So even though fall might be coming embrace color still...pleaes people don't just go to browns and blacks now that calander has flipped.
Sorry if I don't post tomorrow I will be moving tomorrow.... can't wait for this experience to be over.
This is my cat from over the weekend making sure I take her too.
A blog I follow, Writer at Large posted her results to book quiz (click here) its a really simple 4 question quiz. So I was intrigued to tell me what it would say about me... 
I am happy and sad to say that I have finished the Jennifer Donnelly trilogy of The Finnegan family, the Tea Rose, the Winter Rose and the The Wild Rose. I am happy because I love the writing so much I was waiting for so long for this book to come out but sad because its over and I want to read more about The Finnegan family.I feel the story could go on. Each of the Finnegan children have big families we could see what happens to them. I want to know what happens to Katie, Fiona's daughter.
The first book... The Tea Rose follows the story of Fiona. Goodreads.com says...
The second book... The Winter Rose though it starts off being about a girl India Sewlyn Jones she gets involved with the Finnegan's clan through some twist. Goodreads.com give a little description of the book with out any spoilers.
I did find a good blog The Sleepless Reader that writes a review of this book. I don't feel I would do these two books justice if I wrote about them as I have not read them in two years and some of the details are hazy and I would hate to give spoilers away, especially since my sister is reading this book right now. But now I want to re-read the first two books so I can remember all the plot twist that got the readers to The Wild Rose.
This book is set in pre-WWI and during WWI. In the book we follow Fiona's youngest brother Seamie's story and the woman that changes his life, Willa Alden. I don't know much about WWI so it was a great story that covers details of the suffragist movement in England to control over the Middle East. An interesting character Lawrence of Arabia even plays a big part in Willa's story. 
Which I will admit I loved because Peter O'Toole played him in the movie... and I love Peter O'Toole. I will also say at one point in the book I was so worried for Seamie and Willa's love story I had to read the last few pages just to make sure it ends happy... I got so caught up in these character's lives I wanted to prepare myself if was going to end happy or sad.
Okay that's not much about those 3 books but I loved them... that much is true and if you love twist and turns that will keep you up till 2 AM and love late Victorian Era to WWI, and a love stories of passion I recommend these books. These stories have adventure, love, hope and inspiration all in one. Also I can tell Jennifer Donnelly, has a deep love of history and she loves to make sure everything is dead on accurate and the great research she does makes you feel you are in the scene with the characters.
I have discovered a new blog A Day of K she has a few post about being an English major and not being able to define what she wants to do with her life at least not in words.
The closest I will ever get to fame
Ain't no thang - freelancing
2. Carry a notebook everywhere... Yes I carry 2 one where I write my story and the other one that I write thoughts for my story or this blog. I have carried notebooks with me for a long time because you never know where inspiration will hit.
10. Know your roots- I am not sure how far I have to go back for this. I know on my mom's side I am 13th generation American with ancestors fighting in the Revolution and the Civil War. My mom has kept me well informed on her side of her family as she loves gen I am from Oklahoma, and sometimes I have stories floating in my head about a country girl. I wrote about when my Grandma was sick that..."As a future archivist and a want to be author. I love that she has kept all her journals and notebooks from when she was younger. She also has kept all her family and our family's photo albums neatly organized. I would love to one day be able to explore her world a little bit more." (for more click here)... I would still like to explore more into that world and know those roots better.
11. Listen to new music- This is a little hard for me to follow because I love the songs on my blackberry and I don't really listen to the radio minus some Saturday mornings when I listen to WERS here in Boston that plays the Best of Broadway from 10-2. (If you like Broadway Musicals but don't live in Boston they stream live through the Internet... click here.) But when I do discover a new song I keep it going on my play list. My music has changed through the year... it's not knew but in January I saw Jersey Boys and love Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and after seeing Footloose I love the 80's music. But I love when people give me new music to listen to. For example one of my best friends recommend I listen to Pomplamoose... and now I love them too.
12. Be Open- Working on this because I know what I love and I am stubborn sometimes to discover new things.
13. Surround Yourself with Creative People-All my friends.One of my best friends is learning how to play the ukulele, and wants to work with stain glass and the desserts she makes are so creative and tasty. A lot of my friends like to paint.
14. Get Feedback- I like hearing what people think of my story. If you want to read it... click here it is based off the plot of Sense and Sensibility but I have changed a few things.
15. Collaborate- This I have hard time doing because I get lost in my own world.
16. Don't Give Up- This I need to have posted on my mirror as a daily reminder.
Okay I promise to write more on these rules later.
This weekend I am going to a friend's baby shower and finish packing up my apartment. Can't wait for this move to behind me.
They will be putting up links to my blog on their blogs and I can't wait for the "unveiling". I already have the links up on the left hand side bar I put them up a few days early because I the end of this month is crazy busy for me with a friend's baby shower, packing up my place, starting classes and oh yeah my move. But go check them out they are fun to read (and they update very frequently). 
Last night I went to go see Footloose the Musical at the North Shore Music Theater. The first thing I learned was a majority of the girls I went with (8 total) I was the only person (maybe my friend's mom had seen it) who had seen the original movie. Footloose is an 80's movie classic right up there with Dirty Dancing and going back further Grease. The second thing I learned was even though I love the classic, I should not try to compare the two against each other but to love them both separately.
But let me say there will there will never be another Kevin Bacon...though some have tried. If you don't know what I am talking about for awhile there was talk when the new Footloose (movie) came out Zac Efron would be playing Ren (Click Here). 
I will also say I love movies turned into musicals... I loved Legally Blonde the Musical. And I liked this musical as well...though it would be awesome to see it with all the production value of a Broadway Musical behind it. The North Shore is a round theater so it has unusual limits.... no drastic set changes, as well as smaller stage but I think how the stage company made the sets, rather it be the church, school, burger joint, or dance hall was great with some imagination. And we had great seats... in a round theater the seats aren't far away they are all close to the stage. But in a round theater you also get some moments where the actors are standing with there backs to you (its unavoidable) but for the most part my friend did a good job picking out the seats where we didn't have the actor's butts shaking in our face as they danced too much.
I found the first act thinking Ren is not that stupid in the movie... and I am not sure if it was the writing, actor, or director. In the film and musical Ren is just trying to adjust to living in a new town with the past of his father having just left him and his mother. But the whole town Beaumont is watching his every move and trying to trap him into trouble (while the girls sing "Some body's Eyes"). I just felt like the usual corniness of musical (that I love) was some taken too far to Ren being a little goofy... not the cool, street-wise man that Kevin Bacon played.
The second act was better for Ren, he got more to the heart and the pain that was Ren. But I would say I missed the whole trapeze dancing that Kevin Bacon (or his really good sump double did). I also missed the Tractor Chicken scene where Ren takes down the bad boy Chuck Cranston. But I loved being able to sing along to the 80's songs I know by heart. And I loved how some of the choreography from the film carried into the movie, like Ren teaching Willard to dance, or the girls with their hands in the hair whipping themselves around looking so flawlessly effortless (if I tried to do that I would like a girl having a seizure).
I think the characters of Rusty and Ariel were done nicely. Ariel was good at pretending to be the good girl for the first 5 minutes but then we get to see her bad girl side. We also learn quicker, than movie, that it was her brother that died and she is trying to get away from that memory and that pain. 
And Rusty love for Willard even though he is awkward and can't dance is so cute when she sings "Lets hear for the boy." Though I loved the awkward love story of Rusty and Willard it is hard to think of another playing Rusty besides Sarah Jessica Parker. Also Reverend Shaw Moore, was also embraced well with his sense of making sure everyone did what the Lord wanted, but still questioning was right and holding on to the pain of losing a son.
Over all I left the theater feeling happy... and that is the point of a musical to feel happy. But I will admit it was hard for me to take a movie I have seen a million times and not compare the musical against it. So maybe it was better for my group, who hadn't seen the movie to just see the musical, because they could love it for what it is and not compare it to the original. Though 3 of the girls had seen it in London and thought the big production value that musical had was worth it. 
We shall see what happens when the new Footloose (not musical) get released come October... I wonder if any one from the original cast will make an appearance. The only person I recognize in the cast is Dennis Quaid playing Reverend Moore. If this is set in the 80's I will have to break out the leg warmers. 
Throw a beach party in the middle of winter and have everyone change from their snow boots to flip flops when they get there.... I would do this in March because by end of February beginning of March is when my feet hate going into boots that I have shoved them in for nearly 3 months. I would love to have a party where I get to wear flip flops.
Enjoy these times of Summer and keep wearing flip flops
Today during some idle time I found this posting about finding your soul mate on a blog I follow, Cup of Jo (click here)...
As mentioned in part 1 of my weekend away (click here) I had a six hour drive to upstate New York. During these six hours besides taking some naps I flipped through and read articles from the September Vogue that I wrote about my love for on Thursday it is 758 pages and I am sure my cat who is 7 pounds probably weigh the same. There was an article about a woman survived the 9/11 attacks. It was a reflection of how she survived even though she was burnt over 82% of her body. It was very powerful to hear about how she at first struggled to survive for her son then when she found out how many people died in the attack she pushed to survive for all those people.
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.
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.
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.
Dear lovely readers,
Inspired by my post on Friday about 33 ways to stay creative posted originally by FlutterHappy. I wanted to explore the rules I follow...
Grandma Danford had no statement to come back to the stranger. She simply cleared her throat and moved on to find out about Nicholas’ education. Grandma Danford had an opinion on all subjects brought up and she freely spoke them as the whole family knew they were indebted to her someway or another. Though Grandma Danford hardly spoke to Ethan, which could be seen as rude to not be gracious to a guest but Grandma Danford was at a loss when some one spoke out. But Emmy did find out that Ethan was from a prominent family in Sussex with a large estate there.Julia said it was such a it was such a shame that he was such a dull because he was very rich. If he had more of personality she would see him as a much better friend to Nicholas.
“Out of all the friends Nick has I find him the least interesting, I do not wish mother insisted for Nick to bring him. Last week he read us some of the the tales of King Arthur and never so much had I wanted Lancelot dead as I did that night. Though I suspect mother has long wanted us to marry, I guess that is why mother insisted on him.”
“So you do not like him?” Emmy asked her shyly.
“Heavens no, English men are so dreary and irksome.”
“He didn’t seem so at tea today.”
“Emmy, he hardly said five words,” Julia laughed at her cousin’s foolish swooning. “I wouldn’t
recommend you falling for him either, you are nearly eight years younger than him and I know you read novels but in real life men of wealthy families do not make unfortunate matches.”“Thank you cousin for your warning and if my mind was going that way your warning would be wise but it wasn’t, you can have him.”
“Yes cousin,” Julia gave Emmy a smile a smile as if she didn’t believe her.
Emmy wouldn’t admit it to anyone but secretly and suddenly she did have a crush on Ethan. He had a gentle smile and was very sweet to everyone. He also didn’t treat any of the Cromwells poorly because they weren’t in the same rank as he was. And this kind behavior would attract any girl to him. But she soon saw the dreary ways Julia spoke of and though he was sweet she also saw they had little in comm with each other. He had no interest in adventure in seeing anything beyond his nose, he even described the hills of Italy ordinary. How could any one describe the hills of Italy as boring or not want to see the Serengeti Plans, she thought.
“In my foolishness, I have dreamt of my first love so long it is no one wonder I lost my head over Ethan,” Emmy wrote in her journal. She realized Julia had changed and she could not share her secret crush to her. “I have had so many almost love. There was Peter but he pushed me in the creek on the fourth of July, when I was nine. Then there was Andrew, Marcus, Robert, and Finley of course they were just sporadic loves it was Patrick Cooper that was my true love and he hardly noticed me. And while I waited patiently for him I had crushes on another Marcus, a John and a William. But William paid more attention to his pet frogs than girls. And while I had all these almost loves, I dreamed of having my own love it was no wonder I took to Ethan who was kind and noticed the way my eyes shined when he read some Keats. But besides Keats Ethan shows a lack of passion I would need. He would actually be perfect for Laurel.”
