This week I feel... like a hot tamale

Actual color = Hot Tamale by Love My Nails

I like to go with a cheap polish whenever I'm not really sure the color is going to be a keeper.  For me, yellows and oranges were on my "last" list when it comes to nail polish colors.  I was surprised by how non-intense this color looks on my nails.  It comes off as more intense in the photo.

Inspired by this vintage Vespa...

*via Vespa Travel

See the rest of my Candy nail polish color collection.

Be reckless when you write!

*via pastaboy sleeps

Be reckless!  Be a lion, be a pirate when you write!

This is one of my favorite quotes from If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland. It's actually a chapter title, but for me it stands alone.

I have been writing like a pirate lately.  Things have been stirring....

1. I had two story ideas brewing since December.  I called them Project A and Project B.  I'd been working on Project A, but then about a month ago I switched from project A to project B (a difficult decision).  I hope to share more about that soon...

2. Then I started trying to write at least 2K words a day or work for 2 hours a day.  It's a time consuming aspiration, but the focus is doing me good. Most days I can do it.  Although home cooked meals and exercise have declined.  Oops.

3. I sent several pages to a friend to read, which was stimuli to see things from a fresh perspective. I'm not quite ready for hardcore critiquing yet - I need to stay in my bubble a little longer, but I feel like I dipped my toe in the pool.

4. Then a Google search for critique groups led me to a Texas Writer's League conference in late June right in my backyard.  It's a chance to learn more about publishing, agents, queries and all of these things that make me shake in my boots.  It still feels a little premature, but I registered for it.  Knowing me, it would always "feel" premature. I need to jump in... SPLASH!  and start learning wherever I can, and I'm not willing to wait until 2011, so I'm doing it now.

So all of this added together has given me an even greater sense of urgency and narrowed focus around writing.

This means you may see a little less of me 'round these blogging parts.  I don't know yet... I don't know how much energy I have to go around.  It's all a grand experiment.

Don't think I've fallen off the planet.  I'm still here, I'm just on a big game safari, hunting for the wild words that I need.

Chick flicks: Opposites attract

Continuing my Chick Flicks Guide, I turn to "opposites attract" - an age-old theme in chick flicks.  This could be a very, very long list... these are just the ones I happen to like while leaving out ones that I don't want to repeat that will show up in other categories.  There's also a related category - adversaries attract - and I'll cover those in another post.

The Chick Flicks:

Green Card
4 stars
The fact that they can make us root for Gerard Depardieu in a romantic role is amazing in and of itself.  But this movie really gets me.  Andie MacDowell and Mr. Frenchie are stuck (in a gorgeous apartment) playing hubby and wife because he needs a green card.  She's a neat perfectionist, he's a slob. Too bad they hate each other... until they don't.

Forces of Nature
4 stars
Sandra Bullock as a wild child gypsy, meets Ben Affleck as a straight-laced man on his way to his own wedding.  This also falls into the Road Trip category, as they're stuck on a train ride together with adventures along the way.  Attraction ensues, but doesn't necessarily go where you expect.

Double wedding
4 stars
Anything with Myrna Loy and William Powell in it I am going to watch, okay?   Their movies are silly, light and yet witty and intelligent.  They have such a chemistry.  Not to mention the 1930s fashions.  In this cinematic pairing, we get to see what happens when a responsible serious gal meets up with an artist who lives in a trailer.

Someone like you
3 stars
She's looking for Mr. Right and he's man about town not interested in settling down. Sound familiar? This was actually a book first.  And I liked the book.  The movie adaptation didn't thrill me as much.  Sometimes you just wanna slap the heroine of the film and tell her to grow up.  But it's still a decent movie, with a little too much cheese factor.  Starring Ashley Judd and Hugh Jackman.

Something new
4 stars
I wasn't initially drawn to this film.  It struck me as being "about" racial issues.  (No offense to anyone, but when I'm looking for a light film about love, I don't think "racial issues").  But it wasn't really about that at its heart.  It's about an  uptight professional woman who has to break out of her preconceived notions to find love with a spontaneous, challenging, gardener.  And it's actually very non-cheesy. Try it, you might like it.

A New Kind of Love
3 stars
This is an obscure film you've probably never heard of... Paul Newman and his wife Joanne Woodward, star in this early sixties tale set in Paris.  He's a sports reporter, not exactly looking for love - not the permanent kind at least.  She's a tomboy who works in fashion.  How these two meet and fall in love is a strange, twisted, slightly cheesy tale (an early precursor to the rom-com cheese fest of the last 20 years).  But it's fun to watch this movie just for Paris, sixties fashion and Paul Newman's blue eyes.

Romancing the Stone
3 stars
If Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas didn't do such a brilliant job embodying their characters, this movie wouldn't be so fun. This is classic opposites attract - a prissy romance novel writer somehow falls in with a rough and tough adventurer in a hybrid of romance and action.  Have a 1980s flashback and enjoy...  (Am I the only one who thinks they shouldn't have made a sequel?)

Leap Year
3 stars
And I have to include Leap Year in the mix because I just saw it recently.  It seems to follow the "type A female" meets "type B male" formula and at times it felt a bit too much like a formula.  While I didn't think it was utterly brilliant, if you like chick flicks you'll probably enjoy it.  And the movie comes alive when Matthew Goode shows up and the scenes in Ireland are beautiful.

Recommended double features:
Free spirits: Double Wedding and Forces of Nature
Man about town gets tamed: A New Kind of Love and Someone Like You
Realistic tone: Something New and Green Card
Miss Priss meets her match: Leap Year and Romancing the Stone

Any favorites you would add to the opposites attract category?

This week I feel... Splendid

 Actual color = Splendid by Hard Candy

Funny, I don't feel splendid today.  It may be an emotional hangover after the end of Lost last night.  That really choked me up.  I'm still not sure exactly what happened (as I see at least two possible interpretations), but it gave me emotional closure and that made me happy.

Onto the nail polish color.  Wow.  It's intense.  Especially once I saw it on my hand.  It reminds me of something that Twiggy would wear in London in the late 1960s.  It looks amazing with denim and blue and white and gray, but can clash and look funky with other colors.

I've been interested in all kinds of nail polish colors except for yellow and orange, so I'm intentionally trying them to see what I think. I liked this yellow because it wasn't sparkly.  For some reason I like my wild colors without frost.

Inspired by a yellow fiat...

*via Perrimoon 

See the rest of my Candy nail polish color collection.

Starting from scratch

Do you ever fantasize about starting over? About walking out the door, with almost nothing, moving to a new place and starting over from scratch?

It's been a recent fantasy of mine. I vacillate between being a packrat to a wannabe radical minimalist. It's the radical minimalist in me who has this start over fantasy, because the packrat in me drives the minimalist nuts.

It got me to thinking.  If I were to walk into an utterly empty, fresh house/loft/flat/condo/whatever, what would I fill it with?  This isn't so much about wanting new things, but imagining living in an edited world of the things I love and doing things I sometimes dream of but haven't yet dared. What would that look like?

Wanna come be my neighbor in fantasyland?

*via i suwannee

Essential books and CDs:

The Bible
Some works of Rumi, Shakespeare, and Emily Dickinson
Middlemarch by George Eliot
The entire works of Jane Austen
I capture the castle
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
Midwest Modern by Amy Butler
Adorned Crochet
Magnolia at Home
Getz/Gilberto
Immortal Beloved soundtrack (Beethoven!)
Enya CDs (my whole collection - blushing)
Teen Dream by Beach House (don't have this yet but it's on the wish list)
Black Mirror by Arcade Fire
Breakfast at Tiffany's soundtrack
Hang on Little Tomato by Pink Martini

*via Urban Wife

Essential foods:
Fresh fruits and vegetables, because in this new life I would be utterly healthy
Plus some Liberte Mediterranean yogurt
Macadamia nuts
Coffee
Moroccan Mint green tea, Strawberry Fragrance Green tea, Jasmine green tea, Chamomile Rose tea
Dark chocolate with crystallized ginger

Essential decor:
A Madeleine Weinrib rug, a sheepskin rug

 *via Zoe's Wedding Blog

A few moroccan poufs - what color? silver? white? pink? blue?

An arc lamp (I so want one of these!)

*via Moodboard

Butterfly art by Damien Hirst - like this photo from Domino featuring the home of Cindy Greene (of Libertine)

One room with groovy statement wallpaper

 *via Atelier Abigail Ahern

Staghead ferns, asparagus ferns, candelilla plants, succulents
An amazing light fixture (or two or three)
A comfy but modern streamlined sectional
Bedding by Dwell Studio
Driftwood

A Tivoli radio - so sleek, so beautiful!

*via Living Etc.

Essential beauty products:
Fresh -  You would open up my medicine cabinet and there would be nothing but Fresh products everywhere, especially Fresh Sugar!

StrangeBeautiful nail polish collection 
Lollia hand creams
Tokyo Milk Le Petit perfume

Miscellaneous:
A cute vintage style bicycle - maybe one of those Liberty of London printed beach cruisers that sold out so quickly from Target!
A tiny cute dog named Rosie or Josie or Flora or Henry or Charlie
My Sony laptop, of course.
A new Orla Kiely bag

Movie for a Bohemian Season: Penelope

Penelope sat forlorn in my Netflix queue for awhile.  I don't know why, but I was just never in the mood to see it.  Maybe I had a hard time taking a film featuring a pig-nosed woman seriously.  And I also got the vibe that it was more of a kid's movie, a fairytale fable about loving yourself just the way you are, yada yada, and I was a little bit reluctant.

So it sat in my Netflix queue and I kept noticing that the average rating was 4 stars (quite high on Netflix) and so I finally "forced" myself to watch.

My first impression was "so-so" - it was kind of what I expected and maybe even a little bit weirder and more kiddy.  I kind of wanted to kill her mother and several other characters. But my second impression sunk in a little deeper.

I could read this film as some sort of body-acceptance message or some sort of difference-acceptance message.  Which is perfectly valid and not a bad thing, but it feels like this message has been out in the PC universe - at least the American one - a lot!

But there was something about the film that resonated for me personally - that turned it from a see it and forget it flick into something I thought about for days.

Penelope is fixated on breaking the spell and getting her cute nose back - but for my purposes I'm going to call this "fill in the blank" - because we all have something, some quest, some "if only" we are fixated on that's unique to us. 

Penelope is so busy preparing and trying to reach a future life when "fill in the blank" happens, that she spends no time or energy enjoying her present.  Her life is viewed as not starting until "fill in the blank" happens.  One day she asks herself - what if nothing changed - what if "fill in the blank" never happened - would that be okay? How would I live my life?   When she finally starts living in the present - the present moment, the present circumstance - and stops yearning for "fill in the blank", then she truly begins living.

And for me, this so much applies to my life experience it's not even funny!  I often feel bummed that I spent my late twenties and early thirties waiting for a stork to appear with a baby bundle.  That was my own "fill in the blank"!  Well, dang, it hasn't happened, but like Penelope I am tired of waiting for life to begin and I am learning to accept my present condition.

And for that, I officially deem this a "movie for a bohemian season".

p.s. Other things I love about this movie.  The rich, dark settings, lots of black - not typical and very unique.  James McAvoy's character's loft - so cool, and James McAvoy, well I guess I'll give him the thumbs up too.

p.s.s. Did anyone else watch Penelope and it had a personal resonance? What did it mean to you?  What was your "fill in the blank"?

Tears at a birth

 *via Pigs Fly Ranch (ironically I might add)

I'm sitting cross-legged on the floor, listening to music full blast.  My siamese fighting fish is fluttering in his fish bowl staring at me curiously.  A candle is burning.  An unfinished piece of chocolate cake is sitting on the coffee table.  If it was good chocolate cake I would have eaten it all.  An unfinished glass of pinot grigio sits next to it.

I just finished watching Leap Year.  A middling romantic comedy.  At least Matthew Goode was good in it.

My husband is out of town for the weekend. Which is why I sit around eating chocolate cake and drinking wine and watching middling romantic comedies.

And I'm feeling very emotional.  Close to tears.  But they are not bad tears.  They are the kind of tears you have at a birth - intensity tears.  And they've been building all week.  Catching me by surprise.

It started when I decided to put a few pages of the beginning of my story in an envelope and mail it to a friend.  And since then my emotions have been breaking out all over the place.

I have signed up for a writer's conference.  And I'm so excited.  And I'm so scared.  And I'm so excited that I'm still doing it in spite of the fact that I'm scared.

Tonight I bought three more books on writing at Barnes and Noble on an impulse.

I am excited - I am moving forward.  I am doing this. I am writing.  I am becoming a writer. I am afraid - Will I ever be a published writer? Will I suck? I have no idea how all this works. I am writing like a fiend - and my emotions are intense.

These tears have been sneaking up on me all week.

******

Written 10 days ago.  I am now feeling more stable.  And why was I feeling so emotional? Because a newborn dream is exciting and yet fragile. Because sometimes a birth only comes out of a death.

What has died? Pre-conceived notions of my future and where it might lead, images of motherhood and americana and apple pie, as vintage stork and baby ornaments mutely testify.

Dreams woven from childhood are hard to kill.  They'll probably rise from the dead - the vampires that won't leave me alone - they go away for awhile and then come back again.

But saying goodbye to one thing, hopefully means saying hello to another.

This week I feel... 15

Actual color = Wet t-shirt by Pure Ice  - Not quite sure about the connotations of THAT one.  

Funny, yesterday I found myself in Wal-Mart, looking at the same nail polish section as a woman in white stripper heels, causing me to think hmmm, perhaps I should reconsider this.

 I'm not quite pleased with my manicure this week.  To begin with I botched it by moving my sheets from the washer to the dryer too soon, causing slightly rippled nail polish.

But most of all, this color makes me feel 15 or perhaps 12 or 11 and not in a good way.  It's a perfectly serviceable color I suppose - all pink and glittery - but it makes me feel like I'm in a time warp.  I'm thinking that my friend's 4 and 7 year old girls will love it.

Inspired this week by cotton candy...

*via Adam Baker

See the rest of my Candy nail polish color collection.

Chick flicks: Now I realize you're the one I love

And my Chick Flick Guide continues...

The actual title of this category is "I had a crush on him/her, then I realized I'm actually in love with him/her instead."  It was kind of hard to put in the blog post title.

p.s. there is a subset of this category, I'll cover in another post: "I'm in love with my best friend but I didn't know it".

The Chick Flicks:

Sabrina
4 stars
I like the 1954 AND the 1995 version.  There is only one Audrey.  But there is also only one Harrison Ford.
See this house (in the new version) on Hooked on Houses 

While you were sleeping
4 stars
Hello.  Didn't this movie just define the whole rom-com industry?  And so begins the career of Sandra Bullock...  But this is a real charmer - she's no glamour queen, she's just your everyday gal with a mad crush on a guy who turns out not to be Mr. Right. (A friend pointed out that this could also be categorized under Marrying the wrong person!)

Bridget Jone's Diary
4 stars
When will Bridget (Renee Zellweger) wake up and finally realize she's in love with the tall, dark and handsome in the reindeer sweater (Colin Firth) and not the charming sleazebag (Hugh Grant)?

French Kiss
3 stars
It was a little hard to like Meg Ryan in this uptight whiny incarnation, not to mention a weird French version of Kevin Kline as her love interest.  But they sucked me into the story of a woman crazy enough to chase her man around France, trying to win back his love, only to realize she's in love with that French weirdo instead.

The truth about cats and dogs
3 stars
Janeane Garofalo had a brief stint as a rom-com actress who was "real" just like the rest of us. In this movie, leggy Uma Thurman costars as the dream woman, making Janeane look even more "real" by contrast.  Luckily her love interest eventually figures out he prefers real to a dream.

27 dresses
3 stars
Oh boy, a volcano of liquid cheese is erupting in this movie.  But it's fun, especially if you kind of like, kind of loathe all the goofy subculture that goes with the wedding industry.  Of course our heroine (Katherine Heigl, who, let's admit it, is an acquired taste for some of us) is in love with her boss, who falls in love with her sister, and our heroine has to be the maid of honor.  But, there's another man who's about to annoy her into a state of deep affection. (I like the bar scene where they sing Benny and the Jets.  Totally cheesy, but I liked that anyway.)

If Lucy Fell
3 stars
Funny, I remember this as an 80s movie, but it says it was released in 1996.  I guess this means I am getting old.  Alot of people hated this movie on Netflix.  I didn't hate it.  But it's been awhile since I've seen it, making me want to see it again and see if I'm utterly clueless.  What I do remember... It tapped into my imagination of what my life would be like if I was a cool, artsy girl living in NYC.  What really stands out is the giant wall they repainted as a calendar every month.  That was so cool!  Today,you'd just use chalkboard paint, like this one on Plume Dandy.

Recommended double features:
Silly, silly girls: Bridget Jones and 27 Dresses
90s flashback: If Lucy Fell and The Truth About Cats and Dogs
Caught between two brothers: Sabrina and While You Were Sleeping

Any movies in this category that you would add to the list?

Breaking cocoons

*via Pixie-Rose

So I mailed a friend a package of the first 4 pages of one of my stories last week.

It's amazing how many emotions this one small act evoked.  Fear.  Embarrassment.  Self-consciousness.

The act of taking those pages and putting them in an envelope suddenly took me outside of myself and I could see things more objectively.  Or at least I thought I could.  It's hard to say.  I might be seeing things through my lens of fear and low self-esteem (haha).

Suddenly, this little tale which I'd been nurturing in my imagination seemed flat and weird and strange and embarrassing.  And yet, I mailed the pages anyway.  It's a step, a step into something.

If I want to be a writer, I have to get past this fear of letting people read what I write, don't I? 

I sent my writing to a very good friend with similar taste in books and movies.  She and I connect like kindred spirits.  By sending it to her, I was trying to stay within the realm of safety - I wanted someone with a shared POV to read it.

And yet now I'm a little afraid.  Perhaps I need someone with a very outside POV to read it.  Perhaps my friend will only see me in it and all my foibles, my likes and dislikes, my personality, my past.  Perhaps she will see (or imagine) shadows of people we've known in my characters. 

And yet, she's a more soft place to fall right now than a total stranger. 

Next step.  Total stranger.  So I think I'm going to start looking for some kind of writer's critique group to join.  EEEK.

When I'm writing, I form a cocoon around myself and my story, shutting out the outside world.  This feels necessary, to fall under the spell of the story and create a world where it exists without a constant critic hanging over my shoulder. 

I don't want to break that cocoon too soon since I'm still writing this story.  And yet I also want some outside perspective to know if I'm in la-la land.

What to do?

Any of you artsy, creative or crafter types have these issues too when you share your work?

This week I feel... happy blue

Actual nail color = Pacific blue by Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme wear

This is actually a happy blue if I've ever seen one.  My Dad saw it yesterday and said it was goth.  I prefer to think of it as more french new wave or maybe punk.

I say that sometimes it's fun to have crazy nails.  It's not like it's permanent...

See the rest of my Candy nail polish color collection.

Inspired by these cute lollipop earrings from candeegurl.etsy.com

Sleeping in Paris

So, if I'm going to go to Paris, I need a place to sleep, right?

At first I was thinking that I'd plan all the activities I wanted to do and then see where most of them were centered and find a location based on that.  Then I realized that was impossible and ridiculous.  SO now I  just want to find a place I want to stay, as long as it's not bizarrely located.

The first question for me is hotel or apartment? 

I'm leaning towards an apartment rental type of situation.  My husband and I have stayed in places like this before, like in New York and find we like the feeling of being independent and cozy in a more home-like environment.  It's also nice to have a little kitchenette for breakfast or late night snacks.

But I couldn't resist browsing Hip Hotels in Paris.  Most of these are in fantasy realm for me, but very fun. The Hotel du Petit Moulin (below) was one of my favorites because it's so bold and bohemian.

But in searching for vacation rental apartments, I've found no shortage of chicness either. These aren't just shoddy little joints, they have style...

Airbnb seems to have a great selection of apartments for rent like the super modern one pictured above. Or this totally quirky book-lover's house below. I've already bookmarked several of my favorites!

And this bright, cute flat is irresistible!

Then there is Paris Perfect Apartment Rentals which I love too. Here's a photo of the "Chablis" apartment.

And here is the "Grenache" apartment - light, white and fresh:

They have a lovely web site and all their apartments all meet up to a certain level of quality and style.  Their style tends to be more elegant and traditional, while still current.  And many of their apartments have amazing views and charming little balconies.

So, where shall I stay? Where shall I stay?  For now I think I've narrowed it down to a list of favorites and once I get my plane tickets then the final decision will begin.

What are your ultra-fave places to stay in Paris?

Chick flicks: Realistic

As I continue my guide to chick flicks, I want to share a bit of my philosophy. I think most chick flicks tend to veer into the cheesy arena.  So you may hear me using the word "cheese" a million times.  What is cheese to me?

• Unrealistic, fantasy (example, having a dream job, like working at a magazine or in fashion)
• A little corny (bad jokes often involving animals, body fluids, old people, etc.)
• Over the top (not just 7 dresses, 27 dresses!)
• Exaggerated acting  (I will name no names here)

I have a love-hate relationship with the cheese.  I can pop in a chick flick and enjoy a light, fluffy dose of cheese. But when it comes to rating a movie, when it comes to LOVING a movie, I often love the ones that have a more realistic tone. Sadly, those are rare.

So today, I'm honoring more realistic chick flicks!

The chick flicks:

Elizabethtown
5 stars
Ah, how I love this film.  It's not just a girl's film. It's actually more from a guy's POV.  A guy who is going through something of a life crisis and he's on a journey of discovery.  Along the way he meets a girl and watching their funny back and forth dance is what makes it a chick flick's dream.  But what makes it 5 stars for me are the deeper themes (that I can very much relate to), the music (it's a music lovers movie), the deep south, the quirky characters, Bob and Cindy's wedding, all night phone calls and the fact that it feels kinda real.

Some kind of wonderful
4 stars
It's been FOREVER since I've seen this - need to see it again, so I'm starring it off of distant, warm memories. These aren't fantasy characters - the slightly geeky boy, his tomboy best friend who fixes cars and plays drums.  And you totally fall in love with them.  I remember thinking Watts was so cool. 

Reality Bites
4 stars
The 90s, okay. Winona Ryder and Ethan Hawke in all their angsty glory go through the pains of getting out of college and finding a "real job" - and this is no cheesy version.  This movie has a soft spot in my heart.  Maybe because I'm angsty too. 

Say Anything
4 stars
It's been too long since I've seen this... I need to go back so I can examine the roots of Cameron Crowe.

Singles
3 stars
The 90s again.  If you are too young to know what grunge was or where the Seattle scene started, watch this movie.  If you're old enough to remember it, watch and reminisce. I love the casting on this movie (an ensemble of unique actors - none of them cliche rom-com stars).  It sort of echoed "He's just not that into you" for me. I gave it a re-watch recently since I remembered liking it, but wasn't sure why.  I had my "aha" moment as I realized Cameron Crowe directed this movie.  He also directed Elizabethtown and the resemblance shows.  I looked up Cameron Crowe on IMDB and saw that he also directed Say Anything.

Notting Hill
3 stars
Okay, so this wasn't perfectly realistic, but definitely more in that direction.  The giant glowing head of Julia Roberts on the movie poster as the "unattainable actress" and the presence of Hugh Grant as the bumbling suitor puts this in typical chick flick territory.  But somehow it feels a little different. Maybe it's because it's set in Britain and Hugh Grant works in a small unsuccessful bookshop and has quirky friends.
See this house on Hooked on Houses.

500 Days of Summer
4 stars
I expected not to like this movie.  Maybe that's why I ended up liking it.  I was told it was an unconventional romance and I was afraid an unhappy ending was coming. But I gritted my teeth, pushed play and ended up being happy I watched it. I won't give anything away, but for me, it all wrapped up very satisfyingly.  There is a playful style to this movie, but still, it shows the reality of love juxtaposed against the fantasy of it, and that makes it a refreshing change.  And of course, Zooey Deschanel's signature style is always a draw.  In fact, someone liked it so much they started a whole blog about style inspired by 500 days of summer!

Wimbledon
4 stars
Kirsten Dunst as a tennis pro? I was skeptical But she must be a pretty decent actress because I bought it. 

The Family Stone
4 stars
I mentioned this one before, but I couldn't help throwing it in again.

About a Boy
3 stars
Hugh Grant - can't get away from him.  But this is at least a nuanced, non-cheese film.

The Thing Called Love
3 stars
Ah, back to the 90s again.  Why did River Phoenix have to die? This was such a great movie with young songwriters trying to make it big in Nashville.  

Mystic Pizza
3 stars
A young Julia Roberts with big hair working in a pizza shop with two of her friends in a coming of age tale.  Plus I love Lili Taylor in this movie.

Hope Floats
3 stars
Being from Texas, I can't help but get a little flutter at the small Texas town that this film celebrates.  This story is a little on the bittersweet and serious side, but it combines Sandra Bullock, as a woman just getting on her feet, and Harry Connick Jr. as a cowboy sweeping her off her feet.

Recommended double features:
90s GenX uprising: Singles and Reality Bites
80s Teenage love: Say Anything and Some Kind of Wonderful
Go south: Hope Floats and Elizabethtown
Quirkfest: Notting Hill and 500 Days of Summer

Do you have any recommendations for "realistic" chick flicks that you would add?