Anna and I took our siblings and 4 friends of our siblings to the God is Greater Party tonight. We had such a fun time! I went as Luna Lovegood, one of my favorite characters in literature.
I'm thinking about many things, but the one that surfaces is the theme my life's been strumming lately:
My Life is Beautiful.
I'm going to share some of my favorite life-beautifiers right now.
This wand I bought for Ryan last year at Leavesden Studios Harry Potter Tour in London. (Yes, I went to London if you didn't know, and it pretty much made my life.) It's Ron Weasley's wand, but I figured no one but me would actually know that, so I borrowed it for my Luna Lovegood costume tonight. Whenever there was a lull in children (I was working in the preschool room) I would slide it out of my Luna-bag and admire it. Fact I learned tonight: It's hard to admire an 18 inch wand in public without looking ridiculous. Which could have enhanced my Loony Lovegood look, I suppose.
Mark just marched up here and demanded another Star Wars book. So we played some Star Wars trivia. Because I don't have what he wants. He finished the last one of the Jedi Quest series a couple nights ago and we had a sleepover because he was so scared! Whoops. Shoulda read that one first! :)
Catching Fire. On the 22nd.
A Million Little Ways and Grace for the Good Girl by Emily Freeman. Incourage.me is doing a book club complete with a video with Emily for every chapter! *Squee!*
And that expression came from Pottercast, your number-one source for news, theories, discussion, and interviews.... Yeah, I've got the intro memorized. AND the outro. AND lots of other bits of useless, fantastic information. *Squee!* They were discussing the Malfoys on one I listened to briefly. I love Narcissa's hair, by the way. One of the girls on Pottercast hates it - calls it her skunk hair. But I love that it points out her connection to the brown-haired Black family (sister to Bellatrix) and the pale white Malfoys (married Lucius Malfoy and had Draco). Plus, it just looks cool. And so do all her clothes. I mean, they said they were going for the "old money look". And they nailed it. I mean, how does this chick keep it so together? She looks like she's doing a photo shoot. All. the. time. And has anyone looked at pictures of the Malfoy house lately? It's like.... big. I mean, enormous. And it's got this horrible creepy lighting everywhere. I mean, just thinking about being in Malfoy mansion makes me want to find a tiny corner and crawl into it. It's just so vast. It's not home. I think that's partly what home means - things being close. Your table, your family, your bed, your coffee.
Fall.
Friends.
The beautiful picture in this video.
This incredible dance. To one of my favorite songs. But that's kind of cheating since I found it this summer...
And THIS SONG!!!!! Love watching Lindsey videos. She's so cute! HOW can you DANCE AND PLAY VIOLIN anyway? I dance, and I played violin (haha) for a little while (at 13), so I know a little what that's like.......: WHA??? She's amazing.
SEEING PEOPLE USE THEIR CREATIVITY AND TALENTS! Like my friends Toriel and Alyssa in this fight video they made - just before they brought me flowers and chocolate in the hospital.... Good friends. :)
An email from my Grandfather with this cute picture. I mean, that's C O L O R. That's what I'm talkin 'bout. Did anyone else notice that none of my letters are the color purple? Purple - I just don't like it. I want to like it - I can see what other people like in it - sometimes I think I like it - But there's just something fundamentally wrong with it!!! I have no idea why.
The non-stress of this year after the horrible stressfulness of last year's ballet. Let me brag; I've got 6 out of 11 songs choreographed, and only 3 pieces of music left to find!!!!!!!! It's only Halloween! I was at this point in January last year. But, I did have twenty-five songs to choreograph, plus 10 tracks of acting. Yeah, I'm crazy. Oh, and I start teaching some choreography next week, too! Fun, fun!
Cute coats. I love cute coats. Like, with buttons and buckles and a stylish/carefree feel. Clothes in general, really.
Realizing your dreams.
Okay, I am going to do something scary. I am going to share my dream with you. Or one of mine. Because I have many. I'm a dreamer - what can I say?
If any of you don't know, I'm writing a book. It's a fantasy novel, about an elf and a dragon and a little girl and a lot of secrets and scary things. And there's a fire-finger and a werecat, too. Which I really like. Anyway, SOMEDAY, I want to publish my book.
But the dreaminess doesn't end there.
I want it to be made into a movie, and I want to be Artistic Advisor. And I'm not sure whether this has more to do with my lifelong dream of just BEING on a movie set or my desire for the movie to capture my book well.... OR because I just want to sit down with an illustrator and watch my characters and settings come to life before me.... Take your pick.
Oh, and I want to write the screenplay for the movie of my book.
Yeah, no big deal.
THIS, my friend, is how you reach for your dreams:
This is what people look like when you tell them your dreams:
I'm used to it. Half the people are angry or upset. Because they don't get it. They don't see the point in my dream. They expect me to fail. They want the best for me. I dunno.
Some people aren't listening. They go all glazy-eyed. - I'm not sure why, because I'm pretty sure my dreams are the most crazy-sauce thing anyone's heard on any random day, but that's just me.
And then there are those who look you straight in the eye and go
*jaw drops.*
They are by far the funnest.
But sometimes, I really wish someone would just not think I'm cray cray. Not think I ought to be doing something better with my life. And actually listen.
Because this is what I look like when people laugh at my dream:
All of those pictures were from my Grandpa's email, by the way. Pretty creative of me, huh? I could keep this going. It's kind of fun saying things with pictures. Brings a whole new meaning to the "right word at the right time." Because maybe the right word is a PICTURE? Huh. This should be explored in greater detail in literature. WAIT - I think there are things like that. They're called COFFEE TABLE BOOKS. And they say things with pictures. Okay. Smart me.
Aren't these flowers completely gorgeous, by the way?
What makes your life BEAU - TEE - FUL these days?