WALL-E

This will probably do a number on my nice little facade of being a mature 17-year-old, but I have to confess.

We went to see WALL-E yesterday, and I loved it. Absolutely loved it. I didn't think I would, because the previews were so sad (please don't ask me how an animated robot can look cute and sad enough to evoke emotion) but it was really good! Even if it did ALMOST make me cry..... that's the really pathetic part. A Disney Pixar film for little kids almost made me cry.... *shakes head* But I guess that's how they make their money. All the mature people taking the little kiddies to see the movie like the movie too.

*Spoiler warning*
The problem? Earth was completely covered in trash, and all the humans are on a "cruise" in outer space, waiting for robots to clean it all up before they return. The hero? A lone robot - WALL-E - who is still cleaning up earth, with only the companionship of a cock roach (a CUTE cock roach). All the other robots have apparently stopped working, as you see when WALL-E visits a huge pile of other WALL-Es to borrow a pair of "shoes." WALL-E compacts trash into cubes, and builds huge towers out of them. At the end of a day of work, he goes home and watches Hello Dolly, obviously longing for the companionship he sees in the movie.

Then one day, a gorgeous white robot arrives in a huge space ship. He's immediately smitten.... and almost gets killed when she blasts him upon sight. She's looking for something.... he tries a various line of gifts to get her attention and approval, then finally breaks through and learns her name: EVE. Then a sand storm comes up and he takes her to his home, where he shows her all the neat things he's collected from the trash, the last of which really excites her. A plant. She puts it inside her internal container, and shuts down with a green light flashing on her panel.

WALL-E desperately tries to revive her to no avail. The ship that brought her arrives to take her back, and WALL-E rides along..... to the cruise spaceship, containing the world population, all as fat as beached whales and lying on floating chairs with TV screens in front of their faces. They've been in space 700 years, and they aren't interested in returning to earth. But the plant that WALL-E gave EVE is proof that earth is ready for rehabitation. The captain's interest is revived by the plant, and he researches everything about earth that they've forgotten over the 700 years and decides to go back.

But the robots on the ship are determined not to go back. They have their orders.... from the original cruise director: Never return. They try to destroy the plant and incriminate EVE and WALL-E. Just to skip all the boring stuff, EVE and WALL-E get the plant and take it to be evaluated by the ship. If it is a plant from earth, the ship will set a course back to earth. Just before they insert the plant, the co-pilot (a robot) intentionally crushes WALL-E into the stage with the receptacle that is supposed to identify the plant. The captain disables the robot (and learns to walk!), but WALL-E is already crushed.

The plant is identified, and the ship returns to earth, where EVE tries to repair WALL-E with spare parts. He works again, but doesn't recognize her. She tries everything and is just about to give up when he snaps out of it and remembers her. And they lived happily ever after; The End.

It really was a cute movie. My new Pixar favorite! I can't wait to see it again. :P

~Lizzie

Camping trip: Part 3

This is probably the final installment of my very boring series (may I suggest Jess's blog for a much more interesting version).... perhaps my next post will spark some more discussion as I have a pretty controversial and probably inflammatory opinion post forming in my head. Or maybe I won't post it and I'll just type it out to relieve my frustration.

Anyway. We slept in much later on Sunday.... us gals were woken up by everyone else giving up on being quiet. We got up and breakfast was already underway.

Watermelon!!

Our little camp kitchen area......

My sis, the bacon mistress.

Scrambled egg sandwiches.

Then we went out for our last time on the lake. We did a lot of the same things that we did the day before..... but a new occurrence was Daddy letting me sail the Sunfish! Jess and Nathan were brave enough to ride with me... and after a small incident where I almost crashed into a nice motorboat while casting off (I DIDN'T hit it!) I did a pretty good job... if I do say so myself.

Packing up. Yep, all that actually fits in (and some on top) of the suburban. The 6 of us were pretty squished with baggage riding next to, around and on top of us though.

Our Sunfish, packed up and ready to go.

And I just remembered that I still haven't shared Sarah's pictures... so if I ever get that to work I might have another post. But that's it for now... try to contain your disappointment.

~Lizzie

Camping trip: Part 2

Before I get started on another long post about our fantastic camping trip, I want to mention this article that Natalie linked on her blog..... "20-Something Reasons to Live at Home". It's really good and has given me even more reasons to continue living at home when I'm older. Thank you, Natalie, for sharing it!

Now to continue with the description of our camping trip.... since there's nothing else for me to blog about and I'm sure all of our faithful readers are on the edges of their seats in anticipation.

Jess, Sarah and I were up at 6:30... and we were hungry. Unfortunately for us, all the food was in our Suburban, and the Suburban (or "Sub" as we affectionately call it) was locked. Aaaaaand, the keys were in my parents tent, and most likely in an inaccessible place (My guess: my dad's pocket). So we suffered for a while before our trying to break into the Sub aroused my parents enough to ask what was wrong with us and give us the keys. We wolfed down some fruit yogurt and popped our Starbucks frappuchinos into the cooler to get cold. The rest of our group appeared in small clusters and we played cards while we drank our frappuchinos.

Joel discovered his 3rd alternate identity...... for those of you who don't know, he already has his normal self, which goes by the name Joel. Then he has a goofy character with a high-pitched voice that goes by Lenny. He put on a camo hat backwards and found Bubba. Bubba is an Italian trucker person...... I still haven't gotten used to him. (I know it sounds like some weird thing, but really, Joel's just pretending..... he doesn't have multiple personality disorder. Just to clarify). Jess started an add-on story about Bubba, where we disclose his life story and some very traumatic secrets about his unfortunate personality. (Sarah has a picture of Bubba which I tried to upload, but as you'll see in more detail below, I'm having difficulty with her pictures.)

Then we had a full-fledged breakfast of pancakes and egg-sandwiches before heading down to the beach. We played an slightly improvised version of water polo (with no goals..... go figure), floated in floaties, swam and sailed our Sunfish. Here are a few pictures that I took:

Daddy, Marck and David on the Sunfish.

Hannah and Chandler on their "boat."

Mr. M, my dad, and Joel, putting the Sunfish away for the night.

A neat shot.... not sure how I got it, it was entirely accidental.

This is a shot of a kayaker. Believe it. Ha, I'm not sure what setting I put it on, but for some reason it "clicked" for about 5 seconds.... thus the fuzziness. I decided that it looks kinda like a modern piece of artwork and decided to share my diverse artistic talent.

And because Sarah said that she won't do a post with her pictures, I asked and received her permission to share some of her photos (infinitely superior to mine). Unfortunately, I have spent the last hour trying to get her pictures to upload to blogger and it isn't working. So they'll have to appear later. *frown* Maybe from her computer....

So anyway. This is going to sound somewhat anticlimactic.... we all watched the sunset, and everyone started heading back to camp. Jess and I hung out on the beach until it was decidedly dark, discussing serious topics.... and when we got back, there were only 2 marshmallows left! So we each got a very small s'more and then we all played Infinite Questions (near cousin to the game "20 Questions") until we turned in.

~Lizzie

Camping trip: Part 1

We got together a group camping trip at Jordan Lake this past weekend, with us, the M's, the J's and Jess and Marck. (Some others were invited, but they couldn't make it.......)

At first we had a bit of difficulty with our campsite. We thought at first that we needed to stop at a separate ranger station, but after a call to Mrs. M, determined that we should just go on to the actual campsite and there would be a way to register our site there. Jess was waiting at the separate ranger station, so we called her and she headed over to Vista Point a few minutes behind us.

We got to Vista Point and told the guy at the booth that we wanted a group campsite, and he asked for our reservation. "We called twice and were informed that it is first-come, first-serve," my mom replied. The guy told us that that's true for individual sites, but you can and should make reservations for group sites, and that all their group sites were full. He called Crosswinds for us and found that they had some duplex sites available, which should be big enough for our not-so-big group.

We went over to Crosswinds and spent a while trying to pick a site, since all the sites on the water were already taken. We finally picked one, and Jess and Marck arrived. Jess, Marck and I pitched 2 of the tents with little-to-no help from anyone until the J's arrived. Nathan very obligingly hammered in stakes for us while we kicked back.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on what you want to read) I can't give a very detailed account of everything that we did after that, because I was tired. I know that we went down to the beach to watch the sunset. And I got some pictures.


Then we played Apples to Apples and Hearts before supper. We had hotdogs cooked on the campfire, and s'mores. Then we brushed our teeth and went to bed.

~Lizzie

First meet of the summer!

We won!!! 277 to 183. It was pretty cool, since last year we lost to them by 57 points. We got a great start to our season, and it was so much fun! The pool was absolutely terrible though. The water's already gotten warm and the water is salty and murky, you can't see 2 feet in front of your face. At the turn the wall just appears and you're like, "Ahh!" It's a really slow shallow pool (feels really slow after swimming in 7-12 feet water) and the blocks AREN'T ATTACHED TO THE WALL! For backstroke races, the starter had to actually say, "Someone hold the blocks, please" otherwise the blocks would just fall in (on top of you!) when you tried to start.

Here's some pics my mom took with my camera (since I was kinda busy).

Before a swim.

Sean and Joel after an event.

Me with my Indiana-Jones'-alien-imitation swim cap and mad breastroke skillz.

Rachel and Hannah interviewing Maryn with Jessica's voice recorder.

Joel winning butterfly. This has an interesting story. Butterfly is the last of the individual events, and it was the only one that Sean didn't swim. The 13-14 boys on the other team got 2nd and 3rd to Sean in all the other events, and beat Joel (mostly because Joel doesn't do flip turns... a REALLY bad idea). So before this race (in Joel's hearing) the 2 boys in question were saying "Ooh, I feel a first coming" and the other boy says, "Yeah, I feel a second!" And then Joel is so far ahead in this pic that you can't even see them. He beat them pretty bad.

Our 13-14 boys relay team (with 2 11-12's swimming up [yes, that's legal]).

Doing the hand motions to a song from "Annie."

Abby and Hannah smiling... and Rachel F's hand. *shakes finger*

When we heard the score, we pushed Coach in.

And Mr. Y.

Then we played until we were commanded to get out.

On the way home, we were stopped at a red light and a sheriff pulled up next to us. He had a laptop on a swivel arm right next to the steering wheel, and we could see what he was doing..... browsing videos on YouTube. We couldn't quite tell what he was watching though. Good thing no one ran the red light, because he never would have noticed.

~Lizzie

Correct pronunciation

Recently there has been some debate about the "correct" pronunciation of words. A friend of mine has told me that I talk "wrong." We've devised a determining phrase (I use it to determine people with a yankee accent from people with a southern accent. She uses it to determine who talks "wrong" and who talks "right.")

Here is the phrase. "My greasy orange syrup is in an envelope."

If you pronounce it "Meh greezy ar-unj sur-rup is in an ahn-vel-up" then you are "wrong", and southern. Congratulations.

If you pronounce it "Mie greesy o-ranj see-rup is in an in-vel-oep" then you are "right", and a yankee.

We actually looked it up (www.merriam-webster.com) and both pronunciations are correct according to Merriam - Webster. But it is true that we are in the south, and I have am a southerner... she's the one with an accent. When in Rome, do as the Romans do, right? Here, we say "y'all", "dawg" and we leave off the 'g' in 'ing.' (Example: Where y'all takin' thet dawg?")
It's NOT 'pop', it's 'soda' and we get our sad little southern feelings hurt when you come down here and tell us that we're wrong.

And you ever heard of "Conetoe"? It's pronounced "ku-nee-tah."

~Lizzie

Before You Meet Prince Charming

**Warning to guys: discussing a book meant for girls. Read at your own risk**

I decided to read this book ("Before You Meet Prince Charming") because of a blog that I found while blog hopping (certainly not because of its somewhat cheesy title) and was convicted by Miss Mally's view on emotional purity. I have had my share of crushes on the male population, and I didn't really see anything wrong with it. I never thought that emotional purity was part of keeping myself completely pure for my future husband. With shame and regret, I realized that I have already given little pieces of my heart to the guys that had caught my attention over the years. Thankfully, I know that God has restored those pieces of my heart to me, and I'm determined to guard my heart for the man that God has for me.

Miss Mally had some very good points in her book, and I don't want to go over all of them (girls, I really recommend that you read this book!) but I really have to share my very favorite idea, and the thought that really stuck out from the whole book to me:
Instead of trying to see how much you can get away with (Can I have a crush on this guy? Just one date?) why not try seeing how much you can SAVE? Can I save every single little piece of my heart? Can I wait until God brings along "the one" before I allow ANY romantic feelings? Can I see ALL guys as brothers in Christ and nothing more? I challenge you, my sisters, to jealously guard every single precious thought and feeling for the one God has for you. I charge you to think of yourself as already belonging to him. I hope that the white dress that you may wear one day will represent your heart, mind, body and spirit in godly purity.

And that was really serious. Eeek, I really must be getting old. Help!! Kara, this is all your fault....

~Lizzie

"Annie!"

Yesterday was the longest day ever. Field of Dreams had a dance recital at NRCA right before the first performance of "Annie" and the recital ran over, so "Annie" was pushed back from 2 to 2:30. We got into makeup while the recital was finishing, and for the next 9 hours, I had enough makeup on my face to make 3 awful orange tans.

The first show was very much like a dress rehearsal. We'd never run through the entire show all at once, so there were a lot of things we discovered about costume changes, missing props ("Oh, yes, the check. I'd almost forgotten... oh, wait, I did forget. Drake, do YOU have the check?" "Uh, no sir.....") but it went fairly well, and it was soooo much fun!

By the end of the first show, I felt like it was 9 at night or so. And Mr. Green dismissed us for a mere hour before we had to come back and do it all over again. So I went to go get out of costume. My hair had so much hair spray in it, it felt like paper. And the mic tape on the back of my neck was stuck in my hair (WHY did they put *2* pieces?!?) But I finally got back into my "me" clothes and ate my cold chick-fil-a sandwich.

Aaaand then we did it all over again. The second show had a much more enthusiastic audience (led mostly by Eddie's [Mr. Warbucks] cheerleaders. They screamed and clapped and everyone else followed suit).

I was less stressed out in the second show so in some ways it was more fun. We danced backstage, and I got to be in Hooverville in the second show. That was a BLAST. It was so much fun, I can't wait to do it again. Every show reminds me just how much I love theatre.

I was really crazy and hyper afterwards. Entirely on adrenaline... I hadn't had any caffeine that day because it's bad for your vocal cords, especially if you're trying to sing. Some of us headed over to Wendy's for frosties, and Sarah, Allie and Jess rode with me... we were rocking out to TobyMac with the windows down and the sunroof open and I confess.... I was driving with no hands ... but just in the NRCA parking lot. And it was mostly empty.

Then Sarah and I came home and stayed up til 2, watching the play on DVD. Someday I'm going to sing onstage and NOT be flat. *frown* But anyway. I want to take voice lessons.....

Now I'm really sad that it's over. But at least my days won't be empty. Tomorrow we have swimming, Tuesday we have a meet, Wednesday we have swimming, Thursday we have water polo, and Friday, Saturday and possibly Sunday, we're going camping! *whoooooo*

~Lizzie

Sun rays and the Possum

I kinda like the title...... it sounds interesting. Sorry to disappoint, but I'm fairly certain that this post will not follow through with its title's interestingness.

First, some pictures I got of sun rays on Monday. I absolutely love sun rays.



This is a possum that disturbed our prayer meeting at the (empty *sniffle*) pool.
He was sure trouble. I'm not sure I feel like going into a long descriptive story, but lets just say that it fell into the pool (let me remind you that the pool is mostly empty, except for the diving well, which has some green stuff that used to resemble water in it) and then the guys tried to get it out with the long-handled net that they use to skim the pool.

That wasn't working so well and finally the stupid animal went and fell in the diving well. It crawled out onto a ledge in the corner of the diving well, where it finally hung onto the net. Then they chased it around the pool deck, trying to find a hole in the fence (it's some kind of natural frustration law. You don't want a hole in the fence? Oh, holes EVERYWHERE. Want a hole? No holes to be found.) it finally climbed up the fence (all this while having never played dead ... hmm.) and pretended to be stuck in the barbed wire. The guys pried the barbed wire up and pushed him out to the other side of the fence.

Then he tried to climb BACK IN. Some names were suggested for our self-proclaimed pet.... including, "Stupidest Possum Ever" and "Complete Idiot" along with the more complimentary, "Paul the Possum." We finally left, with him perched atop one of the corner posts of the fence.

I received much derision for my sympathy for the pathetic creature...... I think animals are cute, and I can't stand to see them hurt. But anyway. Guess I'll go to bed now, and enjoy the sleep that I'm actually going to get since I know the brainless pest is safe.

~Lizzie

Deception and frustration

3 years ago it seemed harmless enough. I was a rising freshman, going into high school (which really means almost nothing when you're home-schooled) and everyone wanted to know what college I was going to go to, and what I wanted to major in. My mom had already suggested that if I went to college, maybe I could go to Meredith and live at home. So when the first well-meaning inquisitor asked where I was going to go to college, I though, "Well.... I MIGHT go to college. I guess I should say 'Meredith.'" So I did. This question was followed by "What are you going to major in?" For nearly a year I managed to hold off answering this question by just shrugging and saying, "I'm not sure." Finally, I answered the question by blurting "Music." And ever since then, that's been my story, and I've stuck with it (and been stuck TO it).

I successfully deceived everyone... including my parents and siblings. My mom was talking to my piano teacher and happened to mention my college plans... and my teacher was thrilled. For 2 years now I've been preparing to fulfill this lie. And now it's become such part of my life that I'm not sure how to get out of it. I've never wanted to go to college, I love music, but I don't want to major in it. I do have a dream, but it's one I've never felt able to share. Even now I'm scared to share it, even though I know many of my friends probably share my dream. As a matter of fact, I can probably continue writing this paragraph for hours just to postpone confessing what my dream is. I could even switch over to a paragraph whining about how my dream isn't very well accepted into our modern American culture. But I think I'm just going to say it.

I want to get married, and have at least 13 kids. Not after college, not after a career. That's it. That's all. Just a wife and mother. For some reason I'm cringing even as I type this, wondering what kind of responses I'm going to get.

Over the past 2 years of my deceiving everyone, I justified my deception by convincing myself that even if I did just want to get married and have kids, logically I should go to college anyway. I mean, lots of people don't get married. I certainly don't want to be stuck without a job if "Mr. Right" never shows up, do I? No. But do I really need to go to college? My dad has offered to help me start a home-based business, an idea that I'm really excited about. I just have to think of a good business idea (yes, I do have one in mind, and we'll see how it goes....)

So I've finally decided that I'm not going to college. So I 'fess up, and apologize for all the lying and tell everyone who asks about college what my new decision is, right? No, I'm a spineless wimp who can't even say I'm not going to college. Just today, I finally yanked up my courage and.... told my piano teacher (the one who was so thrilled to learn that I was planning on majoring in music) that "I'm not going to go to college next year...." So naturally, she asks what I'm going to do instead. "Um..... dual enrollment at Wake Tech." Liar, liar, liar!!!!! At least this time it was an idea that I THOUGHT about (but have since dismissed).

And perhaps the worst part about all this is the lie that I'm stuck in this lie. At any time, I can confess and apologize to everyone. I might disappoint some people (Sarah is sadly disappointed that I'm not moving out and going to college. She wanted to paint our room.... and I won't explain how she wanted to paint our room because I always explain it wrong. Maybe she'll explain it) but it's the truth... and maybe "the truth will set you free" works in this instance too. (Yes, I know it's out of context.) So what I've really got to do is just confess this to everyone. Anyway, it's not their life, is it? It's mine, to use as God wills. And right now, I'm just lying about it. That can't be God's will.

Oh, I'm soooo frustrated. But at least I'm no longer confused about what I want to do; just what to do about this lie. Hey, isn't there a Veggie Tales about lying? I think I remember a purple creature with blue polka dots that got bigger and bigger until Junior confessed his fib. I definitely have one HUGE fib here, and it's sitting on my shoulders...

So anyway. If any of you feel like praying for me as I untangle myself, it would be much appreciated.

~Lizzie

Staying up late.... er, early....

We just finished watching "North and South" a movie based on a novel by Elizabeth Gaskell. It's something like a Jane Austen..... and I absolutely loved it. It's the first movie that's even gotten close to displacing Pride and Prejudice as my favorite romantic movie. I wish we owned the DVD so I could loan it to all my friends. Instead I have to emphatically say that you HAVE to see it! I would say something about the plot-line and what I didn't like (since that would be a shorter list than what I liked) but I don't want to ruin it for anyone. You just have to see it.

Anyway, just a quick post while I wait for Sarah to brush her teeth so we can turn out the lights. *drums fingers on desk*

~Lizzie

Happy birthday!!!

And 4 days after mine, it's Lizzie's turn! So far, her plans are slightly less exciting than mine were, but we do have swim team...
Anyway, y'all comment away. Maybe tomorrow I'll post about all the problems with her cat :D

--Sarah

Yesterday.

I guess it deserves a post, since nearly the entire day was a rehearsal for "Annie" but it was kinda overwhelming and I really don't even know where to start. This might be longer than my usual posts, so ENIL, feel free to NOT read it. ;)

I didn't get much sleep Friday night, and I had to get up at 7:30 *whines* to get ready on time. I started off tired, and that's really bad for an all-day rehearsal. You're really tired at the end even if you started off energetic. I spent the nearly whole rehearsal half-asleep (never good if you're supposed to be remembering your lines) and about to collapse. I had some caffeine, but that only hyped me up to a normal level of consciousness for about 30 minutes.

We started off rehearsing Act 1, Scene 6, which takes a lot of energy; lots of dancing and moving heavy props. And I promise you, whatever you imagined for "heavy props" is nowhere near accurate. They are MUCH heavier than that. To find out what they are.... well, you'll just have to come to the show. And for those who don't see the show, if I decide to be nice (read: if I remember) I'll tell you about them after the show. Sorry, can't tell beforehand.

So we ran through the whole play and started working on costumes. It was really fantastic. I've never been on a stage as nice as NRCA's stage.... with a huge backstage and 5 ins... wow. The lights, sets and props are really cool. And the "loft"!!! Their costume storage is above the dressing rooms in this, well... loft. There's a set of (wobbly) metal stairs leading up to the most awesome collection of costumes... it was sooooo exciting. And you could look over the edge and see a great view of backstage.

I was kinda disappointed with the dressing rooms though. For such a nice stage, the dressing rooms are really small. It's going to be hard to get anything done with more than about 10 girls in there. They're designed pretty bad too.... the door opens in such a way as to give an open view to anyone walking by to the whole dressing room... and everyone inside. O.O If the door opened to the right instead, all passers-by would see is a wall. *sigh* So as it is, someone leaving has to stand at the door patiently waiting for all the frantic "Wait!!!!!"'s to stop. That's not going to happen during production.... people will be flying in an out with no consideration for privacy.... urgh. I'm considering offering to rehinge the door myself.

All in all, I guess it went okay.... not for this close to production though. I'm pretty freaked out right now. I'm still confused about the blocking and choreography for some scenes... and that's NOT good. We should be able to run through the whole thing with close to no glitches and we're still finalizing blocking. We have 3 more rehearsals..... Ahhhh!!!!!!!!! And we're only getting one dress rehearsal..... you really need a dress rehearsal for the real dress rehearsal. And we're not going to have a "Hell Week" (the affectionate name given to the week before production where there is usually a rehearsal every day.) We don't have much time to work, and we have a lot of work to do. Hopefully, even if it goes bad, we'll still be able to laugh about it afterwards, though. And now, since I can't think of anything else to say, here are a few (bad) pictures.

Watching from the Choir risers set up downstage.

Kara and Sarah in (partial) costume.

Boylan sister's costumes. (I'm not a Boylan sister, I just stood in (wearing the fun dress!) because the 3rd Boylan sister wasn't there.)

I'm going to try to have more fun next Saturday (starting with getting some sleep beforehand!) and take some more pics.

~Lizzie