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. 

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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.

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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