post-Thanksgiving

It's been REALLY nice having Thanksgiving break and sleeping in and having my grandparents and sister in town.
For Thanksgiving we had our usual; ham, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, green beans, asparagus, rolls and of course pies.

I made 3 pies this year: pumpkin, pecan and banana cream. Pumpkin and pecan turned out good, what i was expecting, the banana cream is so-so. not bad, not great.

We layed around the house all day doing nothing productive, however, i finished Eclipse and am now on Breaking Dawn. I've done all mandatory school work, except finish my math porfolio, but that's waiting til Sunday. We took Sienna to the dog park yesterday. It was fun. She's still tired... :) Today I've just swam and we're going to go to the craft fair and go out to eat.

Last night we had an impromptu concerto, my sister and i. I played the piano and mary sang along, christmas songs of course. At times it was good sounding, at others, horrendous, but it was fun nontheless.

snow

we got our first little flurry last night. 2 hour delay for school. which are always the best because :
1) We get to sleep in longer
2) We have shorter classes
3) But we still get some stuff done
4) They don't make us make up the day later in the year
5) School is just good cause everyone was excited about the snow and it not being a normal day of school
Though i didn't get to see it fall at like 2 in the morning, i'm getting to now. it's melting off the tree branches and such hso that its still sortof intact but it got warm enough to not stick to the tree anymore. so, esp w/ help from a little wind, it's snowing once again.

random observation: my english spelling and grammar sort of stuff and just being able to type it easily without making lots of mistakes has decreased as i've gotten better at french. i guess i need to train my brain to know two languages at once. :)

on the hunt

Since I've been accepted to Lenoir-Rhyne and have put down my deposit, i'm no longer on the college stress track. Which is wonderfully nice. My body and mind don't need any extra stress. This puts me on the hunt for money. Scholarships. If you know anybody that would like to give me money or anything, let me know ya know :)

in progress

Don't you just love all the fall leaves that have been blown everywhere?


Can you spot the hammock?



For the New Years Eve Dance at my youth group, I've decided to make a dress using this fabric:

and this pattern (the pink one):


I know that this is a winter event and I chose really bright, spring/summery fabric, but I don't care. I hate dark colored dresses (though black is ok) and I would really like to wear this dress more than once. :)

art

So here's all my pieces from IB Art so far...


Relief Sculpture made from fabric and stuffing and painted with watercolor and hung on a stick.


Collage depicting EEG waves, one showing a resting wave and labeled with things that make me happy, etc and the other showing a seizure wave and labeled with things that challenge me, etc.


Abstract still life with oil using only a palette knife


Color theory with small tiles and then grouted


Non-Western waterfall scene using ink


Self Portrait with acrylic - going to alter/revisit the colors when I get the time


Words in Art Repeated 'love is patient and kind...' verse typed on a typewriter then Jesus cut out


Nature Concentration varnished leaves on fabric backround


Half finished Alternative Media earring out of earring and pendant set - yet to be resined

just because

Ten things you wish you could say to ten different people right now (don't list names):
1. I wish I could get to really know you better.
2. I never want to leave you.
3. I feel like we're drifting apart.
4. It seems like you always have to be the best.
5. I love your quiet wisdom.
6. You inspire me.
7. I worry about you.
8. I wonder what you're like now.
9. I wish I could talk to you just because, not because I have a reason.
10. I wonder if you're being real to me.

Nine things about yourself:
1. I love flowers, esp daisies and bright, cheery colors.
2. I'm very introverted yet can be very extroverted, it just depends on the circumstances.
3. I can be self destructive in my thoughts and sometimes actions/attitudes.
4. I can't wait to go to college, but I can't imagine leaving home.
5. I worry that people are paying attention to me then feel sad when I realize that they're not.
6. I always want to know more, knowledge intrigues me.
7. God is so important to me and I wonder what He has in store for my life.
8. I'm usually a goody too shoes and follow the rules, but I have my rebelious side.
9. I usually don't mind getting dirty and staying dirty (to a certain extent of course)

Eight ways to win your heart:
1. Love
2. Flowers and chocolate (or other yummy treat)
3. Noticing the little things
4. Faith
5. At least acting interested in all my jabber (like when I really get talking)
6. Not judging me
7. Respect
8. Understanding what I'm really going through

Seven things that cross your mind a lot:
1. Being afraid that others are watching/judging me
2. That's pretty
3. Man, I'm so ugly/fat
4. So there, ha! I'm better, smarter, faster, whatever-er than you.
5. God
6. The way people treat others
7. Why won't you at least give me a chance

Six things you wish you never did:
1. Lie
2. Hurt other
3. Was so clumsy
4. Was so arrogant and mean
5. Judged others
6. Pretended to be something I'm not

Five turn-offs in a guy/girl:
1. Just being a butt
2. Smoking or anything like that
3. Facial hair
4. Reckless behavior (like driving)
5. Being dark and sulky

Five turn-ons in a guy/girl:
1. French-ness
2. Respect
3. Honesty/Consistancy
4. Understanding
5. Faithful (to everyone, including God)

Three careers that you would consider:
1. Physicians Assistant or some other sort of medically related job
2. Something arty and creative
3. Carpenter kind of thing

Two things you want before you die:
1. Love that never ends
2. To learn French fluently (and maybe other languages too)

One confession:
I'm afraid

crazy

Lately, my life has been pretty normal. Nothing completely special or unnormal.
Last week though, I did get to talk to a missionary who, like me, has epilepsy. It was cool just to get to know her and see someone older that has it (and she has the same kinds as me!). It also helped solidify that missionaries aren't 'special', they're just normal, ordinary people with no special powers or anything.
This last weekend, we went camping, which was fun as always. We also went to an open house at Lenoir-Rhyne, where I'm going. It wasn't as I had expected and I ended up having a pretty rotten attitude about it. It made me realize that I need to choose between Health and Exercise Science and Nursing because I need to get a CNA before I go if I do Nursing. Right now, I'm thinking nursing is out.
Yesterday, I got to go to the neurologist, always bountifully fun. Since I haven't had a seizure or anything in like 3 years, they have been pretty pointless lately. But this one was different. We talked about tapering off my meds. It takes 6 weeks to taper off then for 6 months after, I can't drive, granted everything goes OK and I don't have a seizure. If I do have a seizure though, I wont drive for a year and may have to get back on meds. It's all just annoying. The end of the taper is worst and you're almost guarenteed to have some sort of side effects. I would like to be off them and not have to be dependant on drugs, but it's just annoying. I can do it whenever I want. There are endless options. I could like start around Christmas then not drive the rest of the school year but maybe the second half of the summer ( :p ) Or I could start in like June and be tapering during Project Serve and then not drive all summer. Or I could start in July and end tapering like right before school starts and not drive at school and half the summer. Or I could start after I get to school and taper and everything there and not drive all school year. As the neurologist said, I just get to choose which seven and a half months I want to seriously screw up.
What do you think? Any opinions of when I should do it?
It's really been weighing on my mind. Lately I've felt sorta distant from God, but I'm def gonna need Him in this. I just have to pray that He'll make it all work out and hopefully I won't have any seizures or complications when I do taper....

free

so, i don't really know what i think about the election and whatnot, and quite frankly don't really care too at this point in time.
what this post is really about is how wonderful election day is and that ben and jerry's and krispy kreme were kind enough to give me some free food even though i didn't (and can't) vote.
my parents and i went out to ben and jerrys and got us some yummy ice cream - for free. my mom and i got cheesecake brownie while my dad got coffee. yum. then my dad's like, why don't we go to krispy kreme while we're out? so we went to krispy kreme. contrary to their advertisements, we did not get star shaped doughnuts, but got to pick what we wanted. my mom and i got pumpkin spice (my favorite) and my dad got chocolate covered. my mom doesn't really like doughnuts cause theres too much sugar and she goes crazy, so i got 2 pumpkin doughnuts. my mom had her zumba class so she wasn't eating dinner before, but we went to boston market so my dad and i would have something for dinner. :)
can't say is was the bestest ever, since it was cold and rainy, but still, free food is free food, and free food is good, esp when its good free food, not cheap stuff. :)

halloween

i miss being small, dressing up pretty, and going door to door begging for candy. i wish i could still do this. it just doesnt really seem socially accepted for a high school senior to go trick or treating, and even if it was, the old fashioned parents would disapprove.
so, on halloween it seems the choices are: go trick or treating, or go to a party and get wasted.
unfortunately, i can't/won't do either of those, so i was forced to find another option.
instead, right after school Elena and I helped at our church's pumpkin bash thing for the kids.
then we came to my house and just chilled and had fun and she slept over.
much good, clean fun had. :)
i just really wish i had gone trick or treating or carved a pumpkin or something... the fact that my childhood is slipping away and is almost gone is so much more reminded at holidays, which used to be super fun and exciting and different but are now just barely out of the ordinary. :/

also... i swam my first 100m today. i know thats like nothing compared to what team swimmers and olympic people do, but it's an accomlishment for me... :)