Movie Review: Revolutionary Road

I have been putting this review off for awhile so that I can give some good thought to it.

Why did I go see this movie?

1. I thought that seeing Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet together again (after Titanic) would be good.

2. It looked like a movie that would resonate with anyone who has ever been in a relationship.

How did I feel when I walked out of the movie?

1. I felt really disappointed.

2. I felt embarrassed that I made my husband go see it with me.

3. I felt tense and depressed.

My thoughts on the movie:

I remember when the movie was almost at it's end looking over at my husband who looked as uncomfortable watching this as I did. This movie was obviously written by someone who does not have good thoughts on marriage as every relationship in this movie seems disfunctional. When we left the theater, I appologized to my hubby. We both agreed that it was uncomfortable watching the characters fight - you really felt like you were a part of it. We agreed it was a bad movie.

However......

The next night, while out for dinner, we began talking about the movie. We both brought up our thoughts on the characters and the relationship that they had with one another. We agreed on a lot, but we also brought out other ways of looking at things in this movie. We related some of the movie to our relationship and our past, failed relationships. By the time we were done discussing the movie, and our relationship, we both seemed to realize that the movie wasn't all that bad and that maybe we got out of it what we were supposed to.

I would love to share our thoughts on this movie, but I do not want to give it away or ruin it. So, I will just leave my review as is.

Did you see this movie? What are your thoughts?

PMS - Or Just A Bad Day?

So.....I am sure that I will be stirring the waters with my topic, but I want to know what you all think.

I am generally a pretty easy going person. I do have my opinions but I get along with everyone. People who know me know that I don't curse, I don't say mean things to people and I am usually fairly happy in appearance. Of course, I can have my complaints now and then, but I laugh them off.

I know people who are complete opposites from what I mentioned above, almost 365 days a year. You can never make them happy, they are upset with the world and carry a super huge chip on their shoulders. That's fine, they are entitled if they feel so inclined.

What I am about to say may surprise you, but once a month, usually only one day, I can be a little moody. I can be sad or a little on edge and I have been known to pick a few fights with the hubby. You might know other women who get this way, heck, you yourself might be this way.

The question of the day is: If women are emotional or have a bad day, why do men always blame it on PMS? When they have a bad day, they can't use that excuse - so why do they feel we are not entitled to have a bad day?

I am just asking.......

Delegation - How To Be Effective REPOST

Picture by KM Photography

We all get to be the boss sometime in our life, whether it be with our work, our school, in our homes or with our children. Being a leader has it's challenges. There is a job that has to get done and you either need help with it or you need someone else to complete the task. There is a certain way the project needs to get done and usually a time frame that has to be met. Knowing how to ask for that help and see that the project gets carried out is a skill some people need a little help with.

#1: Describe the job and the outcome that needs to be reached. For example: "Today, we need to get this mailing out to all of our clients."

#2: Specify who's responsible for meeting this goal: "I would appreciate your help in spearheading this project and seeing that it gets completed today. Can you please take care of this?"

#3: Describe the steps that need to be completed so that the project is successful: "It's important that we make enough copies of this memo so that all of our clients receive it. We will need to put it on letterhead, prepare labels and envelopes and tri-fold the memo so that it fits in the envelope. Then, let's make sure that the correct postage gets applied and that the mail is done before the carrier arrives at 4:00 pm."

#4: Ask if there are any questions or concerns with accomplishing the task: "Do you have any questions? Do you think that you will be able to get this mailing out by 4:00 pm today?"

As the employee being given the task, this would be the time for you to clarify the instructions to make sure that you understand everything that is being asked. Far too many times, employees feel intimidated and they proceed with a project without fully understanding what needs to be done. This leads to mistakes and delays in completing assignments.

#5: Make yourself available to the employee and check on their progress.

#6: When you see that the job is completed, praise your employee: "I see you got those memos out. Thank you so much for taking care of that, you did a really good job. Those memos were really important."

The steps above can be applied to any sort of delegation, whether it be asking your kids to do a chore or working with groups for community service. Following these steps will help make you an effective delegator.

Question Of The Day

We are going to have a little fun today with a mini-meme. Here goes:

"List one thing that most people don't know about you"

I will start:

When I was nineteen, I was an extra in a movie. I spent a day on the set and was chosen out of hundreds of people to be in 4 scenes. Unfortunately, 2 of the scenes ended up on the cutting room floor. I did not have a speaking part, but it was so much fun. It was later aired on USA cable under a different name than what it was originally slotted for. I got paid a non-SAG wage of about $60 but I would have done it for free. I was able to record the movie from the television and now have it to show my kids, my future grandchildren and anyone who wants to hear my, "I was once famous" story - lol.

Now it's your turn......

Movie Review: Marley & Me

Hang on to your Kleenex! I knew this movie would have a sad ending, but I couldn't help crying during the last twenty minutes. Was it a good movie? Yes, of course! Should everyone see this? Yes - most definitely!!!! The movie, over-all was part comedy, part drama. It was very entertaining.

Marley & Me wasn't just a movie about a cute dog. This movie was about love, life, family, choices, and happiness. The movie follows John & Jenny Grogan, a newly married couple, played by Owen Wilson & Jennifer Aniston. The casting for this movie was great - the two made a very believable couple.

John & Jenny decide to get a puppy, enter Marley. Marley is as adorable as can be, and if you have ever had a puppy, you can relate to all of the wonderful side-effects to taking care of puppy. If Marley isn't chewing the floor, howling at thunderstorms or humping the stuffed animals, he is running off down the beach with everyone chasing him. This dog becomes a lot of work for the newly married couple, who eventually decide to start a family.

Throughout the movie, we learn about the Grogan family and the trials and tribulations of building a solid family and about holding onto your individualty. I related to a lot of this movie, since everyone always looks at the greener grass on the other side and wonders what it would be like. We see this when we observe John's relationship with his successful friend, Sabastian.

John and Jenny build their family and realize that it is all worth it; the screaming kids, the sleepless nights, the chewed up couch and all the joys that family brings. Throughout the movie, Marley ages as does the family. I began to cry as I realized that the dog has been there as a permanante fixture of the family and as he ages, we know the inevitable will soon happen.

Although it has a sad ending, the movie really is wonderful and I hear the book is great too. I hope I did not spoil the movie, but I really enjoyed so many aspects of this that I wanted to share it with you.

Did you see the movie? Could you relate with it? Do you have any CRAZY dog stories? The floor is open.....

Repost: 15 Tips To Stay Positive

This is a re-post of a great article written by Donald Latumahina on his blog, Life Optimizer and with permission, I am sharing it with you:


There are times when we must go through negative situations. Maybe people say something negative about us, or they show rejection or even resentment against us. In such situations, it may be difficult to stay positive. We may be inclined to react negatively to them. That won’t do us any good though; doing so will just make the situation worse. People may behave even more negatively to us. Our day would be filled with anger and disappointment. At the end, nobody wins.

Though it’s not easy, it’s important to stay positive in negative situations. Beat the negative situations by staying positive. Here are 15 tips on how to do it; pick the ones that work for you:

1. Never respond when you are not calm. If you are not sure that you are calm, don’t respond. Take time to calm yourself down first.

2. Take a deep breath as a first step to calm yourself down.

3. Speak in gentle tone to reduce the tension of the situation.

4. Realize that you can find opportunities in negative situations. Albert Einstein said: “In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.”

5. Look at the content of what people say to you for something positive that you can act upon to improve yourself. Don’t just reject the whole messages.

6. For the rest of the messages which is negative, simply ignore it.

7. Maintain positive view of the people. Maybe you don’t like their messages or behavior, but that doesn’t mean that you can hate them personally.

8. Realize that having negative feelings will just hurt you, not them. So there is no reason for you to have any negative feeling.

9. If you make mistakes, be open to admit it.

10. If you make mistakes, remember this quote by George Bernard Shaw: “A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.”

11. If you can, listen to motivational audio program to feed positive thoughts into your mind.

12. Talk to a positive friend who can encourage you.

13. Remember your favorite quotes to give you inspiration and motivation. This is one reason why you should have quote of the day.

14. Look at the negative situations as your training sessions for real life. The higher you climb in life, the worse the negative situations would be, so you’d better be prepared for them.

15. Realize that you can’t please everyone. In fact, nobody can. Sometimes you need to just let some people go. Realizing this will relieve you from a lot of unnecessary burden so that you can focus on the people that you can positively interact with.