Austenland and True Life...

I just got back from watching the Movie Austenland with my friend Tammy from work.  I adore her and love spending time with her.  We had a great time.  Note to self, do not eat cookies, pop, and popcorn for dinner again, your body doesn't like it.

Austenland is about a girl Jane, who is played by Keri Russell in the movie.  She is obsessed with Mr. Darcy from Jane Austen fame.  In the book it goes through her list of boyfriends and how they don't live up to her Mr. Darcy.  She tries to keep her Darcy love a secret.  In the movie it is spilling from her.  The movie was true to the ideas of the book, but it had to tell the story a little differently to make it work in that format.  Shannon Hale the Author was one of the writers of the screen play so you know it would be.

I have read the book twice, the sequel once, and now seen the movie.  I also have spent many hours reading and watching other Jane Austeny films and books. When I read the book the first time I was a little horrified.  I was too much like the main character and it kind of scared me.  I was too obsessed with Jane Austen! My life is not like that.  I don't even have a Regency like vacation to help me find what is real.  I have a different journey.

We all have our "ideal man" don't we?  For Jane it was a man who resembled Mr. Darcy.  As much as I love Darcy...I don't think he would be the man for me.  I am much more of a Colonel Brandon kinda girl, or Mr. Knightly, or even Captain Wentworth, but less of a Mr. Darcy. 

Sometimes we hold our standards so high that we don't see the real around us.  We can't see the beauty in people that we meet. 

I am always excited to hear people who have good news about finding their love of their life, but at the same time depending on their past experience it will depend on how excited I am for them.  If they are younger than me--excited--but jealous!  I have a cousin's daughter getting married soon and she is getting married to a great guy who has a master's degree.  That is pretty much what I want!  I have put my time in to get a master's degree, I want that from my husband.  My cousin who passed away a few years ago, his wife is getting remarried to an amazing man I met at the family reunion.  Very excited for her, but yet jealous again.  How is it she can find two amazing men before I can even find one.  I find that when people are closer to my age and with a similar experience or if I spend a lot of time with them I am much more excited for them.  Though that is not always the case.  When my younger brother got married a year ago I was excited--true--but also disappointed.  It's not fair I would say.  He is 6 years younger than me and is getting married to a girl who was under 20. Yes I love her and she is very nice and now we have a little wee baby who I love and adore even though she was just born a few days ago, but that doesn't change my heartbreak for me.  I love what I have learned in my 18-now 32 years and my experience are valuable, but I don't understand why some people get married young and some people get married when they are older and some never get married. Clearly I am not a person who got married young.  But will I be a person who gets married when I am older?  Why does this happen?  Basically I am heartbroken that my time hasn't come.  Yes I can be happy, and yes I have had a great life thus far, but I don't want to be alone. 

In Austenland, she was able to find the man who is perfect for her.  In Austen novels, the women find men who are perfect for them even though they don't always see it at first.  Marianne thought Willouhby was perfect for her, but then grew to love Colonel Brandon. That is what I hold on hope for.  I will find someone perfect for me.  Not perfect, just perfect for me.

Reasons you know your biological clock is ticking...

Tic, Tic, Tic

Please take this as a joke as it is meant to be, but as in any joke there is some truth to it all...

• You sometimes walk down the baby aisle at the store and swoon
• You have dreams about having kids
• You have talked to your woman doctor about someday having kids and how hard it may or may not be
• Your favorite part about church is seeing the cute babies and possibly getting to hold one
• You know more than you should about the pros and cons of birth control
• You plan on playing the "baby lottery" when you get married and hope that you will win the jack pot
• You become emotional when you read a Jimmy Fallon article about how he discusses how he and his wife had infertility issues
• You follow your friends facebook and blogs about their adoption process
• You become uncomfortable in church when they talk about marriage and family
• You know and maybe have possibly even googled information about the breastfed and formula fed baby debate