A Funny Story

The night before last, a sleepover took place at my house.  It was for the girls at my youth group, and it'd been planned for quite a while.  We were all eating, chatting, and laughing, when there was a phone call.  It was some guys from the youth group, asking to talk to one of the girls.  They wanted to know how many people were there.  She hung up and said, "They're going to come crash our party!"

Everyone was thoroughly frustrated.  And then the doorbell rang.  Someone looked out the window and shouted, "It's them!"  Immediately all the doors were locked as we rushed to the windows and peered out.  

"They're behind that tree!" 

 "Now they're running across the yard!" 

 "No, there he goes, he's on the sidewalk!"

"Hey!  We should open the door and eat pie in their faces!"

Everyone was laughing very hard.  Eventually it calmed down and we settled for a game.

Then the doorbell rang again.

A girl from youth group stood there with two bags of Ghirardelli chocolate and a bouquet of roses.

"Someone left these on your porch." she said.

Needless to say, we felt terrible.

But the chocolate was great, and the roses were lovely, and we thanked the guys and told them the whole story the next day.

We proceeded with the sleepover by watching Phantom of the Opera, the musical, staying up until 4am eating broccoli soup, and laughing so hard we could barely breathe.

Have a good Sunday!

With love,

AmyGrace

My Birthday

My birthday was nearly a month ago now.  It seems already that it years ago, and the next one should be coming around the corner sooner or later.
Well, here's just a little recap of what I did.

First, after eating homemade donuts, I got a surprise of some money to get my ears pierced! 

I was very nervous because the lady piercing them said people had fallen down on their faces because of low blood sugar.  But it went very well, despite my worries, and though it hurt, it didn't bleed at all.

Next, I made for my dinner, a French stew!  It was inspired by Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon (I hope I spelled that right) recipe.  It was delicious!  

***

It is two weeks until Christmas.  I'm looking forward to the baking, the celebrations, the love, the laughter, the gifts and the gingerbread.  Most of all, I'm looking forward to a little break from school.

I've been having a bit of a hard time getting pictures lately, especially ones outdoors since our only daylight is during school hours.  Getting creative indoors has been a bit of a struggle for me lately because I'm in this house so much it begins to feel dull.  It's hard to look at it with a fresh eye and see the creativity peeking out from in between the cracks in my floor.  I'm getting there, though.

Today's been a little bit hard.  I was hoping to go to a dance recital that my ballet class is performing a dance in.  I'm not in the dance because I thought it'd be too hectic during theatre week, and I really need to focus more on school.  I learned the dance (kind of) though and wanted to see it.  It didn't work out because no one else was able to come along and, unfortunately, I cannot drive yet.  Then my siblings and I were planning to go to a movie we've been looking forward to, called Hugo.  Needless to say, that didn't quite work out either.  I'm pretty disappointed because both of the events I have been looking forward to for over three months.  It's not quite that they didn't happen that's frustrating, it's more the fact that what got in the way was little last minute plans that hadn't been decided on much ahead of time.  The time will come though.  I must say, I cannot wait until I can drive. :)

I'll try to come up with some more creative posts in the future, but for now, lots of love and Merry Christmas.

-AmyGrace

A Bit About Me

I'm fifteen.

I live in Alaska.

I'm Homeschooled.

Going to home school is normal to me.  It also means things that are normal to everyone else, seem foreign.  When I'm reading a book and it talks about the bell ringing and the crowded hallways and the slamming lockers, I can't relate.  I base the picture in my head off of the movies I've seen.  In some ways it seems strange that something so normal, feels so mysterious.  

In some ways I feel trapped.  I don't get out of the house much, and when I do it's for 1 1/2 to 2 hours on a school night.  The inside of my house is so familiar to me, more familiar than anywhere.  The view outside the window changes gradually with the seasons.  Cars drive by.  The same middle school kids tramp through the snow in -20 weather to get to and from school.  

Don't get me wrong, I love being homeschooled.  I love being able to talk things through with my family, and to read all the books I want and have the freedom in the middle of the day to pull out a project during a half hour break.  

I just can't help but wonder what other lives would be like.  I think that is probably normal, though.  Everyone wonders what it would be like to be someone else.  I think what it'd be like to live in the lower 48 on a farm where I'd get up at the crack of dawn to milk the cows and collect the eggs.  Or what it would be like to live in another continent, with a different language or accent, lifestyle and government.  

The closest I can get to another life is books.  There are books on basically every topic.  What would I do without books?

Some more things about myself are:

I make yarn dolls.

I like painting, even though I'm not very good.

I want to travel almost more than anything else.

I hope you don't mind my ranting.  Please feel free to follow my blog and ask me any questions.

With love,

AmyGrace

Winter Months

I am just making this post because I have some pictures I don't know what to do with.

The last few weeks have been very restless for me.

I'm almost done with the children's adventure book I'm writing. :)

I haven't finished writing a book since I was ten.

I'm pretty excited.

I really want to go hiking in the Amazon.

Please follow my blog.

Love,

AmyGrace

The Winds of Summer

My friend Jasmine and I walked to Creamer's Field one Friday night. We only had an hour and my camera was about to loose its charge, so we had to hurry.  These were the last pictures we took of summer.  I would have liked to have stayed longer.  I love the feel of a cool wind running through the trees.

Have a good weekend!

Love,

AmyGrace

For when November Comes

The snow's here now to stay.  The layer is thin on the ground like a sheet, and the trees look like they've been dipped in syrup and then rolled in powered sugar.  I am really looking forward to the next few months with my birthday and Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I love the holiday cheer and the purchasing of presents, and trying to keep all the gifts a surprise.   This will be my snow post, and then I will try to use up all the pictures I took over the summer.  I'm afraid I did a very bad job of staying caught up. 

 Have a good week!

Mirrors

Life inside a music box ain't easy

The mallets hit the gears that are always turning

And everyone inside the mechanism is yearning to get out

And sing another melody completely

So different from the one they're always singing

I close my eyes and think that I have found me

But then I feel mortality surround me

I want to sing another melody

So different from the one I always sing.

-Regina Spektor, Music Box

Even though these pictures aren't of a music box, they remind me of this song.  The reflections are like a pattern that keeps going and going, without any breaks or variation.  It's almost worrying.

Birch Hill Part 2

Here are the rest of my Birch Hill photos.  It's strange how in such a short time, the world looks completely different!

The leaves have now all fallen off the trees and the smell of winter is getting stronger.  It's a sweet smell, though.  I'm looking forward, just a little, to the coming snow.

Last night at youth group, the northern lights were out in all their splendor, dipping and twisting and growing and shrinking.  Their green swirls made me want to just fly up and dance with them.  I wanted to ice skate down their slopes or wrap myself in them and wear them like a dress.  Thank you, God for making the northern lights!

Now a full and lovely Sunday awaits me.  I will probably sew and watch Lion King.  Have a wonderful day!

Pond Assignment Part 1

Biology this year has been especially frusterating for me.  I'm really just not understanding the content very well at all.  So when I found out one of my assignments was going to a pond and selecting samples, I was pretty excited.  At last, something fun!

With the golden leaves and evergreens smothering the hillside with color, it was a beautiful trip.  Mom let me drive, since I have my permit now and it was my first time to go over 50mph (Whoohoo!).  Rain was gently splashing and as we reached the pond I felt so refreshed.  Being out in the soft wind and rain with the sweet smell of autumn and the splattering of water hitting water, it was the most peaceful atmosphere I'd been in all week.  And I didn't have to worry about getting behind in school while I was there, because I was doing school!  We gathered the samples and then I got to experiment with my camera for my photography class.  What better place to take pictures than in nature?