Holiday Movie List

Chick flicks get a pretty hard, although admittedly sometimes well-deserved, rap. But in all painful honesty, there is not much that I find more stress-relieving than curling up and watching a really cheesy chick flick at the end of a long week.

Some of them are one-time-hitters. The standard plot lines, the ridiculous stereotypes of both men and women, and the deus ex machina coincidences that completely resolve all conflicts right before the credits roll get a little, well, predictable.

But then there are the movies I watch over and over and over again. In fact, in my opinion, they barely qualify as chick flicks. They're not about just a romance, or dating, or soul-mates. They're about life. And people.

So in honor of the beginning of the holiday season, here's my movie list. It's not the 10 best movies ever. It's probably not even the 10 best chick flicks ever. It's just a list of 10 movies that I really love. And everyone, even guys, should watch all of these at least once.

1. Elizabethtown - This movie isn't really about a romance as much as it is about a road trip. It's about two very quirky people who change each other's lives. There's a very dysfunctional, but close-knit family. There's great music.

Great Quotes:

• "I'm impossible to forget, but I'm hard to remember."
• "We are the substitute people."
• "Everybody is less mysterious than they think they are"

2. Emma - I didn't mention the BBC production, because that barely qualifies as a single movie due to the length. But the version that stars Gwyneth Paltrow is quite well-done. First of all, it's faithful to the original story. It's also easy to follow even if you haven't read Jane Austen's novel. Emma reminds me, sometimes, all too much of myself and my friends. She's full of good intentions that often go awry, she's controlling, and she screws up at a fairly regular pace. Ultimately, though, she learns a lot about pride and grace.

Great Quotes:

• "Marriage is so disrupting to one's social circle."
• "Maybe it is our imperfections which make us so perfect for one another."
• "Vanity working on a weak mind produces every kind of mischief."

3. Family Stone  - Talk about dysfunctional families. Even my holidays aren't this weird. Uptight Bostonian Sarah Jessica Parker comes to meet her laid-back, carefree future in-laws and, of course, disaster results. Everybody steps on everyone else's toes. People say stupid things. And 20 minutes before the end of the movie, every character is in love with the wrong person.

Great Quotes:

• "We're all gonna be down here talking about you."
• "Hey, I know this is probably a tall order, but I need you to do me a favor, and try not to be so perfect."
• "You have a freak flag. You just don't fly it."

4. He's Just Not That Into You - This is a hilarious dating-survival guide. But it's also about a lot of people who are all desperately trying, and failing, to find total satisfaction through relationships. The resulting chaos is entertaining, refreshing, and even a little educational.

Great Quotes:

• "We are all programmed to believe that if a guy acts like a total jerk that means he likes you."
• "That's a lot of prepositions."
• "I"m not the exception. I'm the rule!"

5.Music and Lyrics - Possibly my single favorite chick-flick. Drew Barrymore is an emotionally dysfunctional and really quirky plant-girl. Hugh Grant is a pop-star has-been. While collaborating on a project, they manage to help each other grow. The best part of this movie is that this movie isn't about perfect love or perfect people. It's about people learning to love each other in spite of, and even because of, their faults and quirks.

Great Quotes:

• "The few syllables you got out were absolutely devastating."
• "I have great insight. I'd use it on myself only I don't have any problems." 
• "I did not pander. I just told her exactly what she wanted to hear."

6. Sense and Sensibility -Another well-done Austen. This story has all of the characters...the cool kid who makes Marianne's heart race but who proves to be a real loser; the well-intentioned but often mistaken Edward, and even the interfering neighbors. It's also easy to watch even if you haven't read the novel.

Great Quotes:

• "If you cannot think of anything appropriate to say you will please restrict your remarks to the weather." 
• "There is a painful difference between the expectation of an unpleasant event and its final certainty."
• "Your friendship has been the most important of my life."

7. The Holiday - Four people, whose personal lives are a complete mess, cross paths, throw each others lives into disarray, and ultimately teach each other a lot about life and love. There's a lot of great music in this one, too.

Great Quotes:

• "It's Christmas Eve and we are going to go celebrate being young and being alive." 
• "I like corny. I'm looking for corny in my life."

8.The Proposal - This one competes with Music and Lyrics for my heart. It's just good. Through and through. Family members trying to control each other. People manipulating other people for their own ends. Relationships doomed to be problematic. A lot of great lines.

Great Quotes:

• "This woman is about as subtle as a gun."
• "Do you prefer Margaret or "Satan's Mistress"? "

9. Valentine's Day - This one, like He Just Not That Into You, has multiple parallel plot lines. It's another movie about a few people all trying to find true love and happiness and all failing miserably. Even the ideal couple turns out to be only slightly less dysfunctional than the rest of the cast.

Great Quotes:

• "You don't keep inklings to yourself! You share them! You're like hey guy, I got an inkling you're headed for a fall here! That's what friends do . . !"
• "My closest relationship is with my Blackberry"
• "There you have it, folks. Young love. Full of promise, full of hope, ignorant of reality."

10. You've Got Mail - The ruthless owner of a bookstore chain and the quirky owner of a tiny bookstore clash. This movie isn't just about coincidental love. It's about trying over and over again even when dreams fall apart. It's about people realizing what's really important. My favorite part of the movie is the addiction to books that seeps through every part of the plot.

Great Quotes:

• "The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee."
• "I always take a relationship to the next level. If that works out, I take it to the next level after that, until I finally reach that level when it becomes absolutely necessary for me to leave."
• "How can you forgive this guy for standing you up and not forgive me for this tiny little thing of... of putting you out of business?"

101 Recipes Challenge

101 Recipes. 1001 Days.

Goal: To learn 101 new recipes by August 12, 2013. (Full credit for the brilliant 101 in 1001 idea goes to Day Zero.)

The Team: Join Rachel from Balance and Blueberries and me in conquering the challenge! If you would like to be added to the 101 Recipes Challenge blogroll, e-mail your link to emilyadams829 at hotmail dot com.

So here's my "recipe-wish-list". I'll be adding to it as I find recipes that intrigue me. Some of the items are basic staples. Some are elaborate luxuries. Some are complex and time-consuming. Some are convenient and quick.What's on your list?

Friday Linkage

It's Friday again. Enjoy a bit of weekend reading!

I recently discovered Litemind, a cool blog about time management, goal setting, and intentional living. I especially loved his list of quotes.


I'm always inspired by people who seem to have mastered the art of sharing their space, their stuff, and their time with both generosity and grace. Donald Miller's article was an insightful commentary on stewardship and hospitality.

This article on Boundless made me squirm a bit. I'm as guilty as the next person when it comes to using words to do anything but build up the next person and the article was a timely reminder.

In all honesty, I haven't read any of the Twilight series. Nor have I seen the movies. This isn't so much due to some passionate stance which I can carefully articulate as it is to a simple lack of time. However, I thought this article contained a lot of insight, both on the Twilight series in particular and on relationships in general.

Rachel at Balance and Blueberries shared this idea with me and I'm excited. More on this to come...

What did you read this week?

Great Stories: Jenna in Uganda

There are those of us who talk about living great stories, taking risks, and stepping outside of our comfort zones. And then there are those who just do it.

Jenna Funke, a dear friend of mine and a co-graduate of Belhaven University is one of those. Jenna recently traveled to Uganda on a short-term medical missions-trip. She graciously agreed to share a bit about her experiences there.

Tell a little about yourself.

I am from a small town in SC and am currently in graduate school getting my Masters in Occupational Therapy. I love working with children and hope to get a job in a pediatric hospital when I graduate. I also have a passion for horses and sharing love with other people.

Where did you go and for how long?

Uganda – We stayed in Masindi, but traveled to a variety of temporary clinic sites in Kasongoire, Kisuuga, Kimengo, and Bwayale, which were nearby. We also spent half a day each at Family Spirit Orphanage and Family Life Project. I was in Uganda for 13 days.

Describe Uganda:

The area of Uganda where we were was very rural. A lot of the people that we saw were farmers and worked in the fields. Uganda was very dusty, but a lot more lush and green than I was expecting. Most of the small villages we were at spoke the national African language, their own tribal language, and English.

We had some translators that spoke English and multiple tribal languages, and some of our patients actually even spoke English. It is very common for the kids to know English, because that is what they are taught in school. The living conditions are pretty poor. Most families live in a small hut and do not have access to clean drinking water. The healthcare system is also very poor.

With what organization did you go?

I went with the Medical Campus Outreach group from East Cooper Baptist Church in Charleston, SC. We partnered with Palmetto Medical Initiative, who is in the process of establishing a clinic in Masindi, Uganda. Over 100 people went on the trip; about 80 were healthcare students.

What was the purpose of the trip?

The purpose of the trip was to provide medical and spiritual care to the people of Uganda in the more rural areas.

What kinds of things did you do while you were over there?

We had eight days of clinic and saw about 200-250 people each day, and close to 2,000 people during the entire trip. I worked in the therapy clinic six of the eight days. While in the clinic, I worked with a team of 3-4 students and a therapist. We provided education on muscle exercises as well as proper body mechanics for work.

We made numerous hand and foot splints with material donated to our group. Some of the more interesting cases that I got to work with were a child with hydrocephalis, a man who had a stroke three years prior, and even a young girl who needed speech therapy, even though no speech therapists were on the trip. I also got to help manufacture a seating system out of random scrap material for a child with cerebral palsy.

On one of the clinic days, I was able to participate in the children’s ministry program. During this time, we spent the day playing ball or various games with the children who were waiting for their parents to be seen by the medical team. We also provided a short Bible story on “Daniel and the lion’s den.” This was a neat opportunity to really feel like we were getting to know the culture. The children in Uganda were very eager to try to teach us the language. It was also interesting to watch the children play and see how they interacted with and cared for each other.

During the other clinic day that I was actually not in the therapy clinic, I had the opportunity to be on the evangelism team. This was a really neat opportunity for me to grow spiritually. I really have not been stretched too many times to share my faith with people I do not know. It was amazing to see God at work in the lives of the people as they came up to us to ask for prayer.

We tried to ask almost everyone that we prayed with if they knew of Jesus Christ and if we could tell them more about Him. Most of them were open to hearing the Gospel Story and a few even wanted to know Jesus personally as their Savior. This day in clinic was probably one of the most challenging, but rewarding of all the days.

What is your favorite memory from the trip?

This is a hard question to answer. I guess my favorite memories were seeing the joy on a patient’s face after we were able to provide treatment that resulted in immediate benefits.

What surprised you most?

I was surprised at how many cases we saw of preventable disabilities. It was very sad to see a patient who, if he or she was here in the US, would not be in the same condition, or who would have started receiving therapy much sooner and have had the opportunity to make progress. We saw a few patients who made bounds of progress with just the one treatment session, but also others who we could not do much for because they had already developed such severe contractures.

What was the most significant thing that you learned?

One thing I learned that had an impact on me was how important our care was for the people of Uganda. On our first clinic day, I struggled to understand exactly how the role of an occupational therapist fit into short-term missions, since we only saw the patient one time. One of the occupational therapists in charge of my group told me that she thinks giving individual quality care and sharing the love of Christ with them makes more of a difference than sharing our OT skills.

Some of what we give medically might have a long term impact, but the bigger picture is what we share spiritually - Christ’s love. I think that learning that God can use me to help further His kingdom by giving me the ability to help therapeutically was one of the biggest things that I learned on this trip.

What is one other thing that you want to share?

If you want to learn more about our daily happenings on the trip, check out the PMI blog. At the end of the day, individual team members wrote small clips about the clinic experiences.

*Photo Credits: Jenna Funke

Friday Linkage

It's Friday! Here's some interesting links for the weekend. Enjoy!

Tony Woolief is an occasional contributor to World Magazine, among other things. I recently discovered his thought-prodding blog, Sand in the Gears. Start with this article.

Real Simple produced a fun color quiz. What's your color personality?

Ann Voskamp's writing is always beautiful and terribly intimidating. I've been thinking about journals in general (and my journals from high-school in particular) lately and her series on journaling is fueling the fire.

As I drove north to meet my family up in northern Michigan this weekend, the red and orange hues of Michigan fall overflowed the landscape. If you don't appreciate the "Pure Michigan" ads, then you just aren't from Michigan.

P.S. For those of you who were wondering, the Shakespeare Challenge is temporarily on hold, due to massive amounts of required reading material for my grad classes. Tragic, but true.

What Do You See?

This blog has been a little neglected lately. I'm hoping that posts will come with a little more regularity now that school has started up again in full force. (Or is that wishful thinking....?)

The other day, I was talking with a former physics major about that mysterious and elusive degree. I wondered out loud what kind of person would choose to major in physics.

"Everyone sees the world a certain way," she said. "You know someone will make a good physics major when they see the world in patterns."

Now, I'm definitely not a physics major and when I look at the ocean I don't see the patterns of light waves (like my mom, a former physics major, apparently does). But the conversation did make me wonder how I do see the world. I spent the next three days staring at random objects trying to answer the question.

Then, one afternoon, it occurred to me. I see the world in stories. Maybe it's just an English major thing. When I look at a clock or a car or a grain elevator, I wonder about the stories behind it. Who made it? Why is it there?

I saw a harvester working in the fields at sunset last night and wondered about the driver. When would he quit for the evening and go home? What was his family like? What made him choose farming?

When I see students walking through the school parking lots and wonder about their degree, their goals, their relationships. When I see the outline of the buildings of downtown, I wonder about the lives that play out inside their towering steel structures.

And now I'm wondering.....how do you see the world?

Review: Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola and George Barna

Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola and George Barna (Barna Books, 2008) addresses current issues in the modern church. Viola analyzes today's church in light of a New-Testament church model. He also examines the extra-Christian influences on the church throughout history.


Viola makes the point that many traditional aspects of today's church are simply the results of pagan influences throughout history. Viola believes that these non-Christian influences have undermined the integrity of the modern church. Viola believes that the modern church could solve many of her current issues by simply adhering solely to a New-Testament model.

Viola walks readers through a fairly comprehensive history of the church in order to demonstrate his point. He demonstrates why he believes specific current church practices such as the church building, church leadership structures, and the traditional order of worship are simply remnants of pagan influences.

While thoughtful readers could certainly benefit from considering the issues that Viola raises, his choppy style and lofty tone are difficult to overlook. Furthermore, his arguments are hard to follow, are occasionally based on inaccurate interpretations of historical events, and often only make sense if the reader agrees with Viola's initial analysis of the problem.

His all-encompassing statements, his vilification of opposing arguments, and his overly exaggerated examples make many of Viola's points hard to swallow.

Mark Driscoll provides a fairly comprehensive analysis of Pagan Christianity here.

Jessica Muto provides another insightful review at her blog Shiny Mess.