A tag...because it looked fun.

So I saw this tag on Ashley's blog, over at Bramblewood fashion, and I thought it looked fun, so I thought I'd try it:

First 11 random things about myself-

1. When I was little I wanted to be a spy
2. I've read "The Hobbit" at least 11 times.
3. I hate the taste of coffee, but love the smell.
4. I'm the youngest of five.
5. I have an unhealthy obsession for makeup.
6. I've only been to one concert in my whole life.
7. I've never been out of the country.
8. When I was little, I wanted to change my name to Nikki...now I hate that name.
9. I know all the words to almost every Taylor Swift song ever written.
10. I have an uncanny knowledge of useless movie trivia
11. I've had four hampsters: Cupcake the first, Cupcake the second, Oreo, and Godzilla. 

Next, 11 questions:

1. Have you read The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit? --I've read "The Hobbit" and "The fellowship of the ring", and I've seen all the movies!
2. Who is your favorite author? --Agatha Christie, J.K. Rowling and Jane Austen
3. Do you use Pinterest? -- Yes, yes I do. And I have the shameless obsession that comes with it LOL
4. Do you have a common name, or a rare one? --It's pretty rare. I never had one of those personalized pencils or key chains with my name on it. :(
5. Do you like your middle name? --Sure, Marie isn't so bad...a little common, but I've heard worse.
6. What's your favorite animal? --Elephants, Panda bears, Dolphins and Indian Ponies.
7. What's your favorite number? --Whatever age I happen to be at the time, so...19.
8. Do you have any weird pet peeves? --People with bad grammar really makes me mad. Also, people who ask stupid questions.
9. Do you like the city or the country better? --I'm a city girl at heart, but I wouldn't mind a compromise, perhaps living in a small town with quaint little shops and large fields of just green, but not too far away from the mall and a Wal-mart.
10. Are you a fan of the "tall, dark, and handsome" or the "pale, wan, and blond"? --Can I have a long lanky time lord?
11. Do you like linkups or book reviews better? --What the heck is a linkup?!

And lastly, 11 questions to the people I tag:

1. Favorite movie of all time?
2. Which is better, the book, or the movie adaptation?
3. Would you say your name is common, or hard to come by?
4. On a scale of one to ten, how bad did you want to be Anne of Green Gables when you were little?
5. Dream job?
6. What's your favorite Christmas memory?
7. How would you describe your style?
8. What's your favorite animal?
9. You have two seconds: What's a good cat name?
10. Should the Doctor be Ginger?
11. If you could be a character in any book, play, movie or tv show, what would it be, and who would you portray?


I'm supposed to tag 11 people now, but I'm feeling really lazy right now, so I'm going to leave this one open to whoever wants to try it! Have fun :)

Why my pastor is the coolest guy ever.

I have the greatest pastor of all time, I really do.

So, as I'm sure you all know, today is Christmas Eve, and while most people are getting some last minute Christmas cooking and shopping done, Pastor Randy Hartman was giving away some Christmas cheer.

This man spent all morning standing on a street corner with a couple hundred in 5 dollar bills i his pocket and a big cardboard sign that said "Merry Christmas. FREE MONEY!" All morning, as people stopped at the traffic light, he'd knock on car windows and give away five dollars to the drivers. At one point, just as he was running out of money, a lady pulled up with a fresh stack of 5 dollar bills and said "Bill from the Convenience store says to keep spreading the love!"

Later, when he was asked why he did it, he said he just woke up this morning feeling like it was something he should do. 

By the afternoon, word of what he'd done had spread all over town via facebook and people who had seen him and recognized him. He started getting calls, some saying how great that was, and a couple from people who had been so touched by what he had done and asking for prayer. I was so inspired by this, and I was literally almost brought to tears. I just have the greatest pastor ever. He's so nice and has a great heart for God. I'm proud to know him.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Chop chop

Today's post is about when I cut my hair. I did it in September...or October...whatever, it was a long time ago, and I was looking at my blog today, and was like "OMG! I didn't post pictures of my new hair!!!" So, I'm sorry.

I've done hair cutting posts before; not many, because I was trying to let my hair grow out, and therefore didn't make many trips to the salon, but whenever I got layers, or bangs, I would take a million pictures and show the world!

 

*Before-I think we decided my hair was 19in. long

Anyway, so I hadn't really cut my hair in, like, two years. I'd gotten a trim and/or some layers here and there, but never any drastic style change, and I thought it was time to shake things up a bit. I've had long hair pretty much my whole life. This is the longest it's ever been, but I've never had, like, REALLY short hair before, and I've been looking at a lot of "bob" pictures on pinterest (I have a pinterest problem, by the way. It's an addiction, no lie.) and the more pictures I looked at, the more I wanted to do it. I was even looking up tutorials on how to make long hair look short, and every time I wore a hat, I would stuff all my hair into it to make it look short. I was obsessed.

After many discussions with friends and family, and even a facebook poll, I decided to take one of the hundreds of short hair pictures to the salon and chop off all my hair. It was one of the scariest things I had done up to that point.

 *After-I think I got 9 inches taken off

 Once it was finally done, I looked in the mirror, and I examined every inch of it, and determined that I absolutely LOVED it! It felt SO weird to have practically no hair at all, and for about three weeks, every time I put a coat on, I would go to sweep my hair from under the collar, and three would be nothing their LOL

I love the length so much now, mostly because I can actually do things with it now. I could never curl my hair before, because it would take an hour just to curl it all, and the weight of my hair would just pull the curls out, so it totally wasn't worth it. Also, I can do easy, casual styles with it now, like taking my flat iron and just flipping the ends under, which only takes about 5 minutes, and I'm ready to go! I love when doing my hair is easy!!

Voices heard

Unless you're Amish or have been living under a rock you might have noticed that today was Election day...and if you're Amish, you probably won't be reading this anyway, so whatever.

I was officially old enough to vote as of last December, so yay! It took several weeks for it to hit me that I was an adult now, and I had rights, and responsibilities, and junk, but once it did, I must say I was torn.

On the one hand, I was freaking excited that I could vote, get a job, and would soon be getting my driver's license! It was a very exciting day.

But then I starting thinking about the responsibilities end of the spectrum. I would actually have to pay attention to the news now(fun stuff, let me tell you. I'm bursting with joy.) and I would have a hand in choosing the leader of the whole country! At that point I started the whole "I can't handle the pressure!!!!" montage.

So I wen through the months alternately freaking out and not caring. It wasn't until yesterday that I thought I probably should have been paying closer attention to the other people hoping to get elected, not just the president. Honestly, I wasn't aware SO many people were on the ballet. There were judges, sheriffs, senators, counsel members, etc., not to mention the "issues" and levies up the wazoo!

I tried to stay calm as I walked into the room filled with voting machines, suddenly realizing that I don't know anything and anything and I should probably just go home. But I was already there, so I might as well just do it.

I get signed in, they give me my voting card, I go to a station, and press all the buttons I'm supposed to, and I finish. not bad! I did it! It's over! HOORAY!!!

Now I'm just bumbed I didn't get a "I voted" sticker for my trouble.

Video did WHAT?!

After much planning, scheming and hairspray, Appletree Productions is proud to present "Video Killed the Radio Star" By the Buggles, music video by Allison Przeslawski and Erin Chandler!!!

Jane Eyre

 I watched the new Jane Eyre movie today. I was So looking forward to this movie, as it is one of my favorite books. Also, I have not been impressed by other adaptations, and had high hopes the movie people would finally get it right.

I must say I was sadly disappointed. The editing was terrible. The movie started half way through the story, and then kept flashing back between Jane's childhood and her adult life. Even knowing the story as well as I do, I had a hard time keeping up. The film was so chopped up, I fear they may have missed a few things. Nothing was explained. I understand they can't give the details of every character, but there were important things, like why Jane lived with her Aunt, and who Adele was in accordance with Mr. Rochester that were important to the story line, and were not even hinted at.

I also found it quite irritating that I couldn't understand half of what the people were saying. I had the volume up to 50, and I still had to turn on the subtitles, they were speaking that quietly and muttering so.  There was a lot of important information that would have been missed, if I hadn't known what was being said, but only because I read the book. 

On the other hand, I can't say that I didn't enjoy the movie just a little bit. The actors did a very good job, and I thought they portrayed their characters very well. I thought the girl that played Jane was spot on. Jane Eyre is supposed to be obscure, plain and little, and I thought this girl was perfect. It's not that she's not pretty, just a little sickly looking. I think that with a little makeup, she could be quite good-looking, though. In past adaptations, there have been some very attractive Jane Eyres, and it really annoyed me. Except for that one girl in the 2006 version with the under bite.

Also, FINALLY! A Blanche Ingram with black hair! She has black hair in the book, and they insist on making her blond in EVERY version of the movie! I don't know why, and it drives me slowly insane.

Another thing that always annoyed me with past adaptations was the director's handling of the second half of the story, when Jane leaves Thornfield, and meets St. John Rivers and his sisters. They always ruin what I thought to be one of the best parts of the book, but in the version, it seems they've finally got it right, so I am happy, despite all the things I said against it. 

I was also, of course, very fond of the costumes, houses, and landscapes in the film, so, when I just couldn't take the whispering and choppy story line, I simply looked at their surroundings, and was content.

All-in-all, I can't say that I would recommend the new Jane Eyre. Watch it if you want, I won't say you won't like it, but I found it very annoying, and wishing I had made the movie instead, because, you know, if I had done it myself, it would have been done right. LOL

Until next time........
Erin

A difficult subject

Last month, I was attacked by a dog.

I recently started working for a friend of mine who owns a butterfly business.(Caterpillar kits, releases, etc.) and one Friday morning, I was at her house, loading the truck, and getting ready to drive to a farmers market, hoping to sell some plants and help kids feed butterflies. I walked back in the house to get the last of the boxes, when my friend's German Shepherd rounded the corner and leaped on me. No warning. no bark, no nothing. He just attacked. It was the worst moment of my whole life. I thought I was going to die. I tried to fight him off, but all I could do was scream and hope someone heard me. Finally, after what seemed like hours, my friend came and pulled him off me, but in the frenzy, he bit her leg too.

Apparently, my friend didn't know I was coming back in the house and let the dog out of his cage to roam the house while we were gone. I have known this family for many years, yet had never met the dog, which, I think, tells you something about the dog. It wasn't that I didn't want to, the FAMILY didn't want me getting anywhere near that dog. And now I know why.

Ten minutes later  I was in my mom's car being taken to the hospital. I was sobbing. And bleeding from everywhere. Thankfully, there was no one in the waiting room, and I was admitted tht moment I got there.

I needed almost 20 stitches in my left hand, right elbow, forehead and behind my left ear. I haven't been in a hospital since I was born, practically. I hate hospitals. They freak me out, and they're full of sick people, so you can imagine what freaking out was going on in my head. Thankfully, my doctor was wonderful. So soft-spoken, he almost put me to sleep. He took his time with my stitches, and they were perfect, and there was no pain.


*If you're grossed out by blood, you may want to scroll fast.

I spent an entire week in that chair, hardly able to move for pain, and pretty much doped up on medication. This coming from the girl who won't even take cold medicine when she's sick. I was in much pain. Now for the kicker. this all happened a week before my senior prom. I was absolutely miserable.

After ten days I went back to the hospital to get my stitches out. Even then, I only had to wait, like, 15 minutes. Got was totally in this whole situation. When the nurse told me they didn't use pain killers when taking the stitches OUT, I nearly had heart failure. I'm not even kidding. I was like, "Woman, you think you can pull string out of me and not dope me?! I don't freakin' THINK SO!" But, as it turns out, it didn't hurt at all. But I still did some MAJOR praying that morning.

Now, I'm healing up well, and may not even have too much scarring. It's taken this entire month to get any movement back in my left hand, though. I still can't straighten my index finger completely.

I've done a lot of crying and praying over this past month. You know, you hear so many stories of how people lose their faith when something terrible happens to them, but I've found a greater appreciation for God. Every time I relive those moments in my head, I pray that God will take them away, and he does, and I'm left calm. It's been a really rough month for me, but I know God has been watching over me, and will continue to do so. Praise Him!