Ponyo

The other night I watched this sweet little movie called Ponyo.


It's by the same director who did My Neighbor Totoro, and I think you get the same delight watching these two movies. Plus Ponyo has a little of The Little Mermaid mixed in.


I've told you before how much I love My Neighbor Totoro...  wait I totally thought I did, but searching my archives I don't see one. Wha?!?

If you haven't seen this movie.... then I'm sad for you.  It's such an ode to the imagination of children. And it's totally funny!

Here's a trailer. That theme song is amazing.






and I'm so glad I found another movie that's like it!

Ponyo trailer!



Personally though I think the voice clips they take for the trailer is a bit misleading for the story...

Go watch it!

Misty water-colored memories, of the way we were

Remember The Nanny? I've been watching it lately, and I just remember how much I loved watching it back in the day. (Remember Fran's love of Barbara Streisand? Hence the title)

It's so surprising though to see how fuzzy the video is.... makes me feel old to see how far technology has come in my lifetime!

I also have to say that this show has one of the best show theme songs. Love it.




What are some of your classic shows from your childhood?

Some of my other ones are Gilmore Girls, Friends, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, aaaand I can't think of anymore, help a girl out??

PS. I have also been enjoying Nesquick chocolate milk. Reverting back to childhood much?

Mary Kate and Ashley

Dear MK & A,

Thank you for all of your wonderfully cheesy and corny movies to supply me with pre-teen entertainment. I couldn't begin to explain to you how excited I was to discover pretty much all of my favorite movies of yours on netflix instant play.

Because I have seen My Lips are Sealed so many time and Holiday in the Sun, I decided to watch Passport to Paris {that's the movie that made me want to take four years of french after all} and Winning London.

MK & A, I just want to tell you what a influential force you have been in my life. I bonded with friends over your movies and recall the awesome lines found frequently in each and every one of your movies. I think of your movies and apply them to my live pretty much as often as Little House on the Prairie, and anyone that knows me knows that those books made me who I am today.

And though I personally prefer these girls

to these girls,

I think you grew up pretty nice, and anything that you did with your lives would have been okay because of the amazingness you created as children/teens. I hope I can get my children to watch you too!

Plus your dresses are really pretty in that last picture.


I hope all of your Valentine's Day  plans went smashingly! Mine were sans date, but magical none the less because it's all about love, any kind of love right??

Jane Austen

Now I am pretty sure all of you are familiar with Austen (at least one movie if you haven't read her). I *love* her books, Persuasion is my personal favorite so far. Something about the past regret and all that angst.

I was watching The Jane Austen Book Club with my sister tonight (can you believe she has an english degree and has NEVER read an Austen??), and it inspired me to read Sense and Sensibility one I have yet to read though I just finished Mansfield Park last night and was planning on a different book and would rather re-read Persuasion. 

 I don't always love each part of Austen's novels, but something always makes me want to come back to the stories-- I just need to make it through all of them so I can start over again! (The only one I have read twice is Pride and Prejudice because I couldn't remember the differences between the book and movie anymore.) So when I finish Sense and Sensibility, the only Austen's I will not have read is Northanger Abbey and Lady Susan. Any of you read those two yet?

So, to get to my point, what is your favorite Austen and which is your favorite movie version?? (can be different than the book)

I have already said which movie version is my favorite... 2005s Pride and Prejudice.

*Sigh* It just never gets old.

PS. Has anyone read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies?? I always hear good things about it, but I could never bring myself to buy it. I *did* however read the first page in Borders.

Lovely all around

Tonight as I was getting ready for bed, I looked down at my oversized sweatshirt and sweatpants. Warm? Sure. Cute? Not so much. I wouldn't even answer the door to a solicitor in these things. They aren't ratty or anything, but to me sweats just say to people you see that "Hi, I don't care what you think of me."

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind when other people where sweats or anything. I get the days when jeans are just not looking that good. It's just for me I can't wear them in public.

So I was thinking about a little something I have been wanting for a few years now, but I can never find one up to my expectations.

Remember the nightgown Eliza wore while singing "I Could Have Danced All Night" in My Fair Lady?

I want it. Real bad.

Any tips on where to find one similar? It doesn't have to be exactly the same, but whenever I see that similar style I go weak in the knees. I just find them oh-so romantic, don't you agree?

PS. Isn't she just darling in this movie?? It's my favorite of hers.

Getting into the holiday spirit

Look what my wonderful sister did for me while I was in class tonight!

(No one wanted to buy and decorate a whole tree, so this was a good compromise! And free)

I just love white lights across the dark green branches. It smells good too!

A bit of glitter to catch my eye when I lay in bed...

And we cant forget my desk!

One of the best parts of it is that I get to keep it all in my room and see and smell it all night long!

Don't I have just the best sister??

A Day of Thanks

In honor of Thanksgiving tomorrow I decided to share with all of you this little gem:

Fact: I drew this a few months ago. Felt nostalgic for childhood crafts during my film class.

Your welcome. Now go forth and eat a lot!

Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis

I watched this a few days ago for the first time. Apparently I really liked it because I am still constantly singing

"Meet me in St. Louis, Louis.
Meet me at the fair..."

and that's all the words I know. But it's quite catchy.

Meet Me In St. Louis ("Meet Me...

But now, I must go write a little because I am nearly 10,000 words behind in Nanowrimo.



PS. Did you guys know that "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" was originally sung in this movie?!

So long, Oprah.

Dear readers,

I'm sure you've heard the news, and if you haven't I'm sad to report that next season will be the last for Oprah.

Maybe not all of you watch her, but we all certainly know who she is. I grew up watching this lady (Don't ask me why I was watching Oprah in elementary school, I got nothing.)  and can't imagine what daytime TV will be like without her there.

(luckily she teamed up with Discovery Networks to create OWN, stands for Oprah Winfrey Network. Interesting acronym, no?)

On a brighter note, what did you guys all think of New Moon??

I thought it was pretty awesome, K. Stew wasn't as twitchy and Robert looked pretty good. I found it kind of weird that the majority of people in the theatre I went to were middle-aged couples. Wayy more men than I imagined went.

Did anyone else get super dizzy when when we were watching Bella on the forest floor? It felt like the entire theatre was spinning. And Taylor Lautner is just so darn cute.

Poor kid is so objectified. I'm *pretty* sure on every interview he does they talk about his abs. With good reason of course.

The Princess and the Frog

Personally I am quite excited that Disney decided to step back from Pixar-like

animation and make this movie seem more hand drawn like the classics we grew up with.

Disney basically made my childhood for me, and whenever I need a bit of nostalgia in my

life, but have a limited amount of time, I just blast my Disney playlist that has ALL my

favorites from back in the day.

Sigh, I hope my kids love these movies as much as I do, and don't just think they are

outdated....

Ps. was I the only one who was thought the D is Disney was a weird G for the first 15 years

of their lives?

Days with my Father

A beautiful site filled with little tellings of this man and his last years with his father.

In between crying I found myself laughing. Highly recommend visiting it.

Reading it reminded me how much I miss all of my grandparents and family that have passed on.

I wish I could have spend more time with all of them.

Days with my Father

discovered at Le Love

Good Day Sunshine

Listening to the Beatles, I am looking out at the window at the cloudy sky. There goes my tanning plans for today, but it leaves me to edit some blog stuff. And that means its nice and cool to do some exercise in the backyard!

I know, I know, the picture behind my header is neither of roses or peaches, but they seem so happy and bring the feeling of sunshine and spring and happiness. So I'm keeping it there. For now at least. 

Right now I'm waiting for my The Complete Novels of Jane Austen Wordsworth Library Collection which is supposed to be a really nice copy.  I looove nice copies of books! It was a good price on Amazon too, I just had to wait a few months for it : )

This last weekend I cleaned out our garage and went through boxes of old books from my parents high school and college years. It's so interesting to read all the comments people left them and seeing their pictures! We really see how much we look like them and how similar we were at the same age. I hope my kids will one day love to read through my yearbooks and see all of my pictures and see how much fun my friends and I had at homecoming and annual school events!

Gosh I miss spirit week, and St. Francis day and community lunches. Even the uniforms! (I loved basically wearing pjs to school for four years.)