So I was checking up on something earlier....

...and found THIS.

AND THIS.

(And it just may or may not be on my desktop....)

Congrats, Hiddles and Hadley.  You both just earned fifty awesome points.

Can't wait for Coriolanus!!!

~Eowyn~

"life goes on...."

Wellsies.  How have y'all been?  My life has been just a little short of crazy lately, but still pretty awesome.  : )

I did a photo shoot of this little cutie pie the other day.  Care to see more?

Lately, I've been studying for my first CLEP test with CollegePlus - Analyzing and Interpreting Literature.  I've been studying for it for literally months - partially because I could never get it scheduled, partially because I had to take a month off so we could work on our basement (it looks FAB!!), and partially just cuz.  Life, y'all.

Anywhoz, I fiiiiiiinally took it today.  And I PASSED!!  WOOT!!!  I am now in BEACH MODE.  We're leaving on Monday, and I'm sooooo excited.  I got a million books at the library, so, combined with a few I'm re-reading (or, in the case of The Living Room by Robert Whitlow, bought about a month ago, but haven't been able to read yet cuz of school), I'm going to have a LOT of fun.  We're also planning several movie marathons - ALL of the Lord of the Rings movies (extended, of course), plus a few new ones, including Patriot Games, starring Harrison Ford and Sean Bean.  Can't wait!  We've been listening to the soundtrack for several months now, and if the movie is anything like the soundtrack, it's going to be AWESOME.

During my vacation at the beach, I'm hopefully going to have a lot of time to blog, so you should see at least two NYC-related posts next week.  One will be for Day Two, and one is... well, that's for me to know and you to find out.  : )

As I type this, I'm half-watching Melody Time.  I was doing research for my new novel (eep... so excited about the way it's heading!), and found out that it came out in 1948, which is the year the novel starts in.  I needed a movie for two main characters to go see, and picked Melody Time.  Remembering it was in our collection of movies in the newly-finished basement, I took it upstairs and have tried to watch it for a while now.  So far, Nut-Nut is enjoying it.  As the opening credits rolled, I found out that Roy Rogers is in it!  YAY!!  Can't wait to hear him!

Speaking of my new novel....  : )  I'm really enjoying doing research for it.  It's so much fun to watch movies, find pictures of people dressed in just the cutest outfits, and listen to music - all set in the late 40's.  I enjoyed researching ice dancing for Becoming Nikki, but I think researching for this novel is going to be even more fun!!  A lot of Arwen's favorite singers and actors were alive and in movies during this time period - Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, etc - so she's more than happy to watch and listen along with me.  : )

I've also found a lot of blogs lately that I'm really enjoying reading!  However, if you guys know of any writer blogs that you've enjoyed reading, I'd love to hear about them!  I can always use more inspiration.  : )

Ooh.  Nearly forgot.  My sister, Arwen, is turning twenty in September (sooooo oooold....), and, after much deliberation, has decided to have a Jane Austen Murder Mystery Tea Party.  *nods*  It's true.  She's inviting about fifteen people, but there are only ten characters, so she had some trouble deciding who should be who for a while.  We've got it all sorted out now, though.  Can't wait to tell you guys how it goes!  I'm playing Mrs. Bennet.....  So that'll be interesting......  *wink*  There's also Mr. Bennet (duuuuuuh), Lizzie, Darcy, Mr. Collins, Lady Catherine de Bourgh (who Arwen is portraying, cuz she's the host), Emma Woodhouse, Frank Churchill (heehee...), Marianne Dashwood, and Willoughby (heehee.....).  Everybody is going to be dressed up in period attire, so it's definitely going to be interesting.  I can post pictures, if you want!

I've also been listening to a lot of great music on YouTube lately - studying, y'all, studying - but I don't think I'll post any cuz I have a little something in the works.  : )  It's been interesting trying to find videos the actors who were in the musicals I saw on Broadway.  I found out that the annual Broadway in Bryant Park show was the week after I was there....  Figures....  *sniff*  With each video I watch from it, though, I'm like, "I WAS THERE!!!"  : )

Well, I think that's all I wanted to talk about.  I should have called this another Random Post, but I like the title I have.  Cuz it's from this song.

(Speaking of!!  I heard Aaron's character, Mike, got shot in one of the latest Graceland episodes!!  Noooooooo!!  Is he okay?  People who have seen it, PLEASE TELL ME HE'S OKAY!!)

I guess that's it.  I'll tell y'all a random quote that's been making me laugh for the past few weeks (thanks, Kate!), and let you go back to your normal lives.

"You illiterate twit!"
"I am not illiterate!  My parents were married!!!"

~Eowyn~

It's next week, y'all. Next. WEEK!!!!!

Sighhhhh.......  I can't belieeeeeve my NYC trip is next week, you guys.  Seriously.  It's still pretty hard to believe that I'm actually going to New York to see, not one, but TWO Broadway musicals!!  GAHHHH!!!!  I want the time I have to wait to go by really fast, but I also want it to go by slowly so I can say to myself in a year or so, "Remember how awesome that last week of waiting was?  I felt like I was floating on air....  Little did I know how amazing my trip would be!!"  (Cuz, y'all...  I just know - I know - that it's going to be amazing.)  Also, my dad told me today that he's trying to get us a hotel in the theater district.  YAHOOOOOOO!!!!  I'm going to take millions of pictures, so, like I told a friend, that'll mean frillions of blog posts.  Hope y'all are ready.  If you're all so jealous you'll find out where I live, murder me, then bury me alive and dance on my grave while singing, "What Is This Feeling?", well.....  Ya might want to steer clear of my blog for the next year or so.  Just a warning.  ; )

Ahh, well.  I can feel the green (GREEN!  AND I'M SEEING WICKED!!  AHHHH!!!) oozing out of every pore in your bodies at my tiptoes, so I'll stop making you jealous and tell you about another part of my life that's going on right now.  'kay?  'kay.

On Friday, my family is going to a masquerade ball.  (Well, that is what's going on.....  I know some of you are becoming jealous again, but, hey....)  I'm going as Rose Tyler from Doctor Who, and a friend of mine is going as the Doctor.  (Ten.  Duuuuuuhhhh....)  I'm going to be wearing her outfit from the episode called The Idiot's Lantern (shown at right), and have had much help from Ally.  (THANK YOU!!!!)

I went on a shopping trip for fun (and to look for a few essentials for my costume) with Katelyn and two of her amazing younger sisters today.  We had SUCH a blast!!  I've never really liked shopping before, but it was fun with people you could talk about the clothes with!  I got a Converse t-shirt, plus some pink sunglasses to go with the outfit.  Concerning the sequined top, however....  You guys simply can't believe how hard it's been for me to find a sequined top.  Who'da thunk?!  With all the girlygirlygirly stores that outlet mall had, you would think that they had at least some sequined stuff....  Nope.  Not even a skirt to cut up.  : (  I ended up going to Goodwill tonight after we dropped Katelyn and her sisters off at their house and found a shirt that'll kinda work.  Now all I need is a Tardis and a blue motorcycle and I'll be fine!!  : D  (Actually, I still need to find some fishnet stockings and a pink cocktail ring....  Details, Hogan....  Details.  I'll look for it tomorrow.)  Tonight and tomorrow, I'm going to be working on my skirt and the crinoline that goes underneath.  And for all of you who know that my favorite color is green (GREEN AGAIN!!) and not pink, well, let's just say that I'm getting to like pink a little more.  It's feminine and very pretty.  And it'll encourage me to not climb any trees in my outfit....  (Yeah, I've been known to do that....)

Anyway.  I'm really excited about the masquerade, though!  My younger sister is going in an autumn red formal with a fox mask she made, Arwen is going as a modern Cinderella (boring...), my younger brother is going as The Man In Black from Princess Bride, Nut-Nut is going as the Phantom (YAY!!), and JellyBean is going as her cute self.  As are Mom and Dad.  It's going to be SO much fun.  Swing dancing usually is.  : )

Ta-ta for now - I'm off to seam-rip my skirt, sew it back up again (cuz it was a plus size.....yeah....), and cut up the crinoline, then sew that up again, too!!  (That was too long....  Yups, it's a confuzifying outfit.  *wink, wink*)

~Eowyn~

P.S. I'm working on a blog post full of pictures from my graduation last month (SO. MUCH. FUN!!!!), but it might not get posted for a while....  I'll see if I can do it before my trip, though!

"Cheer up! I am still here. I have never left you, and I never will!"

If that doesn't say what this post is intended to say, I don't know what will.  : )

 

I've been craaaazy busy these past few weeks, but it looks like I'll have some time later this week or next to update you on my insane life, do some random blog posts, tell you guys ALL about my graduation last Saturday (had a blast!), and let you all become eternally jealous of me as I tell you about The Graduation Gift That Rivals All Graduation Gifts Past.  *nods*  Yup.

 

(The title quote, by the way, is from one of my favorite Gilbert and Sullivan operas, Patience.  So funny!  I like the Anthony Warlow version best.  This is one of the best scenes!)

 

I'll leave you all with a link to two minutes of pure epicness and a fond au revoir!!

 

-Eowyn-

Elevensies Tag!

Rules:
- If you are tagged/nominated, you must post eleven facts about yourself.
- Then, you must answer the eleven questions the tagger has given you and make eleven questions for the people you are going to tag.
- Next, tag eleven more bloggers.
- Tell the people you tagged that you have tagged them.
- No tagging back.

 

Eleven Random Facts About Moi

 

1. I'm weird.  Plain and simple.  I'll watch Master and Commander or The Avengers one day and love it, then I'll go and watch something like You've Got Mail or Children On Their Birthdays or even Les Miserables the next day and love that just as much.  I have Pies and Prejudice (book 3 of The Mother-Daughter Book Club Series) on my bookshelf beside my bed, right under Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer, right beside The Choice (by Robert Whitlow – check it out if you ever get the chance!).  Yikes.  : D

 

2. I'm a HUGE Faramir fan – as in, he's my favorite character in the entire LOTR trilogy.  (As if you didn't already know.....)  I like him more than Aragorn and Sam combined.  And I really don't like Frodo, but partially because of Elijah Wood's portrayal of him in the movie.

 

3. I'm getting my degree through CollegePlus, and planning on taking my first test (worth 6 credits!) today or tomorrow.  (I'm also planning on being the girl version of Blake Cadwell, who got 80 credits in 8 months – no joke.  Thus is my goal.  Graduate high school in '13, graduate college in '14.  *nods*)

 

4. I have two piano students.  And they've taught me more than I've taught them!!

 

5. I collect stamps.  (And used to organize them while listening to the 10th Anniversary Dream Cast of Les Miz.  "Yes... this is true.")

 

6. I'm a huge fan of Indie films.  October Baby is my favorite.  Seriously.  If you haven't seen it, go rent it now.  Go ahead – I'll wait for you.  Done?  Okay.  Moving on.  (You can thank me after you watch it in the comments section.)

 

7. I really like Josh Groban's voice and am planning on going to see him in August!  YAY!!!!

 

8. I'm not very picky with my food, but there are just some things I can't eat.  Like asparagus.  And steamed tomatoes that my mom so loves to put in soup.  And eggplant lasagna.  And grapefruit (and grapefruit juice).  Yuck.

 

9. Up until about a year ago, I didn't like dark chocolate.  (Horrible, I know.)  I still could do without white chocolate, and I think people who don't like chocolate are crazy.

 

10. I'm a hopeless Disney fan.  I love all of the old classics!  The Fox and The Hound was the first movie I ever cried in.  Ever.  And Aladdin's dad (in Aladdin and the King of Thieves) was my first childhood crush.  I recommended Tom and Huck to someone the other day and I've been really wanting to watch Newsies again.  I also like all of the 'forgotten' Disney films, such as The Iron Giant and The Adventures of Huck Finn (The '93 version with Elijah Wood – SO CUTE!!!).

 

11. I don't like rollercoasters.  Period.  Exclamation mark.

 

Eleven Questions for Me!

 

1. Have you ever ridden in a tractor? Or driven one?

I don't think so....  Oh, wait!  I think I've ridden in the bucket scooper thing (I don't know what its official name is....).  That was fun.  : )

2. Have you ridden a motorcycle?

No, but I've ridden on a dirt bike!  All by me onesies!  That was better than the tractor.  : D

3. What is your favorite national park?

Well, considering the fact I've only been to a very few, I'd have to say Blue Ridge.  The views are simply gorgeous!  When I publish my novel and become rich and famous, I'm going to have a summer home there.  (Hey....  Let a girl dream.)

4. Who is your favorite Contemporary Christian Music artist?

Tenth Avenue North, hands down.  I love their album Over and Underneath, but I also really like The Struggle.  Their lyrics are so deep!

5. Mexican, Italian or Chinese food?

Hmmmm.....  That's a hard one!  I really don't like Mexican, though (I just don't get spicy food – who wants to be in pain while they eat?), so that narrows it down.....  I can't really have Italian or Chinese food anymore, but I think, if I could have it....  I'd pick Italian.  (My family is part of a small church – nine families on a full Sunday – and whenever we vote for the theme for our next fellowship meal, it's always between Mexican and Italian.  And I'm always the only one who votes for Italian.  So, yeah....  We have Mexican a lot.)

6. Favorite type of cookie?

I don't really care!  Anything with chocolate!!!

7. Favorite fast food place to eat?

Anything fried!  If I were allowed to pick from anything – including stuff I'm not allowed to have anymore – I'd pick Chick-fil-A.  Yuuuummmmm.....

8. Do you have a green thumb?

Haha, I don't think so.  I tend to kill indoor plants, but my square of our garden outside is always the tidiest (even if it doesn't produce as much).  No idea how that happens....  : D

9. Do you prefer to write or type in a chair or at a desk?

It depends.  If I'm writing something like a letter or journal entry, I'll prefer to sit at a desk.  (I need something to bear down on.)  If I'm typing at my laptop, I can do it anywhere.  Literally.  I climbed up in a tree the other day and worked on my novel.  It was amazing!  (Although... it didn't last very long....  The branches hurt and I couldn't break them off because the tree was on my piano teacher's property.)

10. How many states have you visited?

Oh, wow.....  Ummm....  North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, D.C. (Yeah, it's not a state... whatever), Mississippi, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland....  I think that's it.  14 states.  (Wow.)  Although, I've been hearing rumors of a big cross-country road trip coming up, so that number will probably change.  : D

11. What international capital city would you most like to see?

EDINBURGH!!!!  My DREAM is to visit Scotland.  Probably for my honeymoon.  (Second place honeymoon destination is Disney World.  *nods*  Yup.)  I'd also like to visit London and Dublin and maybe even Paris, but those aren't quite as important.  : )

 

As for people I tag.....

 

Haley

Amy

Belle, Addy, and Emma

Bella

 

And that's it.  I'm a little scatterbrained today, so that's all I can think of.  : D

 

Your questions are.....

 

1. What was the most recent movie you've seen and what did you think of it?

2. Would you rather live on the beach or in the mountains?
3. What's your favorite Disney Princess and why?
4. What's your favorite book?  (Or, if you can't decide, what are your three top favorite books?)

5. Would you rather live in Narnia, Middle-Earth, or 1860's England?
6. Who is your favorite movie or book character?

7. Have you ever heard of Focus on the Family's Father Gilbert Mysteries?  If so, what do you think of them?
8. If you could pick anywhere in the world, where would you want to live when you get married?

9. What's your favorite musical?
10. Cake or ice cream?

11. How many times have you been to Disney World?

 

One more thing....  I don't care if you tag me back.  : D

 

~Eowyn~

I'm Confuzzled....

Why is John Boy Walton in World War II?  And near Germany?!

If you've seen more episodes of The Waltons than I have, please comment below and tell me why on earth he's doing that instead of writing.  Please.

~Eowyn~

forget a new year's post - this is FRILLIONS of times more exciting!

I FINISHED MY NOVEL!!!!!

Here are my stats, if you care.

• 132 pages
• 79,984 words, 7,397 of which were done between today and yesterday (Just shy of 80k!)
• 18 chapters
• 435,319 characters (Letters and semicolons and what have you - not humans.)
• 174 KB of memory

All of which, sadly, needs to be insanely edited.  Just imagine, though!  It only took me two-thirds of a 9 oz bag of Mint M&Ms, which means that I have the rest of that bag, plus my 30 oz bag I got on clearance the other day, specifically reserved for editing.  There's a light at the end of this tunnel.  (Unfortunately, I think I'll need another package of Meadow Mint Hobbit Tea before long....  Oh, well.)

I thought I'd show you my reaction in pictures.  : )

New Year's Eve came and went and I woke up on New Year's Day feeling like this....


"I'm not done with my novel yet and it's 2013.  I am angry."



Then, I started writing.  And writing and writing and writing.  Pretty soon, I felt like a combination of Arthur Clenam and Amy Dorrit in the picture below.

Frustration and exhaustion.  Not much sadness until late last night when I realized that I was leaving Alec and Nikki.  (Not for long, mind you.  More later.)

Then, I finally finished it and felt like this.

Minus the really evil feeling, that is.

Then, I felt like dancing.

With some keys.  : )

Now, I just feel like this.

"Whaaaa?"

I also thought you'd be a little remotely interested in some pictures I put together for my two main characters, Nikki and Alec.

Nikki's personality is a mix of Amy Dorrit, Rapunzel, Christine Daae, Margaret Hale, Marguerite St. Just, and Mary Smith.  She kind of looks like all of them combined, but I haven't nailed down an actress yet.

Alec is like all of these guys.  The actor in the middle is Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Louis Connelly, August Rush).  I was watching a clip from August Rush the other day when it just hit me.  I couldn't stop bouncing up and down when I saw the picture on the bottom right.  Especially in the middle picture, taken from a movie he played in a few years ago.
He's Alec.  : )

Well, I need to go find some food.  I've been eating M&Ms and drinking water out of my souvenir cup from The Hobbit all day and feel in need of some sunflower seeds.

Allons-y!!
~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~

"These babies are FANTABULOUS! Absolutely indispensary."

I don't normally do my nails, but in this case, that's right.  They're absolutely indispensary.  Check 'em out!!

First, for your viewing pleasure, my The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings inspired nails.

               They're

just practice nails, by the way.  I think they turned out pretty well for a first time!


And my Les Miz-themed nails.  I'm especially proud of my '4'.  : )

That's what my hands look like right now, by the way....  Seriously.  One hand is for The Hobbit and the other is for Les Miserables, the awesome movies that are coming out in December (which is the best month of the year).  I did them while listening to the completely awesome and very creepy, yet still awesome three part Adventures in Odyssey episodes, "The Labyrinth."

And it just so happened that the things I've been wanting to post about are Hobbit and Les Miz-themed, too!  How's that for spontaneous planning?  : )

I'll start with Les Miz.

Check this out!!  I nearly flipped when I saw it on Ally's blog.  Remain calm - and don't watch it more than three times in a row.  It's not pretty.  (I may or may not be speaking from experience....)

So, yeah.  Pretty awesome, right?!  Amy did a second-by-second rundown of it, which I heartily enjoyed reading.

Aaaaaand... there are some pretty awesome posters floating around the Internet!  I found a few more the other day, available here and here.  Javert looks a little weird, but that's okay because the red 'Javert' below him totally makes up for it.  This one has to be my favorite, though.  Uber cool.

On to The Hobbit!!

This video came out today and I've already watched it a few times.  Sure, it's only thirty-three seconds long, but the dialogue between Bilbo and Thorin is sooooo awesome.  (And I can't see Thorin without saying, "It's Thornton!  Look back at me....")

I knew there was a place where you could watch the trailer with alternate endings, but we were never able to get them to load.  And I just found them!  Huzzah!



But the thing about The Hobbit that I'm most excited about is the music!!  I just listened to the entire soundtrack today.  In it's entirety.  The whole thing.  All. Of. It.  And It. Was. Ah.Mazing.  Here is the link for you.  It's an hour and forty-five minutes long and the pause button doesn't work, so I'd suggest you find something good and looooong to do - like math and chemistry and Greek - and listen to it.  A few times, if you want to.  And let your school take even longer because you're thinking about what the track titles mean.  ('My Dear Frodo'?  Wassup with that, PJ?)  My personal favorite songs are all of them, with an emphasis on all of them, but especially 'My Dear Frodo' (First the Hobbiton theme, then it's creepy!  Whaaaaaa?), 'The Adventure Begins' (It's so fast-paced and hobbit-y!  "I'm going on an adventure!"), 'An Ancient Enemy' (Whoooooooaaaaa....  Deep and ominous - that's how I like it!), 'RADAGAST THE BROWN'!!! (This one is SO COOL!  The electric violin takes the stage and it equals awesomeness.  If you don't want to wait to listen through all the other songs, just click here.  It's awesome.  And amazing.  And awesomeness sauce.  All rolled into one.), 'Roast Mutton' (Again, so hobbit-y, but with a dash of foreboding), 'The Hill of Sorcery' (Looks like I need to read the book again...  And the Radagast the Brown theme is in here a little - awesome!), 'Warg-Scouts' (There's a great John Williams-esque brass part in here, with another pretty awesome cello/bass/timpani solo.  So cool!), 'Riddles in the Dark' (Which I can't wait to actually see!!  Anyway.  This song captures Gollum to a 'T'!  All those tremolos in the string section totally add to the creepiness!  And the really long, gradual crescendo at the end - chills, y'all.), 'Brass Buttons' (The Warg-Scouts theme in the middle is awesome!  I'm dying to see the footage and dialogue during this one!  Plus, the end is so awesome. All those grand pauses, then the continuation of awesomeness....  Golly Pete.), 'Out of the Frying-Pan' (Golly, jeepers!), 'A Good Omen' (Great song!  And a really creepy ending - here's hoping we'll see Smaug!), then the extended scene song, 'Dreaming of Bag End' (The pennywhistle did a little bit of the Hobbiton theme, but a lot of it was new, which I loved!), which was right after 'Song of the Lonely Mountain,' the credits song.  (And boy, is it worthy of some kind of award!!  It totally embodies dwarves and Thorin and The Company.  I loved it!!  I won't tell you how many times I listened to it....)  You can listen to 'Song of the Lonely Mountain' here, by the way.  It's got to be one of my favorite songs on the album.  That and 'Radagast the Brown.'  If you only have time for a few songs, go listen to those.

Wow, that was a lot.  I hope you guys take the time to listen to that music, though - it's totally worth it!!  If you've already listened to some of the songs, whatd'ya think?!

And all this news about Les Miz!!  Goodness gracious.  The month of December is already awesome enough (what with Christmas and parties and concerts and recitals and *cough*my birthday!!*cough*) and now it's going to be even greater.  Wow.  I can't wait.  I'm going to be reading The Hobbit and probably (hopefully) Les Miserables during my month-long Christmas break (I'll shout it from the rooftops, I don't care - I love homeschooling!), so that'll keep me busy until all these awesome movies come out.  Sighhhhh.....

What about you guys?  Are you as excited as me?  Or is it just me...?

Hoping I'm not the only one REALLY EXCITED about this December....

~Eowyn~

(Oh, yeah....  Bonus Awesome Points if you can correctly guess where the lyrics in the blog post title come from.)

Just for fun....

 

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~

Florida!!! (Day One)

Here we are in Florida for our annual "Summer" beach trip! We've only been here for about a day, but we've already had a bit of an adventure!! The adventure, however, started way back on Saturday - only two days ago, but it already feels like two weeks ago!

On Saturday, my family went to a surprise 50th wedding anniversary party. The lady got married on her 15th birthday to a young man ten years older than herself. Imagine that!! (That was pretty much it for Saturday, but I thought it was worth mentioning how old the lady was... : P)

Yesterday was one of the busiest, longest, yet most interesting days of my life! Me, Arwen, and my dad went to a NASCAR race at the Atlanta Motor Speedway to help sell Frosty Towels, something a good friend of ours invented. I can't even begin to describe how much fun it was! True, it was quite an experience - people smoking and drinking and all that, but it was such a fun day even though all that was going on. : )

We started off the day getting up super early. I didn't sleep well the night before (I was too excited, heehee...), so it took more than a little effort to get out of bed. We were driving out of our friends' driveway in their big 15-passenger van by 7:45. When we got to the Speedway at nine, it took us a few minutes to get the tent set up, but I think I was out selling towels with a friend by ten. It took me about an hour or two to pop out of my shell and talk to people.... Nothing like mobs of people walking by and asking about the product you're attempting to sell to them to make you feel in need of a bubble.... : P

My friend and I stood there selling Frosty Towels for about two hours and had quite a few interesting conversations with customers. A lot of people were skeptical about the towels, but once they had the chance to try them out, they were sold! It was so much fun watching people's reactions when they realized that they actually worked! And if I had a dollar for every time someone said, "How much are your waters?" (the ones specifically for us that we ended up having to hide so that people would stop asking!), "Can I buy some of your ice?" (answer: we're not supposed to, but my other friend sold four handfuls for $10!), or "It stays cold all day?!" (yes, for the eightieth time...), I'd be a millionaire. : ) (Also, "Twist and Shout" was played over the loudspeakers and my friend and I were this close to swing dancing to it, but we didn't have anyone we knew nearby to watch the towels. I did get to swing dance later, though, while we were putting the tent away. It was in the dark, so I didn't care! And a guy walked by and said, "That's awesome!" Ha!)

After that, I worked in the tent for a few hours and sold about thirty towels in thirty minutes! It was crazy! : ) After making two mistakes with the money, though, I lost my confidence and became the errand girl. I took drinks (that I promptly hid) and towels and ice to the workers and had a great time time ranking them by sales. : )

After that, another friend and I went inside the stadium and started selling towels. I think that was the most fun - even though it was later in the day and more people were drunk. : P Very interesting conversations, though.... *wink, wink*

By then, it was 6:30 and my dad wanted Arwen and I to sit in the stands. I was more than happy to rest my aching feet, but within seconds I became bored by all of the pre-race stuff. (And I felt guilty that my friend was out there selling by himself.) I found him again and walked around the stadium selling towels with him for about an hour. He did most of the talking and I nearly froze my hands trying to get the packages of towels out of the barrel of half-melted ice we were pushing around. It was such a good feeling when we passed a hundred! (Well, technically, they were mostly his sales because he'd been counting since the morning, when he was out on his own and I was with another friend outside the stadium.)

At 7:30, we went back to the stands and sat down again. We had some pretty good seats, too - right before the first turn! Here's a picture I got from my phone.
I wanted to get the full NASCAR experience (minus being hot - I was tired and sore and my feet hurt really bad, but I wasn't hot, thanks to the Frosty Towel I'd had around my neck!!), so I opened up my earplugs but didn't put them in, saying that I'd do it after the cars went off. (For future reference to all y'all - there I go again! - it's an interesting thought... in theory.) When the cars first turned on their engines, I was like, 'Okay, this isn't too loud. All of their engines are on, so it can't get much louder, right?' Wrong. They started going around the track a few times - really slowly at first, then the checkered flag was waved and they went off. Like I said, we were sitting right before the curve, so by the time the cars drove in front of us, it was literally pedal to the metal. It got louder and louder and louder and I finally had to slap my hands over my ears. My jaw dropped and I looked at my friend standing beside me, who'd been to quite a few NASCAR races before. I tried yelling over the cars, "It's so loud!" but I doubt he heard me. (I could barely hear myself!) I put my earplugs in while the cars were on the other side of the track and sat down after the first few laps.

Fifteen minutes later, I was completely bored. Nothing had happened except a bunch of left turns. I couldn't talk to anyone and signing with letters took too long. (It sounds really awful of me to say all that, but you'll understand if you ever go to a NASCAR race!) I whipped out my phone, tapped the Memos button on my menu and started typing, then handed it over to Arwen, then to my friend sitting beside me. Some of our conversation is below, for your enjoyment. (But I won't put all of it - you'll never read my blog again!) : )

Well, this has been fun... Meeting new friends, getting to know old ones a little better... Staring at cars drive by... and by... and by.... And not being able to talk to anyone! LOADS of fun. : P

[I handed my phone to Arwen, who was sitting next to me. She read it, smiled, and handed it back to me.]

Please text back. This is our only way of communicating....

I agree...this looks like the makings of a blogpost...esp since you got to meet an Olympian! [Arwen]

[Oops... forgot to tell you guys about that! Here's the picture to prove it.
Best part about the day. : D (Fyi, DeeDee Trotter is very nice! That, and I just found out that she shares a birthday with me. How cool is that?!)]

Ikr?!?!?! Major blog post. What do you think, J3? [Me]

Haha yep that's why I don't like nascar... It's cool for the first few mins and then it's like... Um...

[...]

Yup, nice and cool! And now we have our fire symbol! And look... Is it just me, or have they made that turn before? Am I going crazy?! I'll start yelling, "FROSTY TOWEL!!!!!!" while I'm passed out in the car tomorrow...[Me]

Oh yes a fine night for a race...and a nice way to end a very long day at the track... Oh look another LEFT TURN! Won't be the last time we see one of those...will it?...J3

[...]

Well...um..."cough"... At least the air is nice... I wonder what we shall eat for dinner?... J3

Idk... Probably CFA. [Me]

IT'S SUNDAY...J3

NO...VARSITY!!! [Arwen]

[And to skip a little and show you how tired we were...]

Ha! Idk what to do, I get so FLUSTERED!!!! C : [Me]

Oh! I'm sooo Hungry! I WANT TO GO TO BRIGHTON!!!! [Arwen]

[And the grand finale, when we decided to leave early because we were tired and hungry and bored and sore...]

I'm not saying that she was silly... I'm saying that one of us was... And it wasn't me... J3

Basically sums up our entire conversation, eh, J3? [Me]

Oh yes ... [Arwen]? ... J3

I quite agree. [Arwen]

The End. [Me]

(Wow.... Looking back, we seriously do sound crazy!)

Later on, when they were announcing to us who'd gotten the most sales, I wasn't on the list because I didn't have my own set of money and I'd lost count of how many I'd personally sold. I just laughed and said, "But I was the errand girl! I made all y'all's sales possible-" all the Southern accents must have finally gotten to me, lol- "so that counts for something, right?" A new friend said, "Yeah, you can say you have 15% of everyone's sales." Works for me! (That's when a friend and I started spontaneously swing dancing in the dark. SO much fun!)

Then we went to the Varsity (Arwen was right!). I finally crashed at about 1:30 Monday morning and woke up six hours later, extremely sore and totally ready for a vacation!!! But, like I said at the beginning of this already really long post, our vacation started off with a bang and quite the adventure.

(I can't put pictures up right now, by the way, but I'll see if I can do some later today or tomorrow.)

The car ride was pretty uneventful - we just drove and drove, then stopped for a second, then we drove some more. We watched the new Winnie the Pooh (I love that movie!!), then I read all of Theodore Boone: The Abduction by John Grisham. (Sorry, J3, it wasn't Scarlet.... But, like J2 said, I didn't specify if I'd read it on the way going or back! Haha.... Thanks, J2....)

When we got here at 6-ish, we were hungry and ready to crash. We got to the house we're renting and were really shocked to find that the front door was unlocked! (Scary!) Mom and Dad went inside to see if anyone was inside while us kids stayed outside. (I watched the balconies to see if some Bad Guy would jump down like they do in the movies.... Disappointed when it didn't happen.... Heehee....) When they'd looked through the house and realized the previous people had left but the cleaning lady hadn't come, we walked through it, then called the lady that was going to rent it to us. She gave us the address of a place we could spend the night or a few hours while someone cleaned it. We drove in circles for about fifteen minutes, trying to find the condo. When we finally found the complex, entered the code for the gate, and pulled in, we were really ready to relax. We walked over to the condo, glanced into the windows, and found out that someone was in it! (How frustrating is that?!) She gave us another option, and it was clean and unoccupied and, better yet, had a TV so we could watch the Georgia Tech vs Virginia Tech football game - WAHOO!! : ) (GA Tech lost, but it was a good game and a lot of fun to watch!)

We walked out to the beach during halftime, which was a lot of fun even though it was really dark and we could only see the lights from Panama City and Destin and the crests of the waves and the stars. All of my siblings and I (minus my littlest brother) started singing "The Seaside" from Emma09 and then Celtic Woman's version of "Beyond the Sea." We talked about going early in the morning and my younger sister said, "A little sea-bathing would set me up forever." Just goes to show what a dorky homeschool family we are! HA!

There was no getting up early this morning for me, though. I was really tired, so I slept in a little. When I woke up, it was cloudy outside. By the time breakfast was out of the oven, it was pouring rain. We've been relaxing inside all morning - listening to and watching the rain. An aunt of ours who lives down here might stop by after a while, but I plan to pass the time before then reading a book. Scarlet sounds good.... : )

Enjoying my time of relaxation....
~Eowyn~

'Ello Again!

My adorable-est brother (sorry, Bubby...) on the pontoon boat while we were camping - isn't he ADORABLE?!

I've decided to do a blog post. No applause necessary.

We've been really busy lately, so I haven't had many chances to do anything on the computer. (Hope that explains why I haven't been emailing anyone! Sorry!!)

Highlights from last week:
~Camping with friends I haven't seen since last August!
~Playing games with said friends (Apples to Apples especially!!)
~Watching Amy's cousin Brendan Hansen swim in the Olympics and get the bronze!! (I know someone who's related to an Olympic athlete! How cool is that?!) I was on edge for his entire final race.... : D
~Watching other sports in the Olympics (I always get a laugh out of Men's Gymnastics. I mean, really, you guys? Heehee.... But I also like watching the Volleyball and Synchronized anything, which looks impossible!!!)
~The Ball last Friday. Sighhhhh. It was sooooo much fun! I can't wait to put pictures up, which will hopefully be tomorrow. Look for my post!!

Oh, and we had some friends over all day yesterday and that was a blast. Having friends over randomly after church is always fun, though!!! : )

And one more thing... we started school today. : P Everyone's asking, "Why on earth do you guys start so early?!" Well, I'll tell you. We take the whole month of December off (nothing ever gets done anyway with parties and stuff, so why bother?!), a week in September-ish for a Summer Vacation (no one's at the beach!!), and now we're going to take another week off in September because my sisters and I are going to the Passion for Jesus Retreat. We went last year and it was SO much fun and I learned a ton!!

But. The absolute best thing about this year is

I'm a SENIOR!!!! (Now you guys can applaud.)

Sighhhhh. I'm so excited, I can hardly stand it! This year is going to be so much easier than last year (which was the hardest year of school ever) and I'm almost excited that we're starting school again. (I love routines and schedules and lists that you can get done....)

Anyway. Enough about me. What have you guys been doing while I was away? And don't say "Nothing much," I beg of you! Even if it was watching a movie or going on a walk or laughing with your siblings or friends, please say something. (For, as you all know, comments are my one weakness. Heehee....)

~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~

Sink Me!

My picture was selected as a runner-up in the Sink Me! contest (a little late notice, I know...) and now it's tied with another! Wahoo!

Hie thee to Sink Me!, check out all of the very funny pictures, and vote on the sidebar for the two you think are best!

Congrats to everyone whose pictures made it to finals!
~Eowyn~

Oh, and two random things...

Another one of my pictures made it to Sink Me! the day after the finalists were annouced - I was ecstatic!

And... I just passed the 25k mark on my June Crusade novel!! WAHOO!!

Random Projects

Hello all! I'm back from camp. : (

Anyway, I have two more days to blog about, but if you guys don't want to see pictures of us at Stone Mountain or whatever (Haley...? : P), then I won't post it. Comment away.

Moving on.

So! I have a lot of different projects going on right now - three, namely.

First of all is me and my brother's Lego project. Well, it's not really a project, but it's something we've been excited about for forever. (Well, not forever, but a really long time!!) Anyway, we've decided to save up our money and buy ALL of the Lord of the Rings Lego sets and the video game. (Yes, I'm seventeen and love Legos. Your point is...?) We've been waiting and waiting for them to come out and we finally got the first two sets yesterday!! Wahoo! Shelob's Lair and Weathertop were finished yesterday in about two hours and would have probably gotten them built faster if we weren't quoting the movies and laughing and slapping each other - playfully, social services. It's a slap of endearment, people.

So, without further ado...

I know I have some non-LOTR fans reading my blog, but you have to admit... the spider's pretty cool. All of the legs are moveable and only took three seconds to make! : ) (Also, each set came with extra One Rings, so now we have six One Rings! HA!)

Heehee... Doesn't little Frodo look scared?!

Now, before I move on, let me just say that I'd like to sue Lego. If I had a lot of money and personally knew a lawyer like Robert Whitlow (LOVE his books!), I would think a little more about it. What is my problem, you ask? Well, I'll tell you.

There is no Faramir Lego man.

Need I repeat it?! ARGH!!! I can't believe it! There's a Haladir, whoever he is (yeah, I know who he is...). He's not NEARLY as cool as Faramir! And I'm not just saying I like Faramir because I picked Eowyn as my online username and they get married in the end. Far from it. Faramir is my favorite character - by a lot. Talk about sacrificial love! When my friend came over to have a Lord of the Rings Extended Edition marathon with us, she screamed for Legolas, I screamed for Faramir. That's just the way it works around here. Anyway.... I'll have to do a post on him soon.... Hmmm.....

Moving on.

Project number two is an actual project. Some of you may recall (besides the strange affair of the Phantom of the opera, a mystery never fully explained... Whoops. Sorry. I had that memorized the second day after I saw Phantom... heehee) the fact that I'm doing a huge history project.

No? I never blogged about it? : P

Well, I am. The history course I'm doing (well, heehee, DID, because I started in eighth grade and now I don't have to do history my senior year, WOOT!!) has a few projects you do in each year. A poem, a character essay, a thesis paper, and a persuasive paper, to name a few - all with a certain amount of pages you have to use. The last project of every year is called The 40-Hour Project. *cue creepy music* It has to take - surprise, surprise - forty hours and can be on anything you want, you just have to incorperate something you've learned into it. A few of my friends made diaramas, one made a wooden ship, one did theirs on Theodore Roosevelt... I've even heard that someone made a sword. Like, metal and seven times purifying it and everything! (You can bet that took forty hours!) Anyway... I've done two. Four years of history equals to projects... how did that happen? Well, the first year, I did it on Jane Austen. Researched her with friends, made a slideshow presentation, and sewed Regency dresses. We even learned a few Regency dances and taught them to the class!! (Interesting story... there were more guys dancing than girls. I'm not kidding. We had girls standing to the side while guys had to not dance because the girls didn't want to. I'll save my true feelings on that subject for later...) Then we moved and I just focused on actually listening to the lectures and doing the other projects.

Anyway. This year, since it's my senior year of history, I've decided to actually DO it. Like, forty hours and all. I'm doing it Scottish-themed. I'm going to research my family's Scottish heritage, research and make a real Scottish meal (minus the haggis...), and, last but not least, make a dress. : )

Now, we decided that this dress had to be able to go Scottish and Lord of the Rings because The Hobbit is coming out near my birthday and I'd like to do a Hobbit-themed party. (Not sure that will happen, though...) So we found a pattern that we think will work and got some fabric.

Isn't it pretty?! (This is my actual fabric that I took a picture of, by the way...)

I can't wait to see how it turns out! After last year's Dixie Ball dress project (which turned out fabulously!!), I was really excited to start a new project... even though my sewing attention span is insanely short and I hate every minute of it. (We were cutting out the pattern and Arwen goes, "Yeah, the cutting part is the boring part. Sewing is fun!" That's Arwen. I'm just like, "I prefer wearing it." That's me. : P)

I'll let you guys know how it turns out!

And my third and final project... The June Crusade.

I almost stopped writing during camp. Yes, I had my laptop, but there were so many other things going on, I didn't get in bed until midnight and then it was too late to write.... : P Anyway, I'm at 16,000 words. It doesn't sound like much (actually, it isn't much!), but I think I can get done in time. The greatest thing is that my novel is just coming along swimmingly!! It's so great to watch it get longer and longer and I'm liking it more and more and enjoying every minute of it! I'm falling in love with my characters... yes, even the main guy character. : )

I think I might even be very brave and post a few excerpts... what say ye? WHAT SAY YE?! (Sorry, random quote from Return of the King... my favorite one! What can I say? All of this LOTR stuff is getting me into a LOTR mood!)

Well, that's about it. My answers to The June Crusade Tag Questions are coming up. I'm going to attempt to post it in the queue (or whatever it's called) and let it post in a few days. The spacing always gets messed up, but I'm going to try something different this time. Hope it works and I'm sorry if the formatting is wrong - I'll fix it as soon as I can!!

~Eowyn~