in which we discuss the proper care and feeding of hermits.

Currently Listening To: Beautiful by Phil Wickham

Love this part: "I see your face in every sunrise. The colors of the morning burn inside your eyes." This whole album is amazing. Did you know the whole thing is a FREE download?!

Sometimes the world erupts with excitement, and I can't blog fast enough before it is old news. For example:

Apparently the chupacabra was caught in Texas. Henceforth, I shall blame the chupacabra for stealing the CD player from my car when I lived in Dallas. This is my favorite part of the article:

Ayer says he plans to preserve the animal and then donate it to a local museum so it can be enjoyed by others. As the taxidermist puts it, the beast is "a tremendous conversation piece." Sort of like the Mona Lisa or a really stellar collection of garden gnomes.

This week Sarah and I had a Gilmore Girls moment. We feasted on pizza snacks, chips, Oreos, and grape soda while we watched movies. The aftertaste was not so pleasant (who knew?). And I ended up popping Tums like candy for the rest of the night. But it was fun going down and I can't wait to do it again someday. We used to have junk food marathons like that in high school. In fact, I remember when Melanie, Sarah, and I would walk the track together, then drive to Sonic for slushies. It's all about balance, I guess. I don't remember mainlining Tums back then though. Is this a sad side effect that comes with getting older? Junk food makes me queasy en masse (and also makes me en masse in general). Swings give me motion sickness. When people act the fool in movie theaters, and text and talk on their ultra-bright cell phones, I am compelled to throw things. Also, and this is significant ...

... I like eating breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Those are all warning signs, aren't they?

Our junk food extravaganza was fun though and it had a purpose. We Netflix'd a PBS show called Regency House Party. Have you heard of it? Regency House is a British reality show following nine individuals who all agree to trade their hipster London clothes, lives, and friends for Regency life (think Jane Austen).* Then they're all moved to a gorgeous old house for nine weeks to live like they would have lived back then. They're given different society ranks, different fictional family scenarios, and ... matchmakers. Apparently matchmakers were sort of like romance brokers for Regency elite: masterminding each and every possible union between families, trying to make their client (?) come out better financially through wedded bliss. Marriage was more about business than love back then, which truly blows. So Regency House is set up kind of like a game. But, the participants really were hoping to fall in love on this show. It was quite interesting, even though it wasn't as funny as I thought (hoped) it would be.

Now. I've seen the BBC Pride and Prejudice many times, so many you would tease me if you knew the number.** I have a great admiration for Jane Austen. But I have never, ever been one of those girls who wishes she was born in any century but this one. Chamber pots? No, thank you. Corsets? Gag. One full day in a corset, and I'm fairly certain I would unleash the beast and assault someone with my needle point. Did I mention the girls on this show had to sit inside and do needle work for six hours while the guys got to shoot pistols? Eventually they let them shoot too, and they did way better than the boys did. Good times. Two things in particular need to be mentioned here:

Thing the First: Did you know regency men would pay hermits to live on their property? They required them to dress rustic, grow out their fingernails, grow long gnarly beards. The hermit lived in a simple little shack and killed his own food, etc. But, when the Regency gent (regency "buck" is what they call them in this series) needed spiritual guidance, he went out to visit his hermit. Or, on this show, he mostly went out to drink with the hermit. Potato, Po-tah-toe.

Sarah said: Why did that fall out of fashion? I would like a hermit.

I said: I'm kind of a hermit.

Sarah said: No ... I mean I want one in my back yard.

Interesting isn't it? What might that look like in this century? Could you go online and find the right hermit match? Would Home Depot sell little rustic hermit houses for your hermit to live in? It is worth noting that, on this show, the hermit was very handsome. He wasn't as scruffy as hermits were in Regency times. He was more scruffy like guys in American Eagle times. One of the ladies of the house kept sneaking away to {makes quotation marks in the air} seek advice.

Thing the Second: Sometimes less is more.

When the show first started, I thought they guys were all jerks. They met all the girls then sat down, drank a gallon of wine, and made lists about what they liked and disliked about each girl. They were smug and cocky and just generally all the things girls hope guys try not to be. But then they surprised me.

One of the guys didn't fall in love with the 25 year old he was supposed to fall in love with (she was the right social class, very pretty, etc.). He fell in love with her chaperon/matchmaker, who I would estimate to be in her late 40's. He was in his early thirties so it didn't come off awkward or even cougary. It just came off really sweet.

Another one of the guys (in his 20's, I think) spent a long time making a chain out of wildflowers for a girl he was interested in. Then he had the servants arrange the flower-chain on her pillow. He talked about how it was like a regency text message. He said flirting was so easy for him because he could text. But he liked that guys back then had to think about how to flirt. As the show progressed, he seriously started falling for her. It was storybook stuff: he got nervous and smiley whenever she walked into the room. She blushed whenever he gave her a compliment. All his little daisy chains and quirky trinkets were anonymous, so he smiled and eavesdropped while she tried to figure out who was sending them. It was pretty much adorable. (One time he tried to serenade her while he was drunk. This was not as successful. Time does not change some things.)

Another guy snuck out and spent an entire night writing a message to his love interest with hay and rose petals. She nearly cried when she opened her window and saw it the next morning.

The guys really got into it, without being prodded to do so. And the girls gushed. The guys and girls couldn't have much physical contact with each other. But when they danced, when their hands barely brushed against each other as they made awkward circles around the room, it was like fireworks. I was surprised by how it all played out. The girls were allowed to wear Regency eyeliner but they mostly weren't wearing makeup by the end. They were all pretty anyway, but not like the perfectly impossible standard guys were measuring them against at the beginning. And by the end, the guys didn't care. They were all raving about how gorgeous the girls were. It was all very sweet. Very interesting.

Riley Tea has up a great review of Robin Jones Gunn's new book, Coming Attractions. I like reading anybody's thoughts on Young Adult lit. It's truly a fantastic genre. But I especially love it when I get to read/hear teens talking about YA. It's fun to find a book that relates to any part of your life (which Young Adult novels do, even when you're past the demographic. I love them ... and I'm pretty far past the demographic ... :) But it's especially cool to find one that relates to specific situations you're going through right now. RT does a really sweet review and mentions how all the ways she can relate to the main character. Also check out her gorgeous sketches!

Speaking of books, I stayed up into 3 am finishing Jenny's new book Just Between You and Me. If you see me today, and you see the faint dark circles under my eyes, they are her fault. Not mine. I'm not going to tell you what I thought about it. Other than I loved it. And that I felt my eyes get watery in the end. And that I laughed and smiled my way through entire passages. And that it's one of the best novels I've read this year. But that's ALL I'm writing, for now. :) However, I will be talking more about why I like it so much. And I'm trying to come up with some fun interview questions for Jenny to answer. Which lead to an epiphany of sorts. I thought you might have a question to toss in the mix?

If you have a question for Jenny B. Jones - about writing, about how she thinks up such great characters, about teaching, about her time as a fire juggler on a cruise ship in Belize - leave that question in the comments. Or you can email me the question (nat.lloyd[at]yahoo.com). You may not have any. You might want to just sit back and read, and that is also totally okay. But if you can think of something you would like to know, fire away. Just try not to make the question too spoilery if you've already read JBY&M. I'm trying too. *sigh* Why do spoilers delight me so?

My question for you: how do you think you would do in the regency era? And what should a girl look for when shopping for hermits?

Gorgeous icon was discovered amidst a sea of gorgeous icons designed by austen_anne on livejournal.

* Nine strangers. Sent to live in a house full of chamber pots and find out what happens when people stop being polite. Or ... start being weirdly, excessively polite. And start getting real.

** I shall not name names, but a dear friend of mine refused to watch Pride and Prejudice for years. She called it Puke and Purgatory. I finally talked her into watching it, promising she could make fun of it whenever she wanted. She owns it now. Just saying.

***Regency House sort of reminds me of the Shannon Hale novel Austenland, which is such a fun read if you love updated Pride and Prejudice stories. Ruth, if you are reading the footnotes, and you haven't read Austenland, I think you would really enjoy it! :)