NC Trip!!

On Wednesday we got back from a 4-day trip to North Carolina. Wow, what a trip! We got to visit a lot of friends and had a lot of fun doing a lot of different things!

Highlights include:
Playing games like The Animal Game, Follow the Judge to Court, Gray Wolf, and another card game that I can't spell but love!
Talking about... math, of all things
Seeing people I haven't seen for a few months or more
Eating delicious food at Qdoba (a restaurant we don't have here in Georgia) and at different people's houses

I enjoyed the entire trip tremendously, but the above were just a few things I wanted to mention.

We should be going back on Tuesday through about Thursday for a wedding, and I'm SUPER excited about that! It's going to be a lot of fun! (Maybe I'll have a few pictures....)

~Eowyn~

PS: We watched Soul Surfer for the first time last night. It was so good.... So good, it very nearly made me cry!

Interesting Quote

    Okay, so I said the next thing I would post about would be either that really disturbing article or pictures from Camp GrandmaHoney, but I decided to do something different today.  This morning, I was reading The Last Crusader for my history.  It was written by Dr. George Grant, and even though it goes into some strange bunny trails every now and then, I found a very interesting paragraph.

 

    "Singing such hymns lifts the heart, shortens the way, and advertises a man's reputation. It is an admirable thing. A man who so sings—loudly, clearly, and well—proves, more often than not, to be of good character. He is master of himself. He is strict and well managed. He is prompt, alert, swift, and to the point. He is unafraid and jolly. He is disciplined and congenial with a clear conscience before both God and men. There is method in him. All these things may be in a man who does not sing, of course. But singing makes them apparent."

 

~Eowyn~

The Hoedown

Things at the Party

Arwen made these cupcakes- every bit of them! Don't they look delicious?! My favorite was chocolate with chocolate icing. We had so many left over, which was both a good thing and a bad thing. : )

In only a few hours, that space would be filled with dancers.... It was so exciting!

Isn't this cute?! At first I was like, "Flowers in a shoe? Uh...." But then I saw it and thought it looked adorable.

What was just going to be a short lesson on a banjo for Dad turned out to be a Jam Session with about 10 people!

Friends!

One of my best friends came down a little early (about 6 hours) to help set up. We called it the pre-party party. Love you, girl!!!

My little cowboy

"Random picture, everyone! SMILE!!"

Arwen, my aunt, and my brother. Another random picture!

Arwen and another friend were greeters. I soon lost track of how many people had arrived!

The end of the pre-party.... Waiting for the party to start!

So many friends came!

A collision of worlds... in a good way!

Mom and a lot of her friends

An awesome family- we love you guys!

My half cousin... sort of : D

Dad's Suprise Party

A suprise party and a half-suprise guest

Even though he was standing right there, it took a minute for Dad to see the suprise guest. Ha!

My dad, my uncle, and their good friend, the suprise guest. (Dad, you're supposed to look at the camera!)

Everyone catching up with the suprise guest. (My friend kept on wanting to get into the picture... just kidding!)

The REAL surprise- a canoe!

(Last but CERTAINLY not least...)
Dancing

About two-thirds of the dancers. The rest joined a minute later on the grass.

Hello!

The caller trying to teach us to do something...

He had our attention- we wanted to do it right!

The Allemande

Then came the rain.... : ( The true dancers tried to dance a little in the rain, but it was hard, especially when the drops would gather on the tree leaves and come crashing down right into your eyes. Not cool. After about 15 minutes, we gave up and went inside to eat as the rain started coming down in buckets. (It reminded me of the campout we always had at our old church where it ALWAYS rained!) We ate and had Dad's party, but the rain persisted. What to do?!
Never fear, we had planned for that. Sort of. : ) We all went into the basement to dance, where we had cleared out the middle room and most of the garage area. It was really funny to see people decide that our bikes needed to be moved right in the middle of a dance move. People made themselves at home with moving our stuff around, which was great! Two young men picked up our riding lawn mower and moved it over, which made me laugh really hard.
(A huge thanks to a really good friend who took most, if not all, of the inside pictures for me!)

Standing around and trying to learn The Alabama Jubilee

Isn't he cute?!

It took a minute to get situated with the dance steps and we were all very confused in that time!

Don't know what they're trying to say!

A demonstration of a step... I forget it's name

Confused again, yet having a blast!!

Someone knows what they're doing! That step was probably my favorite part of The Alabama Jubilee, besides the Ladies' Change

Man's Right Hand Star (A few girls had to 'be the guy' for a few dances. It was a little confusing, but it worked!)

Two steps going on- the Swing and the Do-Si-Do

Smile!

My group in the middle of the Swing step. What fun!!!

Promenade!!!


Last picture of the day. Tired, yet happy. The party ended, but the post-party party had started. : )

This was certainly a party to remember. A few things I didn't get pictures of were eating in the rain, the huge Animal Game we did, more of the pre- and post-party parties, and probably my favorite dance, the Salty Dog Rag. I hope everyone who came had just as fun a time as I KNOW I did!!! The work really paid off and the party was a huge success because of all the work that happened before the big day. A huge thanks to a certain family who helped immensely- you know who you are. : )

That's it for now. What's next? Maybe some Camp GH pictures or a random post about an article that really annoyed me. : )
Eowyn

PS: Happy 4th, everyone!!

June 11th, 2011 in Pictures

Coming soon- The Hoedown in Pictures

~Eowyn~

Not an Unlucky Day for ME!!

Friday the 13th is known to superstitious people as one of the unluckiest days of the year.  There have been both books written and movies made about the scary things that happen to unfortunate people on this day.

 

This year, Friday the 13th is a great day for me because I finished my math!  I started working on it at about 3:30.  Nearly four hours, 2 1/2 lessons, and a test later, I FINISHED!  I'm ecstatic!

 

A half-day of work this morning made me physically tired and now my brain is officially fried and I'm mentally tired, so all I want to do now is just 'vegetate,' as our family calls it.  Who knows, maybe after we eat our Chinese food (sweet and sour chicken... yum!) and watch a movie I'll write a little.  I did about 800 words last night- including the first few points on my outline of a new story.  Right now, it's a short story, but I can totally see it being a novel... that is, if I have time to write.  I foresee my school getting done before June rolls around, so I'll most likely have more time to write.  (Yay!!!)

 

~Eowyn~

 

PS:  Last night, I finished my autographed copy of Nathaniel Darnell's book, Glory, Duty, & the Gold Dome.  It was really good!!

An Update on My Busy Life!

Greetings, whoever reads my blog!  Sorry I haven't updated you guys in a while- I've been too busy to do so!

 

I thought about doing a post called, "The past few weeks of my life in pictures," but I didn't have pictures of everything I've done.  So I guess I'll just have to tell you what I've been up to and the pictures will have to wait.

 

So for the last few weeks, I've been doing a lot of the normal stuff- orchestra on Monday nights (though we had a concert about two weeks ago and now we're done!!!), piano and violin on Tuesdays, church on Wednesdays, babysitting on Thursday morning, work on Thursday and Friday, and yardwork on Saturdays- and that has kept me running around, but there have been quite a few extra things we've done.

 

Last Thursday, Arwen and I had a Royal Schools examination (a fancy piano exam) and I don't think I did too well on my scales, which was a bummer.  But I do have an excuse for not doing well!  I was sick two weeks ago from Thursday to Saturday, then had an awful ear infection last Monday that I'm still recovering from.  That's the reason I didn't practice much.  Last Monday, I was stuck in bed with a laptop watching dumb movies.  Believe it or not, I'd rather have been doing school!!  Instead of finishing my math last Thursday, I won't be done until Friday.

 

Anyway, Friday was my little brother's 2nd birthday and also the first day of a homeschool conference, which went through Saturday.  I got to meet some famous people that I admire and one of them even signed my copy of their book!!  (It would be an understatement to say I was overjoyed.  My head was in the clouds for the rest of the day!)

 

At this certain conference, they had a session on movie-making, which is something I've been wanting to do for a long time.  It got me all geared up to start working on a script again, but the more I thought of the idea I'd had, the more it seemed kind of dumb, so I think I'm going to put that aside for a while.  The more I think about making a movie, the more I'm nervous about it looking cheesy.  But enough about that....

 

The next few weeks are going to be very busy for us, so if I don't post for a while, don't get worried!  Arwen is graduating this year, so that's going to keep us on our toes until June, then we're having a party for her (a hoedown is more like it- a bootscoot!!), and then Arwen on down to my younger brother (child four of the five of us) are going to our grandparents' house for the annual Camp Grandma-Honey!!  I recently got the idea to do a movie with my cousins, so that's another thing to think about.  (I have so many writing things on my plate right now, it's not even funny.  If I've promised a short story or chapter or something to any of you who's reading this, please know that I haven't forgotten, I've just been busy.  I'm working on it!!!)

 

Let's see... is there anything I've forgotten?  Oh, yeah!  Last Thursday, I got my first phone!  It looks exactly like Arwen's, but I put a little beady-string-thing on it, so we can tell the difference between ours now!

 

Guess that's it!  Until my next post....

 

~Eowyn~

Movie Review- Tangled

We just got Tangled from Netflix.  Wow, what a movie!  It's one of those movies we really should have seen in the theater, but I can't remember why we didn't.  I guess we weren't that interested in it.  Anyway, I told a few friends that we had gotten it, and they kept on telling us we'd love it.  Everyone we talked to loved it.  About a year ago, I heard about The Princess and the Frog, a Disney movie that was going to be made like all of the old Disney classics.  To say I was overjoyed would be an understatement!  But when I watched it, I realized that it wasn't exactly what I'd thought.  Sadly, I didn't like it.  At all.  I thought, 'Is this the new Disney?  With sorcery and romance and a few songs thrown in between some bad humor?'  Maybe that's why I wasn't excited about Tangled.  I think I only watched the first trailer that was released that didn't have anything in it- just a shot of the tower and maybe the teaser trailer.  After hearing nearly a dozen of my good friends say it was good, I got a little excited, but still wasn't sure about it.  What if it was just like The Princess and the Frog?  So, I sat down on the couch with some pretty high standards.  I'm pleased to announce that I wasn't disappointed!

 

Tangled, if some of you haven't seen it, is a new twist on the Rapunzel story.  (The original story, as you may know it: She has really long hair, a handsome dude comes along, the "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!" line follows, and they ride off into the sunset.)  Disney adds and embellishes the tale, giving the 'handsome dude' a name and a backstory, and doing the same for Rapunzel and her evil mother.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that Alan Menken had composed the songs, and the actors sung their characters' parts!  I was almost sure the director had hired a few Broadway people to do the parts- I even thought I knew who did Rapunzel's singing voice.  (By the way, my favorite song was 'I See the Light,' the beautiful duet!  Wow, was that song amazing!  Sadly, I can't find any free sheet music for it.  If any of you have it or know how to find it, please email me!)  There was enough action and adventure, humor, and plot-twisting- and just that tad bit of romance that we girls like- to make it one of the best movies I've seen since Toy Story 3 and Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  The soundtrack is already on my iTunes wish list, and I'm already pleading my siblings to split the movie.  (I would have watched it at least once more, but a certain younger brother- won't say who- was a little anxious to get his movie, so he shipped it back.  So I could only satisfy my craving by watching every single video that was on the Disney website.)

 

The only thing I didn't like about it was when Flynn told Rapunzel that a little rebellion was good.  Arwen assured me that he was just trying to get her out of the tower, so that smoothed it over for me.  (I won't say any more, or else I'll give up the plot!  I've been known to do that...)

 

Next time, I'll give you a little peek into a project I've been working on.  (It has something to do with fabric and stabbing myself with pins!)

 

~Eowyn~

Crazy Fun Weekend!

We had a blast this weekend, going from one awesome thing to the next!

 

On Friday, Arwen and I cleaned someone's house.  It was our first day doing it for them, but Thursday was our third time doing it for someone else.  After that, we drove home, inhaled some lunch, threw some bags of clothes in the car, and drove down to visit some friends.  Wednesday was a really good friend's birthday and she invited us to come over.  (Wasn't that sweet of her?!)  We had an awesome time- playing Hearts, jammin', talking, jammin' some more, then riding in the golf cart (the 14-year-old and 15-year-old drove; maybe a little wrong but more fun than if The Parents had driven!), eating some pretty awesome pizza, saving the pizza place from burning down by putting out a fire, and finally watching Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which is kind of crazy in itself, because I saw it for my birthday with their family, and now she was watching it for her birthday with our family!  We didn't get to my grandparents' house until about midnight.

 

Then yesterday, we had some friends over and we worked in our yard.  It wasn't fun, but it was easier because it was as if we had eight kids instead of only five.  Also, working with friends is much less of a chore.  We broke up into groups and the guys worked on building a retaining wall while the girls laid out and planted the garden.  After a good, solid seven hours of work (in which the ladies broke off after about five hours to bake cookies), we all stopped to eat dinner and have an AirSoft gun fight.  The only problem was that we only had four guns and six people who wanted to play!  We ended up having 'Substitutes' who would come in when someone got shot.  It was the highlight of the day!

 

Today, Arwen is out with a few other Seniors from our church.  They went bowling... and forgot me!  I'm like, "Hey, don't you need a photographer?!"  Oh, well.  I guess I'll go when I graduate.  (If I ever get that far...)

 

This has turned into a pretty long post!  : D  Time to go now, though, because the people who got left behind (me on down) are going to watch Little Men.  I've never seen it before, but am willing to watch it.  Tonight, we're going to see Tangled for the first time!  I'll let you know what I think of both of those movies.

 

~Eowyn~

Jimmy Valiant: Scions of Danger

Last Thursday, I was able to attend a premiere of a movie called Jimmy Valiant: Scions of Danger. At the beginning, the director asked that we give feedback, so I took my notebook out of my purse along with a pencil and was ready to take some notes. Judging from the trailers I'd seen online, this was going to be a pretty good film. I only got to jot down one idea before I was sucked into the plot- 'Excellent beginning- hooked me within 1st 30 sec!'

(A synopsis taken from the website) When the individualistic, cynical soldier-for-hire Jimmy Valiant (Brant Harris) is recruited to protect an idealistic Texas state senator, the two are forced to work together to unravel a conspiracy that forces Jimmy to face a dilemma between his own lust for vengeance and his family’s convictions about justice.
After a tragedy in the family business, young Jimmy Valiant seeks independence as an international soldier-for-hire, and balks at a marriage that would risk his autonomy. Facing an ultimatum from his fiancée complicated by mounting debts, Jimmy becomes desperate for work. An anonymous client recruits Jimmy to shadow a controversial Texas State Senator. Jimmy must overcome his myopia as he initiates an investigation that uncovers some startling truths, and brings him face-to-face with the last man in the world that he ever wanted to meet again.

Jimmy soon finds himself caught up in a conspiracy that threatens to undermine everything that he has come to trust.

Taking you panning through the halls of the Texas State Capitol, roaring in a Ferrari over the hills of Canyon Lake, and racing down the San Antonio Riverwalk, this film has been an adventure to make and promises to be an adventure to watch.

And, yes, it was a real Ferrari, going 115 mph!! So cool! Also, they filmed the outside of the Texas State Capitol, but for all you TeenPact people who would like to know, it was the inside of the Georgia Captiol- you know, the part they wouldn't let us in? They let Nathaniel Darnell and his cast and crew go in and film there!

This was the first movie premiere I've been to and it was quite an experience! I was able to stand less than a foot away from the director and the actor who played Jimmy Valiant!! It was also the first time I've been able to see a movie with a few church friends, which was very nice. We had a long talk after the movie and laughed a lot!

Overall, this was one of the best independent Christian films I've seen- and believe me, I've seen a lot. There were only a few cheesy parts, and the entire thing kept me on the edge of my seat! To learn more about Jimmy Valiant: Scions of Danger, visit www.jimmyvaliantthemovie.com

~Eowyn~

North Carolina Trip- Days One, Two, Three, and Four

As I write this, we're driving down Highway 485. We just left our friend's house, where we had an awesome time eating, talking, and playing 'Settlers of Catan.' It's also my younger brother's 11^th birthday, so he got sung to at their house. (They stuck candles in a few pieces of sheet cake from the wedding. Creative, right?) Anyway, the reason I didn't write every night was because I was way too busy to post anything at night- or any other time- as you'll see in the following post.


Day One

This day went a lot like the first day of our trip to Florida about two weeks ago, except we were traveling north, not south. My younger brother and I babysat for the same Bible study kids and had a lot of fun. (By the way, never ever let two-year-olds eat those little pastry things filled with creme. Not a good idea!) About an hour after getting back from that, we were packed and ready to go. Dad and my younger brother had to get a haircut, so us girls- and my other little brother- went to Target. (See the similarities?) Actually, my little brother and I stayed in the car. I attempted to work on something I was writing while he took a nap, but I couldn't concentrate. It was too hot! By the time we picked up my dad and younger brother at the hair-cutting place, it was about 3:30, and you know what time that is... rush hour time! It took us an hour and a half to get about thirty minutes into and back out of Atlanta. My younger brother and I watched a movie in the car, sharing headphones. It was pretty awesome, and I remembered something about the movie I'd forgotten. My name was listed in the orchestra that preformed the music- same spelling and everything! Not only was I in the violin section, but the firsts! (Well, I'm not that good, but I'll be in the firsts if you really want me to!) That was really cool. So we didn't actually get to our friend's house until about 10:30 that night. When we got there, this awaited us.

Pretty cool, huh? My younger brother was so excited! After we partied for a little bit, we watched Jullian Smith videos on YouTube, then clips from Apostles of Comedy. Then, we played Dumkoph, which was a lot of fun, especially since I hadn't played it in forever. At about midnight, our parents said we had to go to bed. Uh, that didn't actually mean we had to sleep, did it? Good, 'cause my friend and I needed to catch up. We talked about anything and everything that popped into our heads! My two sisters fell asleep long before we did, which was funny. Wanna guess just how late we stayed up? 3:45 am! No kidding! It was probably one of my favorite parts of the entire weekend. (Later, my friend and I referred to it as out 'Deep, Theological Discussion.' It sort of was... but not really.)

Day Two

My friend and I slept in, which means we were downstairs eating breakfast by 8:30. TeenPact really messed me up! I can't sleep in any more! (Seriously, can't I get up on time on a school day when I'm supposed to be up around that time?!) Anyway, we had French toast that my friend's mom made with bread that I'd made the previous Monday. I didn't have any, but I've been told it was good. After that, we walked around outside by their creek and played Follow the Judge to Court. After that, we played Pit, which I'd never played before. Sadly, only about forty-five minutes after that, we were out of their house and off to our friend's house. (It was their daughter/sister/niece/granddaughter that got married.) We had a blast!! We ate a little bit (at The Immature Table!), but that was all the sit-down time we wanted. What we were really there for was to play a practical joke on the groom.

Awesome, right? It was upside-down, so we had to fix it. But then the groom made us un-fix it. (Like, literally, made someone.) Anyway, after that, we went outside and took random pictures of leaves and flowers near The Fort (did we ever actually name it?), then Arwen gave the bride and groom a gift- matching pajamas! The bride got to try hers on and we all agreed the nightgown looked really cute on her! After parting, we visited our old house to check on our renters there. It was my first time meeting them and they all seemed really nice! They really liked the house, neighborhood, community, and their church, so that was good! We visited another family that lives in that neighborhood and it was good to see them again. We then picked up a pizza and took it to our hotel. It was yummy! Then, we watched a movie that I'd never seen before- Megamind. It was so funny! Sure, there was a little bit of the typical Dreamworks potty humor that wasn't even funny and a small bit of language, but, overall, it was a good movie. We went to sleep probably a little past midnight and had a great night of sleep, which was good, because we were going to have a big day the next day... Wedding Day!!

Day Three

We got up at about 8:30 again (well, technically, I got up at about nine), took showers, threw on our clothes, fixed up some makeup (ew), and were on our way with some friends to the reception place by about 10:45. It took us a good hour and a half to set up everything the bride wanted there, but it was worth it!


The Candy Bar- YUM!!

The Beautiful Bride!

I remembered why I didn't like high-heels at the set-up for the reception... Ouch! They were like that for most of the reception and banquet- not on my feet. : )

After finishing up there, we walked across the street to where the actual wedding was going to take place. See, the best thing about weddings is the fact that all of the out-of-town people get to see all of their friends that still lived in town. That was awesome! I got to see so many people that I wouldn't have otherwise been able to see.

Then there was the wedding. I have to say, it was probably the funnest wedding I've ever been to, and I've been to a lot. The bride just could not stand still! The groom wasn't quite as bad, but almost. We all laughed several times throughout the ceremony. The music was so gorgeous! The bride was a cellist, so she had about five other cellos and a piano play all of her music. I'm not a cello fan (probably because Arwen plays), but let me tell you what... it was so pretty, I think I'm going to have a half a dozen cellos play at my wedding!

The Happy Couple

Fast-forward a few minutes later to the reception. The bride came up with the wonderful idea of having a Candy Bar, which was a huge hit! But guess who got to serve? Me, Arwen, and my younger sister! That's right. It was a ton of fun, but my back was so sore by the time about eighty kids (and a few adults!) went through, I could hardly walk around at the actual reception! I did manage to take a few pictures, though. Have a look!

After the bride and groom left, most everyone followed suit. But not us! We had to tear down and set back up at the banquet place! It was actually better this time, because tearing down is easier than setting up and the people at the place where the banquet was at did most of the work. (Yes!) A few friends and I got to mess around a little bit, too.

Since everything was mostly set up at the banquet place, we mainly just goofed off and stood around, waiting for people to get to the banquet. After everyone got there, we mainly just had fun. There are way too many stories to tell them all, though, so I'll just say that we had a blast. We ate, danced, goofed off some more, and lit up sparklers for when the bride and groom left for the second time- not to return this time until after the Honeymoon. My family stayed afterwards for about an hour just talking to people, then we crashed at our hotel. The day had gone by so well (except for that few minutes after someone knocked over a picture of the bride- the glass shattered!), and we were all so happy for the bride and groom.

Day Four

(Wow, was that all really just a few days ago? And what I'm going to write was just this morning? Time flies by way too fast when you're having fun!) So, this morning, we all packed up our stuff that had accumulated in our hotel room and drove down to Waxhaw to visit our church. It was so good seeing everyone again, because everyone knows that if you haven't seen anyone in a while, you can just talk to them for forever. The sermon was really good and the time of prayer we had afterwards was equally so. (Oh, how I missed it!) After church, we stood around and talked to people. It was fun, because they hadn't seen my little brother in a few months, and he's really sprouted up. He can say quite a few words now, and is very particular about who he wants to hold him! He wouldn't let me take him away from someone until I told him who we were visiting next- the same person we'd seen all weekend. Then, after a few sad goodbyes, we drove a little bit down the road to the bride's family's house. We ate more food, played 'Settlers of Catan,' and just talked and caught up. It was a lot of fun!

All in all, the weekend was a huge success and a lot of fun for everyone. Here are a few random pictures that didn't fit anywhere else.

Ah, yes.... While we were all eating at our crazy table, a friend and I started feeling bad about the groom's licence plate still being upside-down. My younger brother (somehow) located a screwdriver, and we fixed it. We all feel better now.

Our crazy table at the banquet (minus one, because he was leaning back too far)

Okay, so after the bride and groom left, I glanced around, and this is what I saw...

I was like, Kodak moment!!

Concentrating on the game Friday morning...

Oh... I said it could go On The Blog, so here it is, my friend! : )

We are Settlers of Catan!

Until my next random post...

~Eowyn~