Coffee Shop Chat

Have no fear, I still live (barely, but back to that later)! And I am super jazzed to announce that I am finally participating in my first ever link-up! Welcome to my Coffee Shop Chat and tell me that name doesn't make you happy. :)

~What I Did This Week~

A lot on Sunday. We always do communion, a potluck lunch, and an evening service on the first Sunday of the month. This week I also attended the New Members Class in the afternoon, since I'll be 18 and able to vote on church issues. I've technically been a member since my family joined 10 years ago or so, but they want the young adults to take the extra step and initiative as a coming of age type thing. Anyway, it was a very packed day, but pretty relaxing nonetheless. Until . . .

No one really slept Sunday night because the stomach bug my littlest brother had spread. I didn't get it Sunday night, but everyone else did. One by one, they'd all tromp past my bedroom door and into the bathroom. They lined the halls and couches and floors of the two bathrooms we could use. My grandfather was in for the weekend and sleeping in a room with the guest bath to himself, so we let him be and ushered him out of the house at dawn. I believe he escaped unscathed!

So we got an unexpected week off of school and life and all that adult stuff and did nothing.  All week. It was really kind of nice. I did catch the bug eventually, but not until Tuesday night. Just in time to have to cancel all my weekend jobs. But who needs money when you can lay in front of the television for days? By that time, everybody else was more human than not and we all shared our first real meal since Sunday lunch on Wednesday night. Except for me. I was still living on old Chicken Noodle Soup. But we're all on the mend now and sanitizing the house and wondering what it'd be like to actually step outside and see fellow humans again.

~Movies I've Enjoyed~

I'm just going to go with movies I've enjoyed recently. I watched Belle last night with my mom and sister for my first time. Actually, I hadn't even heard of it until the lovely Olivia highly recommended it. So we rented it from Amazon, and I loved it! Jane Austen meets William Wilberforce. It was very well done :D

I watched Father of Bride with Steve Martin again this week while I was couch-ridden. And it's just a hilarious, relatable, good movie. Not perfectly clean, mind you, but a go-to comedy nonetheless :)

~Currently Working On~

• reading books! I just haven't been getting to the ones I started, so I'm mainly relying on the ones I'm giving feeback for :)
• editing for Ivy, Jesseca, and Lydia. These three ladies are all going to be well-loved, published authors some day, so watch out!
• writing my 20th chapter . . . still :P And ironing out the plots of my next WIPs-to-be
• blogging this post and trying to catch up with all the posts on my feed!
• life. Graduation prep, two choirs, that thing called school, keeping my siblings alive and sometimes even fed and happy. All that good stuff.

~Myers-Briggs Type~

I'm an INTJ. That stands for Introverted, Intuitive, Thinker, Judger. Yep, that basically sums me up. But it's not as bad as it sounds! Maybe these Pinterest blips will help explain the complex that is my life. ;)

This quote from Katie's novel Song of the Desert is also me 99% of the time, unless you are my best friend. So you people shouldn't worry ;) 

"I don't know what to say Xander please answer I don't want to talk to you people."

~Coffee or Tea~

I've always thought I've liked tea and disliked coffee. Come to find out, I have never been able to finish a cup of hot tea, so I stick with iced. And I'm just starting to appreciate coffee in greatly doctored Starbucks proportions. ;)

~Favorite Genre to Read~

While Sci-Fi is one of the only genres I dislike on a regular basis, Historical Fiction is probably my favorite to read. It's just . . . so good. Any story that has an element of someone's real life, or a real event, or anything like that is immediately 100x more powerful and interesting to me. I just can't always get myself wrapped up in a completely fictional story. But don't worry, I'm coming over to fangirl land in some regards ;)

~Getting Ready For a New Week~

I just loved this prompt. It's so thoughtful. And it's Saturday, so it works. On Saturday, we always chill, do housework and/or yardwork, and take showers. They're usually pretty open. But last Saturday I was babysitting and did our local Hike for Life, so every now and then there's something out of the ordinary :) On Sunday, we go to church, which currently consists of children's choir in the Sunday School hour and then the service with a sermon from 1 Peter. We come back to the house to a large lunch with dessert. Sometimes my grandfather takes us to see a movie, or has some epic plan. But most of the time, we all just nap and hang out and eat leftovers for supper :) Side note: Papa drives a 400 mile round trip every weekend just to see us. Just kidding, he drives 400 miles every week to do the music at our church. Dedication, man.

~Looking Forward To~

• my lovely friend of 10+ year's Senior Recital tomorrow *sniff*
• going to the opera later this month with the entire flock of hooligans that makes up my girls' choir ;)
• sending out invitations for my graduation in May. Six weeks from today!!!
• cooler weather (okay, so it's a long way away. so what?)
• storms. I can hear thunder and see the sky getting grayer right now, so yay!

~Conversation Starters~

These are for all of y'all to answer in the comments in your own Coffee Shop Chat :D

1. What is your favorite book of the Bible?
2. What is the landscaping around where you live? (trees, soil, horizon, civilization proximity . . . all the details!)
3. What is your favorite sort of blog post to read?
4. What does your ideal productive day look like?

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So what did you think? I don't really know how this compares as far as link-ups go, but it was fun :) Are you going to do a Coffee Shop Chat? Be sure to check out Tessa's blog (which I linked to at the beginning) for all the lovely details!

A Fact About Me

Well, I kind of forgot it was Saturday until recently, so I'm going to do this fun tag from Rachael for my post today. Thanks for giving me an easy out, Rachael ;)

~Guidelines~

• Take the banner and paste it to your post.
• Tell a single, meaningful fact about who you are.
• Explain this fact as open, and explanatory as you can.
• Tag at least one other blogger, and give a reason why you think they should do this.
• Add a Bible verse to close out this tag.
• Thank the blogger who tagged you.
• Have fun!

Yeah, well just one fact seems a little shallow, so I'm going to follow in my tagger's rebellious footsteps and do as many as I want :D

~Fact #1: Favorite Foods~

You all know I like to look at mushrooms and eat cheese. My new cheese find is pre-sliced Havarti from HEB. Oh my goodness. You have to try it. It's amazing, I promise. And it's mild, so don't worry, I'm not throwing blue cheese at you yet. I also happen to adore every single vegetable ever with the exception of celery and beets, which I loathe. Yes, this means I like asparagus, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, radishes, and all of that lovely stuff :D And if I had to eat a dessert it would be chocolate or pie. :)

~Fact #2: My Alphabetical Alphas~

Um, so I have 5 people alpha reading the first draft of my novel, morphing it into my second draft. I realized the other day that their names are alphabetical!! I have Gloria, Ivy, Jamie, Katie, and Madison. Fill in the gaps with the people, I am reading for, and there is Hailey, Jesseca, and Lydia. Awesome, no? I thought it was very awesome.

~Fact #3: I Used to Hate the Idea of Blogging~

Several people had told me I should give blogging a shot since I liked writing/editing and it's the way to connect nowadays. Well, a few months ago, that made me shudder. Come up with things to say and connect with people online? What? Are you crazy? I don't talk to people for real, so why would I online? Once I got into the mode of following blogs (something else that never appealed to me), I decided I wanted to join the crazy world and here I am :)

~Fact #4: Shuffling Skills~

I have forever shuffled using my thumbs on the corner of the deck (which is apparently some fancy Vegas trick). In reality, it's just my excuse for teaching myself. I have just recently learned how to shuffle cards like a normal person, complete with being able to do the bridge in natural slow motion. Cool, no?

~Fact #5: New Babysitting Job~

Another job I never thought I would enjoy, but I do. I babysit. A lot. I got like 3 new clients in the fall and I just got a new one this week! A little 2 month old baby girl will be mine to hoard and cuddle for several hours this evening. I may possibly be very excited. And, yes, she is the cutest thing ever! She also happens to be the age of the baby in my WIP, which means I will secretly be gleaning knowledge for my book :D

~Bible Verse~

From my favorite character in the Bible. I just love the story of Esther, don't you? She's so brave and unsuspecting! And I love all the huge wars between Greece and Persia that were going on at that time.

"Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law: and if I perish, I perish!" ~ Esther 4:16

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Ta-da! You should feel very fortunate for receiving all those extra facts. If you liked this tag, consider yourself tagged (because I'm lazy like that). You've got a link-up and lots of guest posts coming your way, so be prepared for change. Mwahaha! Now, I expect a random fact about you all, whether you're doing the tag or not :)