Adventure to the Bahamas -The Day Before

Two weeks ago today, I got in a car with three people, headed toward Florida to get on a ship for the BAHAMAS!! Those three people? My super-awesome friend Anna Leigh, her mom, Mrs. Jeannie, and the fun-loving Mrs. Theresa. None of us had been on a cruise before, so yay for new experiences!

I spent the night with the Acords the night before, and they don't usually have coffee. It was getting on around 9 AM and I was like, "Um... This is selfish, but I'm an addict and I need some coffee.... heh!" Mr. Rocky jumped up to make me some, but he didn't have to, because Mrs. Jeanie was on the phone with Mrs. Theresa, who was at McDonalds. Problem solved. The dear Mrs. Theresa brought me some coffee, and I knew everything was gonna be alright.

Mr. Rocky packed our luggage in the trunk, Anna Leigh and I settled down in the back seat with munchies, blankets, and dvds, and so we set out. Mrs. Jeannie took the wheel under the guidance of Anna's GPS, and Mrs. Theresa rode shotgun. And we drove. And drove. For hours.


For lunch, it was decided that we would all write down our top four choices for lunch (on a ripped up napkin) and whichever place had the most votes is where we would go. Subway won! The subway we found had a Dairy Queen beside it, and all of a sudden I really wanted some fries. So I decided to get a DQ chicken wrap, which I ended up regretting because it was tiny and weird. However, the fries were fantastic and that's what mattered. Then we drove even more, finally making it to our hotel about 9 hours after we started.


Anna Leigh and I plopped down on the sleep number beds as soon as we arrived. We played with the settings and laughed for probably half an hour, til Mrs. Jeanie called out outside to look at the awesome pool. By the way, the most popular sleep number is 35. The perfect balance between soft and supportive. The pool was pretty sweet. It had a waterfall rushing over these big landscaping boulders, and a nifty koi pond. It would have been nice to go for a swim, but we got there too late, and had to leave too early in the morning.

All the way to the hotel we kept thinking of things we needed. Fake nails, chocolate, deodorant, wrinkle release spray, blo pops... you know, important stuff like that. A Wal-Mart run was definitely going to be a necessity. We also decided we needed to find a Cracker Barrel for dinner since all of us but Anna needed a real meal. It seemed perhaps if we just drove around we would find what we wanted. We drove one way. Nothing. We drove another way. Nothing. That plan wasn't working so well, so we stopped at a pharmacy and asked some lady where we could find a Cracker Barrel. She gave us really good directions, told us there was, mercifully, a Wal-Mart right beside it, and suggested we visit the Atlantis hotel on Paradise Island once we got to the Bahamas.

So, we headed out following the girl's directions without a hitch, and found the Cracker Barrel. I have never been so excited about roast beef, mashed potatoes, and macaroni in my life. My heart flooded with joy at the thought of it. And rightly so. Anna asked if it fulfilled my expectations, and I told her it quite exceeded them. It was the best ten dollars I've spent in a while, topped off with a biscuit and blackberry jam.

With our stomachs much happier, it was time to head to the next-door Wal-Mart. We sallied forth, made our purchases, and headed back to the car. Mrs. Theresa realized that this trip (which had been pretty dramatic for a simple trip to dinner and Wal-Mart) was definitely worth documenting, and forbade us enter the car. Henceforth she found an optimal space in the parking lot whereat the Wal-Mart sign could be see above our heads. The camera found a place on top the car, auto-timer was set, and the picture was taken! Time to move forward!


Who knew forward would be so confusing? Richard the GPS voice told us how to get back to the hotel from our current location, but we passed the exit he told us to take. We got off at the next one, so he told us to get back on the interstate by turning left in a couple hundred yards. We approached the place to turn and were stunned to find not a clearly marked ramp, but what looked like a vast emptiness instead. "I'm not turning into that cow pasture!" Mrs. Jeanie said, so we did a U turn. It didn't make sense for it to be a cow pasture, and surely Richard was right, so we headed toward the left turn again. "Take it slow, Jeanie. Nobody's behind you, just go slow. It DOES look like a pasture!" said Mrs. Theresa from the passenger's seat. And so she did. Of course, it was not a cow pasture. It was not well lit, but it turned out to be a normal on-ramp, and we made our way back to the hotel drama free, with Anna Leigh and I contentedly eating gummies and chocolate.

Once we got back to the hotel it was time to make preparations. Getting ready for anything can be a fiasco when there are women involved. Increase the number of them, and the insanity increases exponentially. Anna Leigh and I had to lay out all of our potential outfits and corresponding jewelry, and invite a panel of judges to help us. Oh, the indecisiveness of us! We made quite a mess of the contents of our suitcases, deliberating which pants would be best for which day, and showing off our formal dresses. Mrs. Theresa's enthusiasm for everyone's dresses was very gratifying, and we were quite satisfied with our selections. Finally, casual and dinner dress were chosen for the next day, we re-packed our bulging suitcases, and went to bed.

A One-Time Deal

It was a cold, dark evening. My stomach felt a little nervous as I zipped my hoodie up higher and hugged myself, trying to keep warm. Laura was driving. Alicia was in the backseat, keeping us company. We pulled into the parking lot and turned the car off.

It was time.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," I said. Laura laughed. "It's okay. Plus, I'm doing it with you."
Not helpful.

Abruptly, I jumped out and shut the car door, making my way to the sidewalk as quickly as possible. My heart sank as I scoped out the people inside. We were at the door. It was too late to turn back. We went inside.

After that initial glance I kept my eyes to the ground, shuffling quickly to the back of the establishment. Again I muttered, "I can't believe I'm doing this." Again, Laura laughed at me. I ignored her and ducked between two shelves where no one could see me. Dissatisfied with the surrounding selection, I darted across the aisle to survey the other goods. Still not finding what I was looking for, and afraid of being called out, I started to panic.

I was rapidly declining into nervous breakdown mode when Alicia strode across the floor towards me, triumphantly holding the coveted rectangular object we'd all been searching for.
A wave of relief swept over me as we made our way back towards the door. I had done the unthinkable. Maybe it wasn't so bad after all.

One thing is for sure - I'm never going to Blockbuster (or any other public place) in my pajamas again.

25 things plus One

My friends kept tagging me for this "25 things about yourself" thing on Facebook. So I did it.
And now I'm sharing the results for you people in blog/email world to see, too.

1. Due to my open personality and strong tendencies toward honesty and transparency, I feel I have very few interesting/random things to share.

2. In 2009 I struggled with wondering if it's okay to just let go of dying friendships. ... I might still be struggling with that, actually. It's amazing how you think you'll be friends with someone for forever, and then you just... aren't.

3. I've lately held that the photography is going to be the most important part of my wedding (besides the groom, obviously). As long as there are gorgeous pictures at the end of it all, I'll be happy. lol

4. I'm a perfectionist. Which means when I try something and fail, I beat myself up. If I try again and fail, I give up. Which is why I'm not good at playing the guitar and why I can't even properly play beginner level piano anymore. Practicing and failing was just too miserable.

5. One day when I'm rich, I'm going to get microdermabrasion done on my face. Maybe lasik surgery, too. (the spell check doesn't know those words. lol)

6. I read The Prince by Machiavelli and liked it. And I felt guilty because I totally agreed with him.

7. I love socks and hate flip flops.

8. I like my feet.

9. I've never been out of the United States. That's going to change, though.

10. If I were a boy, I would have a crazy huge collection of ties and cuff links. Cuff links are the awesomest.

11. One day I was singing and thought to myself "wow. I don't sing nearly as well as I thought I did." and then I was sad.

12. One day I had another sad realization. I used to think I was pretty well-read. Then I realized I'm only well read in childrens' books and classics from the 1800's.

13. I'm an excellent cook. Not to toot my own horn or anything... :P

14. My life has a hole in it without a bird. :(

15. I really really want to learn French, but I feel guilty because I'm sure it would be a useless endeavor... you know, in light of the fact that nobody here speaks French, and why would I ever need to use it?

16. I am most definitely biased in favor of little boys. They're way funner and way cuter. That's just how it is.

17. I have mad eye-twitching skillz.

18. One day I'm going to turn all of my blog posts into a book. I wonder when one day is.

19. I never want to be too old and mature to color with crayons, skip down a hallway and sing made up songs.

20. I wish I could sing like regina spektor and hayley westenra. Whose voices are totally different, by the way.

21. Sometimes I wish I looked like Audrey Hepburn... and somebody else, but I can't remember who. But, actually, I like the way I look pretty well. I wouldn't really change my face, given the chance. :)

22. I don't like painting my fingernails. I have tried, and having colored fingertips always catches me off guard. And then they chip, and then they have to be redone, and it's just way too much work. However, I love having red toenails. *shrug*

23. I almost always spell guard wrong. It's funny the words that throw me off. I can spell microdermabrasion no problem. But guard and piece always get me. I want to switch the vowels.

24. Sometimes I still feel like a stupid failure because I never finished algebra.

25. If I call you a weirdo, it's like compliment. Seriously. It basically means "You're an interesting person, and I rather like you" in Caitlinese.

WOW! I thought of 25 things! It took way too long. :)

The "plus One" would be the first installment of my resolution to post a new item in my Etsy shop every day for 7 consecutive days. Behold:


So there you have it!
Now if you'll excuse me, my cell phone is ringing. :)
Bye!

Thoughts for 2010

So, the new year came in with fun times at the Looneys' house. Coffee, Apples to Apples, fireworks, and the best friends ever.

Upon inspection of my cards, I realized I had an excellent description of the perfect boyfriend.

Upon inspection of her cards, Katie realized she had an excellent description of a typical girlfriend. In case you can't read them: Complicated, Fantastic, Naive, and Phony.

We girls have a mantra for the new year. A little rhyming nugget of inspiration, if you will:

-God will send men in 2010-

I know you're so impressed, aren't you? lol So, I guess we can't dictate what God's going to do, but we can have some active faith going on, right? And it makes us laugh, and laughing is good. :)

Furthermore, my blogworld friend Jess inspired me to make an inspiration board.

I have made a small list in my head of things I would like to do this year. I made a small cork board tonight that I am going to add my resolutions, goals, and inspirations to. I encourage you to make one for yourself as well. Organize your goals and resolutions into an artistic visual piece...put it on the wall in a place you will look at every day. I have mine placed to the left of me as I sit at my desk.

Now to procure a corkboard. Or maybe I'll improvise with an unused poster frame I have. Oh, and lest I forget - some goals to fill it would be nice, too.
Let's see...

• A book a month - plus review/synopsis
• Write random kind notes
• Save a couple thousand dollars
• Read my Bible
• Consistently practice the guitar
  
• Maybe learn some French
  
• Drink more water

What else? I need an Etsy goal. None of those are really "whoa! noteworthy!", but I'm trying to keep it realistic and doable, but something I'll have reason to be proud of at the end of the year.

Ideas, people?

In the meantime, keep an eye out on my shop. I'm going to try to add a new item every day this week! I've already got 3 things finished, so watch for them!

Here's some new things you might not have seen.

Nothing like a good, stripey beanie!


What do you plan on doing this year?
-Caitlin

Catching up on Christmas

Wow, I totally disappeared over the holidays, didn't I?
I assure you I had a lot of fun. I need to do a big long picture post. As it stands, I don't feel like it right now.

Christmas Eve I got some yarn in the mail. I'm going to make this sweater!!
So excited. I've never made a real sweater yet.
So guess what I did Christmas day? I crocheted. All. Day. Long.
Christmas night I finished the back of the sweater. It looked kind of small.
I measured it. It came way short of the size it was supposed to be.

Pretty much ruined my night. Totally ruined the next day. I couldn't stop thinking about how I had spent all of Christmas day working on something that's going to have to be undone. I haven't unraveled it yet, but I've let go of the pain. ;-) I can't decide if I should just be more conscientious about my tension, or up my hook size - cuz my gauge swatch was spot on.

The Looneys came over on Christmas Eve and we shared finger foods and exchanged gifts. That was awesomely fun. I say, this year was the best gift-giving year for me. Practically everything came from Etsy, and everyone was thrilled with their stuff. Then Katey, Laura, Alicia and I took silly pictures of ourselves. For as long as we've been friends, Katey and I have very few pictures of us together, so... yay! we have one now. Even though I'm smiling weird. lol


Christmas Day we leisurely opened gifts in the morning, then headed over to Mema's house in the afternoon for Christmas Dinner. So yummy. I got my cooking genes from Mema and Mama. They're the best.

So, it was an uneventful, relaxing, and fun holiday. Just how it ought to be. Wally (that's Laura, for the uninformed) and I took a picture in front of Mema's tree. (which is always lovely - She and Alicia have been the official Mema's Tree Decorators for the past couple of years)


As for today I've made 2.5 hats, put away some of the Christmas decorations, and made peanut butter rice krispie treats for the New Year's Eve party at the Looneys' house tonight. We're going to go over this evening and eat more junk food and play games and be crazy again. Yay!

So, Happy New Year to all my friends out there, and perhaps I'll actually get around to doing a New Year's post too... Or maybe that should wait til I post Christmas pictures? Or not. I don't know. We'll see. :)

Enjoy the rest of your holiday!!

Caitlin

Saturday Afternoon

Saturday afternoon, my perfectionist self completely redid all the lights and ornaments on our christmas tree. I feel kind of guilty about it - the kids did it all themselves last week, but it was bugging me, and now it's not. Afterwords, I decided to spend some time out in the sunshine.

Belle the Dachshund went out with me, and we played with sticks and all that sort of thing for a while. She settled down to gnaw on a nice little branch, and I got a crazy notion to do something I hadn't done in years.

Every time a car went past I couldn't help but wonder if they suspected what I was about to do.
I don't really know how long I was out there, but progress went pretty fast.
I raked up a big pile of leaves from our front yard.
Then I stood in front of it and fell backwards.

I swished the leaves around with my arms, and then settled in, leaves from either side spilling over on top of me. It was wonderful. The spicy smell of crisp autumn leaves surrounded me as I looked up at the sky through the bare branches of the oaks.

Some of my clearest memories from our old home in Jonesboro are of playing outside in the Fall. We had 6 or 7 pecan trees in the front yard, and Laura and I spent hours stomping on pecans for a "snack", or making nests and forts in the leaves. I remember being completely immersed in leaves, burrowing underneath what seemed like monstrous piles of them at the time.

In Mansfield, we didn't really have any leaves. Just pine needles. One year, back in the woods behind the dog pen, we raked up a small leaf pile - half of it was pine needles. It was a disappointment, and we didn't try again.

So... Saturday afternoon with nothing to do and a vast expanse of crunchy, spicy leaves before me,
really - what else was I to do?

Last Feast of the Crocodiles

Five small children huddle together on the bed, the older ones holding the small ones protectively close. Growling, the menacing figure ahead of them lunges, nearly capturing the smallest in his claws. The crying shrieks of the children fill the house as the oldest kicks the beast in the chest, knocking him back to the floor. The monster regains his position for another lunge as the children press themselves harder into the corner furthest away from his relentless attacks.

With a roaring leap, he flings himself onto the bed, ruthlessly grabbing at the smallest, dragging her off the bed. They land with a thud, and he begins to roll and thrash wildly in the floor. The small one flails and cries. The children on the bed wail in grief and horror as their charge is taken down by the glowering beast. Pushing the small ones into the corner, the older two jump to the edge of the bed, not daring to get off, making a desperate but futile attempt to save the youngest. The escalating screams of horror and agony drown the low growl of the beast, who is rearing back to take out another now that the youngest lies motionless.

Those escalating screams also drowned out the voice of an unhappy mother, wishing her children could find quieter ways of occupying themselves.

You have witnessed, my friends, something very few people know about. PBS was our channel of choice years back, and there was a program called Last Feast of the Crocodiles. (I googled a few keywords and learned that just now. lol) We must have watched it three times.

Filmed during a brutal drought in central Africa, this brilliantly photographed video from NatGeo follows the predicament of animals living along the dwindling Luvuvhu River. As the water level sinks during the dry season, baboons and impalas are forced to seek water in pools filled with deadly crocodiles. The behavior of increasingly desperate and thirsty animals is shown in all its brutal detail, and some scenes, such as a violent confrontation between crocodiles and baboons, are heartrending. And while some of the video is inevitably difficult to watch, the photography is always spectacular. This video is both brutal and beautiful, and puts the viewer as close as possible (and desirable) to some of Africa's most amazing wildlife.

From this breathtakingly brutal documentary sprung what was to be our favorite game during 2002-2003 - Crocodiles and Baboons. Emmie Grace was the baby, and Nicholas the ruthless crocodile. Laura, Abby, Joey, and I were usually the dehydrating baboons. Laura and I would desperately try to get some water for the weak little babies. No matter how valiantly we faught, one of us was usually taken down along with a baby. Of course we switched it up sometimes, but this way worked best for maximum fun and drama.

The funny thing is, there wasn't really a point. We were just playing pretend. And when you're pretending, anything can happen. Sometimes the baby baboons would come back to life and crawl back to safety while the crocodile was busy with bigger prey. If the point had been for the crocodile to get all of the baboons, it would have been boring. If the point had been for no baboons to get eaten, it would have been super boring. As it stood, we could play endlessly.

There were no winners, no losers.
Just a bunch of terrified, desperate baboons and cruel, bloodthirsty crocodiles.

Of Owls and Spectres

Hello.
My bird just flew past and distracted me. Vincent's gotten pretty good at flying through the house. Sometimes he lands on the edge of the fishbowl, which I find comical.

Yeah, that's not how the beginning of this post was supposed to go. Then again, I didn't have a beginning planned or anything, so it's okay.

Thursday night was movie night at the Looney's house. Yeah! After the first movie, we sat around in the kitchen for a few minutes, just taking a break before we put on the second one. Or so I thought. All of a sudden, we're all singing "Happy Birthday." I like singing the birthday song, so I'm just singing along, wondering whose birthday it is now (there have been lots of August birthdays), when Alicia starts walking toward me with a glowing little birthday cake. I was like "Oh RIGHT! It's MY birthday! sort of..."

They gave me a little surprise party!!
It was sooo awesome. Katie stuck a tiara on my head, and I blew out my candles and just sat there and grinned like a little kid while presents started appearing out of nowhere. Among which gifts were these lovely owl bookends from Sheesh

.

That's not a very good picture of them.
I'll just have to take pictures of all my presents and make a whole post about them. ;-)

In other news (I love that lead-in, but I try not to overuse it, really I do), one of the resident kitties had a litter of kittens. A white/calico kitty, a grey kitty, and a white and grey kitty. I saw the white and grey one and declared that I was keeping him.

His name shall be Specter.
Or Spectre.
I haven't decided yet. What do you think?

See how cuuuute he is!!?

So, if you want a kitten, let me know. His very cute sisters will eventually need to be relocated.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to make hot dogs for supper.

Recap of Summer

Hello.
I'm mourning the end of summer.
It was a lot shorter than it should have been.
Then again, maybe it wasn't so very short. Maybe I just didn't do all the things I had planned to do.
Yep. That's what it is.
I didn't organize any photos.
Middlemarch, which supposed to be the first book of the summer, is still lying unread on my shelf.
No new crocheted creations have been listed.
More time was still spent indoors than out.
We didn't go chill at the lake as much as I thought we would.
There haven't been as many movie-nights as I had imagined.

Cuz you know what? Life still gets crazy and inconvenient. Even in the summer! And sometimes your plans just don't work out.
But guess what?
I'm okay with that. Because even though I have a whole list of things I didn't do, it was still a good summer.

Six Flags is great. I lost count of how many times I've been. Eight or Nine, at this point, I think. And the fun's not over yet, either. Now that everybody's going back to school I can take all the little peoples and we can have a blast riding things over and over while the lines are short.
And I'm going for Fright Fest this October, which will be a new experience for me.

I got to spend some quality time with some of my girls from church this summer, too! Alyssa and Erin spent the day at the lake with us, and then we watched A Streetcar Named Desire. haha... I don't know what we were expecting from it, but we came away with a couple jokes and a lot of laughs. I have a fantastic picture of Laura dropping popcorn off the side of the boat for Alyssa, so she could catch it in her mouth while swimming. lol I guess if they force me, I'll take the picture down.

Erin and I went to see a movie after Six Flags with a bunch of friends. We hated it and walked out together. I'd say that was a bonding experience. ;-)

Allison had me over for a weekend. That was unique. LOL And lots of fun, of course. I learned about Charlie the Unicorn and they learned about Daniel Gardner. YouTube Marathon... mhm. Oh, and we watched a creepy alien-abduction movie that made my shoulders ache from being tense!

I spent the night with Anna Leigh before we went to six flags last week. I just sat there, being lethargic while she made caramel bars and we talked about deep stuff. And the next morning I practically begged her to drive through Starbucks and then had to explain how Gordon was flirting with her... Oh, and then laughing til we couldn't breathe at the creepy gas station that night...

See? Six Flags picture! I had posted a boringly normal version of this picture because Picnik was flipping out on me. But yay for editing, because Picnik decided to behave and now I have a cool looking version!
I stole it from Anna Leigh. It turned out blurry, but the Batman is awesome back there.
(L-R Keith, Anna Leigh, Jonathan, me)

And this stuff is probably boring to you people that don't know my friends. Sorry! Just thought I would prove that, for all my whining, I've had a fantastic summer. And of course, there's been lots of other fun stuff which I won't bore you with right now. Even with the big family-crises thing that happened, it's been a good summer. And now I'm 20.

Preschool starts back beginning of September. I'm excited. Have I said that yet?
I still haven't sent the parents from last year the pictures of their children I told them I'd send. Bad me. It's what happens when you don't get a paycheck during the summer.

And there's finally something new for my Etsy shop, which I'm going to finish up and photograph today. I'll show you what it is once I get it listed. ;-)

So, this may not have been very cohesive, but... yeah. I hope you enjoyed your little glimpse of my summer.

Caiti

Happy Summertime!

Hello, friends!
I waited almost a week to post again. Bad me!
Part of the reason would be that I've cut WAY back on the amount of time I spend at the computer. I'm now limiting myself to between 40 and 90 minutes per day. Limited time plus limited interestingness equals limited posting.

However, while my life may not be an exciting and brilliant adventure, it has certainly been fun lately. I warn you now, I have no pictures for this post. Actually, I do have this one picture of Laura sitting on Pepa's boat, dropping popcorn down to Alyssa, who is swimming in the lake, mouth wide open, trying to catch the popcorn... Lucky for them, it's on the other computer. ;-)

We've been extremely grateful for Mema and Pepa's house on the lake so far this summer. And, of course, our Season Passes to Six Flags - made happier by the fact that many of our friends also have passes. How cool is that? Various outdoor activities aside, cutting back on computer time has made way for the books I've been neglecting.

The House of The Seven Gables is my current project. You may recall I started reading it before, but never really got into the story. I ended up returning it to the library and never checking it out again. However, thanks to PaperBackSwap.com I now own a gorgeous hardcover book containing 5 novels by Nathaniel Hawthorne, of which The House of the Seven Gables is one. The beginning was eternally slow, but I think I'm starting to scratch the surface of the actual story.

It's taken me a while, though, because I keep getting distracted by other books. I took the time last night and this morning to reread a favorite: The Two Princesses of Bamarre. (Thanks again to PBS, I also happen to own a gorgeous hardcover copy of this one.) When I finished it this afternoon I wanted to start reading it again. It's just that good. Yay for brave princesses and handsome young sorcerers, deceptive spectres and beautiful, cunning dragons with bell-like laughter!

Hm. Now that I've updated you on my reading, what else shall I say?
I think I need to regularly write movie and book reviews. It would exercise my brain, and add a little benefit to all the time I'm spending on such trivialities. ;-) Ask me how that's going sometime. I need to be held to it.

My mother has put the idea into my head that I should go to cosmetology school. And I have to say, I quite agree. The more I think on it, the more I fall in love with the idea. I like to learn. Sounds like fun. And structure. And not exactly feasible at this moment in life, due to the busyness of several other family members, but I'm praying about it.

And now, I shall be off. Hope you're having a fun summer too!

Caiti

Praise the Lord for our freedoms,
and God bless those who have lost the ones they love in defense of them.

So, I hope you all had a nice Memorial Day.
I did. It was lazy. My family watched the Land of the Lost marathon on TBS.
Then we went and chilled at Mema and Pepa's house for a while. I finished reading Bachelors Anonymous by P.G. Wodehouse. It was hilarious. The humor in it was fantastically sharp and random.

Today I shall take the Little People to Six Flags. Little People = Abby (12), Emmie (9), and Ben (6).
It shall be fun!

I finished the green vest thing. I sewed some buttons on it, and then didn't like the way they looked. So I gave in. I got my favoritest buttons and sacrificed them for the vest. It's beautiful now.

And I made a sale today! Huzzah!

I have nothing else to say. :)
Happy Tuesday.
CaitiJo

Random Weekend Update

Today my siblings and I are off to Six Flags. Feel free to come hang out with us. ;-)
Ooh! I just realized it's Christian Music Weekend! Cool.

I'm currently reading Deadline by Randy Alcorn. The power went out because of the storm last night, but I stayed up reading from like 11:00-1:30 by the light of an oil lamp. Yay! It's a super good book.

It's making me excited about Heaven. I always pictured it as standing around a throne singing forEVER. Which isn't too bad, I guess, since Jesus is there, but it did seem a little boring. Mr. Alcorn's vision of heaven is pretty cool. But I guess I won't derail this post and go into it here. :D

Trading on Etsy is fun. I'm trading these slippers
for this pendant. Thanks Lori!

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday! It's going to be busy, but fun. The choir is singing in both services, then my family is going to hang out at Mema's house with lots of other great family peoples, and then we have communion service at church, and youth choir practice afterwards.

May we remember the reason for all the celebration during the flurry of activity! Jesus Christ is Risen! YAY!

Oh - my Morning Thunder tea is steeping, and it's probably nasty and bitter by now. :|
If you like black tea, you should try Celestial Seasoning's Morning Thunder. It's gooood.

This is so random. But I felt like posting, and decided to just write whatever I thought to write.

Oh! Another thing! I'm almost done with sorting out "the businessy stuff" in regards to my Etsy business. By which I mean that I finally got my business registered, my trade name registered, and got a tax ID number to take care of sales tax and all that. Phew. Now if I could just figure out how to submit sales tax. They sent me a whole packet full of papers that I don't really understand how to use. I'm seeking help for that... And help needs to come fast... I'm running out of time to file for the last quarter!

I thought y'all would like to know that after all the whining I did before about not being able to figure it out.

So. I'm going to get ready to go to Six Flags now. After I drink my tea.
Have a happy Saturday, and rejoice! Our God is alive. :D

Caitlin

Life Lesson Monday

Today's Life Lesson:

If you order a small Earl Grey Latte, and end up with a large
because the barista messed up, be happy.
(not so very hard to do, obviously)

If you finish your large Earl Grey Latte and somebody gives you free pizza, be happy.
(also not so very hard to do.)

If you finish your pizza and want more Earl Grey Latte, be happy.
(hard to do. Because you really want more, since it was so delicious.)

If you go against your better judgment and decide to buy another small Earl Grey Latte,
and your sister picks that moment to pay you back for the drink you got her, be happy.
(again, not so very hard to do.)

If you get to the counter and the barista tells you not to pay because you can have their free drink for the day, be very happy.
(I don't even need to say that's not so very hard to do)

If you successfully consume this excessive amount of Earl Grey Latte within 2 hours,
you are probably going to have some side effects,
such as slight excitement and jitteriness.
This should enable your being-happy mechanism, and hopefully you can retain the joy throughout the rest of your day.

P.S. I love knowing the people who run Doug's Mugs! :D

Me at Doug's Mugs - only this picture is sort of a lie, because it's not from today.
It's from Saturday.
And Saturday I had an Apple Pie Steamer, and a Raspberry Cremosa.

The End.

Unsolicited Promotion

So, I just felt like blogging, and I figured I'd just dive right in. No specific topic -just Caitlinesque rambling for the next few minutes.

First of all, I would like to say that I had a little Boundless Show marathon today. I sat and crocheted pieces for fingerless gloves and listened to the podcast for about four hours. They were all episodes from spring last year. I've had like ...4 marathon days catching up on old episodes since I got my iPod. YAY!

Love, love, love Boundless. I subscribe to the webzine and the blog in Google Reader so I won't miss anything. I've spent hours sitting at the compy reading old articles. I'm a link addict. Putting a bunch of related links under or in an article is genius. Of course I have to click on them all ... Wikipedia kills me. lol

Yay for Boundless.org!

So. What else random was I going to say? I'm going to see Marley and Me with Tiffany tomorrow! Looks like it'll be cute. I have a children's book about Marley. I love it. So does my preschool class.

Since I'm in the mood for promoting things tonight, I shall say huzzah for PaperBack Swap! I used to be on swaptree, but it just wasn't working out so well. PaperBack Swap rocks. I've gotten rid of my mother's old cookbooks that she didn't want, and I've gotten some great finds in return. Hardback copies of some of my favorite childrens' titles, and Blue Like Jazz.

Speaking of books, I'm toying with the idea of a media review post. Or maybe a series of posts. I've read a couple books and seen a few movies lately, and thought it would be fun to speak my mind about them. Perhaps I shall.

I had an epiphany today.

You know all those silly little games that begin with a person putting their iPod on shuffle?

"Put your iPod on shuffle and use the song titles as the answers to these questions:" and

"Put your iPod on shuffle and list the beginning lines of the first 15 songs..."

Those things. Well, I can do those now. Because I have an iPod now. (THANK YOU to the bestest aunt EVAR. :P) Haha! Let the stupidity begin! ... anyways. I just thought of that, and I was amused at myself for thinking it, and you can probably expect to see one of those silly things pop up any day now. lol

I ate lots of junk food today. I've been eating a lot of junk lately. Especially chocolate.
I also went for a walk.
I had an excellent cup of Millstone's Swiss Chocolate Almond coffee, but that was yesterday. That's my favorite flavored coffee, in case any of you wanted to know.

Now I'm finished with all of this unsolicited promotion for other people, I'm going to watch the Twilight Zone with my family. :) I love Fridays.

OH! and I made my two-hundred-and-second Etsy sale today. And I've been keeping track of all sales and expenses in Excel. Go me!

I really am leaving now. :)
-Caitlin

Life Lesson Monday

Marshmallow lessons:

If the recipe says to use a stand mixer, they know what they're talking about. It might seem noble to be the stand mixer, but it gets really old once you've been standing for 10 minutes.

If you make homemade marshmallows, substituting yourself for a stand mixer, be prepared to stand there, mixing, for about half an hour. You will probably look like a jar of marshmallow creme exploded on you when you're done.

Try not to be too upset when your beautiful, tasty marshmallows turn back into sloppy sludge the next day.

Marshmallows are way more gratifying if you pronounce them "smarshmallows" or even "schmarshmallows."

A cup of cocoa and schmarshmallows is very comforting in the evening.

Blackened marshmallows will give you cancer. Or at least that's what I heard. lol

If you catch your marshmallows on fire, don't fling them around to put out the flame.

For reasons unbeknownst unto me, marshmallows toast better, and taste better, when you have the perfect roasting stick.

It's okay to eat 15 marshmallows in one sitting.

... Have you ever played chubby bunny? I just realized I haven't played that in a long time.

Post Number 101 at Caitlinesque on Blogger

Guess what?


...wait for it...



...mhm...



It's 2009, people!!
2009!

Just making sure you got that.
Don't forget to get it right on your papers and checks and stuff.

You know why this year is going to be awesome?
First off, it began with coffee and hilarious, friendly sarcasm. That's a blast any day.
Secondly, because we have season passes to Six Flags. Did I mention that before? yeah, I did.
Thirdly, because... well... It just is.
Fourthly, because I'll be turning 20 eventually. Wait... that one doesn't make sense.
Fifthly, because my friends rock, and as long as they keep being my friends, 2009 can't be completely horrible.
Sixthly (say that a couple times fast), ... this list is pathetic.
But you know what?
God is on my side. And as long as I stay with him (cuz he sure ain't leavin' me - He said so :D ), 2009 can be good.
Maybe not all fun.
Maybe even really tough.
But good. And I'm excited to see where He takes me!

And you know what else?
I'm not making any resolutions. HA!
You know why?
Because I always break them. Shortly.
And there's no point making resolutions that I'm not going to keep, and then beating myself up about it.
So there.

I had a whole big list last year. Failed every one. I think I did improve on some of the things, I just didn't follow the list to the letter.

Are you making any? Do you usually keep them?

Forgive the scatterbrained-ness. :)

Have a happy 2009, folks!
Love, ME!

(Oh, and it's also going to be good because I have 4 new C.S. Lewis books to read. All bound in one hugemongous, lovely hardcover volume!)

It's Christmas!

I had just typed this whole lovely post, and went to add a picture, and it vanished. The whole thing. All brilliantly typed at the last minute before I was to go to bed. Gone. The page froze, and I waited and waited, hoping against hope it would come back to life. It was a good post.
Alas.

Tis gone.

But I had just been saying that Christmas eve was productive and relaxing. The annual viewing of It's A Wonderful Life was quite satisfactory. So was dinner.

Now, I post this beautiful song to serve as a reminder.

Start at the manger on a cold winter night
Look for the star in the sky
and follow its light
It leads to a Savior for a world that is lost
Start
at the manger, then go to to the cross

Start at the manger at the
child in the hay
The gift of our Father in heaven,
the price He would
pay
To save all His children no matter the cost
Start at the manger, then
go to the cross

Imagine that you own the wealth of the world
All
of its silver and gold
What good will it do when tomorrow arrives
And
your heart is empty and cold

Start at the manger where redemption
began
When Jesus stepped down from His throne to die as a man
All of our
riches we will count them as loss
If we start at the manger, then go to
the cross.

Youth choir's singing that this Sunday. It's going to be so pretty. How amazing that Jesus chose to come down here and live like us, and with us to show us how we can live like Him, and with Him. He came, he lived, he died, he rose, and he lives again! We have such cause to rejoice!

Speaking of rejoicing, one of my (lesser, but great) reasons is .... *drumroll* Six Flags season passes!! My favorite!! That's what this family's getting for Christmas. I can't wait til they open! I'm so excited!! **squee!!**

I'm also getting a set of super great period dramas - think Jane Eyre, and Pride and Prejudice. (I picked it out myself, but it's wrapped and under the tree, so I think I'll pretend to be surprised just for the fun of it. I'm a terrible actor, though.)

Anyways, I've rewritten most of my former post now. **yawn** It's Christmas day!! The tree is twinkling in the dark, and the metallic gift bows are sparkling underneath it. There's a balmy breeze blowing in through the open windows, and the sound of the gentle rainfall is making me drowsy. (nothing like a Georgia Christmas) I've already got a pot of coffee ready to be turned on in the morning, so I think it's time to snuggle down in my bed, and drift off to sleep with my Josh Groban christmas music playing... Visions of sugarplums and rollercoasters, Mr. Darcy, and all that sort of thing, you know. ;-)

Wherever you are, whoever you're with, and whatever you're doing, I wish you a very happy Christmas. We are so blessed!

Love, Caitlin

Christmas cheer, anyone?

Yay for Christmas! I'm so excited. It's almost here!!!
I've felt rather Christmasy for most of December. That's been lots of fun, especially with all the fun things I've been doing. Like our non-skating skating trip. That was a blast.
A couple of us broke off from the group and tooks some pictures with the gigantic tree in Atlanta.

I almost had a whole paragraph here about different stuff from that night, but it wasn't turning out like I wanted it to, so I cut it. I'll move on.

My business cards came, but not until after the Christmas rush of packages had been sent off. But it was so exciting to finally get them that it didn't much matter they were later than I hoped for.
I got a nifty little key ring holder so's I'll always have some with me. There are 43 different pics. Which means this photo only shows some of the awesomeness. ;-)

Back to more Christmasy things though: shopping! I've done way more shopping lately than I have in... likely ever. I think I spent around 65 dollars in Claire's alone in the past month or so. Blast all those sales and discounts! :D But most of it was Christmas presents. And, I say, I believe I'm quite done spending for some time now. Lack of funds aside, I think I've actually had enough shopping this month. Time to be saving. ... heh. Anyways, here's a pic from one of our shopping excursions.Do we look alike to you? I'm not seeing any resemblance. I think Alicia and I look more like sisters than my own sister and me.


Also fun was the church's roller skating fellowship. Not very eventful, but fun. I fell twice.
It was because I couldn't figure out how to stop, or how to get around the wall of people that was suddenly in front of me. I don't have any pictures from that, which is probably good. :D

Then there's choir practice, which I enjoy, as usual. The Christmas stuff is fun, but all of a sudden I feel like I don't know how to sing any of this stuff we've been working so hard on for weeks. I was oddly clueless during Thursday's practice for lots of stuff that I thought I had memorized. Bleh. BUT! There is hope! We have practice again tomorrow, and we're bound to start off on a good note - how can you not when coffee and donuts are provided? Exactly. (I don't want to hear anything from you coffee haters. **cough**Becca**cough**)

We had our little Christmas party at preschool Thursday morning. We made little christmas ornaments and picture frames for the mommies and daddies, and then had a super-extravagant snack with lots of apple slices and cheese puffs. I forgot to take the camera, of course. I was gonna show you pics, but they'll have to wait til another day - I ran out of time!

AND! My wonderful aunt and uncle and cousins are coming up for Christmas! How sweet is that!

To top everything off, the excitement won't end at Christmas. My dearest friends in the Whole Wide World are planning a New Year's Eve bash that I've been looking forward to since last year.

What are you doing this Christmas season? Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, I hope you're enjoying it as much as I am. :) Even if your Christmas season isn't full of optimistic sparkles, warm fuzzies, and christmas cheer in general, may God give you the eyes to see all the blessings around you. We have so much to be thankful for!!
Love,
Me

Life Lesson Monday

This one is in a little different format from the others, mostly because I can't think of anything story length. :)

Lessons Learned in Recent Days

From my S.S. class Christmas ice skating outing:

• Pointy heeled shoes leave funny little holes behind you when you walk in the grass. (aerating?)
• If you eat at the Olive Garden with a bunch of your friends, everyone had better be prepared to share. (hey, um... can I taste that?)
• Don't wear high heeled boots to choir practice if the leader is going to make you stand the whole time. (not that I knew ahead)
• Counting and talking simultaneously results in errors. (if you're crocheting, you'll probably end up having to pull out a couple rounds.)
• Provided with the right sort of company, you can still have fun if your ice skating party doesn't include ice skating. (and especially if it includes starbucks)

And one from preschool:

• Even cute dinosaurs can become scary in the hands of small children. (mostly 2 year old boys)

So. That was the best I could come up with for now. **sigh**

It's better than nothing, right? :D At least you know I've been having fun!

It's not Thanksgiving any more!

So, my thanksgiving post is late. But just because it's not thanksgiving any more doesn't mean we should stop being thankful. What if we all remembered to be thankful ALL the time?
Counting my blessings takes ages.

A - Awanas. Apple cider - which would be good right now. My throat hurts. Advent -which we're celebrating this year!
B - Boys (and I mean that in a totally innocuous way. Boys of all ages. They're fun!)
C - Church. Coffee. My name. Choir.
D - Daddy.
E - Evening time. Email
F - Friendship, Food, Fun
G - God's Grace
H - Holy Spirit. He has to remind me of so many things so often. Hugs.
I - Intercession. I love knowing that I can help my friends through prayer.
J - Joy.Real joy. Not circumstantial happiness. :)
K - Katey and Alicia. (they just go together like that)
L - Laughter, Love
M - Music. Mama. and my "other mothers," Marmee and Mom.
N - New friends!! I gained a couple of new friends this year. Yay! (Rae, Becca, and church peeps.)
O - Orthodontics. ... I WILL have pretty teef one day.
P - Popcorn. PEACE. Peace comes first, actually.
Q - Quiet.
R - Rain. Relatives. Random rambling. Reading.
S - Singing!! Sunshine, Stars, Siblings.
T - Tall shoes. Teaching.
U - Umbrellas. **I'm siiingin' in the rain, just siiingin' in the rain..."
V - Vincent, my crazy little green bird.
W- Walking. Waiting. Yes, I can be thankful for waiting.
X - X. I'm thankful for the letter X. ... mostly because I can't think of any X words. It's a nifty letter.
Y - Yogurt? I'm thankful for that. ... I can't think of many Y things either.
Z - Zippers. Where would we be without them? Zippers and Zeros.

Be thankful, people. :) I hope you had a great thanksgiving.
I'm looking forward to leftovers tomorrow.
<3