Sorry I haven't posted in forever, I've been really busy with Improv. Over the past 2 months I've been attending rehearsals and preparing myself for Improv Invasion, the regional competition!
June 26-28th we lodged at Warner Pacific College and I had the time of my life!! On Thursday(the 26th), we were able to get all dressed up to meet our fellow contestants that we would be competing against. Here's us in our costumes:
After that, we went out for ice cream and it was DELICIOUS.
Check out my epic photo bomb ;)
Our first night at Warner Pacific (we stayed in the dorms) was pretty wonky, we all got weird sleep. But we were able to wake up with plenty of energy for our full day of adventure! First up we had a preliminary competition to get a feel for how Saturday, the major competition day, would work. Our scores on the games we played counted towards the final score, so we still played a good few games :)
After that it was lunch time! We got some good food from food carts. On our way to the food carts, the bridge had to be lifted so it was time for a team (the 4 unidentified people on the right are from another team who followed us ;) picture!
After lunch we got to go on a Scavenger Hunt. We had to hunt around the city and find statues. Then we had to pose with the statues and name the picture! It was so fun, but it took 3 hours of walking!
Pig Gladiators:
I don't even know what to say xD
Improv and the Amazing Technicolor Skateboard:
Books of statues! Clever, huh?
The Inscription at the top says Tongues in Trees, so we all stuck our tongues out. :)
We had a great time the rest of the day, we went and saw a ComedySportz show! But competition was right around the corner...
^This dude is our mascot, if you were wondering. His name
is Mark Wahlberg, but we call him Marky Mark.
So, for short periods of time of about 2 and a half hours, we would compete with Improv games against the other teams. It turns out that all our efforts over the past six months paid off because...
Have you ever wondered what it's like to live on a farm? I know I have. Just a few days ago I spent the night for the second time at our friends the Hanlin's farm, named Peculiar Ambitions. They have lived there almost 4 or 5 years now, and the farm is flourishing!
The Hanlin's raise egg chickens:
Meat chickens(they had just bought a little batch of chicks while I was there!):
Aren't they so cute?
As well as pigs:
And the pigs are really, really yummy. I had some piggy steak for dinner while I was there.
It was Saturday that Ann and I went on a hike through a 40-acre forest with wild animals and dangerous stuff. I loved it. We took their dogs Stella and Ruby on the hike, too.
There was a creek running throughout the whole forest, and Ann taught me how if you follow it's sound and the way it flows, it'll lead right back to their house. How cool is that?
Gorgeous, isn't it?
The snails we found in there (we counted over 50) were enormous! The shells were decorated so differently and yet so pretty.
Down below is Ann by the biggest tree stump I've ever seen.
And this is INSIDE the stump! It had trees growing out of it!
We tramped through overgrown bushes and tall grasses and ankle deep mud, up and down steep slopes(I didn't climb...I kind of stumbled and fell off of some of the slopes. Haha.)
This tree down here is what they named the "Ribcage", because it looked like a ribcage. Creepy, huh?
And this is Mother Rock, the mother of all rocks. She was covered in moss.
And then we found FAIRY HOUSES. I was so happy. I guess they might really exist after all!
Here's another house. Can you spot the little opening?
This was a really cool spindly plant that I forgot the name of.
And this is the beaver pond! I couldn't catch the dam in the picture since it was so far to the side, concealed by trees and grass. But the pond looked pretty cool too.
Ann was also educating me in all the different plants that were edible and poisonous, in case I ever got lost. We ate a bunch of weird leaves and flowers. They tasted odd, but totally cool.
Sadly I didn't get any pictures of myself in the forest while I was there. I was so entranced with the sightseeing that I guess I forgot!
I still had tons and tons of fun though and I can't wait to go back soon!
You guys really have no idea how excited I am. Since I am currently working my way through the Hobbit novel I have been watching The Unexpected Journey and Desolation of Smaug a LOT. Although the movies don't match up with the books perfectly (what movie ever has?), I give kudos to Peter Jackson for following as closely as he can with the storyline.
I saw this movie first in IMAX at the theater. The one thing that I remember about that experience was when Bilbo encountered Smaug, the whole theater was shaking and Smaug was huge and intimidating and loud. It was so cool.
After that it was just the normal theater showings but it still kept getting better and better each time I saw it!
Even if they weren't in the book I really liked the addition of Tauriel and Legolas in this movie.
The little love triangle between Legolas, Tauriel, and Kili was quite unexpected and a bit odd yet it seemed to fit. After seeing it happen a few times over I have come to enjoy it. :)
The Woodland Realm belonging to Thranduil was absolutely gorgeous!!
The majestic-ness definitely helped influence the character of Thranduil, the king. He was arrogant, rude, and greedy. A great addition to the wide cast of characters!
As much as I love Gandalf and Smaug, my favorite character in this particular movie is Bard the bowman.
He's my favorite because of his bravery and courage to be different in Laketown, from sneaking the dwarves into his house through the toilet, standing against the Master of Laketown with his own beliefs, and *SPOILER ALERT* slaying Smaug with the last Black Arrow. *SPOILER END* Meanwhile, he takes care of his 3 kids and is a good father! And then after the Battle of Five Armies he becomes the King of Dale. How cool is that?
He's also my favorite cause I tested out to be him in a personality quiz.
Well my friends, it is time to part. Thank you for reading ramblings on one of my favorite movies.
Farewell for now my lovelies! :)
P.S. Here's the link to the quiz I took: click here!
I have been in a felting frenzy lately! As a thank you to my Improv team, I took suggestions from them for what they wanted and have been busy fulfilling those requests. Here's a picture of one that I did for Cole(one of the guys on the team, see pic at the bottom of the post):
He's a huge Star Wars fan, so I whipped this out :)
I've also done a Peter Pan-themed one for my dear friend Maggie, but forgot to take a picture. Shame on me.
My parents and I have been sewing things, too! We keep getting packages from my grandma that are filled with quilting utensils and fabric.
Yeah, it's a lot of fabric.
But we use the fabric, so that's good! We use it to make little bags like these:
And then we donate those bags to the hospitals that my brother goes to when he has an appointment! It's a fun way to make and give things :)
Now, the subject of Improv! I've been having so much fun with my team. Lots of laughing and weirdness is just the beginning!
This is my team:
From left to right(back row first, then front row): Me, Cole, Aaron, Maggie, Josh, and Ariel. :)
I made them all bracelets according to their "color". We all have a color that represents us in shows that we do, so I thought I'd make them that so they can coordinate with our show outfits :)
When we get together for classes we always have an awesome time!
Today is the SUPERBOWL! Woohoo! I have no idea what will happen and I don't even really know anything about football or the Super Bowl.
My family and I aren't sports people. We just don't enjoy sports as much as crafting :)
Sooooooo, that's why my fam and I are switching the name for us—we're celebrating the CRAFTERBOWL! WOOHOO! We're just going to craft and craft and then craft some more. Fun, right?
Here's what I'm working on:
I'm gonna sew Mr Sherlock Holmes here to the muslin, add some more detail, and then hang him on my wall :) (and yes, I cut that silhouette of him out of felt)
Here's what my dad is working on:
Eeyup. He pieced this quilt-top all together and sewed it and now he's working on the borders!
And here's some of my mom's in-progress creations:
My mom is a crotcheter, she's really good, too! Those things are little coasters. They start as a yarn ball, then they transform into a happy circle, and then they mutate into little swirly twisty coasters ^^
And this here is what my little bro is working on:
This is his finished police station. Isn't it so creative? I think we have a little builder on our hands ;)
This, my friends, is Bubble Guppies. They are little humans with fish tails, sort of like mermaids, but they aren't mermaids. They're the most adorkable guppies in the world! My brother, Josiah, started watching them a little while ago and is completely hooked on them. Since I hang out with my bro when he watches stuff, I cannot push away my new love for this funny TV show.
Each episode is taught by their goldfish teacher, Mr. Grouper,
These super cute guppies are learning about everything from trucks to circuses to baking to Austrailia! And just recently(it's my new favorite episode! *I know, I know, it's crazy that I have a favorite episode from a kids' TV show but it's the BEST!*. the creators did a redo of Lord of the Rings, but with these little guys. Can I just say, *BEST MASH UP EVER?!*
Before I tell you more about this new favorite of mine, I should explain who these guppies are and who they'll be playing in the Puppy and the Ring :)
Let's start with the carriers of the show:
This is Molly. She is one of the three main girls. She usually leads the songs (did I ever mention that this is going to be a Lord of the Rings musical?) and is an excellent singer. In Puppy and the Ring, she's a hobbit-like person! She sells bubble slushies with her trusty sidekick, Gil.
Now listen, I ain't one to take sides or have many favorites, but I just gotta say that Gil is my absolute favorite guppy out of them all! He is, of course, there for comic relief from all the intenseness. But he's a good Bubble Slushie seller in this episode too.
Above is Oona. She's the shy lot of the group, but she makes a good Elf-like character! She reigns the "Flutter Guppy Realm" with her friend Deema.
This here my friends, is Deema. My brother references to Bubble Guppies a LOT and after thinking for a while he decided that I was most like Deema out of all these characters (ha!). Deema is rather loud, but she's a good and courageous addition to the show! She is an interesting pick to play one of the Flutter Guppies (aka like an elf in LOTR).
This is Goby. Goby was cast as the Snow Guppy, he's sort of like the Gandalf in Puppy and the Ring. He can turn into a polar bear and he yells "You SHALL NOT PASS!" at the bad guys!! It's AWESOME.
Next up is Nonny! Randomly throughout the episodes, Nonny gives out information on whatever the other Guppies don't understand. He is the brain of all the guppies! :D In Puppy and the Ring, Nonny rules the Underground realm as the "Under Guppy". He's kind of like Gollum, except he's nice and he sings good songs and he doesn't eat hobbitses.
This is our Sauroman of Puppy and the Ring, the Night Wizard! The Night Wizard hates the daytime and has a pet Possum name Raoul. His goal in Puppy and the Ring is to steal the Sun King's "Ring of the Sun" so that it will never be daytime again.
His minions are lobsters, who represent the orcs!
The lobsters are just too funny! They run around the whole time trying to catch Bubble Puppy, who accidentally got the Sun Ring trapped around his neck. Basically this whole Bubble Guppies special is the greatest one ever, in my opinion. With all the funny characters and the awesome music, what could be better?
If you're brave, travel into the world of Bubbledom! But be warned, once the cuteness grabs you, it will never let you go! Here is the video to Puppy and the Ring. Enjoy!
Let me know if you've ever seen Bubble Guppies and how you like it! Comment section is below :)
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