Lifey Update

Hello, Everyone!

I'm going to just jump in with all my cool and groovy news!

Cool and groovy news 1.) Lill' ol' me finally owns a firearm! *Squeeee* This is a big, exciting thing. It goes bang and I love it.
I've been interested in owning a gun for a long time. At least five years. I'm sort of  a slow mover when it comes to doing stuff. But here I am, the proud owner of a sleek, black gun.
In October/November-ish, I'm hoping to take a 4 day handgun class from the same place I took hand to hand combat and knife fighting last year. Which is part of the reason I finally bought the thing. I want to train with my own weapon. :)
I still need to name my gun. But I haven't settled on a worthy name yet. Ideas are welcomed.

Cool and groovy news 2.) This timid potato signed up for a year of boxing classes! 
Honestly, it's both way fun and way terrifying. It was one of my new year resolutions (See? Slow mover!) and I was like, "It's now or never!"
One of my sisters signed up with me, (Because this timid little potato couldn't do it alone) and we've had...4? or Maybe 5 classes so far.
Picture this: 7-10 young, athletic fellows... All of whom know what they're doing... Some of them training for real fights. And two small girls who have very little idea of what they're doing and somehow manage to look dainty even with boxing gloves on.
Class starts: *Teacher* "Time to jump rope for 10 minutes"
*Me* "Okay..." Jump jump jump....
I0 minutes later...*me dying a little* (Oh, and thank you, giant wall mirror. I now know that I look like a rabbit when I jump rope.)
*Teacher* "Let's shadow box!"
*Me* "Yes lets. I can do this!"
*Teacher* "Time for some sweet boxing combinations!"
*Me* "Yay! I totally love this!"
Sweating and lots of heavy breathing....
*Teacher* "Let's do 150 crunches!"
*Me* "WHAT?!" *Writhes on the floor. Dies...*
*5 minutes later*
*Teacher* "Awesome, hour's up! See you next week"
*Me* "Oh yes, for sure!*

But actually, the Teacher is very nice, as are the rest of the students, and they're all very polite and encouraging to us two, nervous girls.


Thus ends my cool and groovy news...

Otherwise, Summer has been pretty nice this year. The weather's been lovely and I've snuck in more days at the lake this year than I managed last year. I've also managed to burn almost every time I've gone out. *Sigh* The price I pay for forgetting sunscreen.

There was one particularly awesome day a couple weeks ago when we spent the day at the beach. We swam for ages, built a really loppsy sandcastle, had snacks and chatted about our favorite old Disney Movies. (Moonspinners! Such the best!)

Erm...It looked cooler in real life. Just saying...

I finally took my sister's suggestion and read The Virginian. (Well...I'm almost finish reading it.) It is so delightfully Wild West! I love cowboys and that part of American history, but it's tricky finding good books in that time frame.

The Virginian nails it. NAILS IT.

I settled down on my day off to just binge-read it, and after the first couple chapters, I went to get my cowboy hat out of the closet. :) 

So, you know, if you want to read something really good, go find The Virginian. IT'S GOOD!

Also, I'd like to say that I was sort of trying to be really 'on it' with recording a song for my channel this month. I recorded two songs. And I filmed video for two songs. 

And I hate both of them. They just didn't mesh. They refused to work. They're loathsome. 

So I'm not going to post either of them. *Broods*

It just hasn't been my month with music. It makes me feel angry. Like, I should be getting better at making videos with all the practice I've been having. But I sort of feel like these last two attempts were some of the worst quality things I've done. 

It took a great amount of self control not to drop-kick my laptop out the door after the last one. 

So...Fingers crossed for next month, eh?

Lately I've been having so much inspiration for writing music, arranging music, and an idea for a musical that I'd like to write (HAHAHA!) but finding myself without the know how to make it happen. Why don't I have any musician friends to do all the hard parts for me? You know how awesome that would be? Like, here I have a melody and some lyrics. Could you please come up with a piano, drum and possibly guitar part for it? Thanks. Oh yes, and if you could please put it down in musical annotation that would be the best!

So, since I failed epically with recording a song for this month, I'm going to just leave you with a song that I heard for the first time a couple days ago. Because this is kinda epic.

I must go now. I need to prep for dinner and maybe have a snack.

God Bless!
Amy

God bless you and send you a Happy New Year!

Hello, friends!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I love this time of the year so much. I mean, Christmas. Duh.

But there's something pretty fantastic about New Years, too. It's like...New Years. NEW!

New is good.

I'll get back to that, but for now....

CHRISTMAS!

Our day was so beautiful. In the happy, crazy, chaotic way it always is with my family. *Wiggle eyebrows.*

We had midnight mass at our house, which was awesome and a little bit difficult. I mean, not having to leave your house for church? Niiiiice.

Having to wait till a quarter after 2am to put the presents out and fill stockings? Buuuuummmmer.

We had the little kids write a letter to Santa to let him know not to come till after mass. I mean, we can't have the fellow dropping down the chimney in the middle of church, now can we?

We think of stuff like that.

It turned out to be quite lovely. :) But, being that it was midnight, I have no photos of the whole ordeal. *sniffle*
And it was fabulous, too. Moments that would have been nice as a picture.Like leaving a very shakey 'thank you' from Santa on the "Enjoy the cookies!" note that the little girls left. *Nods knowingly*

Awesome. Just take my word for it, honky-tonky?

Christmas morning, 6am, coffee (lots of coffee), and general giddiness. Candles and singing Joy to the World. Stockings and Christmas music. And then....
Squealing and shouting and laughing and crying.

We are emotional people, okay? Happy things make us cry.

Here. Pictures sum things up better.

That terrifying gray head? I LOVE HIM!!

Treskie is the best. How many people do you know would be thoughtful enough to get their totally weird sister a giant, rubber head? Not too flippin' many!
It is so fun to hit him. My whole family admitted to that after a little persuading. *Grin*

Then my little sisters went out and skated on the street. Yep. We're those people. It's delightful.

After the whole morning thing, I forgot about my camera and just enjoyed the day to it's fullest.

You know, music, family and Christmas stories. 

And here we are; New Years Day! Hot diggety-dog! 

We brought the new year in with style, let me tell you! Which means we had a wonderful dinner, took a lot of selfies, watched "The Librarian" waited around till midnight, had a toast, and went off to bed. *Insert noise-maker sounds here*

I was going to post something meaningful, inspiring and beautiful. But that didn't happen. Clearly.

I'll be popping back on later this week to do some New Years-y stuff. But for now I'm going to grab my notebook, a cup of something delicious and a pen (In that order) and do doodley/creative/lyric-writing stuff. It's gonna be epic!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, 

and Happy New Year!

God Bless!
Amy

Lifey stuff

I hate it when I feel inspired to write a blog post and I'm all excited and feeling very creative and clever, only to open my laptop and have all my inspiration roar away laughing in a fast car.

But whatever. Who needs inspiration?

"Full fathoms five thy father lies.
I pushed him. I apologize."
........................

"Water, water everywhere.
The plumbing badly needs repair."

........................

"I bring fresh showers for thirsty flowers.
I've stood in the sun, with a hose, for hours."

........................

*Sighs sadly*

Here. Pictures.

There was a lovely day last week where I got off early (Amazing!) and decided not to waste my afternoon inside, so I picked up Treskie and we got coffee and sat by the water. It was gorgeous and fun and relaxing. 

You want a little peek at how I spent most of my day off yesterday? 

BOOM! 

I'm proud to say, I think I'm getting the hang of my little studio set-up. 

I've been having some issues with play-back stuff and it's been driving my crazy.

You know what you do when you're ready to throw a microphone at your computer?

You take a break and apply a wet-and-stick tattoo. Avengers, obviously. 

And amazingly enough, I figured out the problem after that. So now it's my 'lucky tattoo' and I'm going to be sad to wash it off.

Speaking of Avengers.....

I don't know how many of you are into Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, but I just watched the first two episodes of season two. Can I just say....

Fitz! Fiiiiiiitzt!!! Fitz? 

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What the heck?

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Why must TV Shows be so nasty to the viewers? 

But episode three is on IMDB today. So you can take a mad stab in the dark as to how I'm spending my evening. 

Here's what I'm currently reading/attempting to read/skimming through.

The Centurion is a really good book which I would recommend wholeheartedly. I'm not quite through with it yet, but I'm fairly certain it's going to make me weep like a little baby.

It Can Be Done. I want to start reading a bit of poetry. I don't know why. Just a whim, I guess. But this seemed like a good place to start.

And  Boxing's Ten Commandments.

.......Enough said.

Cheers, and catch you all later. I have to skedaddle off to work now. 

God Bless!

Amy

Feminine tomboy

I was a total tomboy as a little girl. I tended to out-shine the boys in daring, tree climbing, and anything that had to do with swords, bows or capes.

I love outdoor survival things, I think boxing and martial arts are super cool, and I enjoy a bit of rough and tumble in my life. 

Like rock climbing. That was fun.

If I could have had my way, I would have joined Robin Hood and lived in the forest.

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Or I would have gone on a quest with Dandin and Mariel. 

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Or I would have asked Boromir to teach me to fence.

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Still, there was always a bit of the 'homemaker' in me. I was a very tidy little girl and I've always loved to bake and cook. Always. 

Even when I was really little, I knew I wanted to be a Mommy when I grew up. 

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I want to make a home for someone. 

I want to have a big, loud family.

I want to homeschool.

I want to be a fantastic wife and mother.

Just like any girl, I like to think about how my home will look.

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 What type of dishes I want to have.

 How I want my windows to look.

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I see pictures and say, "I love that style!"  "I want my house to have couches like that," or "I love that kitchen."

I'm happy right now as I am. A single girl with a simple life. I really am. I don't want to be that person who just waits around to get married...as if my life doesn't start till then. I am single right now for a reason and I intend to enjoy and make the most of it.

But I don't want to be single forever. Or even for years. 

Still, God knows best and I'm fine with that

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Anyway, where I was going with all this is, I don't see why a girl can't be both--A bit tomboy and totally feminine.

There's a time and a place fore everything, and sometimes the crazy side should come out for a little.

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For Example:

I don't know if any of you have ever seen The Bells of St. Mary's. It's a really good black and white movie starring Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman.

There's a part in it where Ingrid Bergman/Sister Mary Benedict teaches one of her students how to fight. He's always getting picked on and she thinks he should be able to defend himself. And she teaches him. Very femininely....boxing.  :D


 

I love it. She is so cute. Ingrid Bergman was so charming.

And then...

 

I want to be like that. Only as a mother. ;) I think it's awesome.


I understand that in our society, the whole femininity thing has been terrible degraded and that is a bad thing. God made men and women different for a reason.

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But there is a difference between feminine and girly. All girls should be feminine. But I am definitely not a 'girly' girl.

And hey! Being a girly girl is fine! But being a tomboy is fine, too. God made different people with different personalities. They are all important.

I like to paint my nails and fix my hair...and shoes are so fun! (That's a new thing with me. Shoes. They're my Achilles heel. Mwahahahaha! Pun intended. :)

But there is nothing wrong with a girl knowing how to defend herself. Or playing sports. Or enjoying wilderness survival.

Seriously? Tomboys do have way more fun. :D

Anyway.

It's Friday! *Cheering* I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Is anyone else looking forward to St. Patrick's Day as much as I am?

Are you going to have corn beef and cabbage? Or something different?

Do you have any traditions? Or Plans?

I am going to make a cake. *Nods* And I'm pretty sure it will be epic.

God Bless,
Amy

Much ado about Nothing

I really have nothing to say.

You know how sometimes you sit down to write a post...and you just stare at a blank screen for a while before giving up. One of those days where it's like; "I thought I could do a post." *Shrug* "I guess I'll browse pintrest for a while instead."

I'm resisting pintrest. *Pats self on back.*


I'm not in a computer mood right now, actually. I'm in a baking or crafty mood. (I just finished making a batch of muffins and a small pan of brownies.)

I'm also in a slightly violent mood. :D

I enjoy active sports and dabbled ever so slightly in martial arts and fencing for awhile. Unfortunately for the fencing, the teacher moved to Hawaii and that was the end of that.
One of our family friends did a bit of boxing when he was younger, and to my unholy delight, taught me a few combinations. *Pop, pop, BANG!* Which might have been a mistake on his part because I discovered that I really love to hit things. *Nods*

We have a couple of these boxing pads at home, and my sisters and I are enjoying practicing a bit now and again. It does wonders to your mood, people. It makes you feel HAPPY. And it puts a rose to your cheek and adds glitter to your eye! *Grins demonically.* It's ever so fun.

Anyway, for a long time I wanted to draw a picture a girl boxing. But for some reason that pose is very difficult for me. Here's a doodle I did...oh, probably five years ago. *Shu-reeek!* That's quite a while ago, eh? I might have even done it on the side of my algabra...or perhaps it was some research paper notes. Anyway, it's old and battered. It's a trifle terrible, but I have a fondness for it.

This one is a bit more recent. I didn't draw it all by myself. *Blush.* My talented older sister took pity on my frustrated self and did a basic outline, which I then completed. This was about two years ago, I believe. She looks like a cowgirl. Cowgirls are cool.

I want to try again, all by myself and see if I can come up with something nice. :D


Now that I've frightened you all, I shall go.

God Bless!
Amy