In which there are copious amounts of exclamation points!

Hello, friends!

I was going to post yesterday, but of course, blogger was shut down for several hours.  At least this time it's not my fault that something technological broke.

I'm not kidding.  I've completely set back a few of my Rhetoric II classes because I just don't understand technology.  We had to do class on Skype one day just so I could get my video to work!  I really don't know what to do with tech... I can work it insofar as to have a blog, go to classes, fiddle with basic HTML; after that, though, I am merely clueless.

So I ask you, friends.  If you have any ideas as to where/how I can get a fun new blog look, please let me know!  I've played with Picnik headers and the built-in template designer, but it's just not right.  I want a second opinion and a fresh eye.  If you have a suggestion, please either comment on this post or email me at pastaandwaffles(at)gmail(dot)com!

Moving on, I'm more busy than I've been in a while.  And I am still working on the next Twilight review installment!  But you guys.  I've got some fantastic things going on right now.

• Studying for final exams
• Taking final exams
• Completely finishing junior year
• Packing up my room and filling a suitcase with enough to last me a few months... while still being under the weight limit for airplanes.  (Hold me.)
• Movers are going to come and box up our belongings.
• In about two weeks, my mom and I are flying to Lancaster, PA, for my online school's end of the year gathering.  I'm so excited about it!
• After the gathering, we will go see my family in Georgia.  And I'll get to seem my favorite puppy in the universe.  And, oh yeah, my brother.  ;)
• Once we've thoroughly steeped in the glory that is the United States of America (I really miss America.  Not to be confused with "Miss America."), we will beheading to Brussels and looking for a house.

So obviously, this is a season of change in my life.  And I'm incredibly thrilled!

I'll get to meet some fantastic people whom I love dearly.  And I think you'd like to get to know them, too.  ;)

Amanda is one of the sweetest girls in the world.  She listens better than anyone I know, and really, truly cares about all of her friends.  Plus, she's completely hilarious.

Emilyann is... how do I explain?  She's incredibly funny.  I mean, girl makes me crack up.  She really likes hippos?  And I have a feeling there's going to be a lot of hug your heart out moments.

Annie is a brilliant photographer, and utterly gorgeous.  She's sweet and funny, and I think we'll have the absolute best time!  Plus, I'd very much like to steal her hair, if I could?  :) Her sweet little sister, her parents, and her great brothers, Santiago and Nikko, will be there too!

Lillian is such a sweetie.  She's got a great sense of style, and I think we're going to have a wonderful time goofing off together!

Lizzie  and Sarah Layne.  I sort of have to put them together, because they're attached at the hip!  I've met Sarah Layne in real life, and she's a doll.  I'll be glad to see their antics!  ;)

And my friends without blogs, Josie, Jordan, Ashley, Alex, and Jon, I can't wait to see y'all!

Sadly enough, my wonderful friends Valentine and Lauren won't be able to go.  I'm so upset about it, but I am determined to find a way to meet them in real life!

And with that, my friends, I will bid you adieu.
You see, my dear readers, I have studying to do!

Poetry

This week, for school, I've been reading a lot of poetry, mostly from the 17th and 18th centuries.  It's all so beautiful; I've been relishing all of it.

One particular poet, Ben Jonson, stood out to me, and I thought I'd share a bit of his work.

Studying, coffee, airplanes, cauliflower, instrumental music. (Alternate title: Complete Incoherency)

Hi everyone!  I'm just taking a brief study break to say hello.

Hello!!

Now that that's out of the way, I just want to explain my absence.  I've been studying like mad for the past few days because I have several big assignments I need done by Monday, since we're flying out very soon to go to the States.  I'm thrilled about going, but I won't reach my full excitement potential until I'm at the airport, suitcase and carry-on in hand.

Also in my hand?  Will be my Starbucks gold card.  I'm just going to cuddle it on the flight over, and apologize to it for being so neglectful.  It's not my fault, but I'm sure it's little self is deeply saddened by the lack of use.  It's probably out of shape, but I plan to get it right back into running order very shortly.  I shall capitalize on my month in the States as best as I can.

Meanwhile, I'm surviving on coffee from our French Press, which is really tasty.  I'm into the Millstone Hazelnut Cream blended with a bit of French Roast right now.  To be quite honest, I'm just liking Italian coffee less and less.  That may come as a shock to you, but this is how my mother very aptly explains it. We like being able to get a grande or venti drink and just sip at it for a long time over a conversation or a book, as opposed to grabbing an espresso, kicking it back, and that being the end of it.

But I have realized, I'm a complete and utter coffee snob.  I wanted iced coffee, but had never been thrilled by what I could make.  I consulted the Google, and the internet, which is always true, told me that I need to COLD brew my coffee.  Basically, overnight I steeped the grounds in icy-cold water, and let me tell you.

DELICIOUS.  When you cold-brew coffee, it gets all the great flavor, but without all the acidity and bitterness. It's a very smooth cup, and I literally could not focus during that first cup.  I was sitting there reading dates for a timeline, but I couldn't remember the span King Henry VIII's reign or the year Shakespeare was born.  The coffee was just that good.

After the initial wonderment wore off, I went back to studying and sipped and sipped and sipped away, and it made studying all that better.  Also, I've been listening to Hawaiian and Irish instrumentals (my mama's study playlist) and that also helps my mood.

I've been staying up way too late the past couple of days, just trying to get everything done, but that's probably a good thing, because that will make sleeping on the airplane more likely.  Unless the usual happens and the person in front of me leans their seat back.  On the flight to Rome, and Italian lady did that to me, but she was leaned so far that I honest to goodness couldn't help but bump her chair every time I so much as breathed too deeply.  She kept looking back and scowling at me, and knowing no Italian, I simply shrugged and made motions to indicate that "Lady, this is soooo not my fault."

Mealtimes were blissful because you have to raise your seats to the upright position.  I wept tears of joy all over my mysterious meat-product covered in brown liquid and some sort of mashed potato, which I was pretty sure was actually mashed cauliflower.

All this is to say, I'm a little scatter-brained right now.

This is probably my last post until we land in the States.  Do your best not to miss me too much.  ;)

Fol-de-rol and Fiddle-dee-dee

I'm immensely pleased.

Exam week was technically over on Friday, but I had one paper due today that was quite lengthy.  I finally managed to tie up all the loose ends and I finished it last night, after copious amounts of reading and preparing.  It ended up being twelve pages which is... rather... extensive.

But, I am thrilled to say that I'm back to the usual homework grind, and it feels so good.  In comparison to the stress of exams, it's a breath of fresh air.

Plus, I got my MacBook back yesterday and I am just tickled.  I've set her back up and am now coddling her with utmost care.  Next time we go to a place that sells them, we are buying a back-up hard drive because I don't want t lose anything ever again.  It wasn't a huge deal, but I did lose a book I was writing, and although I was only on the third chapter, but it's still sort of sad.

As I've said, tomorrow Mama and I are planning on going to the outdoor thrift market.  I asked a few of my ladies what they would think about me filming a "haul" video for a Very Stylish Girls post, and they loved the idea!  So once I get the time, I'll make a video showing y'all what I got and how I plan to use each item.  I'm excited!  I've watched those sorts of videos on YouTube and I love them, so I hope you enjoy it too.

For now, I'm going to do my easy breezy non-exam-related homework and paint my fingernails.

Have a lovely day.

A quick favor

Hiya everyone.  I'm just dropping by momentarily to ask for some prayer.  You see, it's exam week at my school and I have two big tests to take, plus some other schoolwork and various projects I have to get done by tomorrow night.  This morning, I woke up feeling terrible and am pretty sure I've come down with something akin to the flu, so I ask that you pray for me in all of this madness.

I need to be able to focus on my work and do well without letting my icky feelings overcome me and bind me up.

Thank you so much, my friends, and I'll be back with you as soon as my schedule clears up again.  I'll be praying for all of you Veritas Press kids like me out there who are taking exams this week, too!

With much love,

Blurbs

I know I haven't been a good blogger.  I'm still getting back in the groove of school (and not being able to sleep in) and so I just haven't had much to say or the time to say it.  Plus, midterms are coming up!  I almost broke my fingers writing out all my theorems for geometry on flashcards yesterday.
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I just realized I'm really bad at cursive.  Really, really bad.  It looks the same as it did in fourth grade when they required you to use it for everything in school.
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My brother has departed.  We're going to miss that fella, but we'll see him next month.  We're going to parents' weekend at his school in February, and I'm also going to get the official tour of Covenant (Will's college) and also look at Belmont University in Nashville.  I can't believe I'm already looking at colleges!

(And I'm pulling for Covenant, by the way.  It's my favorite.  And Will says he wants me to go there so he can "keep an eye on me."  Ok, Will, you just keep thinkin' that.)
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I'm so happy to have gotten a MacBook for Christmas, but there's one (and only one) downside.  One of my favorite free photo editing programs, paint.net, doesn't work on the mac!  I usually use paint.net in conjunction with picnik, and picnik by itself doesn't offer many possibilities.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  I liked paint.net because it was sort of a simple PhotoShop, with cropping, exposure settings, layering, input/output settings, etc.  Help me out, guys!
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By the way, once you go Mac you never go back, and I strongly suggest that you all make the switch if you haven't already.  This laptop is a dream.
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I ate way too much over break, and now I'm trying to get back into good habits.  For me, the breakfast of champions is two boiled eggs.  That probably sounds gross to a lot of you, I know, but I love boiled eggs.  Plus, they have great protein and keep me full pretty well.  I just put a little salt on those babies and it's an instant breakfast.  I always keep some on hand.
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Another healthy snack I like are nutri-grain bars.  Don't get me wrong, I haven't read the nutrition facts on the wrapper.  But they're called NUTRI-grain, so they must be healthy.

Right?  Right?

If they aren't, please don't tell me.
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Now, because I like to contradict myself, I'm going to tell you right now that my favorite candy is strawberry Twizzlers.  My best friend may or may not have mailed me some, and I may or may not have had two yesterday.  But I'm making those puppies last.  These Italians don't know what they're missing.
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I started reading the Twilight series.  Now, now, before anyone stones me, I'm not one of "those" Twilight people.  I'm just genuinely curious about the series and why it's so popular.  After having read the first one, I understand why it's such a hot topic with teen girls.  I'm going to do a post on this eventually, but for now I can go ahead and tell you that here are a few points that I do not like about it:

1. It's not well-written, like everyone says.  In fact, grammatically and stylistically, it's really lacking. 
2. The only scenes that are relatively well-written are the ones that drag in girls.  The ones with romantic, lovey-dovey moments.
3. Bella, Eddie-boy says he wants to KILL you, and he has to try really hard NOT TO.  Honey-child, that's usually a sign you need to run, girl.
4. It sets up this perfect guy, and it makes an idol of Edward.  Guys could never, ever be Edward, but girls are going to spend their lives looking for this suave, perfect, sensitive, Victorian-esque, articulate, Greek-god man.  I mean, minus the fangs, he is literally perfect.  It's actually a little bit annoying, if you ask me. 

More on that later!  Have a lovely weekend, my friends.