goals for 2011

1. Read my Bible and pray every day - no matter how busy my day is

2. Learn something new each day

3. Read more books

4. Keep a record of every book I read this year along with a short review of what I thought of it - it would be awesome to be able to look back and see how many books I read

5. Make a scrapbook of the whole year

6. Make the most of living in a new place

7. Learn to be "quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger"

8. Do my very best at my schoolwork every day

9. Learn to knit better

10. And sew better

11. Tidy my room every day

12. Learn to cook/bake new things

13. Improve my handwriting

14. Improve on my photography

15. Memorize a Scripture verse each week

16. Remember to "count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds"

books are amazing

|not my photo|


I wish I could just jump into the above picture and pick up one of those books and read for hours. Fiction or nonfiction, mysteries or biographies, I don't really mind.

There's just something terribly exciting about reading the first words of a book. You never know what's going to happen or where the story will lead. Books can take you all over the world. They can take you back in time or into the future. When reading a book you can experience for yourself what it's like to be fighting battles in the War for Independence, seeking lost treasure by traveling into the past, floating down the Mississippi on a raft, or stepping into a wardrobe and finding a mysterious world on the other side.


Books are amazing.





Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.
Charles W. Eliot

merry christmas!

Just a short post to say Merry Christmas and I hope you all have a wonderful day!


"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."
Luke 2: 11

movie quiz answers

Thanks to everyone who commented their guesses to my movie quiz! Here's the answers:

Emma (1996 version):

Mr. Knightly: Emma, you didn't ask me to contribute a riddle.

Emma: Your entire personality is a riddle, Mr. Knightly, I thought you overqualified.

Madagascar 2:

Alex: Mary, it looks like this is it! I just want you to know, you're a one in a million friend!

Marty: Thanks, Alex! You are a true friend!

Alex: And I'm sure you won't mind when I tell you...

Mary: What? Tell me what?

Alex: I broke your iPod!

Toy Story 3:

Woody: Look, I just need to get out of here...

Buttercup (the unicorn) : [dramatically] There is no way out!

Buttercup continues: Just kidding. Door's right over there.

LOTR - The Fellowship of the Ring:


Aragorn: Gentlemen, we do not stop till nightfall.

Pippin: What about breakfast?

Aragorn: You've already had it.

Pippin: We've had one, yes. What about second breakfast?

It's A Wonderful Life:

Clarence: Your brother - Harry Bailey - broke through the ice and was drowned at the age of nine.

George Bailey: That's a lie! Harry Bailey went to war - he got the Congressional Medal of Honor, he saved the lives of every man on that transport.

Clarence: Every man on that transport died! Harry wasn't there to save them, because you weren't there to save Harry.





Remember the Titans:

Alice (Nurse) : Only kin's allowed in here.

Bertier: Alice, are you blind? Don't you see the family resemblance? That's my brother.








The Patriot:


Martin: Before this war is over, I'm going to kill you.

Tavington (evil dude in the picture): Why wait?

Martin: Soon.







Enchanted:

Robert: Would you like me to call someone for you?

Giselle: I don't think they would hear you from here.

Congrats to Karalee and Heather who both guessed the most correctly!

wait and see

When I think of the California several different things pop into my head. Beaches. Hills. Hollywood. Snakes.

But to be honest, I don't know much about California at all. Of course, I know what it looks like - I've seen it in movies, I've seen it in pictures, I've read about it in books. In fact, I've even gone there a few years ago for a week or two. But I don't know what it's like to actually live there.


I do know one thing though - it's a lot different than living in Ireland.



A little while ago I found out that I will most likely be leaving my home and going to live in California - for a whole year.

And that's scary. It's scary having to leave something you love so much and going to a place you know barely anything about.


Yet I know that I don't need to be afraid of anything. I may not be sure what it's going to be like there, but there is one thing I am sure about. I'm sure that God will be with me wherever I am in this world.

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."
Joshua 1:9



It will be very hard leaving - goodbyes are always hard. And it is hard not knowing what it will be like. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

my review - the voyage of the dawn treader

Last night I saw The Voyage of the Dawn Treader for the first time.

I want to start off by explaining just how much I love the book. But I can't. I think it is impossible to express just how incredible and magical the book is.
It's a masterpiece.

Ever since I listened to the radio theater and heard the story for the first time I've wished that they would make a movie out of it. And even more so after I read the book for myself. You have no idea how excited I was when it was finally in the making.

I walked into the cinema not really knowing what to expect. Would it be any good? Would it be anything like the book at all? Did they leave out or change the things I loved most about the book?

And I have to say - it was very different than the book. It was just loosely based on the book. But since the book has so many different adventures that make up the main one, it would be pretty impossible to squeeze it all into a 2-hour movie. So they rather cleverly joined them together, and I think they did a really good job.

There were lots of things I really loved about this movie. One thing was that lots of the characters were just perfect. Two that really stuck out to me were Eustace and Reepicheep. They were both so funny and were almost exactly as I have always imagined them to be like. Eustace was a terrible nuisance - just as he should be! Another thing was that the scenery and the music were really beautiful.

I am pretty sad, though, that my favorite character - Aslan - didn't seem to play as much of a part in the story that I wish he had.



Overall I think it was a great movie and that they did a wonderful job on it - I think it was my favorite out of the three movies! I can't wait to see it again.

new design

Wow.

What do you think of my blogs new look?


I'm still completely speechless. Olivia from Robin Blogs designed it, she did such an amazing job and it turned out better than I ever expected. Thank you so much, Olivia! I love it so much.

this is the last post on this blog....

...written by a 13 years old girl. Yep - tomorrow I will be officially 14 years old. Pretty scary, huh?

And because I don't have time to write a thousand words, I hope you won't mind if I just post a picture instead:

a movie quiz!

A few other blog that I follow have done movie quizzes, and they are always SO fun to do. So I've decided to do one of my own! Here's how it all works:


Step 1: I make a post with different quotes from movies I love, not telling what movie it is.

Step 2: You can try to guess which movie each quote is from and comment you're guesses - you can ask family members to help you guess but please don't cheat by looking them up on Google! ;)

Step 3. I won't publish the comments, so that other people can guess. And then in a few days I will post up the answers!


Hope you have fun with this!



Quote 1:

Character 1: (name omitted), you didn't ask me to contribute a riddle.

Character 2: Your entire personality is a riddle, (name omitted), I thought you overqualified.


Quote 2:

Character 1: (Name omitted), it looks like this is it! I just want you to know, you're a one in a million friend!

Character 2: Thanks, (name omitted)! You are a true friend!

Character 1: And I'm sure you won't mind when I tell you...

Character 2: What? Tell me what?

Character 1: I broke your iPod!



Quote 3:

Character 1: Look, I just need to get out of here...

Character 2: [dramatically] There is no way out!

Character 2 continues: Just kidding. Door's right over there.




Quote 4:

Character 1: Gentlemen, we do not stop till nightfall.

Character 2: What about breakfast?

Character 1: You've already had it.

Character 2: We've had one, yes. What about second breakfast?


Quote 5:


Character 1: Your brother - Harry Bailey - broke through the ice and was drowned at the age of nine.

Character 2: That's a lie! Harry Bailey went to war - he got the Congressional Medal of Honor, he saved the lives of every man on that transport.

Character 1: Every man on that transport died! Harry wasn't there to save them, because you weren't there to save Harry.


Quote 6:

Character 1 (Nurse) : Only kin's allowed in here.

Character 2: Alice, are you blind? Don't you see the family resemblance? That's my brother.


Quote 7:

Character 1: Before this war is over, I'm going to kill you.

Character 2: Why wait?

Character 1: Soon.


Quote 8:

---

Character 1: Would you like me to call someone for you?

Character 2: I don't think they would hear you from here.




I hope these weren't too hard! Remember you can ask any family members to help. Happy guessing :)

i heart jelly tots

I found a recipe for gingerbread cookies on Olivia's blog, and I just knew I had to make them. So I did.


It was fun baking them...but even more fun decorating them! Here's some pictures of the finished products:

^I'm entering this one in Singing In the Rain's photo contest.

And the beautifully colorful sweets:

And just in case you are wondering what jelly tots are...they are these wonderful circles of happiness:

Oh yeah...so good :)

a winter wonderland

It started to snow on Saturday night - which made me extremely delighted. But it was only a little bit of snow, and really powdery (not much fun to play with). But this morning when I woke up and looked out my window...there was a winter wonderland of snow ;) I've actually never seen that much snow here in Ireland. It was pretty deep and the perfect consistency for snowballs and snowmen and the like. Here's a snowman that me and my two brothers made down by the lake:

See how tall it is? It's almost as tall as my dad:

Yes, Mr. Snowman is on a picnic table...and yes, his eyes and nose are spoons. We're quite a creative bunch, as you can see :)

And on Saturday morning I got to do some snow-photography; here's some of my pictures:

*happy sigh* it's already beginning to seem like Christmas-time. The snow...the pretty Christmas lights in town...the Christmas music...the hot chocolate...and it's not even December yet!


Hope you're enjoying your Tuesday (or whatever day it is when you are reading this.) :D

monthly book review - november

Wow...another month gone by way too fast. It's hard to believe it's been a whole month since I wrote my last review! And it's even harder to believe it's been 11 months since I wrote my very first review for Hannah's monthly book reviews link-up. Holy cow.


This month I'll be reviewing one of my all time favorite books. Or rather...3 of them. It's What Katy Did and it's two sequels What Katy Did at School and What Katy Did Next by Susan Coolidge. It's the second time I've read them, and that's saying something considering I barely ever reread books.


What Katy Did:

Although she means well, Katy Carr is constantly getting into scrapes and making mistakes. She's always making good resolutions, but never keeping them. Then one day something happens that will change her life forever...


I love this book. It's one of those books where "you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend" (-Paul Sweeny) All the characters are so realistic, and the author tells the story in such an entertaining and fun way. Even though I had read it before and know the story so well, it was just as amazing reading it for the second time. I really recommend it - it's a great classic.

What Katy Did at School and What Katy Did Next:


These two books are perfect sequels to What Katy Did although they are very different and based in entirely different settings. In What Katy Did at School, Katy and her sister Clover are sent to boarding school - and in What Katy Did Next Katy goes on a year-long trip to Europe. I love them both! One of the main things I love about them is that it really makes you feel like you were there - when I was finished with What Katy Did Next I felt as if I had just taken a trip all over Europe! I definitely recommend these two as well as the first one.




Make sure you head on over to Hannah's blog to read her review and maybe join in yourself ;)

the abc's of thanks

I saw this on Hannah's blog Aspire and I thought it looked like so much fun! It's a Thanksgiving link-up made by Rachel at Finding Joy. So, here's the ABC's of the random and not so random things I'm thankful for :)



A. Adam Young - if it wasn't for him we wouldn't have any Owl City to listen to! *shudders*


B. Books. Books are amazing.


C. Cameras


D. December 10th - my birthday and the day the new Narnia movie comes out!


E. Elizabeth Prentiss' books


F. Flowers


G. Google


H. Heather - my wonderful big sister :)


I. Ice cubes


J. Johanna (My friend)


K. Krispy Kreme donuts


L. Little kids


M. My Mommy and Daddy! :)


N. Narnia books


O. Oatmeal Raisin Cookies


P. Picnik (photo-editing)


Q. Quinlyn! XD


R. Rainbows


S. Snow


T. Thanksgiving


U. Up {the movie}


V. Veggie Tales


W. Words


X. Xtra-Vision (a movie renting store ;)


Y. Youth Group


Z. Zzzz.... (in other words...sleep!)




Yep, those are some of the things I'm thankful for :) I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving tomorrow!

finally...

...a post! "Write a blog post" has been on my To-do list all week. But things kept getting in the way. By things I mainly mean school. Not only is it just harder this year, I have to do extra school-work in order to be finished by the time we have to leave to go to America for the summer.

I love going to America - seeing lots of friends and family and all - but I get home-sick just thinking of leaving Ireland.


On a happier note - the other day Caleb (my 10 year old brother) and I took a walk down to the lake (It's really close by - only like a ten minute walk) and fortunately I took the camera along. It was really beautiful! Here's some of the pictures I took:





I have more things to say, I wish I could just ramble on and on! But - I should save some things for other posts :) Have a great day!

learning to knit...

...I mean, I'm trying to learn to knit. It's harder than it looks!

It's hard to do it just right - not to pull too hard or make it too loose. That's the main thing that's hard for me.

I mainly learned by watching a bunch of "how-to" youtube videos. Not the most fun way to learn, but hey, it works!

And knitting gets kinda addicting. Really! When I'm doing it, after a while I get tired of it and want to stop. But as soon as I stopped I want to start it again. Yeah, weird.

By the way, isn't it funny how many things one can find to photograph? Flowers. Kittens. My knitting attempts. You name it!

I also thought I'd throw in this last picture. Because that's all I've been seeing out my window for days. Rain. Gray clouds. Fun.

Monthly Book Review - October

Wow, October went by very quickly. Too quickly, almost!

One thing I always look forward to is Hannah's bloghop called Monthly Book Reviews. I did it a lot on my old blog, but this is my first time doing it on here.

I decided to review one of my favorite books, Elsie Dinsmore. My mom read it to me when I was younger, but I only read it for myself this month. Oh, I loved it! I'm actually loving the whole series, I'm on book 4, and they keep getting better and better.
Here's my review for the first book in the series:

I think that Elsie Dinsmore is one of the sweetest books ever written. It's about a little girl named Elsie, who is growing up in mid-19th century America. She is Christian girl who strives to be patient and loving despite all she goes through.

The Elsie series was written many years ago, but is still very relevant for us today. When I was reading these books I was both challenged and encouraged. I really recommend not only this first book, but the whole series.


Please head on over to Hannah's blog to read her review and maybe join in the fun yourself :)

i'm sorry.

I'm sorry I haven't been blogging very much lately.

And I'm sorry if I've been totally boring you out with my blog.

I want to change my blog. No, not the design (although you have no idea how much I want that changed too!) but the writing. I'm really going to work on it.

Another "Happy Birthday!"

I just wanted to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my wonderful friend, Madeline! I hope you have a great birthday, Madi *hugs*!

two truths and a lie

Iona is doing a really cool thing called "Two Truths and a Lie" where you post 3 statements about yourself- two truths and one lie. You can guess all ya like to find which is which, and then I'll reveal the answer further on. Can you guess which is a lie?


1. I live in the country-side.

2. I love the Jonas Brothers!!!!!

3. My brother is paranoid of spiders :)


The lie is............................................................
...................................................................
......................................................................
..................................................................
...............................................................
.......................................................................
......................................................................
...........................................................................
...............................................................
number 2.

I certainly do NOT love the Jonas Brothers. Yep, that's right people! By the way, I got permission from my brother to say the third statement. :)




That was really fun. I'm gonna do that again next week! XD

Make sure you head over to Iona's blog to join in the fun!

APP - day 4, cookies, and a funny video

Hello, all. :) Hope you're enjoying your Saturday! I am, it's a really beautiful day :) I did have some photo-trouble earlier...which was a total bummer. But I managed to take this one for APP:

Sorry it's so small...I don't know how I can make it bigger. Blah. Okay, so after I came inside from taking pictures and realized that none of them worked except that one above, I made cookies. And that made me happy. Because, as you know, cookies making people happy.

They're really good. As my brother was eating his second, I asked him if he liked them. "Not sure yet, I'll tell you after I eat another one."

I think he liked them.

Here's the recipe I used.


Oh yes, one more thing! I think this video is like the funniest thing ever.

a lovely recipe - chocolate crinkles

I made these cookies the other day, and I just wanted to share the recipe with you. They turned out really delicious. They are pretty much brownies in the shaped like cookies rolled in sugar. That doesn't sound so bad, does it? ;) They're from a Betty Crocker cookie book.

Chocolate Crinkles

You need:
1/2 cup vegetable oil

4 oz. (4 squares) unsweetened chocolate (or 3/4 cup cocoa + 1/4 cup melted butter)

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 powdered sugar (for rolling the dough in)

Mix oil, chocolate, and granulated sugar. Blend in one egg at a time until well mixed. Add vanilla. Stir flour, baking soda, and salt into the oil mixture. Chill several hours or overnight.

Heat oven to 350F. Drop by teaspoonfuls of dough into powdered sugar. Roll in sugar; shape into balls. Place about 2" apart on greased baking sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes. Do not overbake! Makes about 6 doz. cookies.

APP : day 3 + some other stuff

Candles. That's Autumn-y, right? ;)


By the way, I just wanna apologize for not posting pictures every-other-day like I had planned. I'm a failure as a person!! Well, actually I have a pretty good reason for not posting them. The reason is simply this: It seems like Autumn is over. It feels like the beginning of winter. The sun has been hiding behind the light-gray clouds for days, there's frost every morning, there's fog every afternoon, and it's cold. Very cold.


But I am going to try to keep doing my Autumn Photography Project, despite it not seeming like Autumn anymore. It will be an extra challenge to find Autumn-themed pictures now, but that's okay. A little challenge never hurt anyone, did it?

But other than it kind ruining my project, I'm lovin' this weather. I love winter, so why should I mind that it's coming early?!? It makes it seem like Christmas isn't that far away. And I miss snow. I haven't seen it in almost a year! Maybe it will come early this year. I'll let you know as soon as it's here.

Oh, and btw, I made cookies yesterday. It was the first time I used that recipe, and I really like them. I'll post the recipe and a picture tomorrow!


I hope your enjoying your Autumn, whether it be a Autumn-y Autumn or a Winter-y Autumn like mine! :)

a wonderful giveaway at bliss

I just wanted to let you all know that there is a wonderful giveaway going on at Bliss. Maggie is giving away a blog design by Olive Tree from Robin Blogs. Olive Trees' designs are gorgeous! I entered, and I'm really excited to see who wins!

Click HERE to check it out!

APP - Day 2

Hi everyone!

The wedding that I went to yesterday went really well! I didn't bring a camera because I was sure I wouldn't have time to use it, but I really should have brought it! The grounds around the hotel where the wedding was held was beautiful, and I probably would have been able to take a few pictures. Ah well, I know for next time :)

Now, since I wasn't able to take a picture yesterday for my Autumn Photography Project, I'll do it today.

But just for fun, I'll post a few pictures instead of just one. I went to church today to help set things up for tomorrow, and outside of the church it was beautiful. I've decided that October is one of the most beautiful months ever - but then, I say that for every month ;)