New Addition to the Blog

For your reading pleasure...

I have added "The Quote Goat" to the right side of my blog. We started a poster-version Quote Goat about a year ago (New Year's Eve?) with a great picture of a Goat drawn by Heather. But, we don't update it very often, even though I'm sure we could have some doozies on there! Since I am the one obsessed with the Quote Goat, I created my own. I thought about starting a new blog for it, but that would probably end up being just a waste of cyberspace. So, it's a gadget on the side. I'm not adding any from the past. The first entry is something I said yesterday.

Enjoy!!!!!!!

Flashback Friday

Circa Fall 1998

The Pride of the Rockies Flute Line Maniacs!!!

Let the Debate Begin...

Are potatoes considered vegetables? We've been arguing about this for a couple of days now. Please share your thoughts!

My research (via Wikipedia):

Potatoes are considered Tubers, which is technically an underground stem of a plant. So in that, it could be considered a vegetable. However, the Healthy Eating Pyramid tells us to eat 3 or more servings of vegetables per day, and to eat potatoes sparingly. So, that would tell me that potatoes are not vegetables. (I've been arguing that they are starches, which doesn't show up in any of this research...but what do I know?)

Anyway, please weigh in on the debate!

Flashback Friday

I'm sure you can name the kids, but can you name the location (and the year?)

Oscar Nominations!

I got a bunch right this year! Go me!!! Of course, it helped that I saw more movies that were nominated, but hey!

My correct predictions:

Best Actress: Meryl Streep (Doubt)
She is FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC in that movie!

Best Supporting Actress: Amy Adams (Doubt) and Viola Davis (Doubt)
Yeah, baby.

Best Supporting Actor: Phillip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt) and Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight)
The momentum suggests that Heath will win it. He should win it.

Best Animated Feature: Wall-E
YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love that movie a lot!

Here's a question for you, though. What is the criteria for Lead Actress/Actor vs. Supporting Actress/Actor? Kate Winslet won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for "The Reader", but she's nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for that role. Interesting...

Some other YAYS!!!!:
Achievement in Art Direction: The Dark Knight
Achievement in Cinematography: The Dark Knight
Achievement in Costume Design: Australia
Achievement in Film Editing: The Dark Knight
Achievement in Make-up: The Dark Knight
Achievement in Music (Original Score): Wall-E
Achievement in Music (Original Song): "Down to Earth" Wall-E
Best Animated Short Film: Presto (one of the funniest Pixar shorts EVER!)
Achievement in Sound Editing: The Dark Knight & Wall-E
Achievement in Sound Mixing: The Dark Knight & Wall-E
Achievement in Visual Effects: The Dark Knight
Adapted Screenplay: Doubt
Original Screenplay: Wall-E (Further proof that the folks at Pixar are the best storytellers around!)

I am not disillusioned by the nominations, like I was last year. There's some things I'd have like to have seen get nominations, but whatever. I'm not in the Academy.

Angela's 6th Annual Oscar Nomination Predictions

Yes, it's that time again! The REAL nominations will be announced on Thursday morning, but I like to get mine in a day or two in advance. And yes, they are only based on movies I have seen:

Best Picture
The Dark Knight*
Get Smart
Twilight
Doubt**
Australia

Best Actor
Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones and the Curse of the Crystal Skull)
Steve Carell (Get Smart)
Robert Pattinson (Twilight)
Adam Sandler (Bedtime Stories)
Hugh Jackman (Australia)

Best Actress
Katherine Heigl (27 Dresses)
Meryl Streep (Doubt)**
Amy Adams (Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day)
Katherine Nelson (Emma Smith: My Story)
Nicole Kidman (Australia)

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin (Get Smart)
Phillip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt)*
James McAvoy (Penelope)
Brandon Walters (Australia)
Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight)**

Best Supporting Actress
Amanda Seyfried (Mamma Mia)
Kristin Chenoweth (Four Christmases)
Cate Blanchett (Indiana Jones and the Curse of the Crystal Skull)
Amy Adams (Doubt)*
Viola Davis (Doubt)*

Best Animated Feature
Wall-E**
The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything

* = Really does deserve a nomination
** = I think should win.

I didn't see very many movies this year, mainly because I was incredibly busy all year. But I did manage to see most of the ones I wanted to.

Flashback Friday

My, oh my, how our family has grown! This picture was taken almost 10 years ago!

My Musical Theatre Loves List

There are shows that I love, but there are also portions of shows that I love. Moments, scenes, songs, lines, characters, etc. I'm going to list as many as I can think of, including inside jokes and random stuff from shows I've been in. Don't judge me, okay? If you don't like these, that's too bad. I don't judge your likes and dislikes (although some might make my heart hurt a little.) I won't even list my dislikes, because they might be somebody's likes. Actually, I will list one: I HATE the Dream Ballet in Oklahoma! It drives me nuts. I call it Laurey's Acid Trip.

Okay, here's my list, alphabetical by show (points not in any particular order):

Annie
*The song "Maybe" makes me cry. Annie's yearning for her parents is so touching!*This is one show where there is not a stinker song in the bunch. Some shows have a throw-away song or two, but not this one! I noticed this last week when Emily and I watched the movie. I love all the songs in this show!

*I love how in the ABC movie version, the "Star-to-Be" is played by Andrea McArdle, who was the original Annie on Broadway.

Anything Goes!
*The corny dialogue that is inexplicably funny every single time! (Ex: "Crocker! I didn't know you were Chinese!")
*Jon's pants falling down onstage. I thought it was planned...it wasn't. (FRMT, Summer 2006)

Beauty and the Beast
*The song "Be Our Guest". It's a wonderful production number. I loved being in it, even though I had a huge plate strapped to my back and it was very hard to move around with knocking people over!
*When the Beast comes out after "Be Our Guest". There are streamers and confetti everywhere (at least, there was in our production) and he kind of looks around like "Aw, man. I missed the party."
*The Song "If I Can't Love Her". I watched this from backstage at every performance. I LOVE THIS SONG!!!!!!!!!!!!
*The big reveal of the library. Okay, I'm just partial to the books, since I painted most of them.
*"Mama! Mama!" (When Chip runs out as a real boy at the end!)
*All dialogue and dynamics between Lumiere and Cogsworth
*Madame de la Grande Bouche as Brun Hilda in the Battle.
*The song "Home." Gorgeous!

Brigadoon
*Nick's Army crawl upstage of the set (FRMT, Summer 2004)
*The song "Come to Me, Bend to Me". Gorgeous!
*The scene where Mr. Lundie explains what's really going on. It's magical! (Not just what's happening, but the scene itself!)
*The Entrance of the Clans (Bagpipes included!)
*Stashing Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on the house set piece, so when I was trapped back there for a scene and a half, I had something to do. (FRMT, Summer 2004)

Bye Bye Birdie
*What we call "Mr. MacAfee's Nero Speech". Classic.
*The song "Rosie".
*The infamous Shriner's Scene (Especially the one at Loveland High, 1995)

Camelot
*The 1982 Broadway staging with Richard Harris. I grew up on a video of this version, taped off HBO! I now own the DVD.
*The character of Pellinore. Love him!
*Arthur and Tom of Warwick at the end of the show. Priceless!
*The song "If Ever I Would Leave You"

Carousel
*The song "Mr. Snow". I love to perform it. I hope to play Carrie someday.
*When Billy tells Jigger that Julie is going to have a baby, and Jigger says "My mother had a baby once."
*The entire scene of "If I Loved You."
*The "Soliloquy", especially the "My Little Girl..."part
*One of the things I love about this show is that it faces an issue head on that many other musicals of that same time period would have avoided or glossed over. Rodgers and Hammerstein didn't do what I call "Happy/Skippy Musicals". And I applaud them for it. Just because it's a musical doesn't mean we can't depict real life.
*The reprise of "If I Loved You" at the very end. Billy regrets his mistakes...and Julie & Louise are going to be okay.

The Drowsy Chaperone
*The character of Aldolpho. "The man of a thousand accents, all of them insulting."
*The character of Man in Chair. Finally! A narrator I can relate to!
*The song "The Bride's Lament". Genius!
*Robert rollerskating blindfolded
*When the power goes out and Super comes and shines his flashlight on everyone's faces. Hilarious!
*When Man in Chair puts on the wrong record for Act 2. And especially when he realizes it and comes running back in. HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fiddler on the Roof

*The wedding is one of the most beautiful scenes in all of musical theatre. And I'm not just saying that because I played Tzeitel last year. I thought this before. Sunrise, Sunset is a gorgeous song.

*Tevye is one of the very best male characters in all of theatre. Not just musical theatre. Theatre.

*I love the progression of breaking traditions, from Tzeitel through Chava. Tzeitel just wants to make her own match. Hodel dances with a boy (which isn't EXACTLY forbidden), and then marries within the faith, though Perchik is a radical. Chava...wow...she runs off and marries a Russian.

*"I think we need to go buy more potatoes." "Yes, let's go buy more potatoes". (You had to be there.) (UCDT, 2008)
*Spending a year waiting to play Fruma Sarah, getting promoted to Tzeitel, and then spending an AMAZING 4 months with some amazing people. (UCDT, 2008)

Forever Plaid
*The song "Lady of Spain". Inventive and extremely hilarious (especially when done well.)
*I am an Honorary Plaid, and I have the plaid dental floss to prove it!

42nd Street
*The Act 1 Finale: When Julian comes out and says that the show is cancelled...and people believe him.

Guys and Dolls
*Adelaide. That's right. Just Adelaide.
*The very end of the show when all the guys find out that Sky's name is Obadiah.

Hello, Dolly!
*The way Janaque sang "So Long Dearie" (Loveland High, 1998)
*The way they did "Motherhood March" (Loveland High, 1998)
*When Craig and Seth switched wallets in a rehearsal and forgot to switch them back. Frantic call from Seth later that evening. (Loveland High, 1998)
*Every time Dolly talks to Ephraim.
*"You're only 17." "Yes, and in another year, I'll be an old maid!"

Into the Woods

*"I was raised to be charming, not sincere."
*The song "Children Will Listen"
*Little Red offering to be Jack's mother at the end of the show
*The song "Agony"

Jekyll & Hyde

*After the "Transformation" when Hyde emerges, when he growls "FreeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" Total goose-bumps moment!!!!!*In His Eyes is probably one the best female duets ever written. Frank Wildhorn = GENIUS!!

*This is totally sick on my part, but I love all the ways the Hospital Board dies in the Act 1 Finale and the Act 2 Opening. Murder, Murder is a great song!!!!

The Last 5 Years
*How the show is laid out: Jamie telling their story beginning to end, Cathy telling it end to beginning. Very inventive and utterly FASCINATING!
*The song "The Schmuel Song"
*The beginning and end of "The Next Ten Minutes". It's where Jamie and Cathy basically switch places. I love how you hear part of a conversation at the beginning of the song and then you hear the other side of it at the end of the song.

Les Miserables

*I saw Sutton Foster as Eponine in the tour in 1999. ACK! I didn't realize it until she won her Tony a couple years later.
*The song "On My Own"
*When the barricade spins around after the battle and you see everyone dead. It's a heartwrenching moment that's hard to beat.

The Light in the Piazza
*This show = the most exquisite show I have seen in a very long time.
*Seeing Victoria Clark in her Tony-winning role of Margaret Johnson was an absolute THRILL!
*The untranslated Italian: You don't know what they are saying, and yet, you do. It's great!

*"Ciao, Van Johnson!"

*I don't know exactly why, but at the end of the song "Fable", which is the last song of the show, I cry. Every time. (And I've seen it a lot, since I saw it on Broadway, on Tour, and we recorded it when it was on PBS). I think it might be because my heart is so full...Margaret's pain has just given way to the knowledge that everything is going to be okay. For her and for Clara.

*"Aiutami means 'Help me' in Italian. I don't speak English, but I have to tell you what's going on."

The Lion King
*The animals coming down the aisles at the beginning of the show. I wish I had been sitting on the main floor and not the top balcony. NEXT TIME!!!!!!!!!!

The Little Mermaid (AKA Ariel Broadway)
*The song "If Only"
*Seeing the show twice in Denver, before it went to Broadway!
*What I call "Ariel's Interior Monologues" in Act 2. She can't talk, 0bviously, but to have her sing what she's thinking: priceless.
*Seeing Sherie Rene Scott and Eddie Korbich! LOVE THEM!
*Feeling the energy ooze off the stage during "Under the Sea"
*Knowing the ending was all wrong, and then seeing it fixed the 2nd time I saw the show.

Little Women
*Driving 8 hours to see the tour in Salt Lake City.
*Seeing Maureen McGovern and getting to hear her sing "Days of Plenty" two times the next day at the Conference Center (Music and the Spoken Word with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir)
*Bawling all the way through Act 2
*The song "Somethings Are Meant to Be"
*Playing Aunt March!

The Music Man
*"My dear little librarian. Pile up enough tomorrows and you'll find you're left with a lot of empty yesterdays. I don't know about you, but I'd like to make today worth remembering." "So would I."
*Closing performance at Jesters, Summer 1998 (A performance that will live in infamy...)

*"HAVE YOU SEEN PROFESSOR HILL!?!?"

Oklahoma!
*Hugh Jackman. Enough said. (I own the DVD and the CD of his performance.)
*When I had the entire first part of the solo in "Out of my Dreams" and the guy blew his nose in the middle of it. (Jesters, Summer 1999)
*The night Scott's shirt got ripped open on stage and we laughed for about a full 2 minutes (Jesters, Summer 1999)
*"You'll sure feel funny when I tell your wife you've been carrying on with another man." (Jesters, Summer 1999)
*The 6 foot wall of stage fog (FRMT, Summer 2002)
*The song "Pore Jud is Daid" (One of my favorite songs in all of musical theatre.)

Once Upon a Mattress
*Princess Winnifred the Woe-be-gone
*Seeing the show for the first time and realizing that Winnifred is me and I am Winnifred. (FRMT, Summer 2001)
*The song "Song of Love"
*The song "The Spanish Panic" (It's my ringtone on my phone right now.)
*My car is named Winnifred.
*Peter as the Nightingale of Samarkand (FRMT, Summer 2001)

Peter Pan
*Ordering pizza during a dress rehearsal, all via the com. (FRMT, Summer 2005)
*Playing "Find the Block" (FRMT, Summer 2005)
*Emily saving our bums when Amy's appendix decided to go bye-bye (FRMT, Summer 2005)
*The song "Ugg-a-Wug" and coming down from the booth to help do the "singing" from backstage during the dance break. (FRMT, Summer 2005)
*The song "Distant Melody"
*Having a running commentary on what exactly Tinkerbell is doing between the time she drinks the poison and crawls into her house, including sound effects. (FRMT, Summer 2005)
*The fact that some of the pictures that were taken of Tink, she looks like a real fairy! Not just a green light!!!! (FRMT, Summer 2005)
*Making Tink just around on the mushrooms that were on the backdrop (FRMT, Summer 2005)

The Scarlet Pimpernel
*The song "I'll Forget You"
*The foppy hilarity that IS "The Creation of Man"
*The fact that whoever plays Percy basically plays 3 different characters in 1!
*The song "Into the Fire"

The Secret Garden
*The first time I saw it, bawling during "How Could I Ever Know" (FRMT, Summer 1996)
*Playing Rose
*The song "Lily's Eyes"
*Getting the giggles onstage during "Storm 1" (Jesters, 2004)

The Sound of Music

*Of all the Von Trapp children, Brigitta is my favorite. She's the one with the sassy mouth. I am SUCH a Brigitta. Oh, to travel back in time and play that part!*The Wedding Processional is one of my favorite songs ever.

*My favorite moment of the entire show is the finale. When the Von Trapps are hiking away into the Alps...*sobs* This moment is also part of my very first Musical Theatre Geek Moment, when I was 5 years old.

*I LOVE IT when the Captain and Maria are arguing about the children in Act 1 and he cuts her off and she goes "I'M NOT FINISHED YET." I think she was probably the first person ever to stand up to him.

*My favorite song in the entire show, even the entire world is Edelweiss. Not only is it a gorgeous song, but it's also a wonderful moment for the Captain. He's saying goodbye to his homeland. He doesn't know if he'll ever be able to return.

Spamalot
*When everyone laughs just as a scene is starting, because they know exactly what's going to happen...thanks to the fact that we've all seen the movie a million times.
*The song "The Diva's Lament"

Thoroughly Modern Millie
*The character of Mrs. Meers. (I WILL play her someday.)
*What we call "The Millie Incident". Shauna and I saw this show twice in one day.
*Seeing Act 2 from 3rd row center
*The song "Gimme, Gimme"

Titanic: The Musical
*So much better than the movie. I just can't stress that enough.
*The song "We'll Meet Tomorrow". It just about breaks your heart. Up until that point, you really didn't know who was going to live and who was going to die. Not really. And Alice had no clue until that point that Edgar wasn't coming with her. Same with Caroline and Charles. And everyone else. *sobs*
*The song "Mr. Andrews' Vision". A beautiful and heart-wrenching way to explain sinking.
*Our production. Everything about it. Everything. (FRMT, Summer 2003)

Urinetown
*Where do I start? This show is so funny! SO FUNNY!
*I love how it breaks every rule of musical theater. They give away plot points, characters die who shouldn't...the list goes on and on.
*Holding up the revolving wall by myself while Shauna went to Ace Hardware (Nonesuch, 2006?)
*The song "Run, Freedom, Run"
*The character Officer Lockstock
*"Nothing kills a show faster than two much exposition." "What about bad subject matter? Or a bad title even. That could kill a show pretty good."

Wicked

*As I sat in the Gershwin Theatre in NYC, the lights went down and the overture started...and I cried. Sure, I'd seen the show before (on tour), but this was my first BROADWAY SHOW!!!*The heart-pounding excitement as Elphaba raises into the air at the climax of "Defying Gravity" = One of my favorite moments of all time.

*The song "For Good" = perfection.

*"Well, we can't all come and go by bubble."

*My first Elphaba: Stephanie J. Block. WOWZERS that girl can SING!!!!!!! If I ever get a chance to meet her, I'm going to ask if she had to learn to belt so effortlessly, or if she was just born that way.

--
This is a work in progress. I've spent a couple days compiling this and I know that I'm leaving so much out. But this is what I could think of!

My Fashion Timeline is a bit askew

Last night, I came downstairs and my mom was watching something on BYU-TV. It was a women's conference or something. They panned over the audience a couple times, and by the looks of the styles of hair/clothes/glasses, I thought it was from the late 80s, early 90s. I watched for awhile (the speaker was Mary Ellen Edmonds...who is absolutely hilarious!) A couple more shots of the audience had me doubting a bit, but I still thought it was like 1991 at the earliest. Then she said something about an article written in 1996. Whoa whoa...what?! Finally, I grabbed the remote and pressed the Info button (Yay for DirecTV). I was shocked to discover that it was from 1998! Just over 10 years ago! I seriously thought it was older than that! Did we really look that dorky in 1998? That was my junior year of college! I don't remember being THAT dorky. (I am always and forever a dork, I will not deny it.)

Now I've never been up on fashion...not really. The fact that I am into scarves at the same time that scarves are popular is a total fluke. I'm usually a step behind... It just kind of threw me for a loop last night. But come to think of it, if you watch the early seasons of Friends and compare what they were wearing then to what's popular now...they look pretty dopey. And Friends was the I Ching of Fashion back then! Funny what just a couple of years will do. Even with revolving trends, you can still tell the difference between this year's styles and the styles they are copying from decades past. Right? RIGHT?!

A Few Thoughts on the Golden Globes

It's no secret that I'm an awards show junkie. In the last week, I've watched the People's Choice Awards, the Critic's Choice Awards, and the Golden Globes. I saw very few movies last year, due to the insane theatre schedule I was maintaining But even if I'd seen none at all, I'd still watch the awards shows. They make me happy.

So, here are a couple of random thoughts (in no particular order) on last night's Golden Globes:

I wish someone in the cast of Doubt would have won something. That movie is freaking amazing.

YAY FOR JOHN ADAMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love that movie! LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!!!!

Tina Fey's acceptance speech was totally awesome! When she started calling out people's screen names...oh my gosh!

Can I just say that I love Rainn Wilson? "Hi, we're TV actors." LOL!!!!!!!!

I guess it doesn't matter how famous you get (and how famous your parents are), your mom will still tell you to stand up straight on international television. Poor Rumer...(but she was slouching just a bit.)

So...Angelina apparently doesn't mind losing to Kate Winslet, but she's pissed about losing to Anne Hathaway? What gives?! She needs to get over herself. Seriously. (I'm not a fan of Brangelina...in case you couldn't tell.)

My thoughts are jumbled. I should have taken copious notes last night. But I'm waiting until the Oscars to blog as I'm watching. Then you can drool along with me over Hugh Jackman (or as we call him at my house [thanks to Neal], Huge Ackman.) Rowr.

The Oscar Nominations will announced on January 22nd. Be watching early next week for my 6th (or is it 7th?) annual predictions...based only on movies that I have seen. (Don't worry...I promise to finally see The Dark Knight before making my predictions. I would be remiss without including Heath Ledger.)

Flashback Friday

Two years ago at this time, we were STILL digging out from a massive snowstorm. It wasn't just one big storm, it was about 5 separate ones. This picture was taken after we had finally cleared the driveway. You can see Shauna's car buried, and the truck in up over its hubcaps! It was CRAZY!!!!!! We've hardly had any snow so far this winter, and to be honest...I miss it and don't miss it. Snow is fun, if I don't have to drive in it.

Personalized Spam

So, I heard that Spam was going to get more personal. Isn't that exciting? More e-mail that I don't wait...that's tailored just for me! JUST WHAT I ALWAYS WANTED!!!!!!!!! So, I looked at my e-mail account that gets the most Spam. My yahoo account currently has 446 messages in the Spam Folder. Let's see how personal it is, shall we?

Life Insurance (yes, I could probably use some of that.)
Get a REAL Visa (As opposed to the FAKE one I've been using for years?)
Credit Report (Seen it.)
Want Cash? (Why yes I do, but I doubt you're going to give to me for free...no strings attached)
eBay (It says I can retire early, but I don't think I have that much stuff that would sell. Beanie Babies aren't a viable commodity anymore.)
Something about Acai Berries (Wow...I can look good and feel good? That would be a first.)
Dating Online (Been there, done that...and I have the emotional scars to prove it.)
Cash Locator (Locate me some free money and we'll talk!)
Someone has a Crush on you (I highly doubt that.)
Need a checking account? (I've had one since I was 18, but thanks for asking!)
Let Google Make you money (Are they printing it now? Gosh, Google can do ANYTHING!)
College Financial Aid (That's what got me into this mess in the first place. I'm almost done paying off that financial aid...and I graduated from college almost 9 years ago.)
Free Sample of Folgers Gourmet (How personal can this be if they don't know that I don't drink coffee?)

It goes on and on like this for pages!!! Do these people really think that I care? Apparently they do, because they send me duplicates 5 times over. And that's just my yahoo account. My gmail account, which is my primary address, gets all kinds of sexually explicit Spam and stuff about Rolex Watches. Seriously...it's totally ridiculous! ABSOFREAKING STUPID!!!!!!!! Oh, and I got one the other day from "Facebook". Yeah, right. They sent to the address that is not associated with my Facebook account. Smart.

Do people have nothing better to do than send out this crap all the time? It's out of control.

/rant

Searching for Mr. Darcy

I think it's safe to say that Mr. Darcy is many a girl's first crush...those that have read or seen the movie(s) of Pride and Prejudice, of course. He wasn't my first crush, as I didn't discover him until later. (I didn't read the book until 2006, after I saw the Keira Knightley movie version...but I know I saw the BBC Adaptation years earlier.) But alas...I fell in love. Mr. Darcy is the perfect man. Or is he?

I have come to realize, with the help of some very funny books (Austenland by Shannon Hale...highly recommend that one! and Me & Mr. Darcy by Alexandra Potter...good, but way too much profanity) that Mr. Darcy is the perfect man for Elizabeth Bennet. He's not the perfect man for me. In fact, I'm pretty sure I would hate him. He's moody, aloof, and downright snobby! Not my kind of guy. I hate arrogance! I'd probably want to slap him senseless...you know, if I was prone to violence like that. And he wouldn't have a thing to do with me, that's for darn sure. I'm too silly. (I'm a little like Kitty Bennet, in some respects.) Sure, he's a good friend and loyal to the end...but only if he likes you. To everyone else, he's a pompous jerk. Lizzie sees that at first, but gets to know the man underneath (and why he is the way he is) and she falls in love. They are perfect for one another. Tra la la..they all live happily ever after.

So this is why I am very careful to say that I am looking for MY Mr. Darcy. I am not looking for THE Mr. Darcy. I am looking for what Mr. Darcy represents: a man who loves me no matter what the circumstance, who is a loyal friend, who loves his family, and is just pretty much amazing. Everything Mr. Darcy was to Lizzie...that's what I want for me. That will be MY Mr. Darcy. Every girl needs their own Mr. Darcy. (Mr. Darcy was Elizabeth Bennet's Mr. Darcy. How convenient!) Every girl DESERVES her Mr. Darcy. And if there isn't a Mr. Darcy to be found, DON'T SETTLE FOR MR. WICKHAM, WHATEVER YOU DO!!!!!!!!!!! Luckily for me, I have no Mr. Wickhams, I try to avoid any and all Mr. Collinses, but I would probably be okay with a Mr. Bingley. But alas, I'm holding out for Mr. Darcy. MY MR. DARCY!

And there's a new Mr. Darcy these days, or haven't you heard? His name is Edward Cullen. He has girls swooning. (Well, not necessarily swooning over Robert Pattinson...he's Cedric Diggory to me, after all.) But you know what? Edward Cullen is Bella Swan's Mr. Darcy. He's not my Mr. Darcy. I would tell him to take a hike. I really don't need a protector. I would feel smothered by Edward. And if I found out he was spying on me in my room while I was sleeping, I'd probably slap him with a restraining order. But I'm not Bella. Don't get me wrong...I'm Team Edward, even though I like Jacob Black. But I think it would be weird being with a guy who could read my mind. CREEPY!!!!!!!! I'm an Alice, though. Give me a guy who can manipulate my emotions. Jasper would calm me down when I go into freak-out mode. And the visions would be cool, too.

Here's the thing: Edward is not real. Mr. Darcy is not real. (Although some may argue that Mr. Darcy is based on the real life Tom Lefroy. Watch Becoming Jane and judge for yourself.) My Mr. Darcy, my Edward (or Jasper, if you will), is real. At least I hope he is. I haven't found him yet, but I'm sure he's out there....waiting for me. His Elizabeth Bennet...Bella Swan....er, Alice Cullen.

Yes, I was Elizabeth Bennet for Halloween. Don't judge me.

Flashback Friday

I'm stealing this fun idea from Diana! Every Friday I'll put up an old picture or scrapbook page!


This picture was taken in May 2000, just before I graduated from college, with some of my roommates at the Spade House.

Clockwise from Top: Katina Portie, Me, Maryam Motahari, Christine Spence, Diana Schnakenburg