Happy Valentine's Day!

First, for all the Whovians.....

Second, for all the married couples (or single people's parents or whatever)....  Some words of advice from our friends at Get In Here Igniter Ministries.

Lastly, for all of us single people, who will be celebrating Single Awareness Day (S.A.D.) this year....

Happy Valentine's Day, y'all.

~Eowyn~

Quite a Few Things I LOVE About Christmas!!

• The fact that it's actually CHRISTMASTIME!!!  ("Eowyn, dear, we have all apprehended as much."  Yes, yes, yes, I know, I've just been super busy.  First and probably last Christmas post, coming up!)
• Having Starbucks Holiday drinks... the Peppermint Mocha especially (or Peppermint Hot Chocolate or Peppermint Mocha Frappichino!!)
• Listening to Christmas music - old faithfuls like It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year (which we have on a record, but can't listen to because a certain three-year-old brother broke the needle... again...), Marshmallow World, and The Christmas Waltz, and newer songs like All I Really Want for Christmas (I dare you to listen to it and not cry!), Welcome to Our World, While You Were Sleeping, The Christmas Can-Can (heehee...), and Oh, Holy Night (performed by The Voice of Chocolate).  I've heard people say that they're tired of Christmas music within the first week of December, but I never tire of Christmas music!!!
• Watching It's a Wonderful Life, our Christmas Eve movie!!  (Jimmy Stewart is ah.mazing...)

Donna and Jimmy's onscreen chemistry deserves an Academy award!

• Gathering with friends from church
• The cold weather!  Here in Georgia, it's finally gotten cold!  At my violin recital last night (I played the Bach Double Violin Concerto and loved it!), I nearly froze.  No kidding!
• Watching 'The Kid' - a Growing Pains Christmas Special.  Discovered it earlier this year after reading Still Growing by Kirk Cameron (great read, by the way!) and really liked it!
• Watching White Christmas, starring Bing Crosby!  Arwen started it for my little brother this morning before I got up and now we're going to watch it again.  : )
• Getting together with family members that I haven't seen in ages!
• Watching The Shop Around the Corner,which isn't a Christmas movie per se, but whatever.  Like I said - Jimmy Stewart....  : )

Alfred Kralik (Jimmy Stewart): There might be a lot we don't know about each other. You know, people seldom go to the trouble of scratching the surface of things to find the inner truth.
Klara Novak (Margaret Sullavan): Well I really wouldn't care to scratch your surface, Mr. Kralik, because I know exactly what I'd find. Instead of a heart, a hand-bag. Instead of a soul, a suitcase. And instead of an intellect, a cigarette lighter... which doesn't work.

• Watching Holiday Inn.  No, it's not a Christmas movie, but it's got snow in it, which automatically makes it a Christmas movie.  Me loves it.  : )
• Eating candy and cakes and cookies and fudge and every good thing!
• Watching Little Women!!  (If I think a movie should be classified as a Christmas movie, who are you to argue with me?!  Need I pull the its-my-blog-I-can-do-whatever-I-want-with-it card?)
• The fact that The Hobbit and Les Miserables will now forever remind me of Christmas!!  WAHOOO!!!
• Watching Miracle on 34th Street!  Love that movie....  : )
• Teaching my little brother about Christmas.... : )  I love listening to his reasons - "Jingle bells and presents!" - then helping him find the real reason - "Jesus when born!  And Santa Claus!"  (Well, sort of....  We're still working on it.)  (Bunny trail....  Let me just tell you guys that he. Is. Adorable.  The fortunate few of you that have met him know how much personality he has!  Just the other day, he went out to eat with my mom and one of her friends and her husband, and this adorable little evangelist was asking the man, "Did you know that Jesus died on the cross?  And Christmas is about Jesus when born?"  And then, at a Christmas party after my violin recital, he stared at an older man for a long time, then told him, point blank, "You... are an old man.")

My absolute favorite reason why I love Christmas, however, is the fact that it's actually Christmastime once again.  I've heard that Christmas is when the world falls in love, and I know that's been true when it comes to my relationship with my Savior, Jesus Christ.  I could go on and on about how He didn't have to be born in a manger - He's the King of Kings! - or how many things I've learned this year, especially in the past month, that make me love Him more....  It seems like everything in my life is drawing me closer to Him!  From questioning why people don't do certain things I'm involved in, like watching The Hobbit or actually celebrating Christmas and asking God to help me find the reasons why I do those things and not just settling for the easy answer ("Just cuz..."), to just learning about Him through church events, the Anger Resolution Seminar by Bill Gothard.  No, I'm not perfect (far from it, as you hopefully know!), but I can see myself slowly growing in my relationship with Him.  I'm forever thankful for what He did for me, for which, despite all the awful beating this holiday has taken from the media and marketing and millions of other sources, I'm forever reminded of this time of year.  It's something I'll still be thinking about a lot and I hope you'll take the time to do the same.

Merry Christmas!!!

~Eowyn~

Twenty-Five Things I'm Thankful For

• God, Who saved me and continues to mold me into who He wants me to be every single day
• My wonderful family, who loves me even when I make idiotic mistakes
• My sweetie-pie little brother, who never ceases to make me laugh!
• My church body, without whom I know I wouldn't be who I am today
• My loving friends, who accept me the way I am - with all of my faults and quirks  : )
• My awesome pen pal, Elinor  (Love ya, girly!!)
• All of my amazing bloggy friends - you guys are awesome!
• Sir Percy... just cuz.  (And, yes, I did just say that!)
• The makers of the Lord of the Rings LEGO video game who decided to keep Faramir in it.  Cuz he is amazing.  Nuff said.
• All of the authors whose works I read frequently - Wayne Thomas Batson, Robert Whitlow, J.R.R. Tolkien, Louisa May Alcott, and C.S. Lewis, to name a very few.  You worked hard to create something worth reading and you have done it!!
• The BBC for making such wonderful productions and for providing half of the quotes that I use on a regular basis, from "Easy peesy, squeeze the lemon," to "Sparker, be quiet!" to "No lace!" to "In vain I have struggled - my feelings will not be repressed.  You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you!" to "Really, Emma, it is better to be without wit at all then to apply it as you do!"  (And that's only half of the half!)
• Peter Jackson for making Lord of the Rings and sticking to The Hobbit
• To the Bored Shorts TV people, who provide the other half of the quotes I use on a regular basis!  ("Don't punch........our car." and "I am a Snackyvore.  It is liiiiike... a dinosoah that likes... snacks and treats!" are two of my bo-fuh... my bo-fa, my bo-faaaai....  Yeah.)
• Tenth Avenue North - your music makes me feel like I'm in church.  And I love it.  : )
• Alec and Nikki, who are two of my best friends even though they're only in my head  : )
• The old Hollywood, who made such awesome Christmas movies like Holiday Inn, Christmas in Connecticut, Miracle on 34th Street, White Christmas, and the two that share the rank of my top favorite Christmas movie of all time, The Shop Around the Corner and It's a Wonderful Life!
• My piano and violin teachers, who inspire me to play more than they know!
• My good friend who inspired me to start writing again.  That was a good six years ago and, good gracious, I haven't gotten over it yet!
• The makers of all of the musicals I love - Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, Little Women, and The Little Mermaid.  Most of my go-to songs are from those four musicals and I love them dearly!
• Mitt Romney, for sticking to it and running for president and defying the odds.  You would have been a great president!
• Milton Hershey for perfecting the modern version of chocolate - you are in my debt!
• The next-door neighbors and their adorable twins who I got to babysit all day today.  Not finishing my school was completely worth it!
• The NaNo people for inspiring so many writers to actually write and finish a goal and push them!
• The makers of all of the indie films that I love - October Baby, What If..., Fireproof, and To Save a Life being some of my favorites.  When you work hard to make a good movie, the story and character development make up for all of the acting slips!
• You guys, the readers of my blog.  You make my day whenever you read a post or comment or follow!  Thank you so much!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

~Eowyn~

The Random Post

Above, my mutant Independence Day peach cobbler. It was better than it looks!!


I've been debating writing this post for a while. I don't necessarily like writing random posts because, as you all probably know by now, I tend to get a little long-winded. Ha! I'd love to do an entire post on each little thing happening, but I'm not that long-winded!


So. Here we go. The Random Blog Post. It's full of random things. I'll be skipping from one subject to another. (Don't say I didn't warn you....)


First off, I'm super excited about My Fair Lady at Proms 2012! Anthony Andrews as Professor Higgins!! That's enough to get me excited - listening to Sir Percy, uh, I mean Anthony Andrews' version of Professor Higgins, which has been greatly acclaimed... pictures, at least. (No sound or video clips... but it won't be like that for long!) Can't you just hear him singing, 'I've grown accustomed to her face....'? Can't wait!!!


And I just looked at the updated My Fair Lady page - guess who's also starring as Alfred Doolittle?! Alun Armstrong!! And Jenny Galloway as Mrs. Pearce! *happy sigh* My younger brother is having a friend over, but... I think I'll step out. : P


I just found a way to actually listen in - hope it'll work!!! If not, I shall be one very sad, very disappointed, and very cranky Anthony Andrews fan. : D


Second, heehee.... I don't think anyone at church last week knew I was a Jedi. Ha! *crickets* I guess I should explain.


I am not a Star Wars fan. Never have been, and probably never will be. There's just something a leeeetle weird about "The Force" to me.... Anyway, I just got a new phone (Woot! No Internet, though... I got it so I could text a little faster than I was using a flip phone.) and one of the first apps I downloaded was a lightsaber app. Please don't ask me what posessed me to get it - I don't know. (But just because I don't like the movie doesn't mean I can't like the special effects and music, right?)


Okay, so I've been letting my little brother play with it. And he loves it. He rode in the car for an hour and played with that app the whole time - just changing the colors and type of lightsaber the entire ride! That was two Saturdays ago. I thought I had a good idea going when I told him that he could play with it in church the next day. *sigh* Silly me.


He sat in my lap for the first part of service, then when the sermon started, I pulled my phone out, double-checked the volume to make sure it was on vibrate, and handed it to him. He gave me the hugest and sweetest little smile and then tapped on the hilt of the lightsaber. The laser-blade shot out... complete with the sound effect. AHHH!!! I could feel myself blush as I snatched my phone away and turned it off, then handed him his Bible. Argh. I knew I'd turned the sound off! Weirdness.... My other brother just kept staring at me and silently laughing. *frusterated sigh* After church, Arwen told me that the lightsaber shot out right as Dad turned on the laser pointer and pointed it at the screen. So it looked like the church's laser pointer was equipped with an awesome sound effect.... *facepalm* Thank goodness that our church is really small - only about eight families and seventy-ish people total. So I didn't embarass myself that much... well, not really. *facepalm again* Moving on to a less embarassing random topic....


We've started listening to Adventures in Odyssey again! We had a really nice Christian library where we lived before and they had all of the AiO albums. We listened to almost all of them, then couldn't when we moved two states away. Anyway, we decided to buy a few albums at a conference a few months ago and I've really enjoyed listening again. It's not very often that you get funny, suspenseful, Christian entertainment such as radio dramas or movies! I've been trying to keep tabs on good indie Christian films in development so that I can see them and actually feel good about something I watched in a theater. (I'd recommend October Baby and No Greater Love - two lesser-known indie films. And there's also the Sherwood Pictures films.... But I really enjoyed October Baby - maybe even more than Courageous? Scandalous, I know....) Anyway. My younger sister is auditioning for the AiO Get In The Show! contest and I'm really hoping she wins... and that has nothing to do with the fact that you get a lot of the albums if you're in the top twelve! : P


Some of you may or may not know, but I'm a hopeless TV show addict. Old TV shows, specifically. Hogan's Heroes, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Waltons... I love them all. I also recently discovered Growing Pains! It's really fun to see Kirk Cameron as a teenager. (And after reading Still Growing, I sort of had to watch the show because he talked about it a lot and got my curiosity aroused!) I don't know if I could recommend GP, by the way, because there are a few questionable subjects such as dating. The ones after Kirk became a Christian - Season Three and beyond - are better. You can really tell! (But, if you're looking for a really good TV show to watch, I'd totally recommend The Dick Van Dyke Show. Extremely clean and very funny. But, hey! It's Dick Van Dyke!!)


Ooh, and speaking of movies.... We watched Captain America for the first time a few days ago! I think Captain America is my favorite superhero, too! (Out of the half-half-dozen I've seen, anyway....) Heehee - we were watching it and I kept recognizing people. "Hey, look!! It's Mr. Thornton!! And that guy from Amazing Grace - the Duke of Kent!! And Elrond!! And that guy from the Kit movie!! And Mace Windu!!" But I totally lost it when Dominic Cooper appeared. The mustache threw me off, but when he said, "We are ready," I knew who it was. "It's Willougby!! DON'T TRUST HIM, STEVE!!!" I seriously had my doubts about him for the entire movie... but he was trustworthy. : D He was funny, too.


All in all, I really liked Captain America. My dad used the remote and bleeped out (most of) the language. (Donations to the ClearPlay/TV Guardian fund are welcome....) I really liked all of Steve's values, which were very different than most people's today. And that scene when he told Maggie that he was waiting for the right partner? *sigh* Me likes.


On my novel.... I haven't written since I finished my 50k words! I'm starting to go through withdrawl... I can hear Nikki and Alec calling me... weird, right? I'm going to work on it sometime soon - really soon. Maybe while my younger brother's friend is here.... I don't know. Anyway, excerpts are coming... just as soon as I can figure out how to do excerpts. Does anyone have any pointers on that? I just can't figure out what to put up here! Definitely not the whole thing - it's not nearly ready - but I don't want to do too little. Just how much, though?! : P


And my dress for the ball is very nearly started. Heehee. And the fourth part in my Les Miserables series is in the works! Do not fear - it shall come!!! Soon, too!!


If you've made it this far... you should be commended. Thanks for listening to all my ramblings. : D


~Eowyn~

Happy Independence Day!!

Happy Independence Day, everybody!!

Enjoy time with your friends and family and thank God for the freedom He's given us!

Oh, and for everyone who finished their 50k words.... Pretend like the fireworks are for you. : D

~Eowyn~