A Tale About Alice

Life is full of surprises.   For my birthday (which was last Saturday, the 12th) I received a very special book from a friend of mine. It was a book on one of my favorite subjects: Alice, from the Alice in Wonderland book tales!
This book was a story in which the authoress, Melanie Benjamin, mixed the fact and fiction surrounding Alice Pleasance Liddell's and Rev. Charles Dodgson's (aka Lewis Carroll's) lives into a quaint, curious tale that both entertains fully as well as leaves you puzzling... "so what was the real story?"

My favorite thing about this book (besides the cover, and inside photographs of the real Alice!) was the way Benjamin wrote the tale: in the present, first-person. This is my favorite way to write and read a book, however I seldom find it used and especially not to this extent! This alone made it a very enjoyable read for me.

    Other than that all that, all you need to know before running our & buying or borrowing this book is that you probably should read up on the real story first, if you want to be able to distinguish it through the reading. Now, if that's no concern for you, and you just want it all to blend together beautifully in your head:this is the perfect story for that. :) Go right on ahead...
    Also, Melanie Benjamin really did her homework on the facts that we do know about the two families. So, if you're any sort of a historical AiW buff, you will really enjoy (like I did) all the little details carefully tucked in the story!

Just don't forget to, 

"Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop." *

~Hannah

Hey, Today Is the Day!

Just wanted to say right now:
I am very excited!
About everything!!
About CHRISTMAS, and living, and cleaning my room, and starting college again next month, and.... just everything! :)
It's a funny, but nice, feeling.

Also, I want to list things I am thankfully to God for
(because remembering everything He does for me is very important!)
My beloved chum, Caroline, always inspires me to turn my thoughts this way. :)

~ my sister Lizzie.
~for playing dress up again( see picture above)
~ being able to find yummy non-dairy food to make & eat!
~the sound of the classical radio ....playing all day long. :)
~Mom's amazing-super-industriousness! If only I can learn to be so awesome. ;)
~the Bible. Yes, wow, really.
~the promise of getting together with friends & family more this month!
~the possibility of SNOW~!
~my little brother. He is so creative, he's building a huge model airplane right now!
~ribbon!
~cookies.....yum!
~books (just finished a re-reading of The Scarlett Letter, and I'm working through Debt-Free U still. Both amazing!)
~God's grace.
~having things to clean! Really, it's interesting. I may complain about doing it, but the very fact I have a home, a room, and a room of my own is a huge thing.

This is the picture of a Scarlett Tanager I started late Monday night!

I think I am highly attracted to color & solid black lines. ;)

 

 

Here's our beloved Maxi! <3 What a sweet poochie!

He likes napping on my bed. :) And he's almost 7 years old now!

Here is the room damage before! There are two huge piles (winter & summer clothes) taking over my bed!!!

If I'm ever going to get those Christmas cards out, or gifts made...this desk has to get clear as well!

Here we (me, myself & I) are half-way done! Whew...now to attack the closet and the stuff under the bed!

I am using Ashley Skabar's Dairy-Free Cooking site on About.com to make some sumptious things for the family! Her recipes are delicious and invaluable to us as a family, what with 3 of us needing dairy-free foods!
Here are a few recipes that I'm working on right now (and need to get back to ASAP!):
Deviled Eggs
Roasted Garlic Hummus
Yellow Cake
Dijon Caramel Chocolates

(c) http://www.papaspantry.org/2008Pg/Classes.htm

That last one is sounding really yummy....

When you read this, try to think of what being alive as a child of God really means. :)
It's positively a MIRACLE.
Love,

.:. Mode Republic .:.

What an announcement I have to make! It may be news to some of my readers to learn that I've 'made it' on a international modeling website! Yep, it is true. Mode Republic Inc. is something like LookBook.nu, and is a free way to get your name (and face) out there for modeling.

A LOOKBOOK look.

 

Now, first things first: I did this because I was interested to see how the online magazine & lookbook features worked in combination. I don't really want to BE a model for a living; it's a rough job. That said...

It certainly came as a surprise to even myself when I turned up on the front page of the Mode this week for one of the favorite top looks!  (See screen shot below.)

The look that got featured was this one that I named "Chumberry". it was the first look I put up! I did notice that many of the outfits found on the website utilize soft, subdued colors; it's seems to be the 'mode'. Which is is precisely the reason I have to be surprised that I got voted for at all, because my outfit shouts "COLOR!". :) But that's just the way I like it.

I actually have two other looks up on my Mode Republic model profile as well. Take a peak, leave a comment, tell me what you think! It's a trivial sort of hobby, but it always gives me pleasure to dress nicely and to share my finds with others. This is one way to do just that. :)

So, yeah that's interesting. :)
[moving on...]
~Hannah aka "LittleWren"

P.S. - Please let me know if you get a Mode account; I want to vote for you! ;)

One Day in the Life of {Little Me}

[Archived. Written Friday, October 1st, 2010]

My family is gone from home (off on a college-weekend event) for four whole days! I spent the first part of this day, inside, trying to recuperate from this nasty head cold I've got.
I was reading, writing, yes, chatting & Facebooking. But you know, after "puttering about" (as my Uncle Erik calls it) cleaning, cooking, dish washing and laundering... I'd had enough.
The inside just wasn't big enough, and it felt constricting.I felt awful. (Being sick, as we all know, is no fun and feels like the 'end of the world' every time.)
So, I went out side. I discovered more stinkbugs on the screen door...

  I found that my garden needed tending...

Most people consider moss a nuisance
and try to rid their brick houses, walks and patios of it, but I like it!
So the moss stays on my garden walks. :)

It's funny why we weed. I can understand if something has thorns, or causes
a rash, or is crazy vigorous, but really? Pulling out every single 'foreign' looking plant
to make room for a sparsely planted, -ultra tidy garden. I don't know... I think I'd just rather the
garden be a little more wild. :)



Wild Strawberry & Yarrow Leaves.
Once the flowers are all gone, I can focus on photographing
& sketching the foliage of plants.

 ...and found that the animals, rabbits & chickens, needed watering and food and a few eggs collecting. The rabbits were eager for some clover. :)

Secret: {This is my favorite wildflower to photograph.}

Peter, left & Jeremy, right.
Quite the rabbit characters, they are! ;)

I did that all and then just stood, in the sun--soaking up the warmth of it.Then, better yet, I grabbed the new feathers I found (from the chicken yard)

...and saw a nice grassy place on our hill, where the grass had flowered and shot up stalks a few feet. They were swaying in the wind, just calling my name.

So I sat in the midst of the grass and flowers (there was some Chicory and Aster there too) and just basked in the sunlight. What therapy! And no medicine involved. :) It felt great. I even got visited by three squirrels who though I was like a statue obviously, I'd been sitting there long enough. They were busily gathered and burying nuts. (It was kind of funny to watch; it almost looked like they were opening little root cellar doors, to stick the nut in, and then when done that, they looked as if they were making tiny beds, of grass, when they were smoothing the spot over! So cute.)

I found a bunch of ruby-red, ripe tomatoes in the garden too. Washed & dried those.
Grabbed the blankets and clothes off the line that got doused in the earlier rains and then dried---all in one day!

 I found a tiny rosebud from my pink rosebush to bring inside & look at...

Floribunda, ever-blooming Pink Rosa blossom.

The sun was absolutely glorious today! I was loathe to finally shut the shades before that particular hour when the outside light and the inside light match in brightness...

Our front door nob.
So much more handsome looking that the other, plain nob we used to have.

 But, once done, it was to a-fixing dinner for myself (rather lonely ritual, by myself!) Tea, soup, crackers a pear & chocolate. Very nutritious! ;)

This cup is from our 'musical cup' set. They look homely but when you
*tink* your spoons against them, they sing! A very musical ring they have to them. :)

 Oh, and POPCORN. My favorite! For the movie, Bright Star.

'Hand popped' popcorn, with our oldie popcorn blower thingy. :)
Just add a little olive oil & sea salt, and voila!

So that was my day, in words & pictures.
Hope you enjoyed a little diversion and learning a little bit more about me. ;)
Love,

To Ohio & Back: Part III

{As yet more happened!}...

Saturday: Canoeing, Park Day & Dancing
8am~ Despite the ungodly hour we were up at the night before after that late night scavenger hunt (and prank-pulling on the guys by a few of the girls!) we still had to get up early and leave for the canoeing/rental center by 8am-ish.

Before we went, we donned the new (first-ever-official!) CP! T-shirts we had received the night before and took groups photos in the morning sunlight.

 

Snazzy, no? :)
Collee Plus! Dayton, Ohio Event group photo
Left to Right: Rebekah, Bethany, Marie, Morgan, JD, Hattie, Brittany, Mac, Emily, Alex, Derek, Noah, Nate, India, Benjamin, Merry, Steven, Amanda, Marissa, Lisa, Atalie, Hannah (me), and Leah.
courtesy Brittany Wellvang



Goofy picture! Love this one. ;)



 Did I mention I loved the car/van rides that went on during those four days? :) It was one of the best parts of this event! How can one not have a blast being squeezed in with a bunch of other people in a vehicle and talking/singing/gabbing the whole way to your destination? ;) It's just fun.

9:30am~ We arrive there, pay for our canoes & life vests, and team up into pairs of 3-a-person per canoe. I, lucky girl, got to canoe with two of my favorite people: Ben & Hattie! :D We made a good team, if I may say so myself. ;)
10ish~ The rental center helped us find vests and bundled us into their big 15-passenger vans, over to the launch site, four miles upstream. By 10:30am, I think everyone was on the water of the creek/river. It was funny watching everyone try to grab enough oars for themselves, steer the canoes into the water, and get in without tipping over! Of course, it's funny until...it's your turn. :) Ben, Hattie & I got in fine.

Did I mention that that was my first time canoeing? It was! :D I've kayaked before, but never canoed.
I loved it; a great first experience. And Ben and Hattie had done it before so I was in good hands all around. Ben took the rear/steering, Hattie the middle, and I at the bow/front. Let me tell you, canoeing really builds arms muscles! ;)



Our canoe is the red one all the way to the right, a three-seater.
We were one of the first canoes to finish too, I believe. :)
Picture by Steven.



It was a gorgeous warm (but not hot), sunny day and the woods and surrounding areas around the creek were very pretty. I truly enjoyed this CP! activity. Kudos to whoever thought of it (the Sanders family most likely. :)

11am~ We all made it down the stream, four miles in total, with only one canoe capsizing. (I will leave those folks to anonymity. Everyone in that canoe was fine, just wet.) Thankfully, the creek was down in water capacity considerably, so the water wasn't too rough, fast or deep. :) I will look forward to trying tougher canoeing later, but in time. In time. ;)

12:30pm~ Merry, Alex, (who else? I can't remember.) went to the Waynesville grocer to pick up somethings for the picnic happening at one. That was fun too. :) The grocer reminded me of the old, old Kennie's Market we used to have in town here. Water, soda, chips, hot dogs, and...to the park!

1pm~ Park Time
Another wonderful way to spend some time hanging out and getting to know each other. :)
It took a while for everyone to get there, but eventually they did. We had a superb time eating lunch & talking and got to meet some new people too! We prayed and ate and swung in the swings, and hit balls around, played Frisbee (and Ultimate), blew bubbles, shot tiny squirt guns, laughed, talked , lounge din the grass, played four-square, explored the park, and generally had good, no GREAT time. :)

Group picture at the park!
(Noah's photo)

Nate, Mac, and Alex. Doing....what they do! :)
(Brit's picture)

Benjamin getting some serious air on those swings!
(Noah's photo)

JD & Brittany, rocking those crazy shades that got passed around all weekend!
(Emily's psychedelic ones, left; and Brit's Gucci's, right.)

~ People under the pavilion. ~
(picture credit: Steven)

Swingin'...
(Photo credit: Steven)



Leah and I, with the watermelons. Contemplating how to slice them
and enjoying their big, roundedness? I guess! ;)
Picture credit: Steven



And believe it or not, the day wasn't over yet! I'll have to save telling about the rest of this day, and Sunday, until the next post.
I'll be back....
:)