It's Not a Party 'Til Someone Calls 911

"Charli, are you coming to church with us?" Alyx whispered, pressing her face close to the safety bar of the loft bed.
"Yeah," Charli mumbled. Then she tried to sit up. The nausea hit her like a heatwave. "No."

Yesterday we celebrated my sister's Sweet Sixteen with a 40's swing dance party. The event itself was fantastic. I pumped myself full of nose-spray and tylenol and set up the party with my family while Alyx and a few friends got ready at a house nearby. The party started at five. The first guest arrived at five-oh-three. We finally finished decorating around twenty after.

Despite only three of the forty-some-odd people there knowing how to swing dance, we had a blast stepping on each other's toes and twirling around. Alyx looked adorable. The rest of us looked okay, too. ;)

Out of the blue - or not really, considering DJ Josh had a special announcement for the birthday girl - instead of a 40's song, there came a favorite hip-hop song. The floor was vacated as we could barely swing dance, much less break dance. Alyx and a few friends eventually made their way back to dance in a little circle.

It was then that the party came to an abrupt halt - around quarter to eight - when our dear friend Katie collapsed with a dislocated knee. Since she's double-jointed pretty much everywhere, I honestly didn't see anything out of the ordinary until the paramedics arrived and stretched her out on her back. I have never seen a leg turned completely sideways at the knee.

She's not in much pain now (unless she's lying, which is possible, 'cause she's a trooper). She's got her brace and ice packs and crutches and her sister's wedding to walk down the aisle at on Saturday. I'd volunteer to carry her if I didn't think that would look funny. Oops.

~Charli Rae |Job 39:19-25|

Stuff I Was Too Lazy to Post About

1| (way back in September) Aunt Jennifer came to visit.
We went to City Walk and Bubba Gump's Shrimp Shack, then wandered around IKEA, spent a good deal of time sitting on the couch laughing and chatting, and cried a lot when she left. (moveheremaybe?)

2| (two weeks ago) we celebrated Dad's 50th...
...as a family. Because we're bums and didn't feel like planning anything. Dad said he was okay with it. But we went to Disney (first time without Ben, really weird) and saw the new Fantasy Land and all that good stuff.

3| (yesterday) Church Fall Picnic.
Got a football to the gut and sweet tea all over my pants, but it was fun. Even when we played volleyball. (read as: everyone else played volleyball while I stood in the corner and prayed the ball would never come to me.)

4| assorted random things.
Ben's coming home in seven weeks. I plan on finishing my book before Christmas. There's a ton of sewing that I should be doing instead of messing around on my 'puter. Alyx is testing for her yellow belt in taikwando today. And I am totally lacking the creativity to make this interesting. (Sorry Aunt Jen, Dad, everyone else, for not doing you justice.)

~Charli Rae |Job 39:19-25|

Weekend in a College Town

It's a bit strange. The record for days-Ben-and-Charli-have-survived-apart-from-each-other has been bumped from five to seventy two. In those seventy two days, Ben has made friends that I don't know, gained a real work experience, had four different roommates, and learned how to play volleyball. At the same time, I've been sitting in the spinny-chair in the far corner of my bedroom and throwing random pity parties.

Mom and I took Ben to Chick-fil-a, met some of his really awesome friends, watched him play volleyball, and drove all over Pensacola in search of the Heroes of Olympus series (okay, so we only went to two bookstores). I've given him countless hugs and tackled him. He's let me use him as a pillow again. And somehow I have to leave tomorrow.

~Charli Rae |Jeremiah 29:11|

Graduation - Part 2

Those of you who know me - or if you've been reading this blog for a while - probably know some pretty straightforward things about me. I have a terrible sense of direction, for one. And I'm kind of obnoxious for an introvert. I can't write on a schedule to save my life. Oh, and I don't dance.

So, because I like to shock people, I broke one of my personality rules at our graduation dance. And there's a ton of proof. Enjoy.

~Charli Rae |Job 39:19-25|

Graduation - Part 1

I started the day with nerves. Y'know, all the stereotypical stuff - butterflies in my stomach, feeling a bit dizzy - along with some weird things, like my hands hurt. Maybe I fell asleep clenching them. I dunno.

Anyway, my hands started to feel better as the day went on, but my stomach grew more and more upset. A few of the other graduates and I went earlier to the ceremony rehearsal so we could get in some practice for the song we would be performing, where I found out I couldn't play my own guitar because it didn't have a jack, but another graduate offered to let me use his and it was all good again. As we rehearsed, I was reminded about how intimidating stages and audiences and microphones - oh, especially microphones - could be. But we made it through without too much trouble.

The rehearsal for the ceremony was a lot easier; maybe because I wasn't in charge, or maybe because I was too preoccupied with not throwing up or fainting, or both, to care. I had to be reminded on several occasions to 'sit like a lady', which was a little embarrassing. Then we got tossed in a back room and were told to wait.

And wait, we did.

For a long time.

Then we got shepherded out to the lobby and paired off and sent to march down the middle. Boys in nice suits and fancy ties. Girls in nice dresses and fancy shoes. Me in a fancy dress and cowgirl boots.

Time slowed to a crawl as Riley gave a fantastic prayer, some other graduates performed a worship song, and Alex delivered an excellent speech, which was followed by John Stemburger's equally excellent speech. All the while I was fidgeting in my seat, waiting for my little gang to be called up. Boots tapping. Fingers alternately getting pinched in my capo and scrambling for my falling guitar pick.

Finally we were called up. Hannah went to her microphone. I tried to move mine closer to the guitar stand. Sarah sat down at the piano and started to play her solo. The guitar strap fell off as I tried to get it over my head. I was a full measure late to the song.

Otherwise, though, I think it went rather well. I didn't miss the chords I'd been struggling with. Hannah's fears proved unfounded as she nailed the vocals. Sarah did perfect, as always. And Josh - who was graduating with a different school and agreed to help me even when I gave him only a week's notice - made the song special by playing the solo.

The rest of the ceremony was a blur. I almost cried when my parents' recording played over the slideshow of pictures from my growing up. Mom cried unashamed.

And by the way, those of you future graduates who don't know already - they don't actually give you your diploma during the ceremony. I knew that - I really did, don't roll your eyes - but I thought I'd get some cool ribbon out of the deal. I got some flimsy black plastic stuff that comes from the dollar store.

So. Lessons learned. Don't clench your hands while you sleep. Practice a lot before you perform and show that microphone who's boss. Fake diplomas don't come with cool ribbon.

~Charli Rae |Job 39:19-25|

I'm the Evil Twin

So. I wanted to post something. Maybe because it's been a week since I last posted and the previous post was five days before that one and I finally feel dedicated to my blog. Or maybe it's just cause it's late and I'm bored but not bored enough to go to bed.

At first, I thought I lacked post-matter. I figured surfing through my old pictures would help, but it turns out my new ones worked better.

Ben's leaving in a few weeks. Sixteen days, actually. But probably less by the time y'all read this post. The idea of it is really starting to affect me - and I say 'idea of it' because when he goes off to Pensacola, I'll go off to Washington state... and it's probably not going to fully hit me until I come back to no Ben. And then it's gonna hit me like a train.

We threw a party for him on Sunday - a surprise party, not that anyone devastated-that-they-couldn't-come-and-just-HAD-to-tell-him-how-sorry-they-were-that-they-couldn't-be-there knew - but he didn't catch on until we wanted him to. ;) My parents were shocked that so many people attended. I wasn't. I know how much people love him.

Oi. But hey, when I do come back from summer vacation, I'll be coming back to a room that I don't have to share with anyone for the first time in my life. That's totally worth it, right?

~Charli Rae |Job 39:19-25|
{ps - i have a t-shirt that says 'i'm the evil twin'. people always think ben and i are twins.}

We Went Cruising

On the Freedom of the Seas - from the deck of which could be seen the Disney Magic.

And were called the 'dream sisters' because we 'never fought in public'. (Don't laugh.)

And went snorkeling. Then had very interesting discussions about whoever came up with the word 'snorkel'.

And saw some beautiful weather...

...and some not-so-great-but-equally-beautiful weather.

And met some crazy cool kids, formed unexpected friendships, and had an amazing time. :)

{lydia, little matt, haley, miranda, big matt (or matt g), alyx, big riley, me, victoria, gavin, micayla, ben, adam (white shirt), big jake (neon shirt), and amanda (random girl running off the screen}

~Charli Rae |Job 39:19-25|

Leona Danielle "Danni" Splitter

{betcha didn't know i had this, huh? ;P}

--is literately one of the best friends I could ever hope to have.

--loves to annoy me, expecially by pronouncing words wrong. ;)

--is the Weird to my Wacky

--the one I play sudoku with

--gets drunk on capri sun with me

--watches epidsodes of our favorite anime when we can't think of anything else to do

--always the first to say "I love you"

--quick to offer (and sometimes demand) hugs

--turns seventeen today. Happy birthday, Danni!!! :)

~Charli Rae |Job 39:19-25|

Crybaby

This was my first Thanksgiving away from home in a long, long time. In fact... I'm not sure if I've ever spent Thanksgiving away from home. Huh. Thankful for new experiences!

Anyway, if not at home, where does one spend Thanksgiving? Most of our extended family is three thousand miles away. A bit far to travel for only a few days. So we settled for three hundred miles. Pensacola. Pensacola Christian College, to be exact.

Some Pros and Cons of Thanksgiving at PCC -

+ We got to see the place where my brother is going to be spending the next four/five years of his life. It's an extremely structured yet extremely friendly faith-centered college that'll suit Ben well. Good food. Neat sports center. Nice teachers. Do-able study programs. Good food. Nuff said?

- We got to see the place where my brother is going to be spending the next four/five years of his life. Without me there, reminding him to act like a civilized person. I'm starting to panic.

+ Good food! I know I mentioned it - I'm not that spacey - but they truly do have good food. Ben's gonna get chubby. That doesn't really belong next to a +sign, but with good food, ya can't complain.

- At the alumni basketball game, their mascot, the Eagle, threw candy while I was zoned out. I cried 'cause I got hit in the eye with, ironically, a crybaby (sour gum). Alyx cried* because she didn't get any candy and didn't find any in my hair**.

+ The environment was incredible. Awkward eye-contact was made less awkward because everyone smiled. Getting lost wasn't a problem because there was always someone there to start to give directions, realize I wasn't understanding a word, and offer to go out of their way to walk with me. 

- Skirts. For three days I had to wear skirts. Blech.

...Holy cow, Thanksgiving is gone already? *goes to turn on radio*...

Christmas music.

Okay, I'm done now. How was your Thanksgiving?

~Charli Rae |Job 39:19-25|
*Alyx would like me to say that 'crying' in this case means less tears and more whining.
**I tend to lose things in my hair. Breanna once found a lollipop (with a wrapper, of course).

I Have Kidnapped My Cousin.

Okay, two statements to make - 1) I have the coolest friends ever, and 2) I am officially a geek.

From left to right: "Adorable Medieval Gal" - Lilly, "Katniss Everdeen" - Breanna, "Merida" - me, "Pocahontas" - Danielle, "Zelda" - Katie, "Susan Pevensie" - Alyx, and "No-one-cool-to-dress-up-as-'sides-it's-too-late-anyway" - Ashley

Saturday afternoon, we went and saw Brave. Awesome movie. Not the best on a Pixar-standard, but still awesome. But, since I refuse to do anything like a normal person, I suggested we dress up. It's kinda freaky that they all listened.

From left to right: "Hawkeye" - Noah, "Robin Hood" - Josh, "Legolas" - Ben

Oh, and another thing - Bethanie says hi. :D

She also says (after giving me a weird look and an "I don't know" and a rather painful headbonk with a book and a "NOO!!!" and another weird look and a bunch of pokes and being temporarily distracted by Alyx's poofy hair), "I loved being Charlenie's surprise! I miss my family, but I like being with the Swansons in Florida. And meeting their hyper and... 'interesting' friends."

~Charli Rae |Job 39:19-25|

Ramblings - Feel Free to Ignore

This week was/is my mom's spring break. We explored Downtown Disney on Monday, but other than that, we haven't really celebrated her week-of-no-school. Why not? Because, crazy lady that she is, she's spending it studying. No homework, no tests. Just studying.

I admire my mother so much. If I were her, what precious little amount of brains I have would have leaked out my ears by now.

Anyway, I'm sure this comes across as a shock... *cough*intensesarcasm*cough*... but I just can't commit to a book. As soon as the thought, "Y'know, I think I'll try to get 12:10 done this year," crosses my mind, I get a flood of ideas for Riding Orion and its fellow series...es (eek! what a word! how do you say that?!). So how does one react to that? By working on them both, of course. Skatterbrained-ness has to come in handy for something.

But I thought you all might be interested (or not, but please pretend) in 12:10, because... *brrrrrrrrrrbumbadum*

It's a comic book!!

Yeah, we'll see how that turns out. I've only really glanced over comic books (though I'm a huge fan of superheroes) and I have no idea how to write one (well, how could I, when I don't even read them?). But I think that's what makes it so much fun. Not to mention it's about 11/12-year-olds, so I get to mess around with the humor a lot more. And my dad (amazing person that he is) not only loves comic books but used to work for Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. My parents are my heroes.

That said, let's talk about sewing. Or rather, I'll talk about sewing and let you close your browser whenever you get bored (which, if you're smart, was about four paragraphs ago). My medieval dress has gone nowhere. The forlorn pieces are lying in a crate in my desk (that's right, not under - in), waiting hopelessly for me to put them together. But I just... have no excuse. I'm a lazy bum.

But I am going to sew a gauntlet. Not two, just one. For the left arm. Why? 'Cause Ben has a bunch of archery stuff and, while having fun and shooting people (with carefully foam-wrapped arrows), I obliviously scraped the bowstring against my forearm whenever I fired. It left a really big bruise.

Well. I'm exhausted. If you read this far, comment and tell me -- I will stick by you for the rest of my life. Well, until you admit I'm incredibly annoying, at least.

So what do you think? Any comic-book-writing advice? Or suggestions for the gauntlet? Or a way to overcome my laziness and sew that dress?

~Charli Rae |Job 39:19-25|

My Oh-So-Lovable Sister

Today was a very special day. Clean-the-house-and-have-friends-over kind. Why? 'Cause it's Alyx's birthday.

[Alyx on 'It's a Small World']

I woke up this morning, gave her a big hug, and said, "Happy Birthday! You're fourteen now!"

"No I'm not," was the response.

She can't be thirteen 'cause she's already been thirteen and she can't be fifteen 'cause I'm fifteen...

It turns out, she had this crazy logic that went something like, "I was born at 9:00pm on the 7th in Seattle, so here I wasn't actually born 'till 12:00am on the 8th..."

Psh. Go and make me feel like a jerk for no good reason...

~Charli Rae |Job 39:19-25|

The Puppies!

So, I was going to do a post about them, anyway, but as I returned from the days activities (church, picnic, running around with multiple soccer balls and proving that I am not in any way athletic), I was reminded how much pets are indeed apart of the family. I walked in, set my slurpee down on the table, and Thunder immediately reached as high up my leg as his little paws would go, as if to say, "ME FIRST!" then darted to the back of the couch in our "YOU'RE FINALLY HOME!" ritual. He sat there, quivering, until I made my way over to the couch and crouched down.

He's such a sweet heart. =)

But, first up is Grizzly. He's almost four(?) and thinks he's the king of the world - at least, our block. He's our evil chihuahua that everyone thinks is absolutely adorable until they actually get to know him. The only one who can keep a handle on his pure evilness is Mom, who happens to be his idol. Here's his questionare - he filled it out very begrudgingly.

Books:_ I don’t know. Definitely not anything involving dogs and tricks. The blonde female human gets all sorts of crazy ideas…

  

Movies:_ Ug. It's too much of a hassle to go all the way to the living room, unless, of course, Mom does.

Food:_ Hm… I would prefer anything brought to me on a silver platter, but since no one ever thinks of it… I guess human flesh.

Music:_ Music. Blech.

Hobbies:_ Sleeping, chewing on the younger male human, staring at Mom… the list goes on.

Animal:_ Hello? I am an animal. Favorite, right there.

Best Friend:_ Mom.

See what I mean? Evil... Thunder, on the other hand is the stupidest genius I have ever seen. I can't really prove the genius part... but he sure is adorable, in my opinion. He's grown a lot since the first picture way up there^ - he's nearly three now - but he's still cute. And very much a puppy.

Books:_ You mean those things that Charli’s obsessed with?

Movies:_ Hm… I dunno. I like the ones where Daddy laughs a lot.

Food:_ Anything that comes off the table!!!

Music:_ Britt Nicole! Alyx dances funny!

Hobbies:_ Playing outside – oh, oh! And chasing the little red light!

Animal:_ Humans!!!

Best Friend:_ Grizzly! (Grizzly says 'dream on, bud...')

And there they are! The pets of the family!

Alyxandra Lyn

She's kinda the star, the main attraction, the center of attention, in everything us Swansons do. She's the energy, drama, friction, glue, baby-of-the-family. In fact, she's already been mentioned several times on this thing. She's my baby sister. =P

 Books:_ Life of Faith: Millie Keith

Movies:_ Ever After, Chronicles of Narnia, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

Food:_ Anything Chocolate!

Music:_ Country; Zac Brown, Rascal Flatts, and Lady Antebellum in particular

Quote:_ “Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. Prepare to die.”

Hobbies:_ Acting, playing violin =)

Animal:_ All kinds of birds

Best Friend:_ Charli! =D (Aw, I feel so loved. =D)

Job/Future Job:_ Air force Pilot!

Alyx. Oh, my little Alybobwa. The one who babbled before she could talk, the one who wandered around the house calling, "Bun! Girl! Aaaare you?!" when she finally did talk. My partner in crime for many evil schemes. My roommate who absolutely refuses to take my blame for the mess. My artistic, expressive, often annoying, always amazing sister. =)

[I totally love this picture. =)]

Benjamin Lee

first, i have a few things to say. i'm not going to use caps at all in this post. you know, except for the part where ben comes and shares his life story. it's in his own words - right out of the email he sent me. second, i have some more things to say. diary of a wimpy kid scares me. now, that said...

bum-ba-da-dum!

i have the coolest brother in the world. be jealous. =)

[aww, he's so cute there! he's like, twelve or something.]

that said, here's some info that absolutely no one wants to know about him, yet i shall share them anyway.

Books:_ Chronicles of Narnia, Redwall Series, Percy Jackson Series

Movies:_ National Treasures, Captain America, Thor, Princess Bride, Lord Of The Rings, How To Train Your Dragon…

Food:_ Um… food?

Music:_ Christian, such as Phillips, Craig and Dean; Chris and Conrad; Fireflight; and Caedmon’s Call and in between.

Quote:_ “I love it when a plan comes together,” – Colonel John ‘Hannibal’ Smith

[no, this is not ben. but one day, he will drive this car.]

Hobbies:_ Writing and Sword fighting

Animal:_ Wolves, other types of wild dogs, Killer Whales (really whales in general), birds of prey, and red pandas

Best Friend:_ Josh Yandell

Job/Future Job:_ Writer/restaurant worker or owner/Marine Biologist/something of the sorts/or whatever I find myself in.

now, my thoughts... 

1) we share very similar book interests - only he likes action, and i like interaction. go figure. 2) as obviously shown above, his movie interests are very versatile. 3) he was really supposed to state what kind of music he liked to listen to, not list on and on and on, but so far i think i'm going on a lot more than he is.... 4) *sigh* you've gotta love that quote. or maybe not. you don't have to. like it if you want to. 5) is killer whale supposed to be capitalized? beats me. doesn't really matter, i guess, since i'm lowercase-ing a whole lot of supposed-to-be-capitalized words - and if i can do that, he can capitalize words that aren't supposed to be. 6) maybe josh should get his own blog post... hehehe.... 7) ben really needs to decide on what to do. maybe i should do a poll....

[ben and alyx <3]

anyhoo, i'm bored now. love ya, ben!

(ooooh, you have no idea how much i wanted to use your despised childhood nickname...)

Meet my Family!

It's about time for a post, and since I couldn't think of anything else, I decided to get a jumpstart on the suggestion offered by Kendra over at Imagine; a post about my family.

Well, my family, with only seven members, is not one that people might assume 'too big' to fit into a post. But I think it is. I like short, to-the-point posts. So why am I going on and on about this? Beats me.

So, anyways - first is Dad. He's not very photogenic, so this is the only good picture I could find of him. =P

   Books:_ Mysteries, Suspense, almost anything really.

   Movies:_ Very little.  They don’t make good movies anymore...

   Food:_ Yes, please.

   Music:_ Country, Classic Rock

   Quote:_ “Honk if you hate noise pollution!”

   Hobbies:_ Reading, writing, eating

   Animal:_ Rhino (2 tons, run 35 miles an hour, can only see a few inches in front of them; they are a reminder to be humble and gracious)

   Best Friend:_ Your mother

   Job/Future Job:_ Writer

(Note - perhaps the 'only good picture' was a tad harsh. I've got a 
bajillion picture folders on my computer that I'm too lazy to go through right now. So I guess that says more about me than Dad, huh?)

\

Mom, on the other hand, I could find as the costar of several pictures. She doesn't particularly like them either, but hey, I had to get it from somewhere, right? ...in fact, we're all kind of wondering where Alyx got her love of the camera.... Anyway, rambling again! 

Books:_ Pride and Prejudice, Zion Chronicles

Movies:_ Pride and Prejudice, The Princess Bride, The Man From Snowy River

Food:_ Pizza 

Music:_ Man From Snowy River, Dances With Wolves, Rocketeer

Quote:_ God does not call the Qualified, He qualifies the called. (than you Judy Jones)

Hobbies:_ calligraphy, piano, hiking

Animal:_ panda

Best Friend:_ Rob Swanson

Job/Future Job:_ Nurse, Pediatric Intensive Care

(Note - Rob Swanson is my dad, just in case you were worried.)

So, yep! Those are my parents! Couldn't ask for better ones!