my character analysis!

This is my idea of a character analysis paper. It's so much fun doing these! I copied and pasted from the document... Seriously, read it! It's not as boring as it looks! :)

"Centipede" of James & the Giant Peach

As a centipede, I have a lot of legs. Each one has a beautifully polished boot stuck on top. I tell people I have 100, but that obnoxious earthworm knows the truth that I only have 42. (That does NOT mean she needs to go blurting it to the world!)

I met that beast when I stumbled upon the giant peach one dark night. The minute we laid eyes on each other, we realized we were not going to be friends.

Anyway, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted by thoughts of Earthworm... What do I look like? Well, I look like a centipede. 100 legs poke out of my sides, 50 each; and my bright red boots compliment my colorful complexion.

I am a pest. I strive to get my way. My purpose in life is to torment farmers, teenagers, and anyone else I come upon. I am- I must admit, hesitatingly- blind as Earthworm when it comes to the way I treat others. It does bother me sometimes, but I can't help it! Interrupting, annoying, and being the center of attention is just in my nature as a "loathsome pest." (Those are Earthworm's words, not mine.)

Born in an underground town called St. Soilville, my parents- and the city- died tragically of a giant mole attack. I, Centipede Gulliver Jones, am the only survivor of that devastating event.

Now, I've said enough about Earthworm. What about my other new... uhhh... acquaintances I met on my adventure on the Peach.

I do respect the Old Green Grasshopper. She does play such beautiful music! But, Ladybug bothers me... way too polite! Spider can get a tad bit too dramatic about her father. Caterpillar and Ant are decent, I guess. Silkworm actually does make some marvelous clothes, but she whines a little too much. Glow-worm's light is quite useful, if he tried turning it on once in a while.

Overall, they're all pretty good. Not Earthworm, though. She disgusts me. (Secretly, though, I do like her. She has beautiful skin, and isn't afraid to speak her mind!) But she still disgusts me.

On the trip across the ocean, I was feeling so many emotions. I was feeling terrified of sharks, cloud-men, and falling. I was feeling exhausted after all that chewing of string they made me do. (But it was for a good cause, so I didn't stand up against it.) I was feeling pesty, as always. I was feeling satisfied, for that peach gave me all the delicious food I wanted. I was feeling in control and outspoken, which I love.

This journey has taught me even more about myself! It got me to realize that I needed to become less of a pest. And that became my Welcome-to-America-Resolution. This resolution brought me to my first job: the Vice-President-in-Charge-of-Sales of a high-class boot and shoe manufacturer.

I stuck to my resolution until after I got the job. Then it was complete pest mode for me!

Enjoyed? Picture: Flickr. Don't forget... comment and follow!

Toodles!

there's 2 kinds of hope!

The other night my two friends and I (we call ourselves the Sitter Sisters) baby-sat at a Christmas party. We were in the basement either watching over the million little kids, drawing with them, avoiding pillow fights, fixing the pinball machine, and making sure everyone grabbed a Santa napkin before they reached for the cookie platter.

Many times they were asked to run upstairs and sing. We stayed downstairs most of the time to clean up. One time, though, after they were called up, I was cleaning up a Hawaiian punch spill when I heard the most beautiful voice. It was operatic and confident. I raced upstairs to investigate.

A blonde-haired women was standing in front of many watchful eyes, singing a Christmas tune so wonderfully. Four little girls stood before her, dancing along. Someone beside me was talking about her, and I heard something like, "She was on Broadway, you know." I was too excited!

After her little performance, I went up to her and asked if she was on Broadway. Sure enough, she was! I told her of my dreams, and she gave me inspiration. "Other people in this room have, and you can too." "All you have to do is keep trying."

Her name is Hope Harris. I am so glad I met her. I'm inspired to never stop!

Never give up Hope! (Notice the pun there?)

Toodleydoo!

P.S. The link on her name is kind of misleading. Her songs on the site are very country-ish, but the voice I heard was soprano and bold. Oh well, still amazing! Oh and the pic was on Facebook.

playing with snow

Just a little inspiration I edited with Picnik.

Once all this winter stuff is over, I'll get back into more of B'Way posts!

Toodles!

homemade toll house!

Like chocolate chip cookies? Well, then... here's the best recipe in the world for chocolate chip cookies. If you like Toll House cookies, you'll love these. It's like making Toll House cookies with your own flour and chips! I'm a major sweet tooth, so I'm going to start featuring great recipes (mostly desserts) a lot! And this is the beginning!

Ingredients...

Directions...

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.

2. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Combining means to just mix together with a spoon. It takes about two seconds to mix those three ingredients together!

3. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract in a large mixer bowl until creamy. If you don't have a mixer bowl, it is totally fine to use just a normal large bowl. To beat, use the back side of your spoon and smooth out the mixture onto the sides of the bowl.

4. Add the egg(s), one at a time, and beat well after adding each one. When cracking eggs, it's a great idea to crack them into a small bowl and then pour into mixture.

5. Gradually beat in the flour mixture you made at the beginning.

6. Stir in your chocolate chips and/or nuts. (When I make these cookies, I only use chocolate chips. You can use either one- or both!)

7. Scoop up dough in tablespoons and drop onto ungreased baking sheets. A really great idea is to put parchment paper on top of the baking sheets, so that it is easy to lift your cookies off.

8. Stick in the oven and bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown.

9. Finish the recipe up by cooling your cookies on baking sheets for about 2 minutes, and then remove to wire racks to cool completely. And presto! You have some delicious chocolate chip cookies!

Merry Christmas and Toodles!

P.S. This recipe was found on... Very Best Baking!

P.P.S. Expect some holiday pictures asap!

scout's wonderland!

My adorable dalmation Scout loves the snow! He's also really excited for his birthday on Christmas Eve Eve! Happy Early Birthday, Scout!

We had a snow about 2 weeks ago, but boy... this one's awesome! It has been snowing since 5 a.m., and right now I am typing to you at 12:05 saying that the flakes are still fluttering from heaven at top speed! It feels great out there, school's closed, the cinnamon rolls are being pulled out of the oven, and the fire is going strong. To be honest I could never be happier! I have a ton of other pics from snow, but this post is Scout-only! I'll post the other ones later. Don't forget to comment&follow!

Toodli-doo-da!

james and the giant peach!

Alright. Here's that post I promised you about James & the Giant Peach!

I really, really wanted to be the Centipede. To learn more about the show, I read the book, and found that I fit the character pretty well, and it just sounded like so much fun! Auditions taught me more about the character: Even though we aren't doing the musical, the Centipede bursts into random songs four different times. And I love to sing! I actually did end up getting the part! Here's some pictures...

I give the credit for these lovely pictures to this sites...

St. Elliot & Co., Evangel Christian School, Creature Smith, Playbill, and The British Theatre Guide. Big thanks to them for these cute pictures! More will come about the show definitely!

Toodles!

that icy ebenezer scrooge!

Here's some photos from before and after "A Christmas Carol!" Enjoy!

This is the girl who played my twin, Belinda!

Me as Abigail with Tiny Tim!

These were our first act costumes!

Left: High Class, Middle: Low Class, Right: Me/Middle Class

(The name I made up for myself though for the first act was Adeline!

Tiny Tim, Belle, and Lucy! (These are their ensemble costumes, though!)

Two of Fred's realtitives! On the left is also the Dance Captain!

This is the tweed pattern on my skirt from the first act.

More pictures will be coming!

Toodles!

5 down. 3 to go!

In about 45 minutes I will be heading off to yet another show of A Christmas Carol! I don't have that much time to post, but I will say a few things in this... along with a picture.

Today I left school early because my throat was killing me. No, the pain isn't exactly gone. Hopefully I'll be alright in the show. I'm a little nervous!

Also, like the changes? These took me a while, and there are still more to come. If something really whacky happens, please excuse me!

Once this is over, and then a week after that, it will be winter break and holiday time! This year our break is 26 days! Can't wait!

Toodles!

the hills are alive!

...with the sound of Kate's camera clicking...

This is a little play on colors... notice the blue & green in the background.

Also, this is a buttercup flower, which is a weed!

I was so excited to get it this focused!

Yes, I am still super super busy, but I squeezed in some time to edit these...

They're from the mountains! The last one is a checkers board in the Inn lobby. Coke tops were used as the pieces! Going green! Anyway, any compliments, questions, ideas? Make sure to leave a comment & follow! I've changed the settings... even if you do not have a Blogger account, you can comment! Yay! Thanks for the support!

Toodli-doo-da!

busy, busy, busy as a bee!

Hey Guys!

I'm home from the mountains, and I loved every minute of it. But now I have some very important things to do. With Christmas Carol's opening night on Friday (dress rehearsals are every night this week from 6-11 P.M.!!), starting James & the Giant Peach rehearsals, History Day, finishing up my research paper... I have too much going on to blog all the time. In about 2 weeks, I will start back up. That's when Christmas Carol is over. Here's some pictures that I promised you... only from Day 1. More will come in the future. After all, I took 734! Each time I post these pictures, they will come at about 4 pictures a post.

Toodles!

"don't cry because it's over. smile because it happened!"

         
          Right now I am sitting in front of the warm fire- that I started!- reading my book, sipping some hot chocolate, and typing to you! It is the last day today. Today we walked to the Inn for lunch and my dad and I took lots of pictures (coming soon to the blog!). Although it was freezing, I seemed to forget that as I walked around the most beautiful place on Earth. I missed tea time today, so I created my own. The Inn's lobby has four fireplaces, and at tea time they serve iced tea, hot tea, coffee, chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies, and sometimes pound cake! So, I grabbed some of my leftover Halloween candy that I had taken over here, boiled some water, created this nice fire, and grabbed my book and a laptop!
          I'm really upset that I'll be leaving tomorrow morning, but it has been so much fun! I can't wait to show you the amazing pictures. Did you know that the Inn burned down in the 1920's? Also, it holds the world's largest Frasier fir tree! And I know I talked a lot about the Inn, but there's even more to this place! In the backyard of this house (my cousin's vacation home) is a dock with a lake. Across the street is a cemetery, and the Thorpe Path, which goes through the woods and leads to the Inn. There's a gem mining place, a little town for boutique shopping, and rock climbing! It's amazing!
          Pictures are on the way. I wish I had brought the cord here...

Toodles for now!

gobble gobble!

Today- and everyday- I am thankful for these fab things that are a part of my life!

• My weird family. We're fun, crazy, and we love to laugh. We've got dance parties. Every night Heroes-a-thons. We hug, dance, and sing. We burp our new baby cousin. We play Scattegories, Scrabble, Ping Pong, and Rummy. A hyper dog made of cotton balls runs around nonstop. We love each other! (Note: This includes relatives. Not just immediate family.)
• My amazing friends. Always there when you need someone to lean on. Sometimes we go on photography expeditions. We sit in the living room and blog for an hour or two. We play countless rounds of Chute & Ladders and Whoonu. We make hilarious, well-edited-if-I-say-so-myself movies. We put on cute plays together. We have photoshoots. We attempt to advertise our babysitting service. We make schools in the basement for our Uglydolls. We bang on the piano. We create show tunes in the backyard. We play spies. We play pool. We sing some karaoke. We play dress up. We cry on each other's shoulders after a bad day. I love you guys!
• Theatre. This is the place I can really be myself. I wrote a poem about it for a contest. Maybe sometime I'll show it to you guys. But it's strictly copyright! "Something About the Spotlight."
• Photography. As my friend Rebecca says, seeing life through the lens. (life seen through the lens) I love capturing memories and beautiful things in creative ways!
• Doodling. I'm not good at drawing, but I love doodling presidents in my notes. I design crazy sunglasses, too! Color, of course. Unless it's old-timey. But at least those would be sepia.
• Writing. I love to write stories and poems! Always have, always will!
• The world! If you didn't exist, I wouldn't exist as well. Thanks much for that. :)

Happy Thanksgiving! Toodli-doo-da!

P.S. Thank you for tolerating my boring, all words-no pictures posts. I hope this random turkey made your day.  Once I'm home I'll post lots and lots of pictures. I'll also tell you about my next play coming up... James & the Giant Peach! But- oops! It's a surprise what I am! Tell you later! This just means you'll have to keep on checking...

P.P.S. Picture found on !!!

somewhere over the rainbow... (part 2)

          I accidently left out an amazing part of the Inn!

          The Lake! The Lake is quite pretty. There's a little dock where you can rent paddleboats, canoes, row boats, life jackets, paddles, etc. You can also get ice cream (and ice cold water!) there. Sometimes they have boat races. I've never been in one, but someday I would love to try!
          The section of the water that you boat around in is huge, but there's also a roped off section for swimming. Toys float around, you can swim out to the docks in the middle and dive, and there's little mattress rafts to float around on. A small sandy beach is great for building sand castles. Not so much tanning, considering all the babies that rule the sand.
          An awesome wooden jungle gym sits next to the boat dock, with a treehouse in the middle, surrounded by cool obstacles! Go down a short path and you find the playground- complete with tetherball (my favorite!), swings, tire swings, horseshoes, and more!
          Remember when I said there were numerous lawns outside of the Inn? The one that overlooks the enormously beautiful Rock Mountain has a few secret trails leading from it that go around the lake. One leads to a little gazebo... I love that!

          Pictures will be posted as soon as I am home.

Toodles and I hope you've had a fabulous Turkey Day!

somewhere over the rainbow...

          
          Well, turns out I can post here. I will try to post pictures, but I might not get to that till I am home. I've gotten some great shots! This place inspires me... I love it. I come here a lot, and each and every time is amazing!
          Today I met my new baby cousin, Grace. She is so cute and was born in June. In fact, she's in front of me right now. I love her so much already. Tomorrow I'm meeting my grandma's new fiance. Two new family members!
          There is an Inn here. A rustic, amazing, full of surprises Inn. You don't have to stay there to go there. There's a golf course, a lawn overlooking an amazing rock mountain, cafe, shop, and more. Inside the Inn is a huge lobby full of warm fireplaces and nice places to sit and read at tea&cookies time.
            Upstairs where the rooms are there are some "secret" places my cousin (and family best friend) and I like to hide... like fire escapes and hidden rooms.
            Porches surround the building, full of red rocking chairs and a Ping Pong table. There's a waterfall next to Solitude Cove. Trails go around the woods and up mountains. Off the golf course, there's tennis courts and a beautiful garden. Every year we have a delicious picnic next to the garden on the last day, remembering all our memories of the trip, and looking forward to making more next year.

          If anyone's taken the time to read this, Happy Thanksgiving!

Toodles!

vacation time!

Tomorrow I'm departing off to the mountains for Thanksgiving break. I don't know that I can post there, but I'll try my best! For now, Flats Week is postponed until I return.

Happy Thanksgiving! Toodles!

like gills on a fish...

        These silver flats are super cute! Sadly there are killing my toes, due to my rapid foot growth. I wore these in High School Musical as Ryan, though! The slits on the sides are like gills on a fish (see title) and the thin bow with stitches on it are adorable! These shoes are very, very comfortable and soft!

        I'd like to thank both Picnik and iPhoto for their great photo editing system... I use them 24/7! First I have fun with Picnik, and then if there's any more advanced yet basic things like rotating or sharpening that aren't as great on Picnik, iPhoto saves the day! Both of them are super super fabulous!

        Anyway, I gotta wrap this up. My drama class is performing the Trial of Goldilocks tonight at our school's "extravaganza!" Wish me luck!

Happy Flats Week! Toodles!

love these ones!

I absolutely love these shoes to death. Black velvety-material with many different colored sewn patterns on it. I see (along with black) lavender, blue, brown, and tan! Polka dots, x's, flowers, and more. These flats are to die for! And- bonus- they're comfy! Rack Room Shoes is the best! I could live in these.

Happy Flats Week! Toodles!