Halloween Present

A few months back while at our family dinner at my parents we were watching Mary Poppins when my mom said something about making me a Mary Poppins costume. And not just some easy costume but the Jolly Holiday costume
My mom also mentioned that if I found a Bert she would make it. I thought about making my own advertisement like the kids on Mary Poppins...Wanted a Bert preferably British...

I wouldn't even had to have change the words that much! But thankfully my mom offered to make me the dress this Halloween even with out Bert.

Mary Poppins Costume

I know amazing right! I decided that since William & Gracie wouldn't get to do a big thing for Halloween I would offer to take the to Schnepf Farms for their Halloween Carnival. Also to let Debbie & Russ get some rest after all the sleep they have been losing over this guy.
Side note, yes I was there for the birth of this amazing little guy (Joseph) and no I am not sure if I am going to do a post about it. But I will tell you what I told my friend Melissa the next day "it was intense, crazy, hard, gross & beautiful all at the same time." Ok maybe that isn't an exact quote but it was something close. For those who don't know Debbie had Joseph at home and completely natural, which probably wouldn't have been a big deal if it wasn't for the fact that he weighed ten pounds and five ounces.

Alright back to Halloween carnival. William was Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ewan McGregor style. When we walked in through the gates they were painting faces. A guy asked William what he wanted, I expected him to not know. But he pointed around his mouth and said I just want it right here, the guy asked what he wanted painted and William answered a moustache & beard like Obi-Wan. I took this picture so he could see what he looked like.

Next we went to the Carousel, which I thought was very fitting since I was dressed as Mary Poppins.

I love how William looks like a little man in this picture!

I think I am going to change this to my profile picture on facebook. I love roller coasters and putting my hands up and William & Gracie saw others doing it and he did this all on his own.

I didn't even know he had a dimple.

I was really nervous that it would be to scary for Gracie but as you can see from this picture she loved it. Which is really surprising is that she was totally asleep on me in line. I had to wake her up to go. But as soon as we were done she was bouncing up & down saying she wanted to go again.

I know this is a weird picture but I liked it.

After the ride the kids wanted dinner, so we got shaved ice. Hey that is what they wanted and what can I say I am their aunt.

It was an awesome day, one that I will cherish for years to come.

Favorite Parts...

One: when we were leaving and I heard a little girl say look Mary Poppins so I waved. William said to me everyone thinks you look pretty. He can be so sweet it actually make my heart hurt.

Two: Even though my arms & my back hurt right now, holding Gracie as she slept in the long line for the roller coaster. I love that she is so tiny and still likes to be held.

Three: Driving home and playing Disney songs & hearing William & Gracie singing You Can Fly from Peter Pan, them singing that song is my new favorite.

Last: When leaving a little girl came up to me and told me I was pretty. I don't think she knew who I was suppose to be but she knew it was someone pretty. I got so many complements on my dress and I would just beam with pride & tell them my mother made it for me.

Halloweens Past

I love Halloween, not so much the haunted houses & spooky scary stuff but the fall part of it. Pumpkins (I love everything pumpkin from pie to shakes to waffles) & pomegranates we had a tree growing up I have missed it, but Debbie has one now! And the best part of Halloween is dressing up, I really do like to come up with costumes and dress up. This year my mom made me an AMAZING Mary Poppins costume, I only wish you could see it in person.

Here I am as Margo from The Royal Tennenbaums in 2002

(if you remember her hair was black when she found her real family)

Basically I wanted to wear a wig so I found one I liked and then decided to be a witch. My brother Mark had my mom make him a Robin costume.

Lauren as an umpa lumpa still blows me away so awesome! I was a flapper.

Here I am as Juno, I was very proud of how real my belly looked.

Do you want to dance?

Although my sister Debbie & I are different in personalities we get along so well because we love so much of the same things, and we both really love to sing & dance. We will be driving in the car music playing but deep in conversation but both stop talking at the same time and sing one line of the song, it just has to be done. Why we pick the same lines to sing, who knows I guess it is just one of those weird sister things. I did a post on movies I love that have singing in them but are not musicals called Sing Sing Sing which you can see here.

We also love to dance and with Debbie pregnant it made me remember how when she was pregnant with her first child we use to have dance parties after Sunday dinner. And during that same time our friend Lindsey (who is one of the best dancers I know) was sad so Debbie & I put some music on and danced in our parents drive way to cheer her up. The picture below is a recreation we did to help Brett propose to Lindsey.

Pregnant Debbie dancing is a favorite of anyone who has seen it & don't worry I have a video for you to watch of Debbie dancing while she was pregnant with number 2 Gracie here
You're Welcome!
Also here are some of my favorite dancing scenes from movies that are not musicals.
Napolean Dynamite here

Thriller 13 Going On 30


17 Again - Bust A Move Here

500


Hitch

Ferris Bueller Macht Blau - The German is for Russ!



Adventures in Babysitting


Grind

Looking Forward

I seem to look at time differently than others. It is October which will fly by so I better start getting my fill of pumpkin shakes, bread, pancakes, muffins & ice cream fast. Then November always goes fast then Christmas see it is already the new year and guess what it has been a year since I went to Europe. See my mind skips ahead and then I say crazy things like that in September when in fact it has barely been over half a year.

For the last few years I have posted my favorite movies of the year. With the year winding down I began to wonder what movies would make the cut. Is it just me or has this been a slow year for movies? Thankfully there are still some movies coming out that I am looking forward to.

Harry Potter

I went to the midnight showing of The Half Blood Prince with Mimi & her family last year, I am excited that this year I will feel like a real fan since I finally read the books.

The Tourist

I am so excited for this it looks very North by Northwest.

True Grit

My dad loves the Coen brothers movies, with out even knowing they were Coen brothers movies. So I was excited when I heard that they were remaking True Grit, since my dad is also a John Wayne fan.

Speaking of October & pumpkins what do you think should I be Mary Poppins for Halloween?

This & That

First did you see what Mimi gave me for my birthday? And I would like to add that I put those photos up all by myself & just by eyeing it.

Last Friday I went to Kiersten White's book signing at Changing Hands. Her debut novel Paranormalcy came out August 31st and it debuted on the New York Times Best Selling list! Now I probably would not have read this book since I have been very disappointed with the last paranormal teen books I have read. But while complaining my friend Stephanie Perkins told me that Paranormalcy was different, for example although it is a series they don't end on cliff hangers. I trust Stephanie so I gave Paranormalcy a try and she was right it was very different from other Paranormal books I have read. It was funny & flirty kind of Buffy The Vampire Slayer meets Meg Cabot, maybe? I can recommend it to everyone with out any disclaimers, it is clean with out being obnoxiously so.

Kiersten did a great job at the signing she was funny and completely at ease. I had let my friend Espe borrow Anna & The French Kiss just the week before (she finished in one sitting) and she brought it back to me at the signing. So I had to get a picture for Stephanie with both my books & Kiersten. Then we had to gush about Anna Kiersten explaining that it was her favorite & Stephanie was her best friend & I told everyone that I had the first signed copy!

I loved what Kiersten wrote in my book because obviously she has excellent taste & is awesome!

Also for those who have read Paranomalcy on page 217 Reth is describe as "some sort of beautiful Victorian dandy. He even had a walking stick....if he weren't so breathtaking, he would have looked ridiculous."

When I read that I immediately pictured these picture of Henry Cavill even though Reth is blonde, what can I say I always change guys hair color from blonde to dark.

Also I am thinking about cutting fringe (bangs) again and have been asking people what they think, so what do you think?

Speaking of fringe did you know that there is a word for me?
An Anglophile is a person who is fond of English culture

Cheers - Connie

Where I have been

Like I mentioned in the previous post I finally decided to read Harry Potter. I started listening to the audio books in July and finished on August 23rd. I felt a lot of pressure reading since so many of my friends are HUGE Harry Potter fans (especially Mimi). I was afraid that I wouldn't like them enough or maybe too much. Does anyone else worry that you might steal a friends thing? I enjoyed the first few I loved Harry but a motherly kind of love. I teared up when he had his first Christmas at Hogwarts and got his sweater from Mrs. Weasley. I have a very soft spot in my heart for Mrs. Weasley since she reminds me of my mom. But my mom is way better, my mom would never have had a crush on stupid Lockhart. But she is the mother of six sons, two redheaded children and has always welcomed friends into our home and family. But it wasn't until the last three that I actually started to get really hooked.

I did accomplish operation Trifecta on my birthday along with reading Mockingjay. I went to Joe's Farm Grill for breakfast, some of my sister in laws along with some nieces & nephews, my brother & sister Debbie were able to come. We had fun and I had a delicious waffle with strawberries & blueberries.


While there I also got these amazing pillows from Debbie & my sister in law Ashley, they made them! I love them a lot, they remind me of pillows my grandma had & they have Debbie's vintage touch to them.

In case you don't speak French this say yes (think we).

I love the French & British pillows since they fit in nicely with my London & Paris theme I have going.
After breakfast Debbie came over and we both sprawled out on my couches and began reading Mockingjay. Soon we had to break to grab some lunch at Liberty Market
where Debbie and I split a picnic salad & a favorite the best chicken sandwich (I think that is what it is called). We were joined by our friends Jenny & Mimi both of whom we knew had finished Mockingjay so we were free to speak about what we had read so far.
After we went back to Debbie's to read and had a hard time pulling away from reading to go to dinner. Here is a picture of me reading & Gracie watching Peter Pan. We went to Joe's Real BBQ with my parents. Mark, Ashley & Sam, Russ, Debbie, William & Gracie. It was really nice and my parents brought me a present from Mary MONSTER COOKIES!!! It not only made me really happy but everyone else it was a great treat. Thank you to Joe's for the free breakfast, lunch & dinner I was full for days.

In between reading I have been trying to listen to the new Arcade Fire



and She and Him




I also discovered that Stars & Metric sound a lot a like when my ipod played these back to back

You say HBM I say UK all the way!

It has been way to long since I have posted and it is not like fun things haven't been happening, I went camping with some of my family (see Debbie's blog) which was really fun. I have been listening to Harry Potter. Wait what, YOU HAVE NEVER READ HARRY POTTER!?! You have no clue how many times I have heard this and I don't have much of an excuse other than the first few movies didn't really hold my attention so I didn't think the books would. But for some reason after seeing the trailer for this next movie I decided I wanted to read but ended up listening instead. And I am loving it, hello Jim Dale who I loved already from Pushing Daisies. I love the Weasley's they remind me a lot of my large family with six boys and a couple of red heads and a mother who welcomes friends as their own.

But I am not up late at night blogging for any of those reasons, no I am blogging because you know that book I have been raving about Anna and the French Kiss (see post below), well Stephanie Perkins the author is giving away a copy on her blog. And she is giving everyone chances to sign up more than once and one of those ways is to leave a link to a picture of a Hot British Male in her comments. Some might say but Connie you already got a book why are you posting about HBM's. Obviously I am not doing it to get another copy, I love my copy way to much, because hello it is signed and now lovingly used. I am doing this because I LOVE HBM's and have for a long time. It is one of the reasons I knew Stephanie and I would be friends she called it HBM's I called it UK all The Way! And I just have a ton of pictures just sitting on my computer waiting to be shared. So with out any further ado here are some HBM's...

Hey Jude...you are so pretty sometimes I forget that you are jerk.
James your Scottish charm makes me swoon just thinking about it.
Oh Henry, I have kept an eye on you since I first saw you in Count of Monte Cristo. I knew you could not be so beautiful for nothing.

Christian some think you are crazy but I think we can all have bad days and let's not forget what is written in my high school yearbook "We Hail Christian Bale"

Matthew you are new to my boyfriend list but what a lovely addition you make.

Jim this picture makes me think of a certain boy I read about in a book with lovely messy hair, beautiful brown eyes and he also liked to bite his pinkie nail.

Colin, Mr. Darcy enough said.

Alex you are to young and yet I found myself watching Wild Child on ABC Family last week just so I could say "Hello Freddie".

Rob what can I say you are a mess but sometimes you can be a Beautiful mess, with a fantastic jaw line.