This Waltz - Michelle Williams and Seth Rogan. Really enjoyed the beauty of it.
Young Adult - Charlize Theron. It was alright.
Jim Gaffigan: Beyond the Pale - Funny.

The Queen of Versailles - Interesting documentary.

Mr. Universe - Another funny Jim Gaffigan special.
Bernie - I watched this one because I saw that Jack Black got nominated for a Golden Globe for it. It's about real-life events, but made to look like a documentary, with actors playing the parts of the real people.

Merton: A Film Biography - I love this guy, Thomas Merton.

Conan O'Brien Can't Stop - documentary about Conan's tour after he got fired from the Tonight Show. Conan is rather biting at times.
Everything Must Go - we only watched part of this, because we fell asleep. It was alright.


Movies I watched on my own:

Melancholia - Kirsten Dunst. Didn't know what to think about it.
Three Magic Words - Cheesey.

Afterlife - Not that interesting.
I'm Reed Fish - Alexis Bledel and Jay Baruchel star, which is why I wanted to watch it, but it was rather bland and not that interesting.
Spork - kind of like Napoleon Dynamite, if Napoleon Dynamite were a 14-year-old hermaphrodite girl. Cute.
Happy - a documentary about being happy.
The Future - For some reason, I've always wanted to see a movie by Miranda July. I had heard about her somewhere, and made a mental note to watch one of her movies sometime. This was a quirky and good little movie.
Tiny Furniture - I watched this because I saw that it starred Lena Dunham, that 26-year-old behind the HBO series Girls. It was good. Nothing groundbreaking, but a fairly solid independent flick.
The Human Experience - Documentary. Just ended up watching part of it. Okay.
American Mystic - Documentary. Just watched part of this one as well. Not that good.
 

Movies Vernon watched on his own:

For Greater Glory - some kind-of religious movie about a Mexican war.
Pearl Jam Twenty - a documentary about Pearl Jam. Vernon loves Pearl Jam.


Overall, didn't really, really enjoy all that much of it. The only one that I really, really liked was Take This Waltz, but I wouldn't even recommend that one to everyone because it is kind of different and I can see it not being everyone's cup of tea.

So, now, back to our regular scheduled programming... (The Office, Supernatural, Shark Tank, etc)