The Sunday Salon

This week went by in a blur to be honest, and I'm not entirely sure why. I can't believe January is already half way over, I feel like I'm trying to catch up to all those shiny things I was going to do in the New Year. On the bright side, we had absolutely gorgeous weather here this week--like spring! I do miss having a bit of a winter but I can never hate on spring weather. I was happy to spend as much time as I could outdoors soaking it in.

Blogging

After talking about potentially stepping back from blogging or quitting altogether last year and finding so many felt the same way, I really enjoyed this guest post on Pro Blogger about 31 Perks of Blogging You'll Never Want to Give Up. It's so true. I especially thought number 3 was fantastic as it's something I don't want to give up. I am definitely forced to develop my thoughts more through blogging and I often don't even fully realize how I've felt about something until I've written about it. How did people like me survive before blogging to be honest?

I use IntenseDebate for commenting and will probably continue to do so for the forseeable future, but Blogger has (finally) introduced threaded comments and Emily wrote a great post on using them.

Books

This week I read The Accidental Bride by Denise Hunter (didn't really like it), The Captive Heart by Dale Cramer (loved it!) and The Fault in our Stars by John Green. Spoiler alert: I cried. A lot. But I also really loved it. I'm having a hard time deciding what to read next thought as there so many great options!

TV

Switched at Birth --I watched the first two episodes of the midseason this week and omg you guys why is this show so good? I feel like by virtue of the name Switched at Birth it should be terrible, but to be honest it's the most satisfying teen drama I watch right now. I was trying to pinpoint exactly what I love about it...is that I love all the characters and feel something for them? Is that the drama in their lives feels so real (even though the situation is so implausible?) I don't really know, I just love it. I loved the latest episode especially, as it felt like a true coming of age story. One of the things I really enjoy about the show is Emmett and Bay's relationship. It's actually the perfect relationship for a show like this because there are real conflicts they have and true obstacles that are never really played as being super melodramatic. And it was interesting how Emmett and Daphne sort of had parallel plotlines about standing up to their parents for the things they wanted. And what this show does so well and why I thought these stories were so effective is that the reasons their parents for denying their wishes were sympathetic to be sure, but also were rooted primarily in their own interests and so it was necessary but difficult for them to stand up and say they wanted something different. I thought Emmett's conversation with his mom at the end was particularly moving--all the reasons she hadn't had him in speech therapy and Emmett telling her she should have all along was so brave! When he said she didn't want him to be happy--her shock and hurt showed these weren't cheap words he was using but that they were coming from a genuine place where he could not understand why she was throwing up roadblocks at every turn. And I thought it was interesting as well that Daphne turned Wilke down when he's sort of become a new Emmett to her. Girl doesn't see when she's relying to so much on someone that maybe there should be something more! :)

I also love the Kathryn writing a book storyline so much. I feel like it's an excellent progression to the place she found herself in at the midseason finale where she wasn't sure who she was. The book will give her a chance to take control of the narrative about their lives and it gives her something to work towards. I don't know how long the show can continue to be this good, but I'm going to enjoy every second.

Film

I watched the 1999 version of The End of the Affair and it was terrrrrible. Seriously, what was that? I think this was a very good case of a book not translating into film AT ALL. I felt like if I watched the film without having ever read the book I would have missed half of the inner workings of this story. Not to mention they changed the ending and made it utterly stupid and invalidated the story IMO.

That's it for my very exciting week! Do you guys have plans for the long weekend?