30-Day Drawing Challenge - Day One

So, I probably should have done a sort of "introduction" post for this, but I didn't.  Anyway, Shealynn of the fascinating Shealynn's Fairy Shoppe is doing this really awesome 30-day challenge where you have to draw a certain thing every day of November, and I linked up to it.


The first day's challenge is to draw yourself.  (Shealynn had an awesomely-drawn list of the challenges somewhere on her blog, but I can't seem to find it.)

Now, I'm nowhere near as good of an artist as Shealynn is.  I did my best, but my drawing doesn't quite look like me.  And there's something vaguely unproportionate about it.  Oh well.  You will now have an idea of what I look like.  Oh, and by the way, my hair is not usually as tame-looking as it is in this drawing.  Braids for three days really straightens my hair out! :p

My brother says that the face doesn't look quite like me. :)

An Announcement

Dearly beloved, something quite tragic has happened to me.


Somebody has supplanted Mr. Darcy in the right to my fangirl devotedness.

The somebody.

Yes, I have fallen under the spell of the irresistible Mr. Thornton.  I could not help it.  Even when my poor mother said that she had watched the film a long time ago and hated it, I went right ahead and watched it on YouTube, little knowing how I'd be affected.

My dear readers, I shall never be the same again.  I am now one of those strange people who are devoted fans of this intriguing BBC miniseries:

It's a lovely film and I highly recommend it.  It has more conflict and plot than a Jane Austen story, and is more thought-provoking.Perhaps whenever I read the book I shall write about the story with more depth and seriousness - perhaps.  I am currently incapable of more than squee noises.   And I'm sorry that I don't have any pictures up that aren't of Mr. Thornton. *blush*
 

PS - I must leave you with this beautiful theme from the film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1NCpfvhDf0&feature=related.  Don't worry, it's quite short.  (Too short, in my opinion.)
 

Kingship of Christ

Pilate therefore said to him:

Art thou a King then?

Jesus answered:

Thou sayest that I am a King.

For this was I born, 

And for this I came into the world.

- John 18

Those of you who follow the new calendar will no doubt be confused by the timing of this post.  I know that the new calendar places this feast later in November, but, as Traditional Catholics, my family and I follow the old calendar, which places the feast today, the last Sunday in October.

I don't know about you, but I sometimes wonder if perhaps the world could be significantly improved by the re-institution of real monarchy.  I've thought that if only good men could become kings, a great many problems might be solved - but silly me!  My human mind cannot seem to retain the fact that the world already has a king.  Yes, a great king.  Not only a good man, but the most perfect Man ever to live: a Man who is also God.  So why then, you ask, is the world so erring?  It's quite simple, really, and quite sad.  We do not acknowledge Him.  We see Our Lord as a nice friend, or as a kind spirit who grants favors, and we completely ignore the fact that He is our King - One to whom we swear fealty in baptism and confirmation.   And what a king He is!  Could you imagine having an earthly king knock on your door one day and ask if he could stay a while?  Sounds preposterous, doesn't it?  Well of course we know that Our Lord does just that when we receive him in the Holy Eucharist, only He goes further than our living room - he enters our very being, and rests in our heart.  No wonder it's a mortal sin to receive communion with mortal sin on one's soul.  It would be like inviting a king into your house when everything's dirty and the children are sick!  No, we must acknowledge Christ as our true King and give the reverence which is due Him.  

Well, I went off on a bit of a tangent there. There is just so much to say, and it's so hard to find the right words to say it with!  I wanted to explain so much about the kingship of Christ and how wonderful and helpful it is for us....oh well.  If one of you lovely readers would like to fill in my gaps, do your own post about Christ the King, or simply comment here. 

Vive le Roi!

Journaling Page - Sunlight and Idleness

Emily has given me permission to do journaling pages rather like hers.   I intend for this to be less about what I'm doing, and more a fairly good excuse for me to ramble on with whatever I'm thinking about.

Before I start, though, I must introduce you to My Precious.  My Precious doesn't have a picture uploaded of him yet, but you must know that he's my new laptop, and we loves him very much, gollum, gollum.  You will have him to thank if I post more regularly, because he has a lovely keyboard and I can use him whenever I want. (Within reason.)  So: Precious, meet my lovely readers. My readers, meet the Precious.

Now that we are properly introduced, we can begin.

Outside my window... the sun still retains his early-morning glory, though it's quite late.  The trees behind my yard glow with a scarlet that only God could have imagined; they're like the stained-glass windows of the natural world.  I wonder if the first person to make a window with bits of colored glass got his inspiration from colored leaves?  The sky is pale blue, and there are a few monstrous cotton balls - excuse me, I mean clouds - floating to and fro at their own sweet will.
As much as I love cloudy days, sunlight has a unmatchable beauty, especially at sunrise or sunset, when it seems so close.  I never liked noonday sun because it's so faraway and harsh.  Rising or setting sun is so much lovelier.
This morning there was broken glass on the path behind our back yard.  The sun rays caught it, and it glittered more brightly than diamonds.  Why pay millions for those silly crystals when you can look at a broken glass bottle glimmering in the rising sun?  (By the way, our neighbor went out there and swept it all up a while ago - still quite early.  What a thoughtful act of mercy!)


I'm listening to... Chanticleer's plainchant version of the beautiful hymn Ave, Maris Stella.  Gregorian chant always makes me feel so calm and industrious.  Occasionally it's made me cry because it expresses so perfectly the joy and peace of religious life, which I hope to enter someday....  (And yes, I do cry rather easily.....*insert embarrassed expression*)

I'm thinking about... various things.  My mind skips around so fast that my thoughts give me headaches sometimes.  I was just thinking that I really ought to be doing schoolwork, and just because I have a party at three doesn't mean I can't do school until then.  Before that I was wondering if this journaling thing is a good idea or not - just because I like writing it doesn't necessarily mean that you will like reading it.  I was also thinking about beauty, and how it's almost everywhere, if we look for it.  Except in grocery stores.  Most of them are quite devoid of beauty.

I'm creating... well, this blog post, of course.  Other than that...I have a scarf in progress....I finished a grocery list for my mom this morning (and I decorated it with scroll-y stuff at the top, so it does count as creating)...later today I'm making cheesecake with my dear friends Victoria and Amelia.....
I feel so un-creative sometimes.  I know other girls who bake, cook, knit, sew, draw, and write, constantly.  I do things by spurts - dabbling with pastels for a bit, spending a day doing lots of cooking (which I don't enjoy much), obsessively practicing piano.  But never constantly.  It's so true that the Devil can attack you better when you're idle, and I'm so very lazy...... anyway.  No ranting.

Around the house... it's amazingly quiet.  I think at least some of my siblings (who share in or exceed my laziness) are still asleep.  Tsk-tsk-tsk....  My dad has left for work, and I need to hurry up and finish this so I can help my mom clean.

One of my favorite things...when you get up nice and early, getting things done before anyone else is even up.  You have time for truly devout morning prayers, a cup of tea, and doing things that you've been putting off for a while.  It's very fulfilling to get up early....too bad it's so difficult.  *sigh*

A picture thought...  Isn't this sketch of Waterhouse's lovely?  I wish I could draw like that, and I wish I knew the girl.  She looks so thoughtful, like she's thinking of a beautiful truth or lost in a cherished daydream.

via Google Images

 

 

PS - Doesn't sunlight and idleness sound pretty?  It's fun to pick random things in a post and make a title out of them.

Stylish Blogger

I'm excited to announce that I won a stylish blogger award!

Isn't it lovely? *grin*

Now, maybe you're thinking, "oh, congratulations...but it's really not a big deal."  Okay.  Maybe not.  But see, I've seen these awards all over the place, and I always saw them as something that only professional, well-known bloggers got.  AND NOW I HAVE ONE!
Thank you so much, Imogen!  (And congratulations on your award, too.  I tried to comment on your blog, but I don't think it went through.)

Now I believe the rule is that I must tell you seven things about me...so here goes!

1.  I write poetry, occasionally.

2.  My favorite colors are green and blue. 

3.  I'm 5 feet, 2 inches tall.

4.  I wear skirts every single day.

5. I hate tennis shoes.

6.  I love Narnia and LOTR, and I despise Star Wars.

7.  My favorite subjects are English and history.

There.  Do you know how hard it is to think of seven semi-interesting things about myself?

Now I shall proceed to pass the award on to five lovely bloggers.

1.  The Catholic Young Woman.

2.  My mom at Mrs. Rabbit's Musings.  Not just because she's my mom, but because she writes on interesting topics!

3.  Shealynn at Shealynn's Fairy Shoppe.  I hope she hasn't gotten this award already...

4.   Annie at Pixels and Stories.  Such beautiful photography!

5.  Emily at Meaningful Words!

Thank you again, Imogen!