An Awesome Birthday!

Wednesday, the day before my eighteenth birthday, I took my driver's license test. I had been waiting for this day for a long time! My dad and I spent most of the day waiting in line and filling out paperwork. Boring. But our patience paid off. At three o'clock that afternoon, I took my driving test...and passed! Yea!!! Praise the Lord!

I was somewhat nervous about taking it after hearing that both my mom and dad failed on their first try. But Daddy was an awesome instructor and I had almost two years of practice with my learner's permit. In my parents' defense, they didn't have the advantage of the extra practice time.

It was a wonderful birthday present! My siblings have been asking me to drive them various places now that I have my license. Benjamin wants me to take him out for ice cream and Grace has asked me to take her shopping and to the library!=)

Right now, I just have a temporary license until the real one comes in the mail. I can't wait!!!

I had a great birthday and I thank the Lord for His blessings and unfailing love.

~Paige

P.S. I forgot to mention that I got to go to the Cheesecake Factory to get cheesecake for my birthday!!!!!!!

Singing!

My sisters and I are a part of Encore Youth Chorus. This is our second year to be in it and it has been awesome! Chamber is a group that you have to audition for. Michelle and I made it in, but the auditions were really tough. This year Chamber has twelve members. It is more rigorous to be in Chamber because there are more songs to learn and more concerts, but it is very rewarding.

This weekend has been full of singing, singing, singing! We sang Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It was a lot of fun, but I'm glad to give my voice a break now. =) We sang in Boerne, at the Riverwalk, and a few other places! Here are a few pictures:

Chamber singing at Barnes and Noble for a fundraiser.

 

Encore Youth Chorus, senior choir

Encore Youth Chorus, junior choir

Wearing "Who" hats and singing "Welcome Christmas"!

Our family after the concert on Thursday.

Chamber singing in Boerne.

Chamber

Bridal Shower!

     I know that I haven't been writing as regularly as I should have been. I do have an excuse though. November is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short. Nonnie, our grandma, told us about it a few months ago. Basically, the contestants have November 1st to November 30th to write a novel. The judges only count the words; they don't care if it makes any sense. However, you are not allowed to write the same word over and over again, though. Bummer, right? Just kidding. For adults, the word count goal is 50,000 words. You are allowed to set your own goal too.
 
    At first, we were somewhat apprehensive about it. I love writing, but I wasn't sure about writing a novel. It seemed like a huge undertaking. But, on November 1st, we decided to take the plunge and just have a go at it. My mom had wanted us to write a novel all together. We did too, but we ran into a slight problem. My brothers started talking about how they wanted ninjas, samarais, and such in the story. Immediately, my sisters and I shot down their ideas. We wanted to write about four sisters who travel to Alaska, but my brothers didn't like our plans any more than we liked theirs. So, we began our own novels. Our family is writing three separate novels right now.  Each one is very unique and interesting.

     So, that is my excuse for not consistently blogging. I've been writing a ton! My sisters and I currently have just over 18,000 words and a week and a half left. We're aiming for at least 25,000 total, but more if we are able to. It has been exciting working together; we each have different ideas which make the story better.

     Anyway, let me get to what I was originally going to write about. I really have been wanting to post about a bridal shower I helped host back in October. My friend is getting married in December and I'm the maid of honor. It has been a totally new experience for me, since I have only been a flower girl in my uncle and aunt's wedding when I was younger. My mom and sisters helped a lot, as well as a bridesmaid who's also in the wedding. It was somewhat stressful getting everything coordinated and prepared, but overall, it went really well. Here are few pictures that my sister, Michelle, took while we were there.

The Bride-to-Be!

Cute placemats my mom made.

Decorations!

The good news is that the bride loved the shower, so that means it was a success! Praise the Lord.

~Paige

P.S. Be sure to check out Michelle's blog. She is planning on posting more pictures of the shower soon.

Redecorated Room!

If you've seen our school room, which is very visible from the front door, you know that it had a very lived-in look.=) The reason I used the past tense is because it has been redecorated! My mom has been wanting to declutter and repaint it for awhile, but never seemed to have the time. So, a few weeks ago, before school started, she asked us if we were willing to help her and we quickly agreed.

Before we could do anything, we had to move everything out of the room. It was a long process. Then we had to find the right color of paint and purchase all the supplies that are necessary for painting. The majority of us desired the room to be yellow. Picking the perfect shade was challenging, to say the least! I'm just going to say that we are gradually adjusting to the brightness.=D So, all of this prep work took about a week to complete.

The actual painting process only took a few days. We couldn't find a single border (apparently, they aren't sold at stores anymore) so my creative mom improvised! She used black magnetic paint for the border. We are going to put pictures and magnets up there. The black border tones down the yellow a bit.=)

We moved some of the furniture back in. Now, our school room is ready for the new school year! It certainly screams "Wake up!" in the morning!

Here is the room before we redecorated. We did have a table and another bookshelf in there too.

Here is the room while we were redecorating it:

Here is the room after we redecorated!

The photos in this post were taken by Michelle.

Another Giveaway!

Here is another chance to receive something free!!! Marie Madeline Studio is giving away a skirt of your choice or a $50 gift card! It's a great opportunity!=) It ends Friday, September 23rd.

Click here to go to the giveaway!

Happy Friday!

~Paige

Giveaway!

Kristiana, my friend from chorus, is having a giveaway!!! It is a really cute headband. To enter, all you need to do is comment on her post. Hurry up, though, because it ends tomorrow! =)

Just click on the link below:
http://januarylemongrass.blogspot.com/2011/09/promised-and-awaited-giveaway.html

~Paige

Late-night Aprons

This is my very first post on my new blog! With the help of my Dad, I created this blog on Saturday. I had a lot of fun choosing backgrounds, colors, and texts.=D

Anyway, I thought I would write about a sewing project my mom and sisters started and completed (yeah!) a few weeks back. It was the week spent with five of our cousins. Before they came, we decided we would have several craft projects planned. One of them was making nine aprons! 

This project somehow slipped to the end of the week. On Thursday afternoon, we frantically realized that we were running out of time. At around 4:00 PM, we started on the first apron for one of my younger cousins and finished at 8:00 the same night. We were discouraged at the snail's pace we were keeping. We knew that if they were to be completed we would have to work late!

 Seven hours later, at about 3:00 AM, we finished our mission! We were exhausted, yet extremely satisfied that we had completed our assignment. Each one of them turned out really cute and unique! We made them reversible. One side has cow print for "Cow day" at Chick-Fil-A and the other side is the unique side. Praise the Lord we were able to get them all done! Here are some pictures:

All set for Cow Day!!!

Silly picture!=)

Our unique sides