Gratitude Tag

I was tagged for this wonderful tag by lovely Vanessa Best from her blog Simply Me. This is such an awesome tag that reminds us how important it is to be thankful. I am so glad that I get to participate. Thanks Vanessa!



1. What is your favorite quote or verse that reminds you to be thankful? 
My favorite verse about being thankful is probably "give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. " -1 Thessalonians 5:8. It is such an empowering verse because it can be so hard to give thanks, in fact sometimes we want to scream because of how unfair something is. But instead of being angry, we have to give thanks for those hard things. Wow. To be able to give thanks in all circumstances is something I strive for.

2. Who are you grateful for? 
Well that's a long list. Can I just say everyone? Well of course I'm thankful for my family and friends. They are always there for me and I love them so much. I'm especially thankful for my two sisters, they are my best friends in the whole world. I am thankful for my mentor Mrs. Osgood, who teaches me and helps me to grow in my faith. I am thankful for all of my teachers. But most of all I am thankful to Jesus, for saving me, because I am a sinner. 

3. What life events are you grateful for? 
I try to be grateful for every day that passes. But some big life events I'm grateful for are my mission trips to Mexico. Those really helped me to see God's goodness, as well how good it feels to be selfless. 

4. What is something you are grateful for but often times don't think about?
This would probably be school, because even though it often gives me tons of stress and worry and a sore back from my heavy backpack, I am really blessed to be able to get an education and to learn. 

5. What are you going to do to show people your gratitude towards them?
Well during the holiday season I really like to make Christmas cards, and I really want to express how grateful I am to them for all their love and support this year when I write them. 

I tag
Sydney from Sydney's Website
Zelus from My Hopeful Pencil
Nadia from Not Yet Defined
Sweet Summer Teen from The Life of a Teen
And You!!

Blogger Buddies Tag- By Vivian and Zelus




Hey everyone, I (Zelus) from My Hopeful Pencil will be talking (typing) in this font. This post is the result of our collaboration: lots of grins, sweat and half-drained brains (at some point)  behind the screen.
And I, Vivian, will be using this font as my voice. Zelus and I had a great time doing this post, I hope that you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it!


1. Favourite books/music artists/songs?
Book- hmm, it’s so hard, I love Sherlock Holmes a LOT, but I like every book a LOT, I think it’s really whatever book I’m currently reading, which happens to be Red Queen. My favorite music artists are probably Fun and Relient K and some other alternative bands that I don’t know the names of. I also really like Toby Mac. My favorite song..?..Ummm, well I like the song Rhythm of Love, and my sisters and I have been dancing to I love It by Icona Pop a lot, and I am also pretty into the song Sight of the Sun by Fun. But that all will probably change within a month, it fluctuates a lot.
Books: Protector of the Small series by Tamora Pierce. Favourite music artists range from Beethoven, The Script, Imagine Dragons, Jay Chou, Dino Lee..  Songs: Ergugh don’t ask me that question. It’s almost like choosing my favourite artist. I’m going to write a post about my favourite songs playlist, and here’s a sneak peek: 《小幸运》by Hebe, Flares by The Script. There.


2. How did you get to know each other’s blogs?
Gosh...I don’t remember I just remember she commented on my blog and I somehow had already found hers... was it Teenage Blogger Central maybe? I don’t know, what do you think Zelus?
I commented her blog and found it through TBC probably, then the next day she told me she already had my blog open in another tab and was going to comment but had to leave the computer. It’s kind of (really) coincidental how we found each other’s blogs.


3. What do you want to be when you grow up? What are your plans?
I want to be an author and an artist!
I used to have a lot of expectations for myself when I grow up, but now I just want to be happy every day and have good friends with me. Maybe something that makes other people happy, because I like seeing smiles on their faces. But I hope to still write in my spare time, do music, play a bit of football now and then with friends.


4. Where do you usually work on your blog?
On the couch in the morning.
On my desk at any time of the day.


5. What place do you feel the most at home or at peace? Where is your favorite place on Earth?
Hmm, the library my backyard and my art desk are all tied for second place. But honestly, I think it’s the beach. When I’m in the water all my cares sort of float away. The ocean is my home because I’m a MERMAID!!!
Anywhere nature is, is where I feel at peace. Libraries are pretty peaceful too. Where I’m at home is actually anywhere my good friends are.


6. Do you have any pets?
Two dogs- they are both malteses and weigh five pounds.
I wish I had a dog or two…. but nope, no pets.


7. What movie have you seen a thousand times?
The Wiggles because when I was little I watched it a thousand times, then when my sister was little she watched it a thousand times, then my other little sister took it home by watching it THREE TIMES A DAY for a year straight...needless to say I have that movie memorized- the songs the dances, all of it. DON’T EVER MAKE ME WATCH IT AGAIN!!!
That movie <我的少女时代> that I watched the trailer and teaser countless times, snippets from the movie like six times and the full movie four times, twice in the cinema.


8. What is your favorite color?
Yellow, but only banana cream yellow. I also like lavender.
Blue, green, silver, red.


9. Do you have any quirks?
I doodle all over ALL my papers, and anything in front of me really. If you care about something staying the undecorated, DON’T put it in front of me.
I can actually talk a lot and become somewhat crazy when I’m with people I’m comfortable with. Is that a quirk?


10. What’s one word that describes you?
Creative
Composed?


11. What makes you continue blogging?
It brings real satisfaction to see that people are reading your ideas from all over and are not only enjoying them but benefitting from them. It means a lot to be heard in this world of 7 billion people, even if it’s only by a precious few. Also, I feel I am really able to express myself through writing, and I get a chance to really say what is on my mind.
Words on the screen express things that my mouth is unable to do. I find my blog is a good platform to share my feelings, ideas, goals and basically anything I write about. Like Vivian, it is a good feeling when you know people read and enjoy some of your writings, especially when they comment.


12. Favourite quote?
“There is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.”
-Vincent Van Gogh
Asking me to choose my favourite quote is like… choosing my favourite song. Here’s my top 3:
"Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen." Winston Churchill
"Music is everywhere.. all you have to do is listen." August Rush [Movie]
Happiness can be found in the darkest of times, if one remembers to turn on the light." Harry Potter


13. 5 places you want to go?
Japan, Hawaii,, England, France, and the moon.
Emirates Stadium in London/ England as a whole, Germany, Japan (Vivian we can meet there!), Taiwan, USA. And take lots and lots of photographs…
When you come to the USA you have to come visit me! And I will see you in Japan for sure :).


14. If you had the choice between traveling the world for a month or spending a month in one place of your choice what would you choose?
Probably to travel the world for a month.
Darn that’s a really hard question… travel the world for a month.  Preferably with a friend. But alone will be an interesting experience too. Anyway if I want to spend a month somewhere I still can, right?


15. What’s something you both have in common?
We both need spellcheck :) Haha just kidding, we both love to write and want to travel?
And we both blog!! And we are both awesome.
Agreed. And we both think this is a really cool thing (co-editing on Google Docs)
It is so cool! I highly recommend it. It’s like a conversation almost!


16. What’s your deepest darkest secret?
That I have deep dark secrets.
^THAT! Oh and I’m actually living in the South Pole among penguins, that’s why I’m not very sociable in person.


17. If you were going to write a book what would it be about?
I am currently trying my very hardest to write a fantasy boot about elves and people and fantasy stuff. But I have written a twenty page short story about WIZARDS!
Hmm probably fictional, about some teen or something. I’m not very creative when it comes to fantasy/mystery/adventure book-writing. But I do like reading about these.


18. One word to describe the other person’s blog? (Okay can be more than one word)
Thought-Provoking
*Funny side note- I looked up the synonyms for thought provoking and “bloggable” came up. That too.
Creative, artsy.


19. What time is it in each of your respective countries?
7:25 pm
11:25 am


20. What do you do when you feel sad/down?
I read for a minimum of five hours in an effort to forget that I’m sad. And then I end up having to stop because I have to do something productive and I have a hard time coming back to reality and am really zoned out and then when I remember that I’m actually not a wizard trying to save the world and the weight of life’s problems comes crashing down on me again I grab my book and start the process over.
Sometimes I watch movies or read books for many hours, or play the piano. Recently I started writing poems (like melancholy depressing ones) when I’m sad. It helps, believe it or not.


21. Beach or mountains?
That’s sooo hard but probably beach.
Can I choose both? Ermmmmm this is really hard beach maybe.


22. If you could hang out with a celebrity/a bunch of them for a day, who would it be?
Ok, so I know like, zip celebrities because I spend no time thinking about pop culture which could be bad since I never know what the heck anyone is talking about. So I have to choose someone intellectual, maybe some of my favorite authors, like Christopher Paolini or a famous artist or something. I don’t know if they count but they are celebrities in my mind.
Those bunch of actors from the movie that I mentioned just now (if you were paying attention you’d know which movie xD), they seem pretty fun people to hang out with.


23. What was the last lie you told?
Yikes, probably that I couldn’t go to something but it was really because I didn’t want to.
Another thing we have in common…^


24. Do you wear boyfriend jeans or skinny jeans?
BOYFRIEND JEANS ALL THE WAY! I hate wearing skinny jeans.
What are boyfriend jeans and why is it called boyfriend jeans? Vivian?
Boyfriend jeans are baggy jeans (I guess they are supposed to be like jeans that your boyfriend would let you borrow?) Anyways I don’t have a boyfriend but I love boyfriend jeans they are so comfortable.
Ohh erm I have jeans that are neither baggy or skinny…
Straight jeans?
Ahh yeah


25. How long is your hair? (long, short, medium)
Pretty long. I’ve been growing it out since sixth grade.
Halfway down my back


26. What’s the longest time you’ve gone without sleep?
Once I stayed up until like 1:30 am when I was in NY. My family is pretty strict about bedtimes so I don’t get many opportunities to stay up late.
Maybe 24+ hours? I go for this leadership training/bonding program, and we literally had activities (games, walks) throughout the night. It was really really fun. The next evening I slept for 16 hours straight.


27. What is something/someone that instantly brings you out of your horrible mood no matter how down you were?
My dogs.
This is hard… does my laptop count? Cause I’ll watch some funny clips. Okay fine, this group of friends where we do ridiculously crazy stuff and laugh until our cheeks and stomachs ache.


28. What’s your nickname?
Viv, Vivi, VV, stuff like that. And on blogger I seemed to have acquired the nickname V, which I have decided I really like.
Erm I have a lot but they include my real name… my younger brothers call me (name) Jie Jie which means ‘older sister’ in Mandarin which sometimes my younger cousins and the younger kids I know call me that. My uncle also calls me ‘Ah Boy’ because I’m a tomboy, I guess.


29. Favorite school subject?
Art and English.
Physics and Chinese? I’m actually starting to like the subject now…


30. What is your spirit animal?
I think it’s a starfish. At least that’s what the kids in math last year decided on for me.
No idea. A wolf, if you count a patronus?


31. Leader or Follower?
Leader
Both at different times with different people.


32. Are you considered to be quiet or outgoing?
In between. I’m not especially quiet but I’m not like crazy outgoing.
^I can be quiet when I’m with people who are strangers or acquaintances. Even when I’m with people I’m comfortable with sometimes I like to be the observer, to use my ears more than my mouth.


33. What are two things people notice about you right off the bat?
That I always have my nose stuck in a book and that I’m pretty colorful (why wear one color when you could wear them all?)
I’m reserved? Annnnnnd apparently I seem ‘cool’ because I don’t talk much (so apparently it gives off that vibe)


34. Coffee or tea?
Tea
Tea. Milk tea or bubble tea are nice too. By the way, bubble tea is basically tea, shaved ice, either these starchy balls called pearls or some jelly, with whatever flavour you choose, like oreo, or vanilla, or mocha, etc.
35. Do you play any sports or instruments?
I run cross country at my school and I play piano and sing.
I play football (soccer) in my free time with friends and sometimes swim. I also play piano and sing in my choir (ANOTHER COMMON INTEREST. The piano and singing part, I mean)


36. Are you in any shared fandoms?
I don’t know what fandoms I’m in…. can you be in just the general reading fandom?.
Oh well :) We’re both in the Classical Music fandom, that includes Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, you know…. Haha agreed :)


37. What’s the answer to life the universe and everything?
42, Coconut, and Jesus.
Good music, good books and good friends.


38. Sandwich?
Club sandwiches. Kaya (coconut, egg and pandan) with butter toast is amazing as well.
I like portobello mushroom sandwiches the best, but turkey, lettuce, cheese, and mustard sandwiches are good as well.


39. How much time do you spend on your blog?
Maybe an average of  6 hours a week?
Hmm, I don’t know, I just sort of check it whenever I think of it.


40. What are five things you learned from this experience?
Where Zelus lives, what bubble tea is, that we are both still getting the hang of this co-editing thing, that Zelus is really friendly and funny, and that sandwiches where she is are super legit and creative sounding and are totally showing up American sandwiches (coconut sandwich? Yes!)
Haha the kaya jam has coconut and it’s really really nice, you should try it someday, but it’s more like those PBJ sandwiches with jam, rather than the ones you have for lunch. Anyway... how awesome Vivian is, I think we are both loving this co-editing thing where it’s almost like meeting one another in person (almost!), we have quite a lot in common and… Is that five? *starts counting, nope* Oh, and I learned what boyfriend jeans are. Oh, and we spent around 3 pages (on Google docs) attempting to install these fonts onto our blogs. Great memories.
Agreed- this was one of the most fun blog posts I’ve ever done!


We had such a great time, now we want to share it with you! Find a blogger friend and drop a comment asking if they’d be interested in participating in this tag. You can email each other, or better, use google docs like what we did! Even though there’s a large time difference between us, it’s still fun to be able to type something maybe you’ll find a time of the day where both of you are online! Use these questions, come up with some and post the image with your names on it on your blog- get to know someone better! It’s a lot of fun!

Love,
Vivian and Zelus

We Tag:
Eve from Edge of Night
Vanessa from Simply Me
Nabila from Hot Town Cool Girl
Nadia from Not Yet Defined


Rainbow

It rained here! And look at this beautiful rainbow that was drawn right over my house!


We must continue to pray for for the drought to end and for rain and water!


Red Queen Book Review

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard (beautiful name) is a fantasy book about a society where the color of your blood determines your rank in population. If you have silver blood, then you are revered, feared, and live in beautiful halls of diamond glass overlooking lush forests and rivers. And you possess magical powers and strengths. But if your blood is red, then you are forced to live, to work in terrible conditions, doing the will of the silvers, following their every order without question. Because if you do, then you will be severely punished. But when one girl, one red girl, makes her way into the palace as a serving girl and finds, to everyone's surprise, that she has powers as strong a a silver, the whole balance is tipped. Suddenly this toughened red pickpocket is stuffed into a glittery gown and made into a silver princess. Mare, the red with the silver powers, dances her way through the deadly game of royalty, power, secrets, and betrayal, and love, all the time trying to make a change for her people.

SPOILER ALERT

Red Queen is an awesome book. I enjoyed the steady, constant way it was written. There weren't any huge emotional or writing style dips, and I appreciated that. The style was thorough all the way through, and I felt the plot line was well thought out and executed. There characters were written well, Mare was relatable and I could really grasp what she was feeling and thinking and why. I loved the idea and the stage the book set; the sort of dirty, grimy world with a shimmering curtain over it. The idea of red and silver blood was clever, and although it was not written as a futuristic book, the glimpses of technology melded with the somewhat medieval hierarchy made for and interesting venue.

As for the actual storyline, I give that a thumbs up as well. The author did what all authors should do, which is not make compromises. When someone died, someone died, they didn't come back because it was just too much emotional trauma for the readers to handle. I must say, the love story could get a bit annoying, with Mare's jumping from prince to prince, and I'm glad that it got sorted out in the end. But honestly, I didn't like Cal much and wish that Maven would've not turned out to be a traitor. But the author did an amazing job, I tell you that she had me fooled. I literally thought that Cal was going to die and her and Maven would get married. When the part about Maven betraying everyone came I was genuinely shocked. Not Maven, I thought, he was so nice! I liked how at the end, when Maven asked Mare to choose, she told him "I choose nobody." That is the kind of strength and independence you want to see in female heroines in books like these. Because Mare didn't need to choose anyone, that's not how she was raised and that's not how she wanted to live her life. When the right guy came around, she would love him, that was no choice that she had to make right then and there, her life didn't depend on her romantic interest. The Scarlet Guard was very interesting, the reflecting it initiated, the sort of introspective examining that it caused on behalf of the reader was really awesome. It wasn't set it stone, you know? This is good, this is bad, sort of thing? It was more like, what is too much? When is it not worth it anymore? What is it ok to trade for something else? And you know, I think there is no clear cut answer. That's why it was engaging, challenging, to read. The book held a lot of concepts that were actually pretty relevant when taken out of the context they were presented in.

Overall I enjoyed this book. It was intellectual, creative, and thoroughly thought out. I can't wait until the sequel comes out in February!


What did you think of this book? Drop a comment down below! 

Lizard's Mouth

As many of you know, Yesterday was Veteran's Day here in the U.S.A., which means that I got the day off of school! I had a perfectly wonderful day, ice skating, Michaels, an epic Super Smash battle with the neighbors. But one of my favorite parts of the day came at the very end. I got to go on a hike with my youth group to Lizard's Mouth. 

I figure I'd better give you some background on what and where Lizard's Mouth is, so here you go. Lizard's Mouth is essentially a large, rocky part of the mountains that is open for hiking. There's really no set trail or path, you sort of just climb. There are times when you have to jump big crevasses, or crawl through small caves. It's pretty much like everybody's dream of adventuring. And when you climb up to the actual lizard's mouth, which is a big rock that is shaped like a lizard's mouth, you have a beautiful view of the coastline and the sunset. You can see the whole city, my home, stretched out in front of you.You have an unobstructed view of the sky above, and behind you is a massive drop, and mountains in the background. It's exhilarating. 

My youth group and I all climbed up there and watched as the sun dropped below the horizon, huddling into blankets and coats and each other as the sun disappeared, leaving us in the cold. We had five minutes of silence, where we all just sort of sat and contemplated God's amazingness, which is pretty obvious to see up there. At Lizard's Mouth it is perfectly silent, and all you can hear is the rustling of coats as the wind rushes past you. Then, when the sun had set and the stars were out and it was time to go back, we all got ourselves hopelessly lost with nothing but flashlights and the hope of car heaters and In n Out burger to keep us going. Miraculously we actually found our way out, and I am still surprised honestly. Because in the dark, one boulder looks pretty much like the rest. But enough of me rambling, let's see some pictures!










Sugar Skull Drawing

Dia de los Muertos was last weekend, I have been working on this drawing of a sugar skull in the spirit of it. I finally finished it, so here it is, sorry that it is a week late :) I used my new thin colored pens I got for my birthday, and a thick sharpie marker. I had to look up a picture of a skull to use as reference because I realized I had no idea how to draw skulls, but other than that all the designs are original.




Clouds

This week we've had wonderful weather- cold for us, enough so that we can wear long sleeves! The cold air makes everything so crisp and clear, including the clouds. The clouds yesterday were amazing- here are some pictures. It would be an interesting painting don't you think?

mid-day

As the sun was beginning to set