the daisy tree

1. Read my Bible and pray every day - no matter how busy my day is

2. Learn something new each day

3. Read more books

4. Keep a record of every book I read this year along with a short review of what I thought of it - it would be awesome to be able to look back and see how many books I read

5. Make a scrapbook of the whole year

6. Make the most of living in a new place

7. Learn to be "quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger"

8. Do my very best at my schoolwork every day

9. Learn to knit better

10. And sew better

11. Tidy my room every day

12. Learn to cook/bake new things

13. Improve my handwriting

14. Improve on my photography

15. Memorize a Scripture verse each week

16. Remember to "count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds"

|not my photo|


I wish I could just jump into the above picture and pick up one of those books and read for hours. Fiction or nonfiction, mysteries or biographies, I don't really mind.

There's just something terribly exciting about reading the first words of a book. You never know what's going to happen or where the story will lead. Books can take you all over the world. They can take you back in time or into the future. When reading a book you can experience for yourself what it's like to be fighting battles in the War for Independence, seeking lost treasure by traveling into the past, floating down the Mississippi on a raft, or stepping into a wardrobe and finding a mysterious world on the other side.


Books are amazing.





Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.
Charles W. Eliot

Just a short post to say Merry Christmas and I hope you all have a wonderful day!


"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."
Luke 2: 11

Thanks to everyone who commented their guesses to my movie quiz! Here's the answers:

Emma (1996 version):

Mr. Knightly: Emma, you didn't ask me to contribute a riddle.

Emma: Your entire personality is a riddle, Mr. Knightly, I thought you overqualified.

Madagascar 2:

Alex: Mary, it looks like this is it! I just want you to know, you're a one in a million friend!

Marty: Thanks, Alex! You are a true friend!

Alex: And I'm sure you won't mind when I tell you...

Mary: What? Tell me what?

Alex: I broke your iPod!











It's A Wonderful Life:

Clarence: Your brother - Harry Bailey - broke through the ice and was drowned at the age of nine.

George Bailey: That's a lie! Harry Bailey went to war - he got the Congressional Medal of Honor, he saved the lives of every man on that transport.

Clarence: Every man on that transport died! Harry wasn't there to save them, because you weren't there to save Harry.





Remember the Titans:

Alice (Nurse) : Only kin's allowed in here.

Bertier: Alice, are you blind? Don't you see the family resemblance? That's my brother.








The Patriot:


Martin: Before this war is over, I'm going to kill you.

Tavington (evil dude in the picture): Why wait?

Martin: Soon.







Enchanted:

Robert: Would you like me to call someone for you?

Giselle: I don't think they would hear you from here.

I walked into the cinema not really knowing what to expect. Would it be any good? Would it be anything like the book at all? Did they leave out or change the things I loved most about the book?

And I have to say - it was very different than the book. It was just loosely based on the book. But since the book has so many different adventures that make up the main one, it would be pretty impossible to squeeze it all into a 2-hour movie. So they rather cleverly joined them together, and I think they did a really good job.

There were lots of things I really loved about this movie. One thing was that lots of the characters were just perfect. Two that really stuck out to me were Eustace and Reepicheep. They were both so funny and were almost exactly as I have always imagined them to be like. Eustace was a terrible nuisance - just as he should be! Another thing was that the scenery and the music were really beautiful.

I am pretty sad, though, that my favorite character - Aslan - didn't seem to play as much of a part in the story that I wish he had.



Overall I think it was a great movie and that they did a wonderful job on it - I think it was my favorite out of the three movies! I can't wait to see it again.

Wow.

What do you think of my blogs new look?


I'm still completely speechless. Olivia from Robin Blogs designed it, she did such an amazing job and it turned out better than I ever expected. Thank you so much, Olivia! I love it so much.

A few other blog that I follow have done movie quizzes, and they are always SO fun to do. So I've decided to do one of my own! Here's how it all works:


Step 1: I make a post with different quotes from movies I love, not telling what movie it is.

Step 2: You can try to guess which movie each quote is from and comment you're guesses - you can ask family members to help you guess but please don't cheat by looking them up on Google! ;)

Step 3. I won't publish the comments, so that other people can guess. And then in a few days I will post up the answers!


Hope you have fun with this!



Quote 1:

Character 1: (name omitted), you didn't ask me to contribute a riddle.

Character 2: Your entire personality is a riddle, (name omitted), I thought you overqualified.


Quote 2:

Character 1: (Name omitted), it looks like this is it! I just want you to know, you're a one in a million friend!

Character 2: Thanks, (name omitted)! You are a true friend!

Character 1: And I'm sure you won't mind when I tell you...

Character 2: What? Tell me what?

Character 1: I broke your iPod!



Quote 3:

Character 1: Look, I just need to get out of here...

Character 2: [dramatically] There is no way out!

Character 2 continues: Just kidding. Door's right over there.




Quote 4:

Character 1: Gentlemen, we do not stop till nightfall.

Character 2: What about breakfast?

Character 1: You've already had it.

Character 2: We've had one, yes. What about second breakfast?


Quote 5:


Character 1: Your brother - Harry Bailey - broke through the ice and was drowned at the age of nine.

Character 2: That's a lie! Harry Bailey went to war - he got the Congressional Medal of Honor, he saved the lives of every man on that transport.

Character 1: Every man on that transport died! Harry wasn't there to save them, because you weren't there to save Harry.


Quote 6:

Character 1 (Nurse) : Only kin's allowed in here.

Character 2: Alice, are you blind? Don't you see the family resemblance? That's my brother.


Quote 7:

Character 1: Before this war is over, I'm going to kill you.

Character 2: Why wait?

Character 1: Soon.


Quote 8:

---

Character 1: Would you like me to call someone for you?

Character 2: I don't think they would hear you from here.




I hope these weren't too hard! Remember you can ask any family members to help. Happy guessing :)

Wow...another month gone by way too fast. It's hard to believe it's been a whole month since I wrote my last review! And it's even harder to believe it's been 11 months since I wrote my very first review for Hannah's monthly book reviews link-up. Holy cow.


This month I'll be reviewing one of my all time favorite books. Or rather...3 of them. It's What Katy Did and it's two sequels What Katy Did at School and What Katy Did Next by Susan Coolidge. It's the second time I've read them, and that's saying something considering I barely ever reread books.


What Katy Did:








What Katy Did at School and What Katy Did Next:


These two books are perfect sequels to What Katy Did although they are very different and based in entirely different settings. In What Katy Did at School, Katy and her sister Clover are sent to boarding school - and in What Katy Did Next Katy goes on a year-long trip to Europe. I love them both! One of the main things I love about them is that it really makes you feel like you were there - when I was finished with What Katy Did Next I felt as if I had just taken a trip all over Europe! I definitely recommend these two as well as the first one.




Make sure you head on over to Hannah's blog to read her review and maybe join in yourself ;)

...a post! "Write a blog post" has been on my To-do list all week. But things kept getting in the way. By things I mainly mean school. Not only is it just harder this year, I have to do extra school-work in order to be finished by the time we have to leave to go to America for the summer.

I love going to America - seeing lots of friends and family and all - but I get home-sick just thinking of leaving Ireland.


On a happier note - the other day Caleb (my 10 year old brother) and I took a walk down to the lake (It's really close by - only like a ten minute walk) and fortunately I took the camera along. It was really beautiful! Here's some of the pictures I took:





I have more things to say, I wish I could just ramble on and on! But - I should save some things for other posts :) Have a great day!

Iona is doing a really cool thing called "Two Truths and a Lie" where you post 3 statements about yourself- two truths and one lie. You can guess all ya like to find which is which, and then I'll reveal the answer further on. Can you guess which is a lie?


1. I live in the country-side.

2. I love the Jonas Brothers!!!!!

3. My brother is paranoid of spiders :)


The lie is............................................................
...................................................................
......................................................................
..................................................................
...............................................................
.......................................................................
......................................................................
...........................................................................
...............................................................
number 2.

I certainly do NOT love the Jonas Brothers. Yep, that's right people! By the way, I got permission from my brother to say the third statement. :)




That was really fun. I'm gonna do that again next week! XD

Make sure you head over to Iona's blog to join in the fun!

Hello, all. :) Hope you're enjoying your Saturday! I am, it's a really beautiful day :) I did have some photo-trouble earlier...which was a total bummer. But I managed to take this one for APP:

Sorry it's so small...I don't know how I can make it bigger. Blah. Okay, so after I came inside from taking pictures and realized that none of them worked except that one above, I made cookies. And that made me happy. Because, as you know, cookies making people happy.

They're really good. As my brother was eating his second, I asked him if he liked them. "Not sure yet, I'll tell you after I eat another one."

I think he liked them.

Here's the recipe I used.


Oh yes, one more thing! I think this video is like the funniest thing ever.

I just wanted to let you all know that there is a wonderful giveaway going on at Bliss. Maggie is giving away a blog design by Olive Tree from Robin Blogs. Olive Trees' designs are gorgeous! I entered, and I'm really excited to see who wins!

Click HERE to check it out!

The wedding that I went to yesterday went really well! I didn't bring a camera because I was sure I wouldn't have time to use it, but I really should have brought it! The grounds around the hotel where the wedding was held was beautiful, and I probably would have been able to take a few pictures. Ah well, I know for next time :)

Now, since I wasn't able to take a picture yesterday for my Autumn Photography Project, I'll do it today.

But just for fun, I'll post a few pictures instead of just one. I went to church today to help set things up for tomorrow, and outside of the church it was beautiful. I've decided that October is one of the most beautiful months ever - but then, I say that for every month ;)