give thanks // photography // 12 days of thanksgiving tag

 Thank you, Sarah, for tagging me for the 12 days of Thanksgiving! I know it's after Thanksgiving itself, but I thought I could show you some of my photos from the big day in this post.

~ Rules ~
 

1. List 12 things that you are thankful for

2. Tag as many bloggers as you want, making sure to tell them of their nominations

I'm going to be giving less generic answers here... so just know that I am thankful for God, my home, and my family :)

one

the smell of cinnamon rolls on sunday morning

two

 the light of the sun's morning rays streaming through my window

three

handwritten letters by caring friends

four 

little white lacy dresses

 five 

warm knit sweaters in the wintertime

six

listening to gentle instrumental music while blogging

seven

steaming hot tea in my favorite blue round cup

eight

long walks in the cool winter air with my dad

nine

twinkling white stars in a deep blue sky

ten

a layer of frost on the dull green grass

eleven

 wrapping up in warm blankets for long car drives

twelve

 fuzzy boots that act as slippers around cold feet

I tag the following...

Maggie Rice from Traveling Home

Evelyn from the Raven and the Writer

Abby Dahl from Abby and the Pens

Thank again to Sarah for tagging me! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving :) Maybe later I'll do a post of the other photos I took on our trip to the Thanksgiving table. There was a lot of good scenery.

Remember to thank God for the little things in life, and to give thanks with a grateful heart.

Sincerely,

Darrion

best blogging buddy award // evelyn, megan, sarah, willow

Hello, people of the internet!

   I was awarded the Best Blogging Buddy Award by the super sweet (and very artistically talented, might I add) Moriah Q. Thanks bunches, Momo! :)

Okay, here are the rules of the award...

1. You must make a post to show your award on your main blog.

2. You must tag the person who nominated you in your post (also take the cute owl picture above with you).

3. You must nominate all of your best buddies, and those whom you want to become best buddies with, who, to your knowledge, have not been nominated for this award.

4. You must ask your buddies at least 15 questions in your post.

5. You must answer all of the questions your buddies ask you on your post.

Here are my answers to Moriah's questions from her blog, momoslittleworld

Candy or chocolate?

   Chocolate! I like dark and medium. But I'd eat whatever you'd give me :)

If you were to travel abroad, what would be your reason?

   I think the reason would be to see all of the sights of the world, and to see how other people live outside of America. Not to mention... beautiful foreign accents :)

What is your favorite genre of music?

   Um... I'll listen to nearly anything if it has good lyrics, and I like pop mostly... but I really have a broad appreciation for music, so it's hard to say.

What is your favorite season? Why?

   I'd say winter, because I like to snuggle indoors on the computer with a bathrobe and a cup of hot chocolate :)

Who is your favorite character? (The person can be from a movie, book, TV series, your novel, etc.).

    Ah, this is hard... I'd say the Tenth Doctor from the TV show Doctor Who. Or maybe Captain America from the Avengers... or Thorin from the Hobbit... or Conner McKee from my book... dude, this is a hard one.

What was your favorite item as a child?

   Depends what you'd call child. As a very little one, I loved this purple blanket... I'd pull the fuzz off of it and rub it against my nose, 'cause it felt fuzzy. When I was a little older, I loved my Star Wars action figures. There was an ARF trooper I loved to play with, I named him Cameron. He was my first OC character, I guess :) And after that it was the Lego Hero Factory character, Breeze 2.0. She's was awesome :)

What kind of food have you always wanted to try?

   I want to try caviar (for book research, of course) and that snail dish, but they both sound disgusting to me. No idea how they'd taste.

You are forced to lose a sense. Which one would you decide to lose?

   I'd hate not to be able to see the sunrises/sunsets (and everything else, of course), or smell the wonderful food (or taste it, either), so it'd have to be touch.

What is your favorite natural phenomenon?

   Huh... well, I love to see the sky's different colors. Like in a sunset or sunrise, they're both so beautiful :)

Do you have a favorite artist? If so, who?

  I know, I'm suppose to answer someone famous, like Van Gogh or someone like that, but I'm going to make this interesting. There's this Youtuber/deviantart-person/instagram/facebook artist who I've only recently found, but really love. Her art style is so adorable. I actually don't know her name... her screen name is Drawing Wiff Waffles, which I think is super cute :)

   She does speedpaint videos on Youtube, and that's how I found her. She's really inspired me to draw more, and helped me in my endeavor for good digital art. I also love the way she talks about her art, it's very entertaining. I often listen to the videos while drawing. (extra note: my favorite video is probably Sally in the Valley)

What is your favorite movie?

   The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. No question. (extra note: my second favorite is probably The Adventures of Tintin: the Secret of the Unicorn. Love that movie! The artwork in those books is so cool...)

What is your favorite genre to read?

   I'd have to say mystery (I'm trying to read through the Hardy Boys books now), though I do like fantasy also. But... *cough cough* this is kind of awkward... I'm not much of a reader, I'm more of a watcher. I know some people really don't like that kind of person, but hey, life's short. I ain't interested enough to read the book. If I'm intrigued, I'll go find the book and read it through. But I don't just read for the sake of reading.

What activity have you always wanted to try?

   Ugh, parkour... I totally do not have the body/discipline/pain-tolerance for that, but hey, who doesn't want to go jumping all over the local Costco?

You get to strengthen a sense. Which one would you want to strengthen?

   Sight! I'd want to see really, really far away really, really clearly.

Do you have a book that you would like adapted into a film? If so, what is it? (P.S. The film would be very accurate, haha).

   Ehe :) Well, this is another odd book answer... The Hardy Boys: the Missing Chums. I really liked that book, and Frank and Joe are some good detectives (and their friends are hilarious!). And, another choice... The Adventures of Tintin: the Black Island, my favorite Tintin book.


Okay, I guess that's the end of that. On to the nominees! Here it goes...

Willow on In the Words of Willow
Evelyn Ashby on The Raven and the Writer
Megan McKeel on Rustic Remains
Sarah on Sarah'Sword

   Here are my questions for you guys... and a few of these are sort of a this or that and why kind of things.

1. group-person or loner?
2. read a book or watch a movie?
3. what's your favorite saying or quote?
4. what's your favorite movie or book?
5. life song (song that comes on the second you walk into a room)
6. which is better: a cloudy or sunny day?
7. internet or outdoors?
8. art or writing?
9. how would you describe your personality
10. ask a friend to describe your personality (and don't let them see your answer before giving theirs)
11. dress-up or dress-down?
12. sleep in or morning person?
13. embarrassing childhood story, please ;)
14. what's the most annoying pet-peeve to you?
15. if you could, which story character (from either a book, movie, or whatever) would you want to meet?

   Please comment a link to your best blogging buddy award below :) I'd love to see your answers!

And thanks again to Moriah for awarding me :) Sorry it took me a while to answer. Thanks for reading, guys!

Sincerely,

Darrion

#OneLastTimeQ&A - Tag

Hello, people of the internet!

   Yes, one last time. We saw it on Tuesday night. All I can say if bring a handkerchief, like me. I needed it a lot. I hardly cry in movies, but I sobbed (literally) in this one.

   Anyway, back to the odd title... as you know if you're following this blog, I made a post a couple days ago with my #OneLastTime watercolor. This hashtag looks a little bit different, no?

(I know that's not very well edited, but I was in a hurry)

   It's a Q&A? No, I'm not answering questions about the movie. I'm asking them.

   It's a tag I came up with, a few simple(ish) questions about the movie for us, the fans.

The rules are simple:
1. You must be tagged to take the Q&A quiz
2. You must tag (and notify) at least three other bloggers (or tumblr, or facebook, or wordpress, or whatever they're on) for this Q&A
3. You must answer the following questions to the best of your ability
4. You must have seen the Battle of the Five Armies to be tagged/take the quiz. 

   But what if I haven't seen the movie yet, you ask. If you tag someone who hasn't seen the movie yet, they can just answer them after they do. If you or the person you tagged are not planning to see the movie, then they may respectfully decline :)

   Okay, here are the questions (which I will answer first)...

Spoiler alert (who dies) in the answers of questions

1. Tell your story of how you came to see the movie(s), or got into Tolkien in the first place.

   My mom took my sister and I to go see the Adventures of Tintin in theaters, and in the trailers before the movie started, the Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey trailer played. It was beautiful, and the music (the Misty Mountains) stuck in my head through the whole film until we got in the car. I asked Mom if we could go see it, and she suggested we read it first. After reading the books, we watched the Lord of the Rings, and soon went to go see the Hobbit for the first time. And that's how my journey began.

2. Who are your three favorite characters in the Hobbit trilogy?

   Thorin, Bilbo, and Fili, in that order.

3. Did you cry in the Battle of the Five Armies, and if so, in which scene(s) and what type (sniffling, sobbing, choke-crying)?

   I cried in many, many scenes... the ones to note would be the deaths (though I did nearly cry when Bain and Bard were after the dragon, it was a well acted scene on the part of Bain). I was choke-crying through Fili's death. Kili's made me sniffle/cry, and Thorin's came back to sobbing. But when Bilbo came back to the Shire, and when the credits rolled and the song played, those were happy tears.

   Basically I cried the whole way through. Now, to be clear, I'm not a real movie crier, i.e. I don't cry much in movies. But in this one, I cried harder then I have ever cried so far in my life. My handkerchief was over my face most of the film. Willow is usually the one who gets emotional in movies, but she was the one patting my arm for comfort this time.

4. Were the deaths compelling to you, and if so, who's?

   Every death was very compelling to me, but the hardest to take was Fili's, then Thorin's, then Kili's (in that order). Fili's was so brutal, and he was so strong, it made me weep openly. Thorin's was so compelling because of the acting (wonderful acting on the part of Richard Armitage). The way he delivered his lines was gentle, and with Bilbo's reaction to his death... it made me cry. Kili's was pretty bad, but it felt more like 'sad' then 'heartbreak' to me.

5. Over all, were you satisfied with the movie itself?

   Yes. I think there were things they could have changed, added, or left out to make it better, but overall I think it was a emotional and very good film.

6. Describe the movie in one word.

   Beautiful.

Okay, now on to the nominees...

1. Megan Jane (http://revolutionarydaydreams.blogspot.com/)
2. Sarah (http://sarahssword.blogspot.com/)
3. Willow (http://inthewordsofwillow.blogspot.com/)

Okay, that's it for now! More Hobbit stuff comin' soon :) Thanks guys!

#OneLastTime

a very fond farewell,

Darrion