"It's our motto" " What's a motto?" "Nothing. What's a motto with you?"

I have, what I like to call, a "fro" or a "mane" as my husband often refers to it. He is, in essence, calling me a Lion. This happens for a few reasons.

1. I have naturally very curly/wavy hair

2. I blow dry it

3. I then sleep on it (I’m a night showerer. I have to go to bed clean)

4. I wake up from a night of sleep-walking, talking, tossing and turning and WALA, we have a “fro”.

Now, after having slept on said “fro” it’s impossible to try to re-straighten it to perfection after it has just gone through 8 hours of being utterly destroyed. Oh believe me, I put up a fair fight and I battle it in the morning, but it is to no avail.

There are a few possible suggestions I have for myself, and since I don’t do them, I will rebuttal each one.

1. Take showers in the mornings

               A. I would much rather sleep in for that extra 30-40 minutes (time it takes for a shower and blow-dry) than get out of bed. I love sleeping. It really is my favorite thing to do in the world. So why on earth would I want to get up only to deal with the mane on my head?

2. Wear my hair curly
              A. My hair does this thing where it’s curly in some parts, wavy in others, and frizzy to the max pretty much everywhere. If you think I have a “mane” when it is straight, well then you have another thing coming in the curly department. We’re talking King Lion status!
             B. This would also entail that I would have to wash my hair everyday. I have no time for such things. Plus, when you wash it everyday you take away its natural oils. And since I do blow-dry often, my hair-stylist says I shouldn’t wash it everyday. (By the way, all you people who use “volumnizing” shampoos. There is nothing scarier to a person with “Lion-like” hair as the word VOLUME. It creates a fear like no other. I mean, think about it. MORE VOLUME! More hair, more poof, more Lion?! NOOO!)
3. Try hair-styling products
          A. I HAVE! Everyone single one you can imagine. Every brand you can imagine. I’ve used it all. I have yet to find a perfect fit. I think this is mainly because there isn’t one. I just have curly hair, there’s nothing I can do about it, other than be a Lion. The only products that have helped a little are the serums. Bio-Silk in particular, and it makes your hair smell oh so clean.

The thing about this whole situation is that whenever I get my hair done, it’s like magic! Poof! The “poof” is gone. I have sleek, straight, beautiful, smooth hair. No sign of a mane having ever existed. I have watched her technique and tried to copy it, but alas! I cannot win. It is as if the Lion in me always comes out. The funny thing is also that, girl Lions don’t even have manes. So not only, do I look like a Lion, but I look like a male Lion. There is just no winning in this entire situation for me. *Sigh* I think I will try buying a new blow-dryer. We’ll see if that does anything. I will keep all of you updated. In the meantime, I will continue on in my Lion-ess state and hope for Lion-less hair in the future. :)

Oldies But Goodies

Sorry I haven't posted lately. We took a detour and flew to PA to visit the other side of my family (Jesse's side). It was a great time and I really am missing everyone there.

Today I am going to discuss something that pretty much anyone that knows me well enough already knows. I love old movies! Give me some Film Noir anyday. Nothing like a good black and white on a rainy day or on a date night with the husband. I think this passion of mine for old movies began when I was very young. I used to spend summers with my grandma and we would just watch old (not old to her) movies all the time. I can't even begin to tell you how many movies I watched during those summers. I learned so much about the actors of the 30s, 40s and 50s, the "Golden Age" of Hollywood. Even to this day, I would LOVE to have lived during that time. It just seemed like Hollywood was magical, quite the opposite of today. I fell inlove with actors like Cary Grant in "Bringing Up Baby" and "The Philadelphia Story", Laurence Olivier in "Wuthering Heights" and Alan Ladd in "Shane". I idolized femme fatales like Rita Hayworth in "Gilda" and Vivien Leigh in "Gone With the Wind" and "A Streetcar Named Desire". I wanted so badly to be Audrey Hepburn in "Sabrina" and "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and Gene Tierney in "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" . I'd give anything to learn surfing so I could be like Sandra Dee in "Gidget". I laughed with Mickey Rooney, The Marx Brothers, Lucille O'ball in "I Love Lucy" and "The Long, Long Trailer", Bob Hope and Bing Crosby in the "Road To.." series. I wiggled in fear of the Alfred Hitchcock classics "Pyscho" and "Vertigo" and I gasped at the epics adventures of Charlton Heston in "The Ten Commandments" and "Ben-Hur". There are so many countless others, I can't even begin to name them all. Needless to say Turner Classic Movies is my favorite channel. :)

The best part was that everything was rated G, sure sometimes the content I didn't fully understand, but the acting was good and the story line was fantastic. That's the problem with movies today, they have become so CG that they have completely lost what a story is. Not to mention the actors today don't even really have to act, everything is done for them later on the computer. But not those old movies. There was no CG, it was just real acting and raw emotion. Real people in real situations, no tricks or green screen. Almost all the movies they make today are remakes of older movies. And it makes me sick the way the ruin them. Adding sex, violence, gore and everything else to degrade the movie. Sure, maybe I sound like an old-timer but it's true. And don't get me wrong, these old movie tackled very difficult subjects like muder, rape, sex, ect. but not once is there nudity or gore. And yet they still managed to make those movies and get the point across. Now, that is good acting, writing and directing. These days they take people who have no acting skills and expect them to fill the shoes of film legends like Bette Davis or Katherine Hepburn? I just read they are in the process of remaking "Wuthering Heights". Sorry, no, please try again. Thank you.

For a list of references of must-see old movies please see my above list or email me if you have a particular genre in mind that suits you and I will do my best to help you with some direction. Happy movie hunting :)