Clare Marie

 

...the daughter of two amazing parents, and the sister to five unruly -- but totally awesome -- brothers.  I love them all dearly, but unfortunately, they're beginning to go their separate ways.  With the departure of my youngest brother in the fall to college, I'll be the only kid at home.  (That'll be weird!)  As of June 5, I am also a sister-in-law. :)  (Yay, I'm not the only girl anymore!)  Oh, yes, and my brothers are all older than me.  I'm the baby.

 

...a farm girl in the making.  We just moved to a house with 8 acres, so I’m trying to convince my parents to acquire some farm beasties. However, right now, we only have "pets": four guinea pigs, two dogs, a bird, and a cat. Most of these are boys also, so it’s a very male household I live in!

 

...one half Italian (my dad was born in Italy) and one half a mixture of Irish, German, British, and Scottish descent.  I'm a mutt and I love it!

 

…a budding musician who specializes in piano playing. I’ve been playing for 10 ½ years. But I also have recently been working at improving my singing voice (I’m in two choirs). I hope to become a music therapist when I “grow up”. My top favorite music artists are Enya and Loreena McKennitt, and some others I love are (not necessarily in order): Janelle, Fireflight, Jars of Clay, Third Day, Superchic(k), Barlow Girl, Rebecca St. James, Cat Stevens, Simon and Garfunkel, some Celtic Woman, and Sara Evans.  As for composers, both classical and modern, I love: Chopin, Beethoven, Bach, Haydn, Scarlotti, Scott Joplin, James Horner, Hans Zimmer, Howard Shore, and Dario Marianelli.

 

…a friend to many amazing people, all of whom are very dear to me. I highly doubt I would be where I am spiritually if it were not for them, especially my best friends (I don’t have one, I have many!). They’re very special to me, because they accept me for who I am, and with whom I can be my nuttiest. 

 

…a bookworm who spends way too much time reading when she should be doing something more constructive. I think I must have some sort of addiction. As a friend of my mom’s put it, “Whenever I go into a library, I’m just like ‘ahhhhh’.” Yeah, that’s me. ;) My top favorite books are The Lord of the Rings, The Cloister and the Hearth, A Tale of Two Cities, and The Robe. J.R.R. Tolkien is my hero. As for other authors, there are lots and lots I love, but I don’t necessarily love all their books. I think it best to just list some books I love, and from that you can gather which authors I love and why: The Count of Monte Cristo, The Thief Lord, Dragon Rider, Inkheart, Inkdeath, A Little Princess, The Secret Garden, Little Women, A Garland for Girls, 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 Bronze Bow, Calico Captive, Mara Daughter of the Nile, The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, Roverandom, Stars Over Llorleya (read it here on AP!), Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, Sense and Sensibility, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Seer of Secrets, All Creatures Great and Small, Indian Captive, The Anne of Green Gables series, Ella Enchanted, The Scarlet Letter, Not Without Parables, Fragments of My Life, Gall and Honey, A Cricket in My Heart, To Kill a Mockingbird, Don Camillo and His Flock, Redwall, Mattimeo, Mariel of Redwall, Mossflower, Taggerung, Rakkety Tam, (and pretty much every other Redwall book there is), Beauty, Rose Daughter, The Princess Bride, The Circle series (although I’ve only read Black and Red), Thr3e, Peter and the Starcatchers, Watership Down, Master and Commander, H.M.S. Surprise, The King Raven Trilogy, The DragonKeeper Chronicles, Auralia's Colors, Shadow of the Bear, Black as Night, Waking Rose.…and there are many more, but I think I’ve already said quite enough. :D

 

…a self-proclaimed Lord of the Rings nut (or nerd, however you want to look at it).  I’ve already said I love LOTR and Tolkien, so there’s not much else to say. I’ve read probably most every Tolkien book there is (although there are many, so I know I’m missing a few), I’m currently reading The Children of Hurin and The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, one of my many Elvish names is Galadhiril, I’ve seen both the regular and the extended versions of the movies many, many times over (as well as the fan film Born of Hope), I have the piano/song books, I have LOTR pictures plastered all over my room, I listen to the soundtracks regularly, and basically I spend most of my time daydreaming about Middle-earth (when I’m not reading, of course)…as you’ve probably gathered. My favorite characters from the book are: Gandalf, Éowyn, Aragorn, Pippin, Gimli, and Faramir; my favorite characters from the movies are: Gandalf, Éowyn, Aragorn, Pippin, Gimli, and Merry. (They ruined Faramir too much in the movies to make him come even remotely close to being a favorite character.) I’ll restrain myself from writing anymore about LOTR, because I could go on for hours talking about it.

 

…a wannabe artist who dabbles in the realm of drawing. Mostly I draw horses or people from Lord of the Rings. I haven’t taken any classes, so my drawing often leaves something to be desired; but it’s something fun to do and I enjoy it.

 

Things have the annoying habit of knocking themselves down whenever I pass by them. No, actually, I’m just a klutz. An elephant on skates. A bull in a china shop. I am also an introvert, a pyromaniac (affectionately named so by my brother), a pessimist, a procrastinator, a dreamer, and a troublemaker when I get together with a certain friend of mine.  (She’s the main character in my essay “Knitting Needles Are Not For Knitting”, if you’re interested.)  I have a fetish for spoons and have developed a fondness for cabbage and noodles.  I also have the talent of finding amusement in the simplest, everyday things (see the Knitting Needles essay).  I love sports and the outdoors, but I also love being inside with a book, and possibly a cup of tea.  I love rainy days, and thunderstorms. I love animals, especially horses. I love trees. I love flowers.  I love libraries. I love window seats.  I love the smell of freshly laid paint.  I love baking.  I love the smell of freshly baked bread.  I love my big orange sweater-coat.  I love chocolate milk. I love old books (any books!).  I love porch swings.  I love mountains.  I love being with my friends.  

 

I also love writing.  No surprise there.

 

I guess it’s safe to say I love life. Let’s hope life loves me back.