• 1600 words with Pokemon
• 325 words with birthday
• 518 words with brick

I did write two stories that included 101 words each, thanks to my brother and dad. It was challenging, but I somehow managed to do it. Oh how I love the challenge of a good flash fiction.

Dog

Duke was my best friend and dog. Unfortunately he bit my kid sister. Timidity problems. Duke sat awaiting his sentence; I barricaded him from Pa glaring down the barrel of the shotgun.

“Move,” Pa ordered. “An animal like that needs to be put down. You can’t trust him.”

“It won’t happen again.”

“Damn right it won’t.” Ka-chick! “I’m giving you to the count of three. One…” I stiffened. “Two…”

Duke ran into the house barking. We chased after him.

We found my kid sister choking on a dime. A few minutes later and well…

Pa glanced at Duke. “That’s some dog.”

Poop

There is that split second moment when you open your eyes where you just know you’re going to have a bad day. So it happened to Harry. He didn’t know what was going to happen — how could he? — but something terrible was definitely going to happen.

His girlfriend, Fiona, of ten years was sitting at the table. An array of food awaited him. It couldn’t be that bad a day, could it? Harry cut into his waffle, savoring the taste.

“I was thinking,” Fiona began slowly; her eyes flickered toward him. “We should get married.”

He nearly choked. “Poop.”

Besides writing, my brand Wacom Bamboo Pen tablet came in the mail the other day! It’s so nice. It's never been so easy to color lineart before, and even though my coloring isn't that good, it'll get better with this.

I'm also planning on getting a new domain for my blog. The new name? Simply Sweet. It was going to be the name of an online bakery shop I was tossing around in my head because everyone keeps telling me I should sell my cookies, but... I don't know the first thing about business (though I'm sure I'd learn fast) and I really don't know if anyone would actually buy them or even how much I should sell them for. If anyone is actually interested in my baked goods, I'd be interested in hearing a price range. I'd probably sell my chocolate chip, gingerbread, sugar, and possibly orange dream cookies first. (Orange dream cookies taste like a dreamscicle in cookie form). Those seem to be the ones that people love the most. And why would I name the bakery site Simply Sweet? Because I use as much organic ingredients as possible.

Just a refresher on those orange dreams! <3

The new blog layout is coming along nicely. There’s still some attributes and designing I have to do (emoticons will be the death of me) but it’s finished for the most part. I just need to code it in Wordpress and get everything set!

Preview of the new layout. I love green, pink, and brown together~

What exactly is this for? Well, I won’t be revealing that until sometime next week… But this should prove to be interesting.

Valentine's package with hugs and kisses

Peace and prosperity; Hugs and kisses; I love you

If you pay attention to any of the background behind me, you should see some Beauty and the Beast statuettes in the hutch. Those are mine. <3 Yes, I'm quite obsessed with the movie. I even bought the special edition soundtrack from iTunes yesterday as a Valentine's for myself. XD I think I am now the proud owner of like 5-6 different versions of the song Beauty and the Beast alone…

Among other things, I got tickets to see Wicked on March 6th! I’m so excited. I’m taking my dad and brother along with me. My brother has never been to a musical, but I’m forcing him to get a bit cultured. It never hurts to see at least one live. As for my dad… I think he’s going along on his own free will? Not too sure there.

What's this?! Wicked tickets?! !

I was roaming around Deviantart and found this girl who so happens to do Disney fanart (of course I’m watching her now). There was this really funny fanart she drew of Alice screaming, “OMG. I want you so bad!” to the Mad Hatter who was singing “Go the Distance” from Hercules. That bit of fanart was actually inspired by a YouTube video of this guy who used to work at Disneyland as the Mad Hatter. He was karaoke-ing (however you spell that) to “Go the Distance” at some huge birthday bash and…well, you just have to listen to it. You can stop listening after the 0:57 mark, but seriously that guy has an amazing voice. Disney fangirls FTW!

One of the many reasons why we couldn’t spend so much time at Ohayocon was because we needed to head further up north to purchase a puppy. We ended up at this rustic farmhouse that probably could’ve used some remodeling (I noticed a broken window!) The weather was freezing, so I didn’t stay outside too long — I ran into the sanctuary of the car most of the time. But I did capture a picture that I found… interesting…

Inter-species love! But their love can never be...

Click on the thumbnails to enlarge the picture!

And just because I’m starting to fret and worry about my query letter, I’m going to reveal my summary right here! Reviews and critiques are absolutely wanted. I’m starting to wonder if it sounds too cliche. Technically my novel did start out as a parody for epic fantasies and anime (e.g. Lord of the Rings meets InuYasha) but somehow spiraled into something more serious. I’m starting to wonder what Stephenie Meyer wrote in her query letter to make her agent take her on; I read she had a hard time trying to make Twilight not sound like some sort of weird Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode.

If you were asked to save the world, would you comply or try to find a way out of it? What if you were asked to save a planet you had never heard of? In THE CHOSEN, fourteen-year-old Kaia Ketoki is faced with that very predicament.

After nearly being killed in a massacre, Kaia is taken to another planet where the priests of their gods reveal that her grandmother had saved them once before eminent danger. A prophesy with a dire outcome is revealed, but they hope that the last descendent of their previous savior can help them; before she can agree to it, she is sent out to scour the planet for the gods’ treasures before their enemy, Malum, can get to them first and destroy order.

Actually, maybe mentioning my novel is like Lord of the Rings meets InuYasha might be something I want to consider adding to my query… But how many agents actually read/watch manga/anime?

Besides working feverishly on writing out a synopsis for my novel and writing another novel on the side, I’ve decided to start working on a short story to keep me sane. It’s just a little humorous mystery novel about a girl who runs around to anime conventions and solves little mysteries. Her first case: finding missing Pocky. It’s just something to keep me entertained, though there’s a good chance I’ll end up posting it here when I finish it. Anyway, in my short story, the protagonist has to meet up with a Japanese musician, whom I’ve decided to be Yoshiki just because I have his name written down somewhere. I had no idea what he’s written or done, so I did a little research (Wiki your my hero! ) and found out he did a cover of a KISS song, "Black Diamond", for their 20th anniversary tribute CD. Since I grew up listening to KISS (Dad is a huge fan) I was curious to know what his take on the song was. My dad might glare at me for admitting this, but I found Yoshiki's version amazing. Literally, it's so epic and the song just swells that it just makes you want to write. Definitely a must listen! *runs off and hides*

Further note: I just found out that the Tsubasa series box set has finally been released by FUNimation! Woot! I’m so excited! You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for it; and the greatest part about the box set is that the movie is included! Totally worth every cent (Amazon has it listed for: $62.49)!! But the convention is this week, so I’m going to have to refrain from buying it right now.

Well, I figured out what to do with it. I’ve always wanted to try to make a roasted turkey, like the ones you see on TV when they show a fancy Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner. My family has never made a roasted turkey, so I decided to give it a go. I found a recipe that I was praying would be simple to try, and luckily it was. My main concern while the turkey was roasting was: is it going to turn out moist and tender? The answer: yes! I had invited my grandmother over for supper since I knew I was going to have enough food to go around and everyone loved it. Apparently I’m in charge of the turkey for Thanksgiving this year now.

Roasted Sage Turkey

I stuffed the cavity of the turkey with some garlic, onion, apples, and sage. And then I created a buttery sauce, injected half of it into the turkey (I had way too much fun with the meat syringe) and then with the rest of the sauce, I brushed it right on the turkey. For some sides, I made creamed corn, mashed potatoes, and garlic green beans. The garlic green beans was something different I wanted to try too. Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of them… Oh well. I put some cayenne pepper with the green beans, so they had just the slightest kick to them, and sweetened them up with just a pinch or two of sugar. Mix it all together with fresh garlic, butter, salt, and pepper, and you apparently have a recipe for success.

Yesterday was blonde brownie day. I was going to make a blonde brownie, but I came across this recipe for a regular brownie and decided, why not? I made it late at night, so unfortunately Dad couldn’t eat it because it didn’t cool enough before he went to bed. I was worried that my brownie would dry up since I’ve never made a brownie before and instead of buying brownie mix, I made everything from scratch. It actually tastes kind of fudgy and it's quite rich tasting.

Layers of Chocolate Brownie <3

The recipe didn’t call for it, but I had extra chocolate chips left over so I just dumped it right on top. Dad calls it a heart attack brownie, yet he keeps eating it. Even if I wanted to stop baking and cooking right now, I don’t think my family will let me. They’re already wondering what I’m going to make that’ll top tonight’s supper, though I highly doubt I’ll be able top that turkey anytime soon. My brother’s birthday is coming up in a few weeks and apparently instead of a cake, he’s requested I make him brownies. I agreed to it; hopefully they’ll come out tasting as delicious as they did the first time!

I’m not sure if this is a well known fact or not, but we Buckeyes (or Ohioans) are usually graced with the first convention of the new year. What does this mean? We’re the first to know everything that’s going on in the industry. Woot! This year Ohayocon is coming at the end of January just like the year before. I think there might be some sort of scheduling conflict with another convention or something… I don’t know.

This year, is Ohayocon’s 10th anniversary and as such, this will be my first convention! I’m uber excited and even extended the invitation to my brother. His birthday is just around the corner; so I decided that his first convention could be my birthday present to him. We were at F.Y.E. recently and saw an Akatsuki cloak, but it was way too big for him. We both want to cosplay, and I believe he’s thinking of cosplaying as Light. At least, it’s simple to do. I told him I’d buy him a black sketchbook to be his death note and we’ll work on getting him a Ryuk keychain. He’d make a really good Light, the only setback is he wears glasses, not contacts, but it should prove to be interesting nonetheless. I want to cosplay as well, but I don’t know who to cosplay and with the convention just next Saturday, I highly doubt I’d be able to order something really good and have it delivered before then. Anyone with suggestions? And before anyone mentions me making my own: I don’t know how to sew. Perhaps one day, I will, but not in time for this year’s convention!

As some of you may know, I work in a machine shop. So yesterday I was at the machine that I so happened to be assigned to that day and I noticed a china marker nearby. Because I had approximately 15-30 seconds of free time between each part that was ran, I decided to doodle on the machine! I’m still quite terrible at hands, and the proportions are kind of off, but hey, I only had so much time to get it done and the tip is much thicker than a pencil so I think it looks a bit clumsy.

My original characters: Kaia holding a chibi version of Reeze

And simply because I love musicals, I’m going to include a clip from the 100th episode of “How I Met Your Mother”. Neil Patrick Harris sings a beautifully done musical for a sitcom and I’m determined to memorize it!! Enjoy~

So I was just telling my Dad as I was eating a cup of instant ramen (I swear, those are the most genius things ever invented) that I’ve had a fairly vegetarian diet all day today. We tend to eat a lot of protein in my house, so it’s rare that the only amount of protein I had all day that day was the small chicken bites and chicken broth in my ramen and my first bite of sushi ever. (I’m not sure I like the texture of raw salmon). It was kind of nice not eating a boatload of protein, almost refreshing. That coupled with eating at a fairly natural pizzeria recently made me realize how much I’m starting to detest processed foods.

Seriously, I’ve decided that my New Year’s Resolution should be eating more healthier, and if at all possible, more foods made from scratch because that tastes fresher. Now, my mom is in charge of preparing the food and she’ll probably look at me as if I’ve gone crazy if I ever get the nerve to tell her to make more food from scratch. So, perhaps I should be in charge of making meals for the family at least over the weekend when I have time. Slaving in the kitchen all day once or twice a week shouldn’t kill me, as long as it’s for the sake of fresher (and healthier) food! Tomorrow, for instance, I’m making a vegetarian spaghetti fixed with fresh herbs and vegetables. Just yesterday, I made the breadsticks to go with the meal from scratch. Woot!

A few weeks ago I purchased Photoshop CS3 Extended. I'm not overly familiar with everything yet, but I'm getting the hang of things. I wish to create a brand new layout for the site because I honestly hate using premade themes for Wordpress. This time, I'm willing to put in any amount of work possible to make it look fantastic simply because I've been absolutely inspired by N.Design Studio’s latest revamp. I also had some ideas about the site itself and what I should do with it (like put more recipes or something on it?) but I totally forgot all my ideas before I wrote it down somewhere. I’m hoping they’ll come back to me sometime… right?

My Christmas was fantastic! My parents got me the Bose Sounddock system which transforms my music on my iPod into pure magic. Seriously, I’ve never heard Be Our Guest so rich and alive before! I also got a massage mat (pure bliss <3 ) and the Beauty and the Beast live-action series from the late 80’s. My brother got me Mary Poppins, a wallscroll, and some soul candy. I couldn’t stop laughing when I saw it!

Will I transform into a soul reaper if I eat the candy?

My oh-so-awesome Bose and other gifts!

Christmas dinner the next day was just fantastic as always. The menu for that evening was ham, corn casserole, potato salad, beans, sweet potatoes, and homemade macaroni and cheese! Dessert consisted of ice cream and pumpkin pie (which I've been craving since Thanksgiving... )

I also finished up a holiday drawing I wanted to complete. I messed up a bit on the drawing and didn't even really realize the mistake until after I inked it in. Don’t you hate that? My coloring skills are not the greatest (I just learned how to), but after working on this drawing at my grandparents I think it turned out…decent. So, happy holidays from me to you! If you want to view a larger version of this drawing, do go to my DeviantArt: Bellesfairytale.

Happy Holidays!

And just when most people are winding down and able to rest, my family can’t. My dad’s birthday is the day after Christmas! So we celebrate with lots of cake. Sometimes we go out to a restaurant and eat, and sometimes we just eat leftovers. I believe this year we’re having leftovers for brunch! We’re supposed to be heading out to Texas Roadhouse later this evening~