The Jane Austen Tag!

Rachel has tagged me again--this time for a tag of one of my very favourite subjects: Jane Austen and her books! 

The Rules:

-Paste the button on your blog.

-Leave a list of new questions (optional).

-Answer the questions of the person who tagged you.

Rachel's questions!

1. Do you love Jane Austen? Why or why not?

-YESSSS. I adore Jane Austen. Why? She's hilarious, I love old-fashioned-romance-type books, and just because. She's good. 

2. What is your favourite Jane Austen movie?

-I'd have to go with Pride and Prejudice (1995). 

3. Would you rather have Mr. Darcy or Mr. Knightley?

-Oooh, hmm, I'd have to go with Mr. Knightley. Mr. Darcy can't be teased, and Mr. Knightley and Emma tease each other all the time. 

4. Have you read any of Jane Austen's books? Which ones?

-Yes, I've read all of them.

5. Do you know when Jane Austen's birthday is without looking?

-I actually do! December 16th! I don't remember what year, though...(I did a post on her birthday last year but I won't link to it because I did NOT do a good job with it. *cringes*)

6. Who is your favourite character from Pride and Prejudice?

-Hmmm...Favourite? Overall? I don't know if I can choose that. Let's see, maybe Mr. Bennet, Elizabeth Bennet, and Mr. Darcy, in no particular order. :)

"I wasn't the obvious favourite? I'm offended."

"Oh, Rae, you really couldn't just choose one?"

7. Would you rather have Kate Winslet as Marianne or Charity Wakefield?

-I know not many share this opinion, but I like Charity Wakefield's Marianne better.

8. How many Jane Austen movies have you seen? Which?

-Pride and Prejudice (1995), Emma (2009), Emma (1996), Sense and Sensibility (1995), Sense and Sensibility (2008), Northanger Abbey (2007), Persuasion (1995), Persuasion (2007)

(Does Pride and Prejudice 2005 even count as a Jane Austen movie? I hesitate to add it to the list.)

9. Who is your favourite character from Emma?

-This one is easier. I'd say Mr. Knightley. For sure.

10. Would you rather have Lydia and Kitty as sisters or Marianne and Margaret?

-Marianne and Margaret!

11. Which Jane Austen movie isn't your favourite?

-(Ahem.) If P&P'05, Fake P&P, counts, then that one is it. :) If not, then I'd go with Northanger Abbey (2007) because of all the...unnecessary Gothic scenes...

12. Do you have a favourite Jane Austen quote? Which?

-Oh, that's hard. Maybe:

Thanks so much for the tag, Rachel! This was quite fun! 

Rachel has already tagged most of the bloggers I know, and I am terrible at coming up with questions, so we'll just leave it at that!

"It isn't as if birthdays were common things, Marilla."

No, I did not make this cake. This wasn't even my real birthday cake. Thank you, Pinterest. 

Monday, dear readers, was my birthday. Now, I've tried not to disclose my age on the internet, though I'm not sure exactly what harm it would do, butconsented l a select few how old I am.

I am the age Rilla Blythe was when Ken kissed her for the first time.

I am the age Anne Shirley was when she started teaching school.

I am the age Marianne Dashwood was at the very beginning of Sense and Sensibility. 

Now here I am, never having been kissed (thank goodness!), not starting to teach school, and not the co-heroine of a Jane Austen novel. But I'm "pretty nearly perfectly happy" with where I am.

To celebrate my birthday, I slept in, had wonderful meals, and got spoiled by my family with more presents than I deserved.
I also got my own phone, finally. Most people have phones by the time they're my age, but I, being homeschooled, had before had no need for such a thing. But as I'm going to go to Community College this Fall, we decided this birthday was a good time to get a phone.
I also got my ears pierced, another thing most people have usually done by the time they're my old, old age. But my mom doesn't have hers pierced and my dad doesn't see the point, so I had to wait until they finally consented. But it's done now!

I figure this doesn't show too much of my beautiful face on the internet...

Another thing I intended to do on my birthday was watch Pride and Prejudice (1995, of course). But then I didn't have time so I decided to watch Sense and Sensibility (1995, because I've already seen 2008 twice and 1995 but once).

However, I only had time to watch about 50 minutes of it. In fact, I still haven't finished it...I've been busy.

It was a wonderful birthday!

My Reactions to Algebra (in Period Drama GIFs)

This year I'm taking Algebra II (my last required Mathematics class, thankfully), but of course I'm super behind because I hate Algebra and have done less than I should have every day this school year, so now I'm paying for it. Four hours of Algebra. Per day. 

In case you had any doubts, the GIFs are NOT going to be like this:

(Unless, of course, it's more like Gilbert's face. But not that mild.)

Here goes: 

(Also: I realise you might like Algebra. I'm sure there's something you don't like, so if you want to relate, just think of that. :)

Well, first of all, this is how I feel pretty much the whole time.

"Such tremblings and flutterings all over!"

Well, I, too, feel like I'm drowning at times. (No, no, I know that's not what it's supposed to be. Whatever.)  But his face and deep breathing remind me of when I've just worked through a problem and I'm about to check it to see if it's correct. Deep breaths, Rae. You've...got this! Really! (Ahem. Not.)

If I get it wrong:

This is how I feel minus the smile. Anguished tears, not happy tears. 

And if I get it right...

Fortunately, this happens more than 50% of the time...

When I get yet another question wrong and I just don't have enough energy to get frustrated anymore because I used it all figuring the problem--wrong.

These crying GIFs are always so accurate. 

But there are times when I have to watch a bunch of videos (I do Khan Academy) about trigonometric functions (or whatever; today that's what it was) all in a row without stopping and I almost fall asleep. 

Minus the almost-smile at the end, plus eyes closing.

Anyway, there you go. Perhaps you can relate, especially with finals. This was a fun diversion after enduring such arduousness today. 

(Also, if you want more of this type of thing, see my Homeschool described in Anne of Green Gables GIFs post. :)

A New Look

Soo...I've finally put together a blog look with a header! (Don't laugh at me, please. I just recently figured it out, okay?)

I tried a header a couple days ago, but I didn't like it. Some of you may have seen it. (I kinda hope you didn't, but it wasn't terribly bad if you did. :) But now I've put together a header that I'm more satisfied with, and I've changed the background as well. It's very different.

I know it's a lot of Jane Austen, but so is my blog, so it works. :) 

I don't know, what do you think? 

Happy 240th Birthday, Jane Austen!

Jane Austen

Today we celebrate the birthday of a most beloved authouress--Jane Austen!!! The outstanding creator of Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Northanger Abbey, and Mansfield Park was born two hundred forty years ago today.
Therefore we must celebrate.
I began my celebration by dressing in my Halloween costume, which was a semblance of Elizabeth Bennet, heroine of Pride and Prejudice.

I really should make a spencer or an empire waist coat to go with this dress, since it's December. I guess my shawl will have to do. (And here, it's supposed to be in the 50's-60's this afternoon! December indeed!) My dress bears a slight resemblance to the dress Jane Austen is pictured wearing above.

My celebration will continue as I read more of Emma (which I am in the process of reading right now) and parts of the other books. 

I sadly own paper copies of only these three. 

To continue on in honor of Jane Austen...Here are my favourite quotes from or about my favourite Jane Austen heroes:

(Sorry about using movie pictures, particularly if you haven't seen or didn't like that version of the movie, but movie pictures are kind of all there is.)

Mr. Darcy quote

Mr. Darcy...of course that quote. And for this picture, the movie picture really is Mr. Darcy. Seriously. 

Mr. Knightley quote

Mr. Knightley--What more is there to say?

Captain Wentworth quote

I LOVE CAPTAIN WENTWORTH!!! Even Mr. Darcy cannot write letters as well as Capt. Wentworth. I mean, it's not really your fault, Mr. Darcy--Nobody can beat Capt. Wentworth's letters. Short, sweet and very to the point (Yes, Mr. Darcy, your letter was about three pages long with only a couple paragraph breaks...And you didn't say the sweet things Wentworth did...Okay, I'm done...)

Edward Ferrars

So this is not an Edward quote, but it's a quote about Edward and Elinor from Jane Austen. My favourite Edward quote might be "Forgive me, if I am very saucy." (Yes, dear Edward of course you are...At least you would be if such a thing were possible.)

Mr. Tilney quote

How could anyone not love this quote? Of course, one can love it better if they understand the context. But definitely this is my favourite Mr. Tilney quote. 

And if you are wondering about Edmund Bertram of Mansfield Park, I have two reasons for not including him: 1, he didn't have any particularly good quotes and 2, I have not seen a movie version and in two of the movie versions I saw pictures of, he was Mr. Knightley and Mr. Elton from another version of Emma...So no. 

There you have it--Jane Austen hero quotes. 

I might make a cake with these quotes later if I have time. If so, I'll update this post with pictures!*

*Here's Jane Austen's birthday cake! I know it's kind of messy, but...I had to fit six quotes from Jane Austen on here.
"The person...who has not pleasure in a good novel must be intolerably stupid." Mr. Henry Tilney, Northanger Abbey
"You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you." Mr. Darcy, Pride and Prejudice
"If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more." Mr. Knightley, Emma
"I have loved none but you." Captain Wentworth, Persuasion
"He certainly loved her." Jane Austen about Edward loving Elinor, Sense and Sensibility
"Edmund became as anxious to marry Fanny as [Fanny] herself could desire." Mansfield Park

Happy Birthday, Jane Austen!!!