What I'm Watching: Movies about Nazis

Actually it's movies about "KILLING" Nazis. Just to clarify.


 I don't know how it is where y'all live, but here in SoKy, it's cooooold. Or it has been cold. The last couple of days it's been quite a bit warmer than usual. I've been under the weather forevah it feels like. First it was this, then it was that, now I've got a nasty rattling cough that just won't go away. It's really getting me down, and I'm just walking on eggshells that it doesn't turn into a sore throat. I'd rather be shot than have a sore throat.

And naturally when I'm feeling down I turn to my favorite pass time: watching movies! Lately, I haven't been digging "American" movies. Feels like I've seen them all before. Not even indy movies are cutting it for me, so I decided to go back to my love of Foreign Films and my undeniable crush on Mads Mikkelson to find something to keep me occupied.


Flame & Citron was enthralling. Simply enthralling. It's the (mostly) true story about two Danish Resistance fighters during WWII, code named "Flame" and "Citron." They're best friends and always have each other's back.

The two of them are basically hired killers by the Danish government. They are part of an resistance group fighting against the Nazi's, who are literally everywhere you turn. Their orders are given to them and off they go. Easy, pretty much clean, in and out. One Nazi at a time.

"Flame," who's real name is "Bendt" is played excellently by Thure Lindhardt. I knew I'd seen his face before the moment it popped up on the TV screen. Grabbing my iPhone and opening up the IMDb app I discovered the reason why he looked familiar. He played the ruthless super assassin "Rufio" in one of my all time favorite shows, The Borgias. He is the "muscle" of the two, in the beginning. He's so calmly lethal.  No joke, he gets out of the car, walks up to the designated Nazi, and - not to mince words - blows their brains out. On the street, in their houses, hotel rooms... wherever they are, Flame kills them.

"Citron" is "Jorgen," and he is played yummily by Mads Mikkelson. Jorgen hates the Nazis. They've made him physically ill. He's the driver. When the film opens Jorgen hasn't pulled the trigger on anyone.  By the end of the film, he's literally fighting pretty much the entire Nazi army single handedly...

There's a slew of supporting characters, including a double agent named Ketty that Bendt can't fight his attraction to, even though he's playing with fire. There's the head of the Gestapo, Hoffmann, and Flame & Citron's boss, Winther.

There is so much intrigue and who's really the bad guy in this film. It's hard to explain because I don't want to give anything away.

There is very little language in this film.... if any. It's in Danish and German, but of course it is subtitled.  There is obviously some violence and there is one "adult" scene... and that was so awkward.

The end isn't happy. I'll just let ya know right now, but you can kind of expect that, considering it was WWII and all.

10 out of 10. BIG TIME.


I watched another Mads Mikkelson film called "Age of Uprising" and it wasn't very great at all. A lot like Braveheart, but it moved waaaaaay too slowly for my taste. Didn't even make it half way through.


For A Woman is a love-story that sort of reminds me of The Bridges of Madison County  the way it's presented. It starts off with adult children going through a recently deceased parents belongings and discovering a secret love affair.

Anne and Tania discover a mysterious ring and several photos in their mothers secret suitcase. Anne, a screenwriter, decides to turn her parents love story into a film and begins to write.

As she begins to unravel the story, she learns some amazing things.


Michel and Lena are Russian Jews. Michel is also a Communist and is very involved in a Communist group. Having met in, married in and fled a concentration camp they've immigrated to Lyon, France. Their story begins with them applying for French citizenship. Soon they're parents to Tania and Michel owns a suit tailor's shop.

Michel and Lena are obviously nuts about each other and love being together.

One afternoon Lena comes rushing down to the shop (from their apartment above) and tells Michel that his brother is upstairs. Michel is skeptical because he thinks his younger brother, Jean, died in Russia, but once he gets upstairs he sees it is Jean.

Jean is part of a secret group that is (also) killing Nazis. These Nazi's are trying to escape Europe and during their stop over in Lyon, Jean and his associate Sascha, kill them.

In both films the main characters express that they're not killing "people." The Nazis aren't "people."

Michel puts Jean and Sascha to work in the shop.

After some time, Lena can no longer hide her attraction to Jean, and kisses him in the kitchen. Jean insists he won't sleep with his brother's wife, that they're better than that.

After an argument Michel kicks Jean out. Jean begins living in a hotel room. The Germans are getting close to Jean, too close, and so he has to disappear.

Lena is depressed and upset that Jean has left. She loved his company, he was great with Tania.... Her friend gives her this advice "Sometimes we regret the mistakes that we don't make."

Who does Lena choose???????

This movie was BEAUTIFUL. I didn't know any of the actors in it, but right from the get-go I felt like the cutie-pie that plays Jean looked like a french Jamie Dornan - you know, Christian Grey? The woman that plays Lena is beautiful and very talented.

This whole movie is great. Really really beautiful. Like I said, it reminds me of The Bridges of Madison County the way that it goes back and forth between grown adult children and their parents.

There is some language. This film is in French and Russian and German, mostly French, and has subtitles. There is one adult situation scene, and it's pretty tame but there is a flash of a woman's bare chest, but it's very quick.


Again, 10 out of 10!!


I'm loving watching these Foreign Films! They give me something that regular American films just aren't giving me. You can bet that as long as I've got the rattling cough that I'll be watching these movies.... it helps that they have subtitles because half the time I cough the whole way through them! Haha!

What I'm Reading....

Being essentially bed-ridden has it's perks. Like reading. I love to read and equally love to write. Whilst doing some research for one of my novels I came across this book and thought I'd read it.

It's called Forbidden and was written by Tabitha Suzuma.

Sorry for the grainy image, it was the best I could find.

Forbidden is about... how do I put this delicately?.... I don't. Forbidden is about incest. Yep. Good ol' incest. I started not to read this book but I saw nothing but great reviews on Goodreads and so I thought "why not?".

Forbidden is the story of 17 (almost 18) year old Lochan and his younger sister 16 year old Maya. They live in a suburb of London with their 13 year old brother Kit and "the kids" Tiffin and 5 year old Willa. Lochan and Maya are basically the parents to these 3 kids after their father walked out to marry someone else and raise someone else's kids and their mother has turned into an alcoholic tramp, to put it mildly. Lochan is shy and sweet and does not like to speak to anyone, at all, ever, except Maya, who was raised more like his twin because of the 13 month age difference between them. It's obvious from the very beginning that Lochan and Maya are each other's best friend. It's also obvious that they are doing the absolute best that they can juggling raising the two little ones, dealing with Kit, who has found himself a place in a gang and is constantly acting out, and trying to hide the fact that they only see their mother maybe once a week.

It all starts to go pear-shaped for Lochan, specifically, when Maya goes out on a date with Nico, a boy in his class. Lochan can't figure out why he's so jealous, what's wrong with Maya wanting to date? He's worried that his best friend will leave him and then he will be truly alone. Maya, on the other hand, is going on this date trying to forget about how much she adores her brother. Lochan is handsome and he knows her so well. She figures falling in love with someone will distract from the fact that.... well, that she's in love with her brother. After her date the siblings argue and finally share that first forbidden kiss.

Lochan starts rapidly spiraling out of control, at one point having a horrible panic attack during class one day. I could relate to him in that moment, as I've had many many panic attacks in my time. (I remember once, about a week and a half after my Dad passed I had gone back to school and cut class with my friend Lindsey, she took me to Target and I proceeded to have 6 panic attacks, one right after the other, in the shoe section. I thought I was dying. Lindsey too, she called my Mom crying asking her what to do for me.) He tries ignoring Maya but it does not good. Maya tries ignoring Lochan....nothing helps.

Throughout their relationship, as it evolves, we see how tormented and tortured and, honestly, how in love they are. How afraid they are. They know that if anyone found out about them that the kids would be taken away from them, and this is their family, these are their kids, this can't happen. They fight it. They really do, but they love each other, they really, really do. They can't fight it forever.... and in the end, the unthinkable happens.


I was NOT PREPARED for how amazing this book would be. I was NOT PREPARED for how much of a lasting effect this story would have. By the end I was sobbing. I WANTED Lochan and Maya to be left alone. I wanted them to be together. I was so ok with the fact that they were brother and sister. It was weird. Sort of like Lucretzia and Cesare in The Borgias, you just wanted them to be together, no matter what the limitations were. As you can imagine there is no happy ending here. I won't tell you what happens exactly, but it's so heartbreaking.

I absolutely recommend this book to ANYONE that can stomach the idea of incest. It isn't graphic, not at all, there are a few "f-words" from Kit, but overall, considering it's about *whispers* incest, this book is pretty tame. Forbidden hits you square in the heart. It was so good I read it all in one sitting, I couldn't take my eyes off of it. I got it from the Amazon Kindle store for around $8 but it was worth every penny I spent on it. For sure.

I loved Forbidden and on a scale of one to ten, this book gets a big fat 10!

Happy New Year & Christmas in Review (Photo Heavy)

Happy New Year everyone!! I cannot believe it's 2015! That still sounds so strange to me! 2015. Whoa. I hope everyone had a fun and safe New Years. We've been SO BUSY the last few weeks with family things and house things and my best friend finally moved home from Alabama the first weekend of the new year aaaaand I've been sick... again. Feels like I'm always sick. I basically have the immune system of a piece of shag carpet, I catch everything.

Ok, so now that that's out of the way, let me just catch ya'll fine people up with our Christmas and how it went.

Ooh, wait, this was my outfit for Thanksgiving. I've had this dress for YEARS but I never wear it, like... ever. And I pulled it out for Thanksgiving because I wanted the ultimate comfort. I got so many compliments on it and I simply adored it.

Ok, moving on.

Our Christmas tree went up the Saturday after Thanksgiving, which is something that doesn't normally happen. We usually wait until the first day of December, but we weren't hosting anyone for Thanksgiving this year and so we just went ahead and did it. Our "mantle shelf" changed a couple of times before we finally settled on something that we liked.

My Mom and I took our traditional first Tuesday in December trip to Gallatin, TN to shop (literally all day) at Belk. We always have such a fun time. This trip was particularly fun because we had several people come up and ask us if we'd been in the store all day, which, of course, we answered yes, and then they told us how wonderful it was to see a mother and daughter having as good a time together as we were. My Mom is awesome, folks. Really.  This picture is my shameful "in the car selfie" headed to Mom's house, so excited I could barely contain myself.

We finished off our trip with a stop in at a Big Lots (one of my all time favorite stores!) and when I saw this hat, I could not stop laughing. So I plopped it on my head, snapped this selfie and texted it to my big brother, who thought it was as hilarious as I did.

Bathroom Mirror Selfie!! My Mom bought me this ADORABLE Chevron shirt at Belk and I wore it out for my Father in Law's birthday. Plus, can I just state how in love I am with my blonde hair? I can't believe I ever went dark, I love this hair so much, aaaand it's starting to really take off and grow again! I'm such a long hair girl it's not even funny.


So here are some shots from around our house from Christmastime.

Our Christmas Tree was so beautiful this year. I especially loved having the shelf there on the wall as a "mantle" so that I could hang our stockings. 

I bought this white and silver polka dot table cloth from Kohls this year and absolutely adore it!

Our piano is always a big decor piece at Christmas time. Ideally one day it will hold our "Christmas Village" but we only have one piece thus far and so I was still able to mix and match my decor, like I normally do.

 

Our mantle shelf (it's just a place holder until I find an actual mantle to put on the wall) finally ended up looking like this. The greenery are actually two different pieces that were isle decorations at our wedding, and I just butted the bows together and wrapped them in lights. It was beautiful.

My Mom made the Santa for me in 1992. His name is "Chummy."

I made these little sheet music trees at 2am one night and my Aaron thought they were the cutest things.

I made these book pedestals (from a tutorial on DoitonaDime on Youtube) the same night I made the trees. I didn't have a thick enough book so these ended up being more like "half pedestals" but I love them and they are still on the shelf.

This is what our front porch looked like. We don't do a whole lot on the outside of our house, but I love to keep this little corner by the front door decorated. I loved it this year. The wind got a hold of my snowman and broke his nose. Now he needs a plastic surgeon. 

On December 12th we celebrated 5 amazing years of marriage. I can't fathom that we've been married for 5 years! We spent our anniversary out at Aaron's company's Christmas Party. He works for a small agency here in town and it's basically just him, his boss and a couple of girls that answer the phones. So it was small and fun and everyone was so sweet wishing us a Happy Anniversary. Then we went over to some friends house for a get-together. We got there late and we were the last to leave, but it was so fun.

 5 years and still nuts about each other.

This was my anniversary rose. I love flowers but I'm also pretty practical. A big bunch dies quickly and a single red rose works for me. Aaron called the same florist that did the flowers for our wedding and so he made the bouquet up to look like my bridal bouquet, with the addition of some Baby's Breath.  I love living in a small town.

As an early Christmas gift my Mom gave us her old 32in TV when she finally upgraded to a 46in. We had been talking about buying a new TV for our bedroom for a while to replace our 19in that we'd had forever. My Mom called us over one night to help with a "project" which turned out to be setting up the new TV. When Aaron went to pick up the old one (^that one^) he asked Mom where she wanted it and she said "in the backseat of your truck and then in your bedroom. That one is for y'all." We were so grateful to her for that. When we got it set up Aaron crawled in the bed and said "Missy! It's like a hotel in here!" He's so cute. I just love him.

I figured out how to make homemade chicken and dumplings! My Mom makes the ultimate chicken and dumplings and I love them more than anything. I went for a couple of weeks DYING for some of her dumplings so finally I just decided I was gonna try it. She usually buys a whole chicken but all I had on hand were boneless chicken breasts... so I boiled them, shredded them and then made my dumplings. We do "drop dumplin's" 'round here and they were so light and so fluffy... I ate 4 bowls full. *hangs head*

Teeheehee. We finished our Christmas shopping a few days before Christmas at Kohls. This picture was taken, by Aaron, at almost 1am (Kohls stayed open 24hrs throughout the Christmas shopping season). He showed this pic to everyone the next day asking if anyone had ever seen anyone so happy at 1am. It was a fun night out with my doll baby.

The next day was Christmas for my Mom's side of the family at my cousins house. I wore this fun Chevron shirt that Aaron got for me the night before. I love it! It's so pretty, the sleeves are to die for.

Tried making homemade pizza for the first time. I made the dough in my bread maker and couldn't wait to try it out. I broke us from ever buying frozen pizza ever again.


CHRISTMAS HAPPENED!!! We always have such a fun BUSY Christmas! It starts on Christmas Eve morning with the traditional family breakfast next door at my Father-in-Law's house. It's so fun with a baby running around!!

Baby Lance (who turned 2 on the 27th) got a slide from his Aunt Aimee and Uncle Brian and we had to try it out in the kitchen. He loved sliding to his "Bray Bray." (Our oldest nephew Brayden.) I took SO many pictures that morning, but this one was the cutest.

Me and McKenzie! This is our 3rd Christmas together! 

All of us girls in our traditional jammies after the present opening carnage had been semi-cleaned up. I was beginning to come down with my sickness that morning. I look like a gigantor in this shot between the fact that I was angled up and that I was bloated from getting sick... yikes!

My 7th Christmas Eve with my mister. (Photobombed by my brother in law Blake!) We were decked out in our UK gear (Big Blue Nation, folks) and stuffed full from breakfast! 

Christmas Eve night we spend with the entirety of my husbands family, and my is there ever a bunch of us!

 Ever since moving the event from my husband's Aunt and Uncle's house into his cousin's house, a new tradition in our family is playing games! This was so much fun. Fill a tissue box with jingle bells and tie it around your waist and see how many bells you can jingle out! Aaron was the first up with his cousin Jonathan and I laughed so hard I nearly wet myself!

 This is my husband's uncle David and our little Lance! How PRECIOUS!!

Another shot of us girlies. My top is making me look SUPER top heavy! "Gifted," I am. :)


On Christmas morning we open gifts at our house first thing....

Starting with the Tabster, who was fully aware where her things were.

I got Aaron the new Ninja Turtles movie on Blu-Ray. We went to see it at the theatre twice and loved it. Needless to say he was surprised.

 This was his BIG GIFT from me.

A watch. A very expensive watch. He is totally in love with it. He's such a watch guy.

This is my big gift from Aaron.

It's a toaster oven! I'd wanted one forever! Every time we went into a store that had them I would just look and look. Aaron got the hint and got me one!

Santa left me some Pigma Micron pen for handlettering in my stocking!

And the 3rd season of "I Love Lucy" to add to our collection!!


Then we get ready and head over to my Mama's for another Christmas breakfast. Mom always makes a breakfast casserole and this year it was more fabulous than ever!

 Christmas morning Selfie with my Daddy. I miss him so much and wish he could be here with us.

Mom is awesome at filling our stockings. She knows I love the hair turban towels and so she found me a new one!

 And this adorable pink sparkly watch! There was also some candy and a few other small items waiting for me!

Mom gets to open her gifts first.  She's super tough to buy for but she actually gave me some ideas this year. (Don't you love that blue shirt I'm wearing?! A gift from my F-I-L!)

We got her a necklace rack. A blue one with a little birdy on top! Right up her alley!

"Mamaw" always gets her little granddog something special.

 And Tabby knows it's for her.

 APPLESAUCE! Tabby is wild over applesauce.

She went from person to person like "omg omg did you see I got applesauce!!!???"

 APPLESAUCE!!!

 We had to eat one right then.

The whole thing. She's so cute!!

This was my BIG GIFT from Mama.

It's a sewing machine! I've wanted one FOREVER! Below is a shot of it all set up in my craft room.

She got Aaron a "Ninjee" Turtle shirt! He loves it!

After we spend a few hours at my Mom's house - this year it consisted of me playing with my new toy and Aaron napping! - we head into town to see Aaron's Mom and all her family!

This was the only shot I got that night, but isn't it sweet?

 Aunt "Mihme" with Lance and McKenzie!!


We decided to go out to eat the day after Christmas and use a gift card we got from my Mom.  I wore my new favorite sweatshirt from Juicy and got so many compliments on it!

The sunday after Christmas we ended up at Kohls again... we'd gotten the wrong size shirt for Aaron's Dad and so we had to make an exchange. I spotted this rug and HAD TO HAVE IT! Fortunately I have an amazing husband who handed me a crisp $100 when the $180 rug rang up for $95! I'm insane over this rug! I think it adds so much to my little house!

And then my sickness really set in. It's not a cold or the flu, it's something else non-life threatening, but it's miserable and has kept me in bed pretty much round the clock. Aaron's been great and has been doing lots of "pajama dates" and keeping me stocked in cool wash rags to help bring my fever down and helping me take the Christmas tree down and all that. Here we are on one of our pajama dates with our best gal watching "Captain America 2." We loved it!

Being sick and basically bed-ridden means floppy clothes, no makeup, no contacts and letting my hair do it's own thing. This is my hair when I let it air dry. Yeah. But Aaron and my Mom both love my hair like this, and it's just now getting back to the length where it doesn't make me look like a deranged poodle. So maybe I'll start wearing it like this more often!

You now know how much I truly love all of you by showing you this picture. My crazy lion's mane, my half eyebrows and all my acne scars....




I've done some rearranging in my house since Christmas came down and I plan on showing you all very soon. I am hoping to be over this little episode soon because I have a lot on my plate in the next little bit. I do fully intend to start posting more regularly here on the blog and may even actually get around to posting a video to the YouTube channel sometime this millennium! Again I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year (I took video of the get-together we went to but no photos. Sad.) and I hope that 2015 turns out to be a wonderful and miraculous year for all of us!


Love you guys so, so, so, so much!