Since kids are in 'summer' break and they have been away a few times, I have the luxury to tuck under the blanket, turn the lights off and enjoy some movies...with the husband next to me. Here are the latest three...

I Don't Know How She Does It
I first read about the review in Mommies Daily, written by Lita. It's the one  movie where all working mother can totally relate to! A story on how we're always on a run and how hard it can be to juggle both worlds. We might not always sprinting like Sarah Jessica Parker does on the movie, but we do similar kind of multitask, we feel the same amount of guilt, we experience the same level of exhaustiveness. I love the ending where she refused to fly out of town because she already promised her daughter that she will be there during the next snow and make snowman with her. A brave and liberating decision by her. But that's only confirm my thought that there are no such thing as balanced life between career and family. There are trade-offs, but not balance. In the case of this movie, she can choose between meeting a potential client where it can jump up her career, or take a step back so she can fulfill her promise to the most important people in the world? Or maybe I'm just haven't mastered it, yet. This movie also shows us how being busy can make couple feel disconnected and drift them apart. And when someone decent is very appreciative of them and make them feel a little bit special and relaxed, the marriage can easily be doomed.

Julie & Julia
I've heard about this movie from Affi, about 2-3 years ago where we were invited to speak in front of AFS students. (I wonder why it took me so long to watch it). She used this movie as an example of how doing things you're passionate about can take you to somewhere you have never been. And there are many ways to do what you like. When food is your calling, being a chef is not the only option. You can have a culinary blog, you can be a restaurant/recipe reviewer, you can be a host of a culinary TV show, or you can open a restaurant, you can work in F&B and I'm sure there are more profession out there that are related to food. I love this movie. I love Julia character that portrays a very loving, brave, affectionate, warm and humble lady. I feel like I want to hug her. Meryl Streep is amazing and Nora Ephron movie is never disappointing. My favorite quote from this movie: You are the butter to my bread!

One Day
An absolute tear-jerker. I think I cried for more than 10 minutes toward the end of the movie. It's a story about two people who are graduated from the same college but just really learned about each other in their graduation day. Then they developed a strong friendship, with a little fling in between. There are so many twists and turns until they finally realized they belong together and then marry each other, 18 years post graduation. Unfortunately, happy ending is not in order and that's how I'm reminded again to never ever take anything for granted. Everything can changed in a mere hours, even minutes!. I LOVE this movie. It's based on a novel by David Nicholls, so many who have read the book is a bit disappointed. But I haven't read it and had no expectation when I watched it and turned out, I find it beautiful. Aside from the dramatic story, it offers breathtaking scenery of Paris, London and the other side of both countries. I watched it in Blu-Ray so they are even more sharp.  I'm also impressed by the aging process of the characters that have been portrayed perfectly. Oh, and Jim Sturgess is that charming in this movie.