Dinner and a movie and some life perspective.

I am not now, nor will I ever be, one of those bloggers who desires to make a buck or a living from her blog. I am a mommy blogger, but in the most basic definition of the term: I blog about my children, my family, my life. I do it as an online journal that I can one day pass on to my girls. In fact, I recently found a website that will turn your blog into a photobook, and I am working on formatting the pages so that I can get them printed as photo-journals to keep for my girls.

I like blogging more then journal writing because when it is out there for the world to see- and perhaps most importantly, for your own family to see (family being your best and worst critics), you tend to be more polite. At least I do. And while I will talk about the difficulties and the worries in my blog, I do so with a more open-minded tone of voice. Many years from now if my daughters read this, I want them to understand that life wasn't always easy, and it wasn't perfect, but at the root of it all there was happiness and love.

And so I blog.

Why do I mention this? Because last night Greg and I had one of those rare date nights. We went to dinner and a movie. Well, actually, we went to the movie, first: Julie & Julia. The ultimate blogger success story- if that is the success you are looking for. And it made me think about my blog, of course, and made me realize that while becoming a blogger - turned book author- turned into a movie- is awesome for Julie, it is not for me. Unless someone wants to make a movie about a research scientist trying to secure a job as a tenure track college professor while raising two well adjusted and happy girls? We did enjoy the movie, but as much as I love Amy Adams, I would have enjoyed it more, I think, if the whole movie featured Meryl Streep as Julia Child. Besides, we really went for the part about Julia Child. Greg recently finished his week long "French Cuisine" boot camp at the Culinary Institute of America, so he was interested in the food aspect of the movie. One thing I have to say that Julie Powell got right: it is all about the butter. French cooking is not healthy cooking, but at least they understand portion control! Then, in honor of the movie, we went to the posh, highly rated, and very expensive local French Restaurant. You know what? It was just OK. Greg could have cooked all of our dishes, and some of them even better. (A ceviche - which is defined as a citrus marinated seafood dish- that was dry and without citrus? A risotto that was too salty?)

So I guess the best think about the night was that it gave me some perspective on my life, and it made me appreciate what I have. And that was worth the movie tickets and pricey tab.

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Addendum: my good friend Kim over at House of Prince also saw the movie this weekend and wrote her own post about it. She asked the question, if a movie were made about you, which actress would play you? Here is my choice for me:

Winona Ryder. BTW, Did you hear they were making a Heathers sequel?