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

Randomness

Hello,Peoples!

Today's post is going to be pointless and random I fear.

I bought myself something silly. Something fabulously silly. 

Say it with me: Gun Ice Tray

I was a bit hesitant because I didn't think they'd  come out of the tray in one piece. 

But look! They totally do!

So silly and yet so fabulous!

HAPPY TUESDAY!!

Tuesdays are my day off, so they are therefore quite awesome. I love Tuesdays. 

This has been a busy sort of week for me with a lot of uneventful life-y stuff. Like work.

Don't get me wrong, I actually really like my job. I get to make beautiful things, like this:

But  jobs do get in the way of crafts and cooking and reading and music. *sniffles*

I did have a wonderful jaunt to Barns and Noble with Treskie and Kat this weekend. Bookstores restore my sanity. 

Yesterday on my way home from work I had to stop and get some pictures of the lake. It looked like a fairy tale! The Happy kind not involving wolves, witches, curses or death.

My family is in the midst of a Lord of the Rings marathon. *flails arms wildly*

We watched the first two Friday and Saturday night. Due to illness and vomiting, we had to postpone the third one till Wednesday. 

But it's been wonderful! (Not the illness and vomiting part. The movies.) We haven't watched them in...golly...four years?!

The two youngest sisters have never seen them before which makes it extra special. And one of our friends had only ever seen snippets here and there. So she is also seeing them for the first time. She is becoming one of US! The ring: It's taken a hold of her! *grins gleefully* Happy to report she seems a tiny bit obsessed now. Our work here is done. I can't wait to see her reaction the The Return of the King! 

Source

Due to watching (and re-reading) LotR, I am in a full on "Daughter of Kings/Shield Maiden of Rohan" mood. Complete with wild hair and battle lust. 

 OUT OF MY WAY,PEASANTS!

 Regarding my new blog name. I'm still mulling over some ideas. I like Hit and Miss and I like Below the Surface.
But I'm an indecisive sort and change makes me nervous.

I'm off now. I've got a million and one things to do today and I need to get crackin' if I hope to get half of it done today.

So I'll leave you with this.

Source

God Bless!
Amy

Blog ALL the things!

Alright.

I feel like I should apologize.

I feel like I should have some really good reasons why I haven't been blogging.

I feel like I'm falling down on the blogging job.

 But then I tell myself. "Hey! This is my blog. I'm suppose to have freedom with it...er, right?"

So I wont apologize.

*Cough, cough, 'sorry,' cough*

So, I'm doing a slam-dunk post, where I sneak in all the little things I didn't post about during July...and a little bit of June. Prepare yourselves. 


Starting with June.

Back at the beginning of June, my sisters and I headed out to the 'range.' I can't remember if I mentioned this before, but we know this fellow that's an ex-Marine (Ooo-rah!) among other things, and he taught us the whole 'gun' safety' course/thing and then took us out for some practical application. With 45mm glocks.

Loading a gun is fun.

Firing a gun is fun. *Pow, pow!*

Let's not even talk about how rubbish my stance is in this picture. :)

First time, remember?

"Did I hit it?"

We had a really good time and I need to work out some way to get out and practice shooting again. Glocks are pretty awesome. And big. And incredibly powerful.

And so much fun to fire! *Grins demonically*

Now, if only I could shoot what I'm aiming at! My aiming isn't great. But my teacher told me I have really good grouping! *Yay!*

So if I aim for your heart, I'd probably miss it. But I might get you in the thigh four or five times in close proximity. 

*Sigh* It was pretty epic. 


My garden is still there. Mostly. 

The cucumber and lettuce never made it. And my tomato plans are still tiny.

But the Peas and Squash are doing well! *Pats self on back*

"Oh, Peas. I love you so much!"

Will I try gardening again next year? Maybe. But probably not from seed. The seasons just aren't long enough or warm and moist enough for plants to take off. I think my garden would have been much happier if I had just bought baby plants in the first place.
But it's been fun and I sort of love my little plants. Have I mentioned that I read to them? And sing to them? ....Creepy much?


I managed to do a very successful sewing project. But I think I might save that whole story for Saturday. :) Here's a sneak peak at it.

Isn't it awesome? *Snerk*

I am learning a little bit more about doing floral arrangements at my job. It's been fun. I really love that part of the job.

Then there is the picnic of awesomeness. It was the Sunday before last and the weather was stifling. So I suggested going to one of the smaller lakes in the area and having a picnic. I'm very good at getting people to do what I want.
I know how to use a Glock, remember? *Snicker*

This one lake is perfect for that because it's off the beaten trail so you don't have loads of people out tanning. That's always nice. I'm not a big fan of the human BBQ pits. (You will never un-hear that.)

It was cool, and refreshing, and pretty much perfect out there. 

We did a lot of swimming.

"Er...No, Treskie. You were suppose to Jump."

And we played on this floating log for ages. 

We had a lovely picnic dinner and just relaxed for hours. 

 

"Come on, girl! You can make it!"

                 

And then we went home.

Aren't car shots the best? They're so flattering.*Grin*

And Last but not Least--

My Uncle, who happens to be a priest, is up visiting right now, which means that we get to enjoy morning Mass everyday in our home. All you other Catholics out there, be jealous! lol. 

It's really awesome, you guys!

Do any of you have things you just do every summer? 
My family goes swimming a lot. We like to go out in the evenings, around 5 or 6 and swim for about an hour. It's a really nice way to end the day, there aren't many people left on the beach, and the water is the best at that time. It's one of the best things about summer for us.

I hope you all are having a great summer too. It's already almost August, so know's the time to cram in all the things you want to do this summer! Hurry, hurry, hurry! 

Okay. My eyes are seriously beginning to glaze over. And I'm drooling a little.  I should probably go.

Thanks for stopping by, everyone. 

God Bless!

Amy