Debutante ball

A major part of the high society life in Victorian London and in turn a major part in all the Bridgertons’ lives, were debutante balls.

“Debutante” is french for “debuter” which basically means “to lead off”.

The reason to throw a debutante ball is to introduce a girl between the ages of 16 and 18 to society as a woman. Another main reason to throw a debutante ball is to let it be known that the woman is eligible and is seeking a marriage proposal.

All of the eligible and rich bachelors are invited to attend in hopes one or multiple will become infatuated. In addition, debutante balls were a way to show how high in society you were so the more “need to know” upper echelon members in attendance, the better.

Debutante balls are still held in modern days in certain places.

Julia Quinn

I have been reading up on Julia Quinn and the way in which she came to be a romance novelist is kind of funny, so I am going to share a brief outline of events with you.

It was her senior year at Harvard, receiving a degree in Art History, when Quinn realized she really had no idea what she wanted to do with her life. After some debating she decided becoming a doctor was the ideal choice. In the meantime, before entering medical school and choosing between Yale School of Medicine and Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, Quinn thought she had the talent to write a romance novel. And so she did, and she sent it to her agent.

Two years later her agent called and told her her first two pieces were at the center of a bidding war between two publishing companies.

This news inspired her to take two more years to enter medical school, in which she wrote a novel a year.
She then finally entered into medical school to only, months later, decide it definately was not for her and she has been writing ever since.

And thank goodness for that! I do not know what I, or the rest of the romance novel reading community would do with out our beloved Bridgertons!

Life as a Bridgerton

The Bridgerton series was based in the early 1800’s. Here are some things that have to do with their everyday life as members of the London upper class.

Here are a few examples of similar outfits the characters and family members would be wearing as members of the upper class:

Here are some of the hair styles of the day for the women:

They get around in a horse drawn buggy:

I imagine the Bridgertons main city residence was not unlike this one:

The story of the Bridgertons

The Bridgerton family consists of Mrs. Bridgerton, Violet, Mr. Bridgerton, Edmund (passed away) and their eight children (from oldest to youngest): Anthony, Benedict, Colin, Daphne, Eloise, Francesca, Gregory, and Hyacinth.
Yes, you will notice Violet and Edmund named their many children with the progression of the alphabet.

Each sibling has a romance novel following them falling in love.
Book 1: Daphne with Simon Basset in “The Duke and I”
Book 2: Anthony with Kate Sheffield in “The Viscount Who Loved Me”
Book 3: Benedict with Sophia Beckett in “An Offer From a Gentleman”
Book 4: Colin with Penelope Featherington in “Romancing Mister Bridgerton”
Book 5: Eloise with Sir Phillip Crane in “To Sir Philip, With Love”
Book 6: Francesca with Michael Stirling in “When He Was Wicked”
Book 7: Hyacinth with Gareth St. Claire in “It’s In His Kiss”
Book 8: Gregory with Lady Lucinda Abernathy in “On the Way to the Wedding”

START READING!!

Oh, how I wish I were a Bridgerton

“The Bridgertons are by far the most prolific family in the upper echelons of society.”

The above was the very first line that sucked me into my favorite book series ever written: The Bridgerton series written by Julia Quinn.
It was junior year and I was sitting in my biology class with some friends waiting for the bell to ring (all the cool kids hung out in Mr. Brown’s room before school…O,K well maybe not the cool kids, but all the advanced placement kids at least….so yeah, definitely NOT the cool kids).

Anyways, My best friend Jane walked in and handed me a book called, “The Duke and I.”
“OH MY GOD! Jenee’!” shes says. “You absolutely have to read this! You’ll love it!”
And holy goodness was she right. I had never loved a book a so much as I loved that one… then i found out there were 7 more in the series! OH HAPPY DAY! From that moment on I had my nose in a Julia Quinn book constantly.
Yes, everyone made fun of me for reading a sappy, over sexual romance novel but, pfft, they were the ones missing out!

For the next several weeks I will be conducting my own blog series focusing on the wonders of The Bridgertons. Hopefully my enthusiasm for the stories and the information I provide you will encourage you to become part of the blessed and obsessed readers of the Bridgerton and Julia Quinn fanbase.

Bump In The Night

Does anyone else remember the MOST FANTASTIC show EVER from when we were kids?
Well, Im sure there are differences in opinion, but for me, it was definately Bump In The Night.
I was glued to the screen every Saturday morning when it came on ABC during the Saturday morning cartoon line up.
It unfortunately only ran for two seasons in 1994 and 1995. It broke my little kid heart, but those two seasons will be epic in claymation history.
Bump In The Night was created by David Bleiman and Ken Pontac.

The three main characters reside within a ten-yea-old boys house. Mr. Bumpy (Jim Cummings) a small green monster covered in purple warts that lives under the boy’s bed and enjoys eating dust bunnies and socks, Squishington (Rob Paulson) a blue monster that is made of goo that resides in the toilet tank of the bathroom, and Molly Coddle (Gail Matthius) who is a thrown together rag doll belonging to the boy’s sister. Each episode the characters would go through an adventure, fight a villian, and at the end perform a musical montage explainging the life lessoned learned from thier adventure.

I realised the otherday how much i truly missed this show and spent hour on youtube surfing videos of the episodes. I implore you, if you were a poor sap that missed out on this show while it was on tv, or if you loved it as much as i did, check out youtube and the vidoes available to watch. Throw on your pajamas, grab a bowl of cereal and relive those childhood Saturday mornings again.
Lists of episodes are available in multiple locations.

Also, If you are interested:
Bump In The Night: Night Of The Living Bread
and Bump In The Night: Twas The Night Before Bumpy are both available on Amazon.com.

Spider-Man musical

July 12 and 13.
That is when a reading of the Spider-Man musical will take place in New York according to PlayBill.com.
It’s title is, “Spider-Man,Turn Off the Dark.”
Julie Taymor will be directing the musical. Taymor, in 1998, for her direction of the Broadway musical The Lion King, was the first female director to earn the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical.
Bono and The Edge (members of U2) will be provide the music and lyrics for the presentation.
The actors for Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Mary Jane(rumor is, according to Rolling Stone is that Evan Rachel Wood wants the part) and Norman Osborn/Green Goblin, still have yet to be cast.
There are also rumors that this is going to be the most expensive Broadway musical to perform and put together to date.
“Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark,” is set to premier on Broadway in February of 2010.

When i first heard of this development (making Spider-Man into a Broadway musical), i was APPALLED.
Spider-Man is my favorite superhero and has been ever since i was a little girl. And as much as i LOVE musicals and stage performances, I was offended that they would try to turn such a masculine and cool character into some girly singing prancer.
But, the more i read up on the organization and what they plan to do, the more excited i become.
I think they can actually pull this off and make it one hell of a fantastic show.
My Spidey-Sense is tingling.
I only wish i could afford to fly to New York to see it opening night on Broadway myself.

2009 US Bombing Prediction

This post doesn’t really have much to do with the main focus of my blog site but i found it while searching on youtube and thought it was really interesting and it has definitely made me want to get my life into perspective. Not to mention scare the hell out of me. Alexey Fud is supposedly Russian clairvoyant and is well known for his predictions. I tried to do some research and could not find anything further beyond that sentence about him, so whether its real or not, you can decide. Keep in mind Russia is not too big of fan of the US.

The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer

Today I saw “The Bachelor and The Bobby-Soxer” on the Turner Classic Movie Channel (my favorite channel by the way). Cary Grant, Myrna Loy and Shirley Temple (YES! THE Shirley Temple) star in this adorable black and white film.
The “The Bachelor and The Bobby-Soxer” was released in 1947 and directed by Irving Reis and written by Sidney Sheldon. In fact, Sidney Sheldon won an academy award for best Writing and original screenplay.

I am a huge fan of Cary Grant, I love pretty much everything i see him in, and this movie is no exception.

Not to mention, once I realized the young woman the movie focused on was Shirley Temple, I was hooked! (Strangely enough, I recognized her from her one dimple on the right side of her face when she smiled).

Shirley Temple’s teenage character, Susan Turner, develops an infatuation for an older artist and playboy Richard Nugent (Cary). Shortly after, she sneaks into his apartment to convince him to use her as a model for a portrait and her sister, a judge who has overseen cases involving Nugent, Margaret Turner (Loy) catches them together alone and gives Richard the choice of either jail or dating her younger sister, Susan, in hopes that this will cure her infatuation.

This movie has loads of charm, wonderful acting, is had me constantly giggling and of course has that classic ‘feel good’ ending.

**Facts on movie provided by imdb.com

The Shack

Recently I read a book titled The Shack by William Young. My grandmother’s best friend, Barbara, had read it because her pastor recommended it. After this she sent it from California to my grandmother in Idaho with a letter of praise for the work. My grandmother, in turn, read it straight away sent it to my father here in Arizona, to read along with Barbara’s letter. My father let it sit on his book shelf for a few weeks. Meanwhile, I eyed it curiously until finally I grabbed it and declared, “I’m just going to read it, you’re taking too long.”

I was a bit hesitant at first, worried it would be too preachy, but if my grandmother said it was good, it must be.

It is a story about a father of three who has one of his daughters kidnapped and murdered during a family camping trip and how he copes, or prevents himself from coping with the severe emotional impacts of such an ordeal until he has a miraculous experience with God. It is almost like a modern day Pilgrim’s Progress (as other people who have read it would say as well).

Around the middle of the book it does seem to become a bit monotonously cheerful and preachy, and I ALMOST stopped reading but good thing I didn’t because shortly after I made myself pull through it got ten times better. This book, if you have Christian beliefs, makes you see some of the things you might have or might be questioning such as judgment and death, for example, in a whole new yet completely logical perspective. This book is so moving. It made me feel a vast array of emotions. I cried from anger, sadness and happiness during this book. And the ending is just AWESOME! It is heart warming and, a great strategy by Young, unexpected.

One of the biggest reasons this book had such an impact on me personally, not only because I struggle in my faith but was also due to the fact that I have lost a little brother. It gave me a whole new way of looking at his death and what he might be doing right now in the after life.

After finished the book I shoved it in my fathers face and said, “Read it. Now. I mean it.” He did. He then, in turn, brought it to my aunt in Idaho during his vacation and I am sure she has passed it on to somebody else since then, or at least I hope.

Since I read this book I have heard it mentioned all over, had several people ask if i have read it and seen it in dozens and dozens of book displays. Read it. We can’t all be wrong.