Follow-Up Christmas Post.

Hmm. Yes. This is my follow-up Christmas post. But before I begin, I'd like to point out the fact that I was in a car for eight hours today and for two of those hours, I was driving. 

...

Yes, let that roll around in your head for a second before I EXPLODE BECAUSE I DROVE A CAR!! 


Wow. I drove a car. 
When Max was driving on Christmas Eve, it looked so easy. I literally felt my mind being ripped apart when I did it. Multitasking level infinity. 
It's harder than it looks, oh you people of confidence. 

My Christmas was so amazing. On Christmas Eve, other than being driven by my seventeen-year-old cousin for the first time ever and praying to not die and annoying him as much as I could, our whole family stayed up super, super late. The adults talked (booooooring) in the dining room leaving twelve kids, ages ranging from seventeen to three, in the TV room and kitchen. The younger kids played Xbox and Max, Maddie and I played Scrabble, which I regret to inform you that I am rather horrid at. Then, all the other kids ages ten and up joined us for a super loud, super chaotic, super amazing game of Spoons, which I am awesome at. Like, come to my house and challenge me to Spoons. You will be my favorite. As long as I win, because otherwise we'll have a problem. Throughout these games, I had two or three cups of peppermint tea in the spirit of Christmas. 

Eventually, I think around one a.m., people went to bed. On Christmas morning, we watched Elf and opened presents and stockings with a delicious breakfast of my aunt's homemade cinnamon rolls. I got a beautiful and extremely fuzzy Captain America sweatshirt, leggings (I. love. leggings. I am the easiest person to shop for), a wallet, sunglasses, an amazing Jane Austen mug, multiple boxes of tea, a big bag, and this cool, makeup/jewelry box. There's also an iPhone coming at some point which was supposed to be a birthday present but procrastination is kind of a thing around here now...

I love my family. My family/extended family are the craziest, most amazing people ever. Christmas is not Christmas without any of them. 

On Monday we went to see Star Wars--the Force Awakens in 3D. 

There are just no words. None. So allow me to proceed with multiple paragraphs of words because that makes sense. 
When I was younger, the rumor of a seventh movie was just that--a rumor. One that I was skeptical about. I liked the ending of the sixth one and thought that they should quit while they were ahead and besides, weren't the actors all old now? I thought another trilogy would kill it. George Lucas had gotten a bit technology-happy in the second trilogy he made (1,2, and 3), and seeing how quickly technology has advanced even further, I'm glad they had J.J. Abrams direct it. George Lucas was starting to focus more on how much technology he could shove into the movies rather than actually telling a story. 

These movies are my childhood. They just are. My family used to watch Star Wars together and when I was really little, I would play Star Wars with my friends (didn't we all???). Even though the Force Awakens  was made in a time when technology was booming and everything is just so different now than it was back when the other movies were made, it was still a Star Wars movie. It had that feel of the movies and the music---I get so emotional over the music. Every bit of it. I could listen to the songs all. the. time. 
Okay, spoiler time--at the very end, when you see Luke in his cloak and he turns around and takes it off, I almost teared up. And I never cry in movies. With the exception of The Passion of the Christ and Little Boy, but still! But let me just say, I did not recognize him as Luke Skywalker. Maybe it was the beard. I dunno. BUT STILL.

And since we're on the topic of crying and movies and stuff, last night Maddie and I watched the last episode of Psych. 
ONLY THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING EVER OMIGOSHHHHHHHH Maddie and I both cried. 
Like, I know that might sound shallow, saying that an episode of Psych was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen, BUT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! SHAWN SPENCER WILL BE MY FAVORITE TV CHARACTER UNTIL I DIE!! I CRIED!! I CRIED AND HOLY COW I CRIED!! But it's weird, I was crying and cracking up at the same time because holy wow, Gus is awesome. 
I can't even explain, you just have to watch it to understand me. After that, Maddie and I tried watching Once Upon a Time but we couldn't do it because after Psych it just seemed so shallow and stupid and UGH I'm an emotional wreck. 

I will leave now,don't worry. 
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!! 

Late Night Post (featuring Maddie who thinks she's the best)

Merry super late Christmas!! 

Yeah, I apologize. I'm bad at doing stuff on time. So this is my Christmas post. 
Actually, it's 12:30 am and I'm in NorCal with Maddie who insists I call her Rosalinda....... 

My Christmas was amazing. On Christmas Eve, Maddie, my cousin Lucy and I went ice skating and we actually didn't fail. We expected to fail. We didn't. It was great. 

So far, this trip has consisted of: 

• Psych (love that show) 
• Soon-to-be Star Wars--the Force Awakens (going to see it on Monday) 
• Ice skating, as seen above
• a Star Wars marathon
• Walks to froyo and Walgreens in freezing weather and then forgetting everything we bought at Walgreens at the froyo shop
• Found a lost dog, and then found it's not-lost owner (Maddie was so sad to part with it DDX) 
• Randomly staying up until two am for no reason (but it was like, the whole family, which made it pretty fun) 
• Multiple cups of peppermint tea (mostly me...) 
• A game of banana grams between me, Maddie, and her brother Max (which Maddie won and gloats about) 
• A big and intense game of Spoons between all the kids ages ten and up
• A game of Settlers of Catan between the four oldest kids (Me, Max, Maddie, and Blaze)(we eventually gave up because we have commitment issues. Maddie technically won by default)
• My parents and my aunt and uncle decided that they trust us enough to leave us alone in the house all day. Seriously, twelve kids stuck in a house all day is either the most chaotic thing ever or the best. 
• Lots of cookie and biscotti making.  
• Chocolate
• Getting driven by Max for the first time. It was terrifying. I mean, he's seventeen, but I'm already freaked out for my first driving lesson on Wednesday, so... I dunno, I was scared. And also, I don't want to die! 

Maddie says hi and be careful when taking keys off key rings. 

I'm getting home on Wednesday, and I'll do a follow-up Christmas post then, probably going into more details of the trip. 

Maddie is addicted to a game called Bubble Cloud. She hates it. 

[Maddie and I have a weird little friendship. It's the kind of thing where we'll be baking and she'll just drop everything and yell, FIFTY JUMPING-JACKS, GO! and I'll drop everything and do them with her without questions, and then we just go back to baking and don't speak another word about it. Or it'll be really quiet and she randomly shouts, KIWI!!! and I won't look up from whatever I'm doing, I'll just tell her to shut up and she'll crack up for five minutes.] 

OKAY UNTIL WEDNESDAY!! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! 

Christmas Music.

FINALS ARE OVER!! 

PRAISE THE LORD!! 

Those are my two favorite sentences right now. I've been saying them over and over since 9:30 this morning. 

Everyone finished the biology exam within a half an hour, so we sat on the floor and played games and watched that movie Jack Frost... You know, the clay-mation version? C'mon, you've seen it. With the groundhog... People say the animation is scary, but you have not seen scary animation until you've seen Boxtrolls. It's plain terrifying. Don't watch. 

So now it's almost Christmas. The season of cookies and family and giving and, most importantly, the birth of Our Lord. It's all eight days away. 

It's also the season of Christmas music. Here are my Christmas favorites for your musical entertainment: 

Joy to the World

White Christmas

Carol of the Bells

Silver Nights

Baby It's Cold Outside

Winter Wonderland

Silver Bells

My Song for You

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
O Come, O Come Emmanuel
Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
Christmas Time Is Here
Sleigh Ride
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
We Three Kings
Up on the Housetop
Let it Snow

I'm probably missing some. Let me know your favorite Christmas songs in the comments! 

Taking a Break from Studying Geometry...

Penguin was doing a Mad Libs and asking me and Blaze for our answers and I laughed too hard. 

Adverb ending in -ly 

Me: gracefully 
Blaze: deathly 

Past-tense verb 

Me: danced 
Blaze: killed, murdered, assassinated 

Something slippery 

Me: soap 
Blaze: Penguin's math grade 

Now go drink tea study for your finals!! 

Studying for Finals Without Losing Your Mind.

There's a point in your life when you are just so overwhelmed with the world and deadlines and homework and worries and school Advent concerts and Christmas cookies that you just have to take a step back... 
And it's only when you do take that backwards step and observe your world from the outside that you realize that it's the weekend before finals and you don't have time to step back because you're up to your ears in notes and textbooks to study. 

Mmmhmmm. 
Here we are again. 

I could rant on and on about how stressed finals make make and y'all would hate me for that because you have your own finals to cram for and don't want to hear about my problems, but I would do it anyways cuz it's my blog, after all. BUT I'm not an unreasonable person. So we're doing something different. 

<><><><>

HOW TO STUDY FOR FINALS PROPERLY WITHOUT LOSING YOUR MIND

STEP ONE

Umm, tea???

Get yourself some tea. Life is better with tea. But maybe you don't like tea (YOU STRANGE, STRANGE PEOPLE), so make it coffee, or a smoothie, or a chocolate shake from McDonalds. I won't judge. Just get yourself something that will help make studying more relaxing and will help you keep your sanity. 

STEP TWO

Don't hold it all off to the night before. Start earlier so you have a few days and pace yourself. Spread it out evenly so you're studying an equal amount each night. And then on the night before, review. Review, review, review. Drink multiple cups of tea, if necessary (It's always necessary).

STEP THREE

SLEEP.

Yes, it's that thing you hated when you were seven, but now you need it unless you want to fall asleep during your exam, which would not be your best move. Shut off the stupid TV and go to bed early the night before. 

STEP FOUR

Take breaks.

Don't explode your head!! Take breaks! Drink tea! Go for a walk! Make Christmas cookies (and send me some, thanks)! Don't plow through it all because then your head will explode and that's not pretty. 

STEP FIVE

This one might not apply to everyone. For my English exam, I'm going to have to write a time-pressured, five paragraph essay about Homer's Odyssey. Blah. But for an English exam, that's pretty common, I believe, so if this is your situation too, and if it's okay with your English teacher, scratch out an outline beforehand. Don't write out a full essay though and then just copy it during the test, that sort of defeats the purpose of a time-pressured essay. And make sure your teacher is okay with it too. But if it is okay, do it. Write out a detailed outline, emphasis on detailed. It'll be so much easier, trust me, this isn't my first time writing an essay under pressure. 

STEP SIX

Breathe. You got this.

<><><><>

This is my seventh time taking semester exams, and especially after the PSATs, I'm not that stressed yet. I wish you luck on your finals, especially my brother, who is taking them for the first time. 

Remember: Tea. Lots of tea. 

Fill Yourself With God.

People who don't see the beauty in themselves try to discourage people who do. It's just human nature. People who don't have anything to say try to shut up people who do. People judge people. We're a big planet of judges. 

I care too much about what other people think. I think it's because I tend to embarrass myself over and over again. But it's one of my flaws. I'm insecure. I'm constantly looking at the people around me to see what I should do, or who I should be. Sometimes I care more about what other people think of me than about what I think of me. 
But it's because I've seen how mean people can be when they see someone be different. People can be just plain awful, and I don't want to be the recipient of any of that meanness. 

But I don't have it as bad as it could be. I go to an amazing Catholic school where everyone is crazy and different. We may be forced to wear the same uniform day after day, but everyone in the school is unique and crazy in their own way.Some people out there feel they have to "express themselves" through what they wear, but you really don't. 
At my school, I'm surrounded by amazing people who embrace each other's differences. But even there, I sometimes feel like I'm doing something wrong and I start thinking about what others think. 

I recently saw this prayer that said, Empty myself of me, Lord, so I may be filled with You. Our lives are not ours, despite what the world is saying. Our lives belong to God. He has a plan for you. So stop resisting it. . 
You don't have to be constantly caring about what others think of you. If you fill yourself with God, it doesn't matter what other people say. You don't need their approval to live out God's plan for you. 

Everyone is beautiful. Everyone is precious in His eyes. So why do we constantly have to point out the flaws of others just to make ourselves feel better? We all have our own flaws to work on. 


We are all God's children and we need to start acting like it. 

City Lights and Windy Nights.

Once upon a time, I was babysitting Ronnie and it was midnight and super windy, so the two of us sat on the comfortable chair in the living room right next to our big dining room window that looks out onto the lights of the city. The house was creaking in the wind and making weird noises, but Ronnie still managed to fall half-asleep on my lap. 

And naturally, I wrote a poem. 

---------------------------------------------------

City lights and windy nights 
Remembering all the wrongs made right
Crunching leaves that will never fall again. 
Mosquito bites and the big brown chair
Where you would let me play with your hair 
Memories of eyes of our old friends. 
And through the hardest part,
Stuck here in the dark, 
Never truly letting go of our fears 
When all along we've had our happy ending in these years 
Because no matter how strong the wind blows
It doesn't matter how deep the darkness goes. 
Just know that even
Even in the darkest night
There'll always be the stars. 

-------------------------------------------------

It has no title, and I kind of like it that way. I don't know what it is about this poem, but I love it so much. I'm really proud of this one. 

--Abby  

Collage

Here I am again! 

I still haven't done my essay. 
I'll do it after this, I guess. 

Okay, because I'm so awesome with technology (read: I fail constantly with technology), and because I love my NaNo story so very much, and because I was rather bored this evening, I made for you a collage. About my NaNo story. Well not really about it, just kind of... It has my NaNo story theme. And I made it. And I'm going to shut up and show it to you now. 

-none of these photos are mine-

 Mmkay, so I was hoping for a better feel of the story with it, like, I was hoping to look at it and be like, yes muahaha that is my story! But it didn't exactly come out the way I'd like it to. Maybe I'll try again later. In case you can't read them, the very middle one says, "Every revolution begins with a spark." I'm pretty sure it's from Catching Fire. The little one on the left, right under the hand with the sunflower, says, "We were one. We were the revolutionaries," which is a direct quote from my story, thankyouverymuch. It's rather dramatic. Then the bottom, black and white one says, "It's a revolution, I suppose," which is a direct quote from the Imagine Dragons song "Radioactive." 

You: I think the story is about a revolution..... 

You are correct. 

Now I have an essay to write. 

Oh look at that, it's already 9:21 PM. 
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha*cries* 

--Me

I have to re-write an essay. 

Yet here I am. 

It's December!! Literally, the best month of the year. People have started putting up Christmas lights on their houses and the weather is cooling down. On Monday, it was freezing!! I've said this before, but the majority of my school campus is outdoors, so yeah, I died. It was great. 

So. Some things I've been up to: 

• Writing, obviously. 
• Drinking pumpkin spice lattes. I learned how to make them. It's amazing. Seriously, I need you to understand how happy this has made me.  
• Lots and lots of reading, mostly the sequels to The Lost Prince. And now I'm rereading The Lost Prince. (You people who don't read make me sad.) 
• Stomach aches, back pains, and coughing, as of today. But I'm going to aerial anyway. I'll probably die, but I'm going. 
• Eating popcorn. (Actually no, that's just what I'm doing that right now....) 
• Arguing with people in my class about random little things. I suppose when you see people every single day for a few years, you start arguing about stuff. (It's not real arguing, it's friend-arguing. But at the same time, these guys are like siblings to me, so I guess it is real arguing.) (I love them so much.) 
• Drawing! I've been doing a lot of drawing. 

Okay, I would love to stay and chat, maybe over a pumpkin spice latte, but I've got aerial. Pray I don't die. 
--Abby

Final Stats for NaNo 2015: 

Final word count-- 30,012
Pages-- 71
Percentage-- 100.12% 
Average word count per day-- 1002 
Number of Days I Took Off-- 2


So it's a short story. But I mean, doing this on top of high school, I'm pretty satisfied with myself xD. I actually wrote a lot on Thanksgiving, which was surprising. I didn't do any writing on my birthday and then a random day a week before because we had family in town. 

I WON, GUYS! 

Turkey Day!

Thanksgiving. 

The only day of the year when you can eat as much as you want and it's okay because it's patriotic and everyone's thankful. 


Okay, but seriously, sarcasm aside, I love Thanksgiving. I'm making the stuffing again this year and Rosie's in charge of the cranberries again. The boys do nothing except clean and repeatedly ask when the food will be ready. 
Ironically, I'm starving right now because I didn't eat breakfast before Mass and now I'm blogging and I'm kind of giving up on breakfast for today. 

Oh! My birthday updates! 

Okay, it was literally one of the best birthdays in my memory. And I've had some pretty awesome birthdays. My 15th was a lot of fun, and my 13th was on Thanksgiving... But I mean, this one was just awesome. 

So, my mom and I started driving and I had no idea where we were going, and suddenly we end up in San Louis Obispo at a spa resort. It was so beautiful. 
So then, Mom and I are walking down a path, when who jumps out in front of us yelling HAPPY BIRTHDAY...

Maddie!!! 
Except my mom was in front of me, so at first she jumped in front of her and yelled, "HAPPY BIRTH--oh that's awkward." Then she saw me and tried again. I was so surprised, but it was an amazingly awesome surprise. 
So me, my mom, Maddie, and my aunt stayed at the resort for one night. We went into downtown San Louis for dinner and Maddie and I were up until two am watching Mockingjay Part 1, because I'm lame and hadn't seen it yet. 

Maddie gave me a beautiful charm bracelet. My aunt gave me the most comfortable finger-less gloves that she made. 
It was a good birthday. 

The author took a break from writing this post to do chores and make stuffing. 

Thanksgiving feast preparations are taking place in my home. I just finished the stuffing, Rosie's working on the cranberry sauce, Lilian is in charge of the whipped cream for the pie this year, Penguin's chopping stuff (not sure what, I didn't pay attention), and Ronnie job is, as put by my dad, "just keep being cute." 

Blaze came into the kitchen while we were all working with the belt from someones bathrobe and started whipping it around. 
B: WORK, SLAVES! 
Dad: Are you doing anything helpful right now? 
B: I'll ask the questions, sir. 
Dad: What are you doing? 
B: I'm the slave watcher
Dad: That's not a thing. 

The house smells amazing right now, especially because I still haven't eaten any food yet today. 

I'm off to work on NaNo. I'm about 5K words away from my goal. I hope you all have an amazing Thanksgiving filled with wonderful food and family :). 
--Abby

Book Review--The False Prince

In a faraway land, civil war is brewing. To unify his kingdom's divided people, a nobleman named Conner devises a cunning plan to place an impersonator of the king's long-lost son on the throne. Four orphans are forced to compete for the role, including the defiant and clever boy named Sage. Sage knows Conner's motives are more than questionable, yet his life balances on a sword's point--he must be chosen to play the prince or he will certainly be killed. As Sage moves from a rundown orphanage to Conner's sumptuous palace, layer upon layer of duplicity and deceit unfold, until finally, a truth is revealed that may very well prove more dangerous than all of the lies taken together. 







I. Loved. This. Book. I cannot express it enough. The only thing that makes me happier than this book right now is the fact that I have its two sequels xDDD. It's woven together so perfectly and it throws twists at your face until you decide you'll probably die with this book, but at the same time it doesn't overwhelm you. I was up until late almost ever night this week reading this, so yeah, I was pretty tired at school this week, but it was worth it. 
The shining glory of this book is definitely the twists and turns and how they all fit together. At many points in the story, I felt like throwing the book now and squealing. I mean, I could guess the culprit of a couple Sherlock mysteries, but there were things in this book that I just simply did not. see. coming. This is officially going to be the next book I throw at Blaze over and over and over until he finally reads it and loves it. I did the same with the Percy Jackson books. It took so much bribing to get him to read those, but he loves them. He'll deny it, if you ask him, but I've lived with the kid for thirteen years, he loves them. 
GAH there's nothing left to say READ THIS BOOK

5 out of 5

Day Seventeen.

I'm not dead, I promise. 

DAY SEVENTEEN OF NANO 2015 STATS

Current word count: 18,080

Today's word count (so far): 507

60.27% of the way to meeting goal

Snippet:

I closed my eyes and listened to his footsteps against the cement ground. He could be lying of course, but why would he? He had no reason to, unless he was trying to get me to quit. But why would he want that? In a rebellion, weren’t you supposed to get as many people to side with you as possible? “I didn’t know,” I stated plainly. I looked at him. “Is it true? This is mutiny that I’m a part of now?”

“It is.” He stopped pacing and looked me straight in the eye. “Are you prepared for the worst?” 

I know. Only five hundred words. I'm a pathetic human being. 

But in my defense, I had a lot of homework today, and tenth grade is starting to get me stressed out. English, mostly. I have so many stupid essays to write and rewrite. Blah. 

PLUS next week we have the whole week off from school, and I plan on doing tons of writing then! 

Okay, so, this Sunday is my birthday... 

Wow. 

I've never been so scared for my birthday before. I have no idea what the heck I'm doing to celebrate, because apparently my mom has something planned but she won't tell me what it is, and also, sixteen????? That can't be right. Wasn't it just my fifteenth birthday? Wasn't I just at that seafood restaurant eating lemon slices covered in ketchup and salt? (I bet you're wondering why I would do that. Don't question greatness, people.) (I made my friends try it too, it was great xD) 

But yeah. Sixteen. 

.

.

.

IS THIS MY LAST POST AS A FIFTEEN YEAR OLD HOLY COW IT MIGHT BE!!!!!!!!! 

And on that bit of craziness, I just heard my dad saying that we're having mac n' cheese for dinner. Happy birthday to me x) 

--Abby, the freaking almost sixteen year old who hasn't even driven a car yet 

I'm so behind. 

omg I just remembered the dream I had on the night before my fifteenth birthday. Like, it was a total deja vu moment. I legit haven't thought about it in a year. Wha........

NaNo Day Seven

DAY SEVEN OF NANO 2015 STATS

Current word count: 10,668

Today's word count: 1903

35.56% of the way to meeting goal

Snippet:

I looked at him and said softly, “I could get fired.”

“We all have to make brave choices sometimes, don’t we?” he said, a twinkle in his eye. “What do you think is the right thing to do?”

I frowned. “Make you leave.”

He shook his head. “No, no, that’s what the law thinks is the right thing to do.” He pointed a dirty, wrinkle finger at my heart. “What do you think is the right thing to do?”

I took a break from writing to eat lunch today and I was making a turkey sandwich and lately I've been craving Subway, so when I was making my sandwich, I thought what if I toast this like they do at Subway and make it amazing... 

It was amazing. 

I also was kind of starving. 

I thought I would bring that up because lately I feel like all I talk about on here is food... Which isn't true, but I always complain about how hungry I am... 

I mean, if we're just going off of what I put in this blog, I'm a moody fifteen year old girl who doesn't eat food and sleeps all day and speaks fluent sarcasm. 

....

I'm very sorry if I come off that way sometimes, because I guess I am like that, but I don't want to be. I am actually a generally happy person. And sometimes I can be deep. Like last night, I went to adoration at a near-by church and I got very deep and started asking God all these questions because I am a lost little sinner. But I love going to adoration because it's so peaceful and you can just see God in everyone there. 

SEE?? I can be deep. 

--Abby

Day Six and a Weekly Sum-Up.

I've been reading blogs of other people who are also doing NaNo, most of whom I know, and they're all doing like 3K words a day, while I'm sitting here in my little corner of shame with my 1.5K words per day, on average. I have to remind myself that a lot of those people are homeschooled and have more chances to write than I do. But still, I could be doing better. 

DAY SIX OF NANO 2015 STATS

Current word count: 8,765

Today's word count: 2,211

29.22% of the way to meeting goal

Snippet:

“Mom, do I have to conquer the world?”

“No,” she replied thoughtfully. “I suppose not. But someday,” she looked at me, “you’re going to grow up and you’re going to have to make it yours somehow. Every human leaves their mark in some way. You just have to figure out what you have to offer the world.”

So, I suppose since I've been gone for a bit, I owe you [my four readers] a weekly sum-up. 

Best moment this week 

Hm. Well, on Wednesday, the high-school went on a day trip to L.A. for the LIFEsocal event. It was super loud, there were over 7,000 Catholic schools students crowded into a basketball stadium and there was music blasting, and I'm surprised my ears weren't permanently damaged. David Henrie, the actor, was there again, like last year (If you click that link, you also get to read about the day when I almost met Rick Riordan and then didn't.) What surprised me was how Catholic he is! Like, I knew he was Christian, but when he was giving his speech, he started talking about transubstantiation and I was like, uh, YESSS!! 

Random moments of the week

On Monday, it was drizzling, so me, Em, and a few others sat in the middle of the soccer field at school and ate a whole box of Double Stuf Oreos. It was super quite because everyone was in class and it was drizzling...Yes, it was as amazing as it sounds. 

Also, on the drive to L.A., I was in a carpool with a bunch of crazy amazing people. We ate M&M's and listened to a lot of country and Disney music. And we listened to this song. And this song. They're hilarious, we were cracking up. I showed them to Blaze and Penguin and they cracked up too. xD 

Shame moment of the week

In PE we played a weird game where we had to do push-ups and dress up in costumes and run... And I had to wear dress pants that were too big for me, a knight chest-plate thing, a huge leather jacket (which was SUPER COMFORTABLE), worn-out flip-flops, and crutches. It was rather shameful, how horrid I looked.

Made me happy

The leaves are starting to change! 

My mother got chamomile tea ;)

Late-night texting with Maddie.

NANO

Made me freak out

Geometry tests :(

SO. MANY. LONG. TERM. ENGLISH. ASSIGNMENTS. I'M. LOSING. TRACK. OF. WHATS. DUE. WHEN. 

We're having an English seminar next week about the Iliad and I'm excited but in no way prepared. 

NANO

Things I've pinned ;)

This pretty much sums up my essence.

Because.

Have you detected a theme yet?
I started like three new boards this week:
One dedicated to Autumn, one to Winter, and one to fuzzy socks and tea xD

And here's this, because it's not winter just yet.
And this is hilarious.

I sent this to my friend who doesn't care for
sarcasm and I was like, "This is probably the most sarcastic
thing that ever happened." 

Well I have food waiting for me, and I haven't eaten since Blaze and I were fighting over the frozen pizza earlier. 

So... Five hours ago. 

I get hungry quickly when I'm writing all afternoon. 

--Me, the hungry, emotion-driven, sarcastic writer 

Day One

DAY ONE OF NANO 2015 STATS

CURRENT WORD COUNT: 1,461 

TODAY'S WORD COUNT: " 

4.87% of the way to meeting goal 

Day Zero

...as in, the day before Day One. 

NaNo starts tomorrow and my biggest fear is school (when is it not). I'm so worried that it's going to get in the way and that I won't be able to write. Plus, there are two days I'm hoping to take off: Thanksgiving and my birthday. If I'm desperate, I'll write on those days too, it wouldn't bother me that much, but it would be nice to take a break on those days. 
But let me introduce you to my characters, since I'll probably be talking about them a lot this month and for the month following. There's Anna, my protagonist, short for Annamarie. There's Jamie and Klara, the twins, Paisley, Ginnifer, Myles, Jiminy, among so many others. I really like Anna, though it's a struggle to make her very different from Miette because I've been writing Miette's story for so long that her personality is kind of burned into my brain... But Anna is pretty different from Miette, and that'll become more apparent as the story goes on. Jamie and Klara are sooo much fun, I can already tell ;). I like Ginnifer, even though she kind of jacks stuff up a lot and almost gets a bunch of people killed (yup. It's that kind of story). 

So after school on Thursday, Grace and I went home with Em to help set up for her sweet sixteen/Halloween party which was Friday night. The 24 hours before the party consisted of ice cream, lots of baking and cleaning, music, Disney, and stabbing pumpkins with Dumdums (don't ask)(my arm hurt so badly)(pumpkins are hard to stab). We took breaks from baking and cleaning to sleep, eat, and go to school, of course. School on Friday was a half-day, and it was all just a big All Saints Day party. There was a seventh grade play about Joan of Ark. Each year, the seventh graders do a play on All Saints Day about a saint of their choosing. My class likes to turn everything into a comedy, so our seventh grade play was kind of amazing. I mean, it wasn't disrespectful, but we got the biggest laughs xD. It was so great. 
Em's party itself was Disney/Pixar themed, so I went as Snow White. It was a lot of fun, and I stayed afterwards to help clean up and we had kind of an "after-party", which was basically me and Em smashing cupcakes in each others faces. We made a video, but I can't figure out how to put videos on here, so just take my word for it, it was fun and we were crazy. xD I didn't get home until near midnight. 
Also, I've had "House Party" stuck in my head all day because of this party. But I mean, if I have to have a song stuck in my head, it might as well be country, right?
Here are some pics of me and the beautiful birthday girl on Thursday night when we were setting up: 

I can't smile normally. I think it's against my nature.

"Abby, I'm stealing your hair."
"'Kay"

Photo booth props

More photo booth props and MY WEIRD SMILE.

And tonight is Halloween. What're y'all dressing up as? Blaze is a hobo, Penguin is Revis from the New England Patriots, Rosie is a skeleton, Lilian is a ninja, and Ronnie is the most adorable reindeer California has ever seen x). 

I think tonight I'm gonna do the same thing I did last year: stay home alone with tea and chocolate and occupy myself with who-knows-what. Possibly getting ready for NaNo, but how can you really prepare for it at this point? 
So to all you 'Mericans, Happy Halloween! Stay safe! (I'm such a mother)(I saw the cutest little kid today and if I do become a mother, I want my son to look like him)(I really like to go off on tangents) And to all you writers out there about to undertake an amazing journey, a.k.a., NaNo, I wish you the best of luck! And have fun with it! And wish me luck too, as a first-timer! 

I might not post very much over the next month, but I'll definitely be back for Thanksgiving and my birthday. 
Until then! A very merry un-birthday to you! (My brain is still on Disney mode) 
--Me

Sing, goddess, the cleverness of Abby, who thoughteth up this title...

Today I have a day off from school. Allow me to set the scene for you: 

I'm still in my pajamas and I haven't brushed my hair. My room is a mess and just to get to my desk to blog a few seconds ago, I tripped on like five things. I had a doughnut for breakfast and I haven't eaten lunch yet, which is probably bad. It's kind of cold outside and gray, which is nice. Lilian and Rosie are at school and Blaze and Penguin are playing video games and I spent the morning singing, doing homework, prepping for NaNo which is in four days, and trying to put together a costume for a Halloween party on Friday. And I'm so tired that I had to google how to spell Halloween. 

I also have been working on an English project. We're almost finished reading the Iliad, so my teacher told us to do some sort of artistic, Iliad related project. I'm doing a pencil sketch of Achilles. 

It's not finished, obviously, but I did this much and I'm satisfied (ish) with how it's turning out. There are feathers coming out of the helmet, but the scanner didn't catch that I suppose. I was going for a dramatic expression, but he looks scared, which I wasn't going for. Achilles is always angry, he can't look scared. I mean, the first line of the whole thing is Sing, goddess, the anger of Achilles. He's like the Hulk. He can't be scared. 
Oh well. 
Also, I'm horrible at shading.

Today is really quiet and really gray and I'm in an artistic mood now, so I'm going to go make new binder covers for school. 

.
.
.
.


I'm back! That took longer than I thought. Here they are: 

English, History, Latin, Biology

Geometry and Theology

I love them. I've been wanting to do this for a while. 

Okay, mom just went to go pick up Lilian and Rosie from school, so the house isn't going to be this quiet for much longer. I'm going to go enjoy it while I still can. 
--Abby

The Burger that Killed My Evening.

The gala was last night at the Ronald Reagan Library in Air Force One, which was so awesome that I can't even express it in words. We got to use all three levels and... Okay, excuse me, my brain is still on wow-Air-Force-One-is-so-amazing-I-can't-handle-it mode. My mom and I got there early to set up, then we went out to lunch and I got a cheeseburger. 

...
Well, the cheeseburger made me sick and I threw up. 
During the gala. 
What even. 

Luckily, it was in the back hallway that was reserved for the student workers, and I amazingly didn't mess up my dress (same one as last year, the black, Audrey Hepburn style). The only ones who saw were Grace and my friend Therese, so that was good. Grace was so amazing, she helped with everything and cleaned up half of the mess before the maintenance crew got there. 
I threw up at the Ronald Reagan Library. 
I am such a sad person. 

Before that, I felt so sick, I couldn't even do my job. My job was stand at a table and answer questions about the artwork that was being auctioned off, but I felt so sick, I kept running back to the greenroom to sit down. I couldn't do it. Before the event opened, all the student workers had to go up to the third floor to take a group picture. When I got up there, everybody was looking over the railing and when I went to join them and looked over, a wave of nausea came over me and I had to sit down. 

I cannot believe I threw up. My first words when I did it were, Are you for real?? 

But I got up on stage and sang anyway!! 
Like. A. Boss. 

Okay, since it's Sunday, I think I should do a real weekly wrap-up.

Best moment this week: 

Probably the second half of the gala, which was a ton of fun since I was feeling better. During the speeches and the live auction and everything, I sat in the back with some friends and basically felt very thankful I wasn't nauseous anymore. 
Most random moment from this week: 

Singing songs and reciting quotes from Veggie Tales Jonah in Latin class. "My father was a caterpillar, my mother was a worm. But I am okay with that now." -The Caterpillar (If that didn't go through your head with the accent, you haven't had a childhood) 

Shame moment of the week: 

I think we all know what that is, so let's move on. (But first, let's look at the bright side: how many people can say that they've thrown up at the Ronald Reagan Library before going on stage to sing in front of a good 300 people?? It's a first, right??)

Something that made me happy: 

Umm... Grace taught me how to correctly apply foundation, because I don't usually wear makeup, but I had to put some on before the gala. I'm embarrassed to say that when it comes to makeup, I'm very lost. 

Something that made me freak out: 

I have a theology exam tomorrow... Yay. 

Things I pinned this week ;) : 

Hair, hair, hair; I'm obsessed.

Everything I love about this season! If this weren't SoCal...

I want to try to draw this sometime.

PHOTOGRAPHY IS THE BEST

I love lettering lyrics.
(Also, fun little tidbit about moi,
this was the first TS song I ever learned)
(When Maddie and I were little,
We learned this word for word.) 

You should see my Pinterest, there are pineapples everywhere.
I don't know why I love pineapples so much, but pineapples are life, okay?

I hope your weekend involved less throw-up and more pineapples than mine did ;)
--Me