Merry Christmas Eve Eve! {{2012}}

  Merry Christmas Eve Eve, everyone!  {{Or the day before Christmas Eve, if all of my eves are confusing you.}}  I can NOT believe that TOMORROW is Christmas Eve, and the next day is CHRISTMAS!  It's crazy to think that I wrote a post on this day exactly one year ago, and also exactly TWO years ago {although that post was lost with my old blog}.  It's becoming a tradition, and I think I quite like it.

  Christmas Eve Eve has been a good day, a day of both relaxation and preparation.  We're getting our meals all sorted out for Christmas Eve and Christmas day, baking cookies for family gatherings, and just generally being excited for Christmas, of course!

  Good smells are wafting through the house, tickling my nose.  Snow is lying on the ground, obviously staying put for quite some time.  These little scenes just make Christmas seem like it's really here, just waiting for the official day where it can come out and make its grand entrance.  There's no hiding that everyone in this household is most definitely excited for that day.

  These kinds of days make good days for reading, especially reading Christmas-y books.  I mean, who wouldn't want to curl up by the Christmas tree, a warm blanket covering your toes, hot cocoa sitting next to you, and read Little Women?  Sounds good to me!

  So I know I have written this post all . . . seriously, I guess, but I did just have to say that I AM SO EXTREMELY SUPERLY DUPERLY EXCITED RIGHT NOW.

. . . 

not.even.kidding. 

  I'm going to be doing some vlogging on Christmas Eve and Christmas day, too, so I hope you guys head over to my YouTube channel on those days and check out the videos!

  Hope all of you guys have had an AWESOME holiday season and winter break so far, and that it just keeps on getting better!

xoxo,
Carolyn

Goodbye, October!

  So, I haven't posted in a long while . . . eek.  I apologize.  XP  I last posted at the BEGINNING of October, and today's Halloween, or otherwise known as the last day of October.  I really am extremely sorry, guys.  But I do hope you forgive me!

  So, October was a rather good month!  Full of fall colors, smells, sights, and sounds.  :]  My dad's birthday was the 19th and my brother's birthday was 24th, and they're both A YEAR OLDER!  :O  That's the oldest they've ever been!  :D  I've had lotsandlots of dance, which is AWESOME.  :3  And for Halloween, I didn't dress up, but I do have a costume to wear . . . for our Halloween dance TOMORROW!  <3

  So, I am very really extremely excited for November!  Let's compile a list of great things that will happen once November is here!

NaNoWriMo!

NaNoWriMo is starting tomorrow, and I'm going to try my absolute hardest to achieve my goal of 25,000 words!  :D  I'm writing the sequel to my first NaNoWriMo book, The Fall of Olympus: Storm!  :3  I'm really utterly excited to become re-acquainted with all my lovely characters!  :]

The Fall Dance!

Tomorrow is also the day of my first school dance of the year!  :]  It's a fall/Halloween dance, and there's a costume contest!  :D  I'm dressing up in an extremely comfy costume that's quite original, if I do say so myself.  ;]  What is it, you ask?

  And if you guessed Harry Potter, you're wrong.  Who else wears circular, black, glasses?

. . . 

WHERE'S WALDO, OF COURSE!  :D

  So yes, I am very excited for the dance.  I'll be slow dancing with my lovely friends, because we're all #foreveralone.  XD  {{#hashtagswag #hashtagsdontbelongonblogsbutidontcare}}

TAKE ME HOME AND REACHED!

The new One Direction CD comes out on November 13, and I am COUNTING DOWN THE DAYS!  Ahhh, so excited, as I am me, the obsessive fangirl Directioner!  :D Which reminds me, my Jack-o-Lantern this year was the 1D symbol.  ;D

And also on the 13th, Reached by Allie Condie-the third book in the Crossed series-is coming out!  I can't wait for this, either!  <3

MY BIRTHDAY!  {{And my mom's.  XD}}

I am SO excited for my birthday!  November 17th, only 17 days away!  :]  We're having our family birthday party this weekend, and my birthday party with friends will be on the 16th and 17th!  :D

My mom's birthday is on the 30th, too!  :D  We're both November birthdays!  ;]

~ ~ ~ 

  So, I've got a LOT to look forward to in November, and that's not even all of it!  :3  November's going to be a good month.  I can just feel it.(:

xoxo,

Carolyn

Falling for Fall

  First, please let me apologize for not posting in A MONTH.  But let's not dwell on that.  XD  So, let's get on with the post! :]

  Fall is officially here.  The leaves are brilliant shades of orange and red, and they make such a satisfying sound as I walk on top of them.  The temperatures have dropped rather significantly, and it's basically the perfect weather for hot cocoa and reading good books.  :]

  I got rather excited when October came rolling around.  October means a lot of things to me, so I guess I'll compile a list of those many things!

1. Fall is officially HERE
2. My dad's birthday
3. My brother's birthday
4. Cool temperatures
5. Nutcracker practices! :D
6. Dance team!
7. My schedule becoming routine
8. Homework -.-
9. Reading
10. Warm sweaters, jeans, and tall boots <3
11. Halloween 
12. NaNoWriMo is near!
13. . . . And so is my birthday!
14. . . . Which means so is my DSLR!  {{Well, hopefully. I'm saving up!  ;]}}

  Needless to say, I'm excited for this month.  Oh so much.  :]

  I decided to take this opportunity to talk about some books I've read/am reading/am really excited to read/hope I get for my birthday.  XD

  So, I recently finished re-reading The Hunger Games!  It took me a REALLY long time to re-read it, as I had a lot going on in August and September.  But come October, I just powered through it.  XD  I did enjoy it a LOT, though {I mean, how couldn't I?  It's The Hunger Games, for goodness sake!}, don't get me wrong.  ;]

  So, a couple days after I finished The Hunger Games, I decided to start The Maze Runner by James Dashner!  :D  I'd been wanting to read this book for some time, since I'd found it through Goodreads.  So, at the beginning of the school year, I noticed my English teacher had it on her bookshelf, so I checked it out as fast as possible!  I just started it yesterday, actually, and I'm loving it already!  <3  It's such an interesting concept, but it does have that Hunger Games vibe to it that I find in most of the books I read.  XD  It also reminded me a bit of The Heroes of Olympus series, which is another AMAZING series!  {{I'll return to that topic soon.}}  But anyways, it's really awesome, so you should check it out.  ;]

  So, speaking of The Heroes of Olympus!  THE MARK OF ATHENA CAME OUT NOT TOO LONG AGO AND I'M KIND OF FREAKING OUT.  :O  Seriously, I NEED TO READ THIS.  Bleah, if you're reading this, I read that you're feeling the same way.  XD

I'm kind of adoring the fact that my house now has a blue front door.  :3

  So, fall, I love you very much.  I am so happy that you're here, and I'm most definitely falling for you.  ;]

xoxo,

Carolyn <3

{{By the by, I'm ten away from my goal.  And I'd really adore that ten by my birthday.  Thanks so much for all the follows, lovely people!  <33}}

Snow

  You know, I am just now noticing how often we take the little things that make life special for granted.  How did I start feeling this way?  Well, it all started with the weather.

  Today is a GORGEOUS day outside.  Two of my neighbors {they're boys and both in third grade} were outside, playing basketball.  They were BOTH wearing shorts and weren't cold.  I should be ecstatic, it's BEAUTIFUL outside!  But I want snow, Christmas will be so different without it.

  I was thinking to myself, "I really love snow."  I usually say I hate it because of the cold and the mess.  But really, truly, snow is gorgeous and beautiful.  Think of all those little snowflakes piling up and making those feet of snow.  Did you know that all of those snowflakes look different?  Not one is alike.

  In that way, they're like people.  Not a single person is alike, and together, we can amount to more.

  So, even if you think this sounds cheesy, just think a little.  You'll notice how the little things-the little snowflakes in your life-make life extremely special.

lovelovesnowlovelove


P.S.- Thanks for 1,100 pageviews!  :D  Love y'all!  ♥♥♥

No Longer November, Hello to December!

  Eek!  November is leaving us!  :O  If you've read my November post, then you know how much I love November, but December is just so . . . OHMIGOSHILOVETHISMONTH.

am I annoying you yet?

  Yes, December is on its way!  Today is actually my mom's birthday {SHE'S TURNING A YEAR OLDER!}, and it is also Mark Twain's birthday!  :D  He's 176.  =]

  Okay, enough of that spaz attack.  XD  But December holds so much, such as . . .

• Winter!
• Snow!
• Christmas!
• Family get-togethers!
• SALES!
• SALSA!  Wait, what?

  Yeah, not so much on that last part.  I'm feeling spazzy today.  ^_^

  Are you all as excited as me for December?

Goodbye sweet November, I'll miss ya!

lovelovelove,

Carolyn

Christmas in the Air **TAG!**

  I ALWAYS love Christmas time, and all the wonderful blogging tags that come along with it, so why not start your own, right?  RIGHT!  :D

Rules/instructions:

1. Link to the person/blog you got tagged from
2. Do the tag
3. Tag three people!

  So, here's the tag:

Is your Christmas tree up?

How about the rest of your decorations?

Do you have an artificial tree or a real tree?

Do you have any lights or decorations outside?

Do you have a favorite ornament on the tree?

How many Christmas trees do you usually have up?

What is the best Christmas present you have ever gotten?

Who do you celebrate Christmas with?

What is your favorite Christmas song?

What is your favorite Christmas food?

What is your favorite Christmas memory?

Do you have trouble falling asleep on Christmas eve?

What time do you usually wake up on Christmas morning?

Do you do any special traditions for Christmas?

 Here are my answers:

Is your Christmas tree up?

They are both UP, but no ornaments.  ;)

How about the rest of your decorations?

We're getting there!

Do you have an artificial tree or a real tree?

All of them are artificial.

Do you have any lights or decorations outside?
No lights because of difficulties last year, but we have  a wooden snowman and a wooden Joseph, Mary, and Jesus by our front door/on our deck.  :)

Do you have a favorite ornament on the tree?

I have a lot of special ones.  The ones that I made when I was little, the ones from my Godmother, and all of my dancers. :)

How many Christmas trees do you usually have up?

Well, one fancy one upstairs, one casual one downstairs {it has all of the ornaments, basically.  Just the fancy ornaments are upstairs because people can see it out the window!  XD}, and two mini ones, one in my room and one in my brother's room.

What is the best Christmas present you have ever gotten?

I've gotten a lot of great ones, but when I got my Zhu Zhu Pets two years ago I was SO excited, same with my Dora castle when I was little!  XD  I don't have the Dora castle anymore {I gave it to a girl in need} and I don't really enjoy Zhu Zhu Pets, but they were fun when I was younger. ;)  But I really loved last year, I got some great AG stuff!

Who do you celebrate Christmas with?

My whole family, really!  Christmas Eve and Christmas morning are with my direct family, and then Christmas day we see relatives, and later during the break we see OTHER relatives!

What is your favorite Christmas song?

I love "All I want for Christmas is You"!  :)

What is your favorite Christmas food?

Ham!  XD

What is your favorite Christmas memory?

I'm not sure if I could pin-point just one, but I always love putting up the Christmas tree and how it smells like vanilla every time we take out our Christmas decorations.

OH!  When I was really little, I got up at-like-one in the morning because I couldn't sleep, and we opened presents.  So at two o'clock in the morning on Christmas day, I was playing my V-Smile happily in my parents' bedroom!  XD

Do you have trouble falling asleep on Christmas eve?

Usually, yes!  XD

What time do you usually wake up on Christmas morning?

When I was young, it was always really early.  I would just close my eyes for HOURS, hoping to sleep, waiting until AT LEAST five in the morning!  XD

Do you do any special traditions for Christmas?

Well, on Christmas Eve we go to Church, go out and see lights, and then we open some pajamas from our parents and the present that my brother got for me and I got for him!  :)

~~

  I tag . . . Zaidia, Quinlyn, and Kellee!  :D

Merry Almost-Christmas,
Carolyn