This is a sign.

Crushed

We recently had and assignment in English to write anything at all about 'growing up' and my story turned out okay, so I decided that maybe you guys would enjoy it. Some of this is based on things that actually happened to me, so let's see if you can pick out what parts of this are true! 

~~~~~

His hands flowed over the keys like a beautiful river, creating a sound so soothing that even an insomniac could fall asleep to it. He was only eight years old, but he already had a classroom full of people nearly drooling in admiration. I was among that crowd, wondering how a person could be so talented and perfect while I was nothing but a lowly 3rd grader. At that moment in band class, listening to the lovely notes floating from the piano, my life was perfect. There was only one small issue: I was completely obsessed with a person who had no idea I existed.

I was relatively anonymous at my school, but Alex, or “the love of my life” as I thought of him, didn’t have that problem. In fact, everyone knew him. He was known at our school for his ability to play a piano better than anyone, even the band teacher himself. (Apparently it was impressive back then to be more talented than a person who quit music school to teach a herd of whiny eight year olds.) Teachers constantly had whispered conversations with each other about Alex’s bright future and impressive talent. You would think that at such a young age, all of this attention would go right to his head. You would be right.

The problem that Alex and I had was that he was too in love with himself to notice me, and I was too obsessed with him to notice the constant stream of rejections. All of my years in Reynolds Elementary School were spent desperately trying to get his attention. I used every major weapon in the arsenal of flirting and none of them were successful. I tried being friends with his best friends. That didn’t work. I asked him if he wanted to dance with me at the Christmas dance. That was a disaster. I even wrote a love poem about him. That was so traumatic I nearly had to be hospitalized.

Despite all of my attempts to earn his affection, I was still nothing but another girl who would one day throw roses on stage after his Grammy performance. I simply couldn’t let myself live that way. Something had to be done.

I didn’t know exactly how to go about doing this, so I consulted the expert on all things boys- my mother. I was expecting an intricate plan, but she suggested something that I never thought of. “Just tell him how you feel,” she said with a shrug, and walked away. I sat at the kitchen table for at least a week, trying to process the simplicity of her idea. How could I possibly just tell him? It sounded too easy. Of course, I didn’t have any better plans, so it had to work.

The fact that I was in 3rd grade meant that I couldn’t just walk up to Alex and tell him how I felt. I would take my mother’s advice, but I had to complicate it somehow. After consulting with my closest friends, my dog, and my collection of stuffed animals (but not Betsy the Bunny because she knew nothing about boys), I formulated a plan that was sure to work. All I had to do was write him a note, slip it in his backpack, and wait until he found it. Then he would come running to me in slow motion, we would hug and fall into a field of daises, and we would live happily ever after. Nothing could possibly go wrong.

The day came and I was completely prepared. The note was written in the cutest handwriting I could manage, was sealed with a sticker in the shape of a heart, and was tucked away safely in my pocket. All I needed was an opportunity to sneak it in his backpack. That opportunity presented itself when my teacher announced that we would be watching a movie.

When the movie started and all the lights in the classroom were turned off, I walked into the sea of backpacks, pretending to look for my own, even though I saw it immediately. How could anyone miss a hot pink bag the size of boulder? But it wasn’t my bag I was truly looking for, it was his. Luckily he had tossed it near mine, so no one was alarmed when I kneeled down next to it. Just seconds later, the note was nestled between a planner and a notebook with dinosaurs on the cover. I walked back to my seat next to the projector screen, feeling accomplished. My mission had been completed. The only thing I had left to do was to wait.

Maybe if I did just wait, this all would have turned out fine. However, I wasn’t able to wait. I had to make things harder on myself, as usual. Instead of sitting there like a good little girl, I had to open my big mouth and tell people that I had a crush on him. Clearly this was Earth shattering news because it spread through the classroom before anyone even knew the name of the main character in the movie we were watching.

The next day, I tried my best to not make eye-contact with anyone. The gossip around the playground was that I had written Alex a “love letter”. I seemed to be the only one who realized how ridiculous that notion was. I hadn’t written him a love letter, just a note telling him I wanted to marry him one day. Those two things were completely different.

While being humiliated by my misunderstood note, the last thing I expected was to get a response letter from Alex, but that’s just what I received. It was simple, but enough to make my mind explode into a thousand little explosions of happiness. The crumpled, torn off piece of wide ruled paper read “I like you too.”

At that moment in my life, those were the four most influential words anyone had ever said to me other than “Santa is not real”. A glowing smile was stuck on my face for the rest of the day. I showed the note to my friend Maria while we waited for our moms to pick us up from school, and she was just as thrilled as I was. I wanted to tell everyone, but I decided to save the rest of the excitement for when I got home.

Later, I poured out the whole story to my mom, and she seemed happy. However, she did warn me not to get too excited, but I made another wise decision and chose not to listen to her. That was a big mistake.

The next day I was greeted with another note on my desk. Little did I know this note wasn’t quite like the others. I unfolded it and read “Dear Abby, I didn’t really like you; I just didn’t want to make you sad. Sorry, Alex.” Fortunately, school hadn’t started yet, so I was the only one in the classroom at that moment. Everyone was still on the playground, so no one saw the tears that welled up in my eyes.

Those words completely shattered me. They meant that I would never marry the love of my life, and we would never go on a piano recital tour together. Suddenly my life was meaningless. I had no future. I was sure that I would end up living alone with 47 cats until I eventually died of depression. How could I ever recover from this tragedy?

After that incident, most of my elementary school years were a blur. I do, however, remember buying him a Valentine’s Day lollipop. I also remember him throwing it at me after sucking on it for a few minutes. That was the highlight of my 5th grade year.

I moved away after 6th grade, and I never heard much about Alex or his predicted career as a musician. Last year, I was sitting in a coffee shop studying for a college midterm when I logged on to Facebook. I saw that I had received a friend request from an ‘Alexander Whittiker’. It took me a few moments, and some scrolling through his pictures, but I soon realized that it was him. The ‘love of my life’ from 3rd grade was now the one reaching out to me, instead of the other way around. I laughed to myself, and clicked “deny”. It was the first good decision I made regarding him since we met.

Let's pretend that never happened...

Broadway Night was terrible. Absolutely terrible.

I don't even know what else to say.

Ughh

Even though I could probably be doing a million more productive things...

I'm writing this in Creative Writing because our teacher made the mistake of giving a group of highschoolers access to the internet for an hour and a half. With my logic, this is writing, and I'm kinda forced to be creative, so there's nothing wrong with what I'm doing. If my teacher wants to say something to me, she should first talk to the girl next to me who's on google looking up butter. I'm not even kidding. Butter.

Broadway night is tonight, and I'm terrified. As it turns out, I've learned my whole song in some weird, nonexistent key. So I spent last night frantically trying to relearn the song with completely different notes. For those of you that know music stuff, my mistake was disregarding the sharps and flats (which, in my defense, are virtually undetectable to a person who isn't used to reading music).

Hopefully I'll be able to squeze in some time between now and the show to go over the song in the correct notes, but I might not have that time considering that workshops for the musical are also after school today. I should just skip workshops today, because they aren't completely nessasary, but I need as much preparation for this audition as possible. Everyone at this school is so dang talented I feel like chop liver. And have you ever tasted liver? Neither have I, but I've heard it's pretty gross.

Today was lovely besides the fact that it wasn't.

I'll spare you all the depressing monologue about how my soul was sucked out of me today and stuffed into a little jar, but I will inform you that that jar now resides in my chorus teacher's closet. 

I auditioned for broadway night today TWICE and both times my teacher told me I was "singing it wrong", "wasn't hitting any of the correct notes", and that she could "clearly hear that it was wrong." 

Oh, look! A corner! I think I'll go sit in that and cry now!

I'm a poet and I know it.

My creative writing class just recently started a poetry unit which I'm super excited about because I've always loved writing poems. We had one assignment where we had to cut words out of magazines like we were making ransom letters, only less....threatening. 

So I thought that if I should post anything, it should be this because it's a bit more interesting to look at than my other poems which would all be typed out. 

So without further ado- 

As you can see, we were allowed to write filler words to make everything make sense. 

This was so fun that one day I want to do an entire blog post like this...but I don't think I could bring myself to cutting up my magazines.

My Music of the Moment

Some of these songs are new, some of them ancient, but either way they all seem to fit in a cold November day. Enjoy! 

If you think I should do playlists more often, comment or press the "love" button. I'd be happy to share more, I love putting these things together! 

Twinkling lights, beautiful nights!

I'm so happy about how gorgeous my room looks at the moment that I'm pretty sure these lights aren't going to come down until at least February...or next Christmas....either way. 

I didn't get any good photos of my whole room, but if I did you would see that these lights completely circle my room. When I started putting them up, I didn't except that, but after all, they are meant to decorate the outside of a house...not a teenagers bedroom...

I meant to get these posted yesterday, but I was so overloaded on homework that the only breaks I took yesterday involved going to the bathroom and stuffing my face. Other than those breaks, I spent the entire day trying to get myself into a homework induced coma. It almost worked. 

I managed to finish the rest of my homework today in time to write this post, and actually sit down to eat dinner. I'm so stuck in multitask mode that I literally had to convince myself that it was okay to just watch TV when I ate dinner instead of starting this post at the same time. #overachieverproblems

But I managed to get the signiture situation all figured out! Ta Da! Next up- a blogger bio and possibly a GIF of me (you know, one of those little video things that just repeats and repeats and repeats until you realize you've been sitting there watching it for 6 hours. Oh, that's only me? Nevermind.) Then once that's done, I can finally just switch off of improvement mode and focus on posting! 

Hope everyone had a great weekend! 

Decorating for Winter!

Like the new background? I decided the solid black that I had was too dark and dreary, so I drew this and with just a bit of photoshop magic, made this new background!

I love the personal look my blog has now with both the little city drawing I did and the background. There's going to be more, too, when I eventually make my signiture at the end of the posts actually in my own handwriting. I've got it all written out and ready to be scanned, but I'm saving that for my next post :)

Always,

Abby Noel 

Happy Thanksgiving!

For everyone in America, I hope you have a great Thanksgiving! Everyone else, feel free to use today as an excuse to eat and be thankful :) 

I'm thankful for...

My family

My friends who are still a part of my life even though they're now six hours away

All the new opportunities I've had in just the past few months

The fact that about two years ago I decided to make a blog

My dog (who will happily recieve that turkey treat in a few hours) 

The smell of deliciousness wafting from the kitchen

And all the other blessing in my life :) 

Always,

Abby Noel 

Get a Life

Hey guys, I'd like to tell you about a friend of mine. I just met him this school year and I can already tell that he's a super cool guy.

You see, the problem is, he wasn't at school for a few days in row.

I found out that he's now being homeschooled because he was being bullied for having Turretes. 

That's right. THREE MONTHS in highschool and he already had to leave. 

It was that bad. 

If you're making fun of someone, guess what- you aren't cool. In fact, that kinda makes you a terrible person. 

Oh and news flash, if you want to mock someone in front of your friends just so you can get a laugh, be careful who's around you. Because you might end up making a certain blogger very angry. 

Always,

Abby Noel 

Holiday Gift Guide for your friends....and yourself :)

This is the third Christmas my blog has seen, so I'm not sure why I haven't done this sooner, but I decided this year to make a holiday gift guide! Well not exactly a guide, more so an inspiration. Basically, this is a list of some things that I would love to get as a gift and what some of my friends have said they would like to have. So if you or any of your friends are anything like me and my friends, you're in luck. If not, give this stuff a try, you might surprise yourself.

This is catered to girls (for obvious reasons) but I promise to throw in some things that could go either way. Hope this helps!

Gifts for a Music Fanatic

1. Kitty Headphones! I love listening to music, and I love cats...so this is pretty much the best thing ever. They make enjoying music fuzzy and cute! $40

 

2. Personalized CD's! You should know your friends' taste in music better than anyone, so an easy and original gift like this would be perfect. It's all free, just as long as you have music on your computer and some blank CDs (which can be bought almost anywhere).
To add some extra fun to your gift, decorate a CD cover for it!

3. A Musical Mug! With this your friends can drink coffee and rock out to the imaginary tunes coming from a ceramic stereo. The best of both worlds! $14.99

Gifts for an Animal Lover

1. An Adoption for a Good Cause! The World Wildlife Fund does so many good things for animals, especially those who are endangered. One great opportunity they provide for people to help an animal they care about is a symbolic donation. You can choose pretty much any animal from a Panda to a Tenrec (never heard of them? They're adorable! ) Depending on how much money you want to spend, you can give different animal related goodies, but every donation comes with a adoption certificate. All you have to do is find out which animal your friend likes the best! (Which might be hard to choose!)

2. Quirky Animal Magnets! Have your friends ever told you how much they would love to have a Rhinoceros butt on their fridge? Well you're in luck! I found the cutest shop on Esty that sells magnets of every creature you could think of. They even let you request a custom set! $13.50- $270
(Don't let the $270 scare you, most of the really pricey things are wedding sets, not exactly Christmas presents)

Gifts for the Vintage Obsessed

1. Beautifully Bound Books! Okay, fine, they aren't exactly vintage, but they have the same effect. Barnes & Noble sells tons of books that have all the quality of what you would find in an antique store, but without the dust and old-people smell.
My favorites are The Chronicles of Narnia and The Arabian Nights, but they're all gorgeous. The link I included leads to Alice in Wonderland, but you can find the other books if you scroll down and look under "Customers who bought this also bought." $18

 

2. Clothes they can't find anywhere else! Modcloth is one of my favorite websites because all of their clothes come from independent designers, all with unique ideas. Most of what they sell has a great vintage, indie, and retro look, so it'd be great for your most wardrobe-unique friend.
If you can't pick something out, they also offer gift certificates, so the lucky recipiant can choose for themselves.

...And some other things that don't quite fit into a category...

1. A Personal Poster! Everyone loves getting hand written notes, so why not take it to a new level? Just grab a peice of printer paper, any marker you choose, and write a note to your friend. You can write all your inside jokes, or the story of when you first met, or even the lyrics to you and your friend's favorite song! Those of you who are artistically talented could even paint a portrait! That would be a great gift by itself, but you could also get a frame for it so they can hang it right up on their wall.
If you're feeling especially ambitious, get a poster board and design the whole thing. Get creative with this, there are soo many possibilities!

2. A Goodie Bag! Almost every big store has a one dollar section with all kinds of small, useful things. Take advantage of that! Just get any old gift bag and fill it with candy bars, notepads, lip glosses, and anything you think your friend would like. You can't go wrong with this since you're hand picking each and every thing that goes in the bag.

I hope this gives you some ideas! Happy Holidays!

 

Always,

Abby Noel

 

Just like the ones I used to know...

If anything could make me fall in love with a town, it would be beautiful Christmas decorations. So far, my little town isn't doing such a bad job.

And if anything could make people think I was a freak, it would be me wandering the town at 11 o'clock at night taking pictures of everything.
I also did not do such a bad job.

Always,

Abby Noel 

P.S. Follow me on Pinterest!

This is becoming a pattern...

I seem to have developed the startling ability to completely forget that I have a blog...oops. 

Well I decided to check back in with you all. 

I've been here for only a few months, but I feel like I've been here forever. The weird thing is, at the same time I feel like I still live in my old town, like I still go to my old school and like I can just go see my old friends any time I please. It's a weird feeling. 

The winter is always my favorite time of year, probably due to the fact that it contains both my birthday and my savior's birthday. This winter is going to be especially fun for me for a few reasons: 1) Broadway Night at my school, which I'm performing in, 2) Winter Formal, if the student council decides to start planning it, and 3) Workshops and eventually auditions for the school musical. 

I realized I haven't had many clothes pictures recently, so here's one of the dress I bought from Modcloth for the Marine Corps Ball. (Even though this picture shows less of the dress and more of how well-behaved my hair decided to be that night.) 

Always,

Abby Noel 

P.S. I just read through this and it sounds pretty scatterbrained, but I'm afraid if I let myself edit it I'll end up not posting it at all. Maybe if I get back into blogging I'll get better at this again :) 

Happy Birthday! Ummm....10 days ago...

This just shows how out of it I've been lately, I missed my own bloglaversary! Well on this day, Always Abby Noel is officially two years and ten days old!

The Haunted Trail has been great so far. I'm completely bruised and sore from crawling around and chasing people, but I'm pretty sure we had some people peeing their pants, so it's all worth it. One of my friends even swore that she was not going to come because she "hates everything about drama and everything that drama does." Let's just say we nearly had to carry her out of the trail because of how terrified she was.

One boy, while I was trying to viciously eat his leg off, asked "Hey, will you go to the fall formal with me?"
Isn't that romantic. He literally risked life and limb just to ask me. Gosh, I almost want to say yes....but NO.

Always,

Abby Noel 

P.S. For those of you who couldn't find anything weird about the pictures I posted a few days ago, take a closer look at the third photo!

Whatever you do, don't fall asleep.

I told you I'd have some pictures of the upcoming haunted trail, and here they are! I took a bunch but I'm only going to post a few of my favorites. So all you lucky ducks get to see the work of Abby Noel- Horror Photographer!

Look at these pictures very carefully, I want to see if you notice something (and no, it's not the girl. I'm very much aware that she was in the picture). You might not notice it, I didn't until I made them all big on my computer, and I'm the one who took the pictures! I'm starting to think maybe this trail is actually haunted...this will be interesting. 

Always,

Abby Noel 

The start of a long week fueled only by sweet tea and skittles...

I just got home from the talent show and even though I didn't win a trophy, I'm happy with how I did. Everyone in it was so talented I'm ecstatic that I even made it past auditions! Just in case I never said this before, I did the song Secrets by OneRepublic, both singing and playing the piano. It was difficult to coordinate but I figured it out and I'm glad to say I got this done.
I've probably mentioned this before, but ever since chorus when I was in the sixth grade, I always shake uncontrolably when I sing alone infront of a group of people. Miraculously, tonight my voice was only slighty trembling at the start of the song but it eventually went away entirely! So even thought I didn't win anything, I can say that tonight was productive because 1) I finally broke the shaking problem and 2) It was fun!

The talent show tonight was stressfull by itself, but that's not even the beginning of how insanely busy my week was and is going to be. Last night I worked the lights for the junior division talent show and that was incredibly hectic because I know basically nothing about tech. By the time I got home yesterday, I had been screamed at by stage moms, told what to do by people who had no business telling me what to do, and I got "the look" from my chorus teacher that made me want to crawl into a corner and evaporate.
So if you're ever in any kind of show, please be nice to the tech people. They're dealing with enough insanity to last them a lifetime.

Tommorrow is the only day I get off (and by get off I mean I'll be home before six). The music club I'm in is doing a haunted trail to raise money for various things and I am uber excited. (Yes, Uber.) I'll have pictures here at some point because our decorations and blood covered trees (and blood covered everything else) look fantastic and perfectly frightening. We're putting the finishing touches on it tomorrow and then on Thursday, it starts! Then for three days straight I get to scream and growl and scare people....for seven hours each day....it's a good thing the talent show is done because my throat is going to be raw.

So I have to go get the last bits of sleep I'm probably going to be getting all week. Bye! 

Always,

Abby Noel

I love you! Take me back!

That felt weird...I momentarily became a crazy ex-girlfriend...

Is that how people at my school feel everyday? *shudders at the thought*

But I really do want you guys to take me back. I like blogging and I miss constantly having new followers to talk to but I am SO LAZY. I'm going to try to post more often...the keyword being "try". 

So to try to earn back your love, here is a ridiculously over dramatic short story that I wrote today in three minutes before my creative writing class started  (because doing homework at home is so last season) 

It was a moderately dark and not so stormy night. The whole village of LeTownName was having a hard time sleeping because a dangerous villain was on the loose. The village's top detective, Marigold Mattersnot, was working on the case. 

She knew that she had to catch the villain fast because according to reports, the villain was guilty of the most terrible crime.....being evil. *Dramatic music*

Marigold was having a hard time solving the case because there were only 1 and 1/2 eyewitnesses to the evilness. Unfortunately, the one was in Aruba and the half was somewhere off of highway 96, so they were useless. 

Refusing to fail the one case that would verify nothing but the fact that no one else in the village ever got off the couch expect her, Marigold decided to sneak into an abandoned house for no apparent reason. She began coughing; maybe because of her overwhelming desire for justice, or maybe because of her allergies. 

Whatever the reason, her coughing fit caused a small bundle in the corner of the room begin to move. 

Marigold walked to the bundle and saw... (Pause for dramatic effect.)(No, not yet.)(Just a little longer.)(Okay, now!) ...a cat! Based on it's menacing purrs and violent swishing of it's horrible, fluffy tail, Marigold knew it was the evil villain. 

While translating the cat's Miranda Rights into meows, Marigold rode off into the sunset, victorious. 

The End. 

Always,

Abby Noel

Welcome to the next three years of my life.

This week has gone incredibly fast, and so much has happened that there's no way to form it all into a post that makes sense, so bear with me.

I joined the theatre tech club at my school today, and it was refreshing how nice everyone was considering I spent yesterday in another club dealing with people who were anything but friendly. (I'll let that be my rant for the day.) I haven't done a whole lot of tech ever, so it'll be fun to try it out. I got a whole tour today of backstage and the catwalk and the sound booth and I now realize some of you have no idea what some of that means....

So in other news, I ordered the black dress that the majority of you liked and it should be arriving on Monday! (Don't flatter yourselves, I decided on that one before you commented. So ha.) 

In more mortifying news, I mistook a little boy for a girl. Yup. Go me. Destroying self esteem in children since 2012. For my creative writing class, we have writing buddies at the elementary school that we work with every week. The boy that my partner and I got paired up with had long braided hair, was wearing earrings (actually only one, that should have clued us in) and obviously is too young for us to determine his gender in any other way. It didn't help that his name is gender neutral. So after about 30 minutes of us referring to him and her, he politely clued us in. They little guy was such a good sport and wasn't even upset with us, but we still spent the rest of the day feeling like morons. Offensive morons. 

Oh yeah and I got a chocolate cupcake with mocha icing and a dollop of peanut butter. 'Twas delicious.

In other words, I've had a pretty eventful week. 

Always,

Abby Noel 

Advice From Strangers.

I just rewrote this post about five times. The first time I tried to be funny. The second time I tried to make it sound like I didn't just disappear off the face of the Internet for weeks. The third time I almost got somewhere but it turned into more of a diary entry then a blog post. After that I was simply trying to fill this box with some words. 

My nervous system hasn't quite caught up to some decisions I've made recently. I should be absolutely terrified, but for some reason it hasn't hit me yet that I'm going to be in my school talent show. The decision was made pretty spontaneously, so maybe the fear is waiting to strike me in the same way that the idea did. 

The keyboard in my room was looking unloved, so I dusted it off and with the help of the Internet, taught myself how to play a favorite song of mine- Secrets by Onerepublic. Ironically my chorus teacher mentioned the very next day that the talent show is next month. 

Ellie, one of my 7 friends, (Yes, I counted. If I'm going to have such impressive numbers I want to know what they are.) knows how to play the guitar, so I asked her if she wanted to do a duet. She loves the song too, so she agreed, which is good because I would sound like a stuttering chihuahua on the roof of a moving train if I tried to sing alone. (Don't laugh, that's an accurate analogy.) 

So I kind of need some help. I'm trying to find a dress for the show, and I can't pick between these two-

Ellie and I agreed on dressing in black and white because her guitar is black and white, the piano is black and white, and it would just look awesome. So which one do you guys like more?

And how have all of you guys been? I want to get reacquainted with my internet buddies. 

Always,

Abby Noel 

Summer days drifting away...

Dress- Aeropostale

Shoes-Target 

Today is the last day of summer for me and as much as I love sleeping in and doing nothing more productive than washing my hair, I'm glad school is starting. 

Of course, it'll be hard to start over without all the people I got so used to. But I have a feeling that big, wonderful things are coming my way.

Always,

Abby Noel

Fantasy Friday, Part 4- Doubt

In case you need to catch up- Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

"He'll never fall for that. Besides, that could get you in trouble. Why would you risk that?" 

"It's fine, they don't punish women as harshly here. Just trust me. He's going to come by soon so go pretend you're asleep!" Anthony did as she told him. After he sat down in the corner of his cell, just before closing his eyes, he watched the girl take a pin out of her hair. Why does this girl want to help me, he wondered, when she doesn't even know me? 

The two of them heard the footsteps at the same moment. Anthony closed his eyes, laid his head on the wall, and mimicked the slow breathing of someone in a deep sleep. Mary began aggravating the lock with her hair pin. "It's okay, my love," she muttered just loud enough to be heard. "You'll be free in no time, sweetheart, I promise."

 Leo turned the corner and gasped. "Hey lady! What do you think you're doing?" He grabbed Mary's arm and pulled her violently away from the door. She broke into hysterics and let her whole body go limp.

Anthony had to resist looking up. How is she so good at this? He had been sure the plan wouldn't work, but hearing her little performance, he was convinced. He said a silent prayer that Leo would be too. 

To be continued...

Recently I've been...

...Obsessing over this:

This is just a small collection of clothes that I absolutely love from Modcloth. Every time I go on my wish list grows....wow I need a job.

...Freaking out about this: 

Behind the wheel. I've managed to get through two days of it, but I think it's time to face the facts that I'm just a terrible driver. Some how I manage to get into the wrong lane almost every time I turn. Oh and I blew through a stop sign. And almost took out a mail box. This needs to stop. 

...Listening to this:

...And getting excited about this:

School is starting next week! Everyone I talk to tells me how great my school is and how wonderful their drama department is, and I'll get to find out for myself very soon! They've been working on a play this summer that will open in early September which is great for three reasons. 1) I get to see an example of the amazingness that everyone has been talking about, 2) that means they do more shows than my old school since they've been doing this in the summer time, and 3) I could use something to look forward too other than being the awkward new kid. 

Always,

Abby Noel 

Fantasy Friday, Part 3- Determination

In case you need to catch up- Part 1, Part 2

"You need to leave," Anthony said in a whisper, causing the smile to drop from the girl's face.

"I can't leave, you need me," Mary tried to sound confident, but she quickly felt out of place. Maybe she should leave. Why would this man need her help anyway? He looked like he could take care of himself. "I'm sorry, I just.." she muttered as she slowly turned from his cell.

"Wait," Anthony urgently whispered. Seeing the seriousness in her dark eyes, he could tell she was here for a reason. Her offer of help just when he needed help the most was a good omen, and he refused to ignore the few good omens that came into his life. "Why do I need your help? You do realize what I'm against, don't you?"

Mary hesitantly turned back to his cell. It was then that she noticed the man two cells down. He was nothing but a crumpled heap on the floor. Blood and dirt matted his hair and his chest gave only a slight rise and fall. One more day of whatever this man had been through would cause the end of his already scarce breath. 

Mary looked at the man in front of her. This man- this breathing man- could easily be just like the man two cells down in a matter of hours. All for something he didn't even do. 

"Okay, listen. I know how we can get you out of here, but you're going to have to trust me." 

To be continued...

Floating away...

We were not expecting these to show up in the skies of my grandparents' small town. Just as we pulled into the driveway, they were floating away! So I sprinted into the house (not about to let a perfect blogging moment float away) and grabbed my mom's camera. After a short car ride we caught up to them and my mom took the picture below from the sunroof in our car.

Always,

Abby Noel 

Big things coming up!

I have so much stored up in the blogging part of my brain that I'm pretty sure it's starting to make room by taking over other parts of my brain (where the useless stuff is stored, like geometry).

 As much as I would love to flood my blog with these ideas, I'm going to exercise some self control to keep the inspiration train rolling as long as possible. So I'll probably limit this stuff to a post every other day (which I must say is actually pretty good compared to how scarce my postings have been this year).

The one big thing that I'm super excited about is the fact that the movie project is DONE! I'm not going to be able to go to the showing *tear* but I'll get my DVD copy in a few days so I'll be able to see the finished product! Also, it will be posted on Youtube very soon. Right when it's online, I plan to post it on here, so get excited!

Okay well until then you can plan your movie party with you and 34,704,392 of your closest friends. Because they will all want to see this.

Always,

Abby Noel

Fantasy Friday, Part 2- Anger

When the new inmate first opened his eyes, he didn't remember where he was. However, the voice he heard just seconds later reminded him. "Anthony Drea? I never thought I'd see you in here," the warden said in a mocking tone. "Welcome to the low security ward. Don't get any ideas, the bars are just as strong as ever. We just need to keep all the guards on the criminals more likely to run, and we both know you wouldn't run. You're already in enough trouble."  

Anthony glared at him. "I don't belong in here and you know that as well as I do, Leo." Being called by his first name by a prisoner was not something he was used to, and he didn't like it one bit. 

"Listen, rat. I don't know anything," Leo held one of the cell bars in a death grip and looked Anthony directly in the eye. "You're in here because of what you did, and you deserve every painful memory you'll take from this place." Without another word, Leo walked away from the cell. Likely to harass someone who's actually intimidated by him, Anthony thought. That idiot is always expecting people to answer to him.

 Just then, Anthony heard footsteps coming towards the cell. He was ready to tell Leo to get away from him before he had to MAKE him get away, but it wasn't Leo at all.  The girl with the yellow scarf he had spoken to the day before his arrest was standing in front of him, smiling as if she had just found buried treasure.

 To be continued....

Eye spy the sea...

Did you know those little blue dots are the clam's eyes? According to the expertise of a six year old, they are. I believed her based on the fact that she was smart enough to find the little guy in the first place.

Also because she was wearing lady bug floaties- the ultimate sign of intelligence.

Always,

Abby Noel

Waterfalls...

I saw my cousin today for the first time in a while, but nothing has really changed. As usual, we ended up talking about hair and attempting hair styles on each other. Normally waterfall braids are only done once, but I got a little carried away and made three.

This is kind of random, but does anyone know what season highschool soccer typically is? I'm thinking of finally doing a sport (for the first time ever).

Always,

Abby Noel

Fantasy Friday, Part 1- Fear

(Since I only made it to the second installment last time, I'm just starting from the beginning again. Enjoy!)

Mary leaned against the rough brick wall and tried to ignore what she was hearing. The police were always violent with their arrests, but this time it was much worse. She quickly looked around the corner and immediately regretted it. Of course, the man was resisting arrest. He's innocent, Mary thought. But the police didn't know that. After all, she was the only one who knew he was an innocent man.

She couldn't resist looking again. There were now more police gathered around him. Without a doubt, the man was losing his fight. His hands were tied behind him and the blood from a wound on his face was gleaming in the bright sun. Mary watched as they pulled away- most likely to the prison. She had heard the stories people told about the prison- stories of cold stone, starvation, and screams. Mary knew she couldn't let that happen. The horror of that place would banish the smile from his face forever.

As the last police horse was riding off into the crowd, Mary wrapped her scarf back around her head and ran after them.

To be continued...

Youth

I'm just posting to check in so no one thinks I evaporated or something (even though I might have evaporated with all the time I've been spending in the sun recently). I would say that I haven't posted because I've been busy, but I really haven't been. I guess I've just been taking some lazy days. It's summer, I'm allowed to be lazy :)

Yesterday was the last day of filming for the teen movie project I'm in and I can't wait to see the finished project. They should be done editing around the middle of August. I'll probably be able to post it on here, and that kinda scares me. The huge difference between plays and movies is that if you mess up in a play, your mess up is done and over with right after it happens. If you mess up in a movie or say something weird or wrong, it's stuck that way.

I'm going to try to post the fantasy Friday this week but I can't make any promises considering I haven't really kept up with it. At some point I may just make a seperate page for it and post a new piece of the story daily. Whatever happens, I'll let you know.

In the mean time, check out this song I found recently. It's pretty much all I have been listening to for the past few days.

Always,

Abby Noel 

Fun fact of the day.

Adding "BAM!" can make any story sound like an action adventure movie.

For example-
One day, a lady was knitting and BAM! she finished a sweater. Then her cat jumped up on the woman's lap and BAM! the cat meowed. The doorbell rang and the lady went to see who it was and BAM! it was a girl scout. The lady bought five boxes of thin mints, ate them all, and BAM! she gained ten pounds.

The end.

Always,

Abby Noel 

Why we have no friends....

Here's another video from my ginger friend and I about why no one ever wants to talk to us. (You don't even want to talk to us! You don't know this, but someone brain washed you to read my blog. And in ten minutes, you won't even remember me telling you this. Sorry)

Always,

Abby Noel

Painting you a postcard...

Who needs gift shops when you can find a little piece of artwork in the sand?

Always,

Abby Noel 

The part of my brain that comes up with titles fell asleep three hours ago.

As you all know, my family just moved recently and I don't know too many people. Normally it would take me some time to find some friends and start working on any sort of project, but I've managed to break that pattern.

We were just getting some library cards when the librarian told me about a film group for teens that's based out of the library. Coincidentally auditions for the new film they're doing were going to happen the next day. I wasn't sure if it was something I wanted to do (since I didn't know a soul there) but I'm glad my parents managed to convince me to try it out.
I thought I completely blew the audition because I was really awkward, but I ended up getting two parts! Today was our first day of filming the parts with my character, and it was probably the most fun and hilarious but miserable and exhausting thing I've done. We were choreographing a fight scene. In the sun. And humidity. For an hour and a half. Let's just say I have a new-found respect for the actors in any movie that's filmed outside of an air conditioned building.

What is really exciting about this movie is that there is going to be a big showing at the library (yes, the PUBLIC library) and then the movie will be on DVD that people can check out from the library. That means real people are going to watch this! Eep!

Always,

Abby Noel

P.S. Like the new layout? It's the design that I won a while ago, isn't it great?! The lady at Small Bird Studios really did a great job :)

Me and my ginger friend :D

Here's a little video that my friend Katie and I made a little bit ago.

These are some posts that Katie has written here (and one post about her being dumb) on my blog in case you haven't seen them.

When you're in New York

A Heck Family Christmas

My friend Katie has problems

Hey it's Katie!

We made another video too, that one will be posted soon!

Always,

Abby Noel

Sing to me, summer...

I've been discovering a lot of new music recently and most of it has a cool, summery mood. Or at least it seems to fit my summer pretty well. I've dropped off the face of the internet recently because my family is moving, but now we're pretty much settled in our new place. We live by some really cute beach towns, so you'll probably be seeing some pictures soon. But until then, enjoy the music :)

Always,

Abby Noel 

Summer memories will fade in the sun...

After accidentally taking a few of these pictures, I learned my camera has a slow shutter speed. Under any other circumstances, that would ruin photos, but this time it gave us a collection of pictures that look remarkably like indie album covers.

Always,

Abby Noel