She is me

     I have a little announcement to make.
     Actually, considering that there are approximately five of you who read my blog, I'd say that the vast majority of you already know.
     But, in case you didn't, I'm posting about it here.
     Are you ready?
     I started a new blog!
   If you're thinking, "Why?  She doesn't post on this one!"  let me reassure you that I know.  It is a little crazy, I agree.
     However, I decided to do it anyway, because I wanted someplace where I could put my art and stories.  I'll still be posting on this blog with the same frequency (or infrequency, as it may be), since I see it as more of a journal of what's going on in my life.  :)
     So I hope you'll check it out.  :)  You can find it here.  There should be another post up later today, too.  :)

     Love,
     Julianne  :)

A guest post by Allison and Julianne's past self

When Julianne was maybe eight or nine, and I was maybe six or seven, we invented the time machine.  We made it out of a huge cardbord box that had held the dryer our parents purchased when the old one broke.  The time machine had small windows with shutters, crayon artwork inside and out, little pieces of paper dangling from the ceiling via little pieces of yarn, and even a "television".  Each paper had the name of some place we could travel to written on it.  If we wanted to go someplace that wasn't already  on the ceiling, Julianne would write it out on a blank piece, tape it to a piece of yarn, tap that to the ceiling, give it a gentle yank, and off we would go.  It was high tech, I tell ya.  The "television" consisted of a rectangle drawn on the wall with some scribbles inside it. Julianne carefully recorded everything that happen on our adventures in her notebook. This is what she wrote on our very first adventure in time travel.  Original spacing, punctuation, spelling, and capitalization has been retained as much as possible. 

It all started the day before Easter.  I was tired, no, not the tired as in sleepy, no, I was tired of studying, tired of drywall dust, tired of just about everything that was at our home in Michigan.  So, My sister, Allison and I went into our box, that we call the time machine.  It's the day before Easter, so we are going to the first Easter. Right now, we are traveling though darkness complete dark ness ecept for a few multitudes of stars.  My sister, is watching movies, and entertaining herself with strings, & tying my hair into knots.  Oh, I'm sorry, she is reading over my shoulder and insisting that she was only braiding my hair.  Whatever, I think she is making excuses. 

We have three more hours left to go.  

I hope my sister gets over this coocooness she is goin through.

When we got off the time machine we got off at mary Magdelene's house.

She came out , and seeing us said, "My, you two are very young to be out this late".  My sister replied, well your out late too. [-Somtimes she is so rude!] Mary Madilene after looking at Allison turned to me an said,"thats a very cute little sister you've got there".  "Thank you" I said.  So, Mary Magdelene and Allison went went to the tomb together, and I lagged behind.  

When we got there Mary Magdeline exClaimed, "Someone has stolen Jesus' body!" My sister said, I will catch the thief!  And she marched in the tomb.  When she had just went in she came running out.  "There's a man in there" she said, before getting behind me.  Then, the angel [Who was what my sister thought was a man] came out, and said, "I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified, he his not here, he has risen, come and see tho place where he lay.  Thon go tell his diciples."  So, Mary Magdeline, Allison,& I ran back to town.

My sister ran up to a high priest and said, "hello, disciple, He has risen!" I whispered in her ear, "That's a high priest, not a disciple!" Oh, she said.

Right now, she can't wait for our next adventure, I remided her we have to color easter eggs, she still doesn't understand.

Well at least she doesn't call me mom anymore.

Contrary to what this story would have you believe,  I was, at that time, familiar enough with the Easter story to know that Jesus' body was not stolen, and therefore would not have volunteered my detective skills.  I would know the man in the tomb was the angel. I also probably was not bold enough to witness to a high priest.  Apparently, making me look bad in her story was her way of venting her irritation toward me. You see, when you are traveling back in time, it is essential that you remain in the time machine until you arrive safely at your destination, and you cannot arrive at you destination until Julianne has finished writing down everything that is going to happen when you get there.  Now this may not look like very much to write, but in the notebook it takes up three pages, and took quite a long time for Julianne to think of and then write down..  I was extremely bored while she did it (Did I mention that the television she says I was watching was drawn on the box with a crayon? It held my attention for maybe one tenth of a second.  Maybe.)  Anyway, it frustrated her that I kept interrupting her to insist that we were still in her room and it was therefore possible for me to go get _________ toy from my room.  She did get one thing right, however.  I don't call her mom anymore. 

This post has been read and approved be Julianne's current self. 

Art (sort of) and cupcakes (definitely)

     I think it's amazing how art can convey so much about a person.
     Think about, for instance, Leonardo da Vinci's complex background on the Mona Lisa, and then about his personal life and interests.  You can see why he made it that way, can't you?  He was a complex guy.
     What about how art makes the viewer feel?  Think about Monet and all his water lilies.  I love Monet, and I think it's because those beautiful flowers make me feel peaceful and dreamy.
     Art has the amazing power to touch people, and it's not limited to paintings.  It can happen in sculpture, architecture, music, cupcakes...
     Yes, cupcakes.
     The cupcakes below were made for me by some friends to celebrate my graduation.  They say a lot about what I like, and about our common interests.  :)  I planned on sharing pictures of all of them, but when I looked at my snapshots some of them were too blurry.  Oh, well. 
     Art is powerful. 
     It can also be tasty.

clockwise, starting with the largest one :)
Sherlock Holmes, Ikea, Kid Snippets, Veggietales, my bedroom wall, The Princess Bride.

Cupcakes made by Molly and Max and their mom.  :)

Shipshewana

A couple of days ago, we took a road trip with some dear people to Shipshewana.  Upon entering Yoder's Fabric Store, my eyes were were drawn to the wonderful figures above, perched nonchalantly on top of a display of children's clothes.  Because they sell clothes, too.  Not just fabric.  Also, really cool hats.  :)

It's no wonder I love this place.

I also saw this quilt, and took a picture because I'm pretty sure my sister could make something like it with her awesome kanzashi skills.  I like it a lot.  :)

They always have cute displays, and right now we are on the lookout for anything made of felt.  I need some sweater scraps out of my room.  :)  Hence the picture of this cute little container.

Oh...  And I'm always tempted by their spools of crochet cotton in bright colors.  This picture is to my eyes what ice cream is to my taste buds.  And by that, I mean that it's exhilarating.

 This poodle is part of an adorable scarf that, for some reason, is in the hardware section of Yoder's.  I guess they like to mix things up.

Of course, it wasn't long before I was hungry, and the drawings by local children in the hall between the hardware and fabric stores reminded me of our next stop...

  Oh, yeah.  They're awesome.  Thankfully, they have more than one pretzel, contrary to what the picture would have you believe.

 Of course, we also had to look in the store that sells buttons nearby...

 And go to this place!

Lolly's is also eye candy.  That's all it is for me, since I'm not really into sewing or quilting.  Still, I love walking around and gazing at the walls and walls of fabric, like this:

 And while exploring I found this beautiful quilt.  Very Amish-looking, don't you think?  lol

 It's called "Lady Madonna" from the Abbey Road collection.  How awesome is that?

I hope you have enjoyed this very brief and rather choppy record of our most recent trip to Shipshe!  :) 

I amuse myself too much sometimes...

My friend won our last Words With Friends game by playing a word that neither of us had heard before. It's not an unusual occurrence, and I've gotten in the habit of looking up words I don't know. Spending time playing a game feels a little more justifiable to me, that way. So I searched for his.

And it turns out it's a narcotic.

The bad sportsman in me decided to harass him about it a little bit. Hours later, I remembered something else...

I'm not completely innocent, either. Bummer. :)

Butterfly exhibit

Are you wondering why there's a random bridge at the beginning of this post?  Well, let me relieve your curiosity.  It goes like this:  Once upon a time, or the other day, this bridge made me think of my Aunt Kathy, so I put it here for her to see.  The End.

 We took a day trip with some friends to see a butterfly exhibit at a public garden.  I have come to the conclusion that I like photographing flowers much more than butterflies.  They're not as skittish.  :)  And there were lots of beauties.  Like this...

And this...

I did, however, manage to get a couple butterflies.  It was so exciting!  After chasing them around for several minutes, I can sort of tell why guys like to hunt, with the adrenaline rushes and all.  Except I still don't understand the part that involves blood.   Don't worry, that's as graphic as it's gonna get.  :)  Anyway, the fact that I don't understand is okay.  Dad can hunt, and I can eat. It works.

Come to think of it, that statement might get me in a lot of trouble in the future.  To avoid confusion, I will now proceed to put limits on it:

I can eat it as long as:

1. I do not have to touch the raw meat with my bare hands in order to prepare it.
2. It is not something disgusting.  And yes, Uncle Earl, squirrel is on the list of "Disgusting Somethings."  As are quite a few other things.
3. It is fully cooked.  I don't foresee this being an issue, but I included it for clarity's sake.
4. It was not found on the side of the road.  Technically, that's not hunting, but I don't want anyone to get crazy ideas.  :)

As you may or may not have guessed by the above list, I am not an outdoorsy type.  Nor do I eat wild game very often. 

Anyway, back to the subject at hand.  Which was what, again?  Gun control?  Oh, no, it was butterflies.  Good!  Let's proceed...

Can you believe the vibrant blue color of that last picture?  It isn't even edited.  I like to try to imagine what God was thinking when He made certain things, like emeralds or oaks or ice cream (say what you want, I am convinced that nothing that delicious could come from anywhere else.) or that shade of blue on those butterfly wings.  I don't know, of course, but I think He must have been pretty happy.  That's how it makes me feel.

Happy Easter

He is risen!