Most Heartwarming Movie Ever

As I write this, I am sipping cold strawberry milk from a champagne flute...simply because it keeps the liquid cold and it looks nice—the perfect accompaniment for chewy chocolate chip bars.

I just got home from watching Julie & Julia and Oh. My. Gosh. It felt exactly like when I first watched The Devil Wears Prada, also starring Meryl Streep. I kept tearing up at several scenes (no, they're not sad) because they struck way too many chords in my heart. Most reverberating were Julie Powell's (played by Amy Adams) lines, character, and situation. There were several parallels to what I'm going through. Off the top of my head:

1) Julie was 29 going 30. Age isn't really an issue for me, because I hardly feel like my age. I have a childlike disposition, to put it mildly. But like her, I am in a dilemma of What's next? in my life. It's like I'm in limbo yet at the same time, feel like I'm on the brink of something big, and that I just have to piece the puzzle together.

2) Julie finished a novel. But hers had no publisher. I have a publisher, but my manuscript needs a major rewrite/overhaul. It's taken me years to finish, and I'm hoping I don't take as long polishing it. Right now, two writer/editor friends are reading and critiquing it. Meanwhile, I'm learning more and more about plot, conflict, and resolution. Also, Julia Child worked on hers for eight years before finally getting published.

3) Julie lived in Long Island City, Queens. My last apartment was in Queens! I lived on the border of LIC and Sunnyside and like her, took the 7 train everyday.

...And so many more! Her love for food, her doting partner (who loved her and her food). I can go on and on about it. I'm definitely buying the DVD once it comes out. If only to take down notes on the quotes that freakily struck those chords. Maybe down the line, I could also tackle some of Julia Child's recipes from her famous book, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" (Knopf).

When I first watched Prada, I had just gotten back from a fantabulous series of press junkets that included New York, Amsterdam, and Rome on the itinerary. My career was where I'd imagined it to be, and I was finally ready to move to a foreign place, hoping to take everything to the next level. Well some of you know how that turned out to be. (For a backgrounder, read this magazine clip or this post. And the muffins and brownies that followed here.) I moved to New York about eight months after I'd seen the movie. In fact, I even ended up working for a milder Miranda and Nigel combo. It was as if my life mirrored the movie. And instead of a bitchy British colleague, Emily, I got a friendly French cohort named Caroline. But you know how that movie ends :)


So now I'm feeling slightly disturbed and fidgety. I keep thinking that I should be doing more and getting the ball rolling with the goals I've set for myself. Some are really far out, but like I've mentioned before, I've been taught to break down big goals into smaller, doable pieces. Will it be a ritzy hotel front desk job? Will I be working for a PR person formerly based in New York? Or will my next 30-Day Blog Challenge be to the tune of "My 30 days of frying chicken at KFC?" Only time will tell. And I have this blog to chronicle what happens this point forward.

Now, if there's a celebrity chef I love to watch, it's Ina Garten. Not just because she lovingly churns out delicious concoctions from her homebase in the Hamptons, but also because she entertains with flair and practically does everything from scratch. Yum! This photo was taken at my old office in Manhattan, where she was guest chef for a week in my favorite cafeteria in the whole wide world.

Images courtesy of http://www.chron.com (Meryl Streep as Julia Child) and http://www.thecinemasource.com ( The Devil Wears Prada movie still).