Sunday, September 16, 2012

Lincoln Love

The long awaited countdown to November 16th in underway! When you live with a movie nerd, nothing "in production" slips past you. This movie has been on our radar for years, and the transformation of Daniel Day Lewis into President Lincoln has us both pining for more. The actor is not the only draw, the subject matter is a personal obsession of mine. Lincoln was the topics of multiple college essays, and I might have even spent an whole interim in the BSc library studying his speeches...dont judge. So, when one of the greatest character actors of all time signs up for this roll, giddy doesnt even describe it. Ok, watch the trailer and then review my commentary at this point. I'm curious if you'll have the same observations as me...


Arn't you excited!!! My thoughts:

-They were SUPER kind to Mary Todd Lincoln by casting Sally Field. MT was a portly woman and has never received the kindest words regarding her beauty. She was, however, witty and charming and (before the death of her sons) quite a social woman.
-I had to watch this several times to come to gribs with DDL's adaptation of Lincoln's voice. At first it sounded, well, quite un-presidential and strange. But, after doing some reading about this topic, it is apparently widely understood that Lincoln's voice was somewhat high pitched and un-fitting to his stature.
-Like I said, DDL is a character actor, and so he did enormous research on the subject matter, and lived as Lincoln for the entirety of production. In an interview with Jason Gordon-Levitt, he explained that he didnt actually talk to DDL as himself and not Lincoln until the filming was complete. The movie was in production for two years...
-Im definitely buying the soundtrack and making it the background music to my life. From now on each day will be inspirational in a way only Lincoln can be...
-Speaking of Jason Gordon-Levitt. I cant think of him as anything other than the sweet little kid from 10 Things I Hate About You. Im hoping for some good things from him.

Let the #Lincolnlove begin!

Thursday, September 13, 2012

The Gig

It's been one month since I completely turned my life upside down and backwards. I did what many Americans dont have the luxury to do right now, which is to leave one job and immediately join another. I feel so blessed to have this opportunity, yet honestly it was one of the hardest decision ive ever made in my life. I nearly had a panic attack daily in the weeks leading up to the big day. If you've never resigned from a perfectly good job, then the anxiety involved is inexplicable. Luckily I have a lawyer brain for a husband who gave me good advice on logistics because I would not have representation in the room (honestly, we thought of that). Once it was over, I could finally breath a sigh of relief for the first time in months. For some background, in the financial industry when you leave a firm you must immediately leave the premises, and take with you only the names, phone numbers, emails and addresses of your clients. So, my sigh of relief was short lived, as we left Liberty Park for the last time, and headed over to our new life in the Colonnade.

So why did I leave a perfectly good job? The reasons go far beyond what I could express is a blog post, but the overlying theme is a better opportunity all around. I will admit this past month has not been easy. Business disregards friendships, and unfortunately this departure has severed relationships that I thought were  unbreakable. It breaks my heart, but I have to remind myself that there's no crying in business (until you get home to your wine...). So the past month have seen it's ups and downs, but im now a legitimate business owner in charge of my practice within the realm of a larger business (Bridgeworth Financial). The logistics of that is a bit harder to explain, but myself and my business partner now have payroll to meet along with rent, postage, printing ink and the like. It's overwhelming but amazing at the same time.

Amiss the chaos of the past month, I have seen moments of serenity that have kept me on my feet. One of these such moments came earlier this week when an older woman who is a client of the firm, and now a new friend, wanted to hear about some of my trials and tribulations dealing with my previous firm. I explained it had not been an easy transition, but we were doing well and somehow landing on our feet despite having many odds against us. She just smiled and then did something very unexpected. She starting quoting Kipling. (Kara, you would have been in heaven). Embarrassingly I wasn't familiar with the poem as she recited parts of it verbatim, but then again I studied the people that wrote the words, not the words themselves, so I quietly listened. 


IF.....


IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

"If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same." That verse completely sums us the past four weeks for me. I really should include more British lit in my life.

A quick word about the new place. Like I said, i'm with Bridgeworth Financial. We can be found here. Unfortunately for me, we took these pictures ten pounds ago  several months ago, so i'm not quite myself. I clearly needed a change if i was willing to go through a professional photo shoot (complete with a makeup artist, so cool) 6 months post twins. Oh well. In addition, our office is beautiful. There really isn't another way to say it. The partners that designed it are women, nuff said.

SO, in conclusion. Im happy, re motivated, exhausted and fulfilled all at the same time. This place is my future and im so excited to see where it will go.

Friday, September 7, 2012

Twining

"Twining" is much like Charlie Sheen's "Winning," but it's used when dumb twin things happen to me or those around me. For instance, yesterday at 3:45pm I realize that I had been wearing two different shoes all day long. Granted, one was brown and the other black and also in my defense, they were both kinda pointy. However, I had been to a ywca meeting downtown and in three different client meetings and no one said a word. Either it wasn't that noticeable, or I am around courteous sweet Southern women. I blame this on the twins because I got ready that morning while holding one and appeasing the other. Shoes weren't my top priority.

Meanwhile back in the People's Republic...

I thought China had a one child rule. I guess when they all come at once, you just shrug and tell your Communist leader to shove it. Twining.


Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Baby blog action

I actually updated the baby blog for those following along at home. I will try and be better at that moving forward. It's bedtime, but until I can write a proper post, I leave you with this. Via my sis in law-liz who always has the best finds. I'm still convinced she scours the internet to fund amazing stuff for a living.