Coffee Shop Chats - The First

Tessa at Christ Is Write has come up with this idea so that bloggers will be able to get to know each other better, and have an excuse to tell their readers about their life. I think it's a great idea, and I hope you guys will join the link-up, too! To see the rules as well as Tessa's post, go here.

What I did this week

Well, for one, I have NOT gotten any writing for NaNo done since I posted the last Beautiful Books post *hides in a corner* No, don't judge, I've been busy! 

As always, I've been doing a lot of school work. I went to my last skills lab for the CNA course on Wednesday (the 18th). We did vital signs for four hours. That was exhausting. Blood pressure is so hard to measure:p Anyway, our friends came to visit and they stayed the night. It was awesome to see them again! 

I had a phone interview with John Paul the Great Catholic University, an acting school that I've wanted to go to for a couple of years now. So that was exciting. I'm also working on the essay questions I need to turn in for my application. I'll need to take the ACT, and I'll probably do that in February. I'm getting really nervous for that, cause I took a practice test once, and - I'm not gonna expand on that. So I've been prepping for that.

Last Thursday, a family from our homeschool group brought a first class relic of Saint Maria Goretti to our church. St Maria is my confirmation saint, and it was a very blessed opportunity to be able to venerate her! I was able to pray for her intercession for some of my friends, and I'm confident that she will hear me:)

And of course, yesterday was Thanksgiving! I think it was our family's first year celebrating Thanksgiving on our own. We had a great day. We went to Mass in the morning to thank God for all of our blessings. My mom made a lot of great food, and we had a Thanksgiving lunch instead of dinner.  We watched the Dallas Cowboy football game as a family (they lost :( ), and had a nice, relaxing day.

So that was my week (and a half)!

Music I've enjoyed

This year, we have discovered a lot of great musicals. My sister and I have been listening to and singing songs from Hello, Dolly! and My Fair Lady lately, along with some random songs from musicals we've never actually seen before:)

Movies I've enjoyed

Everyone in our family except my mom and I had seen Inside Out in the theater. So we rented it the other night, and I liked it pretty well. The only thing I wanted to see more of was Riley. I know by the title the main characters were the emotions, but I wanted to see more of Riley's character because... I don't know, I just did:) It was a really creative movie, though, with a really good family theme.

Quotes I'm enjoying

"Greatly to be loved is his love who loved us so greatly." ~ St. Francis of Assisi

"How dim the earth seems when I raise my eyes to heaven!" ~ St. Ignatius de Loyola

Just to name a few!

Currently working on

I worked on a poem that I'd started a few months ago,  and I wrote a new one this week. I need to work on Christmas gifts soon. Also, my little sister's birthday is tomorrow, so I think I'm gonna work on knitting her something today. She's turning 3 years old, by the way!:)

Looking forward to

My sister's birthday tomorrow! She's the cutest thing, guys. I can't believe it's been three years since she was born. She's growing up too fast. I'm not gonna say what I'm making for her, cause I might not get it finished in time. But when I do get it done, I might post a picture.

I'm also looking forward to the March For Life. In case you've never heard of it, it's the biggest pro-life rally in the world, and it takes place every year in D.C.. My sister and I are going next year in January. It'll be our first time, and we're really excited!

1. Do you think it's okay to celebrate Christmas before Thanksgiving?

To be honest, I don't think so. I think it sort of takes away from Christmas day, the day Jesus was born. I mean, I don't think it's bad, but I think that it's better for us to slow down and take things as they come, and not jump ahead so far. My family celebrates Advent and we sing Christmas songs before Christmas day, and things like that, but Advent always starts after Thanksgiving. We have a family tradition to decorate our tree on Christmas Eve. And we don't stop celebrating Christmas after the 25th. We leave all of our decorations up and even give little gifts to each other throughout the 12 days of Christmas - until Epiphany. So, if you ask me, Christmas should be celebrated closer to the 25th than Thanksgiving, and longer than just the 25th:)  

2. Are you participating in NaNoWriMo this year? How much progress have you made? 

So, I'm currently (still) at 5,901 words in my novel Like A Writing Desk. I am in love with every thing that I have written so far, but I just don't have much time to write more this month:(

Here are my questions:

1. If you put your music on shuffle, which artist would play the most?
2. What is your favorite book that you have read this year?
3. Which genre do you write best in?

auf wiedersehen, darling

- Maddie