Baby names

Names! Always such fun to discover, discuss, and make lists of - even if you're not having a baby!

What kind of names do you like for boys? And for girls? What sort criteria would you consider when choosing a name? Here are some of the things I would take into consideration:

1. If my baby were to someday marry a royal (I am speaking hypothetically, of course), would his/her name be appropriate? Would it be a suitably regal, timeless name? Or would it be. . . an embarrassment? This is something that particularly struck me around the time of William and Catherine's wedding last year. Thank goodness Michael and Carole Middleton had the good sense to name their daughter Catherine, rather than (. . .)

2. Does the name have a positive meaning? An - er - meaningful meaning?

3. Is the name aesthetically pleasing? Does it have a pleasant sound when spoken aloud? A pleasant appearance when written down?

4. How common is the name? I would probably try to avoid names that are overwhelmingly popular. Unfortunately, there are a lot of names I really like that are currently in the Top 100 here in Australia! Australian parents actually have decent taste in names, at the moment - with a few notable exceptions, such as Jaxon *cringes*.

5. Last but not least, does the name have pleasant associations? This criterion can be particularly frustrating. Even if a name ticks all of the above boxes, it may still have negative associations in the mind of the public - or in my own mind. I used to like the name Bella/Isabella. . . before a certain series of books came along. I used to like Edward, too - before that same series of books came onto the scene. And I used to like Julia - before our current Prime Minister became Prime Minister.

So, what sort of names do you like? Quirky, or classic and elegant? Vintage, or contemporary? Share some of your favourites, if you want to!

My new favourite baby name site is the alarmingly addictive Nameberry. It has commentary on 1000s of names, and 100s of lists to browse through.

Hello again and goodbye again

Yikes! Another two weeks have slipped by and I haven't posted anything. Well, I'm afraid you'll probably have to wait another month before I publish any new material, because I'm doing Nanowrimo again! That's right! Yes, I'm crazy. Yes, I am extremely excited about it. Yes, I am writing another Regency romance (of sorts). No, I am most likely not going to let you read it. Ever.

I'm going to be writing Pride and Prejudice. From Jane Bennet's perspective. :-) I CAN'T WAIT TO GET STARTED!! Every literary bone in my body has been tingling with anticipation for days. That sounded weird. . . but that's how I feel!

Fellow Nano-ers, please do add me as a writing buddy.

What else is there to add. . . hmm. . . I'll put a widget on my sidebar so you can keep track of my progress (if you're interested. . .). I still miss all of you. If only I had an extra couple of hours in every day in which to blog and do internet stuff. It's not that I'm super busy, but I can't read books and blog and watch movies all at once during my spare time. . . unfortunately.

Oh, one more thing. If you'd like to do a little something to help me through Nanowrimo. . . I'm looking for some good music to listen to while I write my novel. Have any suggestions? I like classical music, classical crossover (e.g. Hayley Westenra, Katherine Jenkins), Celtic music, instrumental music, world music, film scores. I think a lot of my readers have similar tastes to my own, so shoot me some of your favourites!

Post No. 500

I miss blogging.

I miss bloggers!!!

The new-look blogger is fabulous.

I need a bit of mental stimulation. I can feel my brains turning to muuuussssh inside of me. Well, not quite, but the discipline of forcing my randoms thoughts onto the page (err - post) is good for me.

I miss you all!!! Wait, I mentioned that already.

Apparently, I have written 499 posts on this blog. This post will bring that number up to a nice, even 500.
All excellent reasons why I should start blogging on here again!! You've all been very patient! Thank you to everyone who hasn't unfollowed me.

Now, where to start?? Maybe I could revive one of those series I started (you know, those series that I PROMISED I would complete and not let die). Maybe I could finish that review of Tangled. Maybe I could write a review of one of the many books I've read this year. (But not Anna Karenina. That would be beyond my powers of reviewing. I don't want to do another "Villette" review.)

What would you like my next post to be about?

And can I just give you all a big hug? *HUGS*.

A New Direction

I have published only one or two blog posts in the last month or so. And in that time, I have enjoyed doing - other things!

I've been doing a lot of reading, for one thing. There have been times during my blogging journey over the last 3 years (has it really been that long??) when I have read very little. I spent much of my spare time in blogging or other online pursuits. Over the past 6 months or so, however, I have developed a more disciplined - no, disciplined isn't the right word - but certainly a more active reading habit.

Something else has happened, too. I've discovered the joy and satisfaction that is to be found in savouring the small things in life. In the garden, in the house, in watching my siblings grow. I wake up every morning excited by the possibilities the day might bring - doing this or that in the garden, trying a new recipe, reading a new book to my little sisters.

Blogging is often a very time-consuming activity for me. It usually takes me several hours to put together one of my longer posts. The fact that I can be easily distracted and diverted when I'm gathering material online for my posts doesn't help! (Perhaps I should try writing posts with notepad and pen, so that I am less likely to be distracted by all the distractions the internet offers. It could be a more time-efficient way for me to blog.)

All this to say: I enjoy blogging - ESPECIALLY having the opportunity to "meet" so many kindred spirits from all over the world - but at the same time. . . I've got books to read and life to live!

I am not giving up blogging altogether. Hopefully I will be able to find a balance, wherein I will have time for blogging AND reading and other things. (Mummy suggested that I might aim to publish one post per week, which could be a realistic goal.) In the meantime, I can't guarantee that there will be many new posts on here. Or if there are, they might be of a different nature to what you're used to. . .

In the early days of this blog, I shared more tidbits from real life - recipes, humorous or memorable incidents from my life. . . that sort of thing. I think there will be still be the occasional book or movie review in future, but there might be more pieces from everyday life as well. I hope this is okay. People change, and blogs change! As my interests change, it's reasonable to expect that my blog will evolve with them. I never set out with the intention that this blog should be a period drama blog, or a book blog, or any genre of blog. It's always been bit of a hodge-podge of different things.

I repeat, I definitely won't be giving up blogging altogether. My reason for starting this blog was to use it as a way to develop my English skills. I might have finished [home]school, but I haven't finished learning or developing. It's good for me to write. It challenges me, and it provides an outlet for thoughts and ideas that I may want to share.

Summing up:

-I apologise for the lack of recent posts.

-I apologise for the possible lack of posts in the present/future.

-I wanted to give you a word of warning in case my blog heads in a slightly different direction in the future.

Well. God bless you all!
~Elise

A Damsel's Daybook XVII

Time for a long overdue return to blogging! Sorry I've been away for so long.

~Hosted by Autumn @ Storygirl~

Outside my window....... A pleasant, if overcast day. Such a nice change from the 35C heat we've had for the past week.

I am thinking about......... Anna Karenina. I started it yesterday.

From the kitchen.......... I'm making chocolate slice and ginger crunch slice.

I am creating......... Not much right now. I need to get back into sewing.

I am reading......... Anna K., also re-reading P&P (yes, again!!).

I am hearing....... Relatively quiet right now!

I am hoping......... To have a quiet, productive week.

I am planning.......... To finish Anna Karenina within one month.

I am wearing............ Nothing interesting, LOL.

Around the house.......... General tidying up this morning. 1 neat and organised mother + 8 messy children = some interesting situations sometimes. :P But mum managed to get us (and the house) into quite a clean and organised state over the course of the morning. What an amazing, patient mother I have! :-)

My wish of the week......... That the crazy weather we've had across this country over the last few weeks would settle down, so that people can begin to rebuild their lives. No more flooding or bushfires or cyclones, please!! Having said that, I am very grateful to God for keeping the people of Queensland safe during Cyclone Yasi. Only one death reported - truly a miracle!!

New Year's resolutions. . .

1. I WILL keep a journal. I WILL write in it every day.

2. I WILL be organised. I WILL keep a diary.

3. (Actually I should have put this at No.1) I WILL make time for Bible reading/prayer/quiet time everyday.

4. I WILL keep my bedroom tidy. I WILL be neat and organised.

5. I will not buy any more books until I have read all the books I've bought/mooched and not yet read.

6. I will post on my Gallery at least once every day. I will post on this blog at least twice a week.

7. I will practise my music for at least one hour every day.

I'm trying to think of another 3 to make it 10. Never mind - 7 resolutions are more than enough for me to try (and fail) to keep. . .

Quick update

I was going to post this on the facebook fan page, but it was growing rather too long to post as a status update! I thought I might as well write a blog post instead.

I'm getting close to the end of Little Dorrit. It's *really* starting to get good. Of course, it's been good all the way through. Dickens novels always are. They're just so - long. Once I finish LD, I'm going to have a break from heavy, 1000 page tomes and gorge myself on light fluffy books until I can't stand any more silly (albeit sweet and innocent) Christian romance novels and have to reach for another classic.

And we've rented the new (well, relatively new) version of A Christmas Carol, so I'll finally get to see it tonight!! It's turning into quite a Dickens-filled day - no complaints from me on that score. ;-)

What else. . . hmm. . . After months of wet, warm, humid weather, the last couple of days have been un-humid. Erm, dry. It feels weird. I feel all dried out, and find myself missing the humidity, much as a normally complain about it.

Christmas is 4 days away. FOUR DAYS! And I haven't even added a Christmas-themed background or playlist to my blog.

I'd better stop rambling and get off because my 15-year-old brother is desperate for this computer.

Blessings,

Elise

Love Aussie Christmas. . .

Tags

I happened to be googling my blog this evening (don't ask me why; I just felt like googling my blog) and I found out, completely by accident, that I was tagged for two different memes back in July! And I had no idea whatsoever about this! When you tag me, please leave a comment to let me know I've been tagged! I do try to keep up with my friends' blogs, but I'm afraid I don't always get to read every post, so if you don't let me know I might never discover that I've been tagged. (Unless I google myself again on a whim.)

Erin from Seven Little Australians tagged me! Thanks so much, Erin! :-D

The rules:

1. List Seven Things That Make You Awe-Summm!
2. Pass the award on to seven bloggers you read religiously.
3. Tag those seven bloggers.

Ummm. . . seven awesome things about me. . . not the best tag for cultivating humility, LOL. I'll see how I go. . . 

1. I have an awesome God

2. I have a truly awesome family!

3. I. . . uhh. . . I can play guitar!

4. Umm. . . I. . . am a decent cook! I love baking lots of sweet things.

5. This is hard!! Like Napoleon Dynamite, I feel that I "don't have any good skills", or any other awesome things about me, LOL. Okay, I just thought of something - I have an awesome blog! And the awesomest thing about my blog is the fact that I've made so many friends through blogging. :-)

6. I live in an awesome country! I love Australia. It's an breathtakingly beautiful land.

7.  This isn't an awesome thing, but I've completely run out of awesome things, so: I have really long hair! Well, fairly long. Way past my waist. I'm trying to get it to 1 metre long. I don't know why, I just think it would be cool to have hair a metre long. :P

Whew, that was one hard tag to fill in!

Now, seven people: Bria, Jen, Autumn, Barbara, Alexandra, and my twin sisters, Grace and Naomi (my sisters have private blogs, if you'd like to read their blogs, please email me).

Now, Alexandra gave me the Honesty Scrap Award! Thanks, Alexandra!

Rules:

-Thank the person who gave the award to you
-Post ten honest facts about yourself
-Pass the award onto seven others.

Ten honest facts. This sounds a bit easier, LOL! 

1. I tend to procrastinate.

2. I used to think Hippocrates was pronounced Hippo Crates (as in hippo for hippopotamous and crate as in a large box).

3. I sometimes stay up late reading. 

4. I have grumpy moods. And upset moods, where I cry upon the least provocation. In other words, I'm female. . .

5. I am hopelessly hopeless at sports.

6. I can be (read: am) messy and disorganised.

8. I can be very shy, and I usually find it extremely hard talking to people who I don't know well.

9. I had a massive crush on Prince William when I was about 12 or 13 (didn't we all? :P). I don't like him anymore though, FYI. 

10. I am really, really bad at maths.

Well, I don't want to tag the same people all over again, so I might pick some others. But if you'd like to do the tag anyway, even if you didn't get tagged, please do so. Or if you were tagged but don't want do it, of course you don't need to if you don't want to!

Erin, Gae, Deanne, Embrethiliel, Adam, Laurie, and Joanna.

That was fun. :-D I'm glad I chanced to discover those tags through google!

Clothes shopping

Clothes shopping. . . hmm. Do you like it or loathe it? Personally, I like it and loathe it by turns. I can tolerate, even enjoy, up to 30-40 minutes of shopping, but after that it just gets too stressful and too confusing.

I'll be all excited (sometimes - often there's not much in modern fashion to be excited about) about certain new season trends, with a mental list of clothes items to look out for whilst shopping. Then, after an hour's shopping, I'll come home totally disillusioned, feeling like I never want to hear the word "fashion" again.

It's times like these when I almost wish I had an older sister. It's good to go clothes shopping with my mum, but - we don't often get the chance to go for a leisurely shop with just the two of us.

Yes, an older sister, one who has time on her hands, enjoys shopping, and has good taste in clothes.

On the topic of sisters - I frequently feel like I should have been a younger sibling, rather than the oldest. Big sisters are supposed to be responsible, mature, confident, and good at bossing people (younger siblings) around. I'm not as responsible, mature, or confident as I would like to be. And I am certainly not good at bossing people (younger siblings) around. Oh, I'll try it, but I don't do it very convincingly. Me: "____ [insert name of sibling], get down from there!" or "do this!" or "do that!" or "don't do that, you're not allowed!" Younger sibling almost always pays little or no attention, sometimes retorting "you're not Mummy!" or "yeah, whatever. . . "

Seriously, my 11-year-old sisters boss me around much more than I do them. 

Getting back on topic: which is the best way to go clothes shopping? I have tried two methods, and haven't been very successful with either:

1. Go through your wardrobe, carefully consider what you need to get rid of and what you need to buy for the season, be it summer/winter/whatever. Make a list of clothes items to find and purchase.

2. (This is a much less organised method): simply go to the shops, try on whatever takes your fancy, then pick the several items that you like the most and need the most. 

I find both "methods" can be somewhat stressful. 

So how do you find/buy the clothes you need without: a.) getting too stressed/exhausted and b.) spending excess money?

Busy, Busy, Busy. . .

Lake Como, by William Degouve de Nuncques

Sorry there haven't been any posts this week. . . 

Sunday: drove up to Brisbane, visited THE DAWN TREADER SET [pictures to come soon], stayed up until 11pm, drove to Brisbane International Airport, picked up friends from India, arrived back at hotel after midnight.

Monday: drove back home from Brisbane. Very tired. . . 

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. . . our Indian friends (a pastor and his wife; the pastor is an old friend of my dad's) have had very various appointments and speaking engagements.

Today: drove two hours to a ladies' conference in another town, along with several other women from church. 

Very tired, very busy, and as you can imagine, it's been difficult to get into routine with guests staying with us, and Daddy being at home (he has two weeks off work while our friends are staying with us). It's been a tremendous blessing having our guests and my dad at home, but - it's just hard to be normal, and get back into my normal routine! I'm sure you all understand. :-/

Maybe it's a bit silly - my apologising for not blogging, every time there aren't any new posts after 4-5 days. I don't know. 

Hope you're all well, and are having a great weekend. :-)

P.S. - This is a bit random, but - I think it will be a long time before I truly understand extroverts. Maybe I will never understand them. How anyone could find it genuinely difficult to not talk, when I often have so much difficulty in talking, etc. Wish I could get rid of my stammer. :-/ Are any of you readers bona fide extroverts? Maybe you could shed some light for me on the mind of the talkative, extroverted person. :P

Edit: that postscript was a bit silly. Ignore it, if you like. :-)

Happiness is. . .

 
The Year's at the Spring. All's Right with the World by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema

. . .What you feel when you finish breakfast and brace yourself for the morning's chores and schoolwork and. . . suddenly remember that it's Saturday!

Current Mood: Good

News

Dolce Far Niente by Andrew Lloyd-Webber

I haven't been posting much lately (sorry, everyone!) but quite a bit has been happening here recently. We're having a new roof put on our house. . . the workers all turn up every day at about 7:15am and start drilling and hammering away. . . and yesterday we had a big homeschool Medieval Day - click here to see photos of the day on Lynne's blog - then this morning, Daddy and I were talking at a local Anglican church (not our church) about India. In 2007, a team from our church (myself and my dad included) went on a missions trip to India. We had an amazing time - but that's another blog post. . .

Anyway, Daddy had a powerpoint presentation all put together, with loads of India pictures, then this morning, just as we were about to leave, the whole thing crashed. So - no powerpoint presentation! We just talked instead. All things considered, I think it went very well. :-) The building was full of little old ladies - they were all lovely. :-D

And this evening - just 5 minutes ago - I finished making my first-ever pair of socks!! Yay!! *applause* I'm so happy to have them FINISHED! I didn't have any problem knitting them, it was just sewing the toes up that had me completely befuddled. . . I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to graft the two sides together! Finally, this evening, I found a web page that explains in CLEAR, INTELLIGIBLE ENGLISH how to graft the ends together. I'll have to get some photos of my beautiful socks to show you all. :-D

What other news. . . oh yes - my 15-month-old sister is walking - all by herself, without holding onto anything! She's growing up so fast. . . what will I do when she is all grown up, and there are no more babies in the house? :-( I can't remember a time when I didn't have a baby brother or sister to kiss and cuddle and 'mother'.

Must go now. . . hope you're all well!

Current Mood: Lonely

Rainy days. . .

Storm on the North Coast, by William Degouve de Nuncques

It's been raining almost non-stop here for a couple of days, and there's rain forecast for the next few days. There's been flooding in some areas, though so far none where we are. We've been doing a lot of indoor things. . . baking, reading, playing with lego, watching North and South ( ;-) ), playing with baby, who is now 14 months old. . . babies are very entertaining. I can't imagine how boring it would be living in a house without one.

Any ideas for other rainy-day things to do?

Current Mood: Cold

Getting used to a sometimes un-beautiful world

I live in a medium-sized town in regional New South Wales, Australia. In some ways it's quite a lovely town - many of the streets are lined with trees, there are quite a few graceful old buildings around town (well, "old" by Australian standards. . . ). And yet, like any other town, there are areas that are relatively bare and ugly. As we drive or walk along some of these streets, I often wish that it was in my power to beautify the surrounding neighbourhood. - Planting trees everywhere to cover up the run-down old fibro houses, filling the place with lush green growth. Digging up the patchy brown lawns and planting vegetable gardens, giving the whole area an aura of life and productivity. 

Then I fall back to earth.

Fast-forward a few weeks: we'll drive past the same houses. Same bare, brown "gardens" that don't deserve the word. Same fibro houses, desperately wanting a good paint job. And I get so frustrated!

I do love beauty and beautiful things, and when I see the same old uninspiring neighbourhood or landscape again and again, it really gets me down! I just want to do something about it! Do something to make the world a more beautiful place.

It reminds me of a time - I would have been about 12 - when I was reading an article in an old National Geographic. It was about Mexico City, and its problems with pollution and overcrowding. I felt a very strong urge to rebuild all of Mexico City. Sure, if I had a few trillion dollars to spare, that might be a nice little project for me to work on.

Anyways. Have any of you ever felt that way? Or is it just me?

Note: The photo isn't a picture of any house in our neighbourhood - it's just a random pic I got off the internet. ;-)

Current Mood: Thoughtful

Crying and kissing

 
Last night I was lying awake in bed, when I suddenly got it into my head to see if I could cry - I mean just cry, with no provocation or reason. I discovered that it is in fact quite easy to simulate 'heartbroken' sobbing - but try as I might, I couldn't squeeze out a proper tear, though I fancy I did manage to get my nose and eyes quite red and puffy. Perhaps, next time, if I keep practising, I'll be able to produce the obligatory salty drop or two.

Ah, the things that you dream up whilst lying awake, when it's well past your bed-time. . . 

Do you know, when I was little, I always assumed that actors in movies had to use some sort of teargas or something to make their eyes water for crying scenes. It wasn't until I was older when I realised that, no, those are real tears - they really are crying, or pretending to.

Also, for kissing scenes, I thought that movie-makers would have to use special effects to make it look like a couple were kissing, when in fact they weren't. Because of course, you couldn't kiss someone unless you were married to that person! or so I believed. :-) Sometime, years later, I finally figured out that there were no special effects or computer tricks involved. I suppose my first thought would have been "Ewww!". . . 

By the way - last night, after my fake crying episode, when I finally got to sleep, I dreamt that a friend of mine had died, and I was at their funeral. No kidding!

~Elise

Current Mood: Dorky

You know those days when. . .

Autumn Leaves, by Sir John Everett Millais

. . . you seem to be busy all the time, but you don't really feel like you're getting a lot done? These last couple of days have been like that for me. Hence the temporary drought in blog posts hereabouts. Hopefully blogging will be back to normal later this week. I'm not a very organised person (*big understatement*) but I don't like having my routine disrupted. If we're busy in the morning, it means that I'm not able to get much schoolwork done (I usually try to get schoolwork done in the morning. . . ) and my whole day just seems out of whack from then on. . . guitar lessons this morning, homeschool meeting in the park yesterday morning. . .  

Sorry, I'll stop whinging now. I hope you're all having a lovely day! :-)

~Elise

Current Mood: Moody

Above Rubies magazine!!

I love it when a new Above Rubies magazine arrives in the mail! I always get so excited. . . Our copies *finally* arrived today. We always have two sent to us - one for me, and one for my mum, so that we can both read them at the same time! :P But seriously, it's good to have a second copy, to lend to people, or give away. It's a shame the magazines aren't fatter - I will usually have read mine from cover to cover within a couple of hours of receiving it. . . 

If you are passionate about striving to be a Proverbs 31 woman (BTW, I'm talking to my female readers here - Andy and Adam, you're excluded from this :P ), then you'll love Above Rubies no matter what your age. I daresay some of you already subscribe - do you enjoy them as much as I do? Leave a comment!

Oh and by the way - I discovered just today that there is an Above Rubies channel on Youtube! Check it out! If you have a YT account, then please subscribe and support them! I want to see more Above Rubies videos! They currently only have 43 subscribers - they deserve A LOT more than that!

Click here to go to the official Above Rubies website - www.AboveRubies.org.

Look - there's a picture of a bride on the cover! :DDD This issue is full of weddings and courtship stories! I had actually already read one or two of the courtship stories online at the YLCF Courtship Stories Index. (I have a link to the site in my sidebar, I don't know if you've ever noticed.) If you're a hopeless romantic, but desire God's best for you in this area of your life, you'll enjoy reading some of the beautiful stories in the YLCF index. :-)

And that was also the first picture of myself ever posted on my blog! Sort of. . . the only part of me you can really see is my hand. . . sorry it's a bit fuzzy, I took the pic with my webcam. As you can see, I'm sitting on the bottom bunk of the triple bunk beds I share with my 11-year-old twin sisters. :-) It's where I usually sit with my laptop. 

Current Mood: Pleased

How to entertain 11-month-olds when you're at your wit's end

Watch Play School videos on Youtube! Yep, that's right - while mummy was out shopping, and baby was getting very restless, I sat her down with me in front my laptop, and she happily sat and watched Play School on YT for ages!

It turned into bit of a trip down memory lane for me - there were all these clips from old, old, Play School episodes, from when I watched the show when I was a baby. . . 

My memories from 2008 (well, a few of them anyway)

A Bouquet of Flowers, by William Arthur Breakspeare

Dear Miss Jen tagged me! This is possibly the hardest meme I have ever done. . . but I enjoyed it! :-)

The rules:
1. Fill in your memories of 2008
2. Link my blog to yours
3. Tag others and comment on their blogs so
they know they've been tagged

My memories from 2008

~A good book I read~

Only one??? You have got to be kidding me. . . okay, I'll just pick a random good book that I read this year. Cranford, by Elizabeth Gaskell, was a beautiful, beautiful book. Full of sad, funny, and touching moments, with many extremely poignant scenes. It's very different than North and South, but I loved it once I got into it.

~A great film/movie I watched~

At least this one's bit of a no-brainer! I finally watched the Lord of the Rings movies last year, and I have recently been re-watching them with my daddy. Early last year I bought myself a set of the 4-disc extended versions of the trilogy (that's 12 dvds, altogether!), and I'm so glad I did!

~A new place I visited~

We visited a nearby national park, and got to see the waterfalls and the mountains. It was stunning - we got some good photos, but I can't be bothered putting them up just now. . . sorry! I've kind of forgotten how upload photos on here, anyway.

~An inspiring verse or quote I read~

Hmmm. . . the words of Psalm 27 touched me very deeply.

~A discovery I made~

Hmmm. . . why are these questions so hard. . . I'm going to borrow from Miss Jen - my discovery for last year was blogging! I really have enjoyed the 6 months or so of blogging I have done so far. I have so enjoyed getting to meet you all! It has been such a pleasure. :-)

~A new skill I acquired~

Once again, I'm going to have to concur with Miss Jen here - last year was the year I learnt to make bread! I've still got a lot to learn when it comes to bread-baking, but at least I have some confidence here now - I am no longer intimidated by bread recipes. Bread has been conquered. This year I want to learn to make meringues *properly*, I want to learn to make fluffy, delicious sponge cake, and I want to try making home-made turkish delight, amongst many other things. (I love turkish delight!)

~A lesson I learned~

I learnt not to buy too much stuff on eBay! I went through a stage last year where I was overwhelmed by all the stuff I'd been getting. . . never again! I have made up my mind I want to save up for a new guitar. Not that there's anything wrong ith my little Cort, but - a Maton would be nice. . . or even - *starts drooling* - a Gibson acoustic guitar. . . actually, probably not a Gibson, since they start at about $3000. . .

~A moment I will always remember~

Easy-peasy! The moment I held my darling little sister in my arms for the first time. :-)

~o0o~

Now, this time I'm not going to officially tag anyone - if you'd like to do this meme, consider yourself tagged! On the other hand, if you can't be bothered to do it, then of course don't bother! :-

Current Mood: Weird

Panic. . .

I don't think I ever really understood the meaning of the word until now! It is so scary to wake suddenly in the middle of the night and start coughing, gasping, "whooping" myself hoarse, desperate for air but unable to breathe. Whooping Cough, I am so over you! I just want to get better now. Please!!

It's usually not so bad during the day. It's just at night when I have these dreadful coughing fits. It is most alarming when I am alone, in the dark. If there's someone with you, you don't tend to panic so much.

School starts today. This year, I hope to remain on speaking terms with my maths book. I will happily read and/or write all day, but when it comes to mathematics. . . *heavy sigh*

I have been enjoying watching the Australian Open. Especially Joe-Wilfried Tsonga. He played magical tennis last year when he made it to the final against Novak Djokovic, but this year he's been even better. Definitely one of the most entertaining players today! But as for the cricket. . . *headhitskeyboard* I have temporarily given up on Australia's cricket team. 

I am currently reading Louisa May Alcott's Jack and Jill. From what I have read of it so far, I would have to say it is one of the worst Alcott books I have ever read. It's still pretty good, though! A nice place to escape to - 1880s New England in winter, covered in snow, full of adorable rosy-cheeked little girls and mischievous young boys. I wouldn't mind a bit of wintry weather just now - it's been very hot and humid these last few days. We've spent most of our time inside with the air-conditioner on.

Hope you all have a great week!

~Elise

Current Mood: Thoughtful