"A house is a home when it shelters the body and comforts the soul."

My poor roommate.

Just about every 3 days,
she comes home to find
that I've moved the furniture

again,

or brought in new pillows,
or hung new wall decorations,

or re -hung wall decorations in a new spot
or shifted something here,
or moved this thing over there...

She's very sweet though,

and just let's me do my thing.

(Please bless my future husband is that okay with it too,
because I can't seem to stop.)

I recently got tired of the tall walls in the living room

being so bare and boring.

I actually kept these Christmas decorations up--

for a lot longer than December,

just to fill the space.

Well, eventually, I couldn't stand it anymore,

and after some blog-surfin'

I decided on this to fill the empty wall...

one of my favorite framed Minerva Tiechert paintings,

and a group of empty frames from goodwill,

all painted mustard yellow.

The color that makes me the happiest in all the world.

(I love it especially with my new pea-green pintuck pillow...

remember how much I love mustard and pea green??)

I also added some Norman Rockwell to the walls,

because every space could use a little 

"Saturday Evening Post" whimsy.

And I'm currently obsessing over "vignettes"
--or little gatherings of pretty things--
from the large list of design blogs that I follow...
so I created my own.
I mean, we have that super cool fireplace mantle right?
Why not put it to good use?


Grateful for:
COLORS.
And sleep.

It's Saturday.

A little Mumford, AND some Johnny Flynn...

in french.

Happy weekend y'all.

Les Miserables the Movie: a Review.

***SPOILER ALERT***
**This is a long, nerdy post. Please skip if not a Les Mis enthusiast.**


The first time I saw Les Miserables,

it was Christmas day,

I went with my whooole family

(which let's be honest, consists of a small herd of people),

and my grandparents,

all of whom are big Les Mis fans who therefore have strong opinions,

also, I had only been waiting for the movie for like 17 years,

so I gasped just hearing the first notes 

and then continued to slightly hyperventilate until the very end.

I think it's safe to say therefore,

that my initial opinion was perhaps a bit skewed.

So I decided to wait to document my review of the movie

until I had the chance to view it objectively.

And here's my "objectively

Amanda" thoughts:

*eh hem..*

I LOVED  it.

I loved the costumes

and hair and makeup

and cinematography.

I loved Hugh Jackman's straggly beard
and big teary eyes and sincerity.
His version of "What Have I Done?" is in the running
for my favorite scene of the movie.
It was a powerful from-stage-to-screen moment.
Quite poignant in a different way then it could be in the theater.

I also happened to love Anne Hathaway...
I really did.
She did a superb job.
And here's how I can prove it;
very little of her portrayal of Fantine,
felt like Anne Hathaway.
Does that make any sense??
She was so in character,
that I felt like I was just watching Fantine,
and forgot about what irks me about Anne Hathaway.
I'd say that's a mark of an in-depth acting job, wouldn't you?
She definitely deserved that Oscar in my opinion.

Now, I'll reluctantly admit it,
but Russell Crowe was not a great singer,
in fact, comparatively to someone like Philip Quast,
I wouldn't even venture to say that he's necessarily a good singer.

But it's not like he professes to be,
and I always believe his acting;
 without me even noticing, he always tugs at my heart a little bit,

and I really ended up liking his (pretty different) take on the character.
He made Javert more human.

And then of course,

Sacha Baron Cohen made me giggle a whole lot.

Also, while my favorite Helen Bonham Carter character is Lady Tottington...

(from "Wallace & Gromit: the Curse of the Were-Rabbit")
...where she's animated...
or maybe Bellatrix Lestrange...
...where she's a nutcase...
and I don't usually like her as a (relatively in this case) normal person,
I thought she made a good Madame
especially to Sacha's Thenardier.
"Colette.
Cosette..."
haha

I also was grateful Amanda Seyfreid played Cosette;
I always love her
(probably because she always reminds me of Sophie)
but I am also grateful to her for making me care about Cosette
for the first time in my life.
Thanks for giving her a bit more depth, Amanda.
"Every day you walk with stronger step...
you walk with longer step...
the worst is over..."
So sweet.

As for Eponine,
Samantha Barks was just sensational.
I'd say she's the most legitimately talented when it comes to her voice.
...and her cockney accent is just the coolest too.

(Can we talk about this though??)

Can someone please let her breathe?

Aaron Tveit was just about as equally as talented.
And I loved that he was reppin' Broadway in the movie
(as all the other characters were from Hollywood, or London's West End)
...I just wish he didn't have Hobbit hair.
It made me confused as to which movie I was watching....

And then there was Marius...
Mr Eddie Redmayne.
Ohh Eddie, with your freckles and your jaw-shaking vibrato,
your slightly naive facial expressions,
and your goo-goo eyes at Cosette,
your appropriate dispersion of crying and emotion
during your pretty much perfect rendition of "Empty Chairs and Empty Tables",
just stole the show for me a little bit.
You were my favorite actor/singer/eye candy
of the whole movie you little cutie!

So, bottom line,

I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I mean, thank goodness right??

What would have come of the world

had I hated it?

PS-Who was this guy??

"You at the barricades listen to THIS!"

... He was fantastic!!

I wanted to hear more of his voice!

Les Miserables quote of the day:
"Love is the foolishness of men, and the wisdom of God."

Thank you Lady Bird!

I fiiiiinally went to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower center!!

I've wanted to go for like 10 years; 

3 of which I've now lived in Austin.

It's ridiculous right--so hopefully I'll go back again soon.

In fact, the gardens aren't really in bloom yet, 

so I really need to go back to see it in a month or so.

It was still so gorgeous this weekend though.

To me it's epitome of the natural beauty of Austin Texas.

It's actually literally down the road from where my grandma lives though,

so I might be partial to the look of that area.

It set the stage for a lot of my imaginary princess games when I was a kid.

Who can argue with this beauty though??

It was kind of a perfect  day too.

Gorgeous sun, and just a little cool...

"all you need is a light jacket".

The landscaping was really pretty too.

Again, very Texas-y.

That's thanks to Lady Bird.

Did you know you can fill flowerbeds with shards of glass??

It's so pretty!

And there may not be a whole lot of flowers in bloom yet,

but those pretty little bluebonnets are starting to spring up.

It was also such a lovely day due to the fact that I got to hang out

with some of my faaavorite people from Houston.

I'm so glad they came to visit Austin!

It made my weekend.

Look at these cuties!

Grateful for:

Texas,

specifically Austin;

it's beauty and weirdness,

and also Houston

because it's where I grew up with

the wonderful Jensen and Martin families,

also the best and most supportive friends and family,

and CES firesides that provide new perspectives

from modern-day apostles.

Quote of the day:

"As we confront our own trials and tribulations, we too can plead with the Father, just as Jesus did, that we might not shrink - meaning to retreat or recoil.  Not shrinking is much more important than surviving.  Moreover, partaking of a bitter cup without becoming bitter is likewise part of the emulation of Jesus.  The Savior did not shrink in Gethsemane or Golgotha."

--Elder Bednar