Jane Austenland

Did you know that Pride & Prejudice is celebrating its 200th birthday on January 28th? I read this article that sums up Mr. Darcy pretty well, it's from Stylist UK.
"The attributes which Darcy possesses – he’s mysterious, intelligent, handsome, misunderstood, moral and unafraid of being mocked by a woman – still provide a template for the ideal suitor. A template which has been replicated by authors and film makers ever since; the unapproachable, difficult male figure who, although wholly unpleasant at first, turns out to be kind, gallant and selfless. And we fall for it every time."
And what better way to celebrate it's 200th birthday than by sharing the great news that Austenland the movie got bought by Sony Pictures after premiering at Sundance this past Friday! Which means it will be playing in theaters in the US later this year!
Here is an adorable picture of Bret, Keri & JJ at Sundance. 

HitFix had one of my favorite reviews...

"To be clear, Hess isn’t breaking any ground here. “Austenland” is a crowd-pleaser with a smart script and a cast that appears to be having a jolly ol’ time. What sparks the most is McKenzie who shows he can easily be a romantic comedy leading man (assuming the Oscar winner even wants to go in that direction) and Coolidge who may be doing her same old schtick, but hasn’t had this much screen time in years and is completely on her game.  Russell becomes increasingly more feisty as Jane takes control of her own story.  Feild does his best Colin Firth as Mr. Nobley and genuinely makes the audience unsure of who they want Jane to end up with.

“Austenland” is one of the most commercially friendly films to screen at the festival in years.  It’s hard to imagine almost every mini-major in Hollywood not having a serious interest in acquiring it."

Here is a Q & A with the actors after the screening. 

And a short clip from the movie!!!

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Am I the only one who is super excited about seeing Bret in a romantic roll?

Out With The Old In With The New Part 6

It is a new year and you know what that means, my list of favorite movies from the past year and what movies I am looking forward too.
Les Miserables the musical has been a huge favorite of mine since I first saw a special on PBS. I have seen the movie twice and loved it even more the second time. I bought the soundtrack the day after Christmas and some songs already have 33 listens.


I am such a huge Batman & Chirstopher Nolan fan, I really thought this was a great end to the series. And Catwoman was exactly what I would have wished her to be.


Oh Wes Anderson you make me laugh so much!


I also enjoyed The Hunger Games, Breaking Dawn part 2 (I could watch Lee Pace as Garrett all day long) and Snow White & The Huntsman.

The movies I am looking forward to the most are mostly from books! First and foremost is Austenland which is premiering at Sundance this month!!! 

We also have The Mortal Instruments, which it has been awhile since I read but watching the trailer brought back my love for the series. 

The Host, I wasn't happy with the younger casting of the film BUT once I saw the trailer all my Ian love came back.


I am excited about Catching Fire mostly because of Finnick!

And although I didn't like The Great Gatsby I will be seeing this movie as well. Also Jack The Giant Slayer looks good too. Everytime I think about how this

became this

it brings a smile to my face. I am so proud that Marcus grew up to be awesome.

Christmas Highlights

My Christmas festivities started Saturday the 22nd. First up was lunch with Melanie & Melissa we think this was our fifth year of getting together to celebrate Melanie's birthday & Christmas.

 Birthday cards is kind of our thing and doodling on the envelope is kind of my thing. We went to Oregano's for lunch something we hadn't done in a long time so that was fun. I also got some awesome gifts! But what really got me in the Christmas spirit was my friend Melissa who decided to do the 26 acts of Kindness to honor the Newton victims. She left a hundred percent tip for our waiter, and giving was always such a part of Christmas growing up it inspired me to find more ways to serve those around me.

That night was our families adult family dinner/white elephant gift exchange. We started the night off by going to Zupa's.

After every came back to my place for our white elephant gift exchange. Do you know why it is called a white elephant gift exchange? I read about this in a book, I think but since I can not remember where here is the Wikipedia version.  The term derives from the story that the kings of Siam (now Thailand) were accustomed to make a present of one of these animals to courtiers who had rendered themselves obnoxious, in order to ruin the recipient by the cost of its maintenance. 

Mark showed up to my house in his ugly sweater, maybe next year I will join in the ugly sweater fun. But they are not easy to come by. Mark has us play a game they played over the radio by playing songs from movies and everyone guessing what movies they were from. My brother Brett and sister in law Angie were my real competition but my dad guessed the Cars song and we won!

 My dad surprised me with such a sweet gift. He came up with a bag that held two hats and told me to pick one. I grabbed the red one and he put the blue one on. My mom then explained while looking through a catalog he saw these "Sherlock" hats and said we need to get these for me & Connie to wear while we watch Sherlock & Downton Abbey. I think my dad may be the cutest dad in the world.

This is a cutting board made by my brother Ryan that I got at the gift exchange. Isn't it pretty? It is actually even prettier in person. Ryan has an etsy shop if you want to see some other cool ones. 

I spent Christmas eve over at Debbie's along with my parents and younger brother Eric. I slept over and did Christmas morning with Debbie's family. Look at the journals William & Gracie designed and help wrap for me.

 Here is Joe Joe playing with the train I got him!

Then it was time to head out to my parents for Christmas breakfast. Here are all the stocking, my mom does not mess around!

 I decided to make ornament tags to go along with my gifts this year, thank you pinterest.

 Here is my mom opening the gift we got for her & my dad, wireless headphones for the tv.

 That evening Debbie, Russ & I went and saw Les Miserables, it was beautiful and even better the second time around though even harder to not sing along with. Also did anyone else find themselves almost clapping after so many songs? I am just a little sad that A Little Fall of Rain is not on the soundtrack.