A Little Life Update

I think the Scavenger Hunt is going off pretty well! So far, only two people have completed the Hunt though! All you Hunters better get a move on before Saturday rolls around and the Hunt is over! Thanks so much to everyone for participating :) It means a lot to me, and I hope you had fun!
~~~~~~~~~
Wow, that was a lot of exclamation points XD

Life's been interesting lately, but good. Very good. I was right about Junior Year being awesome. Honestly, school isn't bad at all. Last year was HORRIBLE, but this year is kind of...not. The only thing giving me trouble is chemistry, and I'm planning on understanding that...in the near future XD

American History was starting to be a living nightmare, but my teacher had a talk with us yesterday and explained that we were all taking too many notes. (At least some of us were XD I'm pretty sure some people haven't taken ANY XD) She told us how to outline the chapters less heavily, and so far it's going better.

I absolutely LOVE Spanish. Languages come sort of naturally to me, and Cassidy loves Spanish too, so we talk about it allllll the time :D It's great.

Shakespeare. Was. A. Genius. Oh my gosh! I love his writing! The way he phrased things was so perfect! So witty and ironic and funny. The subtleties in his writing are absolutely brilliant. I love this class.

I also have poetry, which is tacked onto Shakespeare. I didn't really do my poetry assignments until last week because I forgot about them. We're using the book "The Roar On the Other Side." The exercises are so cool. Basically, it's just learning how to write better and be creative, but I get SCHOOL CREDIT FOR IT :D It's helping me get over my seemingly-chronic writer's block too.

Math is...not bad. Not bad at all. One might even say good. One MIGHT even say that with tutoring and actual effort, I love math. One MIGHT say that. Not saying it's me.....I don't love math, I hate it......right......Oh crap XD I like it this year. All my years of profound hatred gone to waste... *sigh*

Philosophy is the love of my life, has been since 9th grade. It's awesome. I love my class, too. We're deep thinkers. I get more out of this class than possibly anything else.

This year my class is getting along really well. Normally, you have Group A and Group B. Group A appears to think themselves too good to associate with Group B, thereby removing themselves from the class whenever possible. Group B rolls their eyes and thinks Group A needs to get a life and stop treating people like dirt.

This year, there is only one group. There is no Us and Them, no A and B, no Good and Evil. We're just a class. We're just all friends. I absolutely love us this way. We haven't been like this since 8th grade. I know there's a lot of growing up going around. Personally, I decided I was just as much part of the problem as anyone. I was guilty of being conceited and exclusive too, so I decided to change that. I'm definitely not saying I'm responsible for the great class dynamics, just that I've been paying more attention to how I act this year.

And...Cavender might be coming to church this Sunday. I really want to see him. It's been a while.

~Kendra

GO!!!!!!!

***LATEST NEWS: Clue #11 has been put up! Happy hunting!***

The Scavenger Hunt starts now!!

All you awesome Hunters get going! Put on your detective caps and find which blog comes next! The first clue issssssss...

"All silver and green, find this Elvish theme."

Now, check out these blogs and figure out which one fits this description...

A Collection of Reflections

Evening Stars

Nahla's World

Caliginosity

Summer Girl

A Selection of Varied Topics

The View Through These Eyes

With Love and Kisses

With the Setting Sun

Playing for Him

(:My World:)

Random Thoughts

Farmgirl Writes

Thoughts of A KleeWyck

Katie's Pixels

Good luck! You have til the end of the week. Special prize for the one who completes it first.

~Kendra

GET SET...

THE SCAVENGER HUNT BEGINS TOMORROW! :D If you're a Host, you should have (*cough* finally *cough*) gotten an email from me with your clue. If you didn't receive the email, leave me a comment and I'll resend it.

Don't forget not to post your clues until tomorrow. I forgot to say that in the email, so if you put it up early, don't feel bad :) My fault for forgetting to tell you.

Anyway, Hunters, GET SET, for tomorrow we GO! :D

~Kendra

On Your Mark...

Who's ready for the Scavenger Hunt?? :D I am! If you don't know what that is, click HERE! The people we have, the more fun it'll be!

Hunters can "sign up" as late as Saturday, but I'm not taking Hosts anymore, just because I'm afraid I won't have time to make your clue. Hosts, be checking your emails :D I'll be sending the Clues within the next couple of days.

On a side note, would you guys mind praying for me about chemistry? I know that's weird, and pretty insignificant, but I'm really stressed. I have a test next week and I'm completely lost.

~Kendra

Hosts and Hunters

Today I wrote the entire rough draft of my big American history research paper! Yay! It's not due until Wednesday, and I've already done the hardest part. It is safe to say that I am very proud of myself. Colonial architecture in light of different cultures turned out to be really interesting. And I've never been the slightest bit interested in architecture before. Cool :D

Okay, so I'm trying to be organized about the Scavenger Hunt, and I don't want to miss anyone, so bear with me. Will you please read this, and let me know of any errors?

Blog Hosts:
1. Izori - Evening Stars
2. Elizabeth - A Collection of Reflections
3. Bleah Briann - With Love and Kisses
4. Levi - With the Setting Sun
5. Katie G - Playing for Him AND Katie's Pixels
6. Tunafish - The View Through These Eyes
7. Emily Ann - (:My World:)
8. Rachel B - Thoughts of a KleeWyck
9. Sarah - Caliginosity
10. Emma - Summer Girl
11. Bethany - A Selection of Varied Topics

Blog Hunters:
1. Bethany
2. Elizabeth
3. Emma
4. Katie G
5. Tunafish

If you want to be a Host or Hunter and your name isn't on the list please, pleeeeeeease let me know! Just a simple comment to indicate Host, Hunter, or both, please.

The deadline for blog hosts is Sunday. Hunters can continue to "sign up" as late as next Saturday.

This is going to be lots of fun! And I've recently added one little bit to this...

If you post about the Hunt on your blog, along with a link back to THIS post, there will be an extra clue (and therefore possible award) for you! WooT! Just make sure to leave me a comment telling me that you posted so I can add you to the special list XD

Normally I frown upon heavy blog advertising, and asking people to do it, but I think the Hunt will be a lot more fun if we can get lots of people involved.

This is gonna be awesome XD :D

~Kendra

More on the Hunt!

Hey, y'all! It sounds like some people are interested in the Blog Scavenger Hunt! Awesome! The start date I'm thinking about is September 12th, about ten days from today.

If you missed the post where I introduced the idea, you can click HERE, or read this next paragraph XD

The Blog Scavenger Hunt will be a fun way to get traffic on your blog, win awards, and flex your detective skills. On September 12th, I'll publish a list of blogs where clues will be hidden, as well as some "decoy" blogs. I'll give Clue #1, and the great quest to find Clue #2 on a blog from the list begins. Once you find Clue #2, the detective work continues as you search the list to find Clue #3...

Rules for Hunters:
1. Be sure to find the Clues in order!
2. It'll be more fun if you don't tell anyone which Clue is on which blog :)

Rules for Participating Blogs:
1. Don't forget to put your Clue somewhere on your blog on the 12th! (I'll be sending them to you sometime next week.) You can "hide" it anywhere on your homepage (the sidebar, your posts, your header, etc.), just make sure it's on your homepage and doesn't require any clicking around to find :)

So far, there are nine bloggers who'd like clues hidden on their blogs. There's room for more if anyone is interested :)

Now we need Hunters! Bloggers with participating blogs are welcome to play too (or not play), but I think this will be even more fun with lots of people. Spread the word! If you want, posting about this would be great. The more people we have, the more fun it'll be!!

Please leave a comment if you want to play!

~Kendra

A Not-Too-Bad-for-a-Monday Day

Hey! Please note THIS post :D It's about a Blog Scavenger Hunt. I think it'll be pretty awesome. We already have seven awesome bloggers who want their blogs to be part of the scavenger hunt!

If you want to be a part of the hunt, but just want to play, not have your blog involved, that's perfectly cool too! Leave a comment anywhere with a question or a comment and I'll add you to the growing list! I'm excited, y'all :)
~~~~~~~~~
Today, I worked mostly on American history, and philosophy. This is the first real history class I've had since elementary school, and it's amazing. The book I'm reading looks like this:
Seriously, that's it. A Patriot's History. It's actually that huge. It starts a little before Columbus discovered America, and delves deep into the details of our history. It's so well documented and researched that even the critics can't say anything against it. I think it should be a history textbook for everyone in the US. It's an amazing history education.

Philosophy is really cool. I loved it more than anything in 9th grade (if you've been following a while, you may remember MY EPIC POST on it), and I love it all over again this year. I think the book we read in 9th grade, Sophie's World was more interesting and explained things MUCH better though. I'm glad I had Sophie's World first, or I might not enjoy this philosophy class very much.

Every week in philosophy class, one of the students has to lead the discussion. Explain the chapter, ask philosophical questions, get the class involved. The catch? The teacher doesn't tell you who's gonna lead the discussion until about 4 seconds before you have to lead it. You just have to be prepared for it every week.

This week, I prepared MAJORLY. I worked on this thing almost all day. Aristotle is my faaaaaaavorite philosopher, and we studied him this week. I want to lead the discussion sooo badly, but I guess we'll just have to see what happens on Wednesday...

~Kendra

Blog Scavenger Hunt!

So, I was just thinking the other day, and I had an interesting (and kind of awesome) idea. Guess what it is?

*looks disappointed* Oh. You read the title, huh?

Okay yeah. A blog scavenger hunt.

Picture this: If you want your blog to participate, tell me! I'll compile a list of the blogs, and then I'll publish the list, along with a clue leading to the first blog.

Lemme pick on Sam from One Sparkling Star. Let's say Clue #1 is "This blog is sparkly, and home of the first clue. Go find this blog, full of book reviews!"

To participate, you'd search the list of participating blogs and find the one that fits the description. Then (hypothetically, Sam has agreed to participate, haha), you go to Sam's blog and somewhere is the next clue, leading to another participating blog.

Once I get a list of all the blogs that want to participate, I'll start making up the clues. Then I can send the clues to the appropriate blogs and the blog author can post them anywhere on their home page, ready to be found :)

I'm sure awards would be involved somewhere... ;)

Of course, you'd need to make sure to find the clues in order :) Probably we'd just go with the honesty system there.

So what do you think? I think it'd be a fun game, and a good way to get lots of blog traffic.

Anyone interested? If you are at all, leave me a comment! You don't have to commit to it or anything, but questions, feedback...who's interested? Let me know! :)

~Kendra

Pool Faith

Hey! Well, so far, there are some AWESOME family stories!!! Y'all, this is EXACTLY what I had in mind! You guys are freaking amazing! :D I laughed out loud. Your families are pretty awesome XD

For any sad souls who don't know what I'm talking about, I'm having a crazy family stories contest. Read this post for details!

Today the sermon was cool. Our pastor compared the different styles of faith, to the way we play in the pool!

Are you the kind of person who jumps right in?
Or are you one of those people who steps in one step at a time?
Or maybe you're someone who just sits on the edge and dangles their feet in the water?

That's how it is with faith and God. Some people just want to dive right in! They want all of God, more of God, they're so excited!

Some people are more slow-moving. They don't take things all at once, they like to ease in and explore God little by little. They're more cautious.

Then there are some people who only want a very little bit of God. Just enough to keep them headed to Heaven and away from Hell. They don't necessarily want God all up in their business, but he's a good hobby. They just want to feel the cool pool water, but not much else.

The first and second styles are just different, I think, but there's something to watch out for in the third. We don't want to be those people who want "just enough" of God. We should want to dive in, or at least eventually be surrounded by God's power!

After all, when you look around the pool, who's having the most fun? The jumper-inners, or the foot-danglers? XD

~Kendra

Contest

So. I have a challenge/contest for you. But I also need help. This contest serves three purposes:

Purpose 1: I've never held a contest like this before, so it's a first. W00T!
Purpose 2: Exercise your creativity. You need it. I'm doing you a favor.
Purpose 3: I need this for a story idea.

Who: IF YOU'RE READING THIS YOU MUST DO IT. MWAHAHHAHA. Not really. But please do. It'll only be really fun if a lot of people do it. All you people who read faithfully and never comment, this is your day to comment.

What: A funny family contest. Everyone's family is weird. Some more than others, but we're all weird.

I need your funny stories.

Your little incidents. That one relative and how they always do (you fill in the blank). How you can count on your aunt to start a food fight, or the way your uncle never calls anyone by their real name. Stuff like that.

Tell me, and I'll post some of my favorites, and maybe put it in this story... (if you don't mind, I'll ask you first). I'll also give you credit if my story ever gets anywhere XD

Oh yeah. And an award. I think that's pretty standard for blog contests :D

When: RIGHTNOW. And until, oh, I don't know...til next Saturday. The 24th.

Where: Here. You can post your stories or funny bits as comments, or you can email them to me at livinglovinglaughinglearning@gmail.com.

Why: I covered that already in the little Purposes thing.

How: That's kinda with Where. So scroll up if you missed that.

Please do it. Even if you think you have nothing to offer, try. Oh, and here's the best part:

They don't actually have to be true. You can make them up! Of course, when you get your imagination going, you might decide to keep the ideas for your own stories! That's awesome too, but if you wouldn't mind, tell me anyway just for the contest part. I won't use anything unless it's okay with you.

So yeah. I know this was sudden and really jumbled, but...do it XD I'll know if you didn't. There is a page views thingie and a thingie that tells where you are in the sidebar >:D

~Kendra

Advice Day

"Honesty can be a good thing, but so can discretion." ~Your very own Kendrabelle

Be nice. Being honest can be a great personality trait, but not when you use it as an excuse to blurt out your hurtful thoughts.

That's all I have time to say for now, I'm writing. LOL, sort of. I ended up not really liking what I had going for the Write-a-Thon, so I've started something else...and I only have 496 words so far :-|

*headdesk* Ergh.

Memory Day (among other things...a LOT of other things)

Sorry I didn't blog yesterday. I was grounded. It was hard not to blog with the new schedule just starting! I was THIS CLOSE to giving Kyle my password and dictating or something, LOL.

Oh, and I leave the blogosphere for like ONE DAY and everyone decides to become awesome and follow! :O Big thanks(es? XD) to Pam Calvert, Nicole, Amber, and Ashley Schaffer !!! WooT, y'all rock!

*AND* Milli awarded me.

Wow, I mean, I leave for one day...

XD Thank you, Milli! Here are the tags/awards:

First, the Happy 101 Award, where I get to list ten things that make me happy.
1. Writing
2. Reading
3. Alias
4. Cavender
5. Kyle
6. Brothers
7. When people laugh at me (even though I'm not actually funny).
8. Saturdays/sleeping in after staying up late
9. Music
10. Comfort food

Now, the Humane Award...
...which apparently means 10 bloggers who brighten your day. So, I'll tag...

1. KnightWing - Because Teen Justice is just that awesome (AND he is my online older brother).
2. Christian Miles - Because his advice on writing is really good.
3. Mia - Because her posts are unbelievably encouraging.
4. Shep - Because he (and his author) are both awesome.
5. Krevan - Because he was my first really active follower!
6. Chris - Because his posts make me LOL.
7. Cavender - Because he's hilarious.
8. Kyle - Because he's awesome, and my older brother :)
9. The sisters at Two Sisters~Best Friends - Because they are wonderful models of sisterly love!
10. Cinderella - Because she's the kind of girl I want to be when I grow up.

*gasp* Okay, now that all THAT is out of the way, the schedule...

Today is Memory Day. *headdesk* I need to get to writing so I can beat Kyle. I do not have TIMEEEEEEE for a memory!! I AM GONNA LOSE.

*sighgrumblemoan*

Oh, wait, that's perfect! Memory Day can be for the day that I "met" Kyle! It's not really a memory EXACTLY, but it can suffice for today, right? Because guess what? A year ago today I met Kyle. So, there. That is a memory. And that's the reason I'm gonna leave now because we're having an epic write-a-thon that I'm gonna win...

>.>
<.<

Caption Contest at Proeliator of Lux Lucis!

Hey! One thing, just really quick:

I found an interesting blog out there that's having a Caption/Photoshop-ish Contest, and thought some of y'all might be into that. I know Bethany likes to use Photoshop, and Gracie is into digital art, and a lot of you guys like to make funny captions on LotR (Earwen :)) and stuff. Here's the link to the post with the details: http://proeliatorofluxlucis.blogspot.com/2009/09/contest-and-first-video-blog.html