I’ve been reading a hodgepodge of things the past few weeks, so forgive me if these all seem a little random…

Cheri

1. Cheri and The Last of Cheri – Colette (2 books for the price of one )  So, this was written originally in French in the mid-1900s.  Colette is pretty much bad-ass.  Her life-story alone is fascinating, and I highly suggest you read up on her history.  But anyway.  The first book, Cheri, tells about an older beauty, Lea, whose younger lover, Cheri (younger by like…24yrs I believe?) ends their relationship upon his new engagement to Edmee.

This type of older woman/younger gigolo relationship is quite common in their time/circle, and usually the affairs end with little heartache or pain, but this 6 yr relationship affected them both more than they anticipated.  The first book is mainly told from Lea’s perspective; in The Last of Cheri, we learn more about Cheri’s perspective, as well as gaining a look at the loveless marriage between Cheri & Edmee.  Both are so well-written and offer a very accurate perspective of relationships and people.  Love the psychology behind it.

2.  It’s a Wonderful LiE: 26 Truths About Life in Your Twenties – ed. Emily Franklin

It's a Wonderful LiE

I know I’ve read & possibly reviewed this book before, but I can’t get enough of it, so consequently I’m throwing it in your face again.  I’m not going to say much else other than GO READ IT NOW.  Also you can read my original review here.

I'm a Stranger Here Myself

3. I’m A Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After Twenty Years Away - Bill Bryson

So this book was highly enjoyable, but then again, I’m a fan of Bill Bryson.  Basically after living in England for twenty years, Bryson returns to the U.S. with his family, and then begins writing a column for a British newspaper about his musings regarding the American lifestyle.  His observations are humorous and still dead-on.  Even though it was written in 1999, a lot of it is still relevant today…in some cases, more so.  Also, the great thing about reading this book is you stumble across a lot of random interesting and possibly useful facts.  Bryson’s writing style is easy and engaging to read, and overall it was very relaxing and fun to read.

Confession: I’m pretty exhausted.  Mostly due to some extremely intense nightmares that I had last night.  I won’t get into that right now, but I’m 99% sure that this time around, they’re happening as my subconscious prepares for Halloween.  Or maybe because I’ve started watching scary movies.  Or both.  Whichever.

At any rate, I’m pretty excited for the holiday this year.  Mostly because I haven’t celebrated since the infamous 2006 Halloween during which Kristen and I were Wilma & Betty.  No, I don’t actually have any plans for Halloween yet, but I have decided to go as…Amy Winehouse.  Pretty scary, eh?  At any rate, the hair & make-up should be fun.  Ironically, I never used to be a big fan of Halloween growing up…which is shocking considering my love for theatre, dressing up, and all books related to witches and vampires.

But more importantly, back to those scary movies.  I actually enjoy most children’s Halloween movies…scary movies are fun too, but there is little better than the ABC Family’s 13 Days of Halloween Movies.  So, in honor of that, here are my current top 13 Halloween movies (both scary & for kids…):

13) The Little Vampire - I just saw this over the weekend and thought it was really cute!  It’s also based on some of my favorite books from childhood, so you know it’s good
12) The Addams Family – Christina Ricci is my favorite.  Also, movies based on board games are wonderful.
11) The Corpse Bride – Johnny Depp, Tim Burton?  You’ve done it again.
10) Buffy the Vampire Slayer - minus being minorly traumatized as a child and having recurring nightmares regarding the window/permission scene, this is a truly classic 90s movie
09) The Exorcist - so classic.
08) It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown - the same.  So classic.  In fact, what holiday Charlie Brown movie *isn’t* classic?
07) The Rocky Horror Picture Show – LOVE this one.  Surprisingly, this did not traumatize me as a child.  But maybe because I was only allowed to watch the Time Warp part.  Tim Curry is pretty scary tho.
06) The Amityville Horror – This is I think the only horror movie I’ve seen in theaters…and I can rant and rave about the small children present at the 10pm showing, but that’s another point all together.
05) The Shining - I still remember the first time I saw this with a large group of cousins over Christmas break one year…
04) The Silence of the Lambs - this movie truly scares me because, hey, I know crazy people like that exist.
03) Interview with the Vampire - Tom Cruise actually does an amazing job in this movie.  Plus, Brad Pitt and Antonio Banderas?  Yummy.  (haha get the pun?)
02) The Nightmare Before Christmas - I trust this needs no explanation.
01) Hocus Pocus - I really don’t think Halloween gets better than this movie!

Sigh there are tons more that just barely missed the list, but hopefully these are a good start to get you in the spirits!!!!  Have a happy (and safe) Halloween and a wonderful week!

This blog is brought to you from a magical, far-away-from-my-lovely-and-cozy-yet-occasionally-boring apartment location.  It’s a land where dreams come true, and where beautiful precision meets aesthetic consumerism in a heady and glorious atmosphere.

Obviously I am talking about Barnes and Noble.  Which periodically doubles as my personal mecca.  But have no fear dear friends and readers – I am not here to shop today.  Instead, I have headed straight to the cafe to drink tea and indulge in a hipster-meets-Carrie-Bradshaw fantasy (think the episode where she and Aiden are moving in together and she heads to Starbucks for some space and gives us a nice little typical Carrie monologue about the types of people who take their computers to Starbucks; which is basically what I’m doing, except I dont have a weekly column to write in NYC, or a gorgeous John Corbett-esq boyfriend moving into my apartment whose heart I will later stomp all over in Manahlo Blahniks.  Mostly just because I don’t own Manahlo Blahniks.  And am unsure of how to spell them).

But anyway, I am here to attempt to gain some inspiration and self-discipline to work on my writing.  And because actually working on my personal, creative writing is way scarier and intimidating than picking out the appropriate “I’m a young single female writer drinking delicious tea and thinking important thoughts in B&N” outfit, I’m procrastinating by posting on my blog.  I’m not sure why I feel that simply coming to B&N and sitting with my laptop will make me more of a writer…other than maybe the vague hope in the back of my head that all of the brilliant thoughts subsumed in the beautiful array of books will mysteriously leak into my head/heart/soul and somehow come out in my own personal best-seller.

Or, at the least, maybe a slightly more-entertaining-than-average blog post.

family -noun, plural -lies, adjective

1.  any group of persons closely related by blood, as parents, children, uncles, aunts, and cousins
2.  two or more people who share goals and values, have long-term commitments to one another, and reside usually in the same dwelling place.

So these are just two of about umpteen definitions for “family” @ dictionary.com.  And I feel strongly about both kinds of family.  And I have a confession: I have been absurdly, just ABSURDLY blessed with my family(ies).  And I don’t say that enough.  Obviously there’s this incredible group of people:

Beth's Wedding 2008

I don’t even have time in this post to go into how incredible they are…suffice it to say that they are the most beautiful, talented, intelligent, hilarious, and caring groups of people I know…aside from myself obviously (and we know they get it from me).  But that’s a whole other story.

And I do not want to omit my LP or MOGH or Spain families who are also definitely amazing:

LP Family #1

LP Family #2

Spain Family

Mission of Good Hope Family

Nor do I want to dismiss some pretty incredible individual friends who mean the world to me, and others who are quickly becoming very important. (I’m sorry for not calling out names, but I don’t want to make others too jealous right this second )

But today, in honor of Wake Forest’s Homecoming Weekend, I specifically want to talk about how FABULOUS, and INCREDIBLE my group of Polo 312 Girls is (even tho 2 of us did not live in Polo 312, lol).

WFU Ladies

Aren’t they a gorgeous sight for sore eyes?  These girls are just…wow.  They blow me away every single time.  Each one individually is pretty awesome and I love spending time with them, but something about when the five of us get together is just so delightful.  The rest of the world seems at once to be both irrelevant and included.  They have been there with me through various ups & downs & crazy stories, they have taken care of me at all sorts of ridiculous personal lows, and they always, always, ALWAYS can make me laugh   This weekend was simply too short an amount of time (isn’t it always too short?) to spend with them, but I am thankful for it none the less.  I look forward to the day when we can have a for real “family reunion” that lasts longer than a day or two and when we can spend as much time as we would like in each other’s company…or at least a week So thanks to this family of mine who make me feel beautiful and loved and like I can kick-ass and take names.  And thanks for the countless, countless laughs and good conversations and wonderful memories   I love you!

The family is one of nature’s masterpieces. – George Santayana

While eating at a Chinese buffet with my padre & baby brother, I received the following fortune in my fortune cookie:

Your secret desire to completely change your life will manifest.

Touche, cookie.

I think this may be my favorite fortune that I’ve ever received, simply because I think it’s   a) already happened  b) is continuing to happen  c) will probably happen more than I can imagine for the rest of my life.  I think it fits life in general rather than one specific time period of life.  BUT it feels particularly applicable to life at the moment.  Things have changed/are changing/will be changing faster than I know what to do with this year.  September alone has felt like several little mini-series worth of life.  Shall we recap & bring everyone up to speed?

Well last winter kind of sucked so cue a spring-long identity/career crisis, and let’s take that and throw on-top of it a(n overly) dramatic breakup that sparks the eager flames of a spiritual crisis.  Then let’s throw in a whirlwind summer of crazy amounts of traveling, socialization overdose, frequently hilarious but still disappointing disillusionment with the post-college dating scene, irresponsible overspending, engaging in a fairly rigorous healthcare routine, dealing with said identity/career/relationships crises, becoming best friends with myself, completely relying on all of the amazing people in my life and truly appreciating them, repairing my lackadasical relationship with God, and rearranging my apt and views on life and love and my career more than a few times.  As fall breezes in, let’s take a step back and re-deal with all of the issues just to make sure that I’ve really got a handle on things, officially decide on a home church, become officially obsessed with yoga, enter a bit of a financial crisis, again rely heavily on the support of friends and family and throw myself at God, go through a(n overly) dramatic work fiasco (not unlike a break-up) and then find out that whether or not I’ll have a job is up in the air as I’m in the midst of exploring grad schools and right after I think I’m comfortable in my job, and finally after I am assured that I do have a job but that I can’t really tell my co-workers about it (which is great given the last message from earlier said fiasco), let’s total my car that I’ve had for 4 years.

Ok, so it would be easy to read that and think “Wow.  That all sucks.”  And ok yes some of those things I would have preferred to have not happened.  But truthfully, it really hasn’t been that bad.  If you read closer, there’s a lot of good there too.  And those good things are kind of worth the other bad things.  And the bad things could have been worse.  Basically…I’m happy with the changes.  I think I did secretly want them.  Or openly in some cases lol.  And I think things are on an upward swing.  I’m excited to see what some of the next changes are…it is a time of transition I suppose.  It’s hard to explain without sounding cheesy & dramatic, so I’m going to stop trying.  But ultimately,  thanks for all your love & support   And keep having faith.