i've been really missing Paris lately. i know that i'm so lucky to have been able to go to Paris at all, let alone the many times that i have been, but i can't help but feel longing for the city of lights. i listen to French music on a regular basis. i watch French films. i keep telling myself i need to try to learn the language... again. i'm currently writing a short story set in the city. i daydream about all the adventures i've had there and more i'd like to have. i miss the cobblestone streets, the cafes, the markets, the architecture, the lights, the culture, the parks, the food. everything. it's a beautiful city and i want to go back. that's all for now.
There are few bands out there who can make albums so wonderful and so near perfect that you don't even notice the songs ending and beginning. It's as if the album is a great fashion show. Every piece that walks down that runway is it's own masterpiece, but the collection is so cohesive you can't decide which one you like the best; you just want the entire collection in your closet. Each song sinks inside you and settles there and you can't get enough. Though this album is simple, it's effortless. You don't even notice all the intricate, amazing work that went into it unless you close your eyes and really pay attention. It's almost like a score in that you don't notice it moving you until you're so moved it shocks you.
This album reminds me of Paris. This album reminds me of David. This album reminds me that there are still incredible, inspired, talented artists out there who make music today and that I shouldn't lose my faith in music.
The National is just so good.
They have other really fantastic albums, but this one is my favorite.
So as most of you know I went on a little vacay recently and haven't really caught up to the blog world since. I've really been just too lazy and just can't get back into the groove for some reason. I hope that will end soon, 'cause I really do miss my daily reads and all of my blog friends!
I'm just going to do a small little update on what's been going on lately.
So to reveal to you all where I've been hopping around the world, here goes:
1. Paris, France
2. Austria
3. Switzerland
4. London, England
I'll have to edit all of the gorgeous photos that David and I took while we were there and do a proper post on this awesome trip we had at a later time. David was in Paris for business for almost two weeks before I flew out to meet him the day after The Hiding Place closed, then we hopped on over to Austria and Switzerland and finished the trip off in London. It was beautiful. I've never seen Austria or Switzerland so seeing it for the first time was fabulous. I loved it.
As soon as we got back I was hit with a giant wave of exhaustion. I really was on-the-go non-stop since rehearsals for The Hiding Place started and then jumped right into a 2 week vacation so I was drained, emotionally and physically. So I was a ball of laziness for a few days, then I got this gnarly monster of a cold (which I thought was strep throat AGAIN) and it hasn't left me since. We've been home for almost two weeks and I'm still sick. It's crazy. AND we're leaving for New York, Connecticut and Long Island on Wednesday and will be gone for a week (never been to Connecticut or Long Island). I'm going to need to get back into a routine when we come back home 'cause I am all over the place still. I still haven't even unpacked from Europe! Insane.
While I was gone on my trip I read four books. I've never read that much while traveling. We had quite a bit of down time during airports, flights, not very scenic drives and laying out by Lake Lucerne in Switzerland so I burned through the Uglies, Pretties, Specials series and a book called Thirteen Reasons Why. Those books were so awesome I think I need to devote an entire post to discuss them. I started reading The Maze Runner series, but I'm having trouble getting into them because I can't stop thinking about the previous books I read. I'm sure the obsession will kick in though. Especially when I'm sitting in airports, flying and driving. We'll see.
I've been doing a TON of re-organizing and cleaning of our kitchen lately and I am SO pleased with the process. When I'm at home I get kind of stir crazy and have to have projects to devote myself to or I either spend WAY too much time online or I go nuts. Here are some of the results of the kitchen labor.
I totally forgot to get "before"s of the fridge and cupboards, wah wah :(
It took me literally FIVE hours to clean and re-organize the fridge. It was gross dirty. I literally took apart the whole fridge piece by piece and hand washed EVERYTHING. I was spent after that.
Then last night we made our way to Bolsa Chica beach to celebrate Chris Darjany's 30th Birthday. It was awesome. I had too many s'mores, but they were delish. I just hope it didn't blow my weigh in at Dub Dub tomorrow! Great times with great friends, though!
So I hope to be back in the blog groove for the next few days before we head out to the east coast and I hope you all understand my lack of comments on your blogs! :(
I have been a huge fan of film since I was old enough to watch it. To give you a sense of how deep my love for film goes, I will just say that my first favorite film (besides a Disney movie) was The Color Purple when I was six years old. Yeah, pretty heavy stuff for a six year old, but I loved it. My parents would wake up in the middle of the night because I had learned how to work the VHS machine and watch this very film. I remember it vividly because my mom never let me forget it. It's pretty odd that a kid that age would be so fascinated with a film of such heavy themes...
but I digress.
I think about films a lot. I replay them over and over again in my head when I'm not watching them. I love to talk about them with fellow film lovers and buffs. I can go to the theater and watch two, even three movies in a row.
Film really helped me as a kid dealing with the illness and death of a parent at a young age. It was my greatest escape... and still is. Most of the memories I have from those terrible times are surrounded around what movies I was watching. It may not have been the healthiest outcome, but it was all that I had... and music and books, but films? Oh films were on the highest pedestal...
yet I digress once again.
I have decided that since I love films so much, since I think about them at least half of the time I am awake and even dream of them when I am asleep, that I would start a little something called Fabulous Films Friday here on He Calls Me Wifey. It will be a weekly post featuring a film that I love, whether it be one from my childhood or one that I saw that week. Any film that pops into my brain that I know I love and could write about, I will feature it on Fridays.
So for my first installment, I thought I would feature one of my favorite films of all time:
Amélie
If you have not seen Amélie, you need to. It doesn't matter if you do not like foreign films or if reading subtitles isn't your thing. If I could get David to watch it, someone who's attention span for films is very short, especially at the time I forced him to watch it, you will be fine. You will forget that you are reading them after a while because you will be so engrossed in what is happening on screen. I can just about guarantee that you will enjoy it, if not love it.
Amélie takes place in Paris, Montmartre specifically, where Amélie grew up and works as a waitress at Café des 2 Moulins (The Two Windmills). Her excursions showcase a part of Paris that is very bohemian, very eccentric and beautiful, especially the scene that takes place at the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur (The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris). I have visited Paris three times already and have plans to go again. The only city that I have visited more than Paris is New York City. I fell in love with the idea of Paris as a very young girl and getting the chance to visit with my French class in high school only fanned the flame of my love for that magical place. Last time I was in Paris, on my honeymoon, David and I visited Café des 2 Moulins for the first time. It was much smaller than I expected and looked different from the film, but it was so fun to be sitting in the same café where one of my favorite films was made. Of course, there were Amélie posters, photos and souvenirs to be had there, but just the experience of sitting at a table for a few minutes was delightful.
There are so many reasons why this film is special to me. The fact that it takes place in Paris is initially what made me love the film, but the more that I watched it, the more I fell in love with the themes of the film, with the characters, the soundtrack (which, in my opinion, is one of the most beautiful soundtracks ever by Yann Tiersen. I listen to it quite often), the cinematography, the narration, the editing, the performances. I love how the film brings out the magical characteristics of not only the city, but of humanity. There is an element of the fantastical and the ridiculous, but within that there is beauty, humor, sadness, heartbreak, disappointment and love. While trying to help make the lives of those around her more rich, more filled with the spirit of humanity, more full of love and reconciliation (or to put a few in their place), she ends up facing her own demons and allowing those very people to alter and enrich her own life.
Whenever I'm feeling uninspired or down, I know that Amélie will set me straight and lift my spirits.
