Bluebirds and Birch trees

 So, the plan was to make a new blog over on Wordpress to have as a main hub for all my doings and showings.  Weellll....  Let's just say it's taking a lot longer than I'd previously thought. As well as needing more prep work and finagling than expected.  What all with actually making sure I have enough content, the right content, and just all around being certain that it's the way I want it to be, all of that is taking more time than expected.  However, I look forward to publishing it publicly once it is finished and ready to go. In the meantime, it seems that blogging is sadly low on my list of things to do. While I do hope to continue writing, I'm uncertain how much more I will post on this until my new blog is ready to go.  I expect to continue some older things on there that I've done over here in greater detail, such as short stories, which to me are a great deal of fun to write!  But I also am planning on it being more art centered, a...

 When I was younger, I used to dress up on a regular basis. When I got older, it changed from dress-up to dressing up, and I used to do it more frequently than I do now–why?–because, why not?  Dressing up for fun without any plans other than wanting to look particularly fine on a given day is something I did when I got new pieces of clothing. I would spend the entire day sometimes, just going back and forth and trying on new outfits just to see what worked, and what didn't.  The act of taking the time and the care of what it was I was putting together was very relaxing, and in a way, I suppose it could be called therapeutic.  Why I have suddenly not done this is for one reason–I became lazy.  I don't have a lot of pictures taken of me, and as a result I usually end up taking pictures of myself on those particular days so I have some decent photographs. Those photos typically end up becoming profile pictures on social media. But for me, the getting ready a...

I have a guitar. Have I ever told you that? She's a lovely cherry red, I call her Aurora. Well, I do now anyways. It wasn't until recently that she had a name at all. You see, I wanted to name her something to do with gold because that's the color of her strings. And if it's one thing that school has taught me, it's that AU stands for gold.  AU for gold. Aurora for Aurora Borealis. When I think of the Aurora Borealis, I think of space and how beautiful it is. It's so full of colors that capture the eye and can take you beyond imagination. Words dare to describe the sheer terrifying beauty of space and all that it contains.  Space contains so many stars. Stars that sailors used to sail by. I often now wonder what it would be like to lay awake at night and stare up at the stars. For the night is not as dark as it seems. I wonder what it would be like to lie awake on the deck of a ship as the waves rock me to sleep while I gaze up at the sky. I wonder what it...

 Why hello there readers! Have you come to join me today? For on this, the February the seventh, is my two year Blogiversary! To be honest, I don't know what all to include on such a thing as a Blogiversary. But, I've got to start somewhere!  How this all came around on this little blog of mine, was short list, and a rather simple goal. Summer 2015 - A Brief List 1. Learn as much as I can. 2. Be the best I can be. 3. Connect stronger with God. 4. Do the things that have been set in my heart to do! And the goal, of writing one short story for every day of the year. Because, as I said then– "It's impossible to write 365 bad short stories if you write one a day!" (I'm quite certain I'm quoting someone here.) So how did that all go so far? Well, let's see. Learn as much as I can... well, that's quite a lofty goal. But I'll say that I've managed to learn what it is that I've needed to learn when I n...

Grab the keys, and get in the car. We're going drivin' don't you worry, it's not far. We're gonna sing till the sun comes up, hit the green light, fill 'er on up. Get the gas and turn the key 'cause my friend, we're gonna get Slushies. Mango, pineapple, and strawberry too. I'll order Fanta, and grab a Malt too. We're gettin' slushies, and just before ten. So don't you worry my friend, we'll be back home 'fore then. I got mine, and you got yours. Drive on safe now and watch the road, our Slushies in hand and we're headin' on home. But don't you worry my friend, 'cause we'll be back before ten. An Ode to 10 o'clock Slushies©Mae Fort

 Today, January 1st, 2017.  I didn't go to sleep until well past 1 AM, and woke up about 8 hours later.  I didn't finish a drawing I was working on, until close to 12:30 in the morning.  I didn't do a lot of things this past year that I could have. But I won't let that stop me from doing my best this  year.  I use the word I a lot. Because I find myself both easy and hard to talk about. I talk about myself and my experiences, because I don't know what else to say.  Sometimes I'll post a word, or maybe a story, an opinion, who knows. But for the most part, I've talked about myself because I don't really know what to say. So how about this for a change:  Talk more about things, people or places. I mean, come on. I feel like I spend all of my time researching. Have something I talk about consistently maybe once a month or once a week. Share joys, not sorrows.  Three goals for my blog. How about three goals for me: Grow c...

Hopefully, you've noticed that I changed both the name and look of my blog. But fear not, it is still the same!  While it's last name was 'A Touch of Euphoria' it had actually begun to wear on me some, despite the fact that I do love the candy like appearance of the last design.  'Bluebirds and Birch trees' is a name that came to me most recently, and I decided to give it a try. I hope you enjoy it too!  So a few things to talk about in the light of the new month:   NaNoWriMo 2016 has ended. Although saddening, it has finally reached the last day, as well as the first day of the month.  Many of my friends and a few of my readers did complete the 50 thousand word goal, set upon in the early hours of November 1st. Though now, we welcome in the beginning of a new month, and a new season. December is full, full of people and editing as well as scrambling gift giving as people like me do their best to try and figure out just what to get their friends and fam...

  Today, November 1st, 2016. A massive group of writers have begun coming out of the woodwork and overloading servers, all under one conquest, one goal–NaNoWriMo.  And today, also marks the day in which many of the website's pages, servers, internet providers and data plans alike will skyrocket in numbers.  Suffice to say, we're sitting at our computers, but this time with a purpose! I include myself in that sentence there!  Hello there! Many of you know of the fabled mythological time known as "NaNoWriMo" and some of you have even participated! Well, it's begun once again. Out bright and early, some of us started writing as soon as the clock hit midnight. Others, (like me) just got up a little bit earlier. Though I do applaud those who began straight away, I myself had a full night of Halloween-ing, and crashed almost as soon as I got back. (What was your favorite thing that you got last night?)  So today, I tried out a little experiment with my writing...

 You know those times, when you don't feel like going to youth group–but you go anyway, and it turns out to be a really good idea?  If you don't, then maybe you should try it sometime. Sometimes you'll hear something you never expected.

 Last night I had my first ballet class in over 10 years. It was so much fun! Not to mention I met some cool people there as well. I'm going to probably be taking the class consistently, though this first time was just a drop in to see if I would even like doing it–which I did! I look forward to doing a dance class once a week or so.  For those of you that don't know, I injured one of my knees a little under 2 years ago while doing some craziness, pulling a muscle that connects to the kneecap. The other was messed up several years before that, the muscles off to the outside and a little below the knee get painful cramps when it's cold and damp.  However! I'm still one of the most competitive people I know. Mainly because I have a great deal of pride, and that's not a good thing. Though, at the same time, I don't always let my injuries slow me down. I'm still one of the more active dancers at my youth group, and I'm probably one of the ones more willin...

 Resolutions can be quite strange can't they? One moment you're wondering about something, then something in you just decides–No. You're not going to do that any more.  I often wonder if others feel this way. If you are just thinking about a part of your life, that hasn't changed in forever, yet you wonder why you just let it keep going. Till finally, one day just out of the blue, you take a stand and say, "No more."  Mine are always when I expect them least. Which is a good thing I suppose! Though, I often wonder why I hadn't taken that ability into my hands sooner, since I had them all the while.  The resolution, to not let something in your life keep you stuck. To let something keep you from doing what you need to, or wanting to. Knowing that if you throw in everything you've got, that you'll no longer be a slave to that thing that's keeping you stuck.  I know with others, it can be more difficult with certain things, but you can't...

... I mean gluten. Regarding gluten. Hey! It's August, which means that starting technically yesterday (though stuff happened and it didn't work out) I am attempting to go gluten free in my diet to see how that clears up my health.  I didn't have a problem with going gluten free at first, (but I said earlier stuff happened) but while in the store the person I was with decided to spend about half of our grocery shopping trip in the baked goods section... yeah. I wasn't very happy for a little while.  But anyway! Most people apparently struggle to change breakfast routines the most when they change their diets. For me, that isn't really going to be a struggle changing it. Mainly because I don't actually eat any food until about 10. I start with coffee or tea, but rarely to I eat anything right after waking up.  As it is, I'll be eating a lot of rice in the future, and later today most likely. But one thing that does have me excited is that I've been...

 So much seems to have happened already this year. And although we have so much of it left, we've already seen so much.  I feel like I've suddenly grown-up, and even though I know I have a long ways to go still, I can't help but feel like it's not as bad as I've come to imagine.  Here I am, in my last year of high school, getting ready to land my very first job. Prepping to get a drivers license, and finally figuring out that I do in fact want to dye part of my hair.  It might sound normal to everyone who's already gone and done it all, but the fact of the matter is that for each and every person who's about to go and do it--it might be more than a little scary.  I find myself thinking more and more lately about the past, when I would play for the whole day with my beanie babies (you had at least one I'm sure!) and play dress up with my imaginary friends. But also, not much has changed since then.  I still play with my beanie babies because I did...

18 days since I last posted on here. 18 days since I haven't really had much to say. 18 days. A number of people are going to be turning 18 this year. We're all panicking together. Though, I think I'm starting to panic less as I realize that I don't in fact actually need to panic. 18 is just a number. 18 is just another part of life. I want to change my thinking process, to no longer be fearful of simply turning another year older. Because now, more and more, I'm realizing just how blessed I am to have this life. 18 years alive on this earth, is a blessing. I've always not been one to hurry, whether to get my ears pierced, to learn how to drive, or be brave enough to go to a sleep over. My life is full of slower processes. Many people don't seem to grasp that. But those that do have come to respect the fact that that's a part of me, and who I am. That I like to take my time, because most times when I go blindly rushing in, it doesn't end well....

 I've been doing Tai Chi for 16 days now, and in the past week have had almost no back pain whatsoever! Frankly, I'm amazed at the fact that doing something so simple as Tai Chi, even if it's just a half hour out of my day, can provide such amazing results.  That and, a good number of the pains that I had been feeling, some of them were actually from me growing. I've grown an inch in the past four months, which does explain some things!  I've also been trying to grow mentally, especially in regards to my writing. I don't want to keep it hidden any more, and I don't want to just let it go unfinished.  My brain's previous logic was severely flawed which was, "I'm afraid of what will happen once I finish this, but I'm afraid to not finish this before a certain time in my life, so I won't work on it at all."  ^^^ try looking my profile picture in the eye and tell me that's not flawed logic. I don't want to keep my writing ...

 Today was full of more fun than I would have given it credit for this morning. Considering I was more than just a bit peeved when I realized I wasn't told about meeting up with friends to watch my towns parade, not to mention I didn't know the parade was today. However, once we got there things improved greatly! While this was the second year I've gone to go see the parade, and only a little under a year of knowing a whole lot of my friends here, today was still full of firsts. 1) I took pictures of the parade with my film camera. 1b) Someone moved right in front of my camera right as I took a picture of a team of horses that I wanted to get a picture of. 1c) My friend and I made a lot of sarcastic comments about some of the people in the parade, mainly the ones that were on their smart phones.. seriously! You're riding horses in a parade and you're on your phone!? Who does that? 1d) Very few people wave in our parade... and I don't know why. 2) I bought...

What do you think makes a villain a villain? A question proposed by a friend over on NaNoWriMo, Leila offered a question that made me realize, that I might have a very complicated, yet possibly not all that hard to grasp, idea on what a villain actually is, and is not.  A villain needs to be lots of things all wrapped up into one, and often times not everything all at once. A villain is usually someone who has at least one keystone to their personality that either rivals, or is the protagonists fear and/or vice. For instance, two of my own characters from a novel I did in 2014.   V will be villain, P will be protagonist. V1: I am suave, I offer compliments and disguise my observations as questions to gain more information. As well as being versed in the language of the country I am in, my main goal is to operate in the shadows and go as unnoticed as possible, unless I see my spotlight waning. P1: I can do away with superfluous comments or manners, I will ask d...

 So while I may not have anything wrong with my internal organs (praise God for that! I was freaking out so much this week) I do have very weak core muscles. My doctor told me to either take up Yoga, or some form of burst exercise (every day, for pretty much the rest of my life) (I am far to young to be experiencing the pains in my back that I am apparently, and I was gravely unaware of the fact). I opted to go the yoga route, which also led me to Tai Chi.  This was day one and I already feel a great difference in my body, almost like I'm more naturally energized than I have been in a long time.  I've also decided to buy a disk by a Tai Chi instructor, for doing at home. I'm very much looking forward to doing it more, and seeing the results over time.

 So much happened today, so I'll try to to this in some semblance of an order.  First off, today's excursion was a bit overshadowed by a doctor's appointment in the early afternoon, but the things leading up to it made it a little bit better by each little event, and a few others made the waiting for results far more bearable.  Things started off by going to a grocery store that my family loves, at which about five minutes into shopping, two little girls started saying. "She has a Elsa braid!" I had to look for a couple seconds before I saw them, and their mother was smiling at me and asked if I had seen the movie (Which I had). And the two girls continued to say I looked like Elsa, and every time we went past them in the store, one or both of the girls would stare at me until we were out of sight. So today, I was mistaken for a Disney Princess, and that made me feel wonderful!  Then, at the checkout of the same store, I got some free advice relating to coll...

I was reminded earlier today that you really can do the impossible. Who was it that reminded me this? Myself. From five years ago. All to often lately I can feel my dreams and imagination getting smaller and smaller, shrinking just ever so slightly every single day.  But of all things to remind me that I have an imagination and can truly and really with all honesty do the impossible, was old artwork.  I remember how I felt when I drew those drawings, I remember how proud I felt of myself for accomplishing all that I did when I colored them and drew them with such confidence.  That is what I lack now. Confidence.  Confidence can be something you have, or something you learn. For me, it is something I had, and then lost, and needed to learn once again.  I've been contemplating selling artwork lately, to try and earn money and to gain something, what exactly I have no clue. But all I can think right now is that all I'm doing is I'm sitting on my hands and ke...