"We do a lot of improv here. Just stay loose, have fun - you'll be fine!"

So I've just had an amazingly huge weekend, which is finally slowing down.... 

On holidays now after TAFE finished on Friday. Headed off to the cinema that night to see TOY STORY 3!

 Seriously Amazing movie. A perfect way to close the Toy Story epic. It was so beautiful, and it couldn't have been better. It had everything I wanted and was everything I had hoped it to be. And, I admit, I cried at the end... They're my favorite movies okay???

Saturday was the most insane... it was a 17-hour day and I went from one thing to the next! Got up at 7 for work, took Juliette to basketball, who played mind games with me all morning; raced from her place to Officeworks to print Katherine's gift, ducked home for some lunch (which I didn't end up having), jumped in the car with mum to get it laminated, then went to Katherine's place to wish her happy birthday and give her the picture. After that I managed to squeeze in time for a haircut, then got back home to hurriedly get ready for the performance that night. Made it to the hall at 5, started the performance at 7:30, finished at 8:30 with no dramas, and then bolted back over to Petersham for the FEVA Black Tie dinner. Helped out there, still wearing my costume (it was Medieval themed too, thankfully!). Got a ride home and in bed asleep by midnight. Pretty awesome day.

This morning Beth and I took Katherine out breakfast at Cafe C. Lovely time, and way too much food! Amazing pineapple and orange juice too. And good company. Love those girls.

Then there was church, band practice and youth group, then I watched Masterchef and hung more stuff of my walls, and crashed whilst reading Exodus last night. Lovely weekend.

oh we don't notice any time pass ... we don't notice anything....

La la la, long weekend.

So we helped the Deligiorgakis's move on Saturday. It all happened amazingly fast and neat! Well done everyone.

Sunday and Monday were awesome. 25 hours of The Katherine and Justin Show, 4 movies, 3 milkshakes, 2 a.m bedtime, 1 tricycle, and way too much food. Good weekend? I think so.

I'll start with moving day.

Got the Deli's at about 8, and the truck arrived right after. Spent a good portion of the morning sorting out all Karen's books with Beth and trying to figure out a solution to the books-to-shelf-space ratio problem we appeared to be having.

Oh, and enjoying their new living room rug:

These three promptly dove upon it the second it got laid down, to make sure they got to test it before they coffee table was put in place. I think the new rug has their approval.

I can't remember why Justin put his hand over Beth's mouth ... might've been trying to stop her talking while I took the picture....

Anyway. While Beth and I sorted the books on one shelf Justin and Katherine busied themselves attempting to put all the DVD's onto the other shelf. They didn't think it out very logically. Ended up putting ALL of them on the shelf and then took them ALL off again to sort them alphabetically. Silly kiddies.

And yeah. Arrived home that evening and watched Old Dogs with the family. Low expectations = hilariously funny film. That's how it's done.

Moving onto Sunday and Monday, I shall begin with a detailed account of the food us three persons (Justin, Katherine, and myself) consumed over the space of the 25 hours we were together. It was quite epic.

At 5pm on Sunday Katherine and her parents arrived at our house for dinner. Dinner consisted of:

• A huge salad of lettuce, cucumber, capsicum, carrots, tomatoes and feta cheese
• A choice of both beef and lamb (we all had both, of course)
• Cooked veggies - potatoes, pumpkin, eggplant and capsicum

It was so good. Thank you parentals for the lovely dinner. Sorry for giggling about Toy Story quotes during grace.

Dinner was followed afterward by:

• Milk and chocolate chip cookies from Aldi, eaten in the duration of the movie 9
• Popcorn - popped sometime in the middle of The Island
• Strawberry and chocolate milkshakes, made by me halfway through The Island
• Sour lollipops - given to us by Jackie, and sucked on whilst playing Little Big Planet
• Peanut butter slathered heavily on thick-cut bread - consumed at about 1am during Psycho - apparently too thickly for Katherine's liking! 

We fell asleep somewhere around 2:45 am, and accidentally missed the Australia/Germany soccer match. Dad put the replay on at 7 the next morning but Katherine and I determinedly slept through this as well, to try and make sure we wouldn't be insane for the rest of the day from lack of sleep.

At 10 a.m that morning I made French toast with maple syrup, and for lunch we had hot chips with ketchup. Yes that's right, Heinz tomato ketchup. Not tomato sauce. Munched on some apples during more Little Big Planet. Thoroughly enjoyed the array of vegetation and cheese mother produced later that afternoon when Katherine and I were snuggled on my bed watching Julie and Julia. Not that great a film, really.

Speaking of films, we watched 4 in the 25 hours and I wanted to give a short review on each, in the order we watched them.

9 was the first film we watched. 80 minutes wasted, in my opinion. I had hoped it would be better. Had wanted to see it for a long while; it seemed kind of interesting but the plot was lame and rather pointless. Long story short (or should I say, short story in a nutshell), the little sack creature 9 wakes up in a post apocalyptic, clockpunk world and goes searching for others. He meets 2, and 2 gets captured by a mechanical beast. 9 is discovered by 5, who takes him to meet all the others. 1 is the leader of the group and leads in fear, so he basically sucks at being a leader. 9 and 5 defy him and go to try and rescue 2. Upon rescuing him with the help of 7 who kills the beast, 2 is killed by a second, larger beast that 9 awakens. Got all that?

*SPOILER FOLLOWS*

The entire rest of the film involves most of the characters being killed off by this beast. 1 and 7 eventually destroy it and free all the souls of their dead friends from the belly of the monster. I had expected their friends to come back to life but instead their souls float up to heaven. The film ends with 7 saying, 'They're free now.' Fade out. Bor-ing. Don't watch it.

The second film was The Island. I quite liked this one. Appreciated the cinematography and the general mood of the movie. I can't say much about the plot because it gives away the movie, but it's essentially a sci-fi thriller starring Ewan McGregor (LOVE) and Scarlett Johansson (HATE). 

Basically in this movie Ewan McGregor, named Lincoln 6-Echo, questions his safe, enclosed environment to the point of annoying the antagonist enough that he wants to kill him. That sounds dumb but you have to see the movie, okay?!

Scarlett Johansson plays the best friend turned love interest ... yeah I know, I don't like her either.

BUT Ewan McGregor saves the world, so that's why you should see it.

Third film of the night was Psycho. Do I need to explain this one? It's Alfred Hitchcock! Very famous, very clever, and very creepy. Grab some friends and go watch it.

Final film was Julie and Julia. Meh. I mean, it was a film about food. So I wanted a bit more 'wow' factor when it came to the dishes that were incorporated into the actual plot. I also felt a bit like Julie Powell's mother concerning Julie's blog - 'No one cares!' It was a bit boring. I think Katherine fell asleep at one point. It wasn't a bad movie, just not my kind of film. Especially after watching movies such as The Island and Psycho, it was a bit bland. But Meryl Streep was good, if you like Meryl Streep.

 Anyway, back to Monday. After lunch we had an epic time doing the kind of stuff we Stanmore kids do on a regular basis, of course, such as...

Taking the Ford Anglia for a spin

Driving a bus

Stealing a tricycle

And doing crazy stunts

As you do. Yep, just a typical day in the life of me. :)

100th blog of the year

I want these. I'm like really hungry now.

Oh and nothing else compares ♫

It's been a good morning. Class was canceled so it feels like a Thursday. I stayed in bed til 10:30, then had breakfast of peanut butter bread and chocolate milk.

Yeah it was good. Been listening to the likes of Coldplay, John Mayer and Jon Schmidt while I tidied my room. Haven't finished yet. Hektor was in the way of me making my bed.

But I can forgive him.
Ta ta. I'm off to take a walk down to Officeworks to pick up some new notebooks, do some homework, get laundry done, and read Terry Prachett.

Come now, don't you want to see what a difference you've made in me?

Hello fellow bloggers!

Well this morning I left the house wearing three layers and a beanie. So I've brought my laptop from the depths of my bedroom out in to the sunlight in an attempt to regain a little energy and generally enjoy the weather. I've already shed my hoody and feel much more comfortable. In my defense when I left this morning there was still fog in the air, the sun was yet to climb over the city buildings and the TAFE classrooms are hideously chilly; you would be a warmer if you stripped naked in the snow and sculled a Slurpee. Not to mention that would be much more thrilling than sitting for two and a half hours in Flash class. Today the teacher wrote a website link up on the whiteboard and instructed us to spend the lesson going through the tutorial on the site, while he went down for coffee and came back to check the rugby scores on his computer. Joy.

Anyway, yesterday was Mother's Day and I got my mother some flowers. She'll probably read this blog about me giving away my spectacularly awesome scheme to bring her said flowers, but I'd like to share it with the rest of you as well, so...

*SPOILER ALERT FOLLOWING*

I was contemplating for a long time how I would bring mom flowers with her juice and little presents in bed on Sunday morning without her previously knowing of their existence. There aren't really any flowers shops in short walking distance; the nearest one is on King Street and it would've taken me at least 40 minutes to go there and back, and I didn't even know when they opened. So I was thinking about this as I was walking up to catch the bus into Newtown on Saturday afternoon, and as I rounded to corner onto Enmore Road I nearly smashed my shins into a massive flower pot with some magnificent lilies in it. 

I looked up and it just so happened that a flower shop had opened that day, literally 5 minutes from where I live! So was I overjoyed and skipped inside immedaitely to enquire about their opening time the next morning. 

I woke my brother at 6:45 am to make mum orange juice, and at 7 I raced down to the shop (still half-dressed in my pyjamas) and bought her a bouquet of those beautiful lilies I'd seen yesterday. They look and smell absolutely gorgeous. Here's a picture. Don't you love them? 

When I got back we went into her room together and gave her her presents. She was splendidly surprised, and I must say it's probably the best job we've ever done keeping secret about what we had planned for her. We also got her a little book of Sudoku, called A Sudoku of One's Own, and I made her a voucher for Yolanda's Mexican cafe in Ventura, so we shall take her out there when we go on our trip in a couple months.

Went out for breakfast before church. Had bacon and eggs, and it was nice. Played guitar at church as usual; came home and watched Dead Poets Society (*tear*) while mum and dad went for a walk to the beach, or somewhere. Went to youth group that night and played guitar again. Sat in the back row at Salt for like, the first time ever. It was odd. At the end the Dicker family came to visit us; as I forgot to mention, our youth minister and his wife just had their second daughter, Josie. So now Evie, who is not yet 2, has a little sister. They are such darlings. :) 

And yeah.

A few other things worth mentioning: I saw Iron Man 2 on Thursday night with Katherine. I didn't get around to reviewing it but I definitely recommend it. Also, we really need another Earnest meeting, darlings. You know who you are.

The longest walk, earth’s darkest day, the pressing crowd, his mounting pain. A heavy load of grief and shame.... Breathless that we should breathe again! ♫

What an awesome two days. On Wednesday I finished TAFE at 10am, got back and made a huge pot of chili for dinner later that evening, went to drama and hung out with friends, then came home to find that mum had made scones - epic win - and later ripped up Nazi Zombies with Justin, Katherine, Oliver, Daniel and Jamie. Took photos on the mac in our mad new SALT hoodies, which are giant on all of us! Snuggled up with Katherine and Justin on the couch after the boys left, watching Lost and The Big Bang Theory. Mum and Dad had been out with Katherine's parents so when they all got back to the house, we stood outside for a moment and looked at the stars.

What better way could there be than to start the Easter holidays standing outside in the cold night air with people you loved and admiring God's beautiful universe?

The next morning we headed off by train to the Royal Easter Show. Meh. When you don't have hundreds of dollars to splurge on it's a bit pointless. But I got some cool photos! As you can see. And had a wonderful time chilling and eating free samples with Keira and Jayden. :)

Today is Good Friday. The day we remember the death of our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ, who took upon him God's wrath for our sin by dying on the cross. How amazing, and so unfair. But by grace we are now cleansed of our sin and in a relationship with God once more. And that is why we praise Him today!

Today is also Mum's birthday. So this afternoon we're going to Max Brenner with some friends to celebrate. A birthday + friends + chocolate = good times. :)

Little things that make me ridiculously happy

Doing something fun with my brother.

Eating cold crunchy grapes.

Gorgeous weather.

My kitty curling up next to me.

Playing guitar and having it sound the way I wanted it to.

Singing songs for God.

Playing family boardgames (that don't end in tears!). 

Snuggling up with a friend, especially when it's cold.

Writing something, then reading it back over and liking it.

Phone calls from my friends.

Taking pictures.

Having a clean bedroom.

Text messages that say 'I love you'.

Reading aloud, or being read to.

Long, long long, conversations with people I love.

When my shoes match my shirt.

Making someone smile or laugh.

Sleeping in.

Eating food Mom made.

Kisses.

Watching a good movie I haven't seen before.

Acting/performing and getting it so right.

Writing lovey messages on a friend's arm with a Sharpie.

When someone writes a sweet message on my arm with a Sharpie.

Watching a bad movie in good company.

Reading the bible.

Going away with friends.

Listening to a song and pretending it was written for me.

Reading my friends' blogs.

Knowing that even when I didn't have a good day, someone close to me did.

Hugs.

Stuff....

A list for people who know me. Here are 43 things you may not know....

1. I'm an introverted extrovert ... if that makes sense. I might be the quiet one of the group sometimes, but trust me I wouldn't be anywhere else for the world.
2. My favorite foods are pizza, chicken and potato. Yum.
3. I adore Shakespeare. Macbeth is my favorite tragedy and A Midsummer Night's Dream my favorite comedy. 
4. I can't wait for Heaven!
5. I won't say no to chocolate
6. I hate the way my nails looks and I wish I was brave enough to buy nail polish and paint them ... but people would make a big deal out of me wearing nail polish so I won't....
7. I've always wished I had an older brother.
8. I already wish I wasn't 17....
9. I wish my family played more boardgames
10. I wish I didn't spend so much time on the computer, but due to TAFE it can't really be helped
11. I always sleep with about 3 or 4 pillows
12. I get nervous around big dogs
13. I haven't owned a pair of sunglasses in like 3 years :(
14. I pretty much can only drink milk when I have some form of chocolate to go with it (or milo), but I will occasionally get a random craving for the stuff and down a glass in seconds
15. I love talking about God, the bible, or anything related to Christianity; I'll love it if you start a conversation about it :D
16. I used to dislike getting random hugs from people, but a few certain friends have shaped me over the years and now physical touch is one of my two loves languages (the other being quality time).
17. I can make really awesome chocolate chip cookies from scratch from a recipe I've memorized
18. I basically can't cook anything else!
19. I used to love Pokemon. Don't play it anymore, but I certainly won't diss you for playing it even if you're over 14. Gotta catch 'em all! :)
20. I like looking at people's shoes, and I will often remember what pair of shoes you were wearing on a particular day rather than the rest of your outfit. Weird, I know...
21. I had two rings up til recently ... one I lost down the back of the couch, looked for it it but never found it ... and the other I've misplaced. And now I'm sad.
22. If I'm comfortable enough to bag you out in front of other people it actually means you're one of the people I love most! Sorry. :)
23. When I have a boyfriend he won't have any hoodies because I'll have stolen them all ;)
24. I'm way too picky about the kind of music I listen to ... but maybe that's because it costs so much to buy music these days >.<
25. What makes the most angry is when you pretend like you know what I'm thinking ... how could you know?!?
26. I wish I could play the cello
27. I hate math and can barely do anything mathematical past a year 8 level....
28. I love it when I've spent the day with you and when I get home I can still smell you on my clothes :)
29. If you hand me a Sharpie I promise I will write on you! Hehehe....
30. I hate it when people shorten "I love you" to ILY. There is no meaning in that. If you really love me, tell me, please.
31. I love to eat things for breakfast that aren't breakfast food, ie, cold pizza, leftover macaroni, apple pie....
32. I might complain when we end up staying at your house far longer than we intended because our mums didn't stop talking, but really, that homework can wait ... I don't ever, ever want to leave you!
33. Toy Story, to this day, is my favorite movie EVER.
34. Don't chew gum around me. I hate, hate, hate that stuff. But I guess that's lucky for you because I'm probably one of the few people in the world who won't ask you for a stick of gum. ;)
35. If you ever find yourself saying to me, 'Gee Erin, why're you so quiet all of the sudden?' If I'm not showing signs of sheer exhaustion, this is your cue to realize something is very wrong. I'm either really mad at someone (possibly you) or something's majorly upsetting me.
36. French Toast and grilled cheese sandwiches are the greatest things you can make that include two slices of bread.
37. I consider myself a converter, not one who gets converted, so brownie points for you if you get me into a band/tv show because I'm pretty picky when it comes to that sort of stuff ... blah sometimes I hate my own choices. Anyone have any bands they can suggest to me?? I need new music...
38. I like hanging things on my walls to make my room pretty :)
39. I can't wait for the final Scott Pilgrim book (July 20th, people!!)
40. I can't wait to go to the US but I'm afraid I'm going to get very, very lonely during the six weeks we are gone... pray for me?
41. If you're reading this, I love you :D
42. I love taking pictures
43. I wish a certain someone was here so I could hug them!

Non-existent drool-worthy food....

Feeling stressed again ... why is that my stress is always accompanied by loneliness :( And also hunger, at the moment ... *sigh* I would kill for a good steak right now. Hahaha....

I ♥ My Friends

So a lot has happened since my last blog. Let me explain.

Riding the train to LiT in the summer heat.

Eating Minties.

Getting pumped for Jesus with 200 other teenagers.

Texting.

Trying to sleep in a bunk bed when it's 30 degrees outside.

Watching Ed and John smash a gingerbread house with their head.

Praying.

Reading Matthew 5-7.

Wishing I could go swimming.

Playing Battleship with Patrick. 

Eating camp chicken schnitzel and dearly missing Jackie's schnitzel.

Listening to talks on the Beautitudes.

Loving God.

Loving my friends.

Hating camp organization.

Starting on Wuthering Heights.

Singing with Becky and Mark.

Writing "If I tell you I love you, can I keep you?" on Katherine's back with a Sharpie.

Hanging out til late, late late....

Talking til even later with Kristen, and feeling so much better.

Trying to commit to prayer. 

Getting everyone to sign my shirt.

Eating meatball sandwiches.

Leaving on the bus.

 Getting home.

Taking a long, hot shower.

Watching The Big Bang Theory with Katherine, Beth and Justin.

Sleeping in the living room with the girls and wanting to throttle my cat.

Waking up and making French Toast.

Getting my ear pierced with Katherine and squeezing Beth's hand.

Taking panadol for the pain >.<

Ana coming over.

Lazer tagging in the city.

Wandering in Newtown.

Driving to Katherine's for a 'secret mission' and giving her Wagon Wheels and Big Bang. 

Watching Slumdog Millionare - Ana had not seen it before!

Going to church.

Waking Ana the next morning to say goodbye.

Heading to Sydney Uni for Latin class.

Learning how to read Roman gravestones.

Writing a couple pages of my new idea during lunch. 

Snapping pictures at lunch and thinking the uni buildings look like Hogwarts.

Catching the packed 423 to Katherine's and walking down the road in the blazing sun.

Snapping a million photos down near Cook's River.

Spraying Katherine with the bubbler.

Walking back, hot, wet and itchy.

Eating stir fry.

Watching Zoolander and IT Crowd.

Planning on leaving at 9pm, but staying til 11.

Falling asleep from Katherine stroking my hair.

Getting home and crashing.

Seeing Toy Story 1 and 2 in 3D!

Going to Newcastle.

Sitting out in the heat for hours.

Planning an epic trip n the evening to the beach.

Being sorely disappointed when a cold change came and it rained.

Not going to the beach and watching the tennis and Up instead.

Playing Settlers of Catan.

Sleeping in.

Going to Drew's to watch Van Helsing and Jaws.

Playing Playstation 3.

Walking home.

Sitting down to write this blog while watching the tennis.

And that brings us to the present moment. Sorry if that bored you, but I needed to write this stuff down. I've had a pretty good holiday so far - two weeks left of it. Mum's cooking bacon. I'm seeing Kristen tomorrow. Good times still to come!

He shall be called "Immanuel" meaning 'God with us'.

This is one of my favorite Christmas carols. And seeing as it's Christmas Eve, I thought I'd post some of the lyrics for you. I'm actually listening to Michael Buble Christmas music at the moment, but I prefer Jars of Clay. Mom is making pumpkin pie. Yum. I've wrapped all my family's Christmas gifts. Katherine loves the t-shirt I gave her. And yeah. Feels like Christmas. My brother just shoved pastry dough in my mouth. It's a bit gross when it's not cooked.

God rest ye merry, gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
Remember, Christ, our Saviour
Was born on Christmas day
To save us all from Satan's power
When we were gone astray
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

In Bethlehem, in Israel,
This blessed Babe was born
And laid within a manger
Upon this blessed morn
The which His Mother Mary
Did nothing take in scorn
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

From God our Heavenly Father
A blessed Angel came;
And unto certain Shepherds
Brought tidings of the same:
How that in Bethlehem was born
The Son of God by Name.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy