Valentine's Day Verse

Ah, spring - when ten year old girls' fancy turns to thoughts of love. Today is Valentine's Day, a day to celebrate all the people we love. And I'm happy because I have a wonderful Mr. Darcy quote for this post.

"I have been used to consider poetry as the food of love."

My little sister is an aspiring poet. Or at least, she wrote a few poems yesterday. And since "roses are red" is kind of an iconic cheesy love poem (albeit a super lame one), I thought it was entirely appropriate that it was, evidently, her inspiration.

And since it's Valentine's Day, I figured I would share her beautiful poetry with you. It is truly amazing and achieves a literary depth that is absolutely unprecedented.

Roses are red,

Violets are blue.

Flowers are nice

And so are you.

That one was relatively safe. Although I must say, being told that I'm "nice" wouldn't be quite as heart-fluttering as the next one...

Roses are red,

Violets are red,

Trees are red -

Your garden's on fire.

That would definitely get my heart beating a little faster.

Roses are red,

Violets are blue.

Your boyfriend's red

And you are blue.

He is blushing,

You're holding your breath.

He hands you a ring!

Now you are pink. :)

Not gonna lie, I had to read that one a few times before I understood it. Fortunately, the author was not difficult to contact and was quite helpful. Apparently in line 4, "And you are blue," you are blue because you're holding your breath. 

You must have been holding your breath a very long time waiting for that ring.

Also, I thought the smiley face was an interesting literary device.

And finally, my personal favorite.

Roses are red,

Violets are blue.

I'm holding a stapler,

You're holding your finger.

If you guys are struggling to figure out what to say to your valentine today (although based off of what I've seen on various social media sites so far, pretty much nobody has one), I would recommend one of these beautiful verses. They're sure to win the heart of any dashing gentleman or comely lady. Happy Valentine's Day!

The Lens Behind the Lens

On an unexpected friend

Have you ever had one of those friends that you never expected to be friends with?
I have a lot of friends like that....probably because I have a tendency to be very judgmental by first impression.
However, have you ever had one of those friends where you not only didn't expect to be their friend, but the two of you hated each other at first?
I have.
And it's weird, but that person ended up being one of my best friends ever.
Funny how that works, isn't it?
I honestly have no clue when we stopped hating each other, and I don't know why we stopped, and I don't know how we ended up so close now, but at least one thing I do know: I'm so stinking glad it all happened the way it did.

And yup. What else is there to say really? God's blessed me so much, and I just wanted to share one of my blessings with you. :)

You're invited to my pity party

Guys, you have no ideas how many times I've opened up the window to write a new blog post and drawn a complete blank on what to say....
So I'm going to just throw a pity party.

I'm trying to be a good blogger, I really am. :(

"Suffer little children, and forbid them not to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven."

I wrote a haiku

Nothing good to say.
But I said it anyway.
So I guess I win.

I am a terrible blogger

I am sorry, dear friends. I have failed you yet again by not posting in over two weeks.
I had one duty: to entertain you all with my droll humor and stories from the viewpoint of a high-school, home-school, almost-done-with-school...

WAIT. WHAT DID THAT SAY?

I.
Am.
Almost.
Done.
With.
School.

Cool.

Now being done with school is always a momentous occasion, because this of course means that summer vacation is upon us. However, this year it is extra exciting for me because two things.
One, I'll be starting my junior year in the fall, which means I am halfway through high school! And two, I'm dual enrolling come August as well! Yes, yes, yes, hold your applause. (I know you didn't really applaud)

I have now taken the SAT and the PERT, so I'm basically a scholar, DUH.
I have run a mile in eleven minutes, so I am getting better.
I have seen The Importance of Being Earnest and loved it. A lot.
I have run insane numbers of errands in three days.
I have made an idiot of myself myriad times.
I have decided that I am now a runner. Officially. (Running sounds so much nicer than glorified walking, which is depressing, albeit accurate)

Random word:

Schadenfreude
 scha·den·freu·de

Noun
Pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune.

Thus concludes the end of my blog post. (Lovely redundancy, eh?) I am not even going to bother saying that I will never fail you again; in fact, I'm going to tell you now - EXPECT ME TO FAIL. 

What's kickin

This is just a quick update on what's going on in my life, even though most of you are a big part of it and already know these things anyway.

What I'm currently excited about
1. Writing my first essay in my World Lit class, suuuuper stoked! I love writing papers!
2. PE. I love PE so much and it's finally started up again. So pumped! Can't wait for co-ed volleyball! Gonna kick those guys' butts! (Caution : I have mixed feelings about co-ed vball, so you can expect me to come back tomorrow and say I'm dreading it.)
3. Saturdays.
4. My friends!
5. Ultimate Frisbee cuz I'm doing better every time! And I can catch that ridiculous hammer throw!
6. Thanksgiving and Christmas
7. Cooler weather!!!!!

What I'm currently dreading
1. The SAT.
2. Geometry
3. Finding out my Spanish test grade. I really really really want to get the top grade. Like a lot.
4. My piano teacher's studio recital next month. Also the sonata contest next month.
5. Jesse during Ultimate Frisbee. If you are unfortunate enough to have witnessed this, you know what I mean.

What I'm plugging (I don't know what that really means, so I'm just going to list the things I have been loving lately because I don't care)
1. Wearing less makeup. It's boss.
2. Going to the beach when it's cool out.
3. Drinking more water. I'm kind of obsessed with water lately...partially because I have a pink water bottle.
4. Going outside and moving around! This is never ever a bad thing when the weather is so beautiful.
5. Slenderman
6. Drawing in World Lit class....I mean paying attention in World Lit... :)

What I want
1. To get better at everything.
2. The Maybelline Baby Lips lip balms. Peppermint and Pink Punch.
3. To get the highest grade on the Spanish test.
4. To never have to say goodbye.
5. If you've already actually read this far and not gotten bored and left, I love you.
6. Cookies, hot chocolate, and a snuggle buddy. (any volunteers?)

Banner Elk post #2

After Tuesday came Wednesday, which was picture day.
Picture day is the most exciting day of the whole week and all of the kids look forward to it with great anticipation because it is just so much fun to be stuck at the lodge for two hours when you want to be off hiking!!!!!
There was so much sarcasm in that statement it's practically obscene.
Wednesday came and it was overcast, and starting to drizzle.
The pictures didn't really turn out because the lighting was very much off, BUT we did succeed in getting a passable family picture.

 Aren't we all so cute??
Yes, we are. We're adorable.
After that, it was raining and we had to go inside. So I stuck around outside (oh yeah, rebel points!) and got artsy with my camera!

 Some more of the abundant interesting-looking plant life around the camp.

 Okay, I admit it: I LOVE this picture! It looks so cool!!! Whenever I get a photo that looks really neat, I'm like, "WHOA! I just did that!"

 Safely resting in the arms of Jesus.

 The cool chimney thing outside the lodge. I know I'm using the word "cool" excessively. Sorry, I am, after all, a teenager. ;)

 Me, walking down the walk to go inside the lodge: Hmmm....those stumps look pretty cool. Maybe I'll take a picture of them.
Stumps: YES! Meredith, please do!
Me: *click*
Stumps: ...
Me: WHOA! I just did that!

 PJ being his usual, cheerful self. David and Jacob at their favorite activity, eating. Cameron...well, it's Cameron.

 Another landscape that is RIDICULOUSLY similar to the one I took the day before.
And yet, it is TOTALLY different at the same time.

 Jacob, Caleb, Jeremy, and PJ at the creek terrorizing the fish. As soon as PJ saw there were fish in there, BOOM! He was hooked on fishing. (pun intended)

 Normally at Banner Elk, the sky is always really blue and all the colors are very vivid and bright. This year I got a little taste of the darker side, and I'm glad I did! I do believe my horizons have been broadened.

 This picture is kind of depressing and happy at the same time. Go figure.
There were water lilies all over the lake, and whenever we girls would go out canoeing or kayaking, we could come back with a multitude of lilies. I doubt there are any left anymore! :/

I was walking by these leaves and I noticed that they had a really interesting texture, they were almost fuzzy! It was so strange!
Looking back, I realize that I didn't get ANY pictures from the sports field, so as you're weaving your version of the Bunke reunion in your mind, just randomly add in some ultimate frisbee games, okay? Okay.
Post #3 coming soon!!! I am SOO excited about this one!

Sweet Sixteen Party!!

We were at the beach today. There were red and purple flags. It was windy and kind of rainy.

It was awesome!!!!!! We were there for a friend's birthday party, so of course it was fun! And we have pictures! Mom took most of them because I was goofing around with my friends...sorry they're dark/fuzzy, but the lighting was weird, plus people were moving so much we couldn't snap pictures of them!

 Here's some of the guys, waiting for the food to be served. They kind of looked like vultures, just waiting for a poor little animal to die so they could devour it.

 I don't know what it is, but everyone seems to like vaulting over that pavilion wall. Except me, because I am far too ladylike (actually, I would probably do it too, but I was wearing a skirt and clearly couldn't)

 Bria and Brooke!!! I love this picture! It's soooo cute!!!!

 This is what all the girls' hair looked like! It was so windy, we really couldn't do anything about it! At least it looked cute on Baylee...I wish I could say the same for me.

 The waves were pretty scary looking, so needless to say, we did NOT go in the water. Not to mention the jellyfish that were washing up all over.

 Here we are, talking, giggling, goofing off, and having an insane amount of fun doing so.

 When it started to rain, we all had to troop down from the pavilion to gather up our belongings. Here's everybody bringing their stuff back.
We had a great time even though we couldn't go in the water, (and I think Mom was thankful for that as she doesn't appreciate the wet stuff at all) and it was an overall fun day!
Happy birthday, Bria!!! <3

Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.

  -William Shakespeare

Chocolate

This morning has been totes fab so far! (I'm practicing my teenage girl speak, apparently!)
I slept until nine, read my book in bed until nine thirty, took my sweet time getting ready, then sauntered downstairs, ate a bowl of cereal while reading, read some more, then got caught reading and was made to do algebra. Ah, the life of a homeschooler! So besides that last part, it was great! Then I made some nom-noms (brownies) for the skating party later - so excited - and now it smells like brownies in my house! :)
Plus, I have a chocolate bar in my purse just waiting for me! I'm one happy girl! :)

My collection

Since we're considering selling some of our artwork at the local farmers market, I've been trying to build up a collection of artwork, since I normally don't have a lot just sitting around. Here's what I have so far!

Sadly, the color got somewhat washed out of this one. I have to say, I am very proud of that monarch butterfly in the lower right corner. Watercolor is not a medium that is typically very detailed (which is why I like it) but that butterfly has some very fine details. What say you?

This one is messed up in so many different places, it's not even funny. I think the term for a picture like this where features are exaggerated and stuff would be hyper realistic. I'm not sure. Still, I want opinions, so fire away! :)

This one I really don't like. At all. I messed up all over the place, but I've had several folks tell me that it's good, so what do you think? I might still put it in a box in my closet, though. :)

Sorry about the crookedness - the scanner was being weird. Anyways, this one I did a couple years ago for the homeschool art show, and it's still one of my best paintings ever. This one and the hummingbird I posted a while back are my favorites, I think. I like how the background is so drab and contrasts with the brilliance of the bird (the brilliance is a lot more brilliant in real life; the scanner didn't pick it up) quite nicely.

Watercolor is my main medium. I also like to mess around with photography, but I'm not that good at it. Stick to what you know and excel at it. Of course, I didn't always used to be good with watercolors. Here's one of my first ever serious paintings. Painting attempt, rather....

See, if I was a real artist, I could say, "It's an abstract painting, inspired by squirrels."
But since I'm not, I guess I'll call it what it is: EPIC WATERCOLOR FAIL.
Hey, in my defense, I was very inexperienced with watercolors at that point, and I was only ten. And squirrels do not lend themselves well to watercolors, with all their fur with the weird textures and stuff. Maybe I should try this same picture again and see how it comes out now that I have painted for four more years...

America runs on Dunkin!

This morning on our way to drop Geoffrey off at PSC, we stopped at Dunkin Donuts to grab some breakfast. One of the many perks of being homeschooled, for sure! When Mom and Cameron went in to get them, there was a barrage of requests.
"Chocolate cake!"
"Jelly!"
"Regular glazed!"
And many more. Needless to say, about six of them came from me.
What? I'm very indecisive. :)
Anyway, when Mom and Cam came out, we all dove in. I was desperate enough for my chocolate filled donut that I was willing to sacrifice my dignity. If you're curious how, let's just say that I have powdered sugar all over the front of my shirt. Yeah, that was stupid.
Later, I randomly had the song "Count Your Blessings" in my head, so I figured I may as well do so. I opened the lid of the donut box and started counting. Apparently, there were seven blessings left.
Maybe it was a bad idea to have so much sugar this morning. Maybe, but probably not! :)

Aging

If you didn't know me, how old would you guess I am?

Well, it being only a week until my birthday, I am almost fourteen years old. I'm getting really old!

I'm a very strange thirteen year old. As my mom would say, I'm old for my age. Most people I meet think that I'm at least fifteen. Of course, as soon as I get comfortable around you and start being myself, you're never surprised that I'm only thirteen! Except that I like to use big words. Looking older comes in handy when you're actually young, but I'm thinking that I won't appreciate it so much when I get older.

Of course, the older illusion might come from the fact that even though I'm only thirteen, I'm in ninth grade, so I always hang around with kids who are at least a year older than me. Plus, I don't think anybody can hang around my older brother without picking up on at least a few of his smart person habits! :)

So while I may sound and sometimes look older than I am, just get to know me and I'll never seem so old again! Well, maybe when I actually am old, like sixteen. :) Think relatively, here.

Culinary Endeavors

So the last week or so, I've tried some new recipes. Okay, two new recipes. Okay, one new recipe and another one I've tried before that had never turned out quite right. :) The first one was from the Amish cookbook I got for Christmas. It was chocolate cream pudding, and there were probably five ingredients. Less ingredients is bad for me because if I mess one up, it'll have a lot worse effect than a recipe with fifteen ingredients.
Anyways, obviously one of the main ingredients in pudding is milk. And, like the newbie cook that I am, I forgot that you should always check and make sure you have all of the ingredients before you start. So I mixed my cocoa powder and corn starch together with some salt and sugar. And then I realized we had no milk.
Now, if I was anyone but me, I would have sensibly put the ingredients in a bowl or something and saved them for a later time. But, being me, I remembered that we had powdered milk packets in the pantry (leftover from some sort of craft). So of course, I mixed up the artificial milk.

Gracie found a nice little box to sit in while she hoped that I would drop something for her.

After that, I poured it into a double boiler and cooked it until there was a semi-skin on top. I started to have doubts about this "milk" right about now.

Looks perfectly innocent, doesn't it?

 After the milk was ready, I mixed it into the cocoa powder mixture.

 Then I whisked it all together, quite vigorously, and ended up with this.

Ooh, bubbly!

 So I covered it with plastic wrap, stuck it in the fridge, crossed my fingers, and hoped like nobody's business that it would turn  out. While I didn't get any pictures the next morning after it sat in the fridge all night to set up, it really doesn't make any difference, because it looked exactly the same after twelve hours in the fridge. Chocolate soup, anyone?
CULINARY ENDEAVOR #1: FAILED


Last night, I decided to try something a little more in my comfort zone: cinnamon rolls. I used my cousins' grandma's recipe to mix them up. You combine the yeast, flour, milk, sugar, salt, eggs, etc... and let it sit overnight. Then the next morning, you roll it all out and spread the delicious things on it: butter, sugar, cinnamon. Then you roll it all up and slice the giant log of doughy, cinnamony goodness. You stick all of those delectable goodies in their respective pans and let it sit for a while longer, until you can't stand to wait  any longer. Then you bake them at 350 degrees for about fifteen minutes.
I decided to make a caramel sauce to go on top.
That turned out pretty well.

YUM!! Breakfast....

I poured the caramel sauce over the top until it looked like the rolls were sitting in a giant hot tub of caramel sauce. Now, I'm done and I can go eat one!!!!!
CULINARY ENDEAVOR #2: DOMINATED!!!!!!!

Crazy dog!

This is our dog, Gracie. As you can see, she hadn't been groomed in a while. (She looks much better now!)
I squeezed some gooey stuff out on her nose so she could lick it off. Unfortunately, our dog is not the brightest light in the chandelier. She just sat there and...well, you'll see!

Memories from December

December was a very busy month this year.
It wasn't always busy-good, but nevertheless, there was always something happening.

First, the moms' Christmas party. I played the piano and helped the girls who were waitressing (I cleared one glass).

That's the table from the dinner they had. It was actually really pretty! I got to try the pecan pie and it was delicious!
Then, we had a busy Saturday. We don't have very many of those.

 We went to the farmers' market. Some of our friends were there. We had a good time. Even if it was sort of researching so we could think about the possibility of us setting up a stand to sell our artwork. I don't want to part with my art!

Then we drove to Gulf Breeze for Geoff's piano competition. He won. He was excited.
After that, we had a semi-boring week, with errands and school and stuff.Then we had our homeschool skating party. I didn't really skate, but I had a good time nevertheless!
I'm posting this picture even though I look awful in it (but then, so does everyone else) because I know you guys all understand. Plus, it best captures the essence of my skating party experience. Whoa! Something got messed up with the layout! Sorry! I can't help that the computer is stupid. :(


 Then, we went to Bellingrath Gardens with our homeschool group.
Out of about four hundred pictures, very few of them turned out the way I wanted them. Of course, I'm very picky about my art. (snooty artist face) After we went to Bellingrath, Dad got a call from my uncle that Grandpa was having some trouble speaking coherently. Grandpa told me later that, fortunately, he could still say, "Oh, forget it!" perfectly. Now you know where I get my sense of humor from! Grandpa is even joking around when he might have something wrong in his head!!! Anyway, Dad took off for Mississippi with Cameron and was gone all week.
Then we had our homeschool skating party. I didn't really skate, but I had a good time nevertheless!
I'm posting this picture even though I look awful in it (but then, so does everyone else) because I know you guys all understand. Plus, it best captures the essence of my skating party experience.
Then we had a crazy day at our homeschool co-op. Yes, it was crazy and I have pictures to prove it.

There are pictures of me, but let's just say that they might have involved chocolate frosting on my face and me laughing like a buffoon. And it was so bad that I will not even be sharing it with you. You know, I might need to make a new folder for my photos called "Bad pictures of me" to save time.
Then we had our SGA Christmas party, but I was working there and didn't get any photos. Sorry! I was decorated like a Christmas tree. I thought I would hate it, but it was fun. The price? I lost all of the small amount of dignity I had. Oh well. Egos heal.
That night we had rehearsal for our church's Christmas program. So I went. And I sang. And I went home. And I slept.
Then Dad and Cam came home.
The next day (Sunday) I went and I played the piano for Azalea Trace's church service.
That night was the Christmas program. I love singing in a choir, so I had a good time.
The next day, we all had vacation, so the whole family did some Christmas shopping. Mom and Dad gave all of the kids some Christmas money so we had all these places we wanted to go. We found this really neat store in Cordova Mall called Earthbound. It was full of all kinds of cool things. Everyone found something(s) they wanted. I got two necklaces, both of which are gorgeous. Then, we got another call from my uncle, but this time we found out that my great-grandma had died. She was eighty-something, I think. Dad and I ended up traveling up to Ohio on Tuesday. I ended up getting sick, which was no fun. Of course, going to a funeral is no fun, either. I had an interesting time meeting all of these relatives on the Stemen side. Let's just say some of them were a little strange. The night before we left, I had a good time playing pinball with some more relatives. I had never played on a pinball machine before, and I couldn't quite see all the way up it, so I had to stand on my tiptoes, and of course, everybody teased me for it. But they stopped laughing when I whipped them thoroughly. :) One of my dad's cousins is a bouncer in a bar, so he's a big, stocky guy. He didn't like that I was winning, so he started talking smack to me. But since I'm a big kid now, I smack talked right back--in your face! Anyway, I had a good time.
Then we went down to Mississippi for Christmas. We had a good time. We ate Burger King for our Christmas dinner. (It's OK, we made it up on New Year's Day)
We went shopping in MS, too, and I got some sunglasses, about three necklaces, and some other random stuff. I had a good time.
Then we came home and had a blast on New Year's Eve with our friends. The Air Hockey Incident didn't even ruin my night, even though all my makeup ran and I was kind of a mess. A hot mess, that is! :)
Had a good time there, then screamed out 2011! I kind of miss it now, though. A lot of good things happened in 2011...still, no use crying over spilled milk! Hopefully December 2012 will be just as wild! I love it that way--just no more funerals. I learned a lesson at the funeral, too. Always wear waterproof mascara to a funeral. Yeah, I was a mess there, too.

I can relate to this guy. :)