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[p.s. That line that's obscured by the darkness of the grass says 'too much, and not dancing this time'. Just wanted to clear that up. 
]
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The most recent activity to demand my full attention (attention I was happy to give, since it was so delightful an opportunity) was my Junior vocal concert last Friday night. Having prepared for this since last year, and having never given my *own* recital before, I was immensely excited, and not unduly so. It was a blast. There’s honestly almost nothing I enjoy more than singing for people. Of course when I got up there on stage I did experience the frailness of humanity… I forgot words, stumbled over myself a bit when I was talking, felt slightly awkward at times, AND accidentally left my hair band on my arm (a horrid pet peeve of mine)… but overall it was a marvelous evening. In case you wanted to know.
I have pictures:
Car ride amusement–
^these girls have won so many awesome points. It’s ridiculous. =) <3
And I have videos too– of every single song, actually. And there were 14 songs, so I’m not going to post them all here. A couple of my favorites are below, but you can view the rest on my YouTube channel, http://www.youtube.com/user/PathwaysMedia.
‘The Dark Island’
‘I Love a Piano’
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As is tradition, here’s the latest tournament slideshow! Nats was a fabulous experience. (Mainly because it wasn’t so hot in Virginia! …and I guess there were other reasons too. )
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…that took a while. But I have my good computer up and running again, so without further ado:
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Such was the Houston National Open tournament! It was completely hectic and exhausting… but utterly wonderful and exhilarating! I was going to present you with a beautiful numbered list of the ups and downs of the tourney. But somehow, I don’t feel as if the Open was really a ‘list’ tournament at all. And anyway, as my dear friend Beth said, it was a tournament filled with ups and smaller ups, not ups and downs. So I give you… a slide show! 
I cannot be credited for about half of the pictures, as my camera was largely ignored throughout the tournament. Thanks to Sarah Maddux, Christina Hastings, the Maisanos, and Jessi Arnold for having awesome pics for me to use.
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“Oh, empty my heart. I’ve got to make room for this feeling. It’s so much bigger than me…. It couldn’t be any more beautiful! I can’t take it in.”
Copyright (c) GraceElizabeth
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“I love the part in fairy tales that’s very near the end… When all the people cheer for their new queen.”
“And all is well, and all is good, and everyone belongs, and happily they’re ever after-ing…”
“But when I enter the gate of my dreams, and face the promise of all I can be…”
“Will they see me as a heroine? Tell me, will they let me in?”
“Won’t someone let me in?”
(For more pictures, go here: http://picasaweb.google.com/HisHighlandLass/HappilyTheyReEverAfterIng?feat=directlink)
Copyright © GraceElizabeth
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Well, I know it’s been a while. I’ve been pretty preoccupied, though I do admit to procrastinating….
Recently I’ve been feeling non-conventional. If that’s a mood. But I’ve found myself wishing for things like red heels and white fedoras recently! And as a result, I’ve been in a rather crafty mood. It does follow logically, if you think about it. I rearranged my room somewhat, began project plans for the summer, and ordered pictures for scrapbooking, among other things. I also sketched Wall E and decoupaged my NCFCA apologetics box! I’ve been having fun!
I got this sticker out of one of those vending machines (that I almost never use). And since I love sketching like this, from pictures, I had to draw Wall E. It’s my favorite Pixar movie, too! Yes, I do have free time on my hands. 
These lenses took some thought before I actually drew them… they’re almost all black, but in order to get expression, you have to vary the shades of black!
His treads were the hardest part. Another issue of varying shades of black!
A few days after I completed Wall E, I showed my little sister and cousin how to decoupage. While they decoupaged small boxes, I decoupaged my apologetics box. I love pink and black!
Gloves are kind of my ‘thing’ in NCFCA. At the last tournament, I wore these white lace ones…
So, that’s what I’ve been up to! Last night I also sewed a black strip along the hem of a black and white dress that I bought… it’s so cute. Beth, you’d like it.
~Grace
Copyright © 2008 by GraceElizabeth
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…of NCFCA! 
Haha. But yes, basically, this Regional tournament was amazingly wonderful. I enjoyed every minute of it… well, except perhaps the few times on the last day when I felt close to fainting out of exhaustion. :-0
Random points:
1. ARC (my speech/debate club) kids are SO awesome. I got these adorable notes in my encouragement box, and it was one of the sweetest highlights of the tourney. You dear girls wouldn’t mind if I posted one, would you?
“The Debater Story:
Once upon a time there was a beautiful debater named Grace. She wore a creamy white suit and lacy gloves. She was sweet to everyone and made cute little dresses out of paper. We love her.
Love, Kate”
2. I went 9:58 in my last speech round. *sigh of contentment*
3. I didn’t get dinner on Thursday, because I was too busy timing…Ok, and talking. But someone could’ve warned me! Yes, that was definitely a low point. *wink*
4. I don’t really like timing Team Policy Debate. In fact, I wrote a poem about it. I’ll post it eventually.
5. We sang!
6. We danced! (And I learned to polka!)
7. The piano was off-limits. Sadness.
8. I got tons of new quotes for my quote-book. Some of them are in the video blog below. Some are not: “I don’t care WHAT it is! I want it!” -Katy
9. I love my adopted siblings.*HUGS* I wish they didn’t all live miles away from me. That’s the defect of adopting your siblings. I miss them!
10. I love my club. 1-2-3-ARC! Y’all are seriously amazing.
11. (eleven points seems to be my trend.) I took 3 hours of video, and 143 pictures. And I’m so glad I did. You can see some of the video below, and more of it if you go to my YouTube channel. All my pictures are on Picasa, so email me if you want them. Slideshow coming soon. As soon as I upload it to YouTube.
~Grace/Susan
Copyright © 2008 by GraceElizabeth
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I think the biggest thing that I learned during this tournament was to trust God. I mean, I knew to trust Him before, but I was brought to a deeper realization of His trustworthiness and ultimate authority. It’s easy to rely on yourself at competitions when so much seems to depend on your own talents and abilities. For the most part, at this Alamo Qualifier, the Lord granted me a wonderful peace that flowed into everything I did. Not just in competing, but in conversing, and just… living. I was very thankful for that.
The State tournament was amazing, in the full sense of that descriptive word!
Ten things I am mentioning about the tournament, because I feel like it:
1.) The schedule was really weird. Until I got used to it, I kept forgetting the day and the time.
2.) LD rocks over TP. No offense, just personal preference here! *hides from angry TPers*
3.) I suffer from an appalling lack of music at tournaments. I soaked up as much of it as I could get, whenever I found an opportunity! I should get an ipod.
4.) I had cards on all my apologetics topics!!
5.) 5 hours of sleep per night is NOT enough.
6.) I now have 3 Narnian ’siblings’. Peter, Edmond (spelled the French-Canadian way), and Lucy.
7.) I was late for almost every meal. I got the LAST Taco Cabana bag.
8.) The next generation of NCFCA is going to blow our minds!
9.) I’ve seen Fleming/Hardy’s duo 10 times now.
10.) It’s pretty fun to write random notes and draw random pictures on your flowsheets. And words, like gracious and revenge and incompatibility and ardent, as they come to mind! Sometimes I was bored enough, even when timing! The back of the timer sheet is also a good place to write music.
11.) I know, it wasn’t in the thesis statement, but I just had to say, ARCers are awesome!
I had a splendid time, overall! I especially enjoyed having a camera, and I took lots of pictures, most of which are in the slideshow below. That’s why it’s so long!
Copyright © 2008 by GraceElizabeth
