We Are the Champions- No Time for Losers- Cause We Are the Champions

 I love that song. It really gets me "pumped up"


Anyway, I have reached over 50,000 words in 25 days. I have finished as an official winner on NaNoWriMo.

Here is a picture of my certificate. Click on it for a better view. I will get a printed version of my book soon!!

So that's what I've been up to. Writing, school, and swimming. =D

P.s. Happy Thanksgiving! 
~emily~

NaNoWriMo

Hey everyone!

So this November I will be participating in an online writing contest. November is National Novel Writing Month. Everyone who writes a 50,000 word novel in 30 days gets a free printed copy of their book with a cover and everything from CreateSpace.com! I'm really excited to get started. My plot is solid and my characters are looking strong. I can't wait to see them come to life. This should be a good thing. Almost 100,000 writers from all over the world are signed up to participate. Everyone has a little green bar on their online profile that keeps track of their word count. Only about a third of the writers that start actually finish at the end of the month with 50,000 words.

 Like the picture above the point is to reach 50,000 words. We don't worry about the grammar or the punctuation. That's for later. NaNoWriMo wants students to focus on following through with their goals when they have a deadline over their heads. It's a good way to teach young teens like myself to follow through with stuff. My parents used to tell me to "stick to what I started before I start something new". I've started writing three other books before, but I've always become uninspired and quit writing that story. In NanoWrimo, people write in November, then we can (if we want) edit and read in December. Then we turn in our winner's code for a free version of our book! My book is called Faith is the Key. Here is the synopsis and cover. (the photography and editing on the book cover is all mine! =D)

 Like I said, I can't wait to get started. Here is a link to my profile. If you want you can keep tabs on my word count which will appear at the beginning of the month. If you have a NaNoWriMo account, click that buddy button and we can share our writing experiences together!


~emily~

Stalker Dog!

~emily~

Swimming!

 So, I started swimming with the Sharks at mpsc and I have to say, I LOVE IT!  I missed swimming with the summer swim team so much, that I wanted more. So about 2 weeks ago I started swimming year round. I love the team, and I love the excercise!  The feeling of speeding through the water is the best in the world for me. After every swim, I just feel so full of happiness. It's so great to finally find something to look forward to everyday! I can tell that God is in it with me. He never let's me feel upset or insecure around the other swimmers. I just have a really awesome time everyday!


~emily~

Sweet 16 Party!

So the long awaited day finally came. I'm 16! To celebrate my actual birthday (august 2nd) I stayed home with my family, later that day I had a friend spend the night. For my birthday my parents bought me a video camera, so I could improve on my Video/Filming/Directing hobby. Before that camera I filmed video with my sister's ipod nano

 And then later that week, I had my best friends in the whole world come over. We went to the pool, played games, Manhunt (mi favorito!) it was an amazing day and my parents did a wonderful job helping me set it up. I am so blessed to by surrounded with such wonderful people.

 ~emily~

HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD?!!!!

Last Wednesday at Groundswell, they played this for us. I have to say, it really gave me a new perspective on just how powerful and wonderful our loving God really is. The things he talked about were just amazing! I can't really say anything else because I might ruin the video for you. But just let me say, our God is incredible.

Part 1



Part 2





~emily~

Billy's High School Graduation

I'm so proud of him =) Billy has grown up into a very fine man. I'm going to wait to write my big emotional blog post about our childhood together after he leaves for Clemson. He's still home right now.

Billy's Graduation from 13pinkstars on Vimeo.

~emily~

Nathan and Ben's Karate Testing

Ben and Nathan got their next belts in karate. Here are some highlights from the test. I'm so proud of them. ^_^

Ben and Nathan Karate Black Belt Test-2010 from 13pinkstars on Vimeo.

~emily~

True Love- Music Video

A small portrayal of a fraction of the love God has for us.
The skills that contributed to the making of this video are God given talents. This is not my video, but His.

Filming time-4-5 days
Editing time-2-3 days
Filmed with-Sister’s ipod nano.
Edited in- Sony Vegas Platinum 9
Filming Location- Dunes West Crab Dock
Edited by- Me!
Filmed by-Me!
Actor-Ben!
Clips used – The Passion
_______________________________

True Love- Music Video from 13pinkstars on Vimeo.

~emily~

A Promo video I made for Seacoast.

>_< It was filmed in February, For a couple nights after I was finished with Thorn Practice. Go ahead, Laugh. It's supposed to be Funny! I promise!!!!!! XDD

Agent Eagle Eye and the All Access Pass from Seacoast Church on Vimeo.

~emily~

HAPPY EASTER!!!

(yes, it's from the Thorn)

So, I can't help but looking at the giant chocolate Easter bunny beside me. It's saying, "don't eat me please!"

 Don't worry little bunny. I will spare your life for today.

~emily~

The Thorn

 THORN

Heaven

Hell. XDD

Garden with Jesus. A.k.a. Fight scene.

Yep, the one reaching up to Judes is me XD

hehehe XD

More Garden scene.

The Thorn is an amazing experience I will never forget. It is the most meaningful and incredible thing I’ve ever done.  I know God planned for me to be here. I was meant for it. I’ve already felt myself get closer to Him spiritually. I’ve also made so many friends. Friends that I can talk to about pretty much anything now. Friends that have been so nice and welcoming to me, people who have helped me realize that I’m no longer that shy girl I’d been for the past 15 years.

The whole entire cast has worked really hard since January in order to spread the great news across Mount Pleasant. We’d love nothing more than to tell the outstanding story to you. So I encourage you to buy some tickets, and experience the live portrayal of the passion of Jesus Christ.

Please buy tickets at http://www.thethorn.net/

~emily~

TAG

1. High heels or boots? -- Boots. Heels are blah >_<

2. What time did you get up this morning? -- 7:00

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? – Alice in Wonderland.

4. What is your name? —Emily! XD

5. What is your favorite TV show? -- Probably Heroes. But it’s over for all I know =(

6. What do you usually have for breakfast? – Cereal.

7. What is your middle name? -- Ann


8. What food do you dislike? – Ham. (I don’t like green eggs much either) :p


9. What is your favorite CD at the moment? – 30 Seconds to Mars-“This is War.”


10. What characteristic do you despise? -- I don’t like self-assertive, arrogant people. If you’re humble, then you’re cool in my mind. =)

11. Favorite clothing? – I’m comfortable in a T-shirt and sweat pants.

12. Anywhere in the world on vacation? – Jerusalem or Bethlehem. I think it’d be cool to walk in the same places Jesus did.

13. Are you an organized person? – Well, I...no.

14. Where would you retire to? – No idea.

15. What was your most recent memorable birthday? – 15th =D

16. What are you going to do when you finish this? – Do my laundry >_<

17. What is your Birthstone? -- Peridot

18. Person you expect to publish this first? – Hmmm…

19. When is your birthday? -- August 2nd.

20. Are you a morning person or a night person? -- Night

21. What is your shoe size? -- 8.

22. Do you own any animals? -- A boxer dog.

23. Any news you'd like to share? – Nada.

24. When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up? -- An Interior Designer. But I’ve grown out of that one. So, as of now, I’m still undecided…

25. What is your favorite flower? – A flower is a flower. They all look and smell the same to me. =)

26. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? – A year from now.

27. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? – No idea. I’d like to be light blue though. XD

28. How is the weather right now? – Sunny, but it’s been raining on and off all day.

29. Last person you spoke to on the phone? – Mi Madre.

30. Favorite drink? -- Water

31. Favorite restaurant? – SUBWAY! ( I like eatin’ fresh)

32. Hair color? -- Red/orange

33. What was your favorite toy as a child? – Noah’s Ark. (shrunk down to a convenient size)

34. Summer or winter? – Neither. I like the fall. But summer would be my 2nd choice.

35. Chocolate or vanilla? -- Chocolate

36. Coffee or tea? -- Both?

37. Wish you were still young? -- Like a kid? Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

38. Do you want your friends to publish this? -- Sure.

39. When was the last time you cried? – Pretty recently :’(

40. What is under your bed? – My sister. Hahaha! (bunk-bed)

41 . What did you do last night? -- Read to mi hermana =)

42. What are you afraid of? -- Throw-up. The future. Obama.
43. Salty or sweet? -- Sweet.

44. Best quality you have? – No idea.

45. How many years at your current job? -- I'm unemployed. (but not for long….)

46. Favorite day of the week? -- Friday.

47. Last thing you smelled? – HAHA…

~emily~

Thorn Cast 2010 -- Can you find me?

Ben says, " There are only 2 types of people in the world. The ones that are in the Thorn, and the ones who wish they were in the thorn." XD

~emily~

My "fan made" book cover (another thingy for school) CLICK FOR FULL VIEW(it chops some of it off)

FRONT COVER AND INSIDE FLAP. This is for a real book that's already published.

BACK AND BACK FLAP(you can kind of guess where it would be bent to fit around the back of the book)

Yep. That was for school. I hope you liked it =) AND that hand in the front, was Ben's. hahaha

~emily~

Wallpapers made by me!

So I had some spare time today and I decided to make some computer wallpapers. Here are a few that I'm pretty proud of and I wanted to show everyone! You can use them if you'd like!
Click for a larger view.
 Right click on the picture
Click save picture as
Right click on desktop
Go to personalize
Desktop background
find picture

~emily~

My Favorite Place(a school assignment I decided to post)

My Favorite Place


Many people have that favorite place that they love revisiting over and over again. Possibly because of the weather, or maybe they enjoy the people that are always present there. You could have shared your favorite memory in that place too. Whatever it is, something about this location brings a smile to your face whenever you mention its name. You savor every single detail about it. When you picture it in your mind, you could name the smells, sounds, colors, etc. My favorite place happens to be a spot where I spent a majority of my childhood, a place where my happiest memories had been made. My favorite place is the basement in my first Indiana house.

When you opened the tall wooden door at the end of our kitchen, you experience this blast of air that smelled of new plastic and old cement. The temperature immediately dropped about ten degrees, and you were in heaven. You would walk down the unproportioned wooden stairs, smoothed to a soft finish from years of usage, and see a cold cement wall to your right. If you put your hand on it, it had a smooth yet rough texture to it. You looked right in front of you, you see more cement wall. But if you turned your head just a little to the left, the pit of your stomach fills with excitement and you don’t know why you weren’t already down those creaky stairs. You jump the final step, and land on the icy cold cement floor. You take two more steps and you are now on colorful variety of carpets, almost always covered with crayons, beads, Barbie’s, race cars, Thomas trains, stuffed animals, and other miscellaneous junk. The perfect kid’s play area.

Under the stairs there are tons of big blue boxes that hold every other toy that isn’t already conveniently left out for your usage. Right next to the boxes are the laundry machines. Kids with sensible minds don’t wander over there, nothing special but dirty clothes and detergent. You run out into the large room with only one small window, at least ten feet above you. At the back right corner you see a giant Mickey Mouse house complete with crayon graffiti. At the back left corner you see my personal favorite spot. In a little cut off section about ten feet by ten feet you are pleasantly surprised to see a collection of sixteen hospital mattresses that my dad brought home from work. You could throw yourself in any direction, and still land safely in the heap of mats. Yes, the basement is my favorite place. But it isn’t what was in it, it was the memories that I made with my older and younger brother that set this place in front of everywhere else.

I can remember the good old days when it was just my older brother Billy and I. We’d recreate Noah’s ark with the little ark that my grandfather made for me. We’d play with his trains too. The one memory that I really remember is when my brother decided we were going to play haircut. He chopped almost all the hair off one side of my head. What makes this memory really funny to me is that at the time, I really couldn’t care less. My mom was angry though, and once I realized that my new style might be a bad thing, I got mad at my brother too. After that my younger brother Ben became old enough to join in our fun, and that’s when things got interesting. We were three amigos that were always caught red handed. Our mischievous incidents weren’t meant to cause harm or damage. No, we were just trying to figure out how to have fun in a small town where the most exciting thing was the cows just down the street. Our parents saw our innocence and forgave us, even though we cost them a lot of money in repairs. At first we’d spend our long summers, weekends, and snow days playing with Billy’s Hot Wheel collection. We named our cars and played around with them like they were people. In fact, we probably invented the script of the hit Pixar movie Cars. We would take out everything possible to make racecar tracks too. See, innocent fun right?

Wrong. Because when it got time to cleaning up our mess, we had our own secret way of handling things. I normally wouldn’t share this with the world because this is strictly between my brothers and me, but since our basement days are sadly over, I may as well spill. When our parents locked us in the basement and told us no dinner until it was clean, one by one we’d start planning our escape. We knew our mother very well for our young ages. We knew that she cared so very much about each and every one of us. We knew that she hated it when one person hurt the other. So what did we do? We started trying to get hurt. One person would annoy the other until that person finally gave in and slapped the other and that would be enough for us to produce tears. We’d go screaming up to my mom, and she’d let us eat and make the others finish cleaning the mess. Poor Billy was always the last one down there to finish the job, because he thought at the age of six, he was too “grown up” to go crying to mommy.

Another time it was New Years Eve and we were so happy that is was finally 2000. Billy was eight, I was six, and Ben was four. We decided it would be a great idea to throw a 2000 party. So we went to the basement with markers and crayons and wrote 2000 on all the furniture, walls, and toys. We were stoked to show our parents. They weren’t too enthusiastic about it though. We spent that night scrubbing down everything and getting a long, painful, lecture.

Our last big memory that we shared was a while later when a motel was being built right next to our house. We saw tons of dirt and rocks being pulled out of the ground, where the foundation would be. I think it was Ben who said. “Guys! Let’s make a rock museum!” A rock museum? Wow, fun! So we asked our mom if we could take a couple rocks from the lot next door and put them in our basement. She agreed if we washed all the dirt off of them first. So, when the first bucket of clean rocks came down we set them on our desks. We loved it so much that we went to go get more. We agreed that washing the rocks off just wasn’t going to fit into our schedule. So we skipped that step, bringing down more buckets of dirty rocks. After all the rocks were in place, we made another trip to the lot to grab a couple buckets of dirt to add to the effect of the whole thing. What was a real rock museum where the rocks didn’t appear to be in their true environment?

When we finished our little fun we wanted to show our parents, but we needed to vacuum up the dirt before they got mad. Bad idea. The dirt turned to dust through the vacuum machine and the air was soon filled with it. Forget a rock museum; it looked like we were experiencing a sand storm. We knew our little innocent fun had gotten out of hand and we needed an adult to help us now. When we came upstairs and called our parent’s. We were prepared for the beatings to begin. But, to our surprise they started laughing. Apparently the dust had gotten all over us too and we were brown all over. All you could see were three little bodies and six eyes, staring up with confusion. I don’t quite remember the clean up process, but it must have been good because we sold our house shortly after that.

That was the end of the basement. A junky spot my parent’s stuck us where we’d gotten on their nerves, but a place with a thousand good memories to me.


Hoped you enjoyed it!!
~emily~

Jacques 2010 Family Cruise

These are the pictures from our cruise! Please click on them to see the full size. I commented on every picture. Enjoy!

~emily~

Billy got accepted at Clemson!

My big brother Billy got accepted at Clemson University. AND with a 4,000 dollar Scholarship, thanks to his good grades. (and a good teacher) Good job Billy!!!! I'm proud of you!!


~emily~