In Atlanta

Hey guys! We're in Atlanta right now, we arrived last night and now we are going to leave for St Thomas! I'm on my dad's iPad, so it's a little hard to type.

I got the travel blog up, the URL is www.lenastravelingdolls.blogspot.com
Unfortunately I can't post pictures yet, but I will when I get the chance.

See ya!

Love Lena

We are leaving!

So, we are all packed and ready to go! We leave for the airport at 8:00 am tomorrow morning, and I'm so excited! We'll be staying in Atlanta tomorrow night, but, unfortunately, we won't be able to go to the AG B&B. :(

Thanks to Leanna for your comment! It made me sniffle too. ;)

I don't really have the chance to make a blog for Emily's trip right now, but I promise it'll be up by the time we get to Indiana. We are having some computer problems right now, so I'm not sure if I'll have as much time for posting updates as I did last summer.

Well, see you soon!!!

Love, Lena

School's out for the summer!

So today was my last half-day of school before summer break. I should be jumping up and down, rejoicing, and celebrating, right?

WRONG.

I'm feeling sad and depressed. Remember those mysterious Robert and Racheal friends of mine? Well, they are gone. Robert is moving back to Ottawa, Canada, which makes me sad. He was an awesome guy friend. Even though he gave me a scar on my face and I tripped over his face...... We have issues with each other's faces, as I'm sure you've figured out....... I hugged him goodbye and then I sobbed and made a lame joke about the afore said issue with faces.

Now Racheal...... Oh my word, there aren't any words to describe Racheal. She was hilarious, caring, and obsessed with Star Wars. I was bawling by the time I got to saying goodbye to her. We all were. I even hugged one of my least favorite people I was so sad. Trust me, Patrick is going to hate me for saying this. :P

In a little while I'll have to start packing because we leave SUNDAY!!! EEP! I haven't been to St. Thomas since I was 5 years old, and that was a long time ago. The only thing my sister remembers is
'Santa' giving her mints at the hotel. :P  On the other hand, I remember an amazing beach and an awesome restaurant called "Blackbeard's". The food was really yummy.

Speaking of going on vacation, Emily (my doll) is coming with me this summer, so I'm going to make an online travel journal blog for her this summer. I'll make a post when I have it up!

Oh, and my signature was lost. It was on my school computer that had to be handed in earlier this week, so I'll have to make a new one. :(

See you soon!

~Lena~

Exams and a Gentle Reminder

Hello friends!

As of yesterday afternoon, my exams are FINITO!!! I've gotten an A- in the first part of my exam, so I've got my fingers crossed for the second part. I think I did pretty well!

Now, for the gentle reminder.
As many of you may know, I am a Christian, and I don't want to offend anyone in any way if this comes across as offensive to you.
I saw a slightly disturbing comment on another blog that insulted a group of Christians, and I just wanted to remind everyone that we need to remember to "Do unto others as you would have them do to you." Remember that when you are commenting on blog posts, it's okay to have an opinion, and every opinion matters.

I don't mean to sound morbid and depressing, so thanks for reading, everyone.

Post Number 2

I know this is my second post in about 10 minutes, but I just HAD to show you my first blog signature. How do you like it?

Happy Birthday CC!

Happy birthday bestie! Sorry, this post is a few days overdue, I've been a little busy. Make sure you visit her Picasaweb Albums HERE. They are some of the best I've ever seen!

So, I have been studying today, ever since we got home from church. French is so aggravating! There are so many conjugations, rules, and irregular verbs; it's just crazy! Oh well, if I want to pass my exam, studying is essential.

When I was taking these pictures a minute ago, my mom asked, "Lena, what are you doing? Why are you taking pictures of your homework?" She gave me a weird look. I replied, "Oh, just interesting photography. I'm not doing anything weird!" She still gave me a weird look. She probably does think it's weird to take pictures of study notes for your French exam. LOL

See you soon!

<^> Lena <^>

The countdown begins......

4 1/2 days of school left.

1 exam down, 1 to go.

WOW. Time just flies by so fast, doesn't it? I mean, it seems like I just got back from Florida and everyone was clamoring at me to finish my photo story about what I did, and now I have my very own blog and I'm getting ready for summer. I mean, counting down the days and listening to the Beach Boys just makes it, right? Talk about fun summer music. The Beach Boys just speak to me, especially around this time of year. XD Here are some really cool pics of them:

My most favorite song by them is Surfin' Safari  on their album "Endless Safari". Their songs are AWESOME. Don't deny it. :P

What music puts you in the mood for summer? Feel free to give me a comment and a link!

Lena

PS: a signature should be coming soon! ^.^

A crazy dream....

I was inspired by Rachel , actually. I had this crazy dream last night.......

So, my school was on this week-long field trip, and we were all alone in this tiny town. All the girls owned grocery stores, and all the boys were playing with fireworks. (????) Then, Robert and Gavin jumped off the top of the cathedral and landed on their heads. Gavin jumped right back up and said, "I'm okay!", but Robert was deathly white and just laying there. I was coming to his rescue, and then he woke up and reassured me that he was fine, he wasn't dead.

Then I woke up. Pretty crazy, right?

So, I have a violin concert tomorrow night, so hopefully I can get a video up of that on Friday (because I'm going to be at school tomorrow for like 11 or 12 hours).

Thanks for reading!

Love,
Lena

Homesickness

I'm feeling a little homesick. I just finished talking to my friend Faith:

 on Skype a few minutes ago. She was talking about the new school that was being built, what she was doing for the summer, the invitation she got to our other friend's party, and how she couldn't wait to see me when I came home in July. It made me feel so homesick! Then she had to go, and I saw that CC was online and I tried to call her, but she went offline. :( I just can't wait for this summer! I miss the both of them so much! I don't think 13 days can pass fast enough. <-- That's counting weekends. 

Do you live far away from your hometown? Do you get homesick often? 

Love,

Lena

EEEP!!!

I just realized this, but: I HAVE 12 FOLLOWERS! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!! Thanks so much to all 12 of you!

So, I don't really know what to write about.

Well, I just got back from a birthday party of one of my little sister's friends. She invited me and another girl in my grade was there, so we hit it off pretty well. We don't really talk much at school because we both have separate groups of friends, but I like her. She's really nice.

Right now my sisters are bathing and are being mad at each other for some reason and my dad is yelling up the stairs at them to have patience. Yeah, like that's going to work.

Sometimes I feel like I'm in my own little world. Like now. In fact, we are all in our own little worlds. My dad is on his iPad, my mom is on her iTouch, and my sisters are arguing upstairs. Me? I'm staying out of it and I'm typing this right now. Yay. Exciting.

I probably sound depressing. There are only 6 exclamation points in my whole post. Fail. Here are some more. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Be happy,
Lena

School's (almost) out for the summer!

Wow. It just registered with me, but I leave in TWO WEEKS for St. Thomas, one of my favorite places in the whole world. Two weeks left with my friends. Two weeks left to pack. Two weeks left until I have the best time of my life.

Now, here is the picture you have all been waiting for:

Is this epic or what? I'm probably going to edit it (because the stuff in the background is distracting), but other than that, isn't this PERFECT?! That's me, BTW

I just can't tell you how much I cannot believe that the school year is almost finished. It's kind of devastating. I mean, this has been one of the best years of my life (if not THE best), and two of my friends are moving. :( Though I'm sure you've heard that before. :P

So, anyway, have a good Saturday!

Love,
Lena

How's life?

"Soooo.....How's life?" A quotation by one of my best friends, Ipek. It comes up a lot. Hence, when there is an awkward silence. Like now. Actually in this case, it would be an absence of text.

Anyways. I have 8 and a half school contact days left. WOW. It seems so real now that we are making goodbye books for my friends. It's funny business, actually. Friends were at a table writing pages for the books while two friends and I are were on "Robert duty". Racheal wasn't as crazy and stayed away, but Robert is a fighter. Literally. He was trying to push past me while Thomas tried to pull him away. I yelled out, "Why does he have to be so BIG!" and then he finally got past me. Don't get me wrong, he isn't fat, he's just bigger than I am. Like most people. XD

So, enough about my wacky friends. Even though I love them.

My friend Ayana took an AMAZING picture of me jumping today in digital photography class it is SO AWESOME!!! It doesn't even have my face in it! I would show it here but...........  I left in in the school folder. So I'll share it tomorrow.

I feel a strong desire to post some photos. My blog seems so bland compared to others, because of my lack of photos. So, here are a couple from the zoo in April (because I want some people pictures):

A swinging bridge course above the zoo (I'm the one with the bushy ponytail and the Red Cross pack)

Looking inside a giant tree

Being silly and pulling a Dudley..... At an iguana (If you've seen the first Harry Potter movie, you know what I mean)

So, that's just about it.

Cheerios,
Lena

A Story

Sorry about yesterday, I was a little nutty. Maybe it was the cornbread. In that case, I would have been corny. XD Okay, I guess we can say it wasn't the cornbread!

Down to business: I've been writing a story and I just wanted to share it with you. Here it is:
____________________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 1

The Arrival of Trouble

A girl with short, light-red hair stepped up to the door of a big red-brick house. She had a small duffel bag in one hand; the other hand lay protectively on the strap of her blue backpack. She slowly raised her hand to knock on the green and white striped door. These people must be nutters. The girl thought.

A somewhat large man stood behind her, holding a trunk on wheels, keeping it off the ground. “Rapide, sil vous plait, j’ai autres clients,” he said in French.

“Sorry, but I don’t speak French,” The girl said. The cab driver sighed, but said nothing.

The girl raised her hand again, straightened her shoulders, and knocked on the door.

~

If the girl on the doorstep had been looking closely and carefully, she would have noticed six girls around her age crowded around a small window, which happened to be on the stairs.

“Approximately how long has she been standing there?” A girl with blue eyes and caramel brown hair asked. The freckles on her nose danced as she squinted, trying to get a better look over another girl’s head. The girl below her, with silky black hair and dark brown eyes, replied, “Sara, you have to be patient. Don’t you remember your first day here?” Sara said nothing, and rolled her eyes at a girl beside her. The girl had kind hazel eyes that rolled in response.

I will now take a moment to describe the girls, because if I tried while telling the story, it would never work. Josefina Maria Montoya was a girl who originated from Mexico, and had light brown skin, silky black hair, and dancing brown eyes.

Felicity Margaret Merriman went by Lissie or Lis. She had auburn hair and sparkling green eyes.

Kirsten Anne Larson, who was from Sweden, had long blond hair and sky blue eyes.

Emilia Rose Bennett went by Emily. Emily had short red hair and blue eyes. She had a slight English accent that had diminished after a while from living with American girls.

Sara Caroline Pedersen was the first modern girl. She had caramel brown hair, light blue eyes, and freckles that seemed to jump and dance when she smiled.

Mia Racheal St. Clair was also from the present day; she had long light red hair, sparkling hazel eyes and freckles.

~

After the girl on the front step knocked, the door was opened by a young woman with long brown hair and hazel eyes. She smiled, her eyes squinting merrily.

“You must be Ginger!” the woman said. “Hi, I’m Lena!” Lena stuck out her hand.

Ginger smiled and said, “I would shake your hand, Miss Lena, but my arms are full!” to emphasize she lifted her backpack and duffel bag.

“Please, simply Lena would suffice, none of that ‘miss’ nonsense. Come in and drop your bags wherever!” Lena said kindly. She stepped aside and Ginger came through the door.

Lena turned to the cab driver and said in French, “Merci, messieur, pour ton assistance. J’ai l’argent juste la . . .” Lena turned around and took a small stack of European money from the chest in the hallway.

“Merci,” The cab driver said. He gave the handle of Ginger’s trunk to Lena who headed inside after Ginger.

~

As Lena showed Ginger her room (that Ginger got all to herself!), Sara spied on them from across the hall. She pretended she was reading, but, truthfully, was peering over the top of the cover. Sara couldn’t hear much, but she observed Ginger’s demeanor.

Ginger had light red hair that was bleached from the early summer sun. Her warm chocolate brown eyes seemed to make Lena’s smile wider, and captured Lena’s gaze and attention. Ginger’s only facial flaw was her freckles, which completely covered her face, complimenting her busy attitude.

Sara frowned, thinking Ginger would take her own place as favorite.

If only Sara knew how wrong she was.

~

As Sara was spying, Ginger was unpacking her backpack and duffel bag, while Lena put things in the closet and listened to Ginger talk.

When the duffel bag was laying in the bottom of Ginger’s closet and her backpack was hanging empty over the back of the chair, Lena reached for the heavy trunk and went to unlock it.

“DON’T!” Ginger exclaimed suddenly. Lena shrank back in surprise. Ginger felt bad about her outburst. “I mean, please don’t open that, it, um, has some of my-- I mean, my parent’s things in it. I err; don’t like to open the trunk. It sort of, like, um, err, preserves their memory . . .”

Lena, having fostered now 7 young girls, understood privacy of parentage. Most all 7 of the girls now had brought a bag of things that had belonged to her parents. Lena couldn’t, however, understand why such a big trunk and why Ginger stuttered so much. She decided to let the matter be for the time being, knowing things would work out in the end.

“Sorry Lena, but I’m a bit tired, do you think I could . . .?” Ginger asked, her sentence trailing off.

“Yes, of course!” Lena jumped up quickly and closed the door behind her.

Looking through the keyhole to make sure nobody was watching, Ginger dragged the trunk to the middle of the room and unlocked it from a key hidden in a secret pocket of her backpack.

Slowly she lifted the trunk lid . . .

~

Soon when Lena closed the door to Ginger’s room, Sara moved to the door and spied on her new inmate. Sara soon gasped at what she saw, and couldn’t believe her eyes. She rushed down the hall to the bedroom she shared with Mia, to tell her best friend . . .

Chapter 2

Secrets Told, Secrets Dismissed

When Ginger woke up the next morning, she got dressed and went to the bathroom that all 7 girls now shared and was surprised to find it completely empty. She shrugged and brushed her hair and teeth, not really thinking about it.

When she walked downstairs, the dining room was full of girls – All with messy hair and wearing their pajamas. “Oh.” said Ginger, embarrassed. They all looked up at her, spoons hanging in mid air above cereal bowls. “S-sorry, at the orphanage we were required to be ready for the day before breakfast.”

“Oh, that’s all right, Ginger, don’t worry about it.” Lena said, and she guided Ginger to an empty char. Lena waved her hand and the other 6 girls continued eating.

“So,” said Lena as she sat down to eat. “What do you want to do today? Hang out? Go to the park?” A mixture of exclamations arose in the room, as well as a loud “DISNEY WORLD!” from Sara. Josefina said kindly, “Ginger, would you like to decide?”

“Oh, well, I don’t know…” she faltered. “Why don’t we just stay home? I have some, err, preparations to make for school and owls – I, I mean letters to send, so I’ll be in my room a while.” Ginger hastily drained her juice glass and hurried upstairs.

“Mia!” Sara exclaimed suddenly. “I have something to tell you – it’s quite important. Meet me upstairs – 5 minutes.” She tapped her wrist as if tapping a non-existent watch. 

Six minutes later, Mia arrived in the room she shared with Sara. “You’re late.” Sara said seriously. Mia began to protest, but Sara held up her hand and frowned seriously.

“We have business to discuss,” Sara began. “I have some interesting news that has brought me to the conclusion that Ginger is--”

“SARA!” Mia exclaimed. “Just tell me and quit with all the froofra!” “Jeez, Mia, just chillax.” Sara sighed again. “I have come to the conclusion that Ginger is a witch.”

“BWAHAHAHAH!”Mia exploded in laughter. “A witch? Psh, like, what kind, a witch of quietness?” Sara looked a little hurt. “No, I mean a witch as in Harry Potter. Hermione? Ginny? Et cetera?”

“Sara, no one is going to believe you, so you may as well come off it,” and Mia stalked out of the room.

“We’ll see about that, Mia Racheal St. Clair,” Sara said, and crossed her arms indignantly.

__________________________________________________________________________________

So, what do you think? Should I continue writing it?

Love,
Lena

Dinner

It was so good. Dinner, I mean. I know, I know, you are confused with the title.

No, seriously, does my dinner look good or what!? The top pic is cornbread. It was so heavenly. We haven't made cornbread since Alabama, which was TWO YEARS AGO!!! The second is a pasta-ground meat-carrot-black bean dish. It was SO YUMMY. Compliments to the chef, Mom.

So, after all that jabberiness you are thinking, "Lena is out of her mind. Someone please send her to the loony bin!" I'm not crazy, but I get like this when the end of the year is near. TEN AND A HALF DAYS, PEOPLE! Yes, Fetnat, if you're reading this we have TEN AND A HALF DAYS TO SPEND WITH ROBERT AND RACHEAL!!! You know who you are.

I have a lot of nicknames. Lena, Lena Lou, Charlie, Cyclops, and Strawberry/Grapefruit (I'm not really sure which it is. Liam has yet to decide.). And guess what? All these (other than Lena and Lena Lou, given to me by my mom) were given to me this year!

I really need to stop this babbling. I'm going crazy someone save me!

*Ahem*

Do you like the NEW new look I gave to my blog? It just fits me SO WELL. It will stay like this until another Shabby Blog background catches my eye. *sigh*  I think I'm addicted to that website.

Anyway, stay random and please forgive my craziness!

Cheerios,
Lena

Violin recital, exams, and school days countdown

Hey! As some of you know, I had a violin recital yesterday. Well, here's a video:

Sorry, I had to blur the video because it would show my face and the logo of my school, which is a big no-no. And I apologize for the terrible sound quality, my camera isn't all that great. :P

Exams have officially started. Yes, today I had my first exam in my entire life. French oral, blech. And it continues until tomorrow! Double blech! Oh well, I have no choice. XD

More school news! 11 1/2 days of school left! YAY and OH NO! YAY because Indiana, here I come! OH NO! because two of my friends are moving. :( I will miss Robert and Racheal!

Hope you liked the video!

Love,
Lena

Stuff

Hello!

So, I've been working on my blog this morning, and I'm LOVING the new look. What about you? I think it just fits my personality: the colors the fonts, everything.

Another thing: I know I'm going to sound whiny and complainy, but what happened to all my comments? I mean, I have 11 followers, and on the last 3 posts I have had 0 comments. Like I said, I don't want to sound like I'm complaining, but I really want to know that people are reading and enjoying my blog. :)

So, what's everyone up to this weekend? Are you out of school yet? I'm not, I still have 12 1/2 days left. Oh well, I will relinquish them!

Sorry about the rambling, see you later!

Cheerios,
Lena

Happy Birthday!

Hey all!

For me, tomorrow is birthday day! It's my doll Kirsten's birthday and my little cousin's birthday. Happy Birthday, Jaxtyn! I love you little buddy! Plus, I'm going to a birthday party tomorrow! I'm busy, right?

So, nothing much happening here. I also have a violin performance at school Sunday after church. Hopefully I'll get a video and I'll post it here. Sorry it's such a short post, but, like I said, there's nothing much going on here!

Cheerios,
Lena

The Lady of Shalott

Hey! It's my first post on MY blog as myself, so that's exciting!

First, a question to you all: have you seen the movie Anne of Green Gables? Do you remember all the lovely parts where she recites a poem that keeps repeating "The Lady of Shalott"? Well, I've always loved those parts. If you don't know what I'm talking about, click HERE .

Now, after watching that, do you like it? If you do and want to see the whole poem, click HERE .

I would like to do a reading of it, but it needs a lot of practice, so it will be a while. I JUST LOVE THIS POEM!!! Ooh, maybe I should recite this for the talent show next year........

So, what do you all think of my new look? Of the blog, I mean. Of course. Pretty sweet, right?

Cheerios,
Lena