101 in 1001... number 33?



I found out a few weeks ago that my church is putting on a production of A Charlie Brown Christmas this December. I was so excited!! Several years ago, Troy University put it on, and ever since I dreamed of playing Lucy.



The girl who played her at Troy did such a good job! And for some reason I've always loved playing loud, bossy people... maybe because that's sort of the opposite of my demeanor. ; )

Matt was the one who told me that there was a sign-up sheet if you wanted to audition. I work in the nursery at church, so I never know what's going on... He had already signed up, so I asked him to go back up and put my name on the list too. Well, apparently he forgot to, because parts were assigned, and I wasn't on the list. : (  It turned out that they still needed a few people though, so I got the part of Violet, who had three lines. Not the best, but I was just happy to be involved. The last play I was in was during my senior year of high school!

Oh, Matt got the role of Charlie Brown, by the way... He's a little worried about all the lines he has to memorize. I'm sure he'll be great though! : )

Anyway, the time came for our first rehearsal, and I was super excited! But I was a little confused when I arrived... There were both adults and children there. But if you're familiar with Peanuts, you'll know that all the characters are around the same age... all children. I'm not sure if there just weren't enough people to sign up, or if they didn't think it'd be a big deal, but the cast consists of everyone from a 6-year-old Linus to a 40-something Pigpen. I'm a little worried about how that'll turn out, but again... I was just excited to be in a play.

I'm even more excited now since I got some great news last weekend. The lady who was playing Lucy had to drop out, and they offered the part to me!!! : D Yay! I hate that she had to drop out, of course, but I can't lie that I wasn't a little pleased. Last Monday was my first rehearsal as Lucy, and I had so much fun yelling at everyone! Ha, ha...

I ordered Matt a Charlie Brown t-shirt to wear, so now I just have to find me a cute little dress and some Oxfords. : ) Did I mention how excited I am!? I hope I do a good job... I am a little rusty after all. I'm sure it'll be fun though! Plus I'll get to cross off another of my 101 in 1001 goals! I really need to get busy with those...

Well, I hope you all have a great weekend! I'll be busy watching football and practicing my lines! ; )

Yet Another Lovely Mail Day

Ok, last one for this installment!!! These are all incoming swaps I received from Swap-bot:

I received this in a "$7-$10 Etsy Favorites" swap. It just so happened to come from Miss Julie's shop! : ) 



And it of course included some more lovely Canada stamps




This cute little envelope held some fun bandaids... I hate wearing the plain old boring tan ones!




These are the awesome "Add wings to things" ATC's I received from my swap buddy





Cute koala stamp from Australia... And I'm really starting to love all the Air Mail stickers I've been getting! : )




The "Twilight Movie: Edward" ATC I received. I love that she put glitter on his face! Ha, ha...




Yay! I love Tinkerbell!!!!




This is a letter I received from a "Write a letter, make a friend" swap. Love all the stamps and post marks : )




These Canadian stamps came on another envelope full of bandaids



I got this cutie for a "Mail Art Surprise" swap... I think the surprise was the huge amount of goodies inside!




A couple anime address cards




This card that says... I have no idea!? ; ) Ha, ha




No idea who this guy is either... Do any of you know?




I love this calendar on the back though... I never really thought about different countries formatting their calendars differently. I find that so neat! (Yes, I'm a geek)




She also included these gorgeous used stamps... Love them!



And last but not least, this cute bookmark, which again, I have no idea what it says...

And I'm finally caught up with my mail... Yay! : )  I'm sure you're just as relieved as I am. Ha, haa!! But I'll probably have another pile soon, because I've signed up for quite a few swaps again. I'll try to squeeze in some normal posts in the meantime though.

Hope you all have a great week!

Another Lovely Mail Day

Ok, this is Part 2 of my latest mail load... And it looks like I'll need to split it up again! I've gotten sooo much mail lately. Isn't it wonderful!? : )

So I guess on this post I'll list my incoming Postcrossing, Penpal, and Etsy orders... And the next post will include all my latest Swap-bot goodies. So here goes:



These two were the direct swaps I got for those map cards I sent : )



This was another direct swap from Jennifer in the US, who also gave me her definition of "beauty:"
"I thought long and hard about beauty, and basically what I came up with is beauty is LOVE. I know that sounds generic but the things I find beautiful, you may not. It just depends on our own perceptions and how much we enjoy the look or sound or the feel of something."

Does this one look familiar? It should... I got another just like it from a different Postcrossing send! : ) Guess it's a popular card in Belarus...



The pretty Belarus stamp



This cutie was sent to me from my lovely penpal Sarah. Go check out her blog!



These adorable little cards were from an Etsy order I placed with the wonderful Gracie. You can visit her Etsy shop here and her blog here. : )  These scans don't do them justice at all though... you should definitely order some to see how cute they are in person!!!



This one has a tiny envelope attached to the front of it that has a little surprise inside : )



And she even included an envelope and matching stickers with each card... So adorable!!!



These are a few of the different sheets of stationery I received from the order I placed at Julie's Etsy shop. You can visit her shop here and her blog here. I love both!!



The pretty Canadian packaging ; )



This was another stationery set I ordered from Julie. So precious!!



And more pretty Canada stamps



She included this little info card, so I thought I'd share... Give her a visit! ; )

 And that's it for now! Until next time... Have a great weekend! : )

Another Lovely Mail Day

Wow, I have so much mail to post! I think I may split it up into two posts to give all our computers a break... Lots of photos!! I've been pretty active on swap-bot these past few weeks... And I'm super happy to say that my "Mail Art for Beginners" swap reached #1 on the Top Swaps List!!! : )

I took this snapshot as soon as it reached #1, but it actually got up to 229 participants! I was very, very excited... I may host one every month now! : ) And without further ado, here are my outgoing missives for this installment:

Direct swap for Postcrossing



For the same direct swap... She was collecting US Map cards




Direct swap for a girl on Postcrossing who is collecting US State Flower cards




This is an ATC I made for an "Add Wings to Things" swap on swap-bot




The other "Add Wings to Things" ATC I made. This didn't scan very well... I drew the background with watercolor pencils and the flower and wings are shiny stickers : )




This is the "Edward" ATC I made for the Twilight Movie series I've been in over the past few months




And this is the "Bella & Edward" one I sent off for this month : )



I drew this peacock for a "Doodle an Animal" postcard swap... I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be black & white since it called for a "doodle" so I left it that way just in case



I found an old plain white envelope and decided to color it to send to Julie over at Penpal of the Week. It turned into a butterfly on the front...




... and a little flower on the back. Not too fancy, but at least it wasn't plain white anymore! : )




I drew this for a "Doodle a Dinner" postcard swap. As you can tell, I decided to use color on this one... That probably would've helped my peacock, huh?! ; )




This is the envie I sent off for my "Mail Art for Beginners" swap... A little weird, but I liked it ; ) What do you think of my butterfleyes?



I guess I'll save all my incoming goodies for my next post. There are a whole bunch! : )

Have you gotten anything lovely in the mail lately?

The Phantom of the Opera

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

Grade: C-

Profanity: Light if any

Graphic content (sex, murder,etc.): A little violence and murder. Not very graphic though...

This was our August Book Club pick. I love the musical, but I was not a big fan of the book. I had such a hard time getting into it. And it seemed kind of choppy and confusing to me.

There were certain parts I enjoyed... It was funny at times. And there was a section near the end that I thought was very well-written. I won't spoil it, but it takes place in a torture chamber (for those of you who have read it). Other than that, I was quite disappointed though.

I actually don't have a lot to say about this book. Sorry... And though I would definitely recommend watching the play or movie, I can't say that I'd recommend reading the novel.

That's just me though... Have any of you read it? What'd you think?

Next on the list is Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin. Hopefully I'll have a better grade and a more thorough review for you soon! : )