A Trip to the Morgan & {Keel's} Simple Diary

Last weekend I went to the closing day of the Beatrix Potter exhibit at the Morgan Library/Museum in NYC!

the exhibit

Peter Rabbit, of course

with her pet rabbit (on a leash!:)

A letter from Beatrix Potter

and after seeing the {adorable} exhibit, I completed my traditional stops at the Morgan.

First I went to the library.
Can we just talk about this library? Add a coffee shop and maybe a J. Crew and this is seriously what heaven looks like. It used to be an actual person's home library. I mean... Wow.

And then of course there's my dinky iPhone photos:

I'm a panorama failure

awkward insta...nbd

There's also a secret staircase hidden behind one of the shelves! I didn't get a picture of it this time, but if you go you should definitely ask about it!

While I was there, a sweet older tour guide was reading Beatrix Potter to some kiddies :) So cute!


After I fell in love with the library all over again, a trip to the gift shop was in store. I admired the $70 fountain pen sets and looked around until I found this little guy: Keel's Simple Diary.

It is hilarious.
Some of the questions or topics are definitely things you would not think of yourself...
It's fun to have to pick between "my day was a treadmill" and "my day was an intermission" and other silly things like that!

I always try to keep diaries and always end up stopping either a week or a month after I began. It's pretty sad. I love the idea of diary-keeping though. I love carrying around a notebook with me to jot down ideas and conversations, which I think I prefer to diaries, but this Simple Diary was too cute not to get, and it'll be fun to try out! So in addition to my normal notebook (and let me tell you, I own about 50), I now have a really cool diary to bring with me :)

I couldn't pick a color! I ended up with green, because I usually opt for pink

Do you have a notebook that you bring everywhere? Do you keep a diary?

A Guide to Netflix {Instant}

I. Love. Netflix.
One of my favorite things to do is just put on a movie or tv show on Netflix and knit. It's so relaxing and it makes me feel better about watching so much Netflix...

But the problem is, sometimes it's hard to find anything good to watch. Or sometimes you have plenty of things in your Instant Queue, but you're just not in the mood to watch anything on your list.

So to organize my Netflix loves and help you find yours, here is my very own guide of must-watches on Netflix Instant!

[A Guide to Netflix Instant]

For Anglophiles:

1) Sherlock
Who couldn't love the Cumberbatch?

2) Doctor Who
I've only just started watching, but I can't stop!

3) Downton Abbey 
Absolute. Perfection.

4) Inspector Lewis
Who doesn't like a good British cop series? (*Not as scary as Inspector Lynley, which is also on Instant)

5) A Room With A View
Classic movie. Yay for young Helena!

TV Shows:

1) Dawson's Creek: It's the end of something simple. And the beginning of everything else.

2) Grey's Anatomy: Medicine nor relationships can be defined in black and white. Real life only comes in shades of grey.

3) Freaks and Geeks: It's 1980 and this is what high school was like for the rest of us.

4) The Vampire Diaries: How many will die so that one can live?

5) Monk: Obsessive. Compulsive. Detective.

Movies on Netflix Instant I've seen countless times:

1) Clueless
As if!

2) Phoebe in Wonderland
Wonderland. How nice it is to have a place where things aren't fixed. It's all the opposite there, you know. It'd be nice if...it were the same here.

3) The September Issue
I often see that people are frightened of fashion, that because it scares them or makes them feel insecure, they put it down.

4) Poirot
My name is Hercule Poirot!
{ I forgot to add this to "TV Shows" and Poirot himself isn't British! So here he goes, another mystery series! (One of my favs!) }

5) Hugo
So I figured, if the entire world was one big machine, I couldn't be an extra part. I had to be here for some reason.

Classics (note: my definition of classics might be different than yours in this example):

1) Funny Face
S'wonderful, s'marvelous...

2) Charade
Do you realize you've had three names in the past two days? I don't even know who I'm talking to any more!

3) Breakfast at Tiffany's
Ok, let's just say all Audrey Hepburn movies! Sabrina is also on instant!

4) Bunny O'Hare
I didn't rob the bank for myself. I did it for my kids. (-Bette Davis, 1971)

5) Heathers
Dear Diary, my teen-angst bullshit now has a body count.

The last 5 6 movies I watched:

1) The Romantics
Opposites attract and then the bore each other to death... I'd rather die of excitement.

2) A Cat in Paris: By Day Child's Pet, By Night Dangerous Thief.

3) The King's Speech (& The Man Behind the King's Speech)
I've watched this movie so many times. Oh Colin Firth, I adore you.

4) The Artist
Another wonderful movie I'll never stop watching.

5) I'm Reed Fish
And with that, my friends...have a marvelous day in the Meadows.



Yet to watch: other things in my queue:

The Poker House, The Burning Plain, The Forger (a little THG actors thing going on there:), Brokeback Mountain, How to Steal A Million (More Audrey! If only Roman Holiday was on Instant!), Newlyweds



What are some of your favorite movies/TV shows on Netflix? Will you watch any of these? Comment below!

Welcome to Hartfield

Hartfield. 

Home to Emma Woodhouse, famed character of Jane Austen's 1815 novel. 

http://janeaustensworld.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/hartfield-hedges.jpg

I would like to think that I'm way better than spoiled and meddling Emma, but although my life may be different from hers, I am no better... and that's one of the best things about reading. You don't have to agree with the character simply because it's her story. You can have a complex love/hate relationship, which is much closer to real life than just agreeing with a character's actions all the time. Emma infuriates me. But she makes me think about my life (which really should be the goal of any book).

http://nothingintellectual.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/kate-beckinsale.jpg

I look at Emma's life and think wow, this girl has it all and she doesn't even appreciate it! But that's me, too... and just about every other person on this planet. Someone out there is thinking that I'm spoiled too, and someone else thinks that that person isn't grateful for everything that is truly awesome in their life.

So my home might not actually be a gorgeous British estate from the Regency era (hint: it's not), but I'll call it Hartfield anyway...

Home is made up of the books you read and the people (real or fictional) that you love, or love to hate. Home can be whatever and wherever you want it to be.

So I shall call this little Internet home of mine Hartfield.

love,

emma

xo

Ps: to learn more about me, visit the about page.