My crazy life and why I might be absconding...

Soooooo....

I actually have legitimate excuse this week (or two) but it's still my fault for not posting. 

My iPod was confiscated by my mom. 

It was because I was loitering around texting people instead of cleaning my room, and when (after a week) I asked her what I could do to earn it back, she said, "Stop asking me."

Apparently the only way I could get it back was to live without it for two weeks. 

And then I went to camp. 

So, long story short, I was exhausted from that South Texas camp I told y'all about, and I slept for 11 hours last night.  

I'll probably go to bed early tonight if its possible, because I need to catch up on some Z's after staying up to 2 or 3 for seven days. 

^Was written Friday afternoon^

Honestly, nobody probably reads this anyway, so apologizing to the Internet doesn't even really matter. 

I think I might end up dropping Adalyn's Endeavors for a while. This month and next month are going to be crazy, because I started my first day of high school today, and I already feel a little stumped in geometry. 

I'm going to do this acting program in my city through fall, and we meet twice a week on Fridays and Sundays, which are my default posting times. And I honestly think I want to save Saturdays for some r&r and friends and stuff. 

So on top of school and writing and acting and choir and friends and reunions, I don't think I'll really have time to dedicate strictly to a post only a few people will read. 

It's not that I don't love you or anything, my dear readers, but there are certain aspects of my life that need attending to. I've been neglecting a real prayer life, concentrating solely on lazing around without doing much with my summer. I've been entirely self-absorbed with my free time, wanting to go shopping for clothes for my camp, or buy ingredients for the dessert I want to make, or spend my time however I see fit to use it. You see what I mean? 

I need to be a little more thoughtful, a little more helpful, a little more self-sacrificing. I'm working on virtue and a good spiritual life this month, and I'm going to stick to it. 

In the past, I've been very flippant with my goals and how and when to achieve them. But this month, I want to change myself. It's almost my fourteenth birthday, and that's too old to be acting totally self-centered and naïve. I need to become a better person. And this is how I want to do it. 

Denying myself a little Internet and spending fifteen minutes in prayer rather than ranting about myself in a blog post will probably do me a lot of good. At least, I think so. 

I hope you're having an amazing summer, or if you're starting school, I hope you had a fantastic first day. A lot of girls I know started high school today, (including me ;D) and it's not nearly as daunting as some people think, so yay!

Have an absurdly wonderfultastic day, and I'll see you on Friday when I've decided whether to drop this blog for a while or not. :/

See you in four days! ~<3

  

Please enjoy this pig-cloud while you wait. ;) 🐷

Fun fact!: I took a picture of this on the way back from seeing a movie. And then I wanted bacon. 

Keep Calm and ((Eat Bacon)) Endeavor On,

~Adalyn

My Summer is So Separated.

Hey y'all. 

Ummm....I didn't post. 

I suppose I could blame the movie/sleepover party I went to on Friday, but Saturday I had no excuse. 

I feel like a sucky person now. 

I just...totally, honest-to-goodness cross-my-heart-and-hope-to-fly straight-out forgot. 

So this week, my older brother Timothy went with a dozen others from our parish to World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro. They were one of four groups from the US to go, and they've been gone for a week tomorrow. 

They went on a mission trip to build a school, I think, and Tim managed to make it onto the Brazilian news. He has to go out of the country to make it onto the news. Go figure. 

But anyway, he loves it there, and even though my mom had a dream he got bitten by a giant tarantula smack-dab in the middle of his forehead, that actually DIDN'T really happen, and he's totally fine and loving every minute of Brazil. 

And the week before Tim left, my brother Josh ALSO left for Boy Scout camp (hiking in the Rockies. 8O), and he's been gone for two weeks. Only three days left until he's back, though, so yay! I've missed him a lot. :3

After Tim gets back the first week of August, I leave the next week for a camp in South Texas. It's a leadership camp my friends have gone to and it's supposed to be really amazing. ^-^

Our family is so split up this summer, though. Like you guys know, my parents left for two weeks on vacation, and my oldest brother, Paul moved into an apartment last month, plus now Josh and Tim are gone too. And soon...so will I. 

Plus, a lot of my friends are going off to camps lately too. Two of my friends left this morning, and two of my friends were gone a couple weeks ago, and one of my friends is gone for two weeks starting just after my brother Tim gets back. 

All in all, it's been kind of a separated summer.  

So I guess you could say I have a lot on my mind. That could be my excuse for why I didn't post. 

I guess it's still pretty lame, as most excuses are, but it's all I got. 

Anyways, this is basically just an update on my life, but I really enjoyed writing about laughter and happiness and optimism last week. That was pretty sweet. 

If you like that as well as (or better than) just talking about myself and being all vain and arrogant (sort of) give me a holler in the comments. I'd love to hear from you! ^-^

I hope you guys are a having a FUNtastic summer, and I wish you an amazing day, night, afternoon, dusk, dawn or whatsoever it happens to be where and when you are in time and space, and I'll see you next week! 

Love and peace and ALL the zen! ✌

Keep Calm and Endeavor On, 

~Adalyn

Thoughts on Us.

In midst of my crazy summer schedule, various thoughts of camps and trips within the next two weeks, buying new clothes, worrying/being excited about birthdays, trying to pen 20,000 words for Camp NaNoWriMo, and ranting about how angry I am when they use different actors and actresses for the sequel of a movie I enjoyed ((BATMAN)), I realized that today, (shocker), is Friday. 

And...I felt the need to stop, take a deep, calming, relaxing breath, and a long, hot shower, and write something about the mysteries of the universe and why we all love them so much. 

This is gonna be totally random, but since I've been running around like [insert un-scarring analogy here, since I couldn't think of one], I decided that doing a little theorizing might do some wonders for my poor, addled brain. 

In but a moment, I will write out several subject neatly on a peice of notebook paper, cut them apart, fold them evenly, and place them, one by one, in this hat. 

I will then commence wearing said hat as I turn your thoughts to the workings of us humans or the universe or something amazingly spectacularifying like that. 

Prepare to be dumbfounded by my intelligence. 

I will now do the whole subject-paper-hat whatsyamadoohicky. 

Here is my list:

Yes, I spelled "business" with a "y" the first time. It's summer, and I'm in NaNoMode. Gimme a break. 

Here are my little bits of paper inside my wonderfully summery hat, which isn't nearly as colorful on the inside as it is on the outside. Bummer, right? 

And now, to CHOOSE!!! 8|

That says laughter, kiddies. Let's get theorizing! :D

Soooo...laughter. 

'Tis a strange thing, most definitely. 

Who could have ever thought of it if it wasn't already just a natural thing to do? Even the smallest babies can laugh. Even children have a sense of humor. 

Think about laughing, really think about the action, the science behind it, what it might look like to an alien who's never ever even thought of the concept of laughter or amusement. 

I'm sure an alien, looking on from his invisible ship, safely behind his über-safe, lazer-proof glass and hidden by a cloaking device...I'm sure he would be thouroughly weirded out by a room full of people, doubled over with some spasmodic episode and a strange liquid leaking from their eyes. 

Laughter is an action of the diaphragm, which is why you can get hiccups sometimes from laughing so hard. Hiccups are when your diaphragm decides to be a torture device and make you make embarrassing noises until people think you're dying. 

((The best thing ever is when you have the hiccups, and you try to sing something sort of fast-paced. Because then you're cracking up and hiccuping and singing and it's just the best feeling in the world. ^-^))

But seriously, when you get the hiccups, and you have that strange feeling in your stomach, your diaphragm is moving. Nothing to flip about. 

But WHY do we laugh, is my question. Because I'm just an inquisitive person like that. Why is it that even babies, newborns barely even introduced to our big, green, beautiful world, even they know that when something is funny, you laugh?

Isn't it just the most adorable thing when little babies laugh? My piano teacher's little girl is about five months old, and she's just the cutest baby on the earth. When she laughs, she gets this little sparkle in her eye, and she has this cute smile, and her laugh just...oh, babies just make me SOOOO happy! 

Sorry. ANYWHAZE!

Laughter is programmed into us. It's something we've always done, and something we always will do. Everyone has a sense of humor, and I guess that's because God knew we'd need the outlook and the ability to laugh things off. Embarrassments, problems, grief. 

They say laughter is the best medicine, and I think they're right. Nothing makes me happier after all the tears of sadness are shed then when one of my good friends takes me to a funny movie, or offers me a book they thoroughly enjoyed, or just sits and talks with me and makes me laugh because I just love being with them. 

I genuinely love to laugh, because I like being happy. I figure there's no use being sad all the time because life isn't about the sadness. 

Sure, sad things may happen, and they do, to all if us. But just remember you can't have the light without darkness to compare it to. If you're in a room covered in LED lights, painted white, then bringing in one candle isn't going to do anything. 

But if you're in a dark room, empty of everything, and you bring in a candle, it can be the start of something amazing. All the darkness in the world can't stand up to even one candle. 

And also, even when it's night, all you gotta do is remember that on the other side of the world, someone, right here, right now, is enjoying the sunshine, and when the time for their brightness has passed, it will move to you. 

It's never dark everywhere. There's always light if you're determined and hopeful enough to look for it. 

So keep laughing, because it's not worth it to be sad. If babies can laugh, so can you, because you can obviously read and navigate the Internet. You're big enough to laugh. 

I hope you're having a funtastic summer, as cheesy as that is. Maybe I've made you laugh. Maybe I've made you think. Maybe you're an alien and you're just discovering the human race. 

We're kind of a gloomy bunch right now, but I've kept my candle alight. I hope it spreads to each and every one of you wonderful, beautiful, amazingly perfect and perfectly amazing people, and together, we can banish the darkness with our glowing, shining, burning light of hope. 

I believe in this world. I believe in us. And no matter what problems you're facing, no matter how dark it seems and how hard it's getting to try and push through, I promise you, there's someone in the world who's gone through that. And there's someone in the world who's made it out of that as a better person. And there's someone in the world who's encouraging you. And there's someone in the the world who loves you. 

Promise me you'll never forget that. 

I leave you with a quote now, from Catherine of Siena, which really helps inspire me when I'm tempted to fake myself, cheat myself on what I'm feeling and who I am. 

"Be yourself, and you will set the world ablaze." 

Together, we can spread the light. Even if you only touch one person, that's one person more than you touched before. Wouldn't changing someone's heart for the better be worth all the pain and struggle and tribulation? I think so. 

Help me light the candles of everyone around the world, across the nations. Let's not cross the lines of race and color and religion and gender and opinions, but erase them.  Lines, straight or crooked, don't do anything in a world that is round. 

Help me spread love and encouragement and hope. Help me change the heart of someone who feels trapped, sunk unbelievably deep in the pit of despair. 

...Help me set the world ablaze. 

Keep Calm and Endeavor On, 

~Adalyn

NaNoWriMo, and Why I Am Late...Again.

I feel like I'm beginning to fall into a habit of this. 

Before i explain to you why I'm late this week, I also have an announcement to make. 

So, this month, I'm doing Camp NaNoWriMo, which is a program exactly like the regular NaNoWriMo, except for the fact that it's in the summer. I'm writing a book and I'm really liking it, and it's been taking up a lot of my time. 

I wanted to do it in April or whenever the first one was, but I couldn't manage it because I was still in school and I had a bunch of other stuff to do to get ready for the hot summer months. 

But I'm doing it this month. It's super exciting and fun and if any of you are writers, I suggest you check it out. There's a children's/teen's website called The Young Writers' Program at ywp.nanowrimo.org , and there's another program for 13-113 that's just plain-ol' National Novel Writing Month at www.nanowrimo.org . And for summer there's www.campnanowrimo.org .

It's super fun and free and you can participate in it at any age. In YWP and Camp NaNo, you set your word count goal, which is the number of words you aim to write in 30 days, though in the "real" NaNoWriMo, the set goal is 50,000 words. 

It's not nearly as hard or daunting as you think, because if you write a certain amount of words a day, you reach your WCG in no time at all! 

Anyway, if you want to try it out, you can do novels, biographies, screenplays, scripts, poems, songs, or even sentences if you want! All that matters is that you write and have fun. Check it out. It's amazing. 

NOW! To the excuses for why I didn't post and my updates on the 4th! ^-^

In my defense, I did have a very impromptu-ly crazy Thursday/Friday. 

So, as you who live in the Land of the Free, also known as that fat lazy country with those unrefined savages, or The United States of America, know, Thursday just so happened to be Independence Day! It's been that way for, oh, about over two hundred years. 

The Fourth of July is kind of an important day for us rebellious, independent US of A citizens, and hence we do stupid things, like throw big parties with lots of meat and potato chips and yummy drinks. And set off big, explosive, colorful and sometimes terrifying tendrils of flame to show our excitement and joy over our freedom and liberty from other countries. 

The only drawback from these parties and fireworks is when you're sitting there watching the show, and your neighbor, who's joined you for the big, delicious celebratory party, accidentally puts the firework in upside-down. 

And so it explodes about 20 feet away from you, shocking and scaring everyone there, making you scream as you feel the shockwave and see the brilliant burst of color that has exploded all too close to you and your friends and family, and setting off the car alarm of your best friend's brand-spankin'-new bright white Toyota Tundra. 

It was an awesome and exciting experience, and since my boyfriend decided I needed to be comforted, and wrapped his arms around me, it was also sort of cute, too. 

After the party, two of my friends slept over, totally ruined half of my makeup doing blind makeovers, and stayed half of the next day, when I had to clean the house and help prepare food for a get-together we were having with some of our closest friends. 

They stayed until ten, and after a long argument between my friend Brianna and her mother, she was allowed to spend the night. And we watched Les Mis. And we wrote, since we're both aspiring authors. And then fell asleep. 

Yesterday was Saturday, and I don't really have an excuse for not posting, and I was even going to post, but in the morning I had to return canopies and chairs to my neighbors that they had let us borrow for the party, and then I was reading all afternoon. 

I finished my book at 1:30 am this morning, finally went to bed around 2am, and then woke up at 11:28 to discover my family gone to 10 o'clock mass.

So here I am, two days late after a crazy weekend, happy that I broke my record for how late I've slept in ever because I'm not nearly as tired as I have been for the past week. 

I guess a good night's sleep solved all my problems. Anyway, my mom and dad are taking my siblings and I on a surprise outing, so I guess I'll see you all next week. Though I probably won't post until Saturday, since I have a birthday party to attend. 

At least I let you know this week, right?

....Right? 

;)

Keep Calm and Endeavor On,

~Adalyn

A Boring Narrative on My Boring Life. ;P

Hey, all! It's been another of those crazy weeks. 

VBS ended today, and at the end of the day, a bunch of kids came up and gave me a group hug. It was adorable. This is why I love Sing & Play; all the kids love you and give you hugs at the end of the week. 

I'm sad and relieved at the same time. Don't get me wrong, I love the kids and the acting and the songs, but herding children and memorizing skits at the same time as not having my parents home this week was just a teensy-tiny bit stressful. 

My parents are glad to be back in the States, and they brought me back (among other things) foreign sugar. My sweet tooth is unbelievable. But anyhoo, this is what it looked like. 

Weird, right?

I've been staying up late watching Bachelor Pad lately, which is shameful but entertaining, and I've also been getting up early because of VBS. 

I just realized how boring this week must have been to you. But it was crazy insane busy for me. :P

I'm actually about to head off to a 21st birthday party, so I suppose I'd better go. Sorry for wasting your life by telling you about mine. 

I hope you all are having a great, amazing, spectacular summer, and I'll see y'all next week! STAND STRONG! 

Keep Calm and Endeavor On,

~Adalyn

An Update On My Stressful Misery.

Hello, all you beautiful people who read my blog! And hello all you gorgeous new people who have never seen me before and are just browsing blogger/ the Internet/ NaNo, and just happened to stumble across my blog or my profile. You are beautiful too. 

Everyone is beautiful today. 

I don't know why I'm in such a good mood right now, considering I'm having a crazy, aw-screw-it kind of day. 

First of all, I've told you guys I'm helping out with VBS again this year. It's Athens, like I said, and I have to be this Grecian girl named Thalia who is learning from St. Paul. 

It's stressful because my parents had an opportunity to go on this amazing vacation for a couple weeks, and they took it, and so...they're gone for VBS. My parents and our family play a big role--the only role, really--in making and setting up all the decorations and sets for our week-long Vacation Bible School. 

And since they're gone, all we have is a list of directions and a few good luck wishes from our parents, instead of a guiding hand as far as setting everything up. 

And I have to memorize six skits and work them out with my friend Marge on top of other lines and choreography which you will hear more about in just a moment. 

Another thing is the fact that I'm currently the only wannabe maternal figure in our house. And also the only one who doesn't have to work full-time who possesses the knowledge of how to operate the washing machine properly. 

My brothers kind of fail. 

But, then again, they're better and more willing cooks than I. And I only have to do two loads of laundry every day. They have to slave over the stove for hours. 

Or something like that. 

The third thing that's stressing me out is that I'm going to be gone at a camp this week, and we have six days to perfect the play Oklahoma! before we have to preform. I've never seen the full play/ movie, so needless to say, I'm a little nervous. 

Plus, it's an overnight theater camp, which means my family will be without any maternal figure whatsoever for six days. 

Keep in mind, none of them know how to do laundry. 

I've never been in a musical like this before, though I've been in plenty of plays. I'm still nervous though, because I was never much of a dancer. Hence why I dropped out of ballet, jazz, and tap when I was seven. 

Also, we've gotten a lot of rain here the past week. The streets are sodden. 

I went to run lines with my friend Marge, who lives across the neighborhood.

Our neighborhood is about two miles all the way around. 

And so, in it, I would not recommend scootering in the rain, through large puddles there is no possible way you can avoid. You get mud all over the back of whatever pant leg is not pushing, and you don't even realize it until there's this freezing feeling on the back of your calf. Also, your favorite flats get soaked, and you're just really thankful you brought socks in your bag. Oh, and your script is soggy. 

What? Haha. No. Pshhhh...No, no, I've never done anything like that. Haha, I'm so much more clever and practical than that! I'm not an idiot. That would be stupid. Pshhhhhhhhhhhh. 

Anyhoo, running lines went fine. Margie gave me a towel to wipe the mud off my jeans, ((shut up.)) and we had fun tossing lines back and forth. 

And then...I started to scooter home. 

Just kidding. I had learned my lesson. 

And with a humble and contrite heart that had no desire to get more mud on it, I walked. 

And I had a book idea on the way, inspired by the soaked hems of my favorite pair of jeans. So that was okay. 

Anyway, I'm gonna go take a nap and eat some candy. Not in that order. 

I hope you all have a wonderful Friday, and I wish you an absolutely fantabulous start to the summer! I hope your first week or two was awesome. 

Keep Calm and Endeavor On, 

~Adalyn

...Summer!

Summer! It's finally here for me! 

I'm done with school!

So...basically, I get a few weeks of downtime before Vacation Bible School, which is Athens this year! There's gonna be colemns and Romans and robes all over the place! 

I love helping out every year, because the little kids love it and its always really fun, because I'm a part of Sing and Play, which is the part where we sing and dance and act out little skits to teach the kids lessons about God. 

There's this adorable little girl named Elizabeth with very tight, medium brown ringlets and big chocolatey eyes and caramel skin. She's the sweetest little girl ever, and whenever I see her, she gives me a huge hug. 

She's probably one of the best little kids in VBS. She's always cheerful and happy and enthusiastic. She's a good dancer, too. Knows all the motions. 

To emphasize the beginning of summer, my daddy is taking me and my little sister Faith out for a daddy-daughter date night. To Red Robin's. Yummmm. 

And last night was my friend Marie's thirteenth birthday party. It was fun. We went out to a fancy dinner downtown and had cake and ice cream at home later. 

And I wore lip gloss. 

The last time I wore lip gloss, I was probably seven. I eventually threw all the lip gloss I had away because it got nasty after a while. 

But this is real lip gloss. Not that stuff they sell to little kids to make them feel like big kids. 

And I wore it. 

I'm not a big makeup girl. It's not like I'm denying my femininity or act like I'm too pretty for it to do anything or too ugly for it to help. 

I've just never really worn makeup. It's never been that important to my life because there was never any pressure to wear any. Perks of homeschooling, eh? ;)

But I'll be a regular at all those chemicals we stick all over our faces for some reason by the end of the summer. My mom is forcing me to learn. 

Still, makeup comes in handy, so I'm willing to give it a whirl. In the meantime, I'll enjoy my last couple weeks of chemical-less cheeks/ eyes/ eyebrows/ everything else. Yayyyy. 

Anyway, I gots to go! I've got my date tonight! ~<3

Keep Calm and Endeavor On,

~Adalyn 

The End of School, and the Beginning of...

So, I am currently rejoicing about a couple things. 

As of today, I am finished with most of my school subjects! *happy dance.*

I did my last tests in science, english, and reading, and I finished spelling and vocabulary and art last week. So basically, I have only two more subjects and then...

I'm done for the entire summer!

Until...you know, fall! I'm soooo happy!

Did you notice? I used italics and bold in that last sentence. Crazy right? But I'm feeling adventurous today. 

So, math is gonna be the last thing I finish because there's, you know, a lot of it. And then, get this. 

When I finish that. When I finish that last equation in my orange and blue algebra book...

I'll be officially going into... *dramatic and sinister music.* ...High School! *le gasp.*

But, being a real-life, actual, official Freshman-to-be has its privileges. 

For instance, the ability to attend these homeschool dances my brothers and friends go to every month, where you learn different dances and practice and then have, like, actual dances with decorations and themes and stuff. 

And high school youth group at my amazing church. 

And more outings with friends I don't see a whole lot. 

And better clothes! So that I actually look like a female of this species! Yayyy!

Last year, I was scared of turning thirteen. You know, the whole, "Oh my gosh! I'm gonna be an official teenager! And I'll start being influenced by society's idea of fashion and having bad friends and spending all my time on the Internet because I can legally have a Facebook and stuff like that, whereas before I just lied about my age!" (Oh, come on. You guys did it too. Get off your high pony.)

But then, I realized that thirteen ain't that bad. 

I mean, you're still just an unfortunate middle schooler who takes selfies and is obsessed with 1D. And if you're not like that, I congratulate you on being one of the few who has succeeded in life. You win. Congrats for being one of the only sane middle schoolers left on our lonely planet Earth. 

But anyway. 

Fourteen, to me, it seems, is the Rite of Passage into the real world. 

The real world is also known as High School. 

The first step into High School is simply a birthday. 

But not only a birthday. 

The birthday. 

The Rite of Passage birthday. 

High School is a big step in life. You meet more people who are even bigger jerks than they were in middle school, and your social status plummets until you can build a little castle around yourself to both make you look good and sheild you from the blows of the aforementioned jerks. 

What a great metaphor. I'm very proud of that metaphor. Or is it an analogy? 

Like I said, I'm finished with Vocabulary. 

But, to stay on topic, fourteen, somehow, seems much larger than thirteen did. 

Maybe it's just that thirteen is only one step above twelve, which is, like the most immature time for boys, and also not the best time for girls. Thirteen is just a year after that. You can't have matured that much, right?

But fourteen...Well, fourteen is just one year before fifteen, which is only a number away from sixteen!

And then, well, you have seventeen coming up fast, and before you know it...

You're a flippin' adult! *scariness.*

So, although I'm actually looking foreword to this birthday of mine, it doesn't seem nearly as intimidating as thirteen did. 

And that's probably a good thing. 

So anyway, by the next time I post, I'll be done with school! And all you lovely people out there will be done with school! Or almost done! Or kind of almost done!

And then, when we all have the weight of those boring final tests off our heavily-laden shoulders, we can do summery things!

Like talk about beaches and pools and sodas and sleepovers and sleeping in and hamburgers and parties in the middle of the week and all that summer stuff we've missed so much since that stupid month called September decided to start torturing us again last year. 

And so, as the heat begins to roll in, lets roll out our towels and do some tanning!

Let's get this summer started and live it up with friends and ice cream and sleep deprivation and music and camps and everything amazing about this time of year. 

Hang up your backpacks, kids, and let's forget about those silly summer reading assignments. You can do that in August. 

For now, finish as quick as possible,and let's make Summer 2013 absolutely unforgettable. 

Happy summer, and I'll see you guys next week! :D

Keep Calm and Endeavor On,

~Adalyn