Things I'm Loving Right Now

So, this is what I found interesting this past week:

DIY Lemon-Thyme Scrub - this scrub works wonders! And it's easy to make! And it's organic! What more can we ask for? ;)

Rainy Mood - I know I've linked to this before, but it is one of the most visited sites on my computer. Everytime I study, I have a page open to this site. It's calming, and it's white noise, so it drowns out those little distracting noises.

Script Frenzy - It's coming up! So excited!! Going to actually write my first script, after long days of preparing and outlining for it!! I won't be doing this as seriously as I did NaNoWriMo, my school load doesn't permit me to at this point, but I hope to get a little bit of a script typed out. The site also has some amazing articles and step-by-step instructions for formating a screenplay and how to structure them. If you're interested in screenwriting...this is a good site to visit.

Modcloth- these dresses make me drool. They're vintage, but beautiful and don't look 'dated'. Saving up to buy at least one for summer. I also love their vintage swimsuits...they're amazing. So cute!!

I'll post more links as I come across them. Enjoy!! :)

Lenten Lessons

This Lent has been a season of maturation for me...I somehow knew it would be. But I didn't know how much, and I didn't know how. So many different things have happened, but I must say that the main lesson I've learned is that you can't control everything.
Now, I know that may seem like a given, but it's so much easier heard than realized. And I've realized it in so many ways this Lent. It's taught me to let go of a lot of things that I wanted to hold on to, and how to place them in God's hands.
It started when opera started. We had signed up to be in another opera, The Magic Flute, and the rehersal schedule was brutal. To top it all, we have Chorale performances/dress rehersals the entire performance week for opera...so I've been doing quite a bit of singing/acting for the last two weeks. The final opera performances are tonight and Saturday, and so are our Chorale performances. I've learned that I can't do everything, and I can't do much of anything on my own.
Also, a friend of mine was in a terrible car accident as well this Lent. She's still in the hospital, and has a broken pelvis, leg, ribs, and punctured lung. She's healing, but slowly, and it's going to be a long process. I greatly appriciate all responses from my friends who I've texted to ask for their prayers. I've learned that, when situations are out of my control, the only thing I can do is put it in God's hand. And that's what I've done. Our prayers are certainly helping her, and she's getting better, bit by bit.
So this Lent has been a season of growing as well as preperation for me. I've had to let go of some of the things I wanted to do for Lent: I just can't fit them all in and maintain my sanity....not to mention my grades. And it feels so good to just place everything in God's hands. There's no safer place to put them.

Quotes

So I've been running into quotes everywhere I go it seems...on Facebook, on random sites, and in different books. And everytime I find a good one, I think "Ooh, I should post this on my blog!" and then never get around to it. So here are a quite a few different quotes, which have accumulated over the course of....well, quite some time.

"You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life." - Winston Churchill.

"You have to be willing to write badly." - Alyson Hagy

"Cleverness is not wisdom." Euripides

"Fantasy is hardly an escape from reality. It is a way of understanding it." - Lloyd Alexander

"There is more honour in a field well-plowed than in a field steeped in blood." - Lloyd Alexander

"Quiet people have the loudest minds." Stephen Hawking

"A girl can't read that sort of thing without her lipstick." - Breakfast at Tiffany's

"If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I, an artist, will answer you: I am here to live out loud." - Emile Zola

"It is the deepest desire of every writer, the one we never admit or even dare to speak of: to write a book we can leave as a legacy. And although it is sometimes easy to forget, wanting to be a writer is not about reviews or advances or how many copies are printed or sold. It is much simpler than that, and much more passionate. If you do it right, and they publish it, you may actually leave something behind that will last forever." -Alice Hoffman

And, I've saved my very favourite for the last:

"Sometimes winning a fight isn't as important as standing in the right place, facing what needs to be faced. And sometimes standing in the right place means you end up dead. And that's better than not standing at all." - N.D. Wilson

Pictures of my Projects

I've been saying for a bit now that I would post pictures of some of my knitting projects on here....and today I'm finally getting around to it! I started knitting a few months ago, and now I'm completly hooked.
My first project was a Tea Wallet I made for my dear mater, and it was my first time actually using the purl stitch and making a 'pattern' with my stitches. Quite proud of it, even though it was a bit rough.

My sister then asked for a pair of fingerless gloves, because her hands were getting cold when we went to our horseback-riding lessons in the cold November mornings. So, I made her a really easy pair of garter stitch mitts. I called them Cloudless Skies, because of the colour of the yarn. It's so pretty. :)

I made a few more little projects which I don't have pics of, such as a pocket purse for a friend and a scarf which I'm still in the progress of making. It's for a friend of mine who is obsessed with Harry Potter, so I'm knitting her a Ravenclaw scarf.

The next project, which I'm kinda proud of, is one I made for my friend Katie Sonner. :) It was a scarf, and I needed to finish it quickly, so I knitted it on the Knifty Knitter loom, instead of on needles. It was made using a gorgeous mohair yarn that I had been itching to use, blended with a soft grey.

The other projects I haven't quite completed yet, so I'm not going to post pics until you can see the finished product. If you're on Ravelry, you can friend me and see the rest of them in my Projects! :) This Lent, I'm hoping to start working on something called the Beekeeper's Quilt, which is an absolutly beautiful quilt pattern on Ravelry. It's going to take some time, but I think the end product will be worth it. I don't know if I'm giving it away, or keeping it for myself quite yet...although it would be funny to give to my parents, seeing as they're both beekeepers as a hobby. ;)

MAUI!!!!

Well, I just got back from a completely AWESOME week in Maui. I celebrated by 16th birthday while there (WOOT!) and am now trying to adjust myself to the rather rainy California weather....I miss the sunshine....
The airplane trip there was rather uneventful...I spent it watching The Proposal with my dad (hilarious movie by the way, a must-see if you like romantic comedies!) and doing schoolwork. The rest of the week we spent snorkeling with sea turtles and millions of fish over a huge coral reef. It was one of the best weeks of my life.
For my birthday, we got Starbuck's coffee (since I love coffee so much), snorkeled, hung out by the fantastic pool, and went to Leilani's for my birthday dinner. Leilani's is a wonderful restaurant that is right on the beach, and their fish is absolutely spectacular. For dessert, we had Hula Pie, which is this gigantic slice of macadamia nut ice cream smothered in chocolate sauce on an Oreo cookie crust. It is seriously one of the best desserts EVER.
The rest of the week was spent doing the same thing...snorkeling, sunbathing, swimming, reading, and relaxing. I watched The Bourne Identity with my dad. It's a pretty good movie, and it made me want to read the book. So, for my birthday, my dad bought me the actual novel by Robert Ludlum. OMG. I can't believe I hadn't read it earlier! His writing style is very engaging, and it's a brilliant plot that keeps me turning the pages! It's now definitely on my awesome books list.
The thing I liked most about the trip was the ability to relax. We didn't rush to go anywhere....we just stayed by the hotel and did what we wanted. I got to actually write for as long as I wanted! I got several plot bunnies and scenes written out, as well as some script ideas. I also developed several characters from a two dimensional dead description to living, breathing "people". Very excited to continue writing with them. :)
The airplane trip back was a bit stressful...our flight got delayed an entire hour, so we got home about midnight. The actual flight for me was spent studying for a chemistry test. There were at least three screaming babies, if not more, and the sleeping passenger next to me kept on flipping his blanket onto my textbook and arm as I studied. After dropping off my grandparents and aunt and uncle (who came with us to Maui), we finally got home at 2:00 am. So, I'm a bit tired, but I wouldn't turn in my experience for the world. Now, back to reality. Homework awaits...

La commedia e finita...

Well, it's over. The final opera performance was yesterday afternoon, and it went fantastically. After putting in so many hours and so much of our life into this, it feels strange to have it be over, and so suddenly. Even though it added much stress to my life, and a lot of pressure, I wouldn't trade in my experience for the world. It is such a remarkable feeling to be up on stage singing with professional opera singers.
For those of you who don't know, my siblings and I were in an opera, Pagliacci. It's 'a play within a play', and it's a tragedy. If you want the full synopsis, I would Google it, or check it out on Wikipedia, both of which tell the story pretty well. It's been my life the past month. We had been singing the music since autumn, but at the end of December we began the staging and singing with the professionals. We had practice nearly every day, for two to three hours. And, since Pagliacci was such a short opera (only two acts), they had another one, (a one-act opera), Gianni Schicci. My brother got a solo part in that one, as Gheradino, who is a young boy. He had loads of fun doing his part of the staging and singing, and because he was in it, the rest of our family got to sit in on the rehearsals. (And he was spectacular!)It was amazing, listening to the professionals singing together. It awakened an interest in opera that I never had before. If you know what's going on, it's very enjoyable. Kind of like reading Shakespeare. If you don't really know what's going on, or if you start out by just reading it, it can get quite boring. But, if you start out by watching a Shakespeare play or listening to it dramatized, it can awaken a new interest in it, because you are seeing it the way it was meant to be seen. The beauty of opera is really unlocked when you are watching it unfold and shape before your eyes; you can really appreciate the end product.
Even though I enjoyed every minute of it, I am relieved that it is over. As much as I enjoy the theatre life and the theatre hours, I couldn't keep it up. It drains me. It will be nice to not go to bed at midnight, and actually have time for something else. My writing has fallen by the wayside this last month; not a good omen for the rest of the year. But now that I'm not singing in rehearsals three hours a day, I think I'll be able to attend to it again, as well as my knitting. I'll be able to have a life again...but I will always remember this experience. It has matured me and helped me grow in different ways; both musically and emotionally. But now, I have to go catch up on schoolwork!! :)

O Come, O Come Emmanuel...

This season of Advent has been quite a wonderful (but busy busy busy!) one. I've been very preoccupied with school work and homework, but now that Christmas Break has finally arrived, I can sit back, relax, post on my blog, and sip my tea. (Earl Grey. Hot. )
Just a summary of my last few weeks...December is the concert month for the Chorale...so I've had 4 concerts in two weeks, not to mention opera practice. The concerts wouldn't have been that bad...except that two of them happened on one night, with only 2 hours between them for dinner. It was exhausting, but worth it. Sadly, for the first time since I don't know when, I couldn't participate in Lessons and Carols, which is an annual concert our church choir does. I just couldn't fit it into my schedule without going mad. *sigh*. Oh well. There's always next year.
I'm trying to complete all my many Christmas present projects in the remaining 6 days before Christmas...thank God there are 12 days of Christmas. Otherwise...I just might be up a tree! :)
I'm still working on my siblings' present (which is the book I wrote for NaNoWriMo). It's going through some major yet hasty editing, and some POV changes. I'm not quite finished with it...still. I can't believe that I managed to write 50,000 words in November, but I've only managed 6,000 in this entire month of December. Oh well. I'll blame it on school, and not procrastination, who is the real culprit. *cough*
As for my dad's present...I've had to cave in my rule. I'm buying him something. I just could not think of anything to make for him that he would actually use.
Regarding the rest of the family, I am completely set. I've written some short stories for my aunt and uncle (they're summaries of stories that our uncle tells us after dinner about his hilarious mother - I'll have to post one or two up here someday), and my grandparents are getting a poem which I have written by hand with my best Levenger fountain pen, and framed on beautiful scrapbook paper. My mom is getting a pair of fingerless gloves, which I have yet to finish...I'm going to have to knit fast.
I wonder if you can count your knitting speed like your word count? Like, 40 STM(stitches per minute)? That would be a handy gadget...