Emily Rachelle Writes

"look out, 'cause here I come, and I'm marching on to the beat I drum. I'm not scared to be seen; I make no apologies. This is me" - "This Is Me," The Greatest Showman 05.19.2018 Me with the grandparents. Me with the parents.

I have news for you, my lovely readers. Take a look at this! I met a snake this weekend on spring break! But that's not the point, obviously.

About the Book: In this urban fantasy retelling of Beauty and the Beast, modern-day teenager, Beila Durand, is plagued by nightmares that lead her to discover — and wind up trapped in — a cursed underground world. The invisible people that live in this medieval village depend on Beila learning the truth behind their curse — and why she is the only one who can set them free. In her quest for answers, however, all she seems to find are more questions. Where do the echoing screeches at night originate? Who is the isolated man that speaks with Beila from the shadows of his cloak? What does this New York girl have to do with any of it? And will she ever find a way back home?  To help support World of Shadows ' release, check out my Thun derclap campaign ! World of Shadows will be available in paperback and Kindle ebook on December 11, 2016. Stay tuned here at Emily Rachelle Writes for more updates!

This semester, I'm taking Spanish 101. Last week, my professor ( mi profesora ) announced our class ( nuestra clase ) would have a Day of the Dead celebration to learn more about the holiday and the Mexican culture related to it. She planned to set up an altar for gifts and memorials, as is traditional. However, since most of the class seemed disinterested, she chose to stick with a normal average class period instead. She did tell me where to find more information on the holiday, however; I decided to construct an altar of my own. (There are other traditions/beliefs in this holiday, such as dressing up and the Lady Catrina. The end of this post has links to more information.)

So some of you may have noticed that I'm currently in college. Yes, that's right, I am officially an Elementary Education major attending university in Indiana. I've been texting around photos of stuff like chapel or my new haircut. OKAY yeah sorry got a bit carried away there.... but TADA! I AM CLAUDIA DONOVAN. Or... you know, almost. Not quite to her level of sarcasm and genius yet. Nor, sadly, do I work at Warehouse 13. But whatever, I've got the hair down. Anyway... the point of this post is just to announce an upcoming series in which I write posts (and/or possibly VLOG yes I mean vlog!) about college. You know, from my random individual freshman point of view. It will be called The College Chronicles and I really don't know anything else yet. So stay tuned!

As promised last week, here is my impromptu Warby Parker glasses modeling session! Feel free to comment below with your thoughts, my lovely readers. :)

Treasures by Elizabeth Liberty I hate winter. I love winter. I've hated winter for a long time. And ever since I've had a camera, I have watched for the little glow above the shade in my bedroom that means it snowed last night. And then I would vault up, rush through my chores, gulp a little breakfast, loop my camera round my wrist or neck, and stared out the back door at the lovely, hateful snow. I don't remember when I stopped playing in the snow. I just know that one year it became very cold, and nastily wet, and not worth the trouble. I suppose that was the year I grew up. I can't pinpoint the first moment I lifted my numb foot out of the snow, shook the ice out of my sock, and thought this is not worth it. I just...did. That is, until the camera.

From Cassia's Camera by Cassia Schaar Hey there! I'm Cassia, I'm a high school student from Canada and I've been doing photography for about three years now. To be perfectly honest, getting into photography was a fluke. I signed up for a class that was supposed to be for film but I was mistaken. I hated it at first but pushed through it, not wanting to be a quitter. At the end of the class, I won an award for 'best female photographer' and thought that maybe I was ignoring a gift God had given me. So I took it up. The below photos are a result.

Thought I'd share a little something with y'all, my lovely readers... I got my senior photos taken!

I've heard of those companies that let you order just about anything with your photo on it - mugs, coasters, bookmarks, CDs, blankets, you name it.  My family has ordered professional photo prints and those little photo books before.  Photos on canvas are one of those things I'd seen before but never tried myself. Photos to Canvas Easy Canvas Prints offered me a free canvas if I would do a review and giveaway.  My lovely readers, you know by now that freebies are one thing I just can't resist.  Plus - my senior photos were just taken!  So I have plenty of awesome, high-quality photos to choose from!

Before (I took an insane number of selfies before the cut. I kid you not: I have more selfies than senior photos, I think. Let's just say I went a little shutter-happy?) Yeah, the lighting's better in some than others... but I'm working with an absolutely awful cell phone camera.  That's about as good as they get.  Anyway... AFTER ! So what do you think?

Happy Tuesday morning, my lovely readers!  As you read this I'm off having adventures at the WILDS Christian summer camp in the absolutely beautiful mountains of North Carolina.  You should definitely stop by the website and check it out.  One of the best ways you can spend your summer, trust me. ;) Anyway, another thing I've been doing lately is writing a Narnia fanfiction.  As some of you know, I've fiddled around with fanfiction before but not much.  With this piece I'm jumping right in to the fanfiction world - writing for one of the biggest fandoms and writing a piece longer than a oneshot! For those of you interested, you can read the first installment (it's short) or stop by my profile .  I'm working with Susan The Gentle on a YouTube trailer which, due to her amazing Suspian (Susan/Caspian) video skills, will hopefully be amazing.  I also created a YouTube playlist for music that goes with this piece. And, while some p...

Boys' Piñata Party {Food + Favors} Theme: Piñatas and candy; Guest list: Boys, ages 6-10 The lollipop ice cream cone centerpiece counted as food, and the candy from the mini piñatas doubled as favors, as did the prize candy from the punch box .  But we also had special piñata favor bags and some very special... Piñata Cookies! This is probably one of the most involved projects I've tried off Pinterest.  It was a lot harder than I expected, too!  For this project, I'm going to sort of break the DIY Party Diva 'rules' and send you over the original tutorial.  It's much better for such an involved project:  http://www.sheknows.com/food-and-recipes/articles/958083/cinco-de-mayo-pinata-cookies But I'll still post my photos! :)

Boys' Piñata Party {Activities} Theme: Piñatas and candy; Guest list: Boys, ages 6-10 Scavenger Hunt I don't have any photos of this activity, but basically any scavenger hunt will work.  For my brother's birthday, all his guests were his Sunday School classmates, so I wrote down names of Bible characters.  The boys had to figure out what object or place would go with that character and then their next name would be hidden there.  For example, a paper reading "Mary, Mother of Jesus" led to a baby doll, while "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego" led to the oven.  (Our version of a 'fiery furnace.'  A fireplace would work, too.) I don't know how to make a free printable, or I'd share my scavenger hunt here.  Sorry!  So, if you'd like the Bible characters scavenger hunt, email me!  I'd be glad to send it to you. :) At the end of the scavenger hunt, instead of a prize, we had a...

Boys' Piñata Party {Decor} Theme: Piñatas and candy; Guest list: Boys, ages 6-10 Invitations What you'll need: Love vs. Design's printable invitation , computer with a word processing program, printer, printer paper, cardstock or construction paper in your party colors, scrapbooking or edging scissors, regular scissors, ruler (optional), double-sided tape or glue

Rapunzel Slumber Party {Wrap-Up} Theme: Disney's Tangled; Guest list: Girls, ages 2-8