Tag: women

Who Run this Mother

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It’s so fitting that today I wish to write about my weekend of women. On International Women’s Day, I am reflecting on the wonderful couple of days I spent with some of my favourite ladies.

Andrew’s family are the most laid-back, inclusive, friendly bunch of people I’ll ever know. His sister has included me in her bridal party, even though we’ve only known each other properly for a couple of years.

Saturday night just gone, we celebrated Simone’s impending nuptials with a Gatsby themed high tea and Hen’s party. Flapper dresses were sourced, feathery headpieces donned and party feet stretched and ready to dance.

IMG_0172Andrew’s Mum and sistersIMG_0165

IMG_0167IMG_0166These women; the sisters, mothers, aunties, cousins, partners and grandmother. My goodness, they are something else. I have never had an awkward moment with them, never felt like I wasn’t good enough for them or Andrew and have never felt more accepted into a family that isn’t my own. They support one another, show up when they need to, but know how to laugh at and with each other more than anything.

To Louise, well done for raising three beautiful kids. Simone is the most selfless woman, with the biggest heart, and watching her dancing the night away with a huge smile on her face gave me all kinds of warm feelings.

As incredible as this family is, I can’t let this day pass without mentioning my own. On Sunday afternoon, I picked up my Mum and my Grandma and we headed out to the river for a special afternoon.

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The Peninsula Tea Gardens, in Maylands, do an exceptional (and reasonably priced) high tea, with a gluten free menu optional. Mum packed a bottle of bubbles, we ordered our tea and let our stomachs get prepared for the feast.

IMG_0877Mum and Grandma’s slice of heaven (I just noticed old mate in the back, ha!)IMG_0878And one just for me!IMG_0879

Though my Grandma is a very quiet, very British and polite kid of gal, it was so nice just sitting back in the beautiful sunshine and enjoying one another’s company. Plus, these were involved:

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Onto more unbelievable women in my life, my second cousin and aunt in England. Knowing that Mum and I won’t have too much time together before I head off, they sent a care package for us. Packets of chips, chocolate, hand cream and two face masks, sent with instructions to enjoy a girl’s night on them. Which is just what we did…

She’s going to kill me for this one… love you Mum!

Here’s to strong women. May we know them. May we be them. May we raise them.
-Unknown

To all the women in my life, I’m so grateful to each and every one of you. Boys are great and all, but there is nothing like the support and love you get from your Mum, step-Mum, best friends and family.

Happy International Women’s Day!
Hanbel.
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Who Run the World?

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The Father of the Bride, The Parent Trap, Something’s Gotta Give, Father of the Bride Part II, What Women Want, The Holiday, It’s Complicated.

These are some of my absolute favourite movies, ones I return to again and again. I watch ‘The Holiday’ every Christmas, I’ve actually seen ‘The Parent Trap’ over 100 times (I used to count when I was little – what a nerrrrd) and have fallen back in love with ‘Something’s Gotta Give’ thanks to Netflix.

The common factor in all of these masterpieces is, of course, the wonderful director and writer Nancy Meyers.

This woman is so incredible at what she does. I recently stumbled across her interview with Joanna Goddard of Cup of Jo which concreted my affections for her. Give it a read, I promise you’ll love her too!

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Nancy on the left, Jo on the right.

I love how she is trying to fight stereotypes and change the way woman are viewed on the big screen. As she says in the interview “Hollywood has trained audiences to think, the woman boss is a bitch. We had to undo that wherever we could.” The stereotypical character of the female boss is Miranda from ‘The Devil Wears Prada’. They are often horrible, power hungry, robots with no husband or children. Or worse, the woman has a family and career but instead of juggling them both, the storyline often paints her as struggling and over-emotional.

Enter Nancy.

The character of Amanda in ‘The Holiday’ is the owner of her own movie trailer company. In ‘Something’s Gotta Give’, Diane Keaton’s portrays the hugely successful broadway writer Erica (she has her own Hamptons house for goodness sake!). Do you even want to talk about Liz designing wedding gowns for Greek princesses in ‘The Parent Trap’? Annie Banks puts her put down and fights for her right to a huge career opportunity in ‘Father of the Bride Part II’ – while being 9 months pregnant, I might add.

I love watching these female characters and the way their storylines are written. The focus isn’t on how they became successful, they just are. Easy as that. Nancy has created fantastic role models and given them beautiful relationships as an addition to their lives – not as the sole purpose for their existence.

Round of applause.

She currently has a new movie (the focus of Jo’s interview) that just hit theatres, which I CAN’T wait to see:

Anne Hathaway as the boss and Robert De Niro as the intern. So much yes.

Hooray for women! Happy Friday all…

Hanbel.
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P.s. if you haven’t seen any of these movies, watch them! Now! Invite me over!