one more dawn, one more day

Some of my favorite quotations from Les Miserable…

To love another person is to see the face of God.

Do you hear the people sing? Singing the song of angry men, It is the anthem of a people who will not be slaves again…

Tomorrow we’ll discover what our God in heaven has in store.

One more dawn…

One more day…

One day more!

Georgia On My Mind...Part One

We took over 370 pictures this past week on our trip to GA. We had a great time. I thought I’d blog about our first day as a start. There are so many pictures to go through so it takes some time.

We got up and headed out on Sunday morning. I believe it took us 10 hours. Everything went really well but we were glad to pull in the driveway! J

We headed for my mom’s parents house where we got to visit with them and our cousins who we hadn’t seen in eight months. That’s the longest stretch with no visit in my life. They were sick during Christmas so we didn’t get to see them. Needless to say we had a great time. I introduced them to “Les Miserable,” we watch the videos on YouTube and we learned, “On My Own,” which was really fun. I tried uploading it to YouTube but it wouldn’t work. Oh well… Our favorite character is Eponine. I love every scene that she’s in. Out of all the musicals I’ve ever seen Eponine would be the character I would most love to play. We listened to “A Little Fall of Rain”, “One Day More”, “I Dreamed a Dream,” “In My Life”…all the good ones!

We expected GA to be warm but it wasn’t. The weather was pretty cool and dreary for the majority of the week. We packed spring clothes and we wore jeans all week.

We stopped by the house where my mom's grandparents used to live.

We watched “Emma” the one with Ramola Garari (s?), it’s my favorite version. I had watched it on YT and PBS but its more fun watching movies together.

We didn’t go to bed until 3:15, and we were up again by 8:30 or 9. I don’t think this week has hit me yet. If the lack of sleep is going to hit me it usually happens a couple days later. I’m glad this week is spring break and we don’t have any ballet. We need to recuperate!

Madeline knitted us really pretty potholders; they’re so pretty that I don’t want to take the chance of messing them up! Thank-you Madeline!

Mariah painted a ceramic ballet shoe for me; I collect dance things so I like adding something new to my collection! Thank-you! XOXO

She wrote me a really sweet letter, according to her my name is “Addygil”

It was such a blast! I’m looking forward to seeing all my family again in June. It’s a long trip but it’s definitely worth it!

Titus and Malchi

McKenzie and Lydia

"Everyone do the 'nose face'."

Group shot

It was chilly

"Catch me!"

That's all for now!

I Love Les Miserable

I have a new obsession.

Les Miserable

The story is so wonderful. Jean Valjean is one of my new favorite literary heroes. Cosette, Inspector Javert, Marius, Fontine, Thenardier, Enjolras, Eponine…

The music, the costumes, the cast, the set, the whole production is exquisite!

I’ve seen some videos on YouTube of other productions but this one is my favorite.

Its funny, sometimes the main hero or heroine isn’t my favorite. I really like Eponine because I love the songs she sings.

Have you seen Les Miz? Which song is your favorite? Which character is your favorite? Or least favorite? Who would make up your ideal cast?

Here are two of my favorite songs.

One Day More

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=S0P6tXOw11s

On My Own
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Ug4-fLYKwzs

"Is it clear to others that you love them?"

I’ve been seeing some stuff that needs to change.

Some areas that need to be cleaned up and straightened out.

One of those areas is my relationship with my siblings.

“Is it clear to others that you love them?”

Wow, that’s convicting.

I love my siblings, they bring so much joy to my life but quite frankly that can be annoy me slap out. They give me sensory overload. :)

But to be honest I expect too much out of them. I need to work on being more understanding.

Selfishness is the root of so many sins. Actually I can’t think of a sin that doesn’t have its root in selfishness. Dying to self is so difficult. But I’ll do hard things or die trying. ;)

Tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it..yet. Tomorrow is an opportunity to do better, to be more kind, considerate, and selfless.

"Selfishness is not living like one wishes to live, its asking others to live as one wishes to live." ~Oscar Wilde

Caledonia

Thursday is Saint Patrick’s Day! I love St Patrick’s Day!!

I’m planning on wearing green on the days leading up to it. I like to get really into it.

I’m going to listen to Celtic music, watch the Today show and Good Morning America for Irish dancing and the amazing group Celtic Woman. My family loves Celtic music. Its one of my favorite styles.

I might even put on a thick Irish accent….maybe..

Our favorite Irish group is Celtic Thunder. Did you know that their new CD “Heritage” is number one on the charts right now! It just goes to show that people still appreciate good music. We got the CD last week and its really GREAT!

Our favorite song by far is “A Place in the Choir” you should just see Lily Kate, it makes her dance.

But we also love “Galway Girl”, “Home from the Sea”, and “Gold and Silver Days.”

This is from their very first show, its one of my favorite songs of theirs.

Our Cousins are Coming!!!

Today's the day we've been waiting for! There first visit with us in our new home! We're so excited!!

Wow, I look pale in this picture. We need some sunshine. :)
We have so much fun when we visit each other. Late nights nights talking, singing, and reading blogs. Good Times. :) You should just here our harmony, its quite...interesting.:) Me, I stick with the melody but Lydia is learning to harmonize with Aunt Monica. She's getting better, I'm glad because its a lot more fun.

the great classics that we've never read

                                                         A lovely stack of vintage books, thanks Google images.

“A classic is a book everyone talks about and nobody read.” ~ Mark Twain

Yeah its true, how many times have you heard about “War and Peace”, “A Christmas Carol”, and “Ben Hur” and how great they are but you’ve never taken the time to read it for yourself.

I’ve never read any of these books either. I’d like to. Sometimes we think that they will be a massive, daunting book that will go on forever, and ever, and ever…

They will lull us to sleep

Yeah, I’ve read some books that do seem to never end. Ever read “The Pickwick Papers?” If you have you’ll know what I’m talking about. This book was written by Dickens when he was beginning his literary career at the age of twenty-four. He was paid per word and he thus made the story large, and with as many words as he could cram in. It is a very long, detailed, story. And I most likely wouldn’t have finished it if it hadn’t been for school. It was good but I don’t plan on reading it again anytime soon. ;)

But on the other hand there are some books that are just as good as as I had heard they would be, in some cases better.

Here are a few that I have really enjoyed:

“A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens. There is a huge difference in “The Pickwick Papers” and “A Tale of Two Cities.” A completely different style. This book was wonderful. I love it. And just for the record I like Sidney Carton the best.

“Emma” by Jane Austen. This is my favorite Austen book. For three days it was glued to my hands. No movie adaption has come close to “Pride and Prejudice” but I like this book better than “P&P.”

“Gone With the Wind” by Margaret Mitchell. Besides the fact that there is a lot of stuff that I skipped it was on the whole a good story. Wouldn’t recommend it to young teens but if you know which parts to skip (and since the movie is one of my favorites I know where those are) it is a very good story. Loyalty to your home and gumption to keep going play major roles in this book.

“The Scarlet Pimpernel” By Baroness E. Orczy. I’ve been listening to this on librivox.org and it is one of the most enjoyable books I have ever read. It takes place during the French Revolution as does “ATOTC” and is so good.  I love it, I love it, adore it.

So that concludes my little ramble, thank you and good night. J