While in Virginia my Dad bought me this book, and all I can say really... is... WOW.
At the DO HARD THINGS conference they had this book out on one of their tables, and on stage they had said it was one of the best ProLife books out there.
Thinking about it later I thought why would I need to read a book about ProLife if I have already decided what I believe? And the answer I gave myself was that if I was ever asked why I don't believe in ProChoice and why I am ProLife, I should be prepared with an answer.
And even though I don't believe you have to immerse yourself in 'the other side's' belief's, you should be aware about what they argue about with 'your side'.

I recommend this book to anyone ready to read about abortion in detail.
note: This book has the tendency to make you cry.

Alex and Brett were right... this just could be one of 'the best ProLife books out there'

Please pray for all of us that stand at the green in Attleboro, for the 40 Days for life and those that have been led down the wrong path.

Nicholas Nickleby

If you have not seen this version of Nicholas Nickleby.... you have to.
It is so much better than the new one (2002 Charlie Hunnam) and much longer too!! Yay for period films!
The story of Nicholas begins with a death and the burial of his father. The family left (Nicholas, his mother and sister Kate) travels to London to see their Uncle and ask for financial help.
However he does not seem to be ready to help in a way they thought... he sends Nicholas off to Mr. Squeers academy for boy's, and Kate to a dressmakers.
Nicholas finds his occupation teaching young boys who are starved and beaten to within an inch of their young lives, and Smike, a boy who is forced to work there finds his way into Nicholas's affections... and they soon become best friends.
When Smike is whipped for running away, both he and Nicholas leave the dreadful place to go back to London. Yet only to find that they are rejected by Nicholas's mother under the influence of their evil uncle.
Now they begin their journey to another place to find work, and they do... on stage.
As Romeo and the apothecary!
As this passes, in London Kate finds herself under cruel pressure at her workplace and dreadfully wronged by her uncle's investors.
Word get to Nicholas that this has happened and he and Smike leave for London immediately.
When there Nicholas confronts his Uncle and breaks all bonds to him, then comes the job of finding... a... job.
Twin brothers take him on as a clerk, enabling Nicholas to take care of his mother and sister.
Part of his job is buying paintings from a young girl the twins know, and as fate may have it he falls in love with her.
Many turns in the story (that's Dickens for you) give you a stunning movie that you won't fall asleep on (Dad!!) and amazing actors give you the characters you loved in the book.

Sofia Myles as Kate (how could it get any better than that?), beautiful costumes.... what more could one want.
I loved the setting, and the acting (though the Squeers family got on my nerves) and even most of the girls in it wear mourning clothes they were beautiful.
Watch it!
A scene (that is in the book) with a low scoundrel being bad, might ask young viewers to... be wary.
And it happens twice!
Anyhow...
Kate comes in wearing mourning clothes... and wears then most of the time. This has a maroon bodice and skirt, with black lace over both (I could not find a picture of the whole dress).

The wedding dress (in the end of the movie) is absolutely gorgeous, don't know ho to explain it!
Here is the dress again, lace around the neckline and a cream waistband.

This dress is one of the first light coloured dresses Kate wears I wish I had a long shot.

This is another one, I love the slate blue skirt and the cream blouse she wears here.

Here it is again. Such a Romantic shot.
This is one of the dresses she wears as a model in her work. There are ruffled flowers at the bodice, and the underdress peaks out through the sheer overlay.
This is one of Kate's own dresses, love the sheer overlay on the sleeves. This is one I would recreate.
Here is a better look at the sleeves of the dress above, they have a slight pattern on them. And the bonnet is something she models, so you never see it again.
Here is the back of her everyday mourning dress.

And the front. There seems to be a darker black (if possible) layering the edge of the bodice.
This would be her cloak, and her bonnet... there is a very long pair of ribbons tying the cape together at the neck. And a bow at the back of her bonnet, that was kinda yuck.

Anyways, there is Kate's wardrobe.

You have no idea how hard it was to find these!

And I found no costumes pictures of Nicholas's love interest. Real bummer too her dresses were wonderful!!

And there it is... boy was this one hard to post!

Wives and Daughters

Molly Gibson has grown up with only one parent to love, her devoted father (the towns doctor).
As he comes to realize she has become a woman, he feels she needs a mothers care and love. However Molly has very different idea's... when he announces his engagement to a Miss Claire she finds herself with a stepmother she can not love and a new sister.
Molly finds her dear friend Roger Hameley (that she has secretly come to love) falling in love with Cynthia her sister instead, and when Cynthia attracts more attention Molly is left in the corner with her hidden feelings and trials.
In a spin of events Molly's heart is broken (more than once), she finds herself in the middle of a love triangle that is not her own, and she is falsely accused by the whole town! Oh poor Molly?

Can this story end happily for Molly? After her life is turned upside down?

I found myself falling in love with most of the characters excepting Mrs. Gibson (Miss Claire) and Cynthia. No I could not love Cynthia even though some have done so, she is so selfish and full of herself and she puts Molly into the worst kind of situation. I felt bad for Preston (one of Cynthia's admirers) as she jilted him when I think he was truly in love with her... yet I could not find myself falling in love with such a man.

I fell in love with all of Rogers family and cried when the misfortune train hit them all. Her father was altogether to hasty in marrying Miss Claire, but if he did not we would not have a movie. It was very well done in terms of quality the sound was good and the picture was wonderful, the music was wonderfully romantic as it should be in movies like this. I think the cast worked together wonderfully well I could have believed that Cynthia and Mrs. Gibson were mother and daughter, and Molly and Mr. Gibson father and daughter.

It is one of my favorite period drama's... and now we get to the costumes!

This was one of Molly's day dresses... her hair is always put up so much more plainly than her sisters or mothers but I liked that. I love it when she is in blue... and would love to recreate this someday.

Jenny Chancey has a pattern for this dress (some of her patterns were created after this movie) And I think her dresses became a bit more 'grown up' through the film.

This is a dress she wears when they have the Hameley's over... a little 'Cynthia style', and I saw she adopted some more fashionable clothes when Cynthia came to stay.

Here is her green day dress again.

The yellow dress. (I think she only wears once) to her fathers wedding, and wears a plain green shawl over it... her bonnet has a large white ribbon around it. One of my favorite dresses on her.


She wears this dress throughout the film (I think they put her in it every time she is with her father alone?!? It has a worn look to it (but that might be because it's brown), and the plain brown bonnet she wears with it with a brown checkered ribbon. I noticed that with her day dresses she always wears dickeys under her collar or lace around the neckline.
Another of her plainer day dresses, next to Cynthia they look very plain. But alone I think they are very sweet. And her plain brown apron. This is my favorite dress on Molly, it gave her colour and made her look older. Again she has adopted Cynthia's fashion sense but keeping her own at the same time.

Molly's ball gown... this is the only time she wears her hair like this, I think Lady Harriet was petting her again. But she still looks very sweet. I truly like the dress.




Another of her day dresses.




Her simple white muslin dress that I adore. Jenny Chancey has a pattern for this as well.

A jumper she wears with a white blouse underneath.


I could not find any of Cynthia's dresses... maybe I'll try another time.

The Abduction Club
The name is misleading I know (I was warry at first) but after reading all the reviews I could find, and watching all the trailers I finally watched it and fell in love with the story. And the costumes of course.
The sad part of it is though... it happens to be a UK film and was not made in American format. The only thing you could do is buy a DVD player that plays UK films... or watch it in sections on YouTube!
If you want to watch it you can find it under this title: The Abduction Club 1/9.
Enjoy it... I found nothing offensive, and nothing sensual.
It'll steal your heart.

The Abduction Club is set up of a bunch of younger sons of gentleman, who when their older brothers get everything... they get nothing.

That is why this club has been made... so that these young men may find heiresses to fall in love with and marry, so that they may after all have some fortune.

Byrne and Strang set their sights on the beautiful yet feisty Kennedy sisters, Catherine (Alice Evans) and Anne (Sophia Myles), daughters to blustering nobleman Robert Kennedy (John Arthur).
Alas, the ladies are not impressed with the two friends' well-honed charm - indeed, both women could not be more disinterested - and one of Anne's other suitors, cold-hearted John Power (Liam Cunningham), doesn't take kindly to their kidnapping.
So Byrne and Strang go on the run with the ladies, hoping to change their minds as they gallop across the glorious Irish countryside.
Meanwhile, Powers implicates his love rivals in the murder of a Redcoat soldier, and duly enlists the help of good friend, Attorney General Lord Fermoy (Edward Woodward), to order the immediate arrest and execution of Byrne and Strang.
Soldiers are quickly deployed, and the two bachelors soon find themselves running for their lives, and protecting an increasingly smitten Catherine and Anne from harm.

And you must find out for yourself what happens in the end!

The costumes in this movie made my heart throb! And even though the girls are more richly dressed throughout most of the film I think that they wear these very well. And I must say I loved the guy's costumes as well.

These are some of the more elegant gowns, and the hair is quite lovely too.

I love Catherine Kennedy's dress here and the bonnet (on the left), and think Anne wears this again at some point.

I do not much care for the pink dress here, but Anne's dress make me want to sew!

I love this dress.

Here you can see Catherine's bonnet better, I love the dress pattern.

You can't see this very well but I think this is the one she wears at the races in the picture above.

And there you are! Of course anything (well perhaps not everything) with Sophia Myles in it is bound to make me watch the whole thing... more than once.

The Inheritance-

Written by Louisa May Alcott at seventeen years of age, the charming love story that emerged from the pages of that hardcover novel was so precious to me.
Louisa never had her first novel published, so it went on a shelf to collect dust... unknown to the world for many years.
But it was published when two historians found it in a library...

And then I myself found it in my library to enjoy.
The Book is different from the movie but both are to be enjoyed immensely.

Edith Adelon (Cari Shayne) has grown up in the magnificent estate of Evenswood the only home she has ever known. She works as a companion in this great house to Amy Hamilton (Brigitta Dau) who has become her best friend and sister. Seen more like family than servant Edith grows into a beautiful woman who tends to hide her true feelings from others.
Ida Glenshaw (Brigid Walsh Brannagh) arrives to find herself a suitor... yet when said suitor arrives on the scene Edith finds herself falling head over heals for him.
James Percy (Thomas Gibson) finds himself in love with Edith as well, but their difference in social class reminds them daily that they could never be.
Ida’s jealousy and hate for Edith begins to ruin her happy life at Evenswood, and the story takes a sudden turn.
For the better?
For the worse?
You shall have to find out for yourself.

I will say that The Inheritance becomes a sudden classic. And you can not help but fall in love with Edith’s purity and goodness.

This movie is not rated.
But my little 6 year old brother can see it.

A brilliant cast, stunning photography, a magnificent location and beautiful story.