Shall we dance?

This is my favorite scene from the delightful film "Shall We Dance," starring Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez.

After seeing this movie (before all the "Dancing with the Stars" craze, mind you) I knew I had to learn how to ballroom dance. Lucky for me the university I attend has a world-renowned ballroom dance team, and thus offers many dance classes.

Last year I took my first class and learned the waltz, quickstep, and tango (my personal favorite). I've been dancing ever since! Next semester I'm taking Latin ballroom (cha cha, rumba, and paso doble) and I can't wait!

Is there something you've always wanted to do but are afraid to try? I say go for it--what have you got to lose?! We are never too old to start learning...

Someday...

I want a love like the one Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth share...

P.S. - I love, love, love the movie...

Eat, Pray, Love

I loved this book, and was excited to hear it is being made into a movie, and was ecstatic when I found out Julia Roberts is going to play the lead. She will be perfect!

If, for some reason, you have not had the chance to read this NY Times bestseller, pick it up now. It changed my life!

(500) Days of Summer

If you haven't seen this movie yet, go see it. And download the soundtrack.

Notte Sento

I love this short romantic film via Le Love! It was made with over 4,500 still photographs. Don't you wish something like this could happen to you? Rome at night is a beautiful thing to behold...

P.S. - I'm in love with this girl's style: her shoes, her dress, her hair...!

***If you experience technical difficulties in viewing this film, click here.

Amelie

I have been playing this song on the piano for the last few weeks after I finally bought the sheet music.

It's beautiful, as is the film it's from...

I love Paris in the Springtime - Day 4

My last day in Paris two years ago included some more sightseeing at the Opera House, Place de la Concorde, Notre Dame, a visit to the Palace of Versailles, and a sunset cruise on the Seine.

Yesterday I was watching the film Sabrina (the newer version with Harrison Ford) and I heard this lovely quote I had forgotten about:

Sabrina: I used to walk everywhere in Paris. I used to walk from Montmartre down into the center of the town. Along the Seine there is a four mile walk that goes from Isle Saint Germain to the Pont de Bercy. Takes you past all the bridges of Paris, twenty-three of them. Then you find one you love and you go there everyday with your coffee and your journal, and you listen to the river.

Linus: What does it tell you?

Sabrina: ...That’s between you and the river.

I hope one day I can stay in Paris long enough to find my favorite bridge in Paris and listen to what the river has to say to me.

Les Invalides

View from a window at Versailles

Notre Dame

Sunset on the Seine, Notre Dame

Beautiful things take time

"Le belle cose sono lente" - Beautiful things take time

I heard this quote from my one of my favorite little foreign films.

Perhaps I like it so much because it sounds so beautiful in Italian... Then again, everything in Italian sounds beautiful, even if it's as simple as

"ho bisogno un bicchiere d'acqua"

which flows off the tongue so much more smoothly than

"I need a glass of water"