My mom is having a give away

My mom is having a give away at her blog Circling Through this life. She is giving away the book What is he Thinking by Rebecca St. James. I have read a very small part of this book. It looks interesting though. If you are interested you should go over and check it out, and perhaps enter her give away. :) Click here to enter

Blessings

~Elizabeth

quotes of the day

"Can a mortal ask a question which God finds unanswerable? Quite easily, I should think. All nonsense questions are unanswerable. " -C. S. Lewis.

I found this quote humorous. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Here is one that is for me something to ponder.

"Reflect upon your present blessings of which every man has many - not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some." - Charles Dickens

Blessings

~Elizabeth

Bird and horse cards

Here are some cards I have recently made. I wanted to share them with you all! Let me know what you thing!


I think this one is my favorite from this batch. I like the picture and the green background.

The inside.
A smaller one. I was trying something new with the ribbon on this card. I like how it turned out!

Here is another one. I love the blue ribbon and the blue bird.

This is horse themed one. I made it with special thoughts for my horse loving sister!

The inside.

Blessings

~Elizabeth

Pride and Prejudice 2005 rant

So I said I would talk more latter on Pride and Prejudice 2005. This is my rant about it, latter I hope to do a review after I have gotten some of the things I didn't like out of my system. I wan't to give it a nice review not a rant about what I didn't like. So sorry this is so long in coming!!

I have noticed that I am more particular with Jane Austen adaptations that with others. I don't know why, but I just am.

The big thing about this movie was that it was just too short!! 2 hours is just not enough time to cover the whole story. I would rather they take all the time they need, than for them to not take enough time and really mess things up. There where things that didn't happen in the book that they added, and then they took out some of the best parts! Maybe they would not have needed to do this if they had not added stuff?

Since Wickam is here I will talk about him. He was just not right. He was slimy from the beginning. I all ways pictured Wickam as being very charming, nice, and sweet, and then you find out how horrible he is. This Wickam is suspicious from the beginning. I have no idea how Lizzie saw anything in him at all! Wickam just was not right.

Mr. Bingley was not to dumb. Mr. Bingly in the book though not a smartest person on earth, was a gentlemen, kind, and caring. I don't get the same feel. Honestly I really like Bingley, but in this version I have no idea how anyone can like him, he just is to well... dumb. Sorry to be harsh on him, but that is just how I feel about him.

And now for the thing that made me really really mad!

*screams in horror!*

Miss Bingly is wearing a sleeveless dress!!!!!!!!!!!! I am not a fashion expert but this seems to me like a really wrong thing. It looks like she is wearing her underwear to the ball! It was just not right. It just did not feel at all proper for the time. It just seems like she is wearing her underwear to me.

On a side note I like her hair. I wish I had hair like that! I liked Miss Bingly way to much in this version. She just seemed like a stuck up person who was full of themselves, but not nearly as evil as she should be. I didn't even really feel like she liked Darcy, and I felt like she and Lizzie could have almost have been friends is Miss Bingly was not so stuck up. Also Her dresses, minus the one above, were the only dresses that I liked.
Maybe it was just me, but it seemed like everyone was running around in their night cloths half the time. What was up with that? I would not want Mr. Darcy walking in on me in my nightgown. I also don't think that she would have gone walking out of the house, no matter what hour it was, in her night gown. That just does not seem right.


I am not sure what to make of Mathew Macfayden's Mr. Darcy. On the one hand I like Macfayden so I was some what predisposed to like his Mr. Darcy. But His Darcy just didn't seem right. I didn't feel like he was a proud stuck up man, just really shy and not sure of himself. Which I though Mr. Darcy was sure of himself in the book, just proud, and disagreable.

I liked when they where dancing the other couples disappeared. That was really interesting to show how they where focused on each other

Georgiana seemed way to young. She looked 12 and no where near 16. She did seem really sweet though as Georgiana should be.

Also Why did they where their hair down? It kind of annoyed me as it seemed not quite right for the time. I am not an expert on Regency fashion, so I could be wrong. But I have seen quite a few Regency films and this was the only one where any of the women wore their hair down. Not that they didn't have nice hair.

The dresses where not very regency in this movie. I know that the director wanted to show the difference of status between the Bennetts and the richer people. But still I was not very happy with it. I mean Kitty and Lydia strike me as the kind of people who would have the latest fashion no matter what. Mrs. Bennetts dresses where really not regency at all. They where from the time before which I thought was really odd. (what was the time before Regency?)

Also look at Lizzie's hair here. I would not mind her bangs so much it they where not in her face. Also her coat was very ugly and looks like it was a guys coat. Maybe she got it from her father? I don't know it was just really ugly.

Ahh Jane. . . Jane is my favorite character from Pride and Prejudice. I find I am like her is some ways. I really like this Jane. She looked like Jane, and acted like Jane. Jane from 1995 had the character down right, but didn't quite look like her. This Jane looks like Jane. She is sweet and caring. The trying always to think the best of others didn't quite come across as well though. Jane was just about really nice thing in this movie.

One character that really annoyed me because he was not right was Mr. Collins. I mean Mr. Collins is suppose to be an annoying character, but it annoyed me because he was not what he should have been. He was not Mr. Collins. I can't put my finger on what about him was not Mr. Collins, perhaps it was because he did not use the phrases that Mr. Collins used?

Lizzie was not Lizzie at all. She was much more like Kitty and Lydia. Why Mr. Darcy liked her when she was so much like her younger sisters I have no idea. Also I don't remember Lizzie being so critical of men. Why was she like that? It didn't make sense, and was not at all Lizzie like. Also she was very rude to her father when she snatched the letter out of his hand. It was really really rude, and extremely unLizzie like.

I wanted to like this version. I knew when I started it that it would not be as good at the 1995 version, but I was so disappointed with it. I will do a real review of it latter in which I will try to be a little more balanced. This was not a review. It was just be writing about what annoyed me, and what I didn't like. And there are a few good things in here too I think.

Blessings

~Elizabeth

Sonnet XXI

Sonnet XXI

by Shakespeare

So it is not with me, as with that Muse,

Stirr'd by painted beauty to his verse,

Who heavan itself for ornament doth use,

And every fair with his fair doth rehearse;

Making a couplement of proud compare,

With sun and moon, with earth and sea's rich gems

With April's first-lorn flowers and all things rare

That heaven's air in this huge rondure hems.

O! let me, true love, but truly write,

And then believe me, my love is fair

As any mother's child thought not so bright

As those golden candles fix'd in heaven's air:

Let them say more that like of hearsay well;

I will not praise, purpose not to sell.

Pretty Peaches

My sisters and I got to can peaches a few weeks ago! It was lots of fun, and it was great to work with my sisters. All the Jars sealed too which is very good! This was the first time I had ever canned with out a friend in my own kitchen(my mom's kitchen :), and it was my sisters first time ever canning. Here are a couple of pictures of the end result!

I love the pink color that the juice, in the can not on the towel. It gives it this happy look. :)
They are so pretty! I could star at the jars all day! :)

~Elizabeth

I wish I had a clever title

So I saw Pride and Prejudice 2005 a long time ago. I think I was 10 or 11, which is not actually all that long ago since I am 16 but it seems like a long time ago. Well I didn't remember it all that well, and didn't really care since I had not been all that thrilled with it. None of my friends really cared for it either so I didn't really care much about it. Then I changed churches and now more of my friends really like this movie so I decided it was time to watch it again. So I did yesterday. I was not at all impressed. I was in fact horrified. The only good part was Mathew Macfadyen, but I didn't even really like his Mr. Darcy. And Jane, I liked Jane. I will write a more detailed post latter but for now I am just saying I am not thrilled at all with this version.

Anyway like I said more latter ta ta for now!

~Elizabeth

PS. On a side note the music was nice and pretty, but not the Oh My Gosh music that some movies have had for me.

Mansfield Park: book review

Title: Mansfield Park

Author: Jane Austen

1st published:

my rating: 5/5

Penniless Fanny Price is sent by her family to live with her richer relations at Mansfield Park. She lives with them for most of her life and everything is peaceful until the Crawfords come. Then everything is thrown upside down, and there is no peace.

- I wrote this that is why it is so terrible. The one on the back of the book was not the write kind of summery I needed. Also I have a different copy of the book, I could not find a picture of the right cover so I chose the one that looked best.

I must say that this is now my favorite Jane Austen book. It is much is different from her other ones in that it is one of her "mature novels" as the introduction said. It is not quiet the same kind of romance that you would find in Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility. It was a little difficult to get into the first couple of chapters, but after that I could not put the book down.

I loved the characters. Fanny was lovely. She was sweet and shy, always willing to help, and did not want to appear ungrateful for all that her relatives have all done for her. She is lovable in every way, I have no idea where the person who wrote the into got the idea that Fanny was not a likable main character?

I love how she seemed to talk about through her story the need for parents to be involved in their children's lives. To teach them and show them good behavior, and how to be a respectable person.

The other thing I liked was Fanny and Edmund's romance. They were very good friends before they fell in love. I think I would like to be good friends with the person I marry before I fall in love with them. I would want to get to know them really well.

Blessings

~Elizabeth

not fun!

So I have strep throat. Yup, not very fun. It was very painful, at first we thought it was the flu on Monday then I started to notice that it was not a normal sore throat, it was way more painful. so we decided on Monday to go to the doctor the next day since it was to late to go. I noticed that my ear felt like it had water in it, but I didn't think much of it since I had just taken a shower. the I woke up at 3 in the morning because of extreme pain in my ear. There was a lot of pressure on it. It was fluid build up, because my tubes where blocked, that is what my dad said. My mom took me to the doctor that day. I was super tired, and by the time we got to the doctor I could not hear out of my ear at all.

We got to the doctor and were taken to the room to wait for the doctor to come in. She took a very very long time to come see us, so in the mean time I lay down on the table bed thing and took a nap. When she finally came in she looked at my throat and said it looked really bad, and swabbed my throat and then tested it. she confirmed I had strep and then looked at my ear and said that it looked bad, she gave us meds for both. since then my ear has felt much better, and my throat is so much better!! :)

Any way that is what has happened to me.

~Elizabeth

Period Drama Week questions #3

Okay so this is the last post for the questions of period drama week. I hope you have enjoyed! I have very much enjoyed doing these questions. I wish I could have done more posts for period drama week, but I just have not had time with school starting. I have enjoyed it very much though!

14. Do you like having multiple versions of some period dramas? Do some period dramas need newer versions? Or are the older versions better? I like having multiple versions. I really don't feel like I am able to answer to what ones in my opinion need to be redone.

15. What is the longest period drama you have ever seen? I am thinking that is was P&P 1995.

16. Who are your favorite actors/actresses from period dramas? :)

Richard Armitage

Emma Thompson

Colin Firth

Hugh Grant

Harry Lloyd

17. Do you prefer watching a regular length movie or a more in-depth mini-series? Why? I like both, but I think that I prefer the longer in-depth mini-series ones. There is just more to them that the others.

18. What period drama has one or your favorite actors/actresses in it? North & South

19. Which heroine from which movie is you least favorite? Why? Emma would be in general, but I really really really don't like the 2007 version of Emma. It is perhaps the only BBC version of something that I really truly dislike.

20. Which three period dramas are you least favorite?

Pride and Prejudice 2005

Emma BBC 2007

I can't think of a third at the moment

That is all for now! I hope you have enjoyed this! :)

Blessings

~Elizabeth

Period Drama Week questions part 2

Her is part 2 of the questions! I hope you enjoy!

8. Which period drama characters are the most annoying? (keep it under three) This is difficult because there are some portrayals of characters that I find annoying, but the characters themselves(in other versions at least) are not annoying.

Mrs. Bennett annoys me every time I watch P&P.

Lydia Bennett drives me bananas. I want to lock her in a room for a day or two so she can maybe learn something, and not annoy any one else.

Henry Crawford I was very annoyed with. He was not at all caring about the feelings of others with his actions.

9. Which period Drama characters are in your top three?

Elinor Dashwood.

Guy of Gisborne, he has a very deep character that I love watching develop. (Robin Hood BBC 2006-2008)

Fanny Price

10. When you watch period drama, what is it that you pay closest attention to? I like to look at the clothes, the hair, the setting, the acting(some actors the way they act annoys me), Characters are something that I look at a lot and love to study. I like to see them develop and grow as the story moves along.

11. Which period dramas have you not see that you most want to see? Oh my there are so many!!

The Kings Speech

Under the Greenwood Tree

Cranford

Jane Eyre 2011

Great Expectations(there are several versions that I want to see!)

12. Which period drama has the pretties sound track or background music? The music that I was most moved by in a period drama would be the sound track from North & South 2005. From the beginning notes I was completely in love with the music!

13. Which period drama has your favorite screenplay/script? Why? I don't really know what screenplay is my favorite, but I think it would be Pride and Prejudice 1995.

Blessings Elizabeth

PS. Today is my first day of School!!! :)

I have been awarded!

Yesterday I was was awarded the Liebster Blog award by Mel from But when the Young Lady is to be a Heroine. You should go over and check out her lovely blog! She has some lovely things to say and her blog is a pleasure to read! I am very honored that you have awarded me! Thank you so much, Mel!!! :)

This is the first time I have ever been awarded! I am so excited!!

This is an Award that is given to blogs with under 200 followers to help promote their blogs so that more people will find out about all these lovely smaller blogs! :) These are the rules for this award.

1. Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them

2. Give the Liebster Blog Award to five bloggers and comment on their blogs, letting them know they got it.

3. Copy and paste the award to your blog.

4. Have faith your followers will spread the love to other bloggers

5. Have blogging fun!

I award

Gwen of Femininity and Daydreams

Jane of Novel Pretender

Trini at A Daughter of the King

Milisande at Nothing of Importance

Elizabeth Rose of Living on Literary Lane

Thank you so much!!

Blessings

~Elizabeth

Period Drama Week questions part 1

So sorry to be so behind in posting! Anyway, Miss Elizabeth Bennett over at Elegance of Fashion is Hosting a Period drama week! I am very excited about it!! :) she has some lovely questions to answer. So that is what I am going to do here. I hope you enjoy!! :)

1. How did you get introduced to period dramas? It was when I first watched Pride and Prejudice 1995 with my mom. That was when I was about 7. It has only been in the past couple of years that I have really really gotten into it.

2. What is it that you like about period dramas? I love the clothes, the stories, the people, the language, and the culture of the time. That is what I love about it.

3. Do you usually read a book and then watch the adaptation or do you watch the adaptation and then read the book? Um..... I usually try to read the book first, and then watch the adaptation, but this does not always happen. Sometimes it is because I watch the adaptation that I learn there is a book.

4. What are your top 3 period dramas and why? Oh this is going to be difficult to chose!

1. North & South 2005 - I love contrasts that are in this story, how it shows the differences between the north, an the south. I like how you see two sides to an issue and you can see how one is right and the other is right too. They both have good points, but there needs to be a middle ground. I find my self thinking this every time I read the book, or watch the TV series.

2. Sense & Sensibility- Elinor would be my main reason for liking this book. I really like the story in general of showing that Sense is better than Sensibility. I like how it shows how unfair marrying how society wants you to marry. It is unfair to marry some one that you don't like, let alone love, just because they have a great social status. And that in the end it really shouldn't matter, what should matter is what makes you happy.

3. Jane Eyre- I love Jane, she is quite and religious. The language is beautiful, and the story grabs me every time I read it. I have trouble putting it down. I like to reread it and to see the issues and themes that Charlotte Bronte hides in her book. The more times I read it the more of these themes I pick up.

5. From those three period dramas that you picked, who is your favorite character from each one?

1. Mr. Thornton would be my favorite character from North & South. He is a self made man, which I highly respect, he knows he lacks some education and wishes to further it, education is important to me. He overall seems to be a nice person, with faults that make him a more real person.

2. Elinor Dashwood I simply adore! I find myself identifying with her a lot, and seeing that we are alike in some aspects. She is an oldest daughter, I am an oldest daughter. She is sensible, I try to be sensible. Not to mention that one of the younger sisters to the Austen Heroine quiz and she got Marian Dashwood!

3. Jane would be my favorite. She has strong morals that she will flow even though it breaks her heart to do so. She has not had an easy life, but makes the most of what she has. She is very independent, which I have that in my personality. Overall I find her a strong character and very admirable.

6. Which author do like the adaptations or the best? I would have to say Jane Austen, so far most of the ones that I have seen I have liked very much. There have been a few that I have really detested.

7. Which period Drama characters are the funniest to you? (keep it under three)

Mr. Bennett is perhaps the one that makes me laugh the most.

Mr. Woodhouse also makes me laugh a too.

Fanny Thornton I always laugh when ever she talks. She is really silly, and humorous to watch/read.

I hope you have enjoyed this!! I will hopefully post the second part to morrow!

Blessings

~Elizabeth