National Novel Writing Month

The goal of NaNoWriMo is to write 50,000 words - a full-length novel - in just 30 days. This is my first year to try it!

The synopsis of my novel:
Once upon a time, there were two girls. One was named Kris, and the other was named Kelsie. The two of them were very similar – both had chin-length blonde hair, both had dark chocolate eyes, both were sophomores in high school. Kris was sixteen, and Kelsie was fourteen, but she would be fifteen by the time this novel was over. Both lived in Frisco, Texas.

There was only one fundamental difference:

Kelsie was a writer, and Kris was a character.

Other than that, they were pretty much identical. And anyway, if you asked Kelsie, Kris wasn’t so much of a character as a friend. See, Kelsie had thought so hard and so long about Kris, and waited so impatiently for November to come so she could start writing, that Kris had seemed less and less like a character and more and more like a real person. In fact, Kris even helped Kelsie out sometimes when Kelsie got stuck.

And Kelsie was most definitely stuck.

Kris heard about this problem. Considering that she was in Kelsie’s head, she pretty much knew all of Kelsie’s issues. And Kris decided to do something to help. She very kindly volunteered to be a guinea pig of sorts – to help Kelsie find her genre, as it were. And since Kris was a writer as well (and an aspiring poet… except for the part where her poetry is almost as bad as the Vogons’ in “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”), maybe she could give Kelsie some pointers. And, of course, completely obliterate the fourth wall along the way.

Homecoming '09

Homecoming '09 I discovered how fun it is to go with a group of girls. :)

From left to right: Brooke, me, Sara. (I know Sara reads this blog. Hi Sara! ...and hi Brooke if you ever read this!)
We're so cute! ...well, they're cute. I look sort of like "hey! who put me in this dress? ...and what am I supposed to do with it?"
They were teaching me how to stand when wearing a dress - one foot out. ...I never claimed to be girly.
Girls just wanna have fu-un...
I don't do self-portraits well. ...and Brooke is just special.
Sara's thinking: OK, smile for the camera!

Brooke's thinking: OK, smile for the camera!

Kelsie's thinking: EAT THE CAMERA!! MWAHAHA!
I <3 this picture!
This reveals Sara's true nature: she's a zombie.

Look into my eyes...
All the sophomore girls - the ones who came to the photo shoot, at least :)
All the girls and the boys
All the boys (who were getting rather impatient with all the pictures)
The girls were more excited about the pictures than the boys were!
This would be cute if I wasn't staring at the camera with my lazer eyes.
Notice my hair, by the way, in a cute little sideways braid!
Then we went to dinner at Texas Land & Cattle...

(This is what I had to look at during the whole meal! ...I didn't eat much.)
Foiled in my attempt to capture a picture! Perhaps to avoid more insulting commentary on the boys. ;) (OK guys, I'll admit it, y'all were handsome!)
Matt, hiding from the world, and Tim fascinated with his flower
Andrew taking pictures, and Tim mesmerized by the shiny iPhone. ;)
The boys started throwing stuff at me (but maybe I brought that on myself!) so I put my jacket on backwards to keep the little straw wrappers and stuff from going down my shirt!
The entrance to our cafeteria-turned-ballroom...
Everybody dancing the night away!

(I asked Sara to comment on the evening. She said "Three words: Best. Night. Ever.")

Spiderman

Whenever Mom and I are working in the 4-6 year olds class on Sunday, there are always kids who ask me to draw them things like superheroes, dinosaurs, and movie characters. I'm much better at drawing than my mom is, so I walk around helping them draw pictures of Hulk, Superman, Darth Vader, and Princess Leia. But today I was busy cutting out the pieces for our craft, so a little boy walked up to Mom and asked her "Could you help me draw Spiderman?"

Now, understand something about my mom: She can draw cats. She can draw dogs. She can draw happy little cartoon snakes, and stick people, and flowers. That's about it.

But nonetheless, she decided to try. So, with the little boy looking critically over her shoulder, she set out to draw Spiderman.

^She stopped at this point, because he finally said, "Oh Mrs. Kristi, it just gets worse and worse."

So I drew him a Spiderman. (And he decorated the area around Spiderman.)

100th Post

This is the 100th post on this blog!

In honor of the occasion, I will list 100 things that have happened since the opening of this blog. I may or may not have already blogged about them.

1. It has been 468 days since this blog opened.

2. I got a boyfriend

3. I broke up with the boyfriend

4. I went to my first homecoming dance

5. I went to Disneyworld

6. Our football team went all the way to State, and then got 2nd

7. My marching band got 2nd in state as well

8. I marched on the field at Baylor Stadium

9. I started high school

10. I started sophomore year

11. I got a new best friend :)

12. I went to the Gathering

13. I discovered this really cool phenomena where you meet a group of people who you've never before met in person in your entire life and you already know them as well as any of your real life friends (and they were AWESOME!!)

14. I broke my ankle

15. I had two surgeries

16. Ted Dekker signed my cast

17. I had a scooter, crutches, and a wheelchair before I could walk

18. I walked!

19. I moved into a new house

20. I visited Alabama

21. I visited New Jersey

22. I visited Galveston, Texas

23. I visited Florida

24. I was a bridesmaid

25. I started writing a book

26. I discovered my talent for writing and opened another blog

27. I baked about a bajillion cakes

28. I discovered a love for photography and took a good deal of pictures ;)

29. I wrote a lot of songs

30. I decided what career I want to do when I grow up - occupational therapist! :)

31. I have followed a blog about the little girl who inspired me to be an OT since before this blog opened - www.urbanfunnyfarm.blogspot.com - but it was worth mentioning here anyway!

32. I realized that I actually do like to sing

33. One of my best friends came on a band trip to Dallas!

34. I drew cartoons

35. My drawing skills got better

36. I discovered an immense love for music

37. My room was painted blue

38. I decorated my closet

39. I contracted post-Gathering syndrome (PGS) ;)

40. I got texting on my phone

41. I sent about a bajillion texts

42. I got Skype on my computer
43. I learned the fun of video chatting :D

44. I got a laptop!

45. I spent quite awhile with a Mac and am now able to use both Mac and Windows

46. I learned cake decorating

47. I learned how to photo edit

48. I used my photo editing skills to make fun of my friends make my friends laugh

49. I fell in love with God

50. God rocked my world :)

51. I helped launch a youth group

52. I grew up a lot

53. I discovered an affinity for this smiley face :P Thanks a lot Theresa! :P

54. I turned 14

55. My best friend moved away

56. My best friend came back for a visit

57. I discovered how much fun Bible classes are

58. I discovered how much fun debating is

59. My room is taken over every week by a herd of 6th grade boys!

60. I turned my closet into my reading/writing private space

61. I went through 3 notebooks!

62. I posted all that notebookery on my Virtual Notebook
63. I had a growth spurt (finally!)

64. I'm gonna get a poem of mine published!

65. I saw Brad Stine live

66. I saw Tim Hawkins live

67. I saw Skillet in concert

68. I saw Disciple in concert

69. I saw Decyfer Down in concert

70. I saw RED in concert

71. I learned how to speak Spanish

72. I went to countless Wednesday night youth groups

73. I brought lots of people to those youth groups

74. I had a screw put in my foot

75. I learned how to hop everywhere I went

76. I hopped into every rest stop we took between here and Tennessee

77. I fell off my scooter a few times

78. I rode my scooter around the mall

79. I went to many many physical therapy sessions

80. I had the screw taken out of my foot

81. I kept the screw

82. I learned how to hobble

83. I learned how to walk

84. I learned how to run (well...still working on this one :P)

85. I still did marching band despite the ankle

86. I finished reading the New Testament

87. I finished reading Genesis

88. I started making dinner every night

89. I decided I want to adopt kids when I grow up :) (again, see http://www.urbanfunnyfarm.blogspot.com/ )

90. I got a Facebook

91. I got a 2nd facebook...for a bad guy :P

92. I pulled off the bad guy facebook for several months until my awesome reveal at the Gathering!

93. I discovered an awesome place in our neighborhood called the Shire

94. I watched a whole season of Survivor

95. I watched a whole season of Amazing Race

96. I managed to make it through Geometry only to realize that Geometry is so much better than Algebra II! :P

97. I read approximately twelve katrillion books

98. ^The best ones were Dekker books

99. I read a Dekker book that hasn't come out yet 8-)

100. I posted a thingy on my blog about 100 things I did ;)

101. I added one more in hopes of many more blog posts to come! :)

And there will be more blog posts to come...as long as Kelsie is sarcastic, witty, and can take pictures, there will be blog posts! (And we all know that that's another way of saying "forever." :D)

OK, Maybe I Did Teach Them

When I'm trying to get a NORMAL picture of myself, and my lunatic brothers are being goofy...

...Mom and Dad always say that I'm the one who taught them everything they know...
...but that can't be true! Just look at my angelic little smile!
See, I'm not weird and I don't make goofy faces for the camera!
Umm...well, okay, so maybe sometimes...

Well, okay, so you can find the occasional goofy picture...

or "distracted" picture, I guess.
See? I'm smiling! ...Sort of.
That...could still be considered...a smile...maybe, if you squinted and looked at it upside down.
OK FINE! I concede!
Maybe they did learn it from me!

Fun on the Town

So Mom and I went shopping for a bunch of stuff for me to wear to Brittani's wedding, for her to wear to Brittani's wedding, she wanted a new purse, etc.

First we went to Plato's Closet, a used-clothes store where I get a lot of my stuff. It's awesome! I don't have any pictures from there, but I did get some cute outfits! :) I'll post pics some other time.

When we were checking out I noticed that the cashier had a sign on her register that said "We accept everything but checks."

I told Mom she should pay in twelve glass beads, a woven blanket and a beaver skin. (She didn't think that was nearly as funny as I did. :D)

Then we went to Steak-N-Shake. I had an AWESOME mint cookies-n-cream milkshake! Mmmmm. (I recommend you go get one right now.)

We had a waiter come over and ask us if we needed anything. Mom said we were okay, thanks. He walked away. Then another one walked up and asked if we needed anything. Mom said no thanks, and then when the guy left she said "Yes, in the past ten seconds, ten needs have come up."

I laughed and said "I would like a million dollars in small unmarked bills, a helicopter waiting at the airport, and the letter Q stricken from the English language."

Next up was Sam Moon. Remember the pics from last time? More sarcastic commentary and funny pictures followed:

Purses at Sam Moon come in three sizes: Large, Texan, and Shamu.
If you lean into this purse to retrieve your Chapstick, be careful not to get lost on your way out.
Does my butt make this purse look fat?
We should buy Sam Moon purses and distribute them to homeless people to give them somewhere to live!
I think these are real diamonds.

For the gangsta hunter in you.
Is this a bracelet or a cupholder?
Oops. We seem to be breaking the rules. ...And does this mean I'm forced to wear a cap if I've got eyeshadow on?

Then we went to JC Penny's to get a dress for Mom.
She asked me what dress she should buy. I closed my eyes and pointed randomly. Apparently Mom will be wearing a homecoming dress to Brittani's wedding.

We also got my ring shined!

And finally we went home. Shopping is so much more fun with me there to make it crazy. 8-) (I'm not so good at the advice. Can I interest you in a sarcastic comment?)

♥