14 Monday Oct 2019
Posted in Poetry/Lyrics, Uncategorized
Tags
American, American dream, choice, choices, connection, doubt, dream, honesty, hope, love, lover, poem, poetry, reality, romance, truth
Every day becomes
second chance at happiness
I choose you always
become what you make
the reality of your
American dream
Accepting the truth
honesty defeats the doubt
steadfast connection
13 Sunday Oct 2019
Posted in Poetry/Lyrics, Uncategorized
I knew at once
you were the one
the nervous smile
fronting a quiet kindness
A coffee spot lingered
opposite your heart
endearing you to me
as you listened, waiting
hoping you see too
a sign for more
an opening to turn
the handshake to a kiss
The words flow
laying a path
set to smiles
leading to love
July 10, 2019
21 Saturday Sep 2019
Posted in Poetry/Lyrics, Uncategorized
Tags
black, dance, dark, doubt, hope, Johnny Cash, love, Morrissey, music, poem, poetry, progress, relationships, rock, romance
Today I wear black
not to show darkness
but to mute the doubt
that I’ll see your back
For I stand solid strong
sure in your protective arms
even at a distance,
singing our song
Notes of hope advance
a comforting melody plays
inviting the next stride
of our love’s dance
a single step back
does not disconnect
but rocks you forward
leaning onto me dressed in black
September 17, 2019
03 Wednesday Jul 2019
Posted in books, Uncategorized
Tags
Always and Forever Lara Jean, book review, books, decisions, future, Jenny Han, love, relationships, teen, teens, To All the Boys I've Loved Before
Moving from romantic comedy to realistic teenage angst, Jenny Han wraps up the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy with another sweet chapter of Lara Jean’s life in Always and Forever, Lara Jean. This story finds the titular character and her crushworthy boyfriend Peter awaiting the arrival of their college acceptance letters. As they navigate their future together with their school goals, Han hits a more realistic level than the previous books. It carries a more serious tone, but it still has its share of laughter. Once again, Lara Jean makes a positive role model.
17 Monday Jun 2019
Posted in books, Uncategorized
Tags
books, connection, family, lake, love, North Carolina, ocean, relationships, roots, Sarah Dessen, summer, water
The first day of summer coincidentally also begins the weekend. As another season starts, I recommend these fun stories that take place during the summer. They have an easygoing flow yet still have depth as the characters face new circumstances and face the heat.
The Rest of the Story by Sarah Dessen: This book came out this month, just in time for summer. Emma Saylor finds herself reuniting with a grandmother she hasn’t seen since early childhood. As she connects with cousins at North Lake, where her parents met, she discovers more of her deceased mother’s history. In turn, she learns how to root her identity to grow into her future.
The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen: With a character going by a similar name in a similar storyline (even the same state) to Sarah Dessen’s latest, this Sarah’s novel follows Emily Benedict as she ventures to her grandfather’s house in Mullaby, North Carolina. She too reconnects with the community of her mother’s past and finds a connection to another family. Learning about her mother’s past, she overcomes some generational obstacles in a magical setting.
The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks: Ronnie also returns to North Carolina, this time to stay with her dad for the summer. Having struggled since her parents’ divorce, she grows in her new scenery as she develops stronger roots with her father. Between the summer, the beach, and a love interest, Ronnie experiences the ocean’s beauty, waves, and tides.
How to Bake a Perfect Life by Barbara O’Neal: Baker Romola welcomes her stepdaughter-in-law to her home and develops a new relationship as she aims to save her bakery. As they grow closer, Romola examines her own roots. A summer she spent with her aunt as a teenager shapes her future familial relationships.
22 Wednesday May 2019
Posted in books, Uncategorized
Tags
book, book review, Christian, Christian living, goals, God, growth, hope, life, love, Love Life Again, mental health, progress, Tracie Miles
Tracie Miles writes an accessible starting point for adjusting perspectives and making life improvements in Love Life Again: Finding Joy When Life Is Hard. Each chapter covers a topic that includes an application the reader can make after reading. It makes a great discussion book to cover with a partner who wants to reach similar goals, and it may pay off to read only one or two chapters a week to give ample opportunity for applying the concepts. The content mostly stays at a surface level, making it a guide beneficial to anyone. However, for those with mental health issues I would suggest it as a starting point or supplement to licensed therapy. As someone who needs more I still find encouragement and direction from this work because each small step makes a different. It serves as a reminder for some of the everyday tasks I can maintain to keep up my mental hygiene as well as my Christian walk and relationship with God.
02 Thursday May 2019
Posted in books, Uncategorized
Tags
Bethany House Publishers, book review, books, Christian fiction, friendship, historical fiction, Julie Klassen, library, love, strength, The Ladies of Ivy Cottage, Victorian, women
I received a copy of Julie Klassen’s The Ladies of Ivy Cottage from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for a review.
Though the second in a trilogy, this story is my first Klassen and stands on its own. The ladies form a neat community as they learn to adapt to new situations in Victorian era England. As their friendships blossom, so do their skills at business to care for themselves. Rachel opens a library in the cottage, Mercy runs a girls school, and Jane manages an inn. Their strength comes from within just as much as it does from staying connected to their community. Of course, some love interests find their way into the mix as the ladies navigate their futures. Reading about ladies facing difficult odds with grace by helping each other makes for an encouraging read. I look forward to reading the latest and last in the trilogy (then likely the first).
10 Wednesday Apr 2019
Posted in Uncategorized
Tags
book review, books, family, love, magical, magical realism, southern, summer, women's fiction
I read The Girl Who Chased the Moon, my first Sarah Addison Allen novel, and it may have made a sweeter treat than my funfetti cake with pink icing (my birthday fell on a Wednesday). The setting came to life enough to make me wonder if I’d rather move to a small town like Mullaby, North Carolina or back to a big city. I felt summer’s warm air as Emily gazed at the mysterious light in the trees outside her window and longed for some quiet reflection of my own. Then I wanted to go to Julia’s bakery to chat with Mullaby’s finest as each character had their own charm, making me want to belong to a community like that. This enchanting story floated as smoothly as the lights danced across the yard in the middle of the night, and with its fun came some depth in its female leads and their discoveries about their families’ pasts. It certainly only began my love for Allen’s magical stories and neat women.
Fun Note: I got this book at a meetup and book swap some of the Modern Mrs. Darcy Book Club members, including our leader Anne Bogel, had in Nashville last summer.
23 Saturday Feb 2019
Posted in books, The Great American Reader, Uncategorized
Tags
adventure, Beartown, book club, bookish, books, community, England, Fredrik Backman, friendship, Great American Reader, Harry Potter, Hogwarts, J.K. Rowling, Jane Austen, love, Persuasion, reading, Victorian literature, winter
February ends in less than a week, and spring comes soon. As I start to ease out of the winter blues, I have some books lined up for those days spent indoors. They range from atmospheric, character driven novels to classics.
Beartown by Fredrik Backman: This weekend I finally have this book beloved in book club circles on my docket. A couple chapters in I already feel immersed in the small forest town that revolves around its hockey team. Backman goes deep into the minds of his characters, and I sense a foreboding event. I anticipate reading how the characters respond to the situation and how they interact with each other. This community offers insight on relationship and organization dynamics.
Persuasion by Jane Austen: Though the novel doesn’t have a wintery setting, it transports you to Victorian England. The story explores social class and mores as well as its expectations for love. Anne has a failed love story in the background, so I look forward to seeing how encountering her lover again shapes her marriage prospects and how Austen’s trademark wit plays into it. I already find myself daydreaming about the cottages and the names as well as my Pride and Prejudice reread for my Great American Reader project.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling: The second installment in the Harry Potter series continues my Great American Reader project as well as my book club community read as we read the series this year. In England again, this time in the beloved Hogwarts castle, the school walls protect the students against the cold and darkness as Voldemort fights to gain power. Hogwarts offers respite from the winter as well as a fantasy adventure rooted in good vs evil. Harry and his friends continue to grow up and face moral dilemmas that make you root for them while wishing you attended Hogwarts too.
18 Monday Feb 2019
Posted in Monday Motivation, Uncategorized
Tags
Christian living, culture, fulfillment, goals, growth, hope, Isn't It Romantic, love, Monday, motivation, movies, romantic comedy, Valentine's Day
The new romantic comedy Isn’t It Romantic might parody the genre, but it also hints at a truth behind a detail to which Rebel Wilson’s character Natalie initially scoffs. Though arguably unrealistic, romantic comedies remind us of the magic surrounding us. Sure, we may see more of the dull, hard work the movies don’t show, but we do possess a hope to find what we seek. Those desires for romance and fulfillment come naturally, and we have the power to step forward and progress those goals (with some reflection and work of course). Ultimately, we see that life offers more than what we notice everyday.
Natalie wakes up in a romantic comedy where her surroundings seem too good to pass as real. She comments how New York no longer stinks and how it looks as thought it had a beauty filter over it. Flowers surround her as she walks the streets, and people look her in the eye because they notice her. These details can happen outside a romantic comedy. Maybe actual flower arrangements don’t adorn every doorway and table, but beauty exists around us; a stranger or even a loved one can reflect God’s face as they take the time to notice and listen to us. Sometimes a potential love or job we want might stand right in front of us, simply waiting for us to recognize it and step toward it. Looking through a positive lens of hope rather than one of disappointment allows that.
We all desire romance, and that doesn’t mean we live with our head in the clouds. Our hearts naturally long for intimacy, and we see proof of that beauty throughout the bible. Song of Songs expresses the more physical side, and numerous New Testament passages demonstrate the benefits of marriage union and community. Like Natalie eventually discovers in Isn’t It Romantic, we can accept these desires rather than scoff at them. Perhaps the acknowledgement leads to fulfilling them. We possess a hope that brings a romantic comedy like magic to our ordinary lives.
I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, especially with its Valentine’s Day timing. It proved my philosophy that love does surround us in all its cheesy and intense ways, whether culturally accepted as realistic or not.
For further reading, I recommend this Christianity Today article that describes a hope often overlooked in romantic comedies.
