Top 10+ Romantic Movies for Valentine’s Day

I was going through boxes prepping to pack for my return to CA when I came across my very first career portfolio. It contained mostly newspaper articles I’d written for the college paper and press releases from my internships. It made me chuckle.

But what I got a kick out of the most was an article I’d written for Valentine’s day of 1994. Or perhaps it would be more appropriate to say my anti-valentine’s day article. I compiled a list of movies typifying love gone wrong including War of the Roses and Fatal Attraction. Apparently I wasn’t keen on love then either.

Yet now in my mid-30s I have to believe in the power of love.  Maybe I’m too sentimental to give up. So in the spirit of Valentine’s Day, here are my favorite romantic movies, in no particular order.

1. The Notebook – Epitome of love as it should be! UGH. If only I could find a guy that loves me like that. Aaaahhhh. Someday

2. Pride & Prejudice (2005) – (Kiera Knightly version) – True love perseveres inspite of misguided perceptions of each other.

3. An Affair to Remember (1957)  – I’m going to sneak in Sleepless in Seattle (1993) with this one, since it was inspired by An Affair. I do however wholeheardtedly reject the Warren Beatty, Annette Bening remake, Love Affair (1994). This is the tale of two people deciding to find themselves first and then reunite in three months however an accident gets in the way.

4. Pretty Woman (1990) and Wedding Date (2005) – The ultimate love conquers all movies – it can even over come being an escort or hooker. Love is BIG!

5. Dirty Dancing (1987)  – Teen love at its best. The good girl falls for the bad boy and even defies her family to help him succeed. “No one puts baby in the corner,”

6. Regarding Henry (1991) – Harrison Ford (ultimate in sexy) is a high-powered attorney who neglects his family for success. However, it all changes overnight when he is shot and loses his memory. He isn’t the man he was and instead learns to be the man his family loves. So good!

7. When Harry Met Sally (1989) – More than just the famous orgasm scene. This is a movie about two people who learn to become friends and then fall in love over time.

8. The Princess Bride (1987) – The most romantic fairy tale ever written! “As Yyyyyooouuu Wiiiiiiiisshh”

9. Runaway Bride (1999) – She can’t seem to commit and he wants to find out why. Instead they fall in love and yet she still runs and the reason why is because she doesn’t know who she is. Once she figures that out she can give him her running shoes.

10. 50 First Dates (2004) – Everyday he has to convince her to fall in love with him again and he’s committed to doing it. Wow! True love at its finest! So good.

Ok, so I can’t keep it to 10, here are 6 more romantic films I love:

- P.S. I love You (2007) – he loves her enough to reach out beyond death to help her move on. Love is about caring for someone else more than yourself.

- The Wedding Singer (1998) Love is seeing yourself grow old with them, set to 80s music. Can’t beat that.

- Ever After (1998) Nicole doesn’t need a knight in shining armor, she wants him in her life. Even though Drew Barrymore’s accent is the awful, the story makes it worth enduring.

- Something’s Gotta Give (2003) Never too old for love but you have to grow up to receive it. Harry is a confirmed bachelor who likes his wine aged and his women very young, until he meets his match after a heart attack. It’s just the ticket to realize what he really needs.

- Walk to Remember (2002) Another good girl falling for a bad boy. Only she changes him and her loves helps me reach for a better future. So good.

- The Philadelphia Story (1940) – Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn and Jimmy Stewart a love triangle cast perfectly.

Filed under: Pop Culture , love, movies, romantic, valentine's day

Dream of Clean Refrigerators

I could not sleep last night to save my life. I laid there forever, then I gave up and decided to watch some hulu. I caught up on old episodes of Bones, it was good.

At about 5:30 a.m. I started to get sleepy. Finally.

Yet, I had quite the productive night’s sleep in dreamland.

I dreamed that I was at my grandpa’s house. Now he died in 2006, but in my dream he was alive. He was in bed, but I had the feeling that he was doing well. He was also remarried. My grandma died in 1996. My grandpa was always a ladies man, so it wasn’t a shock he was remarried. But what shocked me was who he was married to, a large black woman that looked a bit like Whoopi Goldberg. What I remember most are her dreads.

Another shocker is that the house was clean. My grandpa was a pack rat. He could throw nothing away. He had closets and closets full of clothes. He always had three or four loaves of day-old bread from the bakery outlet, along with tons of dented cans, and frozen meat that was reduced for quick sale. While he was very generous with whatever he had, it made his house messy.

But in my dream the house was immaculate. It was freshly painted. Everything was organized. Yet the bulk of my dream centered in the kitchen. The cupboards were organized, newly lined and all the dishes were new. I remember opening the refrigerator and it was so clean and pretty empty. There was lots of room in there for new food.

Grandpa’s new wife and I never spoke but I could feel her gentleness and kindness. I stood in the kitchen with her looking at everything.

Overall it was a very pleasant, happy, warm fuzzy dream. I was never afraid. It was just peaceful.

But of course I want to know what it all means. I was pondering that when I woke up at 1 p.m. Then I remember a dream I had two years ago, ironically about the past. The jist of the dream is that I couldn’t move forward until I cleared about the past, all in dreamy metaphorical terms.

Now, I’ve made the decision to move on and I wonder if my sub-conscious concurs. I have dealt with the past. I am at a point when I am truly ready to move forward.

What I also thought about was the image of God the Father that is in The Shack. He is portrayed as a large black woman who comes in that form to shake the lead character’s view of him, to give him a new perspective of God and how He interacts with people.  I was so comforted by the presence of this woman. I’m not saying it was God, just reminded me of that.

So I’m taking the dream as something good. Dreammoods says the kitchen is about warmth and nurture and represents transformation. Bring it on. I’m ready for something good, warm and nurturing.

Filed under: Dreaming , black woman, clean, dream, dream interpretation, fresh, grandpa, kitchen, new, organized

Hope in Job Searching

My job search in CA, among a few other places, has begun.

Searching in this economy is scary indeed. I’ve heard that it will be hard to find something. Some have even gone as far to say good luck finding anything you’ll probably end up working in retail or fast food.

I agree that I will need to be aggressive, think outside the box and rely heavily on my network, but I REFUSE to believe its hopeless. God provides in one way or another. I have learned that it might not look like I thought it would, but it will be what I need. I still think we are allowed to follow our hearts. We can dream. We can hope. We don’t have to take positions that will drive us into depression or the corner singing Jimmy crack corn.

I will admit that I do have some luxury over others in that I don’t have a mortgage. I don’t have to support kids. I only have to worry about me and believe me, my life is stripped down right now. There are few luxuries. It’s a tight ship.

But after two years of consulting and freelancing here in Ohio I know that I’m ok without a regular paycheck. I can look for other more risky situations. That isn’t something I would have said before I moved here. It hasn’t been easy. I have had to cut out a lot. But I’m ok. I have spent a lifetime doing things I didn’t want to do to be safe, cautious and secure. It’s not living. You have to follow your passion.

I’m not going to be ridiculous and wait for the golden egg, but I will NOT settle. I can’t. I’ve come to far. I reject all notion that I will fail. I’m saying it outloud, for me.

So the research has begun for cities thriving in the recession. I’ve even read that marketing management is  listed as a position in demand. So whi-hoo.

So if you hear of any good marketing positions, let me know.

Filed under: Working , bad economy, faith, hope, job search, networking, recession, research