So what prom dress did I choose??

In my last post I asked for votes on which prom dress I should wear to prom. Well, after a lot of thinking I chose....

neither! lol

I ended up finding a dress at goodwill (yep, goodwill) for $5.00. It was a little too big for me, but with a little size adjustment and some embellishment, it was ready for prom!

Here's the dress before I did anything to it: (attractive, right?? XD)

(my hair was a MESS the day I bought it... 

just adds to the overall "before-ness" of these pictures, right? lol)

And here's the dress "after"!

I had bought the random sparkly belt at an estate sale for about $1.00 last summer, stuck it in my drawer, and forgot about it.. then remembered it when I was digging through my stuff trying to find something to embellish the dress. It was the perfect little addition. :)

Here are some more pictures from the night... It was an awesome time!

The hall... the prom committee this year did a fantastic job with decorations! The theme was "Victorian Charm", so everything was very pretty and classy. :)

We ate dinner...

(UNFLATTERING DINNER PICTURE... lol)

...they called all the seniors up and announced prom king and queen...

(The lovely Laurel being crowned queen :) )

Then, the moment we had all been waiting for... we danced! 

After that we got some group pictures...

Prom ended at midnight, but we weren't done partying... haha (I always say homeschoolers party extra hard. ;) ) So a few friends and I decided to go out to steak and shake. We didn't get home till about 2:30 or so, but it was a blast! 

The picture above was taken at Steak and Shake at like 2:00 AM... haha

So, quick story... The picture above is of Joel and I... 

I invited Joel awhile back, but he said he couldn't come. Of course, I was disappointed, and as the day got nearer, I kept saying, "Joel, I wish you could come!" So the day of prom, I come downstairs into my livingroom all ready to go... Josh, Heather, Adam, my sister Hannah, Ruth, Allyson are all in there and we're about to take pictures and leave... when all of the sudden, out of my diningroom walks Joel all dressed up for prom. I pretty much just hyperventilated. lol He ended up having to drive my van for me because I was way to wound up to do it! lol Needless to say, that was an awesome moment. :) And I was so glad he came because prom would have not been nearly half as awesome if he wouldn't have. ;)

And then of course, we can't forget another very special friend of mine... 

(left, freshman prom - right, my senior prom. We growed up!)

My lovely best friend forever, Erin, and I! She looked so beautiful, and guess what? She made her own dress! :') So proud!

Overall, an amazing senior prom. In six days I'm graduating from high school... Where has the time gone?! But as Joel says, "Not all good things have to end." Just because I'm not in high school anymore, doesn't mean all good things have ended. Maybe what's ahead is going to be even better! :)

(P.S. Thank you to Laurel, Mrs. E., and Erin for the pictures... I left my camera at home, and it was too dark to get many decent phone pictures, so I am glad someone else documented it for me! lol)

Spring Formal and HELP!

Ermegersh! I just realized I never posted pictures from my co-op's Spring Formal. This must be remedied ASAP! Especially since *prom* is next Friday (EEP!), and I'll want to post those pictures then, too...

Actually, speaking of prom, I would like some input. Which dress should I wear next week to prom? Here are my options:

The one on the left was the dress I wore to spring formal, and the one on the right is the dress my sister wore. As much as I adore my red dress, I wonder if I should wear the same dress twice?? Hmm... Any thoughts?

Anyway, as far as the actual Spring Formal goes, well... it was a fantastic night!

We started off with pictures outside. It was freezing cold. Our smiles were slightllllyyyy fake in these pictures, but we were still all so excited we could hardly stand it, haha.

We clean up good. ;)

Once we got inside the limo, the fun began. It was my first time ever riding in a limo and let me say... those things are awesome. We were also provided with sparkling juice which I may or may not have guzzled down... haha I am a HUGE fan of sparkling juice. It is probably my most favorite drink eva!! So I really enjoyed that part. :)

In THE LIMO! So, so much fun. :D

This is my very lovely friend, Heather, and I. :) I love her dress color... so royal!

"My brother" (Josh) and "chico" (Joel) enjoying the sparkling juice. ;) 

Enjoying the limo... I love their facial expressions. ;)

Heather and Janelle... these girls are so fun!

Joel's sister, Meghan, and my sister, Hannah. Both very beautiful girls in every way! :)

Did I mention I love my sister??? <3 i="">

In the limo, we listened to music, and "Don't You Worry Child" came on by Swedish House Mafia. I had never heard that song, but I love it now... It reminds me of Spring Formal.

The limo took us to a super fancy steak house restaurant. Hannah and I split a steak, and Josh made me try some crab stuffed mushrooms. Why I actually put those things in my mouth I have no idea because I don't eat crab, or any seafood for that matter. They were interesting to say the least... The boys were literally drooling over their steaks. I think that must be a guy thing because Hannah and I were like, "Eh." I mean, it was good steak, but I have never seen someone act the way those boys acted with their steaks. lol

The restaurant :)

This picture was also taken at the restaurant. Hannah and Evalee somehow managed to get the same dress, even though Hannah got hers from Goodwill and Evalee got hers from Plato's Closet! No idea how that happened, but it was pretty funny when they first saw each other. It's extra funny because they both had their hair done so similarly, too! None of this was planned, and no, she's not related to us, even though they look like twins. ;)

Me 'n' Josh... 

That boy showed some seriously good skills when it came to being a classy, gentlemanly individual. Plus, he can pull off a bowtie like nobody's business... ;)

After our dinner, we rode in the limo to a theater to see "Mary Poppins". It was a travelling broadway show, and pretty darn good. :) Then it was time for a few last minute pictures before heading home. 

:D

One of my favorite guys ever... I love Joel! 

He is such a sweetheart and so fun to be around. :)

Momma came along as a chaperone, and 

had a great evening hanging out with the other parents there... :)

(and we all had a fun time before the formal getting ready together,

 and then talking all about it after. :) )

Everybody!

This evening was literally one of the best of my life. I can truly say I am so thankful I was able to spend my senior year with these people. There have been ups and downs, but it's only made us bond even tighter. I'm gonna be so sad when I graduate, but I know we'll be friends forever! We'll be having a graduation ceremony together, as well, so I'm very excited about that. :)

(By the way, in case anyone is trying to find a good coverup for a strapless dress, we got ours HERE. I'm just adding that because we looked everywhere for one! A lot of places have really weird designs or none at all, so we were thrilled when we found these... and they are only $15.00)

The Vintage Bug!

You guys, I've been bitten by the vintage bug.

As my co-op group's production of "You Can't Take It With You" draws nearer, I've been more and more obsessed with the late 1930's and early 1940's. I've found some pretty fantastic stuff I want to share with you all on this time period. It's a ton of fun!

First of all, my good friends Josh and Joel (who play my love interest Tony, and a russian dance instructor named "Kolenkhov", respectively) have been teaching me, my sister, and some other friends of ours how to swing dance for the show. It is awesome!

We took this video the day after we learned our first aerials, so they aren't very good... we've really improved a LOT. But at any rate, here's a short clip of some of what we're doing:



It was *terrifying* the first dozen or so times we did it. Just absolutely terrifying. But it is so fun, and extremely addicting! Once you do it a few times and get it down smooth, you want to do it forever! I just like to give props to the boys though... Those lifts are *hard* and require a ton of strength... I tried one with my 9 year old sister (who you see at the very end of the video) and ya... I couldn't do it really at all. So I'm impressed. :D

You may be wondering how we learned how to do this stuff... One word. Youtube. Amazingly, there are a plethora of swing dance and swing aerial tutorials on youtube. You just have to be careful and go slow until you learn it perfectly so you don't hurt yourself by not doing the correct positions at the correct times.

I have also been listening to tons of vintage music. I'm basically obsessed with Vera Lynn, Glen Miller and his orchestra, Frank Sinatra, and Michael Buble who isn't vintage, but who has that honey-voice that kills me every time I hear it. *sighhhhh.* I also LOVE the "IHeartRadio" app I downloaded on my iphone... (listen online here) It's kinda like Pandora in the sense that you can type in one song and it plays you a radio station based on that song. I've been listening to my Sinatra station non-stop!

So, today I was so proud of myself... I finally, FINALLY! discovered how to do my hair all vintage-y 1940's! Ahh! I was so excited I took about a million pictures. :D

You've probably all seen this look from the 40's (which is apparently called a "U Roll"):

Well, you guys... I tried it... and this is what happened:

This... this was a proud moment for me. I have been trying to do this for literally *years*, and I finally found success thanks to the youtube video uploaded by CherryDollFace (watch it here) and thanks to a little thingy I made out of an old nylon and some cotton batting that looked like this:

Except, as I stated... mine was a nylon. filled with stuffing. and tied at the end. 

It looks weird and kind of freaks me out which is why I didn't take a picture, but you guys... it works. Sadly, I found out this idea is not original to me... but I still think I'm a genius for thinking of it anyway. ;) I knew this hairstyle would never work unless I had something to stuff in there though, because I have basically no hair... seriously, my hair is so thin, I have to pull all sorts of crazy stunts just to make it look normal! But this just so happened to do the trick. I used plenty of hairspray, and it stayed perfectly all day. 

I love, love, love it! Eep! (Do you like my vintage-y modeling pictures? I told you I took a million.... lol)

I've also been working on costumes... and boy, that has been fun! But I'm going to wait to post about that... ;)

Reformed (and not so Reformed) Opinions on Why the Chicken Crossed the Road

I didn't write this, but I found it on facebook and it made me laugh so I thought I'd share. :) 

Reformed (and not so Reformed) opinions on why the chicken crossed the road:

John Piper: God decreed the event to maximize his glory.

Gary Demar: The chicken was fleeing the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. That’s it.

Martin Luther: The chicken was leaving Rome.

Al Mohler: When a chicken begins to think theologically, he has no other alternative but to come over to the Calvinist side.

Mark Driscoll: A “bleeping” chicken crossed the road to go get a beer.

Thomas: I won’t believe the chicken crossed unless I see it with my own eyes.

Philip: The chicken teleported to the other side.

Peter: What chicken? What road? Never knew a chicken!! (rooster crows)

Ezekiel: God revived those chicken bones and then they crossed the road.

John: This is the message we have received concerning the chicken: he has crossed the road and there is no darkness in him

Paul: The chicken went to sleep and fell out the window only to be able to cross the road

Jacob Arminius: “God looked through the portals of time and saw the chicken on the one side of the road and knew he desired to cross, so he will cross, as long as he doesn’t lose his way.”

C.S. Lewis: If a chicken finds itself with a desire that nothing on this side can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that it was created for the other side.

Pelagius: Because the chicken was able to.

Rick Warren: The chicken was purpose driven.

Darth Vader : Because it could not resist the power of the Dark Side.

Pluralist: The chicken took one of many equally valid roads.

Jim Morrison: To break on through to the other side!

Liberation Theologian: Because poor people were on the other side

Universalist: All chickens cross the road.

Annihilationist: The chicken was hit by a car and ceased to exist.

Fred Phelps: God hates chickens.

Stevie Wonder: To reach the highest ground.

Tim LaHaye: The chicken didn’t want to be left behind.

Rob Bell: The chicken. Crossed the road. To get. Cool glasses.

Dr Seuss: Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been told.

Joel Osteen: The chicken crossed the road to maximize his personal fulfillment so that he could be all that God created him to be.

Creflo Dollar: God told the chicken that if he clucked, “That land across the road is mine!,” he could claim it. He crossed the road to take possession.

Sadducee: There is no other side

Charismatic: It felt Good

Hippie: It was far out

The Beatles: We’re bigger than the Chicken.

TD Jakes: A manifestation of the Chicken crossed the road for his blessings.

Emergent: For this chicken, its not the destination that’s important. Its the journey itself.

C Peter Wagner and the New Apostles:  We are the road

Todd Bentley: The chicken was in the front pew just worshiping, and the angel said, kick it in the face. So I did and it..I swear this is true, it fell under the anointing and levitated to the other side.

Fundamentalist: In the King James Bible, it says “the Chicken that pisseth against the wall crossed the road.” All those other per-versions like your sissy NIV say “the chicken crossed the road.” So, everyone who doesn’t read the KJV is going to hell……….

Democrat: It’s Bush’s fault and you’re a racist

Al Gore: I invented the chicken

Dick Cheney: It was scared I would shoot it in the face.

Rush Limbaugh: Another Rush Limbaugh see I told you so.

Libertarian: The Chicken crossed voluntarily. The state only has moral justification to intervene if the chicken is violating the non-aggression principle.   

Adam Smith: The invisible hand of the market

Mark Twain : The news of its crossing has been greatly exaggerated.

Douglas Adams: 42.

Karl Marx: To escape the bourgeois middle-class struggle. It was a historical inevitability.

Ayn Rand: It was crossing the road because of its own rational choice to do so. There cannot be a collective unconscious; desires are unique to each individual.

Ludwig Von Mises: The chicken judged, according to his own internal value system that crossing the road possessed a higher value to him than all of the other alternatives.

Peter Waldo: To escape persecution.

Origen: Because there were temptations to sin on this side.

Cornelius Van Til: Although the chicken claims to be unbiased, it cannot make sense of its decision unless the other side of the road is actually better based on an external, universal standard of value, and so its crossing of the road reveals that it knows there is a God but suppresses the knowledge.

Anselm: It crossed in faith so that it might understand why it had crossed.

Jonathan Edwards: Its decision to cross was a result of all the influences that make the chicken who it is.

N. T. Wright: You've misunderstood the meaning of the cross.

Thoughts on Insecurity

VIA Tumblr

Just something I was thinking about last night...

Sometimes I re-play back conversations or whatever after the fact, and I just cringe, dwelling on it and thinking, "WHAT WAS I SAYING? I SOUNDED LIKE A COMPLETE IDIOT! THEY PROBABLY HATE ME NOW."

I am ashamed to admit, these exact thoughts go through my head.

But as I was laying in bed contemplating these things, I began to think about something else...

How life isn't actually about making me look great (Whaa?? No way!)

but about making GOD look great and glorifying Him in every way

including (and even ESPECIALLY) in my interactions with other people.

VIA Twitter - Notice how everything on this list starts with "I'm".
No, you are not good enough. But God is!

...then I realized this could actually help me overcome the constant insecurity I feel.

Because when you rip away all of the shiny, psychologically diagnosable exterior,
you find insecurity is really me worrying I wasn't glorified enough.
Worrying I'm not thought of highly enough by other people.

And guess what? That's sin, you guys.
Robbing God of any of His glory is a grave sin.
Trying to please people instead of God is idolatry, which is terrible sin.

As a matter of fact, it is part of the main reason we are declared guilty sinners, and why we need a savior. The book of Romans in chapter 1 gives us a description of people without God. Notice the themes being repeated over and over in this chapter. (Emphasis mine)

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. 

They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. [Romans 1:18-22, 28-32 NIV]

That... is serious stuff.

You guys, I say I am a Christian.
I say I am being changed by the Holy Spirit.
So how can I allow this constant insecurity in my life when I see 
it is so clearly tied to exactly what I desperately needed to be saved from in the first place? 

VIA Facebook

Insecurity takes God's place by putting *me* in the center of everything.

It takes God's place by driving my actions (I do things and say things so people will like me).

It robs God of His rightful glory, and gives it to me, instead.
This insecurity inhibits my ability to serve God.

Instead, I'm serving me.

Which is definitely NOT how a Christian is supposed to live.

Now, the world tries to fix this problem by saying, "Hey, don't be insecure. You're fine. You're great! You're perfect." But guys, really? Do any of us truly believe this? No! Why? Because it's not true, and we can see it. Every single day we are reminded that it's not true. I can't think of a single way in which I measure up to "perfect". If you try to convince yourself that you actually do measure up to the standerd of perfection, well, first of all, God says you don't, so you're faced with that issue right off the bat. But second, believe me, you will quickly prove to yourself the contrary. Convincing myself that I am worthy of glory is a path headed toward destruction.

So, as a Christian, what SHOULD my attitude be?

1. Well, first, there needs to be repentance: acknowledgment of the fact that insecurity comes from trying to elevate and glorify myself, instead of God who truly deserves it. I think I've come to a pretty clear conclusion: Insecurity is a sin issue. And sin must be repented of and turned from.

2. Second of all, do things and interact with people in your daily life with the purpose of glorifying God. My image-- my glory-- doesn't matter. What matters is showing people how great God is. Guess what? I'm not perfect. I bet you're all shocked, right? ;) 

VIA Tumblr 

Ultimately, my image is in some way going to be tarnished. My facade is going to fail. And the glory-- the hope-- I've put into myself is going to lead me only to disappointment and complete embarrassment, hurt, and shame. It does this in small ways every time I obsess over something stupid I said.

But God... well, He's different. He is worthy of all the glory I could ever give Him, and infinitely more. He will never disappoint. His image will never be tarnished. He will never make a mistake.

I am in love with Galatians 1:10 right now. The verses before this one talk about some people who were abandoning the gospel (the true message of God) for a perverted, untruthful gospel. Paul is asking the Christians why they so quickly abandoned the truth for a lie. He finishes with this thought:

Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. [Galatians 1:10 NIV]

In living a life for God;
being, as my youth pastor says, "On the mission of God";
spreading the truth to the world;
my focus cannot be on pleasing people.
It must be on God.
Ultimately, it is only His approval that I need.

3. Third, this attitude of serving God alone gives us freedom to break the chains of insecurity. I love how John Piper put it in his article on Galatians 1:

The most thrilling implication of verse 10 for me personally is this: The absoluteness of Christ's lordship is gloriously liberating. It frees me from having to worry about pleasing one person here and another person there. It brings unity and integrity to my life. When you live to please only one person, everything you do is integrated because it relates to that one person. Shall I go to this movie? Read this book? Make this purchase? Take this job? Go out on this date? Marry this person? What a freeing thing it is to know that there is one person who is to be pleased in every decision of life—Jesus. Sometimes pleasing him will please others. Sometimes it won't, and that will hurt. But the deep joy of a single-minded life is worth it all.

and later on in the same article...

...if you embrace the one true gospel, not only are all your sins forgiven by God, but a thrilling unity and integrity and liberty come into your life because there is only one person to please, Jesus Christ, and he only wills what is best for you.

So, can I completely overcome all my insecurity? Well, I think there will always be a little bit of insecurity inside of me. But I can begin to overcome it by always attempting to glorify God in everything I do, repenting when I lose my focus, and remembering it's not all about me and my image. That IS a freeing thought, is it not? ♥

Quickie Update on Debate and Comment Response

Just thought I'd give an update... After three or so hours of "sit-'yo-butt-down-and-don't-get-up-till-it's-done" work on my debate speech yesterday... it is done! Although the actual debate still looms in the very near future and I still have more research to do, the biggest task has been accomplished, which is a great relief! :)

PS, In partial response to a comment left by Rachel Hope which states, "But I'm not sure how school works, being home schooled. Or was. Do you get graded or points on how well you do ? because I would freak put about that too." Well, good question. lol I'm not entirely certain how the points system works, but yes, it will be in some way graded based on a points value, I believe. I've also heard the winner will be decided based on who convinces the judge of their side the best (not sure if that is true or not). Regardless, the better your argument is structured, the more it makes sense, and the better you present it will all lead to a better grade/score. Notice the last thing I mentioned... your score will actually go up, you will receive more sympathy for your case and garner more supporters if you present your case well. So, half the battle here is just acting like you know what you're talking about and being a gracious, like-able person. lol (The other half being, of course, a good case and whenever possible actually knowing what you're talking about.)

(By the way Rachel, I'm homeschooled too. The classes I was referring to are part of a co-op I am taking this year. :) )

Magical Time of Year

This is just a few second post as I take a teeny break from schoolworld.

img.

There must be something about this time of year when it just feels like magical things could happen, because suddenly I feel the sudden urge to cut my hair in a 1950's style, wear fashion-forward sequin adorned vintage-inspired clothing, and take a luxury plane full of my family and closest friends across the pond to spend Christmas in Europe. And all the way we'll only play Christmas Music and 1940's big band on the plane, and we'll be served gourmet desserts. Doesn't that sound marvelous?

img.

Or maybe I just want to be surrounded by twinkling Christmas lights, yummy holiday food, friends, and family; crafting special gifts, holiday shopping, and Christmas parties; holiday dresses, Christmas cards, and watching "It's A Wonderful Life. Maybe singing Christmas Karaoke, ice skates gliding, and snowflakes falling are just a kind of Christmas magic on their own.