Olivia got The Ultimate Guide to Percy Jackson and the Olympians for Christmas, and she was kind enough to let me look through it. There is a quiz in it that determines which god or godess (if you are, in fact, a demigod)is your parent. Of course I had to take it, and, voila; "My father is Poseidon Apollo." Just a little fun thing I thought I'd share with you guys.
Kellie has inquired of me in my last post how one might go about getting turkish delight. Now you could cross your fingers and walk into a wardrobe, chance upon a white witch in a sleigh, and kindly ask her for some (if her dwarf doesn't kill you first). However, I do not recommend this method, as your turkish delight will likely be enchanted and make you feel horrible. Instead, try Ross or Marshall's or T.J. Maxx. They generally carry such treats. I believe it is also sold on Amazon.com.
And it's been a while since I've posted music, as I was reminded when I last visited The Girl, The Blog, and The Painting, so here is my favorite Mumford and Sons number:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlnhH85JYYs
Also, in case you're wondering why I've posted so much lately, I'm almost at one hundred posts, and I thought it would be a reasonable goal to reach the big one zero zero on New Year's Day.
Lemon rose. Pretty tasty. Though I must say, eating it by the case would be rather "repulsive." Poor Skandar.
It is so delightful to have at last friended you guys on facebook. I have to restrain myself from going crazy commenting on everything like I do on the blogs. The only thing is, now I'm even more impatient to meet you guys face to face. Maybe if that Narnia exhibit comes back to Kentucky....
"Stay There for a While." I believe that's what I'll call it. The ukulele is my new best friend, as far as material best friends go. Strumming out chords as words come to my head is pure delight. There is precious little in this world that makes me happier than the act of creating.
Of course, watching movies is a delight as well (why is that I can't stop using that word "delight"?) I recently saw Super 8, and aside from the bleep-loads of cussing, I really enjoyed it. As did Isabelle and Olivia. I think perhaps a certain young actor Joel Courtney may have had something to do with that. ;) Oh, aaannd, I FINALLY watched the first Sherlock Holmes! That was pretty awesome. I like the setting, and loved the end where everything is exposed. And I loved the soundtrack (Hans Zimmer? Of course!) It was, erm, a delight? I'm probably going to wait until Sherlock Homes 2 comes to the Asheville Pizza and Brewing Company (where tickets cost $2) to see it. My next trip to the cinema will likely be for War Horse. Not only does it look like a great movie, but also there are, of course, British actors....and there's this one....Jeremy Irvine.....who seems rather....um, delightful.
I must needs now return to me songwriting, and then to put a good dent in Pride and Prejudice. Which is, I daresay, quite a delighful book.
No Christmas snow for us Appalachian mountain-dwellers, but it has been a wonderful Christmas, nonetheless. I am just now sipping down my first cup of egg nog this year, sitting at my grandparents computer, and kicking myself for not making the little "Merry Christmas" message video I had planned on.
After my little sister woke me up this morning, attempting to lure me out of bed with promises of "tons of presents" and "this big one for you," we opened our gifts, ate the breakfast of spinach quiche and cinnamon rolls that I had prepared yesterday, played a game of crazy eights, and went to church. I got The Hunger Games trilogy, a Union Jack shirt and music shirt from Delias, and.....an ukulele!!! I've been tuning it and messing around with it all day. Methinks some serious song-writing will be occurring this week.
Anywho, it's been a good day spent with the family. Now, for the Facebook swappy thingie (I'm sorry, I just have a thing about calling it that). As you may have guessed from the post title, my last name is "Hughes." But, there are a lot of Caroline Hughes-es out there, so, I may have to temporarily change my profile publicity so you guys can ack-chellay find me. Also, if you have any trouble, you may want to try narrowing the search by typing "Parkway Playhouse" for work.
Can't wait can't wait can't WAIT to chat with you guys!
One whole year. I'm so glad we kept it up; Kellie and Megan, you guys have been such a blessing to me, and I'm honored to be part of this unique friendship. This is another one of the many reasons why Narnia is just all around awesome ;)
Right, so, on to the celebrations. I thought first I'd list the quirky cool words, plots, terms, and Skandarisms we've created over the course of the year (remind me if I've left some out)
DBF (dear blogging friend)
ack-chellay
Skedmund
The Potter Plot
Skandarific
Blunderkind
The Epic Battle of the Hair
Skantastic
Here is the Blunderkind I promised. The quality is kind of meh *scowls at Windows Movie Maker* but I'll type the plot underneath so you can get the idea of it:
So glasses dude is hitting on Susan and asks for her name. Susan is already in a relationship with Caspian, and so lies about her name. Peter, however, is still trying to get back at Caspian, so he keeps exposing Susan's lies. Susan gets fed up, calls Caspian, and kisses him in front of glasses dude. This doesn't really discourage him, so Caspian threatens him. Thu End.
Not the best, but practice makes perfect, eh?
Of course I had to go back and read the comments from that happy day the three of us decided to comment on Narnia Web. I must say, I was a bit immature, or overzealous, perhaps is a better word, but whichever word best describes crazy little 16-year-old me, I thank you two for putting up with me lol. I did say that I would post "Changed" and so now, one year later, I shall, even though my inner critic is giving me a fit. Shut up inner critic. You're a jerk.
Changed
V 1
Well here we are once more,
Right where we were before.
Circumstances are still the same
Here on the other side of the door.
Take a look back now
At what we've just come though;
That whole wide world behind us
Has made a difference in me and you.
CH 1
And now we've got the strength to make it here;
Our lessons learned to overcome our fears.
Though the wonders, victories, and pains,
I know that we've been changed.
V 2
The journey may've seemed long,
And at times we were wrong.
But what brought us here in the first place
Has been guiding us all along.
It's getting stronger now,
That calling deep within,
And though our quest has been fulfilled,
I have a feeling we'll go back again...
CH 2
Because we don't know what the future holds,
But promises have been fortold.
No, life won't stay the same,
And we may yet be changed.
BRIDGE:
A little bit braver,
A little bit stronger,
A better sense of purpose...
A little wiser,
A little bit kinder,
More willingness to trust.
Yes there were wonders, victories, and pains;
And life won't stay the same;
Yeah this is why we came,
All was for this change....
We've been changed.
Ta-da! I apologize for the absence of musical accompaniment, but if I waited until I got that together...well, you guys know the story lol. Which reminds me of a delightful thing I found on facebook that I wanted to share with you guys:
Well, while I'm posting facebook pictures, I suppose I'll go ahead and throw this one in here:
Last Tuesday, I was out Christmas shopping with me sisters and mom and grandmother, and Earthbound in the mall had all these wonderful masks. So naturally we tried all of them on. It was jolly good fun, and I wish you guys could have been there. Anyway, I put the pictures on facebook, and made this one my profile. Here's another picture of me, unmaksed, as Lady Caroline of Rohan:
Welp, there you have it. Caroline Autumn ______ (to be announced on a later date)
Okay, I believe I've rambled on quite enough now. You guys are awesome and I love you and I thank God that I came across Narnia Web.
I must close this anniversary post with our signature sign-off:
Christmastime and theater: they'll keep a girl from her blogging, that's certain. But, I managed to find this little time slot here on a rainy day between decorating the Christmas tree and performing a musical tonight. Both of my little sisters and I were in Beautiful Star: An Appalachian Nativity, which ran last week. I was a musician, playing my mandolin, singing harmony and two solos. Pretty fun...until I got a sore throat. Thankfully, it healed in about two days. However, I didn't allow myself enough recovery time, because I was hoarse the following two weeks. Which meant singing in front of a live audience songs in which I have to shoot into my head-voice with raspy vocal cords. But, I managed to make it through with relatively few embarrassments (upon returning backstage after singing a particularly tough song, Olivia came up to me and said encouragingly, "Your voive only cracked twice!" Ah, little sisters; gotta love 'em.) All in all, it was lovely. Here's a picture from the Noah's Ark scene:
I also wrote, directed, and acted in the Christmas program at church this year. It was somewhat difficult trying to work with people who aren't as passionate about theater as I am to put together a play, but it came together alright in the end, and I'm glad I did it.
Tonight and tomorrow night the youth drama group that Olivia and I are in is performing Bugsy Malone, a musical about kid gangsters who shoot each other with whipped cream guns called "splurgers." Our stage manager spray painted toy guns and taped cans of silly string to them, and that's our splurgers. I play a character named Bronx Charlie, who basically goes around "splurging" people. And at one one point I get Flash Frankie, played by my little sister. And there's lots of singing and dancing throughout, and it's really, really fun.
Aaannddd, aside from theater, I've been trying to get in some schoolwork and figure out a celebratory post for Christmas....the facebook swapping thingie day! Just nine more days....wow. Time flies when you're an artistic human who knows awesome people.
Anywho, once Bugsy is over, hopefully I can get around to making this Blunderkind video I've been thinking of for months. Until then...
Pictures of my new room, that is. I reawly wikes it. My friend Hannah said it's a perfect writer's room; I agree. Surprisingly though, I haven't done much writing at all since I've moved in. O.o (which reminds me, I said I was going to do the NaNoWriMo challenge, and then I didn't. Fail. Me so fail.) Right, so, now, the pictures!
You can't really tell in the picture, but the little light next to the bean bag chair has a castle on it :)
I had to make this picture bigger than the others because it's the memory board that I made (even the buttons) and I'm really proud of it and it's possibly my favorite part of my room. (Note that the pink tag in the corner says "Candies" and I have Logan and Ben and Skandar on the board ;)
Hahaha, it's my robe, painting/ticket to Narnia, and half of me in the mirror!
Unfortunately, I did not paint this one lol. But it's one of my faves.
My "prettying-up" station and Owl City pandora station (on my laptop lol)
Dis be da hat I crocheted :)
Okay, that was kind of a lot of pictures, I know. Sorry if I bored you. In the news for my corner of the world, it snowed today. So much that rehearsal was canceled. So I went outside and took pictures. This is the only decent one I got:
College applications=major time-eater. Appalachian State made me write FOUR ESSAYS in order to be considered for their chancellor's choice scholarship; UNC Chapel Hill asked for a boatload of information (along with two essays); and then there's Mars Hill, Elon.... BUT, after taking the ACT and SAT again, I have raised my scores! ACT was a 27, SAT was 2050. Hopefully this will help me get some good scholarships.
Happy late Thanksgiving! I hope you guys had a good one. We stayed at my aunt and uncle's in Raleigh over the weekend, hitting some malls and such on Black Friday. I bought some pretty cool stuff (a union jack t-shirt!) and then at around 9:30 we ate at P.F. Chang's. INCREDIBLE CHINESE!!! Eggrolls cooked to perfection, lettuce rolls, lo mein...ahh.
At long last I have finished reading the entire Inheritance Cycle (aka the Eragon books). It had a bittersweet ending, but I had expected more twists in the last book. Overall, though, it's a fantastic series, and I'll likely read it again in the future.
My friend Hannah is coming over for the first time tomorrow, and I'm really excited. She likes to write songs, like me, and we both love chocolate, to name but a few of the many things we have in common. I got a hot chili chocolate bar for us to share tomorrow, but I couldn't wait and had to nibble. Imagine rich dark chocolate, practically melting in your mouth. You swallow, and then this spicy aftertaste rolls over your tongue. This is my kind of experience. (;
Here's a song I heard on a Disney dvd advertisement. I loved it, looked it up, and listen to it all the time. I do seriously feel this way sometimes:
And I finished crocheting my hat, which I wore yesterday and today, and I am working towards getting some pictures of my new bedroom up. That for a later post. Until then, so long my fair DBFs.
One of my goals for this year was to make a medieval-style dress. I finally bought a pattern in September, and yesterday, I stitched the last stitch. It was fun, but I'm rather glad to be finished with it now; this newfound confidence in my sewing has produced a whole list of pending projects.
The funny thing about this dress is trying to put it on by myself. I laced many a dress like this during Robin Hood, but when the dress is on ME, and not an actress...well, it's kind of, Tangled. Anywho, I hope you DBFs are having a great November, and I can't wait to see more of your lovely blog posts. I'm off to crochet a hat now.
Oh, AND one more thing: I bought Inheritance yesterday! 50 pages in, already loving it. Methinks the year-and-four-month-wait will not have been in vain.
First off, this was the first Three Musketeers movie I've ever seen, and I don't know the whole story (though I'm more than halfway through the book) so I have little to compare it to in that respect. That being said, I shall post my thoughts on it. It was of the lighter, humorous sort of adventure movies (think a step down from Pirates of the Carribean: The Curse of the Black Pearl); the preview sets the tone for the actual film very well. I found it very entertaining (what? Logan Lerman? No, he had nothing at all to do with it. Nada.), though there weren't really any twists in the plot or edge-of-your-seat moments. Well, except for D'Artagnan's rooftop duel with that bad Cardinal's captain dude whose name escapes me. And I loved the airships. The last movie I saw with one of those was Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, so it was refreshing to see some again. Milady's ninja-ing was pretty cool too. It was kinda hilarious to see Orlando Bloom, whom I'm used to seeing do all the epic stunt stuff, wear ridiculously colorful, poofy, ornamental costumes and be all "I'm mister proper guy. Don't contradict me or my guards will kill you. Now, time for tea." And then there's D'Artagnan. He's so cocky (but "only on Tuesdays, and in front of beautiful women"), especially when he comes to Paris, that I was laughing out loud on multiple occasions. His sword-fighting skills are, I must say, quite attractive. Alright, I shan't bore you guys with anymore details; just "go to the cinema, yeah" and then we can discuss our favorite scenes and all that jazz.
I must apologize to Skandar, for I have been posting about Logan quite a bit lately. But, in my defense, I would certainly post more about him if he'd do more movies! Having said my apology, here is Logan on the Ellen show...
I loved the hair extensions bit. When he saw that picture, his "oh my" was pretty cute.
Finally, here's his Teen Vogue photo shoot:
Lovin' the hair.
Well my dears, I now conclude this longish post. Thanks fo readin'. :)
Yeah, I had an orthodontist appointment today so they could get impressions of my teeth to make a new set of retainers for me. Hence the goo-shoving.
And we ate at Earthfare for lunch, where my desire to eat sushi for the first time was satisfied with a California Crab roll. At least, it was satisfied at the moment. Now I want more. Like, right now, ack-chellay. Argh, 11 o'clock cravings; they're the worst.
This evening, I had a music rehearsal for Beautiful Star, the Christmas play that my local theater is putting on. Isabelle and Olivia and my friend Hannah were cast to act; I am one of the four people cast as musicians. The best part is, I'm to sing lead for two songs! I'll also play my guitar and mandolin. So I'm pretty excited, despite the fact that rehearsals are almost every night. The work always pays off.
Well my friends, I must close here. Stay tuned for... The Three Musketeers: The Lermaniac's Analysis.
Our homeschool group met at the gym today, and we played basketball: girls versus boys. I'm not a very sportsish girl, but I wasn't going to sit out. So I dove in wholeheartedly, and scored my team 6 points. Boo-ya. Despite the fact that my body is totally worn out and I somehow bruised my pinkie finger (which is really beginning to hurt now) and we girls were soundly beaten, I had an awesome time.
I have finished reading Dracula and I am now about 70 pages into The Three Musketeers. I decided to read it upon Kellie's recommendation, and I am very much enjoying it! Makes me even more excited about the movie. Which reminds me, I take the ACT again tomorrow, and then while we're out and about, the plan is we'll "go to the cinema, yah," to see The Three Musketeers. :D Logan Lerman, here I come!
I am also planning a novel. So far I have a summary paragraph and two character sketches, the main character, a girl, and then a prince. I am having difficulty naming them, as the setting is fantasy medeivalish, and I want the names to sparkle without being outlandish and hard to pronounce. I shall update when I make significant progress.
And finallyyyyy.....I HAVE MY OWN ROOM AT LAST!!! I moved into it Monday, so I'm still organizing and decorating(last night I hung "Starry Night" and my Dawn Treader painting). I'll post some pictures soon.
Weyel, it is here that I shall close; must rest up for tomorrow morning.
It's been five weeks; I'm seriously beginning to wonder if Irene devastated her part of Virginia. Well Megan, if you're reading this, I've been praying for you. Please come back in time to celebrate our DBF anniversary!
Kellie, thank you so much for keeping in touch. I know it's tough with school and everything. It means a lot to me.
Autumn is beginning to move in down here in the mountains; I ack-chellay had to wear my winter coat today! Those late summer wildflowers are putting on a bittersweet parting display of purple and yellow and bright pink. While on my daily walk one crisp morning, I gathered some of these asters and lady's thumbs to press. I couldn't help but snap a couple pictures:
School is in full swing; and when I say "swing," I mean like a tire swing that is overwhelming me, making me dizzy. It's mainly the pre-calculus and U.S, government studies that are killing me. I believe majoring in political science or engineering would turn me into a zombie. Thankfully, I am at liberty to major in creative writing. Or music. Or acting. All I have to do is choose a college (very difficult) and pray for a scholarship. So I am taking the ACT and SAT again, the former later this month, the latter in December, in hopes of giving my scores a nice boost.
It's the "hot guy" edition with none other than Taylor Lautner on the cover. But, on the inside, it gets better: LOGAN LERMAN!!! If you haven't seen it yet, it's worth finding (I forgot the page number, shockingly). So in case you haven't or don't get around to it, I'm posting the picture:
A lot of the other guys in there only got half a page; Logan got a whole page. This whole thing made me really happy.
And here's just a random Logan pic I found:
The fedora is a very nice touch I think.
And this one, lol.
I posted this one because he looks kinda like a little boy who went to the summer camp I worked at this summer, and who was a little sweetheart. It is pretty darn adorable to have a 7-year-old hug you, kiss your cheek, and tell you he loves you and that he would ask you out if he was older. Oh, and his name was Logan.
Weeellll....that about does it for this post. DBF Out! :)
Little Olivia turned 11 on the 14th (my baby sister's growing up!:'( lol) and since she loves the Smurfs, I painted Smurfette in watercolor for her:
And now, in honor of our dear Skandar's 20th brithday, I present to you my video, Skedmund: A Collection of Our Favorites. (sorry it's kinda choppy; I'm kinda new to windows movie maker)
Gotta love 'im.
So there you have it. Happy late birthdays and many more.
DBF Out!
(btw, I broke my vow as well, Kellie. It's been over a week and for that I apologize. Thanks for keeping up though :)
So, as I said in an earlier post, my town is having its literary festival and today we went to a thing called Poetry Alive in the upstairs of our library. Now, what the performers of Poetry Alive do is read poetry from the inside out; in other words, they act the poem as they recite it. At the beginning of the workshop, we got to watch Josh and Val act out The Duel by Eugene Field. This was extremely entertaining. Next, they went over some performance pointers, and then my sisters, their friend Katie, and I got to act out a simple poem. (we were, strangely enough, the only people there, besides the Poetry Alive people and my mom). It was ridiculously fun; so much that we're going to try acting out one of my poems. After the workshop, we went to the local coffee shop, where I had an amazing rosemary olive oil bagel and an equally delicious snickerdoodle latte. Then we went back to the library to watch another Poetry Alive performance. Now, the actual library was closed at this time; only the upstairs was accessible, as the second set of doors leading into the library was locked. Upstairs there is a balcony overlooking the downstairs area. After the performance was over, some of the girls had to go to the bathroom, so I hung out at the balcony, sliding one of my legs through the railing as I imagined myself as a ninja swinging over the rails and hopping and sliding down to the empty library below to grab a book. Then my flip flop fell off. Down to the floor of the closed library. *face palm* I considered executing my previous ninja fantasy, but opted not to since my mom would likely kill me, if I didn't kill myself. I was in the middle of writing a "please save my flip flop" note to slide under the door for the librarian, when at the top of the stairs appeared... *heroic music*...the librarian! She mercifully unlocked the doors so I could retrieve that random black flip flop from the middle of the floor, and it and my right foot embraced one another.
I was in Sam's on Labor Day, and I just had to do this video (lol, I borrowed Cameron's "Charles Dickens" alias idea, though my British accent is kind of meh.) Also, it's kinda obvious I don't use my iPod video camera very often *_*
And then later at Best Buy, they were also using the sticker strategy on Peter. Target remains neutral.
In other news, a couple nights ago a mother bear and cubs ripped off our trash shed door and did not clean up after themselves. I didn't ack-chellay get to see them, but I heard one of the cubs crying after it had gotten scared up a tree when my dad shot his shotgun into the air to shoo them away. Then the next day, I was driving up our mountain and saw both cubs cross the road to where the mother was. I really wish I had the DLF to take with me, just in case ;)
And I really want to post something for Skandar's birthday, but it's too late to make anything tonight. Coming soon though.
My home town is having its annual literary festival, so today I went to a poetry reading and a play writing workshop, which was very informative and will hopefully help me write a decent play or two. Tomorrow we're going to another poetry venue.
Rule #1 - Devon Bostick is hot.
Rule #2 - ..... um, that's all I got right now, lol.
Coincidentally, the day after I read Megan's post in which she mentioned Diary of a Wimpy Kid and how she finds the guy who plays Rodrick quite attractive, my sisters told me, "Mamaa is renting Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2 for us tonight!" My whole family, including myself, really enjoyed it. We were all laughing out loud several times; I see why my DBFs raved about it so. And, of course, now I have to post some Devon Bostick pictures, lol.
Oh, and here are a couple of pictures that I was going to post back when I bought these, but I forgot, lol.
I know it was in theaters way back in December of last year, but I had a bad case of Dawn Treader fever then and paid little attention to other things. We rented Tron Legacy Wednesday night, and I really liked it. The original reason I'd wanted to see it was because Garrett Hedlund is in it, playing the main character Sam Flynn, but the story is really cool, the graphics are brilliant, and the soundtrack is incredible. Now, ahem, back to Garrett, lol. In this one scene in the beginning of the film he's talking to someone in his apartment/garage/house neat-looking-place-where-he-lives, and something in his voice, maybe the deep, cocky tone, reminded me so much of Luke. It was quite lovely.
What, you think I won't jump off this tower? 'Cuz I will so jump off
this tower. (Not the actual line here, but I got creative.)
"I'm not your father, Sam. But I'm very happy to see you."
(sorry if the transparency thing about this blog template is messing up the pictures; I don't know how to change it!)
Well, I've been at the playhouse (my home away from home), helping dress Maid Marian before she whisks on to the stage and into the arms of her beloved Robin Hood. Another fun thing about being costume helper is that I get to help with quick changes, which in this show involved helping my friend Hannah change from the poor young girl Anna who's just been murdered into the executioner. It was fun. The whole show was excellent; I only wish I could've been onstage rather than in the dressing room, but heck, I got to help. :)
I read The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe the other night before going to bed. Probably not the best thing to read late at night, but it was a delicious little chiller. I rather like Poe, at least what I've read so far, which is Usher and a few of his poems. I am now reading Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. I like her writing style, her use of metaphors, but I am finding the story itself to be a bit lackluster. I'm a little over halfway through, though, so I'll keep going at it. While on the topic of shape-shifters, Mistwood was an interesting little read, full of surprises. But Timeless and Percy Jackson and Ella are still my faves of the year.
I have had sudden bouts of inspiration these past couple of days: at two in the morning I had to sit up and write some song lyrics; the night before I wrote a whole poem called Emptiness; in the middle of church this evening I was struck with a beautiful melody in my mind. Of course, it was mid-sermon and I couldn't just run out of the building so I could hum it out for memory. I think Vivaldi ack-chellay did that at certain points in his career, flying out of church to jot down sudden bouts of genius. But I was a good girl, so now I've lost the melody. Maybe, in the future, it's gonna come back, it's gonna come back around. I love you Ingrid Michaelson.
Okay, so here's the poem. I do not write this from experience; only from warnings I've received. Sorry it's kind of a downer; I'm going to start writing when I'm hyper so I'll have more cheery pieces.
Emptiness
Painted fantasies of youthful dreams;
O, why is nothing as it seems?
Beauty seen through maiden veil
Now to the naked eye looks pale.
Enticing apple in early light,
Bland on my greedy tongue at twilight.
Who promised flower gardens lush?
Or hearts fulfilled? Or carpets plush?
'Twas but mental imagery;
Cruel desire thus hath led me
To all of my vain hopes depress,
To wallow in the EMPTINESS
Okay, now I know there was something else I was going to write about...oh yes! I just remembered. I saw Where the Wild Things Are for the first time last week. It was quite thought provoking, but a visual delight as well, in my opinion. There was a lot of emotional tension. ("This is really emotional! *fans self*) Oh, and of course there was Bob and Terry, the two snowy owls. That made me happy because I love owls.
Well my dears, I must close now; I've a dentist appointment in the morning so I must needs get to bed.
So King Arthur finally died, as did just about everyone else in Camelot, which means I can finally do some summer reading, now that summer is almost over. :/ But what I have managed to read this summer has been excellent! As I've already said, I devoured Percy Jackson and Ella Enchanted. Last week, I bought a new book at Barnes and Noble called Timeless by Alexandra Monir. It was STELLAR! Michele, a modern girl, is the granddaughter of the wealthy Windsors of NYC. After tragedy strikes, she moves into the history rich mansion, and soon discovers that, using a mysterious key that belonged to her missing father, she can travel through time. As she becomes acquainted with her ancestors, she also meets the man of her dreams, Philip Walker. They quickly fall desperately in love, which is rather unfortunate since they live a hundred years apart. Michele must battle with time for those she loves and unlock some surprising secrets along the way. Another cool thing about this book is that you can buy on iTunes the two songs that Michele and Philip write together in the story. The book is amazing and I highly recommend it.
I am currently reading Mistwood by Leah Cypess, which is about a shape shifter named Isabel whose mission is to protect Prince Rokan. I've still got a ways to go with it, but so far it's quite interesting.
I do feel rather pathetic, because Seussical ended last Saturday and I'm only now getting around to posting. But I can't seem to stay away from the playhouse for long. I've started helping with costumes for Robin Hood, which opens tomorrow. Several of my friends are in it, and my dear friend Hannah gets killed. It's pretty entertaining to watch her die. She's a lovely actress. I can hardly wait to see the whole show.
Artistically, I've been slacking. My canvas has been sitting on the easel for over a week now with nothing but sky and water on it. Shame. I have been keeping up with music. Sort of. I'm learning to play Where by Lisbeth Scott on the piano, and my sisters and I are going to sing Everybody at the playhouse's spaghetti dinner on the 23rd. Last night I put pen to paper for a song for the first time in a looong time. I had something going along the lines of pictures in the clouds. I dunno. We'll see where it goes.
Well my DBFs, it's good to post again. I seriously miss you guys when life causes blogging absences, and I think about you a lot. Over and out!
I'm sure you guys are sick of hearing about Seussical, but I just had to post about our first three runs last weekend. It was spectacular! Our energy was the highest it had ever been on opening night, and we had a great crowd. And now we get to do it again Thursday through Saturday night of this week and next week. Here are some pictures my mom took during our final dress rehearsal:
Oh! The thinks you can think!
We're Whos, here.
Amayzing Mayzie!
Ms. Getrude McFuzz, played by my beloved drama teacher.
Jojo and the Cat in Hat
Ah, good times. In other news, I got a lot of art stuff for my birthday, as well as a Starry Night print for my new bedroom (which still isn't finished), and a lot of gift cards. So now I can't wait to go shopping.
My cat Lucy died last night. It was really sad, but he'd lived a long happy life. Still, it's kind of a strange emptiness, since he'd been around ever since I was one year old. Well, it had to happen sooner or later.
On a happier note, it's looking like my family and I will be headin' back to Orlando this September for some fun at Universal Studios. I'm so ready for some thrill.
Okay, this post is beginning to feel very unorganized and random, but bear with me. I am our church's vacation Bible school music director this year. Unfortunately, the whole theme is Gold Rush, so the theme song has a very cheesy country sound: "Saddle up yer pownies, and dust awff yer boots/ Grab yer bandanas, we're minin' for thu truth." On the other hand, I'm free to make any changes and choose the songs we'll sing, so it really isn't too bad.
My sister gave me some purple mood nail polish for my birthday. I went to bad last night with purple toe nails and when I woke up, they were pink. The odd thing is, purple is supposed to mean hopeful, and pink is supposed to mean happy. This morning, my throat hurt really bad, so I was ever so hopeful I'd get better before tomorrow night. Yet my nails were pink. Perhaps my moods aren't very readable.
And this is my first ever pair of converse! My younger sister wanted me to say that she has the same pair. Anyway, they're my favoritest I've ever seen.
I could go on and on with all this randomness, but I believe this is enough for one post. I am going to try to stay on top of my blogging more, because I love doing it, and I should have more time to now.
All this week I have been getting up at 7:30 AM to arrive at 9:00 at a kids' art and drama camp I'm helping with. It runs for two weeks, and today ended week one. On top of that, I've had Seussical rehearsals every night except tonight, so I was always getting to bed late, worn out from dancing my little heart out, then getting up early again for camp. But it's all good. Next week I get to do it all again *tired happy dance*. So you may not hear from me much. But anyway. The camp. It's run by a local artist, and she is really nice and fun and lives in a yellow and purple house with a pool and an art room and a piano and a ton of lovely flowers and a cute little dog named Poncho. Throughout the week, the kids come up with a play idea, a script, characters, props, costumes, and a set, then perform their play for their parents on Friday. This group did Candy Land theme. It was adorable.
Finally, I have a short brake tonight and tomorrow until 2:00, when I have rehearsal again. So tonight I kicked back with popcorn and an iced chai latte and watched August Rush, which my dear little sister gave me for my birthday. Yeah, it was pretty much lovely.
Did I even spell that correctly? After typing the word three times, I keep imagining it sounding like, "bus-ee." Never mind. I've been very occupied with Seussical rehearsals, but I'm getting more and more excited about the show! The songs are perpetually running in my mind and mouth. The dances are soooo much fun, and a couple of the characters will "fly" around at one part (I, unfortunately, am not one of them). I just wish you guys could see it.
On Friday, my mom, sisters, grandparents, cousins, and I visited my great aunts and uncles, who live a couple hours away in a really nice house on a really nice hill with a really nice view and a really nice pool and three really nice horses, Merlin, Paris, and Georgie-Girl. I love the place. It's romantic, in a story-bookish sort of way. Upstairs in the house, there is a cozy little window seat from which I can see lovely green mountains, and it has got to be my most favorite reading spot in the entire world.
Speaking of reading, I read the whole Percy Jackson series in about one and a half weeks. I was extremely sad when I finished "The Last Olympian," knowing that I wouldn't be getting my Olympian fix the next night. But I was very pleased with how it ended, even though I got choked up, which surprised me. (I won't go into detail, since I'm not certain Kellie has read it.) So to help ease the end-of-amazing-series-blues, I read Ella Enchanted. I loved it. But now I'm finished reading that too, so now I'm stuck with finishing volume two of Le Morte d'Arthur for school. Don't get me wrong; I find Camelot and kings and knights rescuing fair young damsels very enchanting. What I don't like is numerous, lengthy recounts of jousting tournaments and errant knight spars in which Sir so-and-so smote Sir other-so-and-so wonderly sore upon the helm and sent him groveling. It gets kinda old.
Last night, we went into town to see the fireworks show. Fireworks shall forever hold a special place with me, inspiring a sense of awe that makes me feel like a little girl again. Today, we went on a picnic after church, and I took some pictures that I hope to post later. And tomorrow, the plan is to go on an early bird picnic, leaving at seven and eating breakfast at the picnic area and hanging around there the rest of the day. I've tried to my family explain that my mind will not be in picnic mode at that hour, but to no avail. At least it's my favorite picnic site.
And to you, my DBFs, I wish a fantabulous Fourth! ;D
I feel like a slacker. Kellie has posted three times since I last posted. And it's not like I've been extremely busy or anything, it's just that Percy Jackson seems to call for my constant attention. I've been going to Seussical choreography rehearsals this week, as well as vacation Bible school at a neighboring church. Happily busy, with still enough time to read and blog and play piano. Seussical is crazy fun already, and we haven't even gotten to singing rehearsals and blocking yet. I'll have to see if my mom can video a rehearsal sometime so I can post it and torment you guys trying to figure out which ones are me AND my youngest sister! (But I will tell you....eventually ;)
And now, for some of that untouchable, beautiful, magical stuff we call music.
First, "By Your Side" by Tenth Avenue North, which I've been listening to quite a bit lately:
And now, a really cool Ingrid Michaelson video:
And finally, one of my favorite Regina Spektor songs:
DBF OUT!
(Don't you wish there was a music note key on laptops?)
Kohl's+Rue 21+T.J. Max = Three new shirts + a pair of shoes on the way+my wallet's weight loss program getting a bit out of hand. You guys know how it is. And I love how we share our shopping experiences. Kohl's has got this new kiosk that lets you scan an item that they don't have in store in your size or color and order it online. It's pretty sweet. I went to Rue 21 for the first time in my life and found that tons of their stuff is just my style and the prices are decent also. I gots a new favorite.
And then I went to Cold Stone and got some birthday cake remix ice cream and lived happily ever after. The End.
