Austenland - The Movie

One of my favorite novels Austenland by Shannon Hale is getting made into a movie! I have always wanted it to be a movie and two years ago I heard hints that it was in the works & even more promising news a few months ago. Then on July 5th the announcement finally came with the cast as well. Here is the movie description taken from Fickle Fish Films Stephenie Meyers production company's site.

“AUSTENLAND” is a romantic comedy about 30-something, single Jane Hayes, a seemingly normal young woman with a secret: her obsession with Mr. Darcy—as played by Colin Firth in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice—is ruining her love life; no real man can compare. But when she decides to spend her life savings on a trip to an English resort catering to Austen-crazed women, Jane’s fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman suddenly become more real than she ever could have imagined.

The Cast (taken from Shannon's blog / IMDB)
First as Jane Hayes we have the lovely Keri Russell 

I use to watch Felicity back in the day and liked Keri from that. But more importantly she is from one of my favorite movies a Hallmark movie called The Magic of Ordinary Days. (I wish I could find a real trailer for the movie but can't, if you haven't seen it I would highly recommend it)

Mr. Nobley is being played by JJ Feild who I found extremely charming as Mr. Tilney in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, here is a little taste.


Mr. Tilney is so sweet I was wondering if JJ can do the proud Darcy type, it looks promising.


I am also very excited to see him in Captian America.

Martin is being played by Bret McKenzi as in Bret yes THIS Bret


and this Bret

Let's not forget this Bret


Maybe one more he was in a music video for The Black Seeds called So True

Miss Charming - Jennifer Coolidge
Miss Charming was written for Jennifer Coolidge 
The first thing that will always come to mind when I think of Jennifer is snow peas. 

We have so much in common, we both love soup and snow peas, we love the outdoors, and talking and not talking. We could not talk or talk forever and still find things to not talk about. 

Colonel Andrews - James Callis
Was in Battlestar Galactica but more importantly Bridget Jones Diary (love connections to Colin Firth)

Mimi don't you think he looks a little like Desmond

Mrs. Wattlesbrook - Jane Seymour

Do I need to say anything more than Dr. Quinn?

Lady Amelia Heartwright is being played by Georgia King 

She played Rosamond (she loves St John) in the 2006 BBC miniseries Jane Eyre
She was also the mean girl in Wild Child not that I have seen that movie twice.

*Edit if you want more see my post More Austenland - The movie

First to understand why I love Austenland by Shannon Hale you need to understand why I love Pride & Prejudice. I am stealing from a post I did in October of 2007 called Liz On Top of the World.


When I was younger around the age of eleven or twelve I loved to stay up late on Saturday nights and watch whatever black and white movie PBS was playing. One night PBS played Pride & Prejudice (the 1940 version with Greer Garson & Laurence Olivier). I loved Elizabeth with her sharp whit & pert opinions and of course was smitten with Mr. Darcy. The funny thing was I had never heard of Pride & Prejudice and did not realize it was even based off a book. Then a few years latter the BBC version came out all 300 glorious minuets. It was incredible going from an almost two hour movie to a five hour movie. For Christmas the next year I asked for all of Jane Austen’s books. 


The description of Austenland from Shannon Hales website is as follows...

Jane Hayes is a seemingly normal young New Yorker, but she has a secret. Her obsession with Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, is ruining her love life: no real man can compare. But when a wealthy relative bequeaths her a trip to an English resort catering to Austen-crazed women, Jane’s fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman suddenly become realer than she ever could have imagined

It is true I love Mr. Darcy/Colin Firth I mean come on what other Austen hero in any of the movies can pull of those britches like Colin? (Not Mr. Knightly, you know what I am talking about Debbie)

*Edit if you want more see my post More Austenland - The movie there are also updates at Austenland Movie Fans tumblr.

Camping 2011 Edition

This is the fourth year our family has gone camping at Oak Creek Canyon just past Sedona and again it was great! We get to enjoy cooler weather, great food, each other & nature. 

You know what happens when you let your niece borrow your phone? It gets sticky finger prints on it & you get a lot of picture of her making funny faces. 

Unlike other years we interrupted our trip to go see the new & concluding Harry Potter movie. Here is William waiting to have his mind blown!

After the movie William was so excited he kept saying he was Harry Potter & was casting spells left and right.  My favorite was when we were walking out he went to a door and said "alohomora" which of course is the unlocking spell. 

I didn't take any picture except on my phone and only had it while going to the movie & didn't pull it out again till we were packing up to go home. To see more picture you can go and see Debbie's posts. Oak Creek Camping and The Creek

Is it just me or is this guy just to cute to handle?

I was so shocked the first time I handed him a wand he started to wave it around and jabber up a storm. 

Here is a video in case you missed it on facebook.

Gracie really is my best friend, she even slept in the tent trailer with Vaeh & I. She even told me about her plan for when she grows up to live with me. Debbie had told me she had told her but it made me smile to hear her say it. She even let me braid her hair, something she hardly ever lets me ever do. 

You're a Wizard Harry Potter

I am going to share how to make your own shirt/bag using freezer paper. 

First step is to transfer (I traced) your design onto the freezer paper. 

Next you cut out your image with an x-acto knife.

You will also need to decide if you want to use the negative or positive

See when I made my Muse bag I painted the negative.

For this you need to buy the spray fabric paint.

Then you put the shiny side of the freezer paper down and iron on your freezer paper template. 

Next you paint your shirt.

White on black takes several coats but any mistakes can easily be fixed with a black fabric marker.

Once you have applied as many coats you desire you remove the freezer paper

and voila!

You can even put the left over cut outs to good use!

Alright I am out tomorrow so let me wish you all a very Happy Harry Potter!

Oh Yes!

I am getting ready to go on our families yearly camping trip up by Sedona that is later this week. I feel more relaxed just thinking about spending four days up in the pines reading and having fun with my family. My brother Mark and his family will be leaving for Nebraska so soon and I am extra glad for this time to spend with them. I am going to miss them terribly.
Some of us will be taking a short break to drive to Flagstaff and see the new & final Harry Potter movie. Debbie text me on July 5th and asked if I thought it was possible to finish all the Harry Potter books by the time the movie came out. I gave her my ipod that had all but the third book on it so she could listen/read. Last I knew Debbie was on the fifth book, but she may have finished it today. I know this will sound silly to some but I am so proud of her. I was thinking I would like to make a shirt for the movie and was glad when Debbie had the same thought and was already working on it. I think I am just going to do simple and I really liked this idea.

Here is a link to other Harry Potter t-shirt ideas I liked over on Pinterest (why are you not on Pinterest yet?).
I had to steal this from Debbie's blog it was just to cute.

As much as I love Pinterest, Blogs, Twitter, Facebook & Instagram it is always nice to take a break. So if you don't see me around Thursday - Sunday you know why.

And for no reason at all here is Gracie as a princess witch (witch like Hermione), while I had to be Darth Vader.