:) When life is a Cheerios commercial...

Have any of you read this before? It's awesome. 

I was having one of those moments on Friday. We had stayed overnight at my parents, so Sam could go fishing and I could just enjoy being there with the kids, visiting with my parents in their home. After Sam got back, we snagged my parents' two dogs, Cocoa (a dachshund) and Piglet (a Pug), and took our three bobbins (aka children) for a walk. It turned longer when we decided to go to the close by school. I took a chance and suggested we drop the dogs leashes, let them wander at the elementary playground we ended up at. They did great. The kids were playing well, dogs were happy, weather was PERFECT, husband was helping some kids in need nearby, and...

I had one of those moments. Kairos. God's time. Just a glimpse of perfect bliss, a glimpse of how God sees these living souls he has created and loves so infinitely. 

It was beautiful. I took a quick video. Enjoy. :)  

What are YOUR favorite movies? Here are mine.

Okay, I just thought this would be fun. I may like movies a bit too much. More than a bit if you ask my husband...

I have a (secret) pinterest board, where I keep track of movies I'd enjoy owning. I can find something to enjoy in most films I watch, but some I wish I'd never seen, some I feel content with and don't want to see again, and others I'd love to see a second time. I claim no aficionado status whatsoever; I often don't know why critics love some movies and hate others. We're keeping it real, people. So! Here are types of movies I (apparently, based on an analysis of my board) seem to enjoy most, in no particular order:

• Intrigues/Thrillers. How can you not enjoy a good intrigue or thriller?! The trick is finding ones without tons of gory, senseless violence. Also no trauma involving children, for me. And take it easy on the jump scenes! I love/hate it! Maybe some examples of ones I do like in this category are The Interpreter, Argo, Inception, Conspiracy Theory and Bridge of Spies. Oooohhhh man. Gotta know gotta know, how will they resolve it?! Super fun. Further themes in this grouping seem to be:
• When someone gets framed for something and is on the run/has to prove their innocence, like Enemy of the State, the Fugitive, and the Negotiator (all edited, let's be clear). 
  

         Run, Harrison, run!

• Courtroom drama, like the Runaway Jury and Rainmaker. 

I saw a trailer for Murder on the Orient Express recently and I am PUMPED! If you want to get me a Christmas present, get me tickets to that thing. Man. 

• Ones where people stand up for something that is right, often facing serious opposition. (Some courtroom ones do this, too.)  So in this category I'd say Invictus, Amazing Grace, The Blind Side, Concussion, The Help, To Kill a Mockingbird and 12 Angry Men are some examples.
  

• Almost the same but slightly different, I'll say movies where they value (or come to value) spouses and families, bettering oneself and being kind to others. But it's not a Christian low-budget film...so that's challenging! I'll say the movies the Family Man, Cinderella Man, the Bucket List, Amelie (reminder: all rated R edited), Shawshank Redemption, Secret Life of Walter Mitty, About Time, the Painted Veil and It's a Wonderful Life might group here.  Maybe it seems weird to group all these together? Not sure how else to say it. 'Feel good,' maybe? I've meant to see Life is Beautiful for a while now, seems like it would fit here; I also just saw a trailer for a movie called You're Not You which, if I could find it edited, seems like it'd fit here and be right up my alley. 
  

• Comedies...I mean everyone loves laughing, right? We just think different things are funny. I generally don't like poop, pee or vomit humor....ew. (Maybe Three Men and a Baby as an exception to that general rule...dealing with baby waste is just so relatable! How can I not laugh?) I do enjoy dry humor (when I can keep up😉), like The Importance of Being Earnest and Stranger Than Fiction. And besides that...I guess some goofy comedy? Nacho Libre, Austenland, Get Smart and the Man Who Knew Too Little. I saw the movie Spy edited and boy did I giggle! I really liked Guardians of the Galaxy, but the sequel I really didn't. 
  

•  Chick flicks in general. This can often be my guilty pleasure category, because I'll watch nearly any. But I really don't like ones where the idea is basically 'the heart wants what it wants, regardless of who you're married to.' Boo. And I may enjoy seeing once, but don't repeat as much, ones where you know in real life the couple would break up after like two days. I'm a fan of when it seems like they'd really stay together, in real life. If that makes sense. Some favorites here are Man Up, Romantics Anonymous and the Decoy Bride. Dear Frankie, actually, has maybe my favorite kiss scene in a movie. Yowza! A further theme in this general group I like is:
• Jane Austen-esque films. I'm looking at you, five hour version of Pride and Prejudice. Also basically any version of Persuasion, though I like Captain Wentworth less as time goes on...dude, it's been eight years. She's a catch. Stop playing games and be direct. 

          New find in this category: Death Comes to Pemberley on Netflix. Love! 

• Finally...I'm gonna just say independent? Hopefully I'm not misrepresenting. I often really like independent movies. They're usually not as high stakes story lines, which can be nice when the intensity of the thrillers is more than I want at that moment. These are tricky though because sometimes they don't even get a rating, so it's hard to know what you're in store for. But they often are awesome about multiple storylines weaving together (which I love), and not necessarily having everything work out perfectly for everyone but a general sense of 'everything is going to be okay, regardless of what has happened.' I recently really enjoyed Table 19 for this, Colossal and the Hollars. So many different people working out so many different issues. Must be the Psychology major in me: awesome. Love it.
  

Besides these most frequent groups you could squish my favorites into, I do enjoy seeing mega-blockbuster action flicks at least once, like Mission Impossible, LOTR, Star Wars and the Marvel ones; I have a special place in my heart for musicals and like to indulge in them from time to time; and I like Alfred Hitchcock movies...generally. I used to really like a lot of older movies but it's weird. I notice the 'women are supposed to be pretty, but are kind of ridiculous, emotional creatures, and if they're out of line can be punished like a child' vibe in a lot of older movies that I used to not notice. Not all are this way but...it's kind of a bummer. Spoiling them for me lately. 

With the exception of the Village and every once in a while The Others, I really don't like scary/ANY gory horror movies. I went through a scary movie loving kick for a summer in college and that was CRAZY! So not me.

I also almost never like...basically Adam Sandler type movies, movies where gore is supposed to be funny, or most any Scarlett Johannson or Angelina Jolie movies. (They play seductresses or violence-without-thought-while-looking-sexy ladies, usually...blegh.) And any movie that leaves you with the impression 'Well, I feel terrible now.' The Good Shepherd and The Talented Mr. Ripley had this effect; also ones that might have been interesting but involved child trauma, like A Time to Kill and Lion. Ugh. 

Honorable mentions! The movie Hours is super good, but so intense I can't see it again; same with the Pursuit of Happyness. They are totally worth seeing, but give me anxiety. Too much.

So If I had to choose...13 movies (edited to my liking) to watch for the rest of my life, as of right now I'd probably choose: Inception, Colossal, Amelie, Man Up, Runaway Jury, Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Sherlock Holmes, About Time, the Man From Uncle, Spy, the Man Who Knew Too Little, Lady in the Water, and the long version of Pride and Prejudice. Whew!

What about you?