Today was a rare day. Max was out of school due to parent/teacher conferences (and yes, people, he is advanced beyond some of his classmates bc he can read and do math. I’m relieved the teacher will start him on some enriching reading projects). I wanted to spend time with him rather than plopping him in front of the tv all day (it was only a few hours this morning. Don’t judge) so we had a fun day.

First we went to my favorite bakery, Mueller’s, for a donut (sprinkles. him) and eclair (with weak coffee. me). Then we went to the flea market. And later we watched Where the Wild Things Are. This book had special meaning since, well, yes, since the main character is Max. Like my son. Got it? Let’s move on.

So they take the simple, short story and transform it into a 2-ish hour movie. The cinematography was great. It was so…artistic for a kids’ movie. I wanted to freeze several frames and make photos out of them.

The story was good. It gave depth to who Max is, why he acted like a wild animal, and even gave backgrounds to the monsters. The costumes were amazing. Their personalities made me laugh.

The only part that left me dangling was this one monster, Carroll. He has anger management issues, and I’m not clear why. I want to say this was a magical, perfect movie, but there was a bit of darkness to it…that didn’t really manifest. I was surprised to see the dark side creep in, but had they taken it all the way I would have respected that more than just the toe-in-the-water approach with everything ending the way it’s supposed to.

Sorry I’m being so cryptic. I don’t want to spoil it for you, but if you’ve seen it and want to talk about it, email me!

I’m definitely glad we saw it, and I recommend you see it too.

I just finished reading A Complaint Free World by Will Bowen. Basically he came up with the idea to give people at his church bracelets and whenever they complained, they’d switch them to the other wrist to be more aware of their actions. Their goal was to go complaint free for 21 days.

It struck a nerve.

In trying to better myself, complaining is definitely something I can do without. It makes me feel dirty and negative, and I just don’t need that in my world. So I put a rubber band on my wrist and have been working toward not complaining.

It’s hard.

The first day I realized how much I do complain. I’ve had a day here or there without complaining (or else I forgot to notice that I did) but I’m a ways from my 21 days in a row.

When you do this exercise, you notice how much other people complain. I’ve just not responded when someone’s spewing negativity and they usually stop.

Max even got in the game, and when he whines, he’ll usually say, “Oh! That was a complaint!” and switch his band.

I urge you to take this challenge with me. Read the book if you’re interested, or just put on a rubber band and stop complaining.

I swear I wrote a review on this book already. I’m really surprised I didn’t, since I keep thinking about it months after I read it. At any rate…

I thought Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert was some sort of key to better health, by the title. But then my best friend in the universe, Andrijana, whose book tastes run identical to mine, told me otherwise.

I have a strong belief that certain books come to us when we need them most. When I read this, I needed inspiration and a little adventure. And it made the decision to move to China a little easier.

The author’s going through a bad divorce and a bad rebound relationship. She decides to take a year off and travel to Italy, India, and Indonesia for some mental, spiritual, and physical rest. I love to travel, so of course this appealed to me.

She finds challenges, like surviving a silent retreat, that are completely relatable. But I also envied her, because she’s my age (ish) and did things I could never see myself being capable (traveling around the world for a year alone being one).

Still, I loved this book. In thinking about China, I have determined that I need to have some sort of spiritual goal to make it a better trip. I am Buddhist (did ya know?), so being where Buddhism sprang up, was repressed, then rose again, will be inspirational. It will provide a different spiritual context for my life. I would also like to start meditating. I suck at it, so I hope to find a meditation class. Other than that, I want to slow down (yes, honey, I do listen to you) and enjoy life more.

What about you? Did you read the book? What did you take from it?