Spring // 2019

I got to hang out with my best friend:
It was really good to connect again because our busy lives kept us apart for almost 3 months... which is too long. We also decided to read 'The Circle Series' at the same time (a re-read for me) so that we could compare opinions. It's quite a series to swallow, but I am excited to go through it again.

I went to my third ever baseball game and rather enjoyed it:
Watching baseball in real life is more fun than I remember, and definitely more fun than watching it on TV. Apparently the STL Cardinals haven't been doing well this season; but I wouldn't know. All I know is they creamed the opponent on the night I went with my mom and sister and it was very enjoyable.

I spent a lot of time sick:
I endured a miserable three weeks with nausea, constipation, and jaundice, and it eventually put me in the hospital. They never did figure out what it was, and I got better naturally soon after the hospital visit. Most of the doctors thought it was Hepatitis A, but every time they tested for that it was negative. I am feeling great and I'm back to normal now, so... whatever it was it's gone now *shrug*.

We moved:
This time last year we moved into an apartment, but but as soon as our one year lease was over in May, we moved to a slightly larger (and nicer) townhouse, which I'm very happy with. I have my own room again! And I have a perfect view of the Western sky, and have been enjoying the sunsets every evening I'm home. God has truly blessed me in many ways.

I watched some movies and shows:
Five Feet Apart (2019)
It was ok- but not great. Pretty cliche and melodramatic. I feel like I would've liked it better had I seen it when I was closer to 16, but I'm 21 and it didn't do much for me.

The Office (2005-2013)
Not the cleanest show, and I'll probably not re-watch certain episodes, but it's very funny and extremely quotable. I can see why millions of people like the show. I feel like it's almost worth a one time watch-thru at least. For appropriate audiences. Idk.

Breakthrough (2019)
It was ok. It was kinda surreal watching a movie about an event that happened very close to my own hometown. It wasn't great but it wasn't a bad movie altogether.

Julie & Julia (2009)
What a sweet and heartwarming movie!! I watched it late one night with my mom, who also loved it.  I love Amy Adams soo much! I don't love Meryl Streep as well but she was good in this movie. I think there was a few cuss words but definitely worth a watch.

Smokey & The Bandit (1977)
Kinda funny, a little bit exciting, a tiny bit sweet, overall not really my thing. Sally Field helped a bit, as she is one of my favorite actresses. Overall, probably won't watch again.

The Matrix (1999)
Very intriguing. It wasn't my type of movie, and it didn't "change my life" the way some male family members told me it would, but I can see why it was revolutionary for it's time and why it was a huge hit, and it did get me thinking a little bit. Also I'm a Keanu Reeves fan now. Bless.

The Founder (2016)
SO FRUSTRATING AND UNFAIR. But also good. I loved it an hated it. Ugh.

Julie & Julia (2009)

I started reading books again:
~The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Volume II - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (currently reading)
~Scarlet - Marissa Meyer (finished)
~Cress - Marissa Meyer (currently reading)
~Sex, Purity, and the Longings of a Girl's Heart - Bethany Beal & Kristen Clark (currently reading)
~Conscience - Andrew David Naselli & J. D. Crowley (currently reading)
~Where We Belong - Lynn Austin (finished!) Here's a post about it.
~The Circle Series - Ted Dekker (just started)

I am writing VBS lessons:
My VBS partner and I will be teaching the VBS lessons at our church again this year- we are teaching from the book of Acts about Paul's second missionary journey! The theme of this year's VBS is Athens - so everything is Greek themed! We're going to wear togas and leaf headpieces. It's coming up soon.. on July 15th. I can't wait!

On June 19th, my favorite job I've ever held had to let me go:
A small post is coming soon about that.

I tried being positive:
A post is coming soon about that as well.

A Few Other Things:
~It rained a lot, and some tornadoes almost tore apart my city. But we survived.
~God is faithful when I am faithless. He's also unchanging.Thank God.
~I have the best friend I could ask for.
~I discovered arguably the greatest most practical YouTube channel for introverts and people with social anxiety (like me...): Charisma on Command. Check it out. The psychology is super intriguing. And there's a recent episode on Keanu Reeves and introversion... i am cri.
~God used 2 Samuel 11-12 and Psalm 32 to change my life.

Music:
~Bee Gees "Too Much Heaven". I love those chill vibes. ☀
~Studio Ghibli Piano Music. Perfect for taking a walk with a twilight sunset.
~BTS "Make It Right". Pretty much any BTS song is guaranteed good vibes.
~Queen "Spread Your Wings". A newly 'discovered' Queen song for me.

Spring Words:
Sunsets
Crescents
Chills
Chopin
Ablaze
Golden
Quiet
Change
Wait

☆ // Amaris // ☆

How was your Spring? Did you do anything you've never done before? What has God done in your life lately?

Currently in November // 2017

This is one of those posts that I MEANT TO POST awhile ago, but I kept thinking of things to add to it, and then I FORGOT ABOUT IT, and I had to make sure my new stuff made sense with the old stuff in the post... and you know.
In other words, some of these things are a little out-of-date.
Anyways, here is what I've been up to these past couple of weeks.

From Etsy

Sorry to disappoint all of you, but I am 100% NOT doing NaNoWriMo this year. I tried to do it once, like 3 years ago, but it did not end well.

• There was no rough draft.
• There was no book.
• There was no contract signed with a publishing company.
• There was no Interview on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, in which I discussed my character developments and story processing.

And I'm not in the mood to not do all of that again this year. :P

Perhaps next year, though! I do want to do it someday. I just have to get all of my thoughts and plots and characters together, and that is no easy task.

The only thing I've written this month are grocery lists, a few blog post notes, and a small letter to a friend. That is all.
Also my Christmas list. For my mom.

From Indulgy

 

~The Help, by Kathrine Stockett. 

And guys. It. is. so. good.

~The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer, which I'm not finished with, but it has been very sweet so far. Also, bravo to them for the outlandish name *claps emphatically*
  ~A few enjoyable posts, written by you guys!

Ramblings of a Redhead Girl

Lately // Autumn 2017

  

Chronicle's in Bloom

2nd Blogoversary & Giveaway

The Writer's Song

An Open Letter to the LGBT Community

Writing is Life

Writing Rules I Hope/Want to Break

From Tumblr

~Iron Man. I know, aren't I so brave for coming out of my shell and trying another superhero movie? I suppose so! 
Yes, yes, I'm brave and all that, but did I like the movie? Well............ not a lot. I liked Tony Stark. But the rest ... meh. I just find superhero movies boring. I know, I know. You think I have no class. You think I'm just plain STUPID, perhaps. 
But my grandma always said: "TO EACH HIS OWN".
#so there 

Anyways. Other things I've watched:
 

~Sherlock BBC. Which is amazing. As usual.
~The Imitation Game (you might remember my opinions on the movie from this post)
~Spider-Man: Homecoming. Watched it with my best friend. Which was quite fun. 
~Monk (not all the episodes... but some.) Such a fun show.
~The Help. Because I just read the book, and wanted to watch the movie again. I didn't understand it when I watched it the first time because I was quite young. 
~This rather amusing (albeit pointless) video from Good Mythical Morning: Blowtorching Bananas. 
(Don't ask; I am easily amused in spite of my interminable high standards).   

 

  ~Hawaiian food; because a friend of mine owns a Hawaiian food truck, and it's quite delicious.

~Homemade puppy chow.
~Thanksgiving stuff: You know; chocolate pie, turkey, potatoes and stuff. 

~Homemade chili (which is quite good).
 ~Quinoa salad (healthy and delicious at the same time = win and win).
 

From Tumblr

 

(Not to worry, it's not me)

~A funny thing happened with my car (Not 'haha' funny, but the other kind of funny. You know). One night on my way home from somewhere, I was adjusting my headlights, but I must have adjusted them real good because what do you know, the next morning my car was dead as a door-nail.

 I had apparently left the headlights on all night. :P
(I know. How brilliant of me).

I couldn't get to work until (thankfully) a neighbor happened to see my trouble and help me get her started again with some jumper cables. 

I know, I know. "What a very silly thing for you to do, Amaris!" But look at it this way: that's one mistake I will never make again for sure.

And thankfully, everything turned out ok.

From a show I have not yet seen.

 

~ For Christmas presents. Which I can't talk about, because #spoilers.

~For The Good Doctor (ABC) to come to Netflix; because I don't have TV so I can't watch it until it either comes out on DVD, or on Netflix. So until one of those things happen, I can't watch it. Which is sad because it looks so good. (Plus, you guys. It's the chocolate kid all grown up! I feel so old right now...).
~For Owl City, Cinematic (refer to the next paragraph to hear about this one)
~To go to the theater to watch Murder on the Orient Express; because it's been a long time since I've been to the movie theater. Plus, I never enjoyed Hercule Poirot books all that much, and I want to see if a movie will make me like him better.

From weheartit

~NOT TO CHRISTMAS MUSIC.
(AT LEAST TRYING NOT TO)

~To song previews of Owl City's new album, Cinematic.Which is coming out like a million years from now... June 2018. Hopefully I won't die before then. :(
But anyways, the previews sound great.

*heavy breathing*

~*~*~

Anyways, that's about it! It seriously took me forever to finish this post. :P I just kept coming back to it, and forgetting about it...

But here it is; here you go.

I hope you enjoyed. 

If you made it this far, that is.

-Amaris

Thoughts on the New School Year (+ What I'm Doing)

For all of my readers who are going back to school, or are starting up homeschooling again, or are going to college, I wish you all the best of luck.
Work hard, study hard, eat well.
Get your sleep.
If you're finished with school, and going to college for the first time, good for you.
If you're finished with school, but you've decided not to go to collage, still, good for you.
And don't let anyone tell you that you're nuts for not going to college. People don't know everything.

People like to give me trouble when I tell them I'm not going to college.
They ask me 'why the heck are you doing that'. They don't even ask me, 'have you prayed about it?'
They just like to tell me their way instead.
Maybe you have some people in your life who treat you like that.
But don't let it bother you.

~When every single person in your graduating had plans for college except you.
~When people doubt your loyalty to Jesus because they don't think your plans are smart.
~When people don't take 'no' for an answer when you tell them you're not going to college, and they take it upon themselves to suggest colleges for you.
~When people are convinced that you are not going to succeed in life because you don't plan on getting a degree.
~When you see all of your friends your age going to college and life seems to be going blissful for them (even though heaven knows they got debt).
~When you let it all go to your head and question God and yourself all over again about it.

Don't let it bother you.

College isn't everything.
You doubt me?
Here. And here. Let Blimey Cow tell you.

Oh, and I mentioned 'what I'm doing' in the title, didn't I?
I was thinking about this the other day, and I realized that I don't have enough material to do a whole 'August 2017 Favorites' post, as it was a pretty busy month filled with boring things that I don't want to bore you with on my boring blog. (wait, what)

Anyways. Here are just a few things that I enjoyed or did in August:

*I read a book
(Well hooray for me! What an accomplishment! That's not done everyday, after all!)
Actually, that's not quite right. I started a book, and I'm still working on it. But it's an accomplishment still, because it's the first book I've been able to pick up and actually concentrate on all Summer. What's the book, you ask? 'For Such a Time', by Kate Breslin. I got it at a book fair in April. It's pretty good so far. It isn't THE BEST BOOK I'VE EVER READ IN THE WORLD AND AMEN, but it's a refreshing change from, well, nothing.

* I watched a movie
(Another really hard thing that only talented people can do.)
Out of all August, I only saw one movie: Spider-Man: Homecoming. And I'm not going to bother telling you all about it because I already wrote a post on that. I will only say it's good. For being the only movie of August, it was sure an enjoyable one, considering how much I was looking forward to it.

* I watched (and am still watching) a TV show
(Wooooowww, Amaris. You are just... wow. No words.)
To be honest, however, the TV show in question might surprise you. Bonanza. A change in my family's schedule has allowed my and my siblings to watch one episode of Bonanza a day on TV. We normally don't watch TV at all, but this gives us something to enjoy on weekdays. It's not my favorite, favorite, favorite show, (in fact, some episodes are downright boring, in my opinion) but watching it and seeing all of the different plots in the episodes has given me a new appreciation for Westerns, which is something I thought I would never have. *Shrug* Just goes to show you how a person's tastes can evolve.

* I got a driver license
Ok, I gotta give myself credit for this one. This is not something people can do everyday, at least not without a lot of hard practice, which is what I went through.
But do you know what this means?! I can now drive my car. By. Myself.
#so independence #much scary #very wow

* I listened to a song



* I watched a video on YouTube
(Yes, clickbait title. I see you. Are you happy? I clicked on you.)
This vid though. I love it. so. much.



*I went to a play
Which was The Hunchback of Notre Dame. It was quite interesting because I hadn't ever seen the movie or read the book before, so I didn't know what to expect at all. It was pretty good. Some of the musical numbers were so pretty I got chills (#coming from a person who low-key hates musicals). I probably can't post a picture or a song either because I'd get in trouble... probably.
Anyways.

~*~*~*~*~
That is all.
To be honest, I didn't do much else of interest. I was busy with various things, but all of them being too boring and mundane to mention.

With that, I wish you all the very best of Septembers.
Hooray for cool weather.
Hooray for Fall clothes.
Hooray for school (if you're still in it... which I'm not. Yay for me. #i guess).

-Amaris

p.s. My prayers are with the people in Texas who have met Harvey.