The Blood of Olympus (The Heroes of Olympus book #5)

Elly and I enjoyed reading the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan. We started the series as pre-teenagers and we 'grew up' with Percy, you could say. We made our own demigods, and invested ourselves into the mythical world of Greek gods and monsters. Then, Mr. Riordan made a new series: The Heroes of Olympus.

Don't get me wrong, this series is good too. It has introduced some wonderful characters (Leo Valdez, for instance. He's the best ever:) However, those of you who read the most recent book from this series (*SPOILERS* Nico... I have nothing against that, but it was totally against his character), might feel as apprehensive as I do about the next (and possibly final) book in The Heroes of Olympus series: The Blood of Olympus

The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan

Will I read it? Yes. Will I probably end up buying it? Probably. Percy Jackson was such a huge part of my pre-teen/teenagerhood, that I have to see how his journey ends. However, this does not make my any less apprehensive about what Riordan might have in store in this book. 

And who knows? Maybe this book will totally redeem the last book (kind of highly doubt it, but it could happen). I am holding out hope for this series, but I have grown to dislike Riordan's choices in his books. 

BUT- I will read it and probably vent to Elly about it when it comes out. We'll just have to see...

The Blood of Olympus comes out October 7th, 2014.

Summary:

Though the Greek and Roman crewmembers of the Argo II have made progress in their many quests, they still seem no closer to defeating the earth mother, Gaea. Her giants have risen—all of them, and they’re stronger than ever. They must be stopped before the Feast of Spes, when Gaea plans to have two demigods sacrificed in Athens. She needs their blood—the blood of Olympus—in order to wake. The demigods are having more frequent visions of a terrible battle at Camp Half-Blood. The Roman legion from Camp Jupiter, led by Octavian, is almost within striking distance

Though it is tempting to take the Athena Parthenos to Athens to use as a secret weapon, the friends know that the huge statue belongs back on Long Island, where it might be able to stop a war between the two camps. The Athena Parthenos will go west; the Argo II will go east. The gods, still suffering from multiple personality disorder, are useless. How can a handful of young demigods hope to persevere against Gaea’s army of powerful giants? As dangerous as it is to head to Athens, they have no other option. They have sacrificed too much already. And if Gaea wakes, it is game over.

(You can read the first chapter here.)

Appow Dumplings

  So... Mum saw this today.

   It's just a ground snake ("docile and not venomous") but she didn't know that. So. FUN MORNING. I can now write hyperventilation realistically.
    I wish I'd seen it, though. I haven't found it again, and - truly - don't you think it's a handsome thing? I indirectly named it Freddie.

    Anywho, I have been suffering through Geometry and there are exactly ten days till I leave for Tennessee (and then Kansas), thusly kicking off my crazy summer. I'm writing like a madwoman. Liz has her SAT tomorrow , but somehow she has found time to draw the beauties in the last post. Her medallion is fantastic. @_@ Lizzy, I have but one tip for the SAT. Go. See. Conquer.

    
   I drew this obscure family portrait the other day after seeing a man at the zoo with three kiddos who was the living clone of Tony Stark.

Starklets! I named the oldest boy Howard (Howie),
the baby is Jackson, and the little girl is Lydia.
I don't actually know why for any of them,
save Howie.

   :3 I've invented this whole life for them, and I don't even know why -- Because Tony is one of my least favorite superheroes. And I don't usually submit to feels involving the Starks in general. And it's gone now, the happy appreciation I had fleetingly for Iron Man, or at least it's buried somewhere else.

    I saw Les Miserables last night at the Albuquerque little theater - and it was very, very good. As a [rather avid] fan of the movie and book, it's hard when the play has moved around the songs (even if it was actually the film that switched them) and the casted other people as your beloved characters, but - disregarding all of my persnickety pickiness - it was wonderful. I loved their Javert equally, if not more, than Russell Crowe, and Jean Valjean had a fantastic voice. Eponine was excellent, Cosette was good, and Gavroche was perfect. And their set changes were marvelous. THEIR ENDING WAS GREAT. The more I recall it the more I realize how I loved it.

Notice anything? O_O My friend and I did and over-analyzed it.

         I made Watermelon shave ice a few days ago - it's been over 95 degrees for the past week. It's five o'clock now, and it's 97. @_@ So, I postponed my planned baking, and shredded frozen watermelon chunks in our snowcone thingamajig.

     I put lime juice in it too, and it was amazecheese. Very easy to make (a little mess) and cheaper than a Sonic slushie (I HAVE NO MONEY). 

     And, finally, at a bearable 89 degrees, I made "appow dumplings" (from the Pioneer Woman!) yesterday.

     They're all gone now, but just looking at them makes my mouth water. I want one now. I nearly chopped my pinky finger off as I was skinning the appows, but I SURVIVED. 8D

    Lastly, I went to the zoo with me mum on Tuesday (Matty's coming back tomorrow. Maybe I do sorta miss him ;). I didn't get a lot of pictures ('cuz I always forget), but they had so many baby animals. Ohhhh, the orangutan is so cute - we watched it for at least an hour. And the siamang baby was really scrawny and weirdishly adorable (his appendages were longer than his body). They also had a takin (like a wildebeest) baby. And an elephant.
   It was fun. I got a picture of a tiger and a peacock - and that is all - so I shall leave you with those.

RICHARD PARKER. 

I thought I was gonna die. He squawked
in my face.

   Okay, I lied. One more thing. I put glow-in-the-dark stars on my ceilings in a whim! There are exactly sixteen. Who says you can't count the stars?

- Elly

Of Pencils and Sketchbooks...

This is a post that is dedicated to my most recent drawings! Enjoy (forgive me for poor picture quality).

Stitch from Disney's Lilo and Stitch

A cover for a book I'm currently writing

Elizabeth's Medallion from Pirates of the Caribbean

Aspen - My demigod

Maleficent from Disney's Sleeping Beauty

The man-er mouse-himself!

Snoopy!

The Liebster Award

I'm not entirely sure what the point of this is... but I'll do it :)

1. What is your earliest childhood memory?
This is extremely tough... I'd have to say going on my first 'roller coaster' in Disneyland when I was around three or four. I can only remember it vaguely but it was the scariest thing in my life and it is what instilled my fear of roller coasters in me. OR it was the time when I was really little that my aunt's dog jumped on me and that freaked me out as well. My childhood memories are not very happy ones :)

2. Where do you want to live someday?
Oh dear... I would like to live in a house that I custom design with secret passages and rooms. It would also have a huge pool in the backyard with a rock to jump off of and an awesome water slide. I know this question probably meant location, but I'm taking it in a different direction!

3. What, and more importantly, who do you want to be when you grow up?
Ah the dreaded 'What do you want to be when you grow up?'. Well, to be perfectly honest, there are lots of things I want to be when I grow up. Journalist, graphic designer, traveler, leader (of what, I have no clue), to be honest, I just want to change the world.

4. Of what religion are you, if any? How did you come about into this belief?
I am Roman Catholic (shout out to all my Catholic homies out there!) I was born and raised Catholic and as I've gotten older, the fire that God put inside of me has only grew. I am so blessed to be Catholic and I love everything about it!

5. Do you think you're right or left brained?
I have actually been told several times that I was blessed with both right and left brain-dedness (totally not a word). So... both? :) 

6. What is the purpose of your blog?
It doesn't have a purpose. It is simply to show my opinions, tell you all about my life, and a place where I can be random and pretend to be cool :)

7. Would you consider your taste old fashioned or modern?
Oh dear... well I like retro stuff like 60's/70's/80's vibes, but that's not really 'old fashioned' in my book. So I have to say modern. 

8. What is your favorite mythical animal?
Ha ha! Oh probably Bigfoot because, despite what many people believe, I do not think he exists. I'd like to think he does, but there comes a time when you have to accept reality.

9. Best movie you've seen this year?
Um... movies... Maleficent probably... or Gravity OH or Divergent! I can't decide :)

10. If you could be one fictional character, who would you choose?
(Last Question!!) Oh really? Ugh, um... I would be... you know what? I would be Rapunzel. She's awesome and granted I may or may not have her flowing, magic hair (depending on when I wanted to be her... it's complicated) she is a princess and married to one of the best Disney Princes ever! Plus I LOVE her voice and come on, who WOULDN'T want a chameleon as a sidekick?

I did it! I finished all of the questions!! :D I hope all of you people learned a new thing or two about me :)

Happy (late) Memorial Day indeed!

First I would like to say happy Memorial Day and that I send a very warm thank you to all of you who know someone who has died in combat.

*moment of silence*

Okay! So over the weekend I took part in a huge soccer tournament called the "Rogue Memorial Challenge". It goes Saturday-Monday and we played a total of five soccer games! As you can imagine, I'm pretty exhausted and a little beat up, too (I have a gnarly huge bruise on my ankle*). It was a tiring weekend of blazing heat and very little sleep! 

Look how shiny it is!

My team was in the U-19 bracket which basically means that the girls on the team are between freshmen in high school and freshmen in college. This also means that we play teams that potentially could have freshmen in college on them which is, I'm not going to lie, a little scary. 

So, what's the point of me telling you all this? There is a point, mind you! The point is after 5 exhausting games for three days in a row... WE WON 3RD PLACE!! And got medals which are actually, pretty nice and pretty big, too!  

Now, I know some people might be like 'Um, meh, it's 3rd place' but you don't understand. People from all around the area go to this soccer tournament. There were eight U-19 teams we had to compete against who were all really tough! Third place is quite an accomplishment (I'm actually happy we didn't get 2nd or 4th because the medals were ugly... haha). 

So I'm trying to heal myself and get back some sleep I lost over the weekend :) I figured after such a taxing weekend, I deserve a break (and some sleep). 

So happy late Memorial Day! I hope you got to go out, enjoy the sunshine, and spend time with family! (I got a little sunburned... I forgot my sunscreen).  

Me and my medal

My medal!

This week I also drew Anna from Disney's Frozen :)

* The story of the bruise -- There was a girl in front of me and I was trying to get the ball away. I got frustrated, so I kicked her as hard as I could (I know, it sounds mean). But, instead of getting her leg, I kicked the bottom of her soccer cleat. It hurt pretty bad (I have a strong kick:). So now, there is a bruise about the size of the palm of my hand on my ankle. WAR WOUND! :) 

Books & Exams & Theodore Roosevelt

     I have completed every single one of my exams, and I have ONE essay left. And I have to rewrite the Good Samaritan. BUT THEN I'LL BE DONNNNEEE! WITH NINTH GRAAAAADE!

    So, although I didn't do as well as I'd have liked on my history exam [I did do better than the Midterm], I wasn't nearly as much of a mess before or after I finished it.
    You see, my history teacher is one of my favorite people. He put a certain question smack in the middle of the exam, and not only did it make me laugh aloud, it relieved quite a bit of timed-quiz stress. 

   Behold. This picture of our 26th president wrestling a crocodile has been used as an example all year by Mr. N of why Teddy Roosevelt is the best president ever. 
   And so, with this photograph, he captioned a multiple choice question in every single answer pointed only to the first one, "Pick A," "Why aren't you picking A?" "Seriously?"
    The point of this was to share a smidgen of wisdom: If you're ever a teacher, BE PASSIONATE about your subject. 'Cuz it helps your students. I love history even more than I did before this year.

  On a different note, I reorganized my bookshelf this past week and realized that I needn't buy any more books for at least three months because there's quite I few I haven't read that got buried behind their brethren.

   ...Note the word, "needn't."

   I had a conversation with Matt the other day about how absolutely convenient it would be if I had Loki's superpower and could multiply myself whenever I felt the need.

*I would have...

   NO, but just think about it;
 I would solve my problem of never having enough time to finish books.
   I could read whenever and wherever I wished without worrying about looking rude.
     I would never actually need to go anywhere I didn't want to.
        I could get all my exams done in one day, and homework in mere hours.
           I could easily mess with people.
              And I would be able to travel and stay at home at the SAME TIME.
 
    If I can't have multiplying powers, I'd really just like to be able to solve that reading problem by sitting in the TARDIS and pouring over all my books. I would never run out of time, do you see?

   This post was random and a bit unsubstantial, but I apologize. I have no excuse. 3:

   A little update from Elly. 

   Liz, you should share your drawing of Anna because it is superb.

I love you for what's inside... hello refrigerator.

Today, I am feeling funny/inspirational. So, I have made it my duty to come up with funny quotes/pictures that may inspire you, but will hopefully give you a laugh. Because, as Elly says, laughter is good for the soul. 

  


            

Well, that's all I got! Hope you enjoyed those and got a laugh or two or maybe even got inspired :)