Merry Christmas

Merry (belated) Christmas, everybody!  If you celebrate it, I hope it was wonderful.

For my family, Christmas was pretty little.  I got some clothes (two sweaters, a pair of jeans, fuzzy socks, wool socks, knee high bookworm socks, and knee high TARDIS socks, and two Doctor Who shirts), a few books (Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and It's Kind of a Funny Story), some white board pens, a few little bag-type things, and River Song's screwdriver.

I'm quite happy with everything I got, though.  We had a crazy four day long stretch of Christmas, starting on the 23rd, where we had "family Christmas", where we all headed to my aunt's house and had Christmas with everyone in our extended family.  Christmas Eve was, as usual, hosted at our house, where we went to 5:00 mass, then headed home and had dinner and chatted, and exchanged a few gifts.

Christmas was, of course, Christmas, and we opened our stockings and gifts, and then had a lazy day, eating left overs for lunch, and playing with our gifts.  It was quite nice, really.  Then, on the 26th, I went over to a friend's house, and we baked cookies and had lots of fun.

All in all, it was a good Christmas.

I can't believe Christmas has come and gone so quickly.  But it was fun, if a bit hectic.

The Dandy Lioness

A New Year, A Good Year

Hello.

It's a new year.

A better year, I hope.

Sure, last year had its ups and downs, but I want this year to be many more ups than downs.  

This year started with creme brulee,

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And fireworks,

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And laughter between friends,

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And a few Bananagrams letters left on the table, spelling out three words,

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And silly hats,

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And I think,

that that,

is a wonderful way,

to begin,

a new year.

With friends,

 and fireworks,

 and hats,

 and games,

 and creme brulee.

Because,

though they are simple pleasures,

they are important,

they show you are loved,

you have friends and family,

that you want this new year to be even better than the last,

and if you want that,

and if you try,

you can achieve that.

Happy New Year

Happy 2012

The Dandy Lioness

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012

I've always loved these posts about other people's lives, and how they've grown and changed over a year.  So, here goes.

I tried, and completed my second NaNoWriMo.

I lost my grandfather.

I finished seventh grade, and started eighth.

I found new friends in Veronica Mars, the Doctor, Sherlock, and Robin hood.

I became a Nerdfighter.

I met one of my dear friends, and now my neighbor and locker partner.  Love ya, girlie.  :)

I started blogging.

I went to France without parents-- just me and my sister, for two weeks, staying at our friend's house.

I got a Nook-- her name is Isabelle-- and learned that e-readers aren't all that bad.

I learned that my dog Milo has a liver shunt, that probably cannot be corrected, so now he's vegan which has mostly corrected the problem.

I sat in a dark theater, on the night of July 14th, and held hands with one of my lovely friends, J, while we waited for the premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II, and cried shamelessly at the end.

I grew in my writing, by going to a two week long writing camp.

I left, and then reconnected with The Purple Elephants on the NaNoWriMo forums.

I met Tamora Pierce and Terry Pratchett.

I turned thirteen.

I became a proud Whovian.

I became friends with several lovely people through blogging-- Mirriam, and the Golden Eagle, to name two.  

That was my 2011.  I grew in my nerdiness, I grieved, and I learned to live life to the fullest and not care what other people think.  I'm proud of who I am now, and I think I'm a much better person than I was in 2010-- I'm happier, I'm more open in the person I am, and I know more of who I am.  I hope you guys all had a good 2011.  Mine had it's ups and downs, that's for sure, but you know what?  All in all, it was pretty darn good.

I hope you all had a great 2011, and will have a wonderful 2012.  

The Dandy Lioness

Random Ramblings and a Dash of Tea

Hello!  I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday.  Christmas for me was lovely this year, as I got nerdy t-shirts, Gilmore Girls, Doctor Who, and many books.  Speaking of books, I got Beauty Queens.  Oh my goodness.  I had forgotten how hilarious Libba Bray's books can be.

Christmas Eve was just as fun as usual, and was filled with Playmobil trains, pinball, and playing with my young cousins.  Christmas day was spent at my aunt and uncle's house, with their four children, and many members of my extended family.

This is just a short little catching-up post, and I'll give you a real, actually exciting post sometime soon.  As it is, I hope your holidays were lovely, and I wish you a happy new year.  My family is hosting a New Year's party this year, which should be... interesting.  Especially since I'm not a huge fan of throwing parties.  :P

Also, chai tea is delicious.  That's probably shown in my blog title but just... yum.  :)

Jelly Beans, Hello, and Too Much Schoolwork

Hello, lovelies.  Miss me?

Though I have been frolicking about the internet quite a bit in the last week, I haven't taken the time to sit down and write a post.  I should, I know, but it's time consuming, and I'm lazy, and the last few days haven't been easy in my social life, due to the difficult times one of my friends is going through..  Anyways, here I am.

I haven't been around much-- I apologize!  My TV Production showed us this very cool music video in class today.  They didn't use a green screen once, if you're wondering.  That background is make of jelly beans.  Oh, and the music video is called In Your Arms and is sung by Kina Grannis.

I think this is super cool.  Now, I would write more, but I must study for my math test tomorrow.  Square root flashcards, here I come!  The test shouldn't be that difficult, luckily, just the Pythagorean theorem.  However, I will quite possibly get a not-so-amazing grade if I don't study.

If you don't hear from me much in the next two weeks or so, don't fret.  I've got several large projects-- I'm building a submarine for science, and have a middle eastern project to work on.  Le sigh.  Anyways, hopefully I'll be back in full swing over winter break.

Also, is anyone else terribly excited for the holidays?  All our wonderful family traditions will be coming up soon, and I'm so excited!

The Dandy Lioness

Happy Thanksgiving

Hello lovelies!  I wish you all a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it.  To those who don't, I hope your Thursday is fabulous.

Eagle, I'm going with your Snoopy theme.

What am I thankful for?

Blogging, of course, which, though I only recently started, I love.  Also, all my blogging friends.  You guys rock.

NaNoWriMo, for which I would have never actually written a novel.  Also, I have hit 40k.

A special thread on the NaNoWriMo forums, The Purple Elephants.  You guys rock, and I am so glad to have you as my friends.

Family, who I am going to see today.  Also, my sister, who, while I won't see her today, will be coming back for a month in December.  

Friends, who invite me and my family to their cabin for Thanksgiving weekend every year.  It's really fun, and we get our Christmas tree!

Teachers, who gave me no homework (except for a French project, but I just have to outline and color that).  

What are you guys thankful for?

The Dandy Lioness

Snow, and Holiday Traditions

All week, the weather forecast has been saying "Snow tomorrow!" and the next day, people will wake up, excited for snow.  And all week, there has been no snow.  The weather forecast changes from "Snow today!" to "Snow tomorrow!".  It's rather ridiculous.

But we're all waiting for snow.  It hasn't happened yet.  Generally of course, it doesn't snow before Thanksgiving here.  But last year it did... then again, that was bizzare and never-before-heard of.  At least, not here.  In fact, there have been years where all we've gotten is a centimeter or two-- a dusting, at best.  Or, no snow at all.  It's sad really.  The only time I ever remember there having been snow that was higher than three inches, was in fifth grade, when we had a freak, two-week long snowstorm.  We had snow higher than a foot.

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Snow is something that I've always loved, especially the first few hours of it.  Standing out the window, staring at it coming down, blanketing the city in silence, turning gray and brown to white-- startlingly white.  

And of course, I love snow because snow means the holiday season.  Red and green, white and sparkly, advent calenders and the scent of pine.  Snow globes and ornaments, hot chocolate and cookies.  They all mean the holiday season.  I remember one year when we went on our annual downtown trip with our friends-- we go every year (except last year, because scheduling didn't quite work, due to my sister being in college). This one year I'm thinking of-- it could have been fifth grade.  In fact, I think it was.  Anyways, we went downtown, and as we were walking around, it started to snow.  It was just so magical and fantastic.  

Years and years ago-- I was maybe four, my grandmother on my father's side made me and my sister an advent calender.  And every year since then, we hang it by the door, and as soon as we both get home, we rush to the calender and flip over the newest number (we alternate-- one of us does the odd numbers, the other even, and we do Christmas day together).  This year, and last year, for the first eighteen days of Christmas, I'll be doing it alone.  I'll be getting home, and flipping over the little number, all by myself.  But then, as soon as she gets home, I'm going to let her do it,  and let her do it for the rest of the days-- until Christmas, of course.

I love my family's Christmas traditions.  We go down to our friend's cabin and cut down our Christmas tree at a tree farm near the cabin, the weekend after Thanksgiving-- so I'll be gone next weekend.  We go to a nursery near my school, with our friends (the same ones we go downtown with), and drink cider and they get their Christmas tree, and we (the kids) get ornaments-- though every year their selection seems to get less and less.  Oh, and we see the reindeer they have as well.  Last year, they also had a camel and a donkey, which was very cool.  We go downtown, and eat Thai food, and see these really cool gingerbread houses, and go on a carriage ride and feed the horse carrots.  On Christmas Eve, we go to 5:00 mass, and then come home and have dinner with a few of my aunts and uncles and my grandmother, and we have these delicious chocolate lava cakes that my mom and sister always make, and then we all open one or two presents marked "Christmas Eve", and my sister and I leave out a chocolate lava cake for Santa and milk, with our Christmas lists and some carrots for the reindeer-- those reindeer don't get enough appreciation.  And Christmas morning I have to wait until 8:30 to wake everyone up (this is my sister's rule, though my parents probably quite appreciate it) and then we all brush our teeth and go downstairs, and open our stockings, then presents from Santa, and finally presents from our parents.  Then we hang around the house for several hours, before jumping in the car and going to a relative's house.  And of course, throughout it all, we are playing our extensive collection of holiday music.  

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The holiday season makes me happy.  It's just a really happy time of year.  What's your favorite part of the holiday season?

The Dandy Lioness