16 Things I Am Thankful For

 1. Purple rooms and comfy beds.

2. The sweet, the new, and the old, family.

3. The "greatest and bestest" of voice teachers.

4.My letter-writing friends.

5. Thrilling concerts and great chaps to join them.

6. Listening to music while washing the dishes.

7. Lonely times, when I triumph over my pity-party self.

 

8. Friends, comrades, and new acquaintances.

9. Long car rides to talk, and/or sing really loud, and/or laugh so hard that no noise comes out and you clap your hands like a seal. :)

10. Great guns and uncles.

11. Pookie and Nate Hood-Marques, and their/our family. :P

12. Good discussions with friends.

13. My loving and patient parents.

14. Chai tea, and rockin' awesome sisters.
(oops, did I say that out loud?)

 
15. Beautiful places.

16. God's grace in this sinner's new life.

Love,
       Caro :)

2012 Film Festival!

Back in 2009, my family and I went to the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival; we had a great time, and have been meaning to go again. So this year Mica and I hitched a ride with some good friends. With these kind of events, you can't count on getting more than six hours of sleep. Why? Because, either the sessions go out late, you have a long drive to and from the convention center, you're wired on caffeine, OR you're a social bug and like to chat with people till all hours of the night. Ninety percent of people will fall into at least two of these categories. We were everything but the long drive to and from the convention center and the caffeine, so we sometimes got seven hours of sleep. :) By all means, I am not complaining; just pointing out the facts.

The stage...from the third floor! It was quite nauseating to be up so high.

All of us GfBC kids with Stephen Kendrick.
It's funny, it started with one person introducing himself to Mr. Kendrick, then everyone slowly gravitated and surrounded him. It felt like a gang.

George Sarris.

Saturday night, we got to meet Emily and Josiah Jost, who, with their siblings, produce the Jostie Flicks (of which I highly recommend for a good laugh).

Charlie Zahm and Tad sang every night...



Over the weekend, we tagged along with chatted with Hannah Mendenhall

Virginia Phillips carried some of the awards to the stage.
Later in the evening, she sang a song with Charlie Zahm and Tad. It was really cute!

The pretty side of the food court that we and a bunch of friends ate at.
We had a great weekend of movies, fellowship, and meeting new people (I guess that counts with fellowship).

Dear Traveling Girls

{yes, believe it or not, this was taken at Galveston}

Dear traveling girls,

I would have posted sooner, but I kinda misplaced the camera, and since there was no maid--sister-- to keep track of it for me, I forgot it. But I got it back, don't worry, would I be writing to you if I hadn't?

All this to say, that some of the pictures will be blurry since they were taken with Dad's blackberry.
SO, last Friday, we went to Galveston for the day, and we brought Lizzie with us!
We started off going to a subsea drilling & oil museum...yeah, only people who work for the companies involved in that stuff, go there. But there were actually some interesting parts. After that we had lunch at Starbucks, and then went shopping/sight seeing downtown. We visited a candy shop, surf shops, boutique shops, and ( my favorite) antique shops.
Even though we don't have any pictures, the antique shops were fantastic, however, expensive! One of the antique shops had-- what I call-- a dream land of dress ups!! Beautiful dress ups, scarves, gloves, hats, etc. It was literally like a dream come true! And there were also some Lucky Indian Buffalo Head Nickel coins from the 20s that the lady showed us, plus marvel comic books which I would have bought ( if I knew what to buy), and old, old children toys. For example, mom recognized one of the old aluminum doll houses, the kind she used to play with...yeah, that kind of old. :P
The shopping extended to other parts of the building which as it turns out was an original late 1800's hotel with all the rooms in their original state!
All this to say that I was proven wrong, there is actually some neat places in Galveston.

These are just few of many pelicans that were resting on the rocks.
Lizzie and I could think of only one quote:
Dory:DUCK.
Marlin:[looks up] That's not a duck, it's a... PELICAN.
-Finding Nemo

Exclude the odd eyes, this shop was really nice.

FREE SAMPLES!
Not really, but that's what I thought.

A recycled-paper dress!

I thought of our dear friend the Naquins, when I saw that. :)

[no comment]

It was pretty windy!

First thing I thought when I saw this thing, was, " Look! A huge shadowbox!"

Though I have not obtained the photos yet, I'll be posting soon about a certain concert we went to on December 11th!

Love,
Caro :)

Dear Dubai Girls,

Dear Dubai girls,

I thought I could update you gals about these past few days, while I wait for you guys to post(ahem).
Let's see, where shall I start.
I cried.
Well, not exactly, but that Tuesday, it rained and it made me feel gloomy.
I sanded my desk, cleaned the bathroom (all-by-myself), slept in Elena's bed (after I sanded my desk), made use of both your closets (I really like Mica's cardigans), I am the designated salad chef for lunch and dinner, and I have Skyped the Webbies. They are currently in Pampa and plan to return Thursday. Oh! and I was very nerdy and watched the special features for The Return of the King, while I "sewed".
This past week, I've had the first sentences of this song in my head. Connection? Maybe.

Oh, for those who are unaware, Elena and Mica are in Dubai, for six weeks, with our dear friends the Neals.


At the airport!
They just grow up so fast(fake sniff)!

If you remember, awhile back Mia Hood planted some watermelon seeds, and I have kept them up.
But I honestly didn't think anything would come of it, until now.

Can you find the watermelon?
?
?
?

There it is!
Along with my hand, to give you an idea how big it is.

Here are some of the pictures of Mica's graduation party(a couple of Thursdays ago)!
Note the little girls' matching skirts that Nani made for them.

Last Thursday, we went with the Malott's to the Health and Medical Science museum. They actually had some neat stuff there! As you can see from the above, Cameron liked his 3D glasses. :)

BUT, on Wednesday night, we went to the premiere of Grafted! Most of the families that participated in the film (Scotts, Beaches, Loyd's, Frye's, Baucham's, Rectors, Urback's, and Shiflets) had their "Grafted" shirts on, from adult to baby! It was such a sweet film, hearing everyone's stories, seeing pictures and old video footage.

Oh yeah, and Lizzie got her hair cut!

Caleb (directer), John (all-around film guy/composer), and Lisa (producer).
Something tells me they like their sunglasses...

One more thing!

Just one or two things I wanted to add!

This amazing tree that we fit in.
The only thing I could think of, though, were the many variety of spider and snakes that there are in South Carolina (and were probably in the tree!).

" the Lizard and the Moth".

Now, it was kind of disappointing to take a tour of the house, because the house was really the third or fourth structure, the original house was burned or something, and the current structure was built in 1936, by Canadian ambassador Thomas A. Stone. Not to mention the upstairs was currently being lived in, so we couldn't go up there. But the tour guide was probably one of my favorites. She was very informative and you could tell she liked what she did.

These are the famous South Carolina baskets!
Honestly, it didn't seem that there was so much to it that they could be sold for the price in the picture.

Dad and Mom, demonstrating how large the tree was.

That's all!
:)

P.S As I looked at the date, it struck me, that it is exactly five months till my birthday!
Just had to mention that.

East Coast Trip 2011: Arrival

Sadly, all pictures of our flight, came out blurry/unexceptionable. Now, yours truly, got bumped to first class going to Atlanta, Georgia! Though, to be honest, I wasn't quite as thrilled. Not that I'm complaining, it's just that it wasn't exactly what it was cracked up to be. But it was nicer( I guess the extra two inches would make a difference if you were flying for like 6 hours), I chatted with one of the businessmen next to me, and tried for the other guy, but he didn't seem the chatty type.
All this to say, that we flow in safely and got to our hotel just in time to collapse.

In the morning, Dad picked up our rental and we zoomed out of there.

Here are some of the gazillion pictures we took that day.

It felt like you have to say it with a southern accent.

Mom was so good to inform me that this unique flower, is a Passion flower!

The little house, tucked back between the two big houses, is the slaves' quarters.

These houses were commonly 13 by 5 sq. ft. and and they would fit whole families in these houses.

A lovely view of either a Catholic or Huguenot Church.

You could really imagine, ladies in huge hoop skirt dresses, coming out to those balconies!

Our carriage-tour guide, pointed out the different expressions of each lion's face (look closely).

A very fancy hotel.
Note: the cute old couple on the bench!

This man, was singing some lovely, operatic tunes. He was singing in a particular corner, on the street, that his voice rang out several blocks away!
He told us that he had majored in opera (opera school?), but now he worked full time in some job, and that, he did this on the side, to keep his voice in shape.

The adorable church we went to, Church Creek Presbyterian, it looked like one of those classic, little, white churches that you would get married in.

After church, we met a sweet couple, who invited us to "dinner" (lunch) at their home.
Their home was, what I would call, a traditional southern home; with tall oaks, white walls, and and big open windows. Oh, and no fences.

Boone Hall plantation!
In 1743, the son of Major John Boone, planted these, evenly spaced, oak trees!
It's interesting, the oaks' roots have intertwine with each other, making them last through the centuries. I didn't know that.
The photo doesn't really justify it.

This amazing structure, is being fixed up, but it it first needs to be supported through possible harsh weather.

Mica caught this neat photo of a morning glory!

We used our mini tripod and timed camera to take this!
:)