Friend's Wedding... (Weekend Away part 1).

Hello Readers,

First let me say I am sorry I did not post on Friday the internet at work was not working. Then on Saturday I hung out with my friend and we got lunch and sat in the Commons, she read and I worked on my story. Later another my friend of mine spent the night because we were getting up at 4 AM to ready to leave Boston at 5 AM... And I am so not a morning person.

We drove 6 hours to upstate New York. Kueka, NY near Rochester, NY in the Finger Lake area. That was actually interesting because my favorite Young Adult novel A Northern Light takes place in the Finger Lake area. We did this to see our some good friend get married at the Esperanza Mansion.

I love weddings. I know its part of my hopeful romantic ways to cherish these moments when people dedicate their lives to each other and pledge their love and faithfulness to each other. As I said in the post after my sister's wedding "It was kind of like watching the end of the fairy tale but only to know their life will go on and they will spend the rest of their lives together" (click here). And this was just the same. Even the pastor said that in this day contracts are easily broken because people are no longer happy but marriage is more than a contract its a covenant, God made a covenant with people of Israel to protect them and watch over them. It is a life time commitment.

For me it is always cool and wonderful for me to hear vows being taken because I longingly hope to make vows similarly to a man I love. And it reminds me of what I want. I loved when my younger sister promised to love God first and, husband second. My friends promised to put each other's wills before their own. One day I want to say my husband these wonderful things and to "give him control over the remote" and he will promise to give it back to me.

Then after the beautiful ceremony and the great speeches where the bride's sister cried we danced the night away. I am not a good dancer, total white girl, but I love it. I also love my dress, it might sound totally vain but I loved it with its frills that when I danced swished around. It was so much fun! The DJ played everything from Love Shack to Micheal Jackson, from Lady Gaga to Grease songs. I also wish the place was closer to Boston because it was a beautiful place.

More parts to come, but this post I want to be about how wonderful the wedding is.

From the Car... (Weekend Away Part 2)

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Best Friends to a Single Girl... (Weekend away part 3)

Click here

Brown paper packages tied up with strings... These are a few of my favorite things

I have times I love like Christmas, my birthday, the first time I wear flip flops with out freezing, my first pedicure of the summer, the first Pumpkin spice donut of the fall, and when the September Vogue comes out.

This is one of those days... I have stalked book stores, magazine racks and finally I went into CVS to buy some packing tape and there it was sitting in the center of the magazine rack I saw it the first thing as I came into the store. The SEPTEMBER VOGUE issue. I can't wait to dive into it. I have a road trip this weekend and I plan to take it with me.

I will keep you posted on my findings!

Looking for a fairy tale

I haven't written anything yet and this month I have wanted to write something every day. I was going through the pictures I had collected for this blog (to get inspiration to write something) and I came across this. I like this photo, I found it while trying to google "fairy tales". It is not really how I would think of a fairy tale because I think of stories set long ago with girl wearing long dresses. This picture looks very modern but I can't get away from it. I feel there is a story behind it.

I want to know why she is walking around with umbrella when there is no rain? Why is she is in the woods? Has she run away? What year does she live in? We can't see her face so is she a child or a woman?

The reason why I was googling "fairy tales" was I have a niece, who I say holds the key to my heart. She is 18 months old and I think I have 20 pictures of her around my apartment. This picture is on my phone, I have her picture on my desk and I carry her picture in the locket I wear. So really she is every where in my life and I love her so much. But since she lives in Denver and I live in Boston I wanted to write her a story that she could read and know I am thinking about her. The problem is I was not a big reader growing up, I didn't really like to read until I was in the sixth grade and I loved the story Ella Enchanted. So one day I was googling "fairy tales" to get an idea of how to start a fairy tale or what they should include and I found that picture above.

I am still working on the idea for my story for my niece. I don't want it to be like a typical "Once upon a time" fairy tale but I do want her to right now have her mom read it to her and when she is older for her to read it to herself. I hope I can get it done before her 2nd Christmas.

Lost in Cinema (Part 3)

Last night I went to go see the The Help but I will start off by saying I have never read the book so I wasn't for sure what to expect. I knew it was based in the south and it took place in the Civil Rights movement. I also know from news reports that the movie said the "N" word and how unsettling it was for the news caster. I also knew my sister read the book and liked it and she and I have the same taste in movies so I was intrigued but it was the ads that sold me. The ads also made me believe this movie would be a little bit comedic. It was not. My friend started crying and and I definitely got tears in my eyes. Now don't get me wrong there were some funny moments but I found it very moving.

Before I saw the movie, I thought the Emma Stone character, Skeeter, was from the north and she came down to the south because she couldn't get a job in the north. That is not the case she is from the South but she is different from the other girls around her, she is not focused on getting married and having babies. She wants to be a writer and go to New York. She also seems more aware of the inconsistencies in the life in Jackson, Mississippi but she becomes more aware of the lives around her through writing her book than she ever had been.

When I walked home I updated my Facebook status to tell people that I just saw The Help and thought it was wonderful but maybe they should bring tissues. Two people wrote that the African American Community did not like it because they thought it glossed over the realities of the maids life. I will say this is not the Color Purple by any stretch of the imagination, it also doesn't try to be. Yes there are no rape scenes, but you do learn about the violence that these women faced, and the danger they faced getting there stories published and even talking to a white woman the way they talked. Though it is not a bloody massacre on the screen that's not what the movie is about. I think it was honest and I thought it was good to know even a small detail of the Civil Rights story. Because this I would hope would inspire people to read and learn more about the time period. I know the story is fictional but its based off reality, and that reality is some times a little hard to swallow and though a lot people want to sweep it under the door mat and act like it didn't happen... it did. Talking to my mom, she told me she was raised in a household that had a black maid named Ellie (I hope I got spelling right) and how my Nana made the women of Seminole, Oklahoma upset by paying Ellie a quarter an hour when the other women paid their maids ten cents an hour. I am not saying that its right but it happened and not that long ago and we can't forget it and if people keep writing and making movies about it, it won't be forgotten. However I am not from the African American community so I found a blog review from some one who is click here.

Now back to the movie... The Help is about two maids Aibileen Clark and Minny Jackson and their lives with Hilly Holbrook and Elizabeth Leefolt. Hilly is played by Bryce Dallas Howard (who you can tell is related to Ron Howard) she is friends with both Elizabeth and Skeeter but is the leader of the pack and also the a big "B" word if you ask me and I kept wondering in the movie why no one really stood up to her. The maids couldn't because if they did they risked their jobs and their lives but the other girls let her get away with whatever even making one girl Celia Foote a complete out cast. But after the first few minutes of the film Skeeter wises up to the reality of the world around her and tries to help the maids out by getting their stories out. When she is pitching it to her editor she says "Margaret Mitchell, glamorized the role of the Mammy but no one ever asked the Mammy how she felt" and that's what she does.Aibileen played by Viola Davis is the good maid following orders and helping raise the girl of the Leefolt family. But she is the first maid to really speak up for the maids. She hears a sermon about Moses, when he tells the Lord he can't go to Pharaoh because he is not a good speaker, and the pastor says courage is about knowing what is right and doing what it takes to make it true (sorry I may have gotten the quote wrong) but that is what inspires Aibileen to tell Skeeter the truth. Then Minny, the comedic relief of the movie gets inspired to tell Skeeter her story. And through actions of the movie, I don't want to give it away, other maids speak up.

One small interesting glimpse in the movie that I liked, to show off that Skeeter was different then the other girls was that they scan down to her typing and as they do you see her bookshelf and it has Mark Twain and To Kill a Mockingbird on it.

I hope this movie gets a few Oscar nominations, especially in costuming because this movie brought the 60s back to life and each costume seemed to fit the character.

These are my thoughts on the movie but go and see it for yourself. My friend who I went to go see the movie with wrote a posting on it as well click here to read Random Acts of Babble.