Happy 121st Birthday, J.R.R. Tolkien!

Without you, we wouldn't know what hobbits are.

Without you, we'd have no reason to spontaneously shout, "Get off the road!"

Without you, we'd think that gold rings were normal.

Without you, there'd be no reason to dress up and watch extended editions of movies with friends.

Without you, we wouldn't sound cool when we say like Captain Obvious, "A diversion."

Without you, we would have no good standards for great literature.

Without you, I know I'd be without one of my top favorite movie heroes.  (FARAMIR!!!)

Without you, I wouldn't be interested in literature at all.

Without you, I wouldn't have a reason to have a cake made house in a hill.

Without you, well... I would be completely fangirlish over The Scarlet Pimpernel.
(It's good to have balance in my passions.)

Thank you.

~Eowyn~

A Sort-Of Expected Party

Or, 'The Post in Which I Include Tons of Pictures.'  (This is when Haley grins and greedily takes in all of the pictures.  Heehee....)

My birthday festivities started a few nights before the big day.  Like I said in my last post, I cleaned two houses, then came home and made my cake, staying up much past my bedtime.  But it was well worth it, as you'll see from the pictures!!

I literally threw my party together driving to piano lessons with my mom, which is also when I came up with the idea for my cake.  My mom said something about us going to go see The Hobbit and I said if it came out a week before, I'd totally go see it for my birthday.  But, sadly....  I remembered that I'd wanted to have a hobbit-themed party when it came out, but, due to Christmas parties, now thought it was impossible.  Not so!  Hey, even if my birthday was like a week before The Hobbit came out, that doesn't mean I can't still have a hobbit-themed party!!  Instantly, images of hobbit hole cakes flooded into my mind and I grinned.  "Mom!!" I giddily exclaimed.  "I can have a hobbit hole cake!!!"

(This is when I say, "Non-Ringers/Hobbit fans: Beware of the abundance of hobbit-y pictures to follow.")

Yes, I baked all this!  And all gluten- and dairy-free!  : )
Now, how does most of this make a hobbit hole cake?  I'm glad you asked!

That's how.
(The two little circles flat on the cooling rack were for the windows.)

The windows and (adorable!!) door in the freezer.

This is how I did the top of the cake.  Messy-looking, right?!  I was a little disappointed and hoped it'd still work!

Almost done!  I think I took this picture right after I was ready to put the green-food-coloring-dyed-coconut-flakes on the wet icing, but realized they were still soaking!  Whoops!  I spread them out on a cookie sheet and stuck them in the oven, then tried to work on the cake while they were speed-drying.

The completed cake!  Ain't it so cute?!  Not quiiiite like a real hobbit hole - everybody knows that hobbit holes don't have vines hanging down from the grassy top - but I liked it.  Everything I made the cake out of was edible - and no fondant or marzipan!!  I don't like fondant at all and all of the (five) pictures of hobbit hole cakes (very few - I had very little to base my cake off of!) were made out of fondant.  Yuck!

My green door with a knob right in the middle.  (At least that part is accurate!)
I'm very proud of it.  : )

Torn-up marshmallows and homemade icing-covered flax cereal.

My chimney!!  I made it out of Nutella, which I added powdered sugar to.

A hobbit-sized wood stack.  : )



My sign I put on top of the cake in the refrigerator.  At one in the morning, I thought it was very witty.

The morning of my birthday, my parents went out to eat breakfast with another couple.  "Us kids" had the house to ourselves and we made use of it.  : )

One of the best things about having a December birthday is the fact that my family can put their presents for me under the tree!!  I love it.  : )  (These are strewn out because my little brother and I had to feel and shake each one.)

The present that my littlest brother said was a bomb.  (It turned out to be an Avengers ball.)

Cutie-pie brother and I!

Me LOVES my Gamgee Landscaping shirt!!  (Take notice of the words around the 'G'.)
You can buy your own on Etsy here.

Of the three scarves I got for my birthday, I'll have to say that this one's my favorite.  My younger sister knit it and even let me try it on a few times to see if it was long enough , then stashed it away.  The deal was that she'd keep it til Christmas, but then she found the movie at Goodwill and Mom said to give it to me.  : )  I got to wear it to church on Sunday and enjoyed being subtly geeky.  XD

This, apparently, is the face Arwen gave my little brother when he said he was going to tell me what he got me for my birthday.  A little blurry, but I love it!

After opening presents, we just hung around and watched Horrible Histories videos.  : )  This one's my favorite.  (Special thanks to Anne-girl, who first posted the video on her blog!  One play and I was hooked!)  This is about the time that something occured to me....  I had an apostrophe epiphany and told my sister, "HEY!!  Rapunzel got a guy for her eighteenth birthday...."

My parents got home a while later and then we went to my grandparents' house, where some friends joined us for more present-opening, games, dinner, half a movie, cake, and the other half of the movie.  (Ever After, if you were wondering....  If you haven't seen it, hie thee to Netflix or some such entertainment-provider!)

Me opening presents.  So embarrassing with everybody staring at me....
(Sunday at church was much worse, however!  Everybody sang while I was up front after playing the final song with the rest of the the worship team!)

I'm planning on making some sort of sign to hang below it so that the "carry on" part is covered out.  It'll be dry-erase or something so that I can write different ones depending on my mood.  I'm seeing, "Longbourn is lent at last!" or "and Call Sir Percy" or "Enjo has a Red Vest of Power and Awesomeness" or "Bilbo has joined The Company" or even "Hey, it could be worse - NJ could be Marius!" 

All the kids playing ImaginIff!  So much fun!

Our awesome P-A-R-T-Y plates that can spell a lot of different things (like 'pray' or 'tar' or 'rap') and are very useful for a great many varieties of candy.  : )

 

Sticking those candles into my work of art was one of the hardest things I had to do all day.

(But it could be worse....  See below.)

The Scouring of the Shire.  *sniff*

And that was pretty much my birthday!

Expect the next post I do to be a long, gushy, fangirlish post about The Hobbit.  Sadly, I'll be cleaning a house, then going to two back-to-back Christmas parties on Friday, so I can't see it opening night....  *sob*  But we're going to the first available showing on Saturday!  (Right before a Christmas party at our house... which kind of means I can't watch it twice in a row....)  I'm also really glad Les Miz isn't coming out on December 14th....  I couldn't handle the overload of awesomeness!!  : )

Still wondering why My Guy missed his chance to proclaim his love for me....
~Eowyn~

"It's kind of a big day for me...."

"I'm turning eighteen...."

I can hardly believe it!!  How did this happen!!  It's also me who distinctly remembers that my birthday was last year - it can't possibly be again!  But time goes on and I've gotten a year older.  (I've actually been telling people that I'm turning fifteen because I don't act my age and I don't want to!)

And, sadly, this is the last time that I can sing that great song from The Sound of Music.  So, for the last time....

'I am seventeen, going on eighteen....'

Also, today, I got to serve at a distribution center for Operation Christmas Child, which was a blast!  It's something I've wanted to do for years and years but have either been too young or too busy.  But, anywhoz, I finally did it today with a group from TeenPact.  So much fun!!

Our entire group!  (TeenPact is amazing, by the way....)

Here's where all the shoe boxes went from the processing center!  Really neat!



My job was to make sure the 'filler boxes' were full.  Sometimes, the boxes weren't full enough, so they stuck these things in to make the box better for the child.



Some of the boxes with the un-processed shoe boxes inside!

This lady found the shoe box she personally sent to Operation Christmas Child!  Is that neat or what?!

Mom (far right) and younger sister (far left) with their group

Awesome TeenPact friends!

At the end, after we'd worked for about four hours.  Loads of fun!

 Almost needless to say, I was really tired by the end of the day.  I could fall asleep right now, actually....  (Zzzzzzz....)  But that's my fault - I cleaned two houses yesterday, then came home and stayed up designing my birthday cake until... really late.  (My cake, by the way, looks ah-mazing and I can't wait to show you guys pictures!  Not telling what it looks like, but it's very green and geeky.)  And then I woke up early, got fingerprinted for our next adoption (luckily, they didn't find out about my criminal record...), and then went and processed Christmas shoe boxes!

I am so sleeping in tomorrow....

Which is fine because it's a Saturday!

~Eowyn~

Here's my attempt to tell you guys everything that's gone on this week...

I have had the craziest week ever.

(I could end this blog post there - that'd certainly be the easiest way of doing it....  But I'll attempt to tell you guys everything that's gone on this week, starting with Arwen's birthday last Sunday.  [Well, it wasn't last Sunday, it was, like, two Sundays ago.]  Anywhoz.)

(I should also mention that I'm listening to a Doctor Who soundtrack playlist on YouTube, so if I randomly start quoting David Tennant... my deepest apologies.  But not that deep.  I've only seen two episodes, so I don't have much to work with, but....  *evil laugh*)

We had Arwen's birthday party after everyone left after church.  A few of the kids from three families were there, totaling thirteen kids.  (I love big families....)  We played this awesome Bible game called Truth and Triumph - full of Bible questions that were insanely hard - and then ate a delicious lunch, cooked in the kitchen at the community center where we meet for church.  Afterwards, instead of cake and ice cream, we had caramel apples!!!  (Try this at home - use an apple slicer to cut an apple up, then dip it in caramel, mini chocolate chips, and pecans.  It's amazing and way easier to eat than a whole apple!)  After that, we went to see Finding Nemo in 3D.  : )

Monday morning, we left for the Passion for Jesus Retreat.  It. Was. Amazing.  I won't even attempt to write everything God taught me this week because it'd take you years to read it all.  No joke!  God used APJ in a very powerful way this past week, and I count myself very blessed to have been a part of it!

 APJ is different from other retreats or conferences because they have a lot of dramatic skits in between sessions.  This one was an analogy of what happens after you've become a Christian, but still have guilt over things you did before you were a Christian.

They also incorporate a lot of singing in the schedule, too.  Nearly every time our entire group got together, we sang amazing songs, such as 'Still, My Soul Be Still,' 'Wonderful, Merciful Savior,' 'Above All,' 'All I Have is Christ,' 'The Power of the Cross,' 'Revelation Song,' 'How Deep the Father's Love,' 'Before the Throne of God Above,' and I could probably list every song in the songbook they sent us home with because they're all amazing.  (If you haven't heard any of the songs I listed, go look them up.  Like, now.)

 In between sessions and small groups and hours upon hours of alone-time with God (what my small group leader liked to call dates with Him), we had plenty of time to goof off with the other campers.  We did a lot of volleyball games and swimming in the lake and all that jazz.  (We also played an awesome game where we ran around and hid and acted like idiots.  It was awesome.)

 One of my small group leaders - who was from Australia!  Her accent was amazing.  (I also discovered how hard an Australian accent is to pull off!  It's a cross between British and Irish and completely awesome.)

 Part of my small group trying to write a song about Starbursts.  (I told you we had time to goof off!)  It was a competition, too!  We didn't win, but had an absolute blast.  : )

 The train track at the camp where we stayed.  The conductor stopped the train here so that he could give a salvation message.

 A team while they were doing their Starburst song.  (The girl in the front is really nice and I think she acts exactly like Arwen!)

 Me and one of my small group leaders.  Loved her to death!

 Me and the girl from Australia - she was amazing!

Me and a speaker, who was so much fun to listen to!  I could sit there for hours and hours and listen to her speak.

I'll give you guys the highlights of what I learned.  Just the highlights, mind you, so this isn't going to look like much, but if you want more, just email me.  : )

On humbleness and pride - I learned that I had so much pride in more than one area of my life.  It was insane!  The night Laurie spoke on pride, it was like this huge wave of conviction came over me and I was like, "Oh, nuts."  We all got down on the floor in a big circle and prayed and cried for a few hours.  (Then watched Billy: The Early Years, which was the perfect movie to end all that crying because it was so funny!)  In our workbook, they put a list of prideful people and what they do and don't do versus broken people and what they do and don't do.  I found a few of them here, if you'd like to check them out.

On forgiveness and bitterness - Bitterness is a nasty word.  Some people don't like to admit they're bitter at others and instead say, "I'm just hurt."  But it's the same thing.

On guy friends - I need to be more than just a friend to my brothers in Christ.  I need to be a sister to them, helping and encouraging them along their walk with the Lord.  One thing I really liked about the retreat this year was that they had a guy speaker.  I know what you're thinking - a guy at an all-girls camp?!  Scandalous!!  No, not really.  I heard David to have been a little bit of a distraction, but, to me, what he said far outweighed any distraction he was, because to me, personally, subjects like this mean so much more coming from a guy.  Really.  (That, and he was funny, too!  Check out this awesome video I found yesterday!!)

On crushes - This was another thing David talked about.  He first defined a crush ("A crush is affection looking for somewhere to rest.  A crush is like a head cold.  It comes and it goes and the best thing you can do about it not to pass it on."), then talked about different things having to do with crushes.  The thing that I liked the most, though, was what he said about having a crush on God.  People say they love God, but if there's no relationship - they never read their Bible or pray or anything - they really only have a crush on God.  : )

And I'd better stop before this gets much longer.  Again, though, if you'd like any more of my notes or anything, just ask.  I'd be more than willing to email them to anyone because one of the things I heard at the retreat was that I have to many masks.  I have different masks - one for church, one for home, one for certain siblings, one for my friend, the list goes on and on.  Laurie talked about taking off the masks and being real.  "To be real is to be vulnerable" are her exact words.  So I'll be real with y'all.  No more masks.  : )

Friday, Arwen and I got up early-ish to go to work, then came home really tired.  Then, on Saturday, we went to another ball!  Yes, another ball!!  : )  I didn't take many pictures, so for the sake of this post not being any longer than it already is, I won't post any.  (Unless, that is, you riot and throw tomatoes.  But please stop because I am talking!!!  *gasps*  I didn't think I'd actually quote Doctor Who, and there it was.  And not even David Tennant!)

On Sunday, we had the most amazing worship time!  I think it was partially because Arwen and I had been at the APJ retreat all week, so our music was more focused on Christ.  Also, at our church, we have a time of sharing what the Lord has been teaching in your life, then we do prayer requests and praise reports, then we pray.  This week, everything seemed to connect together, like everyone was sharing in the same theme - trusting God, which, insanely, was something He had convicted me about at the retreat.  A friend shared the exact same verse God had brought to my mind as I was walking down the train track one day.  After everyone shared, I had to go outside and have a minute by myself.  I completely lost it.  It was great.  : )Afterwards, we had a fellowship meal and played football (which is my one weakness).  Monday was the standard school and et cetera, then orchestra practice.  As Arwen and I were driving home, we hit a huge deer.  Now the front of our car is all smashed up and we'll probably have to drive my mom's car to work tomorrow.  (Sigh.)

Thus is my life.  "One big stinking hunk of nothing!"  No, that's not it.  What's the quote...?  "My life is an open book, I see!"  Nope.  Oh, whatever.  What I'm trying to say is that my life is amazing right now.  (With no guy in it - imagine that!)  Anybody got a quote for that?  : )

~Eowyn~

Things I'll be doing...

Watching this movie tonight - and probably bawling my head off.... I can't even tell you guys how good it is. Story-wise, better than any indie flim I've ever seen (and, yes, that includes Fireproof and Courageous and maybe even To Save a Life because adoption hits very close to home with me!). Sure, there are a few moments where you're like, "Oh, yeah... this is an indie film!" - but they were few and far between!








Reading this book in the near future... after I read the first two to refresh my memory. (It came in the mail today after I ordered it Wednesday from Amazon. I nearly shrieked and said, "Amazon Prime is so handy!!!")

Majorly excited!!!! I can't wait to tell you guys all about it!!!







And I'll be going to this next week! I can't wait for everything - fellowshipping with friends, fasting, having alone-time with God, and getting to know Him better!!!

Oh, and here's a shout-out to Arwen, the second half of this blog (that never posts... ahem!), whose birthday is Sunday! Happy Birthday, girl! : )

See you guys in a week or so!
~Eowyn~

Randomness Yet Again

(Above, my adorable little brother with a ribbon from my younger sister's birthday present.  Isn't he just adorable?!)

Thanks so much for being patient with me, everyone.  I know there have only been crickets on my blog, and I'm soary.  (I've had the most hectic week of my life!  Well, maybe not my life, but definitely the busiest week of 2012!  Let's just say that I have had no free time.  Poor Sir Percy has been left in the Kindle, his life frozen right in the middle of saving a family in Sir Percy Leads the Band...)

I've been doing a lot of things lately - chiefly...

A piano EXAM.  The examiner was from England and had an accent - one of the only happy things about the exam.  He was so bubbly, he reminded me of Mr. Bingley!  "Do sit down," he said, motioning towards the piano seat.  Once I'd adjusted it, he asked, "All comfortable?  Good!"  I just wanted him to talk.  Forget about the pieces I had to play and things I had to sing!

A violin recital.  I played 'Adoration,' and didn't do quite as well as I'd like, but one of the moms said I did very well.  : )

Homeschool Day at Six Flags!  I only rode two rollercoasters - I can't stand them! - but I had an excessively diverting time talking to friends and parents of friends.

Daddy-Long-Legs by Jane Webster.  I finished it in about three sittings.  (I had to stop in the middle to study for a big history final I have sometime next week.  : P)  It was so good!  I seriously cried at the end.  Like, sobbed.  It's written entirely in letters - one-sided, mind you, yet very entertaining.  It's about a young orphan girl (a very promising young girl!) who gets chosen, by a trustee at the orphan asylum where she lives, to be educated at a college.  The man doesn't want her to know who he is, but she's supposed to write to him.  (She calls him Daddy-Long-Legs because she knows he's really tall.)  He never writes back, but that doesn't stop her.  Really good!  (Again, I sobbed at the end.  Tears of joy!)

I've started writing my first (well, technically second) post about Les Miserables.  It's about the music, and that's all I'll say.  : )

I've been writing a lot lately, too, which is a lot of fun because I didn't have much time this past school year.  I might post a bit of what I write soon.  Would you guys like to read it?

Well, we're going to watch Ivanhoe (starring Anthony Andrews... *sigh*) again because my dad hasn't seen it yet.  I'll close with a few random quotes that I've found over the course of the past few days.

"I do wish that mice and snakes and toads and angleworms are not so portable.  You never know what is going on in a perfectly respectable-looking child's pocket."

- Dear Enemy by Jane Webster

"It isn't the big troubles in life that require character.  Anybody can rise to a crisis and face a crushing tragedy with courage, but to meet the petty hazards of the day with a laugh - I really think that requires spirit."

- Daddy-Long-Legs by Jane Webster

And a quote that I found the other day that describes perfectly my absolute favorite color...

Green is the prime color of the world, and that from which its loveliness arises.

- Pedro Calderon de la Barca, 17th-century Spanish playwright

I'll try to get my next Les Miz post up soon, but I don't know when.  Thanks for your patience!

~Eowyn~

Birthday Party!

Yes, a birthday party means pictures! Hope you don't mind.... : )

We celebrated my younger brother's birthday a few days after his actual birthday and had a few of his friends over for a pretty awesome airsoft gun fight. (I got almost addicted to airsoft last summer... Needless to say, I had a blast!) After that, we played Capture the Flag, and that was equally fun, complete with some amazing rescues (and attempts)!

We got these little trays a few years ago and they've come in very handy for parties! (We've tried to guess what else we can spell with them, too: pray, tray, part, tarp....)

Birthday boy and some of his friends (and my little brother showing off his gun!)

Here he is again with the gun. He's become a huge fan of Roy Rogers over the past few months, which makes me SO happy. (I'm a big fan, too. I even have a picture of Roy and Dale in my room. LOL!)

We had an awesome airsoft fight, even if we all looked dorky in the glasses!

Happy Birthday sign made out of camouflage wrapping paper!

Me, a friend, and Arwen (hehehe - that was the only "camo" shirt I had... whatever...)

Friend and adorable little brother!

Arwen made up a SWEET (in every sense of the word) ice cream cake. Here's how it stacked up: cookie layer, vanilla ice cream, cookie layer, vanilla ice cream, then drizzled with chocolate and peanut butter and topped with mini Reeses cups. YUM!!

Close-up of the top... Yes, it was delicious.

Arwen also though that the ice cream cake wouldn't be enough, so she made two dozen cupcakes. We still have leftovers of each!

Now, no picture post would be complete without pictures of my little brother. *sigh* Isn't he adorable?!

Studying his gun... He wanted some eye protection, too, even though we were in the back yard by now. : )

And the cowboy boots complete the look!

Hope you enjoyed the pictures! A special thanks to my good friend for taking a few of them, then to Arwen for the (very cute) pictures of my little brother!

~Eowyn~

PS: (You can do PSes in a blog post - they're not just strictly for letters or emails. I've done it before and I'll probably do it again... lol!) Arwen and I went to an AMAZING movie last night. (Hint: It was not called The Hunger Games.) My next blog post will be about it and how much we loved it!