I'm Back!

I've thought many times of how to jump back into blogging, but my summer break from Scintillate has quickly stretched into a 6-Month black hole! I was not going to say "it's funny how time flies", but I just did, and it certainly is the truth. I almost posted a tribute to big brothers after the summer visits from my own came to an end. I just about uploaded pictures galore after a visit with my cousins. I practically gave up on tennis this past summer, so i nearly came to the blog to lament my lack of athleticism. At the beginning of the school year, I thought, "time to start blogging again!", but i didn't. And then, I'm ashamed to say, I didn't think about Scintillate until this month. And the reason I chose this month to resume Scintillate is the 10-year-old businesswoman in our family.

God Jul!

I've resurrected my blog just in time to wish you all a Merry Swedish Christmas! God Jul! I don't know if your Christmas celebrations so far have been merry or Swedish, but my family's certainly have. Our Christmas tree is standing (always a great accomplishment)! TSO is playing on spotify! Our stockings are now hung, with the utmost care and only slightly creased, above the fireplace! The tumptas are perched on the mantle! All of these things are shouting the joyous news: Christ is come!

Sibling Wars

Since the beginning of time siblings have been the best of friends and the worst of enemies. Our family is no different. We've all taken and distributed our share of teasing, pranks and whatnot. I realized the other day for the first time, however, that Alyssa is really becoming a player in this thing. Being the youngest, she has always been kind of on the receiving end of the heat, rather than passing it out.

A Lovely Sunset

I think i'm in love with this picture! I managed to take it just before my camera died when i was at my super cool friend Samantha Martin's graduation party. Needless to say, the sunset looked even more spectacular in person. ;)

We Have A Lawn!

Oh my, I haven't posted in like 9 days or so! I did write this week (i'm really not a big, fat, slacker!), those pieces of writing just never found their way to Scintillate. Why?! Well...that's not completely my fault. Our computer and internet have both been really nutty. But I guess i can't blame it all on the computer. I have also been quite busy. We were gardening last weekend, we had a couple baseball games this week, and we had a yard sale this weekend! I'm wiped! Anyway, the gardening was successful (surprised? well my thumb is not by any means green so you should be very impressed, actually), and one of the results of our toiling was....

It's All I've Got

I was watching America’s Got Talent on NBC last Monday night. It’s a pretty entertaining show that y’all have probably heard of, if not seen, before. It showcases some really unique talents, and one of the performances this past week was a music group called Wordspit The Illest. They were all guys from New York City, and they were pretty cool. From what the lead vocalist was saying, it sounds like they’ve dodged some pretty tough stuff in their lives. He said that if he wasn't on that stage he would probably be headed down a bad road…I’m paraphrasing of course, but the truth as he stated is this: Music is everything to him. It’s all he’s got. If he didn't have music, he doesn't know where he’d be. That sort of struck a chord with me, and it really got me thinking. So I've been gathering my convoluted thoughts on the subject all week, to share with you today.

Yee-tahf-tal!

"Yee-tahf-tal" is the phonetic, English spelling of the Amharic word "delicious". And  food truly is delicious, is it not? In fact, throughout the two and one half years that Genet has been in America I have forgotten much of the Amharic that i learned prior to her homecoming, but "yee-tahf-tal" is definitely one of the words branded into my memory. After all, it is one of the top five exclamations! Right up there with "ow!" and "oh my gosh!" and "Alyssa, get off me!".