HD Love, Jimmies (plural), & the Like

5 Interesting Things You All Ought to Know

-1-

New year, new me, new blog.

 Look around. Isn't it colorful? I am currently working on improving the layout of the blog and making it more functional. I'll be rolling out some more minor changes which will hopefully make this blog easier to navigate. 

-2-

Heather Dixon loves me.

Me, and Marlene. Below is a screenshot to prove it. If you haven't read Heather Dixon's positively enchanting novel Entwined or clicked "follow" for her hysterical blog Story-Monster, I would highly recommend it. She can make me laugh (or swoon) even on the darkest and dreariest of days.

Fangirl captions added for your entertainment.

-3-

Downton is back, ladies n' gents.

While other viewers are trying to keep calm and carry on after Season 3, I am still suffering from post-Season 2 depression. Face it: Best season of Downton Abbey ever. I have professed my love for William and Branson and Downton Abbey before, so I will leave the gushing to my past self. I am looking forward to Season 4 viewing sessions with my family until I return to school. My sisters, mother, and I all make tea and watch it together, and my father inevitably asks for the details the next day. (He's secretly a fan. I just know it.) So far it's more of the same, but the promise of new characters should shake things up relatively soon.

 -4-

On top of Jimmy, there are jimmies!

There's Downton Abbey Jimmy, and then there are jimmies. As of tomorrow, I'll have both! I'm planning to bake some sprinkle-covered cookies over the course of the week, and for some reason the irony of back-to-back Jimmy-ness tickles my funny bone.

Durdurdur I'm Jimmy durdurdur.

-5-

 My sister loves Earl Grey. I repeat: SHE LOVES EARL GREY.

I watched my youngest sister acquire a taste for tea over the past few years, but we had sort of parted ways. She experimented with vanilla chai concoctions while I perfected the art of a perfectly steeped, stirred, and sweetened cup of E.G. She saw me having my "usual" this evening and asked for a sip. She brought the mug to her lips, took a tiny sip, looked me in the eye, smiled, and said, "That was delicious." I promptly made her her own cup and watched her skip off into boiled leaf juice bliss. I'm so proud, guys!!!

The tea was Iroh approved.

On the writing front... All this time off has given me some time to write, which has been glorious. Still in my fairy-tale phase. I may or may not have promised some of my friends at school some finished stories, so I have my work cut out for me. I only have two weeks before I have to head back! My sentiments on the subject look a little like this:

Okay, maybe not that dramatic, but I'm pretty happy right where I am. So there you have it: 5 things you ought to know. Until next time!

Image Credits: 2nd down, 3rd down, 4th down

Welp, I'm beat.

I WON NANOWRIMO!

*applause*

I finished a day early, too. Now I just have to order my winner's T-shirt. My mum is letting me purchase one as a reward for my efforts. My best friend baked me a whole batch of brownies to celebrate my victory. (They were unbelievably chocolatey. It was insane.) My dear sister didn't even complain when I stayed up late on the 29th to just get the gosh darn thing over with. I've got an awesome team behind me, that's for sure.

If you're wondering why I haven't posted all month, I would think it's obvious. I've been NaNoing! That, or watching Doctor Who and Downton Abbey. Or doing homework. Basically, a cycle of stressing over NaNo, completing college apps, doing homework, and then de-stressing with some quality British television. And if anyone wants to talk Downton with me, I'd be happy to oblige. Next up is the Christmas episode, and I'm still upset over the last one. I mean... LAVINIA? WHY!? I hate writers. Oh wait, I am one. *blush*

Dude, check it.

 

You can see where life got crazy, and the insane sprint to the finish line over the last few days. Three days in a row, I came home, sat down at the computer, and did nothing but write for hours on end, taking short Facebook/food/run around the house breaks. It was intense. The writing was awful. But I DID IT. Huzzah for yours truly!

Now, for your reading pleasure, the best and worse of my 2012 NaNoWriMo novel, If and When.

Obviously, this is all copyright of yours truly. Anything plaguerized is ILLEGAL. Not that it's good enough to steal. *sigh* Forget it.

THE GOOD 

• "Try to look inconspicuous, she thought. She wished she could say the last word aloud. Inconspicuous. It tasted like chocolate; New words always did." 
• Why I like it: I used the image of words have flavor several times in the novel, and I thought it really worked well within the context of the book. Not to mention Anthony has chocolate brown eyes. Coincidence? I think NOT! 
•  Aubrey’s mouth clamped shut. Words, words! Her mouth opened up just enough to let one tumble out of her mouth.
      “Inquisitive.”
      Dimitri’s eyebrows managed to go up even higher. “Excuse me?”
      “Yes. I... I read. Books, I mean. I read books.” She gulped.
• Why I like it: I thought it was funny. You're allowed to disagree.
• Aubrey looked up and into the pale face of the sky and wondered what stars looked like. She had read so much about them… They were supposed to be bright, twinkling orbs of light. There were so many poems about them. If Aubrey remembered correctly, they were supposed to be romantic.
• Why I like it: In my story world, there are lots of factories. It occurred to me when Aubrey went outside with her friend, Anthony, that the pollution would block the sky... and the stars. Anyone who reads knows that stars come up a lot. The writing here wasn't splendirific or anything like that, but the concept was cool.

THE BAD

• Suddenly the shacks around them weren’t just unsightly, but eerily still.
• Why it stinks to high heaven: Sometimes my grammar faltered during the month. 

 

• The sky was a bruise, black and blue and bordering purple, while streaks of smog streaked across the sky like scars. 
• Why it stinks to high heaven: The concept? The sky is a combination of black, blue, and purple. Bruise! Dark clouds. Scars! Brilliant! Except... Ew, now everyone is thinking about wounds, oozing puss and nastiness. Gross.

More on NaNo later. Our football team made state play-offs for the first time in history, so I've got to get up bright and early to cheer my little heart out and play my xylophone like there ain't no tomorrow. Until then, I leave you with the most adorable thing ever. And before you ask, I didn't go looking for it. David Tennant is a pure coincidence. Although I'm certainly not complaining...

I mean, I could have played fish girl.

Soak up the adorbs. You're smiling. Admit it. No matter how cheesy that was, you're smiling. Don't hide it: EMBRACE THE SMILEY FACE. There you go. :)

* FOR AFTER YOU'VE WATCHED THE ABOVE VIDEO: Don't you love how the sign beneath the girls apartment is Juliet's Something-or-Other, and then the sign behind him switches to Romeo? Too. Cute.