The Janeite Tag

Good evening, my friends! I hope you've had a lovely day. I have been pretty sick the last few days, so the posts I had planned needed to be put on the backburner. But, HUZZAH! There was an encore to my blogging life! The lovely Paige of Sunday Best and All the Rest, being the sweetheart she is, descovered my weakness for Jane Austen and invited me to join in this fun game!

The Rules:

~Thank and link back to the person who tagged you.

~Tell how you were introduced to Jane Austen and share one fun fact about your Janeite life (This fun fact can be anywhere from "I stayed up all night reading Emma" to "I went to the Jane Austen Festival in Bath, England.")

~Answer the tagger's questions.

~Write seven questions of your own.

~Tag as few as 1 or as many as 7 other Janeites and let them know you've tagged them.

I was introduced to Jane Austen around 2007 when my family was lounging around the living room, flipping through the channels and came upon the 2005 "Pride and Prejudice." We only caught the end, but my mom and I were totally hooked! We rented it, bought it, then moved on to "Sense and Sensibility" (1996) and then "Emma" (1996) and beyond, which, in my opinion, is the funniest Austen film (and book)!

Fun Fact: I can fully quote both "Emma" (1996//Gwyneth Paltrow) and "Sense and Sensibility" (1995) doing all the voices just like the actors (Except maybe Colonel Brandon; the only one who can do Alan Rickman's voice properly is Benedict Cumberbatch) 

Paige's Questions//My Answers

1. What is your favorite Austen Book?

Hands-down "Mansfield Park"!

2. What is your favorite movie adaption of Austen's books?

One does not simply...oh, goodness! This is a hard one. I would probably say "Sense and Sensibility" (1995). I adore Alan Rickman as the Colonel and couldn't imagine anyone else as the characters! No other S&S adaption measures up, in my opinion.

3. What is your *least* favorite movie adaption?

From what I've seen so far, "Sense and Sensibility" (2008). It wasn't bad, it just didn't connect for me. It fell rather flat.

4. Which character in any of the novels do you relate to most?

I wish I was just like Fanny Price-Bertram, but in character, I am a absolutely Elinor Dashwood-Ferrars. My sister is Marianne, too! And right now (as in the beginning of the book), we are 19 and 16!

5. If you could choose a Jane Austen home to live in, where would you live?

Donwell Abbey. I relate to Emma a lot, as well, I'm afraid. But Donwell seems the most welcoming place to me. To be in the position of benefactress to so many good people (read: Abbey Mill Farm). I imagine it as a grand, inviting place with lots of stone and rugs and chandeliers that just needs a woman's touch ;)

6. Who is your favorite Austen hero?

George Knightley, bar-none! I am determined to find my own Mr. Nightley. Forget Darcy, he was an absolute idiot (forgive my language), Edmund Bertram was blind to everything, Colonel Brandon was too tragic, Henry Tilney was both charming and cold at the same time, Edward Ferrars was...well, dreamy, but rather unaspiring. Knightley had me from page 1!

7. If you were to write a sequel to any of Jane's novels, what would it be about?

"Death Comes to Pemberly" is a pretty acurate sequel already. But I think I would love to write more about Emma. She still trips up, she still makes mistakes, but she never gives up and with her husband by her side, she can learn a lot more. Plus, I would love to see what their children would have been like. Most likely, at least, a level-headed daughter and a wild, conniving son, always getting his poor sister into the most terrible scrapes! That would make me laugh :)

Here are my "nominees", if you will:

Desarae of Gladness of Heart

Tara of A Lass of Yesteryear

Kellie of Accordion to Kellie

Amanda of Amanda Grace

And I have one dear friend who is decidedly not a Janeite and I thought of tagging her, but I thought better of it. You know who you are ;)

MY Questions for YOU

1. Which do you prefer? Books or Movies?

2. How would you go about introducing a friend to Jane Austen?

3. It's Marathon Movie Night! Which 4 adaptions are you going to watch and in what order?

4. Who is your favorite "Villain"?

5. Who would you rather travel with on a long journey by carriage? Mrs. Jennings or Lady Catherine DuBurgh?

6. Which book/movie do you think is the funniest or most clever?

7. With whom would you rather be forced to stay with during your London trip? The "Affable" Miss Lucy Steele, the incorrigible Lydia Wickham, or the incessant Mrs. Elton?

I can't wait to see your responses! Don't forget to comment with the link to your post when you get around to it :)

Dancing for Joy

I've been taking a praise and worship dance class for the last 10 weeks and we had an end of term performance for my class and some other classes.
Now, the hard thing about being in my class was that I was the oldest and second tallest girl in all of the class. It was for ages 6-13 and the only 13 year-olds were me and my best friend Shannon. It was kind of awkward for the audience to see all of these little girls next to me and Shannon who looked like giants compared to most of the other dancers in that class.
On the night of the performance when we walk up and took our places, I entirely expected my lower lip to be bitten off by the end of the dance, and I entirely shocked myself!! I was smiling my biggest and bestest smile the whole time!! By the end of the dance, I felt like exploding! Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not bragging, because, I didn't even see any of the other dancers or the audience by any means until the dance was finished and we skipped off of the "stage" (okay, we danced in a bank).
The audience was cheering and clapping and whistling and later, my mamma told me that she had the hardest time not sobbing because she was so proud of me and my sister Marley. My other sister Mirial said that she wanted to be a dancer just like us, so, she's going to take a little ballet class next term.
I think that dancing is such a useful and fun way to please God. That night, I felt in my heart that God was smiling at me, his little dancer. I felt like I couldn't say any thing, so, in my heart, as my way of saying thank you to God for helping me, is said....supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.