This is really random, but anyway...

Hey! :)

So, believe it or not, I’ve actually been contemplating a post idea. (or possibly two...?) But I was hoping to wait until the new design that I was working on was done to do it. Except... the designing has been slow. Like... slow. ;) ’Cause I kind of decided what I want, but now I’m not sure, and I hadn’t even finished the other one, and I’ve been kind of busy, and... yeah. So. Um. That’s why I’ve been “internet-silent” for awhile. ;)

The other day I got a new font for designing (which is like gorgeous ;)) and I’m really excited about using it! =) I’ve put it into a blog design I’m working but it’s still being worked on. And I’m thinking I want to use it on here. Because it’s awesome. Pretty much... ;D

Well, guess what? :) Today I got The Giver (by Lois Lowry... I think... wait... yeah, I think that’s right...) at the library, which I’m kind of excited about. ;) (Because once upon a time I read on somebody’s blog that I love that it was pretty good. Yup.) So hopefully it will be totally awesome and I’ll love it. =) Have any of you guys read it before? Thoughts?

OK, so, I was story hopping (AKA what this writer does when she can’t bring herself to write on something in particular and hopes to gain inspiration by going through old stories and hopefully find the motivation to write something... or maybe just find something interesting to read for awhile) when I came across this story idea that I actually liked, so I’ve decided to redo it! :) Hopefully more details on that later. (and hopefully I’ll finish it. lol)

Well, I guess that’s all for tonight. :) God bless!

Be a hero,
Anna

I've decided not to use photos from pinterest (kind of)

As of today, February 21, 2014, I’ve decided that I want to use my own photos for my posts instead of photos from Pinterest. (I might use photos from Pinterest, but from now on, if so, much, much more rarely, and I will always link back to Pinterest. Also, I might do like a “funny” post or “just me” post or something, but I will link back to Pinterest.)

So, from now on, I’m taking off the pin it button off my photos and let’s just say... please don’t take my photos. :) (Not... that you would want to. lol ;D)

Anyway, have a great day! :) God bless! :)

Be a hero,
Anna

P.S. If, for some reason, this changes, I’ll let you know. ;)

HE IS NED!!!!!!!! =)

so.

i just really, really, really realized something.

scary.

(well, not really scary. just kind of interesting that i hadn’t officially shared this... =P)

when i first announced that my dad was home in january from the hospital, i didn’t really tell you about his status with his cancer. well, guess what? :)

MY DAD IS NED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(that means, basically, cancer free.)

WHOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU, JESUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

thank you so so so so much to everyone who’s been praying and has prayed, it has been such a blessing, even just reading your comments and everything on posts when i’ve mentioned him. thank you. it’s just so amazing. <3

so, the reason that they said that he’s “NED” (No Evidence of Disease) is because he had a highly reoccurring type of cancer. so even though there was like no cancer in there, they just say that he’s NED. :)

thanks so much to all of you! i hope you have a great day! God bless! :)

be a hero,
anna

Far over the freezing roads cold...

Another of my photos. I’m seriously just considering stopping using Pinterest photos... Not because my photography’s great. Mostly because of like they’re from Pinterest and not my own and... yeah... um... yeah. ;)

So, guess what? =) Believe it or not, I had a little adventure the other night. As in, not-in-the-ordinary-way adventure. As in, this-is-supposed-to-only-happen-to-people-in-movies-and-books adventure. As in... yeah. Um, wasn’t quite expecting that. =D Anyway, so what was this [um, interesting...?] adventure?

Well, the other night, I was at this Christian conference thingy diggy with my friends, and as we were leaving it was snowing pretty hard. (The visibility wasn’t the greatest and the roads were pretty slippery.) And we were traveling in a minivan. And there were hills. (You might see where this is going...) So, anyway, we started to go a different way back home then the way that we’d come, but it was so bad that we decided to go back the way we’d come.

(I just realized that that doesn’t make much sense at all. Oh dear... =P)

OK, to summarize -

We’re traveling on a road.

The weather’s bad.

We... are in a minivan.

(Nothing against minivans, of course. I love minivans. =))

So, we’re heading down the road which, thankfully, was mostly downhill, so we didn’t have to like try and climb a slippery hill or something in the minivan which didn’t have four wheel drive or anything.

And then...

We came to a slippery hill or something in the minivan which didn’t have four wheel drive or anything.

So.

We tried to get up the hill, and we couldn’t make it. So we turned around and tried again. I think it was the third time that we decided to get out and push it up the hill while the driver was still inside. So we all piled out and started to push the van up the hill. It wasn’t actually that hard, because there were several of us, and then the van started going so fast that I couldn’t keep up with it and had to stop running.

Strangely enough, I wasn’t scared. (Usually I would get scared at this sort of thing...) For some reason it didn’t actually hit me that we might not actually be able to make it up the hill. =P I think it was also because everybody was so positive and normal and that nobody was panicking, and they just all kept it low-key. Either which way, we actually managed to push it enough to get it going, and our driver drove it up the hill, where we ran... jogged.... and then finally walked up. (OK, the running part was only when I was trying to keep up with the van as it started to pull away from me as we were pushing it... pretty much. ;D) God helped us get up that hill. =)

Anyway, so we got back into the car and drove back home and all lived happily ever after. (Well, so far, of course. ;)) It was actually a kind of fun adventure. =) So, that’s what I’ve been doing lately. What about you? Any adventures out your way? :)

Have a great day! God bless!! :)

Be a hero,
Anna

What’s Your Level of Shyness? Quiz

OK, so, I’m a seriously pretty shy person. (At first. But then you get to know me, and... ;)) But I’m pretty sure I’m at least a little better then I used to be. But, anyway, as I keep on talking about doing a quiz but... um... not doing a quiz, I thought I’d finally do one. =D So, as I was thinking of things to do (Train of thought: do I have any of my books that I haven’t done yet? *checks the stories* Not really... hmm...) I finally came up with this idea.

What’s Your Level of Shyness? Quiz

Basically, I’m going to go and characterize just how shy everybody is. ;) So, let’s see how this goes, OK? ;D 

First off - The Categories

Out-Going

A Little Shy

Shy

Extremely Shy

You ready? Let’s go! :)

1. There’s a new girl who looks pretty nice at school and you notice that she’s sitting all alone by herself in the corner table at lunch. You...

A ...immediately walk over and sit down, introducing yourself.

B ...suggest to your friends that you sit by them all together.

C ...manage a smile at them and tell yourself that you’ll grab some of your friends to go with you to introduce yourself later.

D ...you immediately go right to your table and hope that they don’t come up and talk to you, because that would be extremely awkward and you wouldn’t know what to say.

2. You’ve been going to this same summer camp for years now and feel like a pro at knowing where everything is and who everyone is. You find out that there’s a new girl in your cabin that you don’t know. You...

A ...go and introduce yourself and help them get settled into the cabin, introducing them to some of your friends and some other girls that you know they’ll get along great with.

B ...wait until the meal on the first day, the day that everybody’s arriving, to go and introduce yourself and let her know that you’re in her cabin.

C ...you follow some other friends who thought of talking to her first and manage to be friendly and be nice and eventually end up giving your name as you talk together.

D ...end up giving your name when your cabin counselor introduces you all.

3. You’ve just moved into town and are in the local library looking for your favorite book. But the problem is? You just can’t find it! Your mom suggests going and asking one of the librarians, but you’re freaked out because they all look scary and mean. You...

A ...push aside your fear and go and ask.

B ...hesitate and stall for a little while, and then go and ask.

C ...pace around the kid’s section for awhile, swallow down your fear, despite the fact you feel like you’re going to puke any moment, and then walk up and ask.

D ...end up not asking them because you were so freaked out.

4. Your friend goes and introduces you to a friend of hers that she used to be really close to. Your friend’s friend seems pretty nice and friendly. You...

A ...immediately start talking about how nice it was to meet them and what your name is and start asking them series of questions.

B ...are a little nervous at first, but quickly warm up and start asking questions and making jokes.

C ...smile and nod and listen to the conversation and let your friend carry it, saying something every once in awhile and when asked.

D ...manage to say your name but then pretty much drop out of the conversation.

5. You tried a recreational sport over the summer and loved it! Now your parents have started asking you if you wanted to do that sport at your school, too. But you’re not so sure. Would you be good enough? Would you do so badly that you were made fun of? Eventually, you...

A ...decide to do the sport. After all, nothing tried, nothing gained!

B ...go between saying yes and no, and then eventually end up doing the sport, though you’re still freaked out about it.

C ...get so worked up so your mom finally says that you don’t have to, and that’s what you do.

D ...tell your parents that you don’t want to do it for competition, just for fun.

OK, hope you all enjoyed that! :)

And now - The Answers

Mostly As is Out-Going!

Mostly Bs is A Little Shy!

Mostly Cs is Shy!

Mostly Ds is Extremely Shy!

I’d love to hear who you were! =) I’m pretty sure I know who I am (I tend to find out as I write the questions...) but I’ll take it again real quick just to make sure. ;) OK, so, I’m A Little Shy. ;) (Though I was almost shy.)

Hope you have a great day! :) God bless! :)

Be a hero,

Anna

“I like warm hugs!”

So, before you start thinking that either 1) I turned into Olaf (or would that be Olafa...?) or 2) I might just be a little off (haha JK :D), I’ll explain the story here a little. The other day, we went and made a snowman (“Do you want to build a snowman...?” Just slightly wondering if I was the only one singing that in my head... lol =D) with a real carrot nose, which we’d never done before because we saved them to eat instead of using them for snowman making. ;) So, anyway, we finally made one! :) And then I was like (something close to), “We should name it!” And then of course Olaf was the first thing that came to mind. ;D

(So yeah. The warm hugs thing is about the fact that we named our first [only??] snowman of this year was named Olaf after my favorite movie of 2014 [so far? Always???]. :))

So, here is Olaf. :)

As the little notes at the bottoms of these might indicate... please don’t pin these. Thanks. :)

Have you guys made any snowman this year? If so, did you name them? If not, are you planning to? (I might say that it’s actually quite fun...) Do you guys usually make snowmen in the winter? If so, have you always used carrot noses? (If you’re wondering what we used for the mouth... well... we have these wild rose bushes that we’d taken out from somewhere else on our property and planted them in a homemade flower bed, and these like berry bud things were on them, and so that’s what we used... And the eyes and buttons? Rocks. ;))

Hope you all have a great day! :) God bless! :)

Be a hero,
Anna

#feelinghappy + I slipped [but survived]

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So tonight we just decided we wanted some cake. (I like basically everything surgery haha so of course I was like, “Yeah! Let’s do it!” ;)) So I went and whipped up a carrot cake (from the box...) with cream cheese frosting (and the only reason it was carrot was because I was like, “Ooh! Cream cheese frosting! Can that be with white cake?” [Which... I’d been holding in my hand. And I probably didn’t say those exact words. But something like it. ;)] And then I was informed you do that with spice cake or like carrot cake. So, carrot cake it was... [I love that stuff. <3]). And after I do my therapy, I’ll hopefully be able to have some while we watch The Croods. #feelinghappy :)

(Note: The cake looks nothing like the picture. It was just a picture of a cake and it looked amazingly yummy. =D Just thought I’d mention that... ya know... just because ;) On another side note concerning the cake: I’m pretty sure I just realized that those are pretzels on the top. Hmm... #random)

Anyway, so, earlier today I was walking, and it’s like seriously slick outside. (as in icy) The roads were all icy and so were parking lots and sidewalks today. So, anyway [again], I was stepping out onto a parking lot today and I just slipped. Like... I kind of almost did the splits. And the container of onions in the vanilla yogurt container (don’t ask... haha you can if you want ;)) came rolling out of my bag. Otherwise, I wasn’t hurt.

lol believe it or not, I was laughing. :D

I was walking with my friend, and immediately they were like, “Are you alright?! How’s your ACL?!” (Because last March I went and tore it... and I wasn’t wearing my neon yellow brace today...) I was just like laughing really hard (I suppose because it didn’t hurt and just seemed hilarious in the moment =P ;D) and was like, “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine!” So, note to self: Walk more carefully on potentially icy surfaces. ;)

Have a great day! :) God bless! :)

Be a hero,
Anna

The Musical Dunes of Narnia

My photo, please don’t pin or take or anything. Thanks! :)

Dear Readers,

This last Sunday as we were coming home from church, I stared out the window of the vehicle we were traveling in. The drifts of snow on the side of the road were pretty high, probably about a foot or so. The wind was blowing, making the loose pieces of snow fly and skitter across the ground. The way that the snow lay in the drifts almost looked like sand dunes, the way they skittered and lay. But I knew that if I touched them, instead of feeling the warm grains of sand, I would feel a bitter cold.

Today, the snow’s all crunchy around here, and some of it has actually melted off. (Except I think that might’ve happened before today...) It’s pretty cold out, but there’s not really any wind. It’s kind of funny, when the New Year came, I almost felt like it should be almost Spring again. But, really, winter’s kind of just started, though going closer and closer to the middle. (Weird to think it starts in like the middle of December. I feel like it should just start on December 1st...)

Lately, I’ve been listening to some “new” songs that we’ve found. (I put them in “”, because some of them aren’t really that new, I just haven’t told you about them. Of course, they’re from January, so I suppose they kind of are new...) One of my favorites is a song from a little short called Paperman, which is like one of my FAVORITE SONGS EVER to listen to now. =)

(And that’s it, right up there.^) Seriously, I love it so much. <3 It’s so like soothing and happy and sad all at the same time... Have you guys ever heard it before? :) I’m planning on getting this with some of my iTunes money so I can transport it to my writing computer. :)

Another song I’ve really been enjoying lately is Closer to Your Heart by Natalie Grant. OH. MY. GOODNESS. LOVELOVELOVELOVE. =D Seriously, though, the word’s are good and the music’s catching and.... yeah. I just love it. <3

(Have you ever heard it before? Do you like it?)

Anyway, so last night I was watching The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawntreader, and I just want to say... that movie seriously has some funny parts. (“This place just keeps on getting weirder and weirder!” haha one of my favorites lines. :D And then the one before it... “The pig!” bahahaha) I love the part with the seagull and the minotaur and Eustace and the sailor dude, too. (Eustace: *talks to a bird* Minotaur: “He’s talking to a bird! hahahaha!” Random sailor dude with no name apparently: “Mad as loon, that one!” [I realize that all of my quotes so far probably haven’t been perfectly accurate, but I guess they’ll just have to do... ;)]) And I always get so sad at the end because of Lucy. You can just see that she never wants to leave Narnia, and she wants to see Aslan again, and now she knows that she’s never going to go back. (OK, seriously, I like barely ever feel sad about stuff like that, because I always feel so... weird. But I had to hold back tears. Big time. *sniff sniff*....) Lucy’s always been my favorite. (Which is partly the reason why I was so ecstatic when I got her in a quiz I took...)

Anyway, hope you all have a great day! :) God bless! :)

Be a hero,
Anna

P.S. I was thinking about doing a quiz soon. Thoughts? :)

P.P.S. Remember when I told you that I usually do post titles after I’ve written the post? Behold the randomness. lol =D

me & old books

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yesterday, i went and volunteered at the library. (i’ve been doing this pretty consistently - except for about a month and some weeks because of traveling etc. for other things - once each week since the beginning of last summer, i believe. it’s been really fun.) one of my jobs that i’ve been assigned by before, and that’s one of my favorites, is barcoding the books. (you know those funny code stickers on the back that sometimes covers up the words? those things. [except we try not to put them on words/pictures/etc...]) i guess because it’s easy, and even if you have a lot of books to do, it’s just sort of a nice little routine to do, over and over, and it’s kind of fun and interesting, because you get to look at all of the new books before they’re out on the shelves.

while the librarian that i work with was busy doing something else they gave me a different job - barcode books. except these weren’t the normal kind of books that i was used to - they weren’t all new and untouched and just freshly off the print press. they were a private collector’s edition, all signed copies. they were old, and their covers were deep, dark, beautiful colors, decorated in what looked like gold engravings and edgings in different designs depending on the book. the title and the author’s name wasn’t even on the front, and there was no description or talk of “#1 new york times bestseller!” on the back, so sometimes it was hard to tell the front from the back. (one time i accidentally put the barcode on the wrong side, because the book was upside down and i hadn’t even known until i’d opened it up.)

they were just the sort of books that you would imagine in an old, dusty library in some kind of mansion somewhere in England, abandoned and alone. (one of the books, i believe, actually was dusty...) the kind that sat in a library full of secret passages and books full of tales and legends. the kind of books that you see in movies but almost think don’t really exist anymore. i had fun, barcoding those books.

while the barcode made it look rather more modern and less like they came out of an old, dusty library in a mansion somewhere, it still made barcoding that much more fun. :)

beautifully ordinary, ordinarily beautiful

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have you ever sometimes kind of felt like some special things are sometimes the kind of things that just seem more poetic and nothing at all like your life?

i just realized that might’ve not made any sense...

ok, redo:
have you ever felt like your life is really kind of just normal, and then there’s some things that just seem so... poetic? cool? different? in-a-book?

it’s kind of interesting, because those are some of the things that i like.

for example: i have like this image in my mind of this person - i think it was a woman (it must’ve been in a movie, what movie i have no idea...) - and they’re holding a brown paper bag of groceries, and sticking out of it is a bag of French (or Italian, or long bread, or whatever kind it was...) bread sticking out of the top.

there’s something about that, strange as it sounds, that just seems like so much in a story. i love French(etc.) bread a lot, like i almost wish i could just get French bread for like normal every day everything instead of like wheat and white bread and whatever. not only do i love it, but there’s something almost poetic about it, if you know what i mean.

or coffee and pastries. (first off, i love pastries and only souped up coffee.) but just the idea of like getting both of them from some little corner café and walking down a cold sidewalk on a snowy day... i get this picture in my mind, and i think, “that’s just like so... beautiful.” and wonderful. and out of a book, or a photograph that you find on pinterest or something. like you’re in an adventure.

or going to a new, foreign place. the idea’s interesting, because sometimes i don’t think i’ll actually ever see the places that i always see and hear about. like i just think that it’s that place on the postcard, the thing that the encyclopedia’s talking about, the place where people in stories and movies go but i’ll never go to. but what if i did?

i suppose it’s just a point of view. i suppose some people always get only French bread, always get coffee and pastries for breakfast, and travel all around the world. but there’s just something about it that, the thought of things that you could do, the things that you want to try, have always heard about, but never done or seen... beautifully ordinary, but ordinarily beautiful. it’s not really that big of a thing, but to me, is holds a certain beauty.

what about you?

be a hero,

anna