Shippy-ship ho

It's a whale of a tale, I'll tell you, lads!

    Aye, I have many favorite pairings in stories. And I'll share with you three, I will. All of them make my heart go all afluttery. I'm a mess, lads.

yeah that's basically how it works

     As I am happily alone this Valentine's, I will probably be watching the BBC tomorrow (specifically The Paradise), and squealing over the sheer amount of perfect little ships. Speaking of which...

Will & Elizabeth (Pirates of the Caribbean)
"Keep a weather eye on the horizon."
- At World's End

     Yes, yes. They have their bumps. Many, many bumps. But they get past them. In the end, after all their trouble, they know they still love each other. Elizabeth could live one hundred years and never deserve Will, but isn't that often the way it works? 

You know it's real when your ship gets shipped on a ship. :D

Ron & Hermione (Harry Potter)
Ron had ambled over to them looking lost and desperate.
"Good luck, Ron," said Hermione, standing on tiptoe and kissing him on the cheek. "And you, Harry." Ron seemed to come to himself slightly as they walked back across the Great Hall. He touched the spot on his face where Hermione had kissed him, looking puzzled, as though he was not quite sure what had just happened.
- The Order of the Phoenix

    Such a cute little ship. Their love is so tender, so sweet, and so awkward (mostly on Ron's part)... J.K. Rowling never pushed their romance, and that's what made it so real. So beautiful. It just... happens.

<3

Emma & Hook (Once Upon a Time)

"When I win your heart, Emma - and I will win it - it will not be because of any trickery. It will be because you want me."

- "Dark Hollow" S3

    Arg. The feelings. This ship is so gushily, mushily, lovey-dovey it kind of makes you light-headed. It's complicated, too. I can't even remember when it started. It's a whirlwind love affair, and it's kind of crazy, but still innocent. Still sweet. 

*gurgly drowning noises*

    Now, of course there are more. Many, many more. But if I went on with all the beautiful little BBC ships, Lizzy might get bored - and we cannot have that!
    I leave you with a collection of majestically cheesy valentines. Enjoy. ;D

*cackles insanely and runs away*

Luna Lovegood is on The Bachelor

I know it sounds crazy, but hear me out. 

If you are watching the current season of The Bachelor, you know that the current bachelor is Chris Soules. He has it narrowed down to what, 20ish girls? 15? Well one of those girls is Ashley S. 

Ashley S. and Chris Soules 

Now, this isn't just a picture taken at an unfortunate time. No. As Bachelor fans know, this is pretty much Ashley's facial expression all the time. She always has her eyes open wide and is often times in a world all her own. Here's a clip to show what I mean:

And if you're not convinced by that, here's another clip (this one's WAY better than the first one):

Now, can you see why I think she's the real life Luna Lovegood? I mean granted, we all love Luna and Luna is actually very very intelligent, but she's also sort of in her own world. They're both blonde, and they both sort of look alike. They say things that no one quite understands sometimes, and are a little bit "out there" as well.  

I hope I'm not the only weirdo who sees it. And I'll admit, I've only seen 4 Harry Potter movies once each, so I don't know Luna as good as hard core Potters do. But I just thought I'd share this random thing that I thought of while watching The Bachelor. 

 

It's Christmas and Liz is Old

... And Santa is in Guatemala! 

NORAD Santa Tracker, baby!

Or... somewhere near there. (Galapagos? Who lives in Galapagos?)

     Nonetheless, no matter what you're doing or where Saint Nick is or how awesome your church's Christmas Mass was (MINE WAS SO GREAAAT. BEST HOMILY EVERRRR. I LOVE EVERYTHING) - the world has to stop for just a minute 'cuz LIZ IS EIGHTEEN. WHaaat. The world is not ready.

#TotallyStoleThisAdorablezPictureFromSamMillsFacebook

     We can also celebrate the fact that she's now totally addicted to Once Upon a Time. And that means she can share tears and rambles with me. Huzzah!
    Okay, the world can keep going now.

I am Anna and Anna is me.

    Also I'm cold and I can't feel my feet and I want hot chocolate but it's like 11:00 at night. So maybe I'll just wait until tomorrow.
    The struggle is real.
    BUT MY ROOM LOOKS AWESOME.

    Really awesome.

Love you, dear readers. Remember the reason for the season, and have a very merry Christmas. <3

"The angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger...'"

Luke 2:10-13

Big 18...?

What do people call an 18th birthday? 16 is "Sweet 16", isn't there some sort of pet name for 18?

This may seem random and slightly off-topic (it is not, let me assure you) but I am bringing it up because this weekend (starting tomorrow) I am celebrating my 18th birthday!

Those who know me know that my actual birthday is really until late December, but I'm celebrating it early this year. What am I doing, you might ask? Two words:

Seahawks Game.

Yes, that's right! I'm going to Seattle for the weekend to attend my very first ever Seahawks football game! They have been my favorite team ever since I started watching football (so like...when I was 9-10 ish) but I have never seen them in person. This Sunday, I will be at (perhaps) the most important and anticipated game of the football season. I am extremely excited! The game is at 1:05pm, so you might see me on t.v. if you're looking closely :)

Also in Seattle we have plans to go to the Space Needle (which I haven't been to since I was but a wee lass), possibly to the aquarium, to the Ripley's Believe it or Not traveling exhibit (really excited about that!) and see an Imax movie (shopping, shopping too will be in there).

Okay, so enough about that, we have more pressing matters to discuss.

*clears throat*

MOCKINGJAY

COMES

OUT

TONIGHT!

I am going to see it at eight (which is in like, 2 hours). I am FREAKING OUT because I know it is going to be FABULOUS! For those of you who don't follow the Hunger Games trilogy, Mockingjay is the third book/movie in the Hunger Games trilogy. I am very frustrated, though, that they're splitting Mockingjay (the book) into two movies. And they're torturing us by making us wait a whole YEAR in between them!!

Speaking of waiting - I don't believe I ever mentioned how addicted I am to Sherlock now. Sherlock (and I'm talking the BBC show here) is that WONDERFULLY FANTASTIC FEELS-Y show that Elly got me hooked on whilst (:D Elly word) visiting her in ABQ. I had my reservations, but basically five minutes into the first episode, I was hooked. It is a truly great t.v. show and if you ever have the chance, WATCH IT! (WARNING: the fandom is a bit...erm...insane to put it nicely. I warned you)

WHAT does Sherlock have to do with waiting? Well, so far we've only gotten THREE SEASONS (series, if you're British) with only THREE EPISODES EACH! Granted, each episode is roughly the length of a movie, but STILL! That's only... 18ish hours of Sherlock (that's barely anything!).

The next series (season if you're American) doesn't come out until 2016 (we're pretty sure)! I will be off in college by that time! It is very painful to be on hiatus. I am a recent fan, so I've never experienced hiatus before....

....I hate it.

Anyways, the Hobbit is coming out soon as well (I'm sure Elly will tell you ALL about that...she almost cried while watching the trailer). OH! I saw Big Hero 6 and it was UH-MAZE-CHEESE! I will write a post about that later, as well as a post about my Seattle travels :)

Well, until next time, mates!

(BTW I didn't have time to edit this or make it look cool...maybe I'll do that when I get back) :)

The Maze Runner - book series

Okay, so I just finished the last book of The Maze Runner series, and I NEED to vent. I'm not even sure what got me all worked up about it, but I'm like tearing my hair out because of the series!

Here's some information for those of you who don't know much about The Maze Runner series:

• There are four books in the series: The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, The Death Cure, and the prequel, The Kill Order.
• The first book was just recently made into a movie. It's a pretty good movie, so go see it!
• They were written by James Dashner.
• They are dystopian novels.
• And they're awesome. Not quite as good as The Hunger Games or Divergent series, but it's still up there.

I finished the prequel (which I actually highly recommend reading AFTER you've read the other three; It makes more sense that way) yesterday and now I'm all worked into a frenzy! 

The Maze Runner quartet

 Okay, well the safe zone is over. 

WARNING: DO NOT KEEP READING IF YOU INTEND ON READING THE SERIES OR ARE IN THE PROCESS OF READING THE SERIES! FROM HERE ON DOWN THERE MAY BE SPOILERS! I WARNED YOU! ELLY, IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED ABOUT ANYTHING OR ANYONE (INCLUDING NEWT) THEN READ NO FURTHER!

So, the first book was fantastic and the ending isn't quite a total cliff hanger. HOWEVER there is still a TON of information that we still do not know. Who is WICKED? Why were they in the maze? What is the outside world like? So, naturally, I read on.

Okay the second book was equally as fantastic, however I'm going to skip it for the sake of ranting. I have no rants about that book. 

The Death Cure, however, is a whole different story.

This is the 'last book' of the series (The Kill Order is technically a prequel, remember?). The end! They just... (I'm about to get really slang-y and confusing, so bear with me) they just POOF! Go through the Flat Trans and then what? They're safe on an island somewhere or something, left to start a new world. Like, what happens to them? Do they stay there until the Flare kills itself out? What happens? Are they left to re-build the world? There are just too many unknowns and it's frustrating me like crazy! I wish we got a little bit more than that. 

Also, was anyone else like DYING when Thomas, Newt, and Minho didn't get their memories back? I was DYING to know about their past lives and their like "We don't want our memories, suckers!" Leaving us the reader dead because we never find out much about any of their pasts (except for Teresa... I'll get to her in a second) and I want to know more! They're starving me of information!

Also... Newt... *bawls hysterically*. I liked Newt... like a lot like, maybe even more than Thomas and Minho (which, I actually liked them quite a lot in the book. Thomas was a bit frustrating at times and so was Minho, but they're guys, what can you expect?) Like, Newt just... *sigh*, no use putting off the inevitable (prepare for hysterical screaming).

I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT NEWT WASN'T IMMUNE LIKE EVERYONE ELSE AND THAT HE CAUGHT THE FLARE AND THEN THOMAS KILLED HIM!! LIKE THAT'S SO UNFAIR! FIRST YOU KILL CHUCK AND RIP OUR HEARTS OUT THEN YOU GO AND SAY, "OH LOOK! EVERYONE IS IMMUNE TO THE FLARE, YAY! OH WAIT- NOT YOU NEWT, TOUGH LUCK BUDDY." 

It made me so sad...

...I seriously almost cried...

Like, how unfair is that? And then he goes psycho and... and... Thomas kills him... and... it's all just horrible and sad and I miss Newt so so much... :'(  

Okay *composes self*, let's move on please. So I just finished The Kill Order, which is the prequel to The Maze Runner. It was a really good book and I actually got pretty attached to the characters. Mark was awesome and so was Alec and Trina... oh and cute little Deedee...

...Deedee... I'll get to her in a second.

First of all, this book was quite a satisfactory prequel. It gave me a ton more information about the Flare, the Sun Flares, how the Flare got out, how WICKED started, etc. 

I got super attached to the characters and it reminded me of Shakespeare; you know when he tells you who's going to die at the beginning and then you're dreading it but you still become attached to the characters anyway and die when they die even though you knew it was coming the whole time? 

Well NONE of the main characters are immune to the Flare (except for Deedee... I'll get to her). We know this from basically the beginning. So once the Flare gets out, it's only a matter of time before they all, you know... die.

All of the characters were awesome and it killed me when each and every one of them died. I felt like I died along with them. I held out all hope that somehow they would live, somehow they would make it through... but no such luck.

The last sentence of the book (not the epilogue or Teresa's file afterwards) killed me... it killed me! I seriously, I got chills and almost started crying. They sacrificed themselves and it was basically them who saved the entire human race. But no one ever knows, because they all DIE! Mark and Trina don't get a future! Alec doesn't get a future! Alec may have been old and hard, but I liked him :/

Now... onto Deedee...

Deedee. When they figured out she was immune, I immediately was trying to figure out who she really was. I was like "She was probably in the Trials with the rest of them somewhere," but I couldn't figure out who she was. 

Deedee... is... Teresa...

My mind was literally blown to bits. I almost screamed. Sweet, innocent Deedee is TERESA?! HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?! SHE LIVED THROUGH THE SUN FLARES AND THE FLARE AND WHAAAT?!

Just as a background, I hate Teresa. Like, hate her with a burning passion. She's a traitor, and a liar, and sure she may have been acting through some of it, but she always liked WICKED and even though she dies to save them all in the end, I still despise the girl.

However, I love sweet, innocent Deedee. She's so cute, and just... the relationship between her and Mark and Trina is just so cute... 

I LOVE HOW THE WHOLE SERIES CAME FULL-CIRCLE! (This is why I recommend reading the prequel LAST). EVERYTHING WAS REVEALED AND CLICKED INTO PLACE AND I LOVED IT! 

So yeah, I think that's it for my ranting for now. I had this theory that maybe Mark and Trina were Thomas' parents, but then I realized they would be too young... I don't know if I prefer my ending or the ending that it has better. 

I'm still bummed that literally everyone dies in The Kill Order, but much ranting means it was a good series :)

If you have time, you should definitely read it. The way it's all laid out is just fantastic and frustratingly amazing :)  

I rate the series... probably an 8.5 out of 10. It was superb!

Thank you for taking the time to listen to me rant :)

Shool Hath Come...

Anyone who has seen the movie Megamind can appreciate the the title of this post.

 

School started yesterday. However, only two of my classes started yesterday -no not even two- one of my classes started yesterday. So I guess I've half-started school. Don't worry, I start another class tomorrow, another class the week after that, then on the 29th is... is... *shivers* calculus.

I am a senior this year. It is a blessing to almost be done with the torture we call High School, but it's also very scary. At the end of this school year, I will be a responsible adult, I will know what college I am going to, I will leave my family, and I will join the young adult species known as college students.

Just a little scary.

I am happy to be a senior, though. Because that means that I am going to move on with my life. I will officially 'grow up' (however I do not think I will ever be fully 'grown-up'), treated like an adult, and be able to make my own decisions. It's a scary time in one's life, but also a very exciting time!

The downfalls of being a senior? Four words: College Applications. Senior Project.

Oh how I dread filling out college applications and scholarships and writing useless junk about myself and answering thousands of questions about who I am and who I want to be and yadda yadda yadda! I am not looking forward to it.

This picture couldn't be more accurate

Oh and the Senior Project. I am helping put a yearbook together, which is more fun than some of the things I could have done. But I have to spend 35 hours working on the yearbook, followed by a 10-page paper about my future, a speech (also about my future), and many many stressful days.

Oh the joys of being a senior. Did I mention that on top of that, I am taking Physics and Calculus? Some people may gasp, in the same year? Yes, because I'm a genius...with a capital J! 

No, I am not a genius, just someone who strives to do the best she can do. Do I want to take Calculus and Physics? No. Must it be done? Yes, so I must do it.

My school might actually be easy this year. I only have four classes this semester (not including my senior project) which, I think, is the least amount of classes I've ever had. I usually have an average of 6-7 classes. 

Ah shool, such a fun time of the year. Did I also mention that I will be going this year alone? I mean my right hand man, my sister Sam, will not be here with me. She left for college a few weeks ago so right now, I am the only high-schooler in our household. I am trudging through the unknown waters of senior year alone. But I got to watch my sister do it last year, so I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doing.

I hope I know what I'm doing.

I feel ya, Tommy Boy

Anyways, if this post hasn't totally bored you to death then you must think either my life or shool is interesting (I keep writing 'shool'. Watch I'll be writing an important paper or be giving a speech and say 'shool' instead of 'school') *cough Elly*.

I shall stop boring you with the troubles of my life. I feel like I need to watch Sherlock... oh and eat... I need to eat, too. 

OH! But I must tell you something FANTASTIC before I leave!

I am turning 18 this year (a real adult!) and for my 18th birthday I am going to go to a Seattle Seahawks football game!! They've been my favorite team for as long as I can remember and I finally finally get to go see them play! I am so excited!! I'll take tons of pictures and I'll probably be decked-out in all of my Seahawks attire (I have two shirts, a jersey, a hat, and a scarf which I will proudly be displaying at CenturyLink field!). Watch and see if you can see me on TV! Our seats are the fourth row from the field, by one of the 10-yard lines. It's the Seattle Seahawks vs. the Arizona Cardinals on November 23rd I believe.

Okay, that's enough of my rambling for now :) See you later. Good luck with shool!

The Sunshine Award

 I have been nominated by Elly from this blog and her other blog, The Spilled Inkwell, to answer a few questions for the Sunshine Award (don't ask, just go with it). Here we go!

Question #1: If you could choose one liquid to spurt out your fingertips for the rest of your life (at all times!), what would it be?

Liquid gold. I mean I could single-handedly bring world peace! I could fix our nation's economy and not to mention I'd be super rich :) I could save the world!

Question #2: Who is your favorite superhero and why?

Thor because he's particularly warm blooded :) Also, yes he's kind of a jerk at the beginning of Thor 1, but he turns into such a gentleman. Plus he says the awesomest things! 

Question #3: What is the weirdest thing you have ever eaten?

Weirdest would have to be cow tongue in Mexico. The worst part was that they didn't tell us it was a cow's tongue until after we ate it. Then my sister claimed she saw taste buds on her meat. It actually didn't taste that bad... but the thought of eating a cow's tongue was... yeah, not pleasant. 

Question #4: What episode of your favorite TV show always makes you cry (or want to cry)?

I don't actually watch any drama sort of TV shows. Elly actually recently got me hooked on BBC's Sherlock so I'll pull an episode from that :) The episode that made me want to cry the most... oh that's a hard one... it's a tie between The Great Game and The Reichenbach Fall. Those two were pretty intense, I'm not gonna lie.

*Sniff* Conceal don't feel! *bawls*

Question #5: You're stranded on a desert island. A box washes onto shore. What's in the box?

They never specified how big said box was! So in that case, a yacht with instructions on how to drive it, six months worth of food, tools, gas (do boats run on gas?), and a radio. Some crew members would be nice too, but I don't think they'd be in the box with the yacht.

Question #6: Most boring book you've ever had to read?

Even when a book is pretty boring, I usually finish it. There's a small list of books I've actually had to stop reading because I couldn't handle it. The worst was the book The Red Badge of Courage. I had to read it in middle school and I basically begged my mom to let me off the hook. I could not stand how boring it was. No offense to anyone out there who likes that book, I hated it.

It's just... not good...

Question #7: Favorite grade of school you've gone through? 

Hmmm... one of my high school years I just have to decide which one. Probably sophomore year of high school. I don't know why, but I always remembered sophomore year as being particularly fun for some reason. Maybe because I felt like truly grown up or something. I don't know :)

Question #8: If you had to have one fictional character by your side at all times for the rest of your life, who would it be?

So basically, I'd probably want to marry said fictional character since I have to be with them forever. So... oh dear there's a few fictional guys who are mighty fine :) Probably Leo Valdez from the Heroes of Olympus series. He's my age, we're pretty similar, and I think he'd make a pretty cool sidekick. Plus he's a demigod so that'd be pretty cool, too. He'd also be able to fix, like, anything! That'd be nice. If I didn't have to spend every waking moment with them, I think that Sherlock would be pretty interesting and fun to hang around :)

Question #9: Would you rather live in a decrepit, spooky mansion by yourself or in a smelly shack with thirteen people?

Probably the spooky mansion. It'd get me over a lot of my fears, plus I could make a wicked haunted house during Halloween and make a fortune! I could always freak out my friends, too. Just living with 13 smelly people sounds rather unpleasant.

Question #10: Would you eat a pound of raw squid for a million bucks? 

NASTY!

I hate seafood (except for fried shrimp... I can handle that). I am also a texture eater and slimy squid does not sound appetizing. Can your stomach even hold a pound of squid? Anyways, I would try to eat it, but I'd probably puke my guts out before I succeeded. 

Okay! I'm now done. I don't really know anyone with blogs, so I'm not going to bother nominating anybody. That was fun though, Elly! Awesome questions :)

Just for you, Elly :)