Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Brookington

I continued to fall and with a start awoke in a math classroom, one that I had never seen before, and a teacher that I never met before, and students that I had never encountered before, and yet I knew all of their names. And I felt as if my whole life was being narrated in a 15 year old voice, but it was my life that she narrating. And she knew exactly what I was encountering.
            You know those days of summer when all you want to do is sleep, sleep, and sleep some more?  That’s what its like for me too, except I do that in the winter.  I know, weird huh? 
            Any who, I do that in the winter during class.  A bit embarrassing I must say especially when the teacher smacks your desk with a book and tells you to “STOP DROOLING ERIN!”  Did I mention that the guys in my class are really hot?  Yea, really embarrassing.  This winter while I was snoozing’ I had the funkiest dream.  It continued into a long chain of rides, everyone different one than the last and it didn’t stop.  The first dream started it all off, and here it is:
            I fell asleep on my desk, it was terribly cold in that room, I remember.  Ms. Taffy was teaching us about math, oh did I mention that she’s dating the vice principle?  If you want my advice, don’t go near the boiler room after school.  ‘Shudder’
            Any who, back to class.  Ms. Taffy was teaching us math when I dozed off in the middle of note taking.  I dreamed that I was back home in my bed, sleeping at my desk when I jerked awake.  I heard noises, like street noises, but we’re in the middle of nowhere! 
No street life in Brookington like in the cities!  But I heard city life and it was coming from my closet! I might add here that I have two closets, the second one was turned around for me to use after AJ, my older brother by five years, moved out.  At the moment I think he’s engaged to a girl named Jessica.  Wait till he finds out that she’s already married!  She told me this a while ago, when he brought her home for Halloween.  ‘String ‘em along then break their hearts’, right Jess?  Ha ha.  
            Oops, sorry, going off on a limb here, back to my story.  My original closet was shut and locked tight but there was something back there! I got up from my desk and moved closer to it.  The noises are definitely coming from behind it, and to add to the creepies, the door began to glow around the edges!  The stickers that I had taped to it started to fall off because the door was sweating.  Yes, sweating, and it began to bulge in spots as if something was pushing against it, trying to get out.  Then the noises started to dim and the pulsing slowed, everything behind the door began to go hush… hush… I could hear my own heart beating it was so hushed.  Right before my eyes, which isn’t saying much since I war glasses and everything I see is unbelievable, the door began to change colors.  It changed between silver and gold, then to blue green to black, to purple to a light shade of pink into dark blue and then it got lighter and lighter when it stopped at gold with red swirls that spun and twirled so much it made you dizzy.  I didn’t notice until now that the noises behind the door had stopped completely.  It felt like everyone was holding tier breath.  Not a good feeling I could tell you. 
            Blue swirls had joined the red ones on the door by now.  But instead of flowing like the red ones did, it just moved independently, and it was spelling something.  First it spelled out a phrase using many different languages.  I imagine it worded the phrase in Arabian, Chinese, Dragon, French, Spanish and finally English.  All it said was Enter.  I stood there puzzling for moment, wondering how to ‘enter’ when I couldn’t.  The knob was gone, I merely melted in with the door and there didn’t seem to be a secret button or anything.  I glanced at the blue letters trying to decipher what it was saying.  When dragon came around I read   use the key.  (For those who can’t read Dragon, it says use the key.)  What key was the door talking about?  Then I remembered from a book I just read, you can make lock after you have the key.  Okay, but what key did I have?  I looked around my room and spotted the key chain on my bed.  Of course!  I could use a normal useless key that didn’t go to anything!  I took the two matching keys off of the ring and stuck one a lanyard that was around.  I then looked the lanyard around my neck, hiding it under my clothes.  The second key I slipped into the door where the keyhole should have been.  Miracle of miracles, it worked!  The key went into the door like a knife cutting butter.  I was impressed; I honestly didn’t think anything would happen.  But then again, like my good friend Luke says ‘Expect the Unexpected.’  The key turned in the lock and the door opened just a fraction.  The blue lettering had disappeared and noise had stared again.  It seemed like everyone had held their breaths and let it out all at the same time in one big WOOF! of air. 
            A wave of new smells hit me, riding on a blast of hot wind.  In a moment I knew why it was so hot.  Although it was the dead of winter in Brookington, it was hot summer time in this town and a storm was coming in.  I felt another hot breeze hit me with the scent of rain among other smells.  Everyone else must have felt it too because they all began to pack up.  The farmers picked up their homegrown food, the shop owners their wares, the women dragging their children home, men clicking at their horses, ready to beat the rain home, but the noise stayed the same, if not growing louder. 
            I stepped though the door but another surprise befell me.  Instead of wearing the jeans, socks, shirts and sweatshirt that I had been wearing in my room the moment before I was wearing what the people in my closet were wearing.  Worn sandals, a skirt that went by my ankles and a wrap around top, all very worn.  Luckily I still had my lanyard.  I stepped farther into the world, maybe to meet a shop owner, someone that was already safe and dry and in a better mood to talk to. 
            I stated down the street, toward the nearest shop, it happened to be a bookshop, when a hand came down on my shoulder.  I gave a little yelp and turned around expecting to see Luke.  He always spooks me that way; it’s always either him or Charlie.  Well, it wasn’t Luke, and it wasn’t a hand. 
            It was a paw, a big ol’ hairy paw that had been recently washed.  I followed the hand err, paw up to its arm, which was covered in a sky blue sleeve, up to the shoulder, then up to its head.  I realized, with a start, it was human, in a sense.  It was a werewolf, in another sense.  It was Luke, but not Luke too.  I mean, the creature was Luke, but as a werewolf.  But it seemed to me that werewolves in this world stayed sane, they didn’t go evil and start killing things like in movies. 
            Luke said “Did I scare you again Erin?”
            I said “Yes again.” And I went in a huff with a smile. Whenever I did that he would come over and go….
            “I’m Sorry Erin, Will you forgive me?”
            And as always I would go, “Yes of course Luke.”  Then he would give me a hug, like he did just then.  Also the wind had started to pick up. 
            He glanced up at the sky, took off his cloak and wrapped it around me. 

Surrounded by his cloak night suddenly fell and the small village dissaperaed and I once again found myself with a door in front of me and no where else to turn. Where else was to go? When would this madness end?


Monday, November 12, 2012

Tess and the Highlander

 
I don't know how many of you are a fan of book clubs, but a number of years ago I was given the opportunity to take part in one in high school. The name of the book was Tess and the Highlander and written by May McGoldrick. I didn't know what to expect, and it was called a true romance novel... whatever the heck that meant, but what really caught the attention was that well, I was entranced by this kid named Bryan and he was in the book club too. So, I bought the book and decided to read it.

Tess and the Highlander is a teen novel. It is aimed toward teens. So if you are opening this book to look for raunchy material like sex, drugs, rock and roll, well, you're not going to get any of that. Instead, you will be pleasantly surprised by the love that is instead introduced and what love should be between two barely there young adults. Which, I love tremendously. If I can find a good novel without any raunchy material in it, I'm as happy as a clam!

So in this book club, first you were asked to read the novel in question, then as a bonus you could meet the author. Meet the author! Holy smokes! At the time I was writing short stories about creepy creatures living in our woods and transportation into other worlds, but who would pass up the opportunity to meet a real live author?? Now here's the kicker, May McGoldrick was not just one person, it was really two people! The author was a couple who decided to write novels! The name is combination of their real names, and they have been happily researching and developing this story together. It makes the story that much more lovable as you get both sides of the love story without anyone making it up as they went along. I mean really, what guy really knows what women are thinking?

So all in all, listening to this story being created was worth ten times the actual amount of the book.  Ten Times! This couple has really inspired me to really keep writing, so here's another shout out to May McGoldrick!

Back to the story: Tess is a young lass just past the age of 17 who has been living on an island in Scotland for the past 11 years with no recollection of who she really is and how she had come up on such a dismal place. When she was shipwrecked on the speck of an island she lived with an older couple and never dreamed of leaving her new home. Then another storm hits and her world is flipped upside down. Colin, the Highlander, has washed ashore, with secrets of his own. The youngest of the three children of the Macpherson couple has heard of the lass who was stolen away from the Lindsay house 11 years before, but to his recollection, she had either died or was hidden away for years after her father died. Could this really be the missing child? Or was she only an impressionable lass that he has fallen in love with? Who knows! Read to find out!

What I absolutely love about this story is how I can connect to Tess. She is an independent thinker and can take care of herself, and does not need a man to take care of her in any situation. She can clearly defend herself and knows when it is time to open your heart. And also, her best friend is named Colin, and I can totally relate to that!

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Labyrinth

 
If you haven't watched this movie yet then YOU SHOULD. I'm not kiding. It not only is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE MOVIE but it also has my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE SONGS in it! I know it seems like I'm screaming, but for realzies people... It is an AWESOME MOVIE.
 
Okay, maybe that didn't get your attention. To be truthful, that wouldn't get my attention either.  But this would get my attention:
 
How would YOU like to get rid of your awful younger sibling? Have no fear... The Goblin King is here! He's here to take away your step sibling ... he's here to take away all of your troubles, because after all... who better than to solve all your broblems than someone who is in love with you?
Hold it. So the wonderful Goblin king who happens to be in love with you at the same time, has recommended that he take away your step sibling forever and turn it into a baby goblin as long as you love him in return?
Now what do you do with that?
Option one: Send the crying child away and marry the loving singing Goblin King.
Two: Rescue your step sibling and ruin the Goblin King and the Labyrinth or...
Option Three: Was it really all just a dream?
 
"Through dangers untold and Hardships unnumbered..."
 
What would you do if you were in the Labyrinth?
 
Would you solve the riddles?
Would you befriend the monsters?
Would you save your family?
Would you save yourself?

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Running Away

"If you run far enough away, you'll find yourself back to where you started."



So, ladies, have you ever tried to run out and dissapear? Have you ever tried to find yourself lost and away from it all only to find yourself well... with only one place left to go? And that is ... home?

Let's run away sometime, let's try to get as far away from home as we can. Let's keep walking, and walking and walking and walking. We'll pass the old school, go farther down the walking path, pass the town line and keep going. Let's cross the county line, then the state line ... now where shall we go? If we keep going, eventually we'll just come full circle.

Full circle. 

Wasn't that what we were trying to avoid?

Weren't we trying to get as far away from out problems as we could? 

Well, the world is round. And if you go around a circle... what happens?

You find yourself in the same place that you started.

So, it might be better off just facing your problems in the first place and accepting what is really going on.

Good luck.

I'm still trying to figure it out myself too.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Under A Tuscan Sun

What a beautiful love story that reminds us that the best way to find love... is to be patient.


I absolutely loved this beautiful story. This story revolves around a young American woman who has fallen out of love, once again. I know, another love sick American trying to find love in a different place.
Our American takes the chance to run away from her problems when her best friend, who is a lesbian, gives her tickets to tour Italy because she can't take the trip her self due to being pregnant.  All fine and dandy, she gets to go on a free tour trip in beautiful Italy, with a very colorful group. And these tourists are colorful! I loved the outfits that every one was wearing! Completely European! I miss Europe! 
On the trip she finds a lovely little home for sale and decides to buy it on a whim, but she almost couldn't buy it, until a pigeon pooped on her head. Apparently it's a tradition in a particular area.
After buying the house, the only logical thing to do is to make the house, a home! So she hires a family that can help her remodel her new home and ends up making some new friends in the process. 
One of her new friends knows the streets, and knows the community well enough to be able to teach the young, unexperienced American the ropes about love.
One of the best pieces of advice that our American learns? She learns that to be lucky in love, you have to wait for love. It's like waiting for a ladybug to land on your shoulder. You have to be patient, waiting out there in the tall tall grass, waiting for the perfect moment for when the ladybug, or love, settles on your arm. 
And I've learned a very valuable lesson.
I'm going to wait for love, like a ladybug, and wait for it to settle in my heart.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Business Woman Attaire


So, searching your closet to wear something for this week? Well, pull out your sweater, your pencil skirt and your high heeled tall boots and walk out the door! Quite literally, that's what I did! I added in a silver/purple jewelry set that I got last Christmas and tada! Fabulous outfit to the rescue the day!

Have fun shopping in your closet today!

Friday, November 2, 2012

Pumpkin Seeds!

I think that fall is never ocmplete without pumpkin seeds, friends and laughter!


And we made our very own in our little dorm kitchen all by ourselves!

Steps

1. Carve out the pumpkin, but be sure to seperate the seeds from the gunk from the pumpkin.
* Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Rinse the seeds in a colondur and be sure ALL the gunk is seperated from the seeds!
3. Place a large sheet of tinfoil on a baking sheet and spread one tablespoon of oil over the pan.
4. Spread the seeds over the pan and place in the oven (which should be ready by now!)
5. Place the seeds on the tray into the oven for 25 minutes and check on the seeds every 5 minutes.
* After the first 10 minutes flip the seeds over!
6. After 20 - 25 minutes, or at least when the seeds are golden brown, take the seeds out again!
7. Sprinkle salt over the seeds and wait a few more minutes.... then....
8. ENJOY!