Clare Marie

Age: 16

Favorite word(s): Jesus, lovely, chuckle, ripple, uniformitarianism, pepperpot, butterfly, spelunking, celtic, ditto, prodigious, fie, ere, hobbit, ethereal, Valar, Maiar, teapot, crumpet, dance, crystal, snowflake, chai, portly, lady, chivalry, tea, clock, chipper...

Status: Homeschooler

Who am I?

(more favorite words!! ...ludicrous, preposterous, rather, screwball, cotton-headed-ninny-muggins, riddle, tally-ho, squeal, moor, batty, botheration, tarnation, confound, colt, spit-spot, dusty, crisp, crunchy, marmalade, bizarre, sparkle, shimmer, glossy, aria, fiery, torrent, ocean, mist, grace, cool, grey, emphatic...)

*WARNING!! Irrationally long rambling bio! Be prepared!*

Suilaid! Im Limwen. Translated, that means "Greetings! I am Clare." I would prefer it if you called me Limwen, but you can also call me Clare, Chliara, Clee, Cdawg, Gems, or Merry, or my other Elvish name Idril Ciryatan, or my hobbit name, Daisy Foxburr of Fairdowns, or my Rohirric name Glaed, or any one of my four made-up Elvish nicknames --Maethorwen, Edhelwen, Hiril en Baran Fin, and Galadhiril. (see paragraph 15...if you really want to. [The book and movie lists don't count as paragraphs, just so you know.] Oh and by the way, this is paragraph 1.) :D

Well, anyways...

I think I shall start off first with who I am spiritually. I am a child of God. I am His soldier, His servant, His disciple. He is my King, my Lord, my Shepherd, my Lover. I am so grateful to say that I am a Catholic; I love my faith, and am always aware of what I owe God for that awesome gift. Because if it, I have grown so close to God, it's hard to describe. Sometimes I love Him so much I can't speak, and other times I'm so aware of His great love for me that I dance with joy. I will never, ever deserve His love and what He does (and did) for me. I try every day to grow closer to Him. Also because of my faith, I am totally pro-life; I would give my life to save as many unborn babies as I could. My favorite saints are St. Clare (my patroness) and St. Francis of Assisi, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, St. Juan Diego, St. Gianna Molla, St. Brigid, St. John the Evangelist, St. Joseph Cupertino, St. Lucy, St. John Bosco, St. Maria Goretti, St. Michael the Archangel, St. Agnes, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Peter, St. Margaret of Scotland, St. Therese of the Child Jesus, St. Louis de Montfort, Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, Blessed Mother Teresa, Blessed Padre Pio, Servant of God Catherine Doherty, Pope John Paul the Great, and of course St. Joseph and our Blessed Mother Mary. Above all, I love and adore Jesus Christ. Viva Cristo Rey!

So, who am I, physically? Who is the complicated, abnormal me God created sixteen years ago in my mother's womb? Well... I am the youngest and the only girl out of five (!) brothers. I love animals, especially horses, and our house currently boasts of two dogs, two cats, six guinea pigs (owned by me), a rabbit, and a cockatiel. (My parents often lament the overdosage of pets). Our whole menagerie lives in a 100-year old blue house in the lovely state of Ohio....Although that is soon to change. We're moving (still staying in Ohio, though!) -to a beautiful, 16 year old house with lots of space (absolutely GINORMOUS) ...and 8 acres of farmland!!! :D :D :D :D

I'm also...something...of a romantic. I delight in romance in books and movies, so long as it's Godly and in moderation. I wish I could write romance -and I'm trying- but I'm not very good at it. Yet. ;) I think I express deep emotions and feelings better in poetry than in stories. However, I am working on expanding my writing abilities. And may I add real quick that I haven't taken any writing courses or read any books on how to write (although maybe I should -it'd help! :D). I merely look at the writings of certain amazing authors -including people here on AP- and try to follow their example. :) (More on this later.)

As far as extended relations go...I have ALOT. And I mean alot. I can't keep track of them all!! But if you think about it, probably everybody in the world is related to everybody else SOMEHOW.... I have four sisters and one brother in heaven praying for me; they all died before they were born: Monica Rose, Mary Veronica, Andrew Gabriel, Therese Guadalupe, and Philomena Cecilia. I am grateful to God for all my amazing siblings, because I love them with all my heart, and they have helped me grow in my relationship with Our Lord; they have all brought sunshine to my life in one way or another.

Some of my dislikes: Any kind of mess, finding slugs on my "prized" vegetable plants, markers that don't work, modern art, some (modern) music, rap, tomatoes, mosquitoes, grammar, shopping in a crowded and noisy mall, talk radio, slow computers, beetles, moths, vinegar, and braces and expanders. And the annoying little rubber-band thingys that attach to your braces and pull your teeth back. :/ I would say I dislike orthodontists, but they can't help it that their occupation is putting somebody's teeth into excrutiatingly painful instruments of torture, so I just say that I dislike their occupation. ;)

Some things I love: My name in Gaelic (Chliara, pronounced Klee-arr-uh), walking/dancing in the rain, flowers, old houses, waterfalls, butterflies, rainbows, my mom's homemade chicken pie, anything Irish (especially Celtic crosses), cooking/baking, playing piano (I have been playing for ten years), snapping pictures, knitting, drawing, latch hooking, holding babies (only if they're not crying! :P), making jewelry, watching movies, using parentheses (can't you tell?), taking walks, riding horses, falling asleep in moonlight, making a snowman, sitting on the couch wrapped in a blanket while sipping hot tea and watching "the world go by", snowfalls, birthdays, holidays, giving gifts, making a child laugh, holding a guinea pig, going about the house barefoot, learning Latin, the ticking of a clock, sheepskin, hamsters, laughing, fairies and fairy tales, going to Mass, cookie dough, Christmas cards, braiding hair, having "sister" talks with a good friend, sleepovers, Apples to Apples (try it Lord of the Rings style, it rocks), typing, dreaming, and playing basically any sport. My favorite sports are horse-back riding, soccer and baseball. I also love to do archery, though I can't aim very well, and my bow stinks. So I usually use my friend's bow when I go over to her house; then EVERYBODY WATCH OUT!

I simply adore music, playing and listening. As mentioned already, I play piano. As of autumn of 2008 I switched piano teachers because my former teacher said she "taught me everything she could". Can you imagine how touching that is? My new teacher is totally awesome, and I don't think I could be where I am right now musically if it weren't for both of my teachers. Also, my new teacher has told me that I am better than he was at my age. (Not to be a show-off or anything, but I'd just like to make the point that encouragement is beautiful, and it has also greatly helped me in my piano playing. Self-confidence is not one of my features, so encouraging words are like treasure chests of gentle nudgings towards it.) Music is my life. A world without music is like a land without water, a garden without a flower, a barn without a horse, or Christmas without a family. Enya and Loreena McKennitt are my musical heroines. Listen to their music sometime, it's wicked!!

Other music/musicians I love: Janelle, Third Day, Jars of Clay, Fireflight, Switchfoot, Superchic(k), Barlow Girl, Rebecca St. James, Lord of the Rings soundtracks, Narnia soundtracks, Pirates of the Caribbean soundtracks, The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, Cat Stevens, Sara Evans, some Taylor Swift, Charlotte Church (when she was younger), Pride and Prejudice soundtrack, Black Beauty soundtrack, most classical (especially Beethoven, Bach, Chopin [!! :D], Haydn, Scarlotti...), Sonny Rollins, most types of jazz, and the music my brother and his friend make. :) I love to dance around a room while listening to my favorite tunes, it's great fun. And my all-time favorite song is "Book of Days" by Enya. It gives me shivers and makes my heart jump every time I listen to it. <3!

I strongly believe I am actually an Elf, because of my love of dancing and music, (which I've just mentioned), moonlight, starlight, poetry, and long dresses. Although I lack the pointy ears.... I love writing, (obviously!) though my stuff is usually not the best. Still, it is one of my favorite hobbies. Currently, besides random poetry, I am working on two books. Both you can read here on AP...although one is more developed than the other. The other is still rather a thought developing in the mind of its authoress...don't have much of an idea where I'm going with that one!! ;D I've been trying to come up with a pen name...how does Shasta McDowell sound? (and don't ask me why I thought of that; it just popped into my head unexpectedly.)

I love reading Greek and Norse mythology; actually I just love reading! I'm a bookworm, and my favorite books (other than the Bible) are The Lord of the Rings (best book of all time!!), The Cloister and the Hearth, A Tale of Two Cities, and The Robe.

Also some great books:

The Thief Lord

Dragon Rider

Inkheart

Inkdeath

A Little Princess

Little Women

Eragon

Brisingr

The Princess and the Goblin

The Princess and Curdie

The Complete Fairy Tales of George MacDonald

Uncle Tom's Cabin

The Good Master

Bob, Son of Battle

The Witch of Blackbird Pond

The Sign of the Beaver

The Bronze Bow

Calico Captive

The Silmarillion

The Hobbit

Roverandom

Stars Over Llorleya (read it here on AP! :D)

Pride and Prejudice

Northanger Abbey

Persuasion

Sense and Sensibility

Jane Eyre

Wuthering Heights

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

The Chronicles of Narnia

All Creatures Great and Small

Indian Captive

Anne of Green Gables (and the rest of the Anne of Green Gables series...#2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. ;D)

Ella Enchanted

The Scarlet Letter

A Garland for Girls

The Secret Garden

Black Beauty

Not Without Parables

Fragments of My Life

Gall and Honey

A Cricket in My Heart

To Kill a Mockingbird

Don Camillo and His Flock

Seer of Secrets

Redwall (and pretty much every other Redwall book there is)

Across the Western Sea #1 and #2

Mary Poppins

The Princess Bride

...I'm starting to ramble. (Starting, you say?) I could go on and on and on about books. Also, my favorite (!!) poem is "Beowulf", the translation by Seamus Heaney. It's almost a book, really, it's so long. But I LOVE it. My two second-favorite poems are "The Highwayman" and "The Lady of Shalott". Read them, they rocketh the world. Or listen to them sung by Loreena McKennitt, that also rocks. :D

Favorite authors: J.R.R. Tolkien (of course), Jane Austen, Louisa May Alcott, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Hilda van Stockum, Elizabeth George Speare, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, Gail Carson Levine, Brian Jacques, Cornelia Funke, Charles Reade, Frances Hodgson Burnett, C.S. Lewis, Kate Seredy, Harper Lee, Lloyd C. Douglas, Avi, Charles Dickens, James Herriot, George MacDonald, Howard Pyle...and of course yours truly. Ha ha, yeah right. Don't worry, I'm not that conceited.

Some of my favorite movies:

Amazing Grace

The Lord of the Rings trilogy

Master and Commander

Cinderella Man

Spider-Man trilogy

Pride and Prejudice (the new one, with Keira Knightley --although the 1995 one with Colin Firth and the black and white one with Laurence Olivier are both pretty good, too)

Sense and Sensibility

Bella

Porco Rosso

Nausicaa

Princess Mononoke

My Neighbor Totoro

Howl's Moving Castle (and yeah, basically anything by anime director Hayao Myazaki)

Rain Man

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the new one, with Johnny Depp --so funny!)

Toy Story (both of them)

Monsters Inc.

The Incredibles

Wall-E

Ratatouille

To Kill a Mockingbird

Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy

Roman Holiday

A Walk in the Clouds

The Princess Bride

A Little Princess (NOT the one with Shirley Temple...GAG ME. XD)

Black Beauty

The Sound of Music

The King and I

The Count of Monte Cristo

Iron Man

Evan Almighty

X-Men (#1 although 2 is...okay. And X-Men Origins: Wolverine is pretty awesome too, if only because Wolverine -- obviously -- is in it so much :P)

Braveheart

A Beautiful Mind

The Mission

The Scarlet and the Black

Inkheart (mostly just because of Dustfinger, he's SOOO awesome!!!)

...and yeah, I like movies too. :D My favorite actors/actresses are (please note that the list changes often): Jim Caviezel, Cary Elwes, Johnny Depp, Russel Crowe, Gregory Peck, Steve Carell, Hugh Jackman, Jeremy Irons, Paul Bettany/Cate Blanchett, Emma Thompson, Reese Whitherspoon, Renee Zellwegger, Dagmara Dominczyk, Miranda Otto.

Oh yeah, and Eowyn rocks.

Speaking of which, I may as well "dewote" (to quote an Amy Marchism) a paragraph to The Lord of the Rings because I love it so much. Okay. Where to start? Well, obviously, I love Eowyn. She's my top favorite character, in both the book and the movies. (Random fact: did you know that Eowyn's name means "Horse-joy"?! I just LOVE that, it's so awesome.) My other favorite characters are (not necessarily in order): Pippin, Aragorn, Gandalf, Gimli, and Faramir -at least, Faramir in the book. I don't like him too much in the movies. I would put down the whole three pages-long list of my favorite and most-hated things from LOTR, but I believe the reader would be rather bored (if he isn't already :P). Anyways, Middle-Earth is my second home; I go there often. Usually I just go in my mind, and mostly (but not always) when I'm alone; if you see me with a dreamy, thoughtful look on my face, or if I'm more silent than usual, then I'm probably fighting orcs with the Fellowship or running on the trail of the Uruk-Hai with Aragorn and Legolas and Gimli or riding horses through the wild plains of Rohan with Eowyn and an eored or hearing Galadriel's voice in my head or dancing with the hobbits. Or I might be plotting out my book in my head. I don't know which. Oh dear, that's not very LOTRish, is it? Ummmmm, I've not only read LOTR and The Hobbit many times over, but I've read The Silmarillion (as mentioned), The Unfinished Tales and am reading The Children of Hurin. I plan to read as many Tolkien books as I can lay hands on in the future, such as both Books of Lost Tales, The Lost Road and Other Writings and The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. I've watched both the original and extended versions of all three LOTR movies, many times over, and love acting out scenes or randomly quoting lines from the movies, and the books. At one time, I had Eowyn's whole conversation with the Witch-King (from the book) memorized. I've seen the new LOTR fan film made independently by a group of people in Australia or something like that -- called Born of Hope. You can watch it online...no, take that back. You SHOULD watch it. It's really quite good, especially considering its an independent film. I plan on watching the other LOTR fan film -- The Hunt for Gollum -- sometime soon, but it doesn't look as good as BOH. :) In the "near future" I really, really, really hope to make Galadriel's white dress, and then hopefully some of Eowyn's and Arwen's dresses from there!! I'm also currently obsessed with finding as many pictures of my favorite LOTR characters as I can, and I'm SO HAPPY that I found one of my FAVORITE pictures of Aragorn!!!! Did you know that Aragorn is descended from a Maia?? Arwen is too!! From Melian, to be exact, because she married Thingol and they had Luthien Tinuviel and she married Beren, and it all goes down merrily from there. (I'm obsessed with LOTR genealogies and relations, too.) I also know a few Elvish phrases...and my Elvish name is Limwen. (I also read somewhere else that my full name translated would be Idril Ciryatan...I go by both, as you've seen. :D) My Hobbit name is Daisy Foxburr of Fairdowns. And I think my Rohirric name is Glaed. I also go by my two somewhat-made up Elvish nicknames "Maethorwen", (my-thor-wen) which means "warrior-maiden" (I have that on a sign on my bedroom door: "Bar Maethorwen", or "The Dwelling of the Warrior Maiden"); and "Edhelwen" (pronounced eh-thel-wen)...meaning "elven-maiden". Also, I go by "Hiril en Baran Fin" which means "Lady of the Golden-Brown Hair", and "Galadhiril", which means "Lady of Light". (I'm debating whether or not to "officially" change my Elvish name to Galadhiril, because technically Clare means "light" more than "clear", and Limwen means "Clear Lady" -- "lim" means "clear". See what I mean?) There. That's all you need to know about my LOTR side. ;)

My friends have always been sources of inspiration for me; being without sisters, I consider all my girl friends "sisters". I hate narrowing down my friends to ONE "best" friend. I have too many "best friends" to count!! I doubt that I would be where I am in my faith if it were not for the dear, dear friends God has so thoughtfully bestowed on me.

So, that's who I am!! If you have gotten this far, congratulations...but wait! I'm not done yet!! :D Just want to mention some cool websites...

Here's the coolest one!! :P My blog, of course... ;D

www.faeriesandbroomsticksandunicorntails.blogspot.com

Here are some other cool sites...

www.arwen-undomiel.com

www.tuckborough.net

www.councilofelrond.com

www.fashionablymodest.com

www.purefashion.com

www.narniaweb.com

www.thelionscall.com

www.homeschoolblogger.com -site where homeschoolers can create blogs and interact with other HS.