Folk songs and haircuts: Awkward and Awesome {2}

    Hello, friends! :-) This month has been so packed and hectic and wonderful, and so that's why I've been pretty scarce around here lately. Blogging has sort of taken a backseat, what with all the reading and writing and snapping beans and pitting cherries and all that fun stuff that goes on around here. Because, seriously, who wants to blog when you can be snapping beans? ;-P But here I am today for another edition of 'Awkward and Awesome'! Because July has been a lot of both-- y'all better believe it has. :-)
 

 

~Awesome~

 

• Meeting people who are interested in and value the same things you do-- really kindred spirits. It's so rare to find them these days, but as Anne says, they really aren't as scarce as I used to think. :-)
•  
• Singing 'Red and Black' at profound decibels of sound with a bunch of other Les Mis fans in a dormitory hall.
•  
• Saying goodnight to the other girls in your hall by singing the 'Goodnight my Someone' song from The Music Man before your depart to your own rooms. That's just how musical theatre fans do things.
•  
• Listening to country music (real country music) while eating dinner and falling in love with the Songcatcher soundtrack. My copy should come within the next week. :-)
•  
•  
• Time spent with your family, the people you love most in the world. Unloading produce from the truck with your mama, your two sisters, your three cousins, your uncle, and your grandparents. Blood is thicker than water.
•  
• When you finish the third chapter of your novel!
•  
• Coming home from a week at camp and finding you very own copy of EAST OF EDEN in the mailbox!!!!! Eeeeeeek!!!
•  
• That very same evening finding a note from your sweet cousin sitting on your pillow. 

• Listening to and singing songs from Songcatcher all the live-long day. My sisters are probably sick to death of 'The Wind and the Rain'. 

• Long phone conversations with your cousin after not seeing each other for over a week, talking about everything from writer's problems to antique stores.
•  
• When your sister cuts your hair on your deck one evening. We've always said that my hair loks like Sully in Dr. Quinn, but it was getting too long (and I was starting to look more like Hank) so I decided to have it cut and bring back the Sully look. We left the long braid and all. Behold.

Oh yeah, and you can just ignore that little blemish by my mouth. Thanks. :-)

• Making plans to spend a few days at your aunt and uncle's house next week!
• The August picture on my Downton Abbey calendar. I think I'll let you guess who it is.
• Looking at pictures at your grandparents' house of your Grandma and great-aunt when they were little girls.
• Finding oodles of Dr. Quinn pictures on Pinterest. If you follow me on Pinterest, you may have noticed that I went fan-crazy at approximately 3:30 Sunday afternoon.
• Getting long and thought-provoking comments on blog posts that you didn't think were really all that interesting. (Thank you, Michaela!)
• Meeting the biggest, fluffiest, sweetest cat you've ever seen in your life at a yard sale and almost instantaneously becoming best friends. I really wanted to take her home with me.
• Eating pumpkin chocolate chip muffins and reading Lynn Austin books that you actually haven't read three times already.

~Awkward~

• Singing Iris Dement's 'Our Town' in the bean patch as if your life depended on it, while bright yellow trucks sporting 'wet paint' signs keep driving by and stopping by the side of the road. I'm pretty sure they heard me, but I just sang louder.

•  

      If this song doesn't make you teary-eyed.....

• Walking around to various yard sales with your sister and cousin, who happens to be dressed in Amish clothes and having to explain to various onlookers, he's not really Amish. One Amish guy we met up with: "You're not Amish!"
•  
• When you're singing a song at a wedding with an accompaniment track and the CD SKIPS in the middle of it.
•  
• Getting lost while trying to find someone's house and stopping to ask directions from a biker along the side of the road, who happened to be just pulling his shirt back on as we drove up. That was awkward. Turned out he was from southern California, so he didn't really know where he was either. Okaaaay.
•  
• When you open the truck door and an avalanche of pea pods falls out into someone else's driveway. The Andersons are here!
•  
• When your sister puts a stick of butter out on the picnic table to soften without thinking to put it in a dish, and it melts runs out of the paper all over the picnic table....if you ever want to make a big mess....
•  
• Sitting outside under a tree writing, completely wrapped up in the story and oblivious to anything that might be going on around you, when you hear someone laugh and turn to see your neighbor (aka Kenny Rogers) approaching with his scary dog. I must have jumped three feet in the air. Well, I guess he had the right to walk there, seeing as it was his property.
•  
• Talking on the phone with someone you haven't seen in a while-- phone conversations are usually awkward for me to begin with, but this time it was double-awkward because I had a sore throat and my voice literally sounded like a man's.
•  
• Eating supper at ten o'clock PM. Ironically it was just after we'd watched a Waltons episode where they were talking about how that's what they do in Italy, so apparently it's glamorous. John Walton: "We can eat at ten o'clock anytime you like, Liv, if I can stay awake that long."
•  
• Getting used to using a laptop with a touch screen and a nonexistent mouse, and a keyboard that sometimes seems to hate me. But other than that, I'm very fond of my little Cal.
•  
• Taking pictures at aforementioned wedding, and later zooming in as far as the camera will go so you can see...um, a certain person. Because, y'know, we couldn't just take a picture of.....said person. That'd just be awkward.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My outfit:

 

Skirt: Christopher & Banks

Blouse: Old Navy, stolen borrowed from my sister

Boots: Stagecoach West

Cameo Necklace: Handmade, found at a craft fair

 

 

 



What's been awkward and awesome in your life lately?

 

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

~Emma

Read More

Captured by Love Review

 

by

Jody Hedlund

 

 

     The British army has taken control of Michilimackinac Island and its fort, forcing the Americans to swear an oath of loyalty to the crown in order to retain their land. Pierre Durant is a fur trader who returns after being away from the island for years, only to find the family farm a shambles and those he cares about starving and at the mercy of the British invaders.

    Torn between the adventurous life of fur trading and guilt over neglecting his defenseless mother, Pierre is drawn deeper into the fight against the British-- and into a relationship with Angelique MacKenzie, a childhood friend who's grown into a beautiful woman. She now finds herself trapped by circumstances o war and poverty, and the cruelty of her guardian, Ebenezer Whiley.

   As tensions mount and the violence rages on, Pierre and Angelique must decide where their loyalties lie and how much they'll risk for love.

 

 ~*~*~*~*~

 

   To be honest, the first thing that attracted me to this book was the fact that the story takes place on Mackinac Island, which is the location of one of my favorite films. Also, I haven't read a lot of books that take place in America in the early 1800s, so I thought it might be a nice change from the usual cheesy westerns and Victorian romances that one usually sees on the Christian fiction market these days.

 

   I don't want to say that this book is a complete dud, because it's really not. It does have potential, but for me it was a disappointment. However, I don't think it was so much that the book on its own is boring that made me decide to not finish it. I think I'm just plain sick of the Christian romance genre in general. I read a lot of Christian fiction-- and I mean a lot. Especially since I began reviewing books. And while a lot of Christian historical fiction is amazing, most of it is just....boring. It seems like people are running out of ideas, and so many romance novels seem to follow the same pattern of events that you feel like if you've read one, you've read them all, and you feel inclined to quote Scarlett O'Hara.

 

 

 

  This is the first book of Jody Hedlund's that I've read, so I can't say I don't like her as an author in general, but I must say her style isn't my favorite. In Captured by Love, as with many romances I've read, I felt like there was too much emphasis on the physical attraction between Pierre and Angelique. There was too much description of how handsome Pierre was, how beautiful Angelique was, and how they couldn't resist each other. I don't want an author to tell me how good-looking the hero is-- I want to be able to know for myself just from reading about him. Let his actions speak for him. And no, I don't want to read about how he's constantly running his hand through his wavy dark hair.

   (Actually, on that note, I have to say that while I was reading this my sister was also reading another book by Jody Hedlund and the man in that book had the same habit of running his hand through his hair-- only, according to Sadie, he 'jammed his hand through his hair', sometimes so forcefully that it looked like he was about to pull it out. Well, I thought it was funny.)

 

   So I can't say I was impressed with Captured by Love. Like I said, the story had potential, but I'd rather spend my time reading something more powerful and not so common.

 

My rating: 5 out of 10

 

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

 



~Emma

Read More

Liebster Awards (3 of them!)

  

 

Hey everyone! I'm home at last from a week at a Christian music camp, which was wonderful and exhausting and hilarious and encouraging and lots of fun. I met so many wonderful people and learned a lot of things, but oh how happy I am to be home again! :-) There really is no place like one's home, as Mr. Woodhouse says.

    Anyway, before I left last week, three dear young ladies nominated me for the Liebster Award! Evie, Ashley and Bekah have all kindly tagged me with their questions. Thank you girls! :-)

 



Evie's questions

 

 

1. Who are some people you'd like to meet someday?

 

    My very best friend, known to you all as Miss Naomi Bennet, who lives thousands of miles and an ocean away. Someday we shall meet. :-) I would love to meet my favorite author and greatest writing inspiration, Lynn Austin.
 

  I'd also love to meet John Schneider, my second favorite actor. Although it's quite possible I'd faint dead away at the sight of him.

 

2. If someone asked you to give them a random piece of advice, what would you say?

 

    Be yourself. It's so very important, but it can be so hard sometimes. When I'm with other people I often have a hard time just simply being myself-- it comes so naturally when I'm just at home with my family, but often around others I feel....inhibited, I suppose. When I come to a place where I can just be ME, it's one of the greatest feelings in the world. Be who God made you to be-- everyone else is already taken.

 

 

 

3. What's one of your favorite habits you have?

 

    I often make popcorn in the evenings and eat it while I either read or watch something with my family. I can't eat popcorn while I write-- it's just not done. Eating popcorn is too distracting to do while you're writing.

  Another habit: I love to pick daisies that grow by the side of the oat field on the edge of our backyard, but Daddy mowed them down about a week ago so there are currently none there.

  I have other habits, but I can't think of any in particular right now.

   

4. What are some things that make you really happy?

 

   My family, sunshine, flowers, popcorn, Lynn Austin's books, emails from friends, Dr. Quinn, musical theatre, and The Adams Chronicles. Not necessarily in that order.

 

There really are no words to describe how much I love this family.

 

5. What are some things that make you really sad?

 

     The last episode in season 5 of The Waltons, when John-Boy decides to leave the mountain and move to New York, just rips my heart out. It's soooooo sad. Actually, the last episodes of TV shows are generally pretty sad-- the last episode of Northern Exposure made me cry, even though it ended happily. Same with Dr. Quinn. It's just so emotional.

   It makes me sad to think that some people don't have a loving family like I do. Some peoples' families are broken up and scattered and not together anymore, and that's a very sad thought. I'm so thankful that I have a mama and a daddy who love me, and two wonderful, hilarious sisters who are my best friends.

 

6. What are some things that scare you?

 

    Being alone, stranded away from home, not knowing what's going to happen. Sometimes it's so hard to trust that God has everything under control.

 

7. Do you like to plan things out in detail or be spontaneous? 

 

  As a general rule, I like to have things planned out in advance. However, it's best to be spontaneous once in a while, otherwise life would get kind of boring. Sometimes you have to take chances, do crazy things, splurge a little.

 

 

Ashley's questions

 

1. Would you rather be hot or cold?

 

     Probably hot.....just so long as we're not talking extreme. :-P

 

2. Do you name inanimate objects?

 

    Very often, I do. My laptop's name is Cal Trask and my purse is Miss Lemon. Oddly enough, I've never named my camera.

 

3. What is your favorite post that you have written?

 

    Oh, goodness! Seriously? Wow. I don't think I have a favorite. I've written over 150 posts in my blogging career-- some of them long, deep rants and insights and some of the just fluff. Well, some of the ones I'm most pleased with are my film review, most notably GONE WITH THE WIND, Sense and Sensibility (2008) and True Grit. And my John Adams (2008) rant to this day makes me crack up.

 

4. What is your favorite show on Netflix?

 

    I don't get Netflix, so I can't really answer this question. However I'm pretty sure we all know what my favorite show is......

 

 

  I'm just basking in the fandom of this.

 

 

5. History or science? English or math?

  

      Definitely history, and definitely English.  Math and science usually end up making me frustrated.

 

 

6. What are some things that make you laugh?

 

     Mostly people make me laugh, my family especially. Green Acres makes me laugh. Mr. Pecksniff makes me laugh. Historical inaccuracies in Michael Landon Jr. movies make me laugh.

 

 

7. The funniest joke you have ever heard/told?

 

    I'm not much of a joke person-- I get more of a kick out of puns and inside jokes and funny things that people do. I can't think of any jokes right now, sorry!

 

 

8. Favorite sport?

 

   Heh, I'm not very sporty either! I guess I would have to say figure skating, since it's more graceful than other sports and definitely my favorite sport to watch.

 

Sasha Cohen, one of my favorite skaters.

 

9. E-readers or physical books?

 

    Oh, physical books, definitely! I have never so much as TOUCHED an e-reader, and I plan to keep it that way.

 

10. Favorite place to buy books online?

 

    Christian Book Distributors. It's just plain awesome. And addicting.

 

 

11. What is your dream job?

 

   My dream is to be a writer. I don't really think of writing as being a job, though-- for me it's more of a passion, a way of life. I'd love to be able to live in an old farmhouse in the country and write novels for the rest of my life, but I don't know if I'd be able to actually make a living doing that. As for a job, I'd love to be some kind of historian and work at Colonial Williamsburg or someplace like that.

 

 

Bekah's questions

 

 

1. Have you ever watched Downton Abbey? If so, how would you rate it from 1 to 10?

 

    Yes. I have. :-) I've seen all of the seasons, most of them twice (and the first one three times), and it's one of my top favorite shows, which is saying a lot because a lot of my favorite dramas are in fact tv shows. On a scale of 1 to 10, I think I'd rate it 9 and 3/4. I absolutely love it and I think it's amazing, and if you're a fan of period films you should DEFINITELY go watch it.

 

Yup.

 

2. How long have you been blogging?

 

    'Bout a year and a half-- I started this journey on February 17th of 2013, so I've been blogging for almost 17 months. Golly, has it really been that long?

 

3. What is the long-term goal for your blog?

 

      I had to think about this for a while. To be honest, I'm not really sure I have an answer. I blog because I love to write, and I write about things I love. I love meeting people who have the same interests and passions as I do, and I hope that what I write is encouraging and God-honoring. This blog started out as a mainly period drama-based online journal where I would write reviews and rant about things of a period drama nature, but since I started blogging a lot has changed. Now it's just a place where I pour out my thoughts into words, write about my adventures, my dreams and my passions, and use my love of writing to give glory and praise to my God. Basically, this blog is about stories. It's not about me-- it's about this wonderful journey of life that God is taking me on, and it's a place where I can write about all the things I love.

 

 

4. Have you ever set off a firework?

 

   Nope. It's illegal to buy them in my state, so...yeah.

 

 

5. What kind of weather is there where you live?

 

    Currently, it's about 80 degrees, the sun is shining and a breeze is blowing and I'm sitting in the grass as I type this. It's very lovely. We don't usually experience very dramatic weather where I live-- I've never seen a tornado, and we've old had mild effects of hurricanes. Lately it as been raining a lot, which isn't all that great for the crops.

 

 

6. Would you rather ride a horse or walk?

 

    I haven't ridden a horse in years, and I've never done more than trot so I'm not sure I can say. I love walking, and I'd love to learn to ride a horse. It's the western cowgirl in me. :-)

 

 

7. Have you ever been on a mission trip? If so, where to and why?



 

    No, I never have. I think it would be great to someday..... I don't like being away from home, especially far away, but that's something I could try to overcome.

 

8. What version of the Bible do you prefer?

 

    My Bible is the New King James version, and I think of all the ones I've used I like that best.

 

 

9. I you could have a certain amount of land for free, how much would you want and what kind of terrain would it be?

 

     I have this dream to live on a ranch in the countryside someday-- maybe not necessarily a horse ranch, but a big farmhouse and barn with several animals and lots of wide open spaces. Lots of grass, fields, meadows, and mountains on the horizon.

 

 

10. What is your last name and what does it mean?

 

    My last name is Anderson, which is, obviously, a Swedish name. My grandfather was Swedish. As far as I know, the name just means 'son of Anders/Andrew'.

 

11. Do you have a paying job?

 

    Ehhhhh....sort of. I do get paid for picking beans and working in the garden or at our stand, so yes, I guess you could say I do.

 

 

  Thank you, girls! :-)

 

~Emma

Read More

Awkward and Awesome {1}

  Hey y'all! I've seen these 'Awkward and Awesome' posts floating around the blogosphere for a while, and since I personally think they're so much fun and (since I am notorious for getting myself into awkward situations, which you've no doubt figured out if you know me very well...my sisters know better than anyone :-)), I've decided to do a semi-weekly, actually-scheduled-for-once post series. I'm thinking of doing an 'awkward and awesome' post every other week, or whenever I can. (It probably won't always be on the same day of the week, just sayin'.)

    So here are some of the awkward and awesome things that have happened to me in the last two weeks.

~Awkward~

 

 

~ Sitting in the treehouse writing for most of the afternoon and being off on cloud nine somewhere, then going down to the stand to help close up and realizing your dress looks sloppy, you haven't brushed your hair all day and you pretty much look like a frumpy writer person. Yep.

 

~ Pitting cherries with a bobby pin because your cherry pitter is on loan out.

 

~ Carrying a cutting board piled with watermelon rinds out to the deck while trying not to let any of the juice run off onto the floor. Kids, this is something you should never try at home.

 

~ Giving the lady at the check-out five more dollars than you needed to because you thoughtshe said 48 instead of 43. "Oh, you've got too much here. I'll give this back to you." "What?"

 

~ Having your money all crumpled up in a tiny change purse so that whenever you go to buy something you spend literally minutes trying to untangle the whole mess. My mom: "Emma, you're going to have to get a wallet if you want to keep buying things."

 

~ Practicing the Whitney Houston song 'I Believe in You and Me' that you're going to sing at a wedding ( in TWO DAYS) and realizing that you kind of have to be black to sing it like she does. Hey, it's the truth, people.

 

~ Sorting through quarts of disgusting strawberries and feeling like you never want to see another strawberry in your life.

 

~ Being disappointed when strawberry season is over.

 

~ Trying to train your cat not to climb on your dresser and make dirty footprints while messing up everything, knocking over objects and generally being a pest. An all this at six in the morning. That cat could try the patience of Job.

 

~ Sitting in a car with your mom and sister in a church parking lot, waiting for someone your sister was supposed to practice and wondering if he didn't get your message. (He did, eventually. Me: (lying crossways on the back seat) "I don't have time for this!"

 

~ Rambling on and on about western movie stars and western cinema and then realizing.....yeah, no one really cares what you're saying. Heh.

 

~ Singing "send lawyers, guns, and money!" loudly around your house while you're cleaning, over and over, just 'cause you don't know any more of lyrics. Molly: "Emma, can you please sing something else?"

 

~ Laughing at depressing farmer jokes. Farmers are not exactly famous for being optimistic. "Due to increased electrical costs, the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned out." That's just sad, people.

~ When your aunt describes True Grit as 'horrific' and it's all you can do to just keep....your....mouth....shut. I love you, auntie.

 

~ Using a wrench to open an ancient jar of nail polish.

 

~ Warming up leftover couscous and having absolutely no idea what you're doing. I added wayyyyy too much butter and it ended up looking like something they'd eat on the ship in Hornblower. I totally planned it that way. 

 

~ When you have to delete a picture on your camera every time you want to take one, because the memory's crammed full of pictures of your cat. Like my sister said, one of these days our camera is just going to blow up because it won't be able to handle all the cuteness.

 

~ Sitting down in your sister's violin teacher's backyard and realizing you just sat in a mud puddle. Well, how was I supposed to know. It hadn't rained for at least three hours.

 

~Awesome~

 

 

 

~ Climbing a mountain with your cousins. Wow.

 

~ Watching fireworks from your cousins' backyard on the 4th of July.

 

~ Singing your amazingly talented sister's arrangement of 'Danny Boy' for three voices with your sister and your cousin in the van on the way to dance class.

 

~ Sitting on the couch eating popcorn and listening to Mark Knopfler while your sister braids your hair. It doesn't get much better than that.

 

~ When you finish the first two chapters of your novel.

 

~ Finding a gorgeous dress to wear to the wedding this Saturday.

 

~ Looking forward to your first issue of American Cowboy magazine. Which, uh, probably won't come for another month at least.

 

~ Taking pictures of the beautiful pink sky just after it rains.

 

 

 

 

 

~ Sitting around your grandparents' table hulling strawberries and talking about local personalities of

the past.

 

~ When you FINALLY figure out how to put a playlist on your sidebar. Not that you ever really tried before. (Do check it out! :-))

 

~ Getting your own laptop after you've been planning and saving for months! Naming him Cal...because laptops need names, y'know.

 

~ Sitting on your deck writing this post on the first sunny day in over a week. And it's NOT raining! Praise God! :-)

 

~ Getting ready for a week at music camp at a Christian college.....which means a week away from home. Yikes. It's awesome, but it's also scary. But we do have two hours of free time in the afternoons, so I'll still be able to write.

 

~ Picking daisies growing by the edge of the oat field.

 

~ When you read a book that brings the past to life so vividly that you feel you feel you're actually there, living with he characters, experiencing their troubles and joys. It's an indescribable feeling.

 

  

What's been awkward and awesome in your life lately?

 

 

I hope you're all having a beautiful week! God bless! : )

 

~Emma

Read More

In the Good Ol' Summertime....

  
   Summertime is always a very busy time for my family, with our produce stand and everything else going on, and sometimes it seems like there's hardly any time to rest and just be. So I suppose that's my excuse for neglecting my little blog. :-)  I've been super occupied with.....well, a lot of things. Work at the stand, work here at home, going places, and trying to write my first novel. But this is the way I like to live-- happily and exuberantly and fully. I love being occupied, as long as I have time for all the most important things.
  Summer is when life can be the most difficult-- especially being a farmer, when you pretty much have to rely completely on the mercy of the weather, which rarely ever cooperates the way you want it to. But it's also when I love life the most. Picking peas in the hot sun (or the pouring rain), writing on haybales in the barn, getting up early and watching the world wake up as the sun rises, walking home from the stand after closing each evening and stopping by the creek just to listen to the water run over the rocks....these are the sweet, simple things that make life so special. Things like eating strawberries for every meal, riding in the trunk of a vehicle amid quarts of berries, watching classic Dr. Quinn episodes (and crying over Matthew-- hey, I can't help it, he's just so sad!), and staying up late at night to finish reading your favorite book in the whole world for the fifth time.

  I recently read a quote that said, "Life doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful". Nobody's life is perfect. Mine is certainly far from it. But God gives us so many undeserved blessings each day, and He's always there to help us through the trials, even when we don't feel Him. Even though life is often a struggle, it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful.

    Life is an adventure, and right now, I'm loving just about every minute of it.

    So here are some of the things I've been up to in the past month....

~ picked peas in the pouring rain. THAT was fun. Not really.

~ laughed so hard I could hardly breath.

~ went to a Jamberry Nails party hosted by some friends, which was fun. I'm not really much for doing my nails ('cause I'm not careful and they invariably always come off in record time), but it was nice to get together with such a nice group of girls and my sisters and I actually did order some of the nail wraps. Mine have a newspaper-sorta print on them....yes, I'm eccentric. :-P

~ quoted movie lines. A great deal. Here are some of my most-frequently quoted lately:

"Don't look at me, I just got here."  ~ Yours, Mine, and Ours
"Madam, what else is new?"  ~1776
"Quittin' time!"  ~Gone With the Wind
"Gentlemen, good luck. If you need me, I shall be in Australia."  ~The Phantom of the Opera (I've used this one an awful lot-- every time I leave the house, or the pea patch, or whenever I'm going somewhere I tend to use this line.)
"I didn't see no line, Gus."   ~Lonesome Dove 

~ went strawberry picking with my cousins.

~ went cherry picking with my other cousins. :-)

~ helped a stray cat from Kentucky feel at home in our barn (long story, that).

~ voraciously read old issues of American Cowboy and Cowboys and Indians that a friend lent me. (I'm getting my own subscription to AC soon though, which I'm super excited about.)

~ went to a family reunion.

~ went on a boat ride with some friends from our church on Chautauqua Lake, which was absolutely beautiful-- the first time I'd ever actually been on the lake and not just looking at it, wishing I was on it. :-)

clockwise: picking cherries, on the lake, Molly and my cousin Rebecca at the reunion, strawberries, Sadie and cousin Katie, the cherry orchard.

~ joined Pinterest and discovered that it's far too easy and far too much fun to waste time on there.

~ went to an English Country Dancing Summer Frolic, which was SO much fun!

~ finished sewing my first project-- a Colonial-era gown that I wore to the Frolic. I had a tremendous amount of help from a friend, so I didn't do it all by myself, but I'm still rather proud as I think it turned out quite nicely for being my first really sewing project-- besides sewing ribbons on pointe shoes, I'd previously had zero experience.

~ went to the opera for the first time ever! My mom took my sisters and I to see Puccini's Madam Butterfly. It was....interesting, let's put it that way. Let's just say that opera is not my forte, plus the story is just plain morbid. The singers were completely amazing though. I don't know how they got through the entire three hours-- if I was so exhausted after watching it, I can only imagine how exhausted they must have been after performing it. Just singing one of those arias would probably wipe me out. Goodness.

~ bought my very own laptop! This is my first time writing a post on it. :-) I've been planning on getting my own laptop for a few months, and last week I finally bought one! I've named it Cal (he's a boy) after Cal Trask in East of Eden. It's kind of strange to have my own computer, and I think it might take me a while to get used to it. If you know me very well you probably know that I am not at ALL up to date with modern technology, which is why it's kind of ironic to think that I have a laptop. The main reason I wanted to get it is for writing, since I'm working seriously on a novel now and it's good for a writer to have their own computer to take with them anywhere. Still, writing doesn't flow as easily for me typing on a keyboard than it does writing with a pen on notebook paper. :-)

~ watched To Kill a Mockingbird. I know it's a revered classic film and all, and Gregory Peck was fabulous, but I really wasn't as good as I was expecting it to be. There was SO much left out of the book and I felt like it was all moving so fast-- everything happened all at once, and a whole bunch of characters were left out. Dill, however, was ridiculously adorable, and I must say I think Robert Duvall stole the show as Boo Radley, even if he had no lines. Someone give him an Emmy for that. I don't care that the movie's  fifty years old.

~ photographed my cat like crazy. In fact, I have hardly any memory left on my camera because it's so full of pictures of Oliver. ;-P

One morning I walked out on the deck and fund Oliver sleeping in a banana box. :-P

~ taken long walks barefoot in the creek.

~ sat on the bridge and poured my heart out into my writing.

~ read too many historical romances and gotten sick of the genre in general, haha. Now I'm going to read some really old books passed down from my grandpa's family that my grandma and grandpa had at their house. When I say old, I mean really old. One of them was published in 1898.

~ went hiking with my cousins on the 4th of July and climbed a mountain, which was really neat. The view from the top was simply spectacular.



clockwise: the glorious view from the top, one of the cliffs, the stage at Madam Butterfly, the theater, Mary, Peter and Sadie trying to fit between the huge rocks, our patriotic cake.

 
~ writing. A lot. In fact, I think I've done more writing in the past two weeks than the past three months before that. I'm working on a novel an I've written almost two complete chapters (which is huge for me, since usually I'm so scattered). It's not the novel I posted about around a month ago, but an entirely new story, and I'm keeping it mostly undercover until I've written more. I'm really, really excited about it. :-)

    This Saturday my sisters and I are doing music for a friend's wedding, and then on Sunday we're off to music camp for a week. It's been rather hectic in my neck of the woods lately and there are lots of things coming up, so I probably won't be posting very much in the coming weeks, but I hope I'll be able to pop in occasionally. Thank you all so much for being my readers and for your sweet comments....I know I don't always respond, but I always appreciate your comments, and all of you, so very much! I hope you're all having a great summer! I'll see y'all later....in the meantime I'll be writing my novel, eating watermelon, reading Lynn Austin books, and waiting to hear about Les Mis audition results. :-) Ta-ta!

~Emma


     

Read More