Gilmored

***SO MANY SPOILERS***

I am an original true Gilmore Girl  cult leader. I remember waiting for new episodes to come out. Gilmore Girls has been my show since middle school. The day I learned of the Gilmore Girl revival was so exciting there were tears happy dances and pop tarts. I have been counting down the days to watch the show. It has been circled on my calendar for months. However, all the hype ruined it for me....Jimmy Fallon ruined it for me. Hello Giggles and just Facebook in general ruined it for me.

This show inadvertently has shaped part of my life and it has shaped parts of me. Embarrassing? maybe a little bit. I have dated a dean, a Logan, and a Jess. I have read all the books I talk fast I eat junk food and I have a very unrealistic grasp of reality. Stars Hallow is a dream destination. It is right up there with Green gables and Hogwarts. I love my fiction reality so much. I thrive there. Long before the term "Gilmored" became popular my sister suggested I write a book called Gilmored. The plot would be easy to write. Some people may argue Gilmore Girls has ruined me and made my reality unbearable to live in...oh contraire.

The past eighteen months I have been placed in the role of motherhood and damn it's hard. It is so emotionally and physically exhausting. Yet, nothing has brought me more joy. I love being a mother. On bad days I think of that line from Rory's High school valedictorian speech...My mother never gave me any idea that I couldn't do whatever I wanted to do or be whomever I wanted to be. She filled our house with love and fun and books and music, unflagging in her efforts to give me role models from Jane Austen to Eudora Welty to Patti Smith. As she guided me through these incredible eighteen years, I don't know if she ever realized that the person I most wanted to be was her. Lorelai Gilmore has flaws as a mother. Trust me I do recognize the glitches in her parenting style but she did fill Rory's world with love fun music and books. I hope I can bring that much to Gemma's reality. My mother sure did. She did it effortlessly. What I am learning is that it takes so much work, dedication, discipline, time, love, and coffee to do so.

I digress....back to the revival. The talk and the bla bla of the internet world killed my excitement for the show. Sneak peeks and revealed story lines turned me off. Celebrities and talk show hosts weighing in made me angry. I felt territorial and protective. None of them could possibly understand the connection my generation of Rory aged girls has to this show. It is ours and Facebook was taking it away.  It took me four days to watch the first two horrible episodes. I could list out the parts that made me cringe or walk out of the room but there would be too many. The charm and magic was gone. Crass jokes and easy humor abounded in its stead. Paris...strong, insane, smart, insecure Paris was an absolute nightmare. She had turned into her worst nightmare. Her mother. That was not what was suppose to happen to Paris. Not a pending divorce. Not two children ushered out by the nanny and most certainly not that career. Paris was meant for more. Richard's whole funeral flashback made me sick to my stomach. My favorite male character was not honored the way I thought he deserved. The whole funeral flashback....can't even talk about it. Why was Rory so listless and unsuccessful? Her ego was bigger than normal (not a huge Rory fan..sorry) and her affair with Logan was all wrong. She said no to his proposal for a reason. He needed to stay a denied proposal.

Anyway....last night and tonight I finished the show. I had an emotional breakdown. I wish I was kidding. Sobbing uncontrollably. Not sure if I couldn't stop crying because the writing was so bad or because of the brief glimpses at Stars Hallow the revival provided. It all started with that song from that frightful play. Unbreakable. Lorelai decides to go Wild. What a great idea for respite. Choose a great book that means something to you and go do it. Austenland is suddenly making sense to me.
I realized Right then and there that I was not Rory. Yes, I have read all the books, dated the boys, eaten the food, and loved my Grandpa more than anyone in this whole world...but I am Lorelai. I have some bad choices and impulsive decisions under my belt. I make bad fashion choices and dream outrageous dreams. I really love Her character. I love how human she is. She yells and does crazy things. She has a past and shining moments. Just like we all do. As cheesy as it may be...I accepted a huge part of myself after this discovery.  The real bawling started with the last line of the show but lets not get into that. I just..I can't....yeah.

Moving on. Rory decides to write their story. Ok...why did she need someone to tell her to do this? Write what you know. Anyone who has ever taken an English class has had this line shoved in their face. To me this is a huge flaw in the grand idea to write the book. She would have thought of it. The fact that she writes it in Richard's study was such a beautiful tribute it made me feel better about the before-mentioned first episode debacle. It made me stop and wonder....what do I know that is interesting enough to write about. The list was there...short...but there. The whole episode...the good funny bad...it made me cry as if I had been mortally wounded. Maybe in a way I was. There was a little bit of good tangled up in all that bad.

Everything was going great. The story was redeeming itself. Sookie made the most perfect début. I really lost it when she popped up. She is the glue that holds Lorelai together. It would have been a colossal mistake for there to be no Sookie appearance. Then the end. WHAT. THE. HELL?  I cannot think of a worse way to end this. So please Amy Sherman Palladino. Lets have a redo. We need to revisit the drawing boards for this whole revival thing. You screwed it up so badly. You failed at capturing the Stars Hallow charm and magic. Five beautiful good moments (Lorelai's memory phone call to her mother, Rory writing in Richard's study, Sookie appearing, Emily deciding what processions in her house bring her joy, and Jess) do not make up for the horrendous mess you wrote.

I am glad I watched it. I will never watch it again. In fact as soon as I am done stress writing this post I am going to soak in a tub and watch three of my favorite episodes preferably with twizzlers and ice cream in true GG fashion.

This post is so rambly and weird but it was important to me to publish my emotional response to the revival and send it off into the void. "Goodnight Dear Void". To all my fellow true Gilmore Girls out there...stay strong. Don't let the revival get you down.
CopperBoom
Co

Book Review

For my birthday last year my parents gave me a kindle. In the past I have been very anti electronic book but now I am in so much love. I can rock Gemma to sleep and read I can stay up late in bed and read without bugging Joe and I have millions of books at my fingertips.

My mom called and told me to read the Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. My sister also told me stop everything and read this book. I have always enjoyed World War II literature but I have never read anything like this book before. I was breathing eating living this book. I read in the tub in bed while making dinner...I could not put this book down.


The book switches between two sisters each chapter. They have not always been close but, as sisters will do, fiercely love and protect each other. Vianne lives in the countryside with her daughter and husband living an idealistic French country life. That is until her husband is sent to the front to fight. Vianne must figure out how to care for her daughter and protect their little estate from war and the Nazis.

Isabelle has been bounced around from boarding school to boarding school. She is lively, and seeks adventure....even more than that she wants to help the cause. She lives in Paris with their estranged father. She is recruited by the French resistance and soon enough every Nazi in Paris is hunting for her.

“Men tell stories. Women get on with it. For us it was a shadow war. There were no parades for us when it was over, no medals or mentions in history books. We did what we had to during the war, and when it was over, we picked up the pieces and started our lives over.”

This quote sums of the essence of the story. There are many books about the men who fought and the lives they saved but there are very few about the women left at home to deal with the war. This story is about sisterhood, trials, and getting up every morning and making things work.

Read this book. Read it with Kleenex and candy. At one point I was in the bathtub crying so hard Joe thought someone must have died. The writing is so beautiful, the story is so raw.

“You’re not alone, and you’re not the one in charge,” Mother said gently. “Ask for help when you need it, and give help when you can. I think that is how we serve God—and each other and ourselves—in times as dark as these.”   

I love a lot of quotes from this book but this is one I wrote down. We live in troubled times. It is important to remember to serve where we can love always and be kind.

New with Us

I drove a red Tahoe all through high school and college. Her name was Ruby Blue but affectionately known as "The Hoe". I loved this car. I liked how indestructible I felt in it. I moved so many time in that car. Anyway...I have been driving Joe's little yellow car Honey and pretty much going mad crazy in it. It is too zippy, it is too fast, and it is too damn small! Getting me and Gemma and all the shiz out of that car was exhausting and I am pretty sure I have a hunch back now. Labor day weekend we were determined to finally get a new family car and we actually did it! So nice to have a car big enough for all of us and the dogs! Let the adventuring begin!

Joe started a new job at Embross and is loving it. He works from home and travels often. This wonderful job fell into our lap and has been so great for us. Gemma has figured out that Joe is down stairs working everyday and even more importantly...he has M&M's on his desk. She likes to check on him throughout the day. I love having a happy husband again!

Gemma goes to sleep and wakes up older every morning. She is so happy and spunky. She has several new teeth and new tricks...she likes to twirl right now and it is the cutest thing. My favorite though is that she will come over hold my hand and walk around the house or lead me outside. She could play outside all day. No idea what we will do all winter! 

It is so nice to feel like we have more time to spend together as a family and time to focus on the small things. We have been taking lots of bikes together and visiting the horses in our neighborhood. G loves horses. I can't wait to take her riding someday. Right now she just enjoys patting them and feeding them apples. Joe and Gemma mow the lawn together on the weekends. Its my favorite thing to watch. Gemma likes to help steer. she takes it very seriously. She has more personality than anyone I have ever met! I love it. 

 



Joe and His Farm Girls

We took Gemma to the Heber City Rodeo last night and could not get over her. She danced and clapped and laughed at every event. She fell in love with sheep and can now moo. She would moo at the cow and then laugh her head off. So joe was walking around with his giggling mooing baby and his wife telling him to breathe in the farm smell and naming all the horses.  Joe is in love with two farm girls!

I grew up in a city doing city girl things...I had a pet poodle. Nothing in my background says farm. However I have always loved horses. I rode when I could and romanticized riding off into the mountains. I told Joe we should move to Heber and buy horses....but wow it is really far away! I am lucky to live in a neighborhood full of horses that need exercise.

G has been so fun with all her words lately. She is constantly talking and jabbering away. Her daily words are: Yes, Preety, mum, dada, sookie, jersey, dog, mmmmm, and makes a variety of animal sounds. She is so expressive and it is pretty easy to figure out what she needs. That being said she is the BOSS. she knows what she wants and what she does now. I love this about her. At times her opinionated little self is a lot of work but her strong personality is exactly how I like a girl!

 Joe and I love to just sit and watch her. Church is highly entertaining for us. She waves to everyone and likes to visit with her familiar ward members. Recently she has wanted to take part in every hour of church whether it be entertaining the families behind us in an endless game of peek a boo, hiding in the curtains and popping out during Sunday School, or teaching, playing the piano, leading the music, kissing the babies, and collecting the hymn books during relief society.  The best part is she completely wares herself out and takes a great nap when we get home.

On a Scale of One to Ten

I am writing this outside the surgical wing of Riverton Hospital. Joe is having his appendix removed. He came home from a work trip in Boston not feeling well and after hours of watching him lie in bed and writhe in pain I knew it was time to go to the hospital. If you know Joe then you know how much he hates/is scared of hospitals. When I told him I was taking him in he said "ok" and got in the car. That's when I knew we had a serious problem on our hands. Lucky for us my hypochondriac brain recognized the classic symptoms listed on the wedMD page for Appendicitis. Text book case. 
 I jinxed myself today. I said out loud to no one in particular,
 "I am so glad this month is just about over. I can't handle one more thing going wrong." Don't. Tempt. God. Not that I believe God wants to hurt me or has it out for me...in fact I believe he keeps sending me more and more to attend to in order to show me jut how strong I am. Perhaps that is why I can sit here calmly wrapped in a blanket writing this. My anxiety is even at bay. This has been one of the most difficult months of our entire marriage...thus far. Not because we suddenly don't like each other I mean I feel like I have hardly seen him but because as the cliche goes "when it rains it pours". 
I keep thinking about the coke in my fridge and huge double chocolate chip cookies on the counter. I wish I could magically make them appear. Seems like that should and could happen it being Harry Potter's birthday and all. Speaking of magic I love serendipity.  It is my word. I have wanted it inscribed on my body for years. Serendipity means: the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way. As bad as this month may seem it has been filled of Serendipity. Lets start off with Joe deciding and magically being able to fly standby on a flight home one day earlier than he was suppose to. Technically I should be picking him up from the airport right now. So glad he was home. G has been so sick all week but today perked up some! On top of that my sister's insomniac children all went to sleep tonight which is a miracle unto itself.....she lives so close and happily took G so I could take care of Joe. Gemma Loves being at Aunt Rachel's house. Three doting cousins, a dog and a kitty to play with! Every time we pull into the drive way Gemma says "ooooh" and claps her hands. I am so lucky! My wonderful sweet friend rounded up her husband and brother n law to rush to the hospital to give Joe a blessing minutes before they took him to surgery. Not sure who wanted Joe to have a blessing more...me or Joe. As nervous as I am, and as much as I hated watching them wheel him away from me...I am selfishly grateful for sometime to sit in the quiet and think and pray and be. Quiet time is very important to me. I am a private person and I need to be able to sort through all my thoughts. That hasn't been a thing this month. There is no one else in this waiting room. There may not be anyone else on this whole floor! It is calm and peaceful. Two things I have never felt in a hospital.
 Joe has been In surgery for 30 minutes. Feels like an eternity. I wish I could be in the OR holding his hand. We both do "nervous talking" when we are...well nervous so put us in an awkward or uncomfortable situation together and we are down right hilarious. As we were waiting he said
 "hold my hand" 
I did
"now when people ask what we did this weekend we can say we were on a date because we are holding hands." 
I love him.
I wish I had a pair of socks. My mom would have reminded me to bring socks. I did however remember a jacket. It is 1:15 in the morning. I have been so tired and craving three hours of sleep in a row for a month and now that I have the opportunity to I can't close my eyes. also this is not a good time to be binge watching Greys Anatomy. I keep thinking about George and is first appi. 
I feel like such a millennial taking a selfie as I wait  for my husband to come out of surgery but I kind of thought it was funny how the filters couldn't hide my un-showered unwashed baggy eye self. I should have done black and white eh? I smell as pretty as I look.

 I know that this post is random and strange but I needed to write this out. No matter how jumbled it may all seem. 

G Turns One

Growing up and reading all the feminist literate out there I decided getting married and having kids was not for me. I wanted to travel and write and what most romantic souls picture themselves doing. Well Of course there were other plans for me. I got married young and had a baby one year later. Let me tell you it has been the best thing in the whole world. I would not trade a passport full of stamps for her. Being a mom is incredibly wonderful and I love it. I had an easy pregnancy...well as easy as a pregnancy  can be. She came into this world easily and as perfectly as can be. Each month with her has been fun and new. I have loved each stage. But holy cow this has been the fastest moving year of my entire life. She was born and BOOM now she is one. I wanted to make her birthday as fun and memorable as possible. When it came down to it it made most sense to make sure she hang out with all her people. The Sunday before her birthday Joe's Mom threw her a great party. Her cousins aunts and uncles spoiled her rotten and she discovered a love of balloons. On her birthday Joe and I woke her up singing happy Birthday to her and gave her donuts for breakfast. After that we hit the movie theater with My sisters and nieces and nephew. She really enjoyed sitting on Jacks lap and eating Popcorn. Her cousins were so cute to her and helped her eat a cupcake after the movie. That night Joe and I helped her open presents and eat cake. She loved her birthday and was pretty disappointed when life returned to normal.

The part I was looking forward to the most was her cake smash photo shoot. Delaney (little sister) took some gorgeous pictures of her. It was so much fun and everything I was hoping it would be.

My sister does do Photo shoots for many occasions if anyone is interested. Because seriously...how beautiful are these pics?! I am not bias or anything.
Happy first birthday darling daughter. Can't wait to continue celebrating with you.

This is My Crew

Welcome to my very public journal. I am terrible at taking the time to sit down with pen and composition notebook and write down my life.  I use to be but laziness has taken over at night when I have time and Netflix sucks me in. The name of this blog might seem random and weird but let me 'splain. You see, lobsters mate for life and when I met Joe (the Husband) I knew He was My Lobster. (yes this is a Friends reference).

Let me introduce my current self and my people. My name is Collett Campbell. I am a born and raised Arizonian but I am now a Utah transplant. When you marry a Utah boy just know you will never leave. I have lived here for almost six years and I actually really love it. I cannot imagine a world without mountains and four seasons. I studied English and literature at BYU and loved it. Basically I sat around with a bunch of book loving people wrote papers and talked about books for four plus years. Aside from books I am a dog lover. I have two: Sookie my talkative lab mutt and Jersey my timid Pit bull/Colorado Bulldog mutt. I like glitter on everything, borderline hooker shoes, road trips, baking, selfies,
world events and news, romantic walks through target, big trucks, the ocean, and new school supplies. Currently I work as wife, mom, content writer, and violin teacher. I like working and have been known to take on too much. I believe in good over evil, love notes, dance parties, and eating at midnight. Calories Don't count after midnight. But more on me later.

Joe is my project loving, world traveling, can fix everything, get the lid off the pickle jar husband. Our relationship is easy and runs fairly smoothly. He loves a lot of things but I know I am first in line. The thing that is so great about Joe is how happy, positive, and calm he is. He can turn any situation positive. I love that most about him. Joe has literally done everything...fly planes, scuba, rock climb, jump out of planes...he is Mr. Adventure.

Gemma is our one year old daughter. I am not exaggerating when I say she is the easiest happiest little person ever. She hits every milestone, she sleeps, shes happy all day until shes tired. She is wonder baby. We have decided we may not have another because we already made a perfect one. Her favorites include baths, bike rides, horses, stuffed animals, food, straws, and swinging. She is the best thing I have ever done.

So welcome to Our Life as Lobsters. I will post weekly about whatever the heck I want to ;)