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 :)