Book or Movie?

Usually when a movie is made from a book it's because the book is pretty darn good or really popular. I have a dilemma. Should I read the book then watch the movie? Or watch the movie then read the book? One thing I've learned is the book is ALWAYS better. There is more room for back story and character development. I've always loved reading. Since I was a child I had the ability to turn the characters, settings and plots into a movie in my head. I can see it as I read it. So for me it never gets boring because it's coming to life. It's like a 3D imagination.

I usually like reading the book before the movie comes out and get really excited when a book I've already read becomes a movie. However, when I do that, I'm always disappointed with the movie. Like seriously disappointed. I invest too much in my imagination and when the movie comes out it falls short and they cut so much from the book that I feel jipped. That's why I'm starting to think, I should watch the movie then read the book. Then there are those times where I watch the movie, thinks it's alright and then read the book and get totally hooked. That is how I became a Twilight fan. Damn proud too!

So here I am about to go see a movie about a book I just finished reading. I'm sure your seen/heard about it. It's called The Help. It takes place in the early sixties in Jacksonville, Mississippi. It tells the story of one young white girl trying to write a book about the black maids that work in whites homes and raise white children while dealing with the whole "separate but equal" BS that was around at that time.

I don't want to be disappointed. I want to love this movie like I loved the book.

I'm going in with high expectations but not expecting the grand movie, complete in depth the way I created in my head. I'm sure I'll love it. Anyone else going to see it? Anyone else read the book? What's your preference, book-movie or movie-book?

♥always,
Marisol

Scarf Swap

A few weeks ago while perusing through some blogs I came upon a Scarf Swap Invitation. Being that I am one that never turns down a scarf swapping invitation I signed up. So how does a scarf swap work? I will send a complete stranger a scarf and she will send me one. We are then supposed to blog about it. Soooo here we go!

I was paired up with Miss Jessica from Toujours C'est La Vie, lovely gal over in Arizona. She sent me a very pretty brown and orange pattern scarf to play with. It was a little too short to really wear like a scarf around my neck but that's a good thing because it's way too hot to have something around my neck right now. My first thought then was to put it in my hair. However, there is a reason I don't wear scarfs in my hair. They always fall off. Every time! Even if I try to pin it. It manages to finds a way down. The only time they do stay on is when I tie them at the top.

 But then I just end up looking like Aunt Jemima...err Tupac. Tupac is cooler right?

I wasn't sure how Tupac looked in this photo so I posed with my best "I'm a bad a$$ gangsta" look. Yes, I'm aware it's a pretty pathetic attempt.

But maybe this little guy would stay so I tried this headband look...

 
but a few hours later it fell and I was wearing it like a necklace.

Taking a self-portrait with an iPhone while sitting at your desk and while trying to not get caught by coworkers takes more work than you think! I then decided I didn't want to deal with it all day so I tuned it into a cuff and wore it like so the rest of the day...

I went to lunch with the BFFs and had them take the following fashionable outfit photos...

However the only ones I liked were the ones where I look really awkward. ...

 Not sure what was going on here, but doesn't This Olive Garden have a pretty little setting with the waterfall and all...

The wind was not helping either... I didn't flash anyone but I think Claudia did.

Finally I just gave up and requested my camera back.

So there you have it folks... a good ol' scarf swap. I also noticed a correlation with my hair and the scarf. Every time I changed the scarf, I changed my hair style... bet ya didn't know how creative I could get with my hair AND a scarf... I wore em 4 ways in one day :) Those are skills one is born with I suppose.

♥always,
Marisol

Making it Work.. at work

How does this happen? Every Friday? 

Yup that's my cubicle... I mean "work station" as have been instructed to call it. Problem is this Friday morning walking in I could not get started. I didn't know where anything was plus there were about 20+ items that definitely could get moved to their proper location. Not to mention, now that I look at that picture, there are one too many post-its on my walls. My recycle bins are over flowing, my inbox contains a tissue box, and miscellaneous other non inbox items. Even my email inbox had over 500 messages that needed to be either deleted, followed-up on or filed.

I can't work like this! So much that instead of working I'm typing this up. But now I will leave this post and clean up my desk, get to work and be back at the end of the day to finish this post. Not only clean it up but make it work for me. For example my tack board is on the left but I keep posting up things on the right? The calendar file thing is in the way and would probably work better of to the side.

Now pretend you spent your day working and have now come back to see the final reveal...Tada!

Much better...

♥always
Marisol

Tea Party Bridal Shower

July 2 was my best friend's wedding, but before we get to that event there were two other events that came before. The Bridal Shower and the Batchelorette Party. My other 1/2 MOH, Doreen and I talked about what we would do month's ago. We decided to have an Afternoon Tea Party for the Bridal Shower. After months of preparations and tons of thrift store shopping for tea cups, the day finally arrived. Unfortunately we were still chopping cucumbers by the time the guests started to arrive so I didn't get as many shots of the set up as I would have liked...but what is important is we had fun and there were plenty photos taken of that!

Here we are in all out hosting glory, although it looks more like I'm giving lesson on how to do the chicken dance...

You can't have a tea party without tea! Our tea options were English Breakfast, Fruit Tea variety, White Tea and Green Tea.

and tea sandwiches of course...

We opted for your traditional cucumber sandwich, egg salad sandwich and smoked salmon sandwich options.  We also threw in greens salad (not pictured) and a fruit salad. And for dessert, we had yummy scones (not pictured), cupcakes, ginger thins, Madeleines, and some other berry filled cookie.

After we ate.... and ate...it was time to get the inevitable part started, the games. Starting with the What's In Your Purse? game.


We read a list of items you would find in a woman's purse and gave them a point value. The one with the highest points wins. At first it was very normal items like wallet, phone, keys but it got interesting when we started naming things like gun? Condom? One lady in the older crowd asked why would a lady have a condom in her purse. She will question the condom but not the gun!

The Draw The Bride On Your Head game...

This was the most hilarious thing to watch as everyone really tried to concentrate hard to create their masterpiece. If you ever play this game make sure your pens work and the canvas you choose is not flimsy paper. We though these paper doilies would be cute but they were too thin and some ladies were poking their pen through which resulted in poking their heads which resulted in a game that sounded painful.

But the game that ensued the most hilarity was the Toilet Paper Wedding Dress game..

We split the ladies into teams and gave them one roll of toilet paper and 5 pieces of tape to create a wedding dress. Then they had to model the "gown." Some dresses didn't make it one piece down the brick runway.

After the food and games it was time for her presents...I think she really enjoyed this part.

Before it was all over we took turns in front of the camera... you know to take lady like photos.

And not so ladylike photos...

And some more photos..

It was a lot of planning, a lot of thrifting and a lot of cucumber and egg chopping and hours of learning how to make tissue paper poms (Martha Stewart makes it look so easy!) but you are worth it my friend. We love you. I hope you really enjoyed your party!

♥always,
Marisol

A Night With Don Quixote

I remember reading a children's version of Don Quixote as a kid and I remember my Dad trying to get me to read the entire novel in Spanish when I was a teenager but I never did. Seriously Dad? I love to read and all but at 16 a full length novel in Spanish was not going to happen.So what does Don Quixote have to do with anything? Well, there is a ballet inspired by this novel and this past Saturday G, my little sisters and I went to see it.

photo source

 You might be thinking, "How did you manage to get your guy to go see a ballet?" Easy, it was his idea. The production was put on by the National Ballet of Cuba. So in all honesty he probably thought it was going to be some kind of cultural event not a full on ballet production. We enjoyed it though. It was beautiful and a lovely story.The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion has these huge chandeliers and mirrored walls, that apparently we couldn't keep our eyes of...

And it's located in the Music Center Down Town. I love that little area, especially the fountain right outside.

We were trying to make this look romantic but we couldn't stop laughing...maybe next time.

♥always,
Marisol