julie_and_juliaIt began with a call from my mother-in-law Julee. She had just returned from seeing the Julie & Julia film starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. She was gushing. We just HAD to see it.  A few days later she called again to see if we had seen it yet. She forgets how hard it is to drag her son to a movie.  He is Netflix’s target audience. Nothing is so good you have to leave home, stand in line, pay too much for popcorn, and sit in the dark with a room full of strangers. 

After the second call I googled the movie. Found out that it was based on two books. Julia Child’s My Life in France and Julie Powells’ Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen. 

I love to read. Always looking for a good book to wrap my mind and arms around so I downloaded both at that moment on my Kindle. 

I clicked on the final page of the second book this morning. Wow.

I’ve never second guessed my mother-in-law’s super powers or her subtle way of suggesting. But these two books are exactly what I needed to read right now. I feel like I’m living a parallel-virtual-time-traveling-life. 

Julia Child had just made a major move to a foreign land because of her husband’s job. 

Ditto.

She was in a foreign land, with time on her hands, looking for some meaning. 

Ditto. 

This economy has taken me off the road and plopped me down in a tiny dark office in the back of our rental house on a Dead End street – which I vowed I’d never live on because of it’s connotations. 

Which brings me to Julie. She decided to take on a huge project. To cook every recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child – in one year. She lived in Long Island City in a tiny apartment with her sweet and patient husband.

Sort of ditto.

Definitely ditto on the patient husband part and Long Island, although not the city. My huge project right now is writing a book/workbook/recipe for developing your credit union’s 2010 marketing plan. 

Julia Child partnered with a friend and worked long distance to publish her first cookbook. 

Ditto.

I’m partnering with Jim Jerving to write this marketing cookbook and we’ve only met once and now virtually meet once a week to go over our progress. We don’t always agree on the ingredients and have changed direction about three times but I think we can see the end now. 

Julie chronicled her journey on her blog.

Ditto. 

She had days early on when she thought no one cared but she continued to pour her heart into this therapeutic medium. And lo and behold the readers began to respond. Their comments inspired her to keep on going. She discovered the real purpose of blogging -a  sense of community and purpose.  

Look for the 2010 CU Marketing Business Plan Cookbook – seriously, we do not have a name for this thing yet – please help! – to be available for purchase soon. 

Disclaimer to friends and family: Mark and I are not married, per se, but according to common law and certain documents drawn up by attorneys for all intents and purposes are legally bound. Until it makes sense for us financially – we probably won’t do it – much to Julee’s chagrin. Hey – he’s a number’s dude – what can I say?