Last spring semester I took a course on Hitchcock films and his sources. I adore Hitchcock movies especially because he worked with one of the most amazing costume designers to have ever lived on this planet, Edith Head. So this is simply an appreciation post for the beautiful clothing that can be found in classic Hitchcock films.

Julia Carrington 

I don't know if it's cheating to count a "required reading" book on this list being that I did have to read Vertigo for one of my classes this past semester, but I am choosing to count it only because I really did love the book. 

Vertigo is the novel that inspired the famous Hitchcock film, Vertigo. I was taking a course on Hitchcock films and the source texts he used for his cinema masterpieces. We did a lot of discussion on how we have a tendency to compare the book to the movie although they are totally different types of text, so it should be impossible for us to compare. 

So I cannot say if the book is better or the movie is better. I love them both dearly in their differences. 

If you have seen the film, you would know that the basic plot of the film is a man falling in love with a woman and after losing her he seeks out finding someone to be that exact same person to him again. The book is set in France, unlike the movie which is set in California, giving the story a different pace and tone. It is a mystery and a page turner when reading, especially if you have never seen the movie or heard the story before. If you know Hitchcock, you know he is the master of suspense so it only makes sense that he chose the best suspense novels to be the basis of his movies. Reading this suspense novel made me feel like I was following along with Flavières, the main character of our story, and discovering all the mysteries as he was. If you want a book that is exciting to read, as cliche as that sounds, I would highly suggest this one.

Julia Carrington

To be completely honest I finished this book over three months ago back when it was still 2015. I have just been absolutely terrible at everything and have had the title of this post sitting in my drafts folder just waiting to be written. Better late than never right? Plus the trailer for the film version of this book was just recently released so it seems fitting to finally put up a little review.

I loved this book so much. The way it was written was very different from other things I have read. The writing was extremely descriptive like it painted a picture for every scene. It gave the sensation of seeing the story play out in a way that felt more like watching a movie than reading a book. (as you can probably guess I have high expectations for this upcoming film) The basic premise of the story is about a boy who goes out to learn more about his grandfather's mysterious past and the peculiar things he had grown up with. It is a fantastic journey with magic and suspense that was hard for me to put down.

The coolest thing that originally drew me to read this book was the pictures. The author of the novel had a fascination with old photographs and would collect ones he would find in places like antique shops. The story was written using a handful of his collection along with some from other collections, weaving the subjects of these photos into the story. The concept of using the photos of someone's past life and turning it into something new is just the coolest thing to me, probably because that is what I love in general, finding new life in the old. Maybe next time I'm out thrifting I'll look into the big box of black and white photos and see if I can make a little story out of one of them.

Anywho, this is such a lovely novel, 10/10 would read again. Definitely recommend picking up a copy and reading it before the film comes out in September.

until next time,

Julia Carrington

My grandma was an extremely strong woman. I know that is the cheesy thing we all seem to say about the women in our life to the point where people don’t really know what the means anymore, but I suppose I mean it. My grandma did just about everything and excelled in each thing she did. She was a tiny little woman but she beamed confidence and joy. 

In her younger years, she was a lady of the stage, starring in countless musical and play productions. Every time she moved to a new house I found more scripts and playbills from all the shows she took part in. Seeing pictures of her from these productions it’s easy to see how much she loved being up there on the stage. This is one of the more interesting things I learned from my grandma because I was naturally drawn to the stage and I really think that was because of her.

She was a lady of pure feminine style. Retail was where she seemed to thrive. She knew what a woman needed to do to look her best and was never afraid to give an honest opinion when it came to styling. My grandma would never think to leave her room without looking put together. She had the feminine class that every woman should look up to. Following the rules of three points in a single outfit and avoiding busy looks. Her perfect style advice is something I will always hold onto. 

Faith was of the utmost importance to grandma. She was a professing catholic woman, never missing mass. Her love for God overflowed into all those around her, showing real love and grace to all of us grandchildren. Her dedication to her faith was inspiring. Being a Christian I find so much peace knowing that she had that close relationship with Christ and was allowed into his kingdom. 

Grandma was, of course, first a mother and I am sure this was one of her most challenging roles, but she did it all with so much patience. She had three children, my aunt, uncle, and father. Her first born child being this beautiful, talented, smart girl who I’m sure she was so excited to raise as the little princess she dreamed of. And then she had her two little boys. Kooky jokesters, much like their father, with so many creative ambitions. Both aspiring to be musicians early on, taking over the house with all their instruments and equipment, but she supported them in every way that she could, knowing how important this part of their lives were. The boys would always have neighborhood friends over playing music and making silly little home films, and grandma was like a mom to every single one of them. When the kids were just beginning high school, her husband left her and she amazingly raised these kids all on her own. I honestly don’t know how she did it, but she did a great job because they all seemed to turn out to be awesome parents and role models as well. 

I’m writing about my grandma because she recently passed away on January 22nd, 2016. My grandma was diagnosed with Parkinson’s a long time ago and she fought that battle with the same grace she did everything else in her life. I was lucky enough to have her so close to home for a larger part of my life. 

She lived on her own in Seal beach for a while and our trips down there to visit her were always a highlight. I will always remember playing with all the old toys she kept for us to keep busy when at the house and our walks together down to the beach or main street looking at the shell shop. I remember going to tea houses with her, dressing up and having a proper tea with all the fun little sandwiches and cookies. Walking down to Ruby’s on the pier because it always seems to taste better down there. Her days living down in Seal Beach will always be my fondest memories of my grandma because of how happy and energized she was while there. 

When she got to the point where she could no longer live on her own she moved over to a home about ten minutes from where we live. This just meant we got to go visit grandma more often, seeing her at least once a week with family and sometimes I even got to go spend time with her alone. We would watch movies and play board games with some of the other ladies that lived in the building. It was different but good for her. During this time is when I started learning more about her past and how much of myself I saw in my grandma without knowing it for all these years. I thought I was the odd family member pursuing theater and fashion up until I discovered that is exactly what my grandma found her passions in. I wanted to spend as much time with her as I could to connect and learn more about her. 

I didn’t get much of a chance because very soon after, my aunt decided the best thing for grandma was to move her out to Nashville to be with her so she could be her personal doctor. My grandma lived there for her last four years of life. Being so far away, I was only able to go out and see her once within those four years. Grandma had a lot of struggles out in Nashville, but she continued to fight and outlived what everyone was telling her by years. 

Even after her passing, I feel like I’m still learning more and more about her life. Hearing stories from her siblings about their childhood together, learning new things from my aunt and uncle, and from all the things she saved throughout her life. I wish I had more time to have learned these things from her, but they are the treasures she left behind so her memory will live on and continue to grow.

I love my grandma so much and I know she’s having a great time hanging out with Jesus now, Parkinson's free. 

Julia Carrington

It is January 1st, 2016. I have survived yet another year here. Looking back at 2015, so much has changed for me personally. Today I am not nearly the same person I was last year. Then I was young and in love, silly and naive, thought I was the happiest I could ever be, but I wasn't confident in who I was. Today I see how much happier I am because I learned to love myself so much and it is an absolutely wonderful feeling. A few months into 2015 I was alone for the first time in a very long time. I didn't have that one person I was attached to at the hip. It was actually a terrifying feeling at first, but because of that, I finally had the chance to get to know myself and take the time to do things I wanted to do for myself. I found a lot of that to be in reading and writing. 

In the past, I had always loved reading and writing. In elementary school, I tried to start writing a chapter book about a group of detective girls that would investigate in museums. My sophomore year of high school, my English teacher had the entire class participate in National Novel Writing Month and we each had to write a novel to a certain length and got bonus points if you added in different aspects to your story. I'm pretty sure I was the only student that got into that project without complaining a bit. I loved being creative with words, creating stories and spoken pictures. At this point in my life, I loved English and thought I would want to major in it in college, trying to keep it as some key part of my life. It was only a few years later I had a teacher that ruined this all for me. She over analyzed beautiful books to the point where I had no interest in reading them anymore. Papers turned into all fact (which I understand is inevitable and important but still no fun to write) with immense amounts of scholarly research to back every sentence. After doing this for a few years, I became accustomed to this being the only type of writing, letting myself to completely forget about the creativity in writing that I loved so much. 

Beginning to write for myself again during this past year rekindled that love a bit. Even if all I really was writing were these little blog posts or small diary entries, it reminded me how good it felt to get my words and thoughts down on paper. So what I am trying to say is that in 2016 I want to write more. In honor of publicly posting at least one new years resolution on here every year, I thought this one would be appropriate. Whether it's online or on paper, I want to take more time out to relax and jot down a little bit of the ideas bumping around in my little head. So 2016 will be the year of more blog posts, actually filling a journal, and starting the novel I've been thinking about writing just for the heck of it.

cheers to 2016,

Julia Carrington