They're up!

Exciting news!! At last, my photographs page is up and running, along with my brand new flickr account.  They are both still works in progress, and I'll be updating here when I add more photos, but things are off to a good start.

Next on the list of long-overdue projects = my creative writings page.

In the meantime, Happy Halloween!  Twix, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, 100 Grands: come to me.

A note to follow So

On Thursday, I tuned into Oprah's talk show specifically to watch her full-episode special on The Sound of Music.  SCORE!  This gathering of Christopher Plummer, the always-elegant Julie Andrews, and all seven of the Von Trapp children (well, they are not children anymore) marked the first time the entire Von Trapp actor-family has reunited and interviewed together since the filming of the movie 45 years ago.  45 years--can you believe that?!  And it's still one of the most classic, well-loved, and happily-sung movie-musicals of all time.  Considering I am only 22, I still can't really know what 1965 was, which makes it even more amazing for me.  It occurred to me how amazing it is that I have so much love and connection to something that, in reality, is so beyond me.

One segment of the show gave people of all ages an opportunity to share what the movie means to them.  Listening to a deaf woman whose first hearing experience after receiving a cochlear implant was Julie Andrew's famous opening lines "the hills are aliiiiiiiiive with the sound of muuuuuusiiiiic", a nun whose inspiration came from Julie Andrew's interpretation of Maria Von Trapp, and a war veteran who watched the movie 120-something times when overseas to experience "wonderful, splendid peace"gave me a knot in my stomach of shared love and meaning for the movie.  Rosie O'Donnell even made an appearance to share how the movie truly changed her life--she explained how how watching The Sound of Music helped her get over the loss of her mother--how she would imagine that the "singing, wonderful angel" would show up at her doorstep, fall in love with her father, and heal the sadness in her life.  She thanked Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer for helping to save her life.  I mean, how incredible is that?!

My affinity for The Sound of Music comes from my childhood experiences of the event of watching the film.  It was something I shared with my three sisters-- which is why my sister called me to be sure that I knew to watch the hour-long tribute.  When growing up, we curled up (usually with a honkin' bowl of ice cream) to watch our VHS taped recording of The Sound of Music from a TV broadcast in the early 90's together every Chanukah time, no doubt singing (and sometimes dancing) along, mimicking Julie Andrew's clumsy running with her guitar case in hand during "Confidence" and the famous hand-on-the-head at the closing note of "Do Re Mi".  The few times I have tried to watch the film without them, it just hasn't seemed right.  I can't help but think that my sisters' and my love for the music and singing came from the movie.  We surprisingly didn't even have the soundtrack at home-- we had just seen the movie so many times that we knew everything by heart.  And when it came time for high school voice class, we, like so many others, were already well-studied in the solfege (do re mi fa so la ti do!).

As a heartfelt fan, I can't help but think about how so many people grow to have a true attachment to movies.  As I listened to the Von Trapp children singers (the real ones--great-grandchildren of the Maria Von Trapp) sing "Edelweiss" on Oprah over a slow-motion montage of clips from the movie, and chills ran up and down my arms, my stomach turned in nostalgic knots, and what's that? ... A tear or two welling up?, it hit home. Ha, wow.  It's quite something, isn't it?  How a film made so long ago about a time I did not live through can still hold so much meaning to a person and to a family?  We all have our "favorites" for different reasons, which is I am learning is such a special thing.  People can connect to the same "thing"-- a song, a movie, a book-- but for their own personal reasons.  I think that is what helps make the world go 'round.  It's what makes us each our own person, but gives us an outreach into something shared, beyond the people we know or have met.  If you know me at all (or have been reading this here blog), you may notice a pattern of my favorite movies.  90% movie-musicals.  Proclaimed (and classified as) in high school and proudly continued, I am a music geek.  I know there are lots more of you out there, which gives me no shame.  And which is why I dedicate today's entry to one of my favorites.

"Oh YES, that's it-- god bless Kurt!"

The reunited cast on Oprah, Thursday 10/28/10.
(Oprah.com)

This > That

I am loudly and proudly stealing this cute entry idea from fellow blogger (and alum to my alma mater) Katelin. 
It's always good to take a look at your priorities ... these are trumping in my life right now: 

hanging with Mom > hanging on Facebook

Inception > any other 2010 movie

pumpkin beer > other beer

River Road > Village Coffee

phone conversations > text conversations

flip phone > iPhone

Wegmans > any other grocery store
chocolate > vanilla
board games > drinking games

singing off-key > not singing at all
euchre > poker

pizza with ranch > pizza without ranch

NSYNC > Backstreet Boys
nutella > jelly
new blog design > old blog design

What's on your list today?

Extreme Template Makeover

Welcome to my new and improved blog page!  In honor of the changing season, I've added a new color scheme and two new tabbed pages to spice it up.  Mmm, spice.  Doesn't that word always make you think of autumn? When I hear the word "spice", I think of sweet spicy things like pumpkin-flavored coffee, apple cider, and apple crisp.  Something that's sassy, sharp, and stands up for itself, but has a soft side because it's so delicious.  Mmm.  That's kind of how Fall feels, now that I think about it.  Because of the changing colors, it makes a loud and proud entrance and everybody knows it's fall.  Temperatures are perfect for a cozy sweater and scarf outdoors in daytime, but once the sun sets and sets the already on-fire canopy scenery ablaze--that's my favorite part--it become surprisingly and sometimes bitterly cold.  And the season is ironically beautiful.  The trees are the most beautiful when they are dying.  And it's the big, fat warning that a blistery, slippery, shivery winter is on the way.  And, considering the lack of moderation or pattern of weather in my hometown, it's probably coming in about three weeks.

Damn, autumn makes me into a sloppy poet.

Since the date of Fall equinox rarely coincides with what actually feels like Fall-- it's either still 85 degrees or we already have a foot of snow-- I have my own marker of the beginning of the season: the leather, cognac brown, knee-high boots have left the back of my closet and have taken their first amble around town.  I declare it officially Fall!  Happy boots-wearing, leaf-pile-jumping, and apple-cider-drinking!