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