200 Years of Darcy

On this very day 200 years ago, my most favorite book, filled with my favorite places and characters, was published.

A few suggestions for how you can celebrate:

+ Check out this lovely, brief comic version. "Refusal for the ages" indeed.

+ Watch the Lizzie Bennet Diaries if you aren't already. (Love it!)

+ Why we named Elizabeth. 

+ In addition to the many film adaptions, I recommend Lost in Austen and Bridget Jones for a slightly more modern spin. 

Cheers to 200 years of Lizzie, Darcy, obstinate headstrong girls, blue coats, officers, 10,000 pounds a year, turns about the room, entailments and Mrs. Bennet's poor nerves. 

Lee on Pride and Prejudice

Lee likes to make cheesy jokes.

While shopping for wedding cards...

Lee: None of these are funny. Let's just get a thank-you card and write "Thank you for not eloping."

Me: Seriously?!

Lee: Or if she had read Pride and Prejudice we could write, "Thanks for not being a Kitty."

Me: Lydia was the one that eloped.

Lee: Doesn't matter, they're both sluts.

In Pictures

All of these pictures are also over at the photoblog but here they are with explanations.

Hair trim and eyebrow waxing were successful.

It looks like someone's about to start making a Jane Austen dress. :D

So on Easter Sunday I went to make the pasta salad (Smitten Kitchen won) right before we were supposed to be at Grandmommy's. But as I went to boil the water, power went out. So we picked up some Walmart pasta salad for Grandmommy's and I made the salad the next night for me, myself and I (What else to do with all the peas!?). It has made for a lovely lunch this week!

Five Years Ago

I'm sure I've mentioned before that I spent a semester in London (with Caitlin!) and those were some of the best three months of my life. I told someone this recently and realized that it's been exactly five years.

To celebrate the trip and mourn the five years of separation between my dearest London and I (I mean, I lived across the street from Charles Dickens' childhood home and within a five-minute walk from original Jane Austen manuscripts! That's just not something you get to do in Louisville.), let's read old journal entries! I don't journal much, but I do when I'm in Europe. This might be a recurring theme for the next month or two so you have been warned!

Sunday, February 27, 2005 at 12:16 a.m.


Friday [exactly 5 years ago today!] we went to the Tower and saw where everyone died. I saw the tower were Thomas More was held which Brent [friend] was excited about.
 
Today was awesome! We went to Alton -- a 15 minute walk to Chawton [Jane Austen's home] -- which turned into a 30 minute walk when we decided to follow the signs instead of the directions we were given. [The directions were to take a right at the roundabout but there were two rights!] The signs took us along the highway -- not the safest place to walk. But I thought it was a fun adventure and reminded me of Elizabeth's muddy walk to Netherfield when Jane was sick -- perhaps my eyes were also brightened by the exercise. ;) [Caitlin didn't think this was quite as cool as I did but at least I walked closest to the road so if we were hit I would've been hit first. I think that was very nice of me.]
 
Chawton had lots of neato things: the topaz crosses Jane and Cassandra wore, a quilt she made with her mom and Cassandra, a handkerchief she embroidered, her writing desk -- even her donkey cart.
 
We were going to go to Salisbury but Stonehenge doesn't open until March. So went to Winchester -- saw the cathedral where Austen was buried and did some shopping and wandering.

It was a lovely Jane Austen day!

Reality Check

I mentioned before that I'm reading Pride and Prejudice with Lee's almost 13-year-old sister. Since this is my seventh time reading the novel, I'm loving her fresh response to the novel.

During last night's reading (We read during the Super Bowl and took breaks to watch the commercials. Jane Austen > NFL football), Jane received the letter from Caroline Bingley saying that they whole Netherfield party had gone to London, was unlikely to return anytime soon, and hopefully Mr. Bingley will marry Miss Darcy. Ouch.

Jane thinks Caroline must have had some sort of kind motive in saying that she hopes her brother marries some other girl when Jane obviously (unless you're Mr. Darcy) loves him. Elizabeth rightly thinks Caroline is an evil wench. Danielle declares, "Jane needs a reality check. Someone could come up to her with a gun and be like, 'I'm going to kill you!' and she wouldn't believe them."

So true. :)


image: www.allmoviephoto.com   

It Happened

SPOILER ALERT!

I just finished reading The Two Towers. After being only mildly amused by The Fellowship of the Ring and having heard that The Two Towers was the least of the three, I'm surprised to say I am now *gulp* a fan.

I just spent the last hour frantically reading the last few chapters, freaking out that they're practically to Mount Doom, not believing that Frodo's really dead but omg! the Orcs have him and SAM TAKE OFF THE RING THAT IS BAD NEWS BEARS!!!!!

Who knows what The Return of the King will bring (My money's on Aragorn winning the day. It's right there in the title.), but I might have been too hasty in declaring Harry Potter's superiority. I mean, I think this is something where they can each be excellent in their ways. Although Harry Potter will always be my first love. (In fantasy books only since we must leave room for Jane of course.)

Week in Review: 1/8

I am not normally passionate about bacon, but I made some Fresh Market last night and it was crazy awesome.

In an update on my camera case situation, Jamie said exactly what I needed to hear ("The fitted is nice to throw in your handbag if you are just going out for the day and know you won't need another lens or cords.") and my fitted camera case should arrive in four days. Thank you to everyone else for your wonderful input! Maybe more and better pictures will come soon since Charles and I will be hitting the road together more often.

In reading Pride and Prejudice with the sister-in-law I find that I can't help buy giggle anytime Mr. Collins says anything. But anyways, lovelovelove these prints, found via AustenBlog.

The Top 100 Tutorials of 2009 will probably keep me busy for most of 2010. 

Lee's parents always get us these special gummy bears for Christmas (see picture below) and we finished them off yesterday (Except for the gummy bear family I'm having a photo shoot with. That's totally normal, right?) and I'm feeling their lost severely. Hope springs eternal that I'll start getting my butt up and doing the 30 Day Shred that we'll have more gummy bears soon since I've found a recipe to make my own gummy bears! (Or there's the ones at Walmart, but it's hard to go back to normal gummy bears after special ones. Of course who knows what homemade gummy bears taste like Walmart or special gummy bears.)


I'm adding this bookshelf to the list of things I definitely need for the house.

I will never have to wonder what to eat again! Thank you flow charts!

A Toast for Jane

Today is a very important day in the history of the world. It's Jane Austen's birthday.

I was going to celebrate by watching Emma Thompson's Sense and Sensibility but Lee's work party is tonight so that won't happen. I guess I'll just have to hug one of my four copies of Pride and Prejudice and drink some tea.

I might suggest checking out this post from Design*Sponge on English country houses, more generally referred to as "my dream home". And last year on this occasion I shared my Jane Austen testimonial of sorts, if you're interested.

And since I won't be watching S&S, I will just enjoy Emma Thompson's acceptance speech from the BAFTAS when she won best screenplay.

2009 Naughty List

Last year around the holidays I made a naughty list, which was so fun I thought I'd do it again this year, and follow-up with a nice list tomorrow.


Learn more about Krampus.

1. Jane Austen mash-ups
Okay, yeah, I can laugh at Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I've flipped through it in the store once and was highly entertained. But now that there's Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters and Emma and the Werewolves (Although this seems to be from a separate person than those who created the previous two.), it has clearly become an attack on my beloved Jane which should stop. Spread the love. Pick on some Bronte sisters. I mean, they already have characters locked in the attic so that would be a good place to start.

2. The United States Government
Since Lee co-signed his friend's mortgage and was on the title for a year, we don't qualify for the $8,000 tax refund for first time home buyers. I know this isn't really the government's fault, but it makes me sad even though I'm not a big fan of government spending in the first place.
Even after they expanded the qualifications, we still don't make the cut since we haven't lived in the same home for five years.
(Yes, I could get a mortgage without Lee but Lee qualifies for the VA loan which is better than the FHA loan.)

3. Ice storms
We lost power for four days. That was not cool, Mother Nature.


4. Cat pee
While I have forgiven Reagan, I can't forget. We still have a long way to go on the road to building back trust.


Note: I just realized that last year's naughty list was titled "2009 Naughty List..." Oops.


5. Jon and Kate Plus Hate
I have a high tolerance for over-publicized celeb fiascoes and miscellaneous celeb non-sense. If I get tired of your crazy life, then you must have already crossed the line 70 miles back. Although, I will admit to the unpopular opinion of siding with Kate.


image: annia316

Week in Review: 12/4 and Blogiversary!

Wow. It's been one year of blogging thing. I'm pretty proud of myself for sticking with this. But mostly a HUGE thanks to my readers. I have a lot of fun doing this, but it would get boring after awhile without anyone to comment so thank you thank you. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside! I am sending you many virtual hugs right now.

Feel free to leave any thoughts or suggestions for the upcoming year in the comments or there's a link to e-mail me to the right. I spend a lot of time thinking about goals and plans for this thing but I can never make up my mind so now I will just let you tell me what I should do. Topics to discuss? more or less of anything?

My post from a year ago today/Evidence of improvement (at least I give you pictures now!).

I really love Lexington Children's Theatre and if you do some clicking on Facebook you can help them get $25,000 or something awesome like that. Trust me, they deserve it and are just amazing. Amazing productions, amazing outreach, wonderful people. So if you can, give them some clicks.


There has been a lot of doubt about the cause of Jane Austen's death because it's a tricky business retro-diagnosing people, but it's been in the news this week that once again, it was more likely TB than Addison's disease.

I've noticed recently that when discussing colors of things with Lee (like shirts) he likes to correct my "purple" with "eggplant". I think eggplant is the only fancy color name he knows so he likes to trot it out as much as possible. This would explain why, when I found the perfect color for our future kitchen, he called it "baby excrement" instead of "mustard". He even compared it to this one house we saw that truly had poop-colored counter tops but this kitchen and those counter tops are nothing alike! The offending counter tops had a lot more brown and orange in them. I am determined to see my mustard kitchen some day. Don't fear!

I also found some prints and cutting boards I want to hang up in this future kitchen as well.

Have I mentioned that I'm mildly crazed by the amount of Christmas crafting I have left to do? Probably twenty times. I decided this week that we're not sending out Christmas cards this year because A. I normally see, e-mail or call the people I really care about and B. Removing them from my to-do list brings great peace of mind. I think printing and filling out this gift organizer from The Project Girl will also help.

Happy weekend-ing!

image: Orin Zebest

Mr. Darcy is a Very Important Character

I had the most wonderful experience last night: I read the first couple chapters of Pride and Prejudice with a first-timer.

Lee has a 12-year-old sister, Danielle, who loves to read. I often tell her that someday she will have to read Pride and Prejudice, as all young girls should, so I was delighted when she announced that P&P was next on her list. A few days later I ran to Barnes and Noble to pick out a copy for her. There was no way I would let her borrow mine because she needed one of her very own. You know, so she can draw hearts on the page(s) where Mr. Darcy proposes or dog-ear her favorite pages for easy reference.

So I'm over visiting a couple weeks ago and we get out her P&P and started reading together. Who wouldn't love to read P&P without a veritable NUT looking over her shoulder, clarifying conversations, explaining old spellings, properly pronouncing locations (Darby-sure), giving appropriate tone, and assuring her which characters are actually important (Mr. Bingley) and which aren't so much (Mrs. Long)?!

Then last week Danielle gives me a call. P&P is hard. (That's true. I started with Sense and Sensbility at her age and after a chapter decided I should wait another year.) Could we have some regular phone dates to read it together? HELL YES!

She might come to regret this soon since I like to pause and discuss the social structures of the time, what "Austen is really doing," and make sure she gets all the jokes, but she's going to be so ready when they actually get to this in school. Or maybe I'm just molding another English major. Both excellent possible results.

But the best part is that Danielle has no idea what happens. None. None at all. It has been about a decade since I first fell for Darcy's subtle charms but I think even then I had some idea that Darcy and Elizabeth were THE couple. Like when you read Wuthering Heights or watch Gone with the Wind (or read it), you've heard of Catherine and Heathcliff, Scarlett and Rhett. I think I had some ideas about this Elizabeth and Darcy, but Danielle has none and I love it!

Last night Danielle asked, "Why is Mr. Darcy an important character? He's mean."

Just trust me Danielle, Mr. Darcy is a very important character. We'll find out why in another 100 pages or so.

Is it sad that I know which moment in the five-hour film this is from? He's watching Elizabeth play the piano at Rosings. It's one of my favorite scenes.

I Feel So Popular

A couple weeks ago my dear friend Caitlin invited me to write a guest post for her blog on my beloved Jane Austen. Since we have been real-life best friends from back before when blogs were cool (Actually there wasn't ever Facebook then! Gosh I feel old. When I started college (7 dorm rooms down from Caitlin) in September 2002, there was no Facebook.), this wasn't too surprising because we're obviously each other's biggest fans. However, Hannah from Journal of a Rock Angel liked my post so much she asked to repost it! I feel so popular! I'm also a huge dork. Anyway, just go check out Hannah's blog and read my thoughts on Jane again. (If you want. I mean, how can you tire of her? I can't!) Thanks Hannah!

In other English dork news, I'm loving this:

My First Guest Post

My bestie, Caitlin, likes to blog too (We have fueled each other through this obsession.) and invited me to write a guest post for her blog because she's awesome. Her blog commonreaders is all about books so I'm sure you'll be shocked (irony) to know that I wrote about my dear Jane. Check it out, and all the other posts Caitlin writes because she is awesome.

My 15 Minutes of Fame

On Friday I shared my masterpiece creation: a YouTube video to promote Louisville's Jane Austen Festival. Margaret Sullivan, author of The Jane Austen Handbook (I love it!) and AustenBlog (Love it too!), will be speaking at the event so our regional coordinator e-mailed the video to her and yes my friends, today I was on AustenBlog. (Okay well, my YouTube video, sans any linkage to me, was on AustenBlog, but same difference.)There are no words to describe my joy and sense of accomplishment on this glorious occasion. First, I must thank Jane because she started it all. Next, I must thank my parents for loaning me their video camera. Third, my friends and family who so graciously volunteered their time and talents to giving a voice to our beloved Bennets with only cookies as payment. And of course YouTube and the other Internet wonders that have made this kind of big publicity possible.

Today -- Austenblog.
Tomorrow -- Oprah?

My Masterpiece

So I have this thing with Jane Austen and I'm active with the local region of JASNA. We're having a Jane Austen Festival next month and I somehow volunteered to make a video to promote the event.

Do I have any video making skills? No.
Have I ever operated a video-making device whose primary purpose is not to take photos? No.
Do I know how to use any video editing software? No, but I firmly believe that if I can use Adobe Photoshop then I can do anything (except Adobe Illustrator.)

Despite these many setbacks, last night I had some friends over to make this little video. I'm sure it will make you all want to reserve your space for tea this instant!

I Want!

William Britain, a company known for making toy soldiers, has popped up on my radar with their introduction of a Pride and Prejudice set.

Meet Elizabeth:
She is tolerable I suppose.

I am a little disappointed that the facade for these characters to mingle at is a pub/inn. Longbourn would have been the better choice.

These figures will be available to purchase in August, so yes, feel free to go ahead and order me some for my birthday or Christmas! Thanks! ;)


image: William Britain

Non Self Promotions

Okay, well maybe the first one is a little self-related.

In case you didn't know, I'm a proud member of JASNA (Jane Austen Society of North America...duh.) and the regional chapter in Louisville. Our region is hosting an awesome Jane Austen Festival in July and Margaret Sullivan will be speaking, author of AustenBlog and The Jane Austen Handbook. Ms. Sullivan posted about us last week and you should check it out and come to the festival because it is awesome.

Also, one of my favorite blogs is This Young House. They are in a Better Homes and Garden 48-Hour Makeover Challenge and they need your vote. Everyday. (Okay I forget to do it everyday but at least try for most days.) If you don't like their makeover the best and don't want to vote for them, then please don't vote at all. Need additional incentives to vote?

1. Don't you want to learn about the projects they'll do with the prize money?

2. If this visual doesn't inspire you, then I don't know what will.

Image courtesy of This Young House

Time

Now that I've picked that as a title I can't get that Hootie and the Blowfish song out of my head. Anyways...

I've been thinking lately about time and how I spend it. I've noticed that there are a couple things in my life that I spend much more time doing than I want to or need to, ultimately leaving me without time to do the things I really love. So I have some sans-New Years resolutions.

I think it's time Google Reader and I take a break. I don't actually have to read every headline and see every picture that Apartment Therapy posts (although they are exquisite!), yet when I see that there are currently 72 unread items, I feel like I need to clear that out by spending an hour skimming, when really I can just "Mark All As Read" and move on with my life. Just because about once a week the NYTimes will have a feature article I'll really love doesn't necessarily mean I need to spend several hours a day looking and waiting for it.

Also, I am going to adjust my means of procrastination. When I come home from work I tell myself that once I complete [insert evening's chores] I will [watch movie/catch up on DVR/read/call friend/craft something]. But what happens is I procrastinate on the chores by watching TV that I'm indifferent about, playing Solitaire, Facebook stalking or other random crap. I would much rather be reading or movie-watching, but since I have to do the chores before I can do those, I just wind up totally wasting the evening. So from now, I will procrastinate with things I actually want to do. I did this other night when Jane Austen defeated my laundry. It was a great evening.

Decorating Style Extravaganza!!

Thanks to one of my new favorite blogs, I discovered a variety of online quizzes regarding my decorating style. These quizzes are much better than the lame ones on Facebook so I encourage this as a top-notch means of procrastination.

Sproost says I'm 33% Traditional Country, 33% Nantucket Style and 34% Wine Country.

Ikea says I'm Country Antique, which breaks down to 60% Country, 40% Scandinavian and 0% Modern.

MyDeco says I'm Funky Modern. Kind of contradicts the previous two, but oh well.

I do think it's kind of funny how I like "country" styles yet I actually do not like the country at all. (Other than a weakness for ducks and the British countryside. In Britain, the country makes me think of Jane. In America, it just makes me think of ticks.) I'm a city girl, with a weakness for whicker.

Crafty Ambitions

I recently started taking sewing lessons from my great aunt-in-law. She says that I'm doing very well and making great progress, which is what all teachers say to their students but she's also not one to sugar-coat so I have confidence that I am actually awesome. In fact, my certainty of my own awesomeness and general excitement over learning to sew has given me some pretty big ambitions for what I'll soon be able to make. Just to share, here are some anticipated upcoming projects:

dog sweaters!

adorable purse, clutch and checkbook cover

clothes I might actually wear

awesome Halloween costumes

And, the project that started it all, my Jane Austen dress!

My thoughts have also been turned to how I want to design my sewing room, you know, once we have that second bedroom.