Choosing Your Fam

South Korea finally did something to get back in my good graces: they remade Go Ahead, one of the first Chinese dramas I ever watched (and loved) into their romantic drama Family By Choice, starring one of my favorite actors Hwang In-youp (who was brilliant as always), Jung Chae-yeon (a very luminous and talented young lady) and Bae Hyun-sung (another inspired choice) as the two brothers and sister who are not blood related but via tragedy are brought up together as siblings with two fathers (Choi Won-young, one of my favorite older male South Korean actors, and Choi Moo-sung, who stole every scene he was in.)

The drama stays faithful to the story for the most part, although it tidies it up and condenses it so that it can be told in 16 episodes. It's done beautifully, and the trio of actors who play the brothers and sister worked so well together and in their roles that they floored me. Hwang In-youp was absolutely perfect as San-ha, the tortured and abused son of an evil narcissistic controlling bitch of a woman who blames him for all her mistakes before she abandons him and his father. Bae Hyun-sung is a new-to-me actor, but he was so perfect Hae-jun I can't think of anyone else who could have portrayed a troubled, terrified little boy abandoned by his mother, who shortly thereafter goes to prison, forcing her son to be raised by strangers. Between the two boys is Ju-Won, the motherless little girl who just wants a brother and is everyone's ray of sunshine.

I cried through this drama so many times my eyes are still red. It's that good. I knew the story so there weren't any surprises for me and still I held my breath at the crises points. This is a wonderful, emotional, wildly romantic drama. but most of all it reminded me of how fortunate I am that I was able to rid myself of all the toxic narcissistic people who just used and abused me in the name of family. Building a new family and surrounding myself with people who genuinely love me is the best present I ever gave myself.

Family by Choice is, hands down, the best drama I've seen in a couple of years -- maybe since Happiness. Available on Viki.com.

Comments

Other Stashes

Along with clearing out the spare bedroom and tidying my office and our guest bedroom, I decided to reorganize some of my stashes. This is all the yarn I have on hand, sorted by color. It looks like a lot, but lately I've been using up a minimum of half a bin every month, so this is approximately a year's supply. All of my solid color cotton perle thread. I go through a lot of this every year, too. I need a container in which I can fit all of it together, but I haven't found the right one yet. I won't show you all of my fabric -- I'm still reorganizing this stash -- but I went through everything and donated two bins of fabric I won't need to the local quilter's guild.

Goodwill Gamble #2 Arrives

My second Goodwill gamble arrived; this is one I paid ten bucks for last month. Just inside the lid was a big roll of plastic mesh that I think is for latchhook work. In the auction listing it looked like fabric to me, so that was unexpected. Someone at the seller's end was nice enough to put a note on this pinned fabric. I'll put on my gloves before I take it out to inspect it. The embroidered green fabric turned out to be 1-1/2 yards of sequinned and three-dimensional designer fabric. I'll guess this cost somewhere between $20.00 to $30.00 a yard, and it's in pristine condition. But here's a shot of everything in the lot, which is mostly crafty odds and ends with a small amount of cotton fabrics, a large amount of synethetic fabrics, and some other surprises. The original owner of these was probably a Catholic school teacher; these beads, crosses and medallions are the kind of rosary kits for kids to make at Sunday school or Bible camp (and s...

Love Means This

Invested in a couple of hand-dyed bundles from one of my favorite fabric artists. This one said "Make me into something for Valentine's Day." So I went for a quilted and embellished tote. I kept thinking about what love means to me as I worked on it. Here's the finished tote. Although I was tempted to embellish with beads and pins, I got sick and only felt well enough to do a little stitching every night. As I worked I thought about how often love seems disappointing to us, especially when it fails to live up to our expectations. But now that I've experienced love in many forms, I can say that it's made me a better person than I might have been without it. Love is a precious thing, and should be appreciated in all its forms. I am very grateful for the love of my guy, my child and my friends who have stuck with me all these years. That's you two, in case you're wondering. :) Also finally found something to do with a ve...

Valerean

Search This Blog