Year in Review 2012 part 1

Hello, everyone!

I hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving and Christmas with your families this year. I know I did! (I'll get to that later, probably in part 2)

 Thank you to Kendal who has kept up with my blog in my negligence. I have been reading all of y'all's posts, but haven't gotten around to posting any myself, as you have seen.

 I've been fairly busy with my junior year of high school, which I'm enjoying.  I'm excited about two new jobs that I'll be starting in early 2013. I'm still playing around with photography, and I'm looking forward to buying a SLR camera of some sort soon. The camera that I have been using is almost useless now, and I decided to save my money, and buy the best camera I could as a replacement, instead of buying one in between. I've been enjoying practicing taking photos of people, instead of only animals and up close flowers, though I enjoy both. Taking pictures of people definitely requires much more patience though! :)

I have numerous pictures I wish to share, so I'm going to organize them into categories.

My Photography

 (note, some of these were taken in 2011, but never shared, or just favorites)

                                   I got the idea for this cool photo from Matthew Walker, he had taken a picture in a similar way and shared it on his blog, so I had to try it out!

 I love cooking, and photography, and the two go together well, don't you think? I've actually entertained the idea of being a food stylist. By the way, this desert I made was FABULOUS!

 I thought this picture was so funny! The female kept stretching up to grab a sunflower seed.

 I had the picture below printed and framed and it's on my dresser.

 This summer I set up a hummingbird feeder, and these beautiful bees were the first to find it. Eventually hummingbirds did come, and I enjoyed many hours watching them. I even got a video of a female hummingbird cleaning her feathers way up in our tree!

 This is Jimmy, the bird we nursed for a week until he died. You can find the whole story on this blog.

Friends

These pictures were at one of my friend's surprise room makeover party, in February

 Needless to say, she was VERY surprised! :) 

 We shared a few trips to Busch Gardens with the Larums this year, and had a blast!

 We also discovered we are the perfect size for making pyramids, almost pain-free. As you can see in this photo, we were a little worried about Katie. :)

 We had a fun time at the Pollards house one summer evening. ( I stepped out in the rain to watch the boys try to catch a chicken, and got soaked. I had read that a chicken could be hypnotized by laying it on it's side, and drawing a line with your finger from it's beak about a foot long repeatedly, and wanted to try it out. Unfortunately, the boys couldn't even get to the chickens because of all the water, but we had fun anyway)

 This was my friend Cailin's first ever roller-coaster ride, and she loved it!

 The Larums came over one afternoon sometime around the Fourth of July I believe.

 OK, let me just say I wasn't even sure if I should post these pictures. But I had great fun and you can go ahead and have a good laugh. :) This was mine and Cailin's surprise '50's themed 17th birthday party. I've wanted to have a '50's party for a while now, so I was thrilled!

We had hamburgers and coke in glass bottles ( I saved mine, and it's on my dresser) painted our nails (red was a favorite) watched "I Love Lucy" did each other's hair, and attempted to do '50's makeup. (I think we got the red lipstick down) I did Cailin (the girl in the middle) and Rachel's hair. (the girl in the turquoise shirt)

 My friend Olivia made two of these delicious cakes. Isn't it cute?

 This is before the activities began, and our somewhat scary transformation! ;)

Thanks to Olivia, who was the main planner of this event, Mom, Kendal,  and Morgan for also doing much of the planning, and the Mitchell family for offering your home and everything else you did behind the scenes. Love you girls, you're the best!

Things with Family

This was at a Romney rally, which was a neat experience. Dad was able to take off work to come last minute, and got to talk to Governor Romney and shake his hand. Although I was greatly disappointed in the outcome of the election, the future of our country is in Gods hands, not whoever gets elected.

 This year our family was greatly blessed by the arrival of a precious little cousin, Matilda Evelyn, born in early October. As we only have one other cousin whom we rarely see, we are super excited about little Matilda. (she is my mom's sister's baby, and named after her two great- grandmothers)

 This is the day of the barn dance at the Alexanders, and the first time we met Matilda.

 

I have many pictures of Joshua asleep in funny places around the house. This was  after a day swimming at the YMCA.

This is Kendal in the "uniform" she made for Chick-fil-A cow appreciation day.

These are the shoes the little girl is wearing in the photograph. They are around 100 years old! (I love stuff like this)

Old food processor:

 

New food processor: thanks you, Dad!

 

Chris Tomlin at Glory in the Gardens. This was a truly amazing experience. It was something like I imagine heaven will be like, only in heaven we will be able to see the One we are worshiping.  

 

I hope everyone has a blessed New Year!
I'll have the second part posted soon!
~Kelsey

 

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! We hope you all enjoy the holiday with your friends and family! In the midst of all the excitement, don't loose sight of what CHRISTmas is really about!

 

If you find yourself in need of an extra dose of holiday cheer, here is an entertaining video Kelsey asked me to share with you all:

 

WARNING: MAY CONTAIN HIGH LEVELS OF SILLYNESS AND HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH "WHAT CHRISTMAS IS REALLY ABOUT" :)

 



 

-Kendal

A first time for everything... (by Kendal)

 

 Y'all should be proud of me... or sorely disappointed, I'm not sure which. You see, I made it nearly 19 years without coloring my hair. Ok, so I have bleached it in the past, but I had left actual dye untouched until today. You see, I had a weird horizontal stripe thing going... the remains of winter/summer/Sun-In, plus darkish roots... eek. An illustration:

Pardon my odd expression...and the fact that my hair needed to be washed...

Anyway, I was rather over it, so I made my way to Target, and took a couple sisters along for moral support. Unfortunately, Target's computer thingy that helps one choose the right hair color was out of order, so that left three completely inexperience hair-colorers staring at a whole wall of options. Double eek!

Since I had no idea what I was doing, I decided to go for semi-permanent, which largely narrowed my options. I opted for this:

In this photo, it looks incredibly like the color of my reddish/blondish/brownish hair, but I assure you, it is more of a cool medium blond in person. It seemed like a safe option: somewhere between the lightest and darkest shades of my hair, without the red. (I personally liked the reddish tint, but it wasn't really working for me.)

 

So, a mere 20 minutes after applying the stuff, this was the result!

 

I think it's much better. It turned out slightly darker than the picture on the box, but nearly anything would have been an improvement over the original mess! And, it was super easy and inexpensive. ($7 as opposed to $45+ at a salon...) I'm pleased! I may try the next lighter shade after this washes out, just to see which one I like better. This is supposed to last for 28 washes, but since I don't actually use shampoo (more on that latter) it may last longer. What do y'all think?

 

-Kendal

Random fact of Architecture (by Kendal)

For some (ok, most) of you, this is probably going to be pretty boring, but I thought I'd take that chance, in hope that someone finds it terribly interesting. :)
As I was brushing up on historical architecture for my upcoming humanities exam, I discovered something I had never noticed before. You may recall that there are three styles of columns in architecture: Doric (the simplest), Ionic (slightly more ornate, with "scrolls" at the top), and Corinthian (very ornate, with a multileved base). Here is an illustration:

 

Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian                               

                

So, here is my great discovery:



 

 

This is a close-up of the coliseum in Rome.  The bottom columns are Doric, the middle ones are Ionic, and the top columns are Corinthian- I can't believe I had never noticed before! I read that this was actually a fairly common thing in Roman architecture, although it seems the Greeks kept the styles separate. Who knew?

 

(Please don't be disappointed. I thought it was pretty cool...)

-Kendal

 

 

The Language of Heaven... (by Kendal)

If you haven't heard the world edition of Chris Tomlin's "How Great is Our God", you have got. to. listen. Like he said on KLOVE the other night- English is not the language of heaven- worship is.

My favorite part is when the two guys are singing together in different languages...I think Chris said one is singing in Spanish and the other is singing in Portuguese- SO COOL!

-Kendal

Poll

Hello fellow bloggers! I just wanted to draw your attention to the poll I put up.
The subject is, "What colors do you dream in?" Apparently this is a very controversial subject. You have 9 days left to vote! Enjoy the weekend, and the beautiful weather...
~Kelsey

Day in the Life of a Princess...a guest post by Cinderella

 

Hi, everyone! Thanks so much to Kelsey for inviting me to post on her blog!

So, the other day I was preparing for a royal ball, when a photographer stopped me and asked me to pose for her. Being a typical Disney Princess, I was more than happy to comply, although I was in somewhat of a hurry...

 

It seems that this has become sort of a standard pose for me- I honestly have no idea why.

 

 

 A close-up of my hair. It always looks exactly the same, no matter what the occasion, thanks to a lot of bobby pins and hairspray. :)



 

 

 "I've had quite enough!"

"Sing, sweet nightingale..."

 

"Look! It's Cinderella!"

 

 

"Hello? Fairy Godmother? Yes, this is Cinderella... it looks like you forgot the carriage. Yes, well, they have some at the grocery store...6:00!?! I can't wait until 6:00- I have to be there by 4:45!...yes, the car is here, but...oh, ok, but please don't let it happen again...alright, talk to you later."

 

 

TO: Prince Charming

Fairy G. fell through again... will be there asap. Might be a bit l8. Ttyl.

 

"'Bye- I'll be back by midnight!"

 

Me, with my friends Belle and Tiana. We had such a great night! And just between me and anyone who happens to read this, Prince Charming could really benefit from some dance lessons...

 

-Cinderella

Tag from Graham

Here are the rules...

1. I must post eleven facts about myself.
2. I must answer the eleven questions the awarder has given me , and create eleven questions for my awardees to answer .
3. Tag eleven fellow bloggers.
4. Notify them that I have awarded them .
Okay, so here are the eleven facts about myself

1. I am seventeen years old
2. I have never had a cavity
3. I really really love roller coasters!! (the scarier the better)
4. I have always wanted to have curly red hair (NOT crazy curly like Merida's)
5. I like adventure and mystery movies better than romantic ones ( I'd take National Treasure any day over a Jane Austen movie)
6. My dream car is a yellow convertible Mustang
7. My favorite time in history is the late '40's and '50's
8. I had my first surprise birthday party a few weeks ago, and it was '50's themed! (pictures later)
9. I have been the family cook since I was 13 or 14
10. I am 5' 7" 3/4
11. After I graduate, I hope to seriously study Greek and Latin  (yeah, sound REALLY boring, but it's actually quite interesting)

These are Graham's questions...

1. What is your favorite thing to do in your spare time?

 

Reading or pretending to be a photographer

2. What is your favorite black and white television show?

 

I Love Lucy

3. What is your favorite song?

 

Wow! That's a hard one, current favorites  are 10,000 Reasons by Matt Redman, Lose My Soul by Toby Mac (the title sounds awful, but the song is actually really good) and Me Without You, also by Toby Mac

4. What is your favorite Bible verse?

 Romans 8:28

5. Where do you go to church?

Harvest Assembly of God 

6. What county of what state do you live in?

I live in Virginia, but we don't have counties in this area. I live in a medium sized city

7. What is/was your favorite school subject?
 
I'm really enjoying Anatomy this year

8. What is one of the highlights of this year for you?
 
Chris Tomlin concert at Busch Gardens

9. Cookie or cracker?

Cookie

10. If you could go to any concert tomorrow, where would it be?
 

I'm not really a big concert person, but if I could go to anyone's  concert tomorrow, it would be Chris Tomlin's

11. If you could visit any country in the world, where would it be?

 

Austria or Hawaii

 

 

 

Okay, so here are the 11 new questions

 

1. Where is your dream vacation spot?
2. What is your favorite period in history and why?
3. Do you play any instruments?
4. What is your current dream for 10 years down the road?
5. What is your favorite hobby?
6. What is your favorite book in the Bible?
7. Would you rather go dancing or stay home and read? (if you would rather go dancing, state what kind)
8. What is your favorite style of music? (Jazz, Country, Classical etc.
9. How many children are in your family?
10. What grade are you in, if graduated, what are your plans for future education?
11. What would your perfect day be?

Here are the people I'm tagging....

Anna

Katie

Abigail

Emily

Morgan M.

I decided not to pick people who wouldn't get around to posting a tag. However, if you want to answer the questions on your blog and you weren't picked, let me know, I'd love to read them.
~Kelsey


 

Really Funny Video...

We saw this video a while ago, and I thought you all would enjoy it...

 

-Kendal

If you don't want to read about a sick bird, don't read this

Last week a friend of Mom's called her and said that her parakeet was looking funny, and asked if she could come check on it.When Mom arrived and looked at the bird, she assessed the situation and called a friend of ours to get a second opinion on his condition. He was tilted to his side, with one leg pulled into his feathers, which were alot more fluffy than is normal.Our friend said that he probably wouldn't live through the night, so Mom offered to take the bird home, so that Carolyn (the owner) wouldn't have to worry about him.
Because we already have Mac, and we weren't sure what was the cause of Jimmy's (the bird's) odd condition, we kept him outside in our garage with a fan. In the mornings we would take Jimmy's cage outside on our deck, so he could have fresh air and enjoy the other birds. Once a cardinal and a gold finch flew to his cage and freaked him out! Unlike our bird, Mac, Jimmy had never been out of his cage, and he lived with a older married couple, so he  wasn't very friendly, and was very scared around other people.
 Over the few days we had him (about four or five) he became increasingly more friendly, and would even chirp back when I whistled to him. I tried my very best to not become attached to him, knowing he wouldn't stick around very long but I did a a little, unfortunately.
Every day his leg grew more useless and shrunk up, until it was completely useless and he had to use an outstretched wing to keep himself upright. We didn't want to put him down so long as he was happy, and could get around in his cage, but by Monday he was looking really bad. We came into the garage and he was laying in the bottom of his cage breathing slowly and was very tired.
When I picked him up he barely even moved, and I wrapped him up in a towel and put him in a small box so he would stay warm. He was looking so very bad off that we didn't think he would live past a few more hours, and it was raining so hard that we couldn't go get what we needed to put him down.
Through the day he remained about the same, he would get small bursts of energy every 30 minutes or so, but then he would get even worse off than before.
After dinner I went to the garage to check on him, and picked him up and held him in my hand. I was talking and whistling to him when Mom came out to the garage, getting ready to go to the store since the rain had stopped. She came over to look at him and I then noticed his cere (the colored part above his beak) had tunred an odd dark color. Then he started shaking like he had a seizure, and tilted his dead up. Then all of a sudden he stopped moving, and I just kept staring at him, waiting for him to move. After a few seconds, I said "did he just die?" I whistled and touched him but he didn't respond. I felt really bad, but there was really nothing I could have done, he was old, and his time had come. So we wrapped him up and buried him in the backyard.
Although it was a little sad, he was really happy while he was here, and we knew we did everything we could have done. Before he died I took some pictures of him, so we could give one to his owner.
A day or two before Jimmy died Mom picked up two new parakeets for Carolyn and they are already adjusting to their new environment. They seem really sweet and will be good company for her. We got new ones for her so quickly, because her husband hadn't come back yet from recovering from  from being sick, and we didn't want Carolyn to be lonely.
Carolyn's birthday is on Friday, so Mom is going to give her a framed picture of Jimmy then.

Jimmy

These are the two new birds

I hope everyone has a good rest of the week!
~Kelsey

And I thought I had bad hair days...

Crazy isn't it!   That's a parakeet by the way, with a genetic mutation.

-Kelsey

Appriciating "The Chicken" :)

Wow! It was ABSOLUTELY CRAZY at The Chicken! Many thanks to everyone who made the time and effort to come out and support CFA and Dan Cathy today! In over 2.5 years of working at Chick-fil-A, I have never seen anything like it- people were willing to wait in line for well over 30 minutes- even in drive through! All the customers were extremely nice, even helping out where needed- it was awesome! Physically exhausting for us as employees, but really cool! :)
Have a great remainder of the week, everyone!
-Kendal