My Life of Non-Studying: Veils, Books, and Chocolates

Happy feast of St. Juan Diego! He's such an awesome, humble, holy saint :) 

Life has been extremely wonderful and blessed lately! Last week, I turned in 70+ pages of typewritten work, which was very refreshing and left me with a nice sense of accomplishment :) My last class of the semester ended on Friday at 12:50 p.m., and I cannot believe that I have only one semester left here at FUS!!!!!! Since classes ended last week, and my two legit finals aren't until Wednesday and Thursday (tomorrow and the day after), I've been mega-chilling out, which is wonderful. Legitimately, the only schoolwork that I have done over four days has been one hour-long study session with a friend. Other than that, I've been reading, making/eating food, sleeping, hanging out with Jacob, spending time with household, and being fiber-crafty (because the only craft-items I can make involve fibers). 

Here follow some particular highlights of my non-studying life as of late: 

~~My Creative Nonfiction paper, "Veiled for Love: The Meaning Tucked Beneath the Chapel Veil" is done!! I turned it in Wednesday, received it--graded--on Friday, and made some final changes to it over the weekend. I sent it out to the wonderful ladies (thank you, ladies! Y'all are awesome!!!) I feature in the paper, and I also gave my final copy to my teacher, who is so awesome that she creates an anthology of each semester's papers for us to keep! Several people have asked me to read this, so if y'all are among them--I'll get to that soon. It may not be until the weekend or next week, but I will get to it. (Thanks for your patience, y'all are awesome). The paper clocked in at about 9,000 words (40 double-spaced pages), which is my biggest project yet. It just makes me really excited. Papers are awesome. Veils are awesome. 

     Speaking of veils...I've been quite excited with a newest addition to my veil collection. See, in my household, we do Advent Angels, where you pray, sacrifice, and leave notes anonymously for another sister. Then, we have a party, where you reveal yourself to your sister and give her a homemade gift! I already knew my angel was awesome, because she left gelato and wine on my porch last week. So when she handed me a tea tin on Monday, I didn't know what to expect. I opened it up, and found...A NEW VEIL!!!!! She made it herself, and it's awesome! It's particularly meaningful for me because all of my veils have some sort of story or significance. Either I've made them, or special people have given them to me--and this veil hits both of those notes! It's a semi-circle veil, which is exciting, because I've only ever worn triangular veils or rectangular scarves. Plus, it's a beautiful navy blue color, which makes it perfect for Marian days (feast days, Saturdays, etc.). 

~~Books are awesome!!! Over fall break, I read five or so fiction books, and over the weekend, I read one book and started another. The list of books follows:
     The Song at the Scaffold, by  Gertrud von Le Fort: This book is super cool! It's based on the true story of Carmlite nuns during the Reign of Terror in France. And later in the day, after I read it, I watched The Scarlet Pimpernel, with Anthony Andrews. So much wonderfulness all day!

Mary was her Life, by Sr. Mary Pierre: This book is very awesome and inspiring. It tells the story of Venerable Teresita Quevedo, a woman born in 1930 in Madrid. Teresita was a modern, joyful, fun woman, who sought holiness in her daily life. I read this in high school and fell in love with her story, and re-reading it reinvigorated me with a desire to live passionately for God and Our Lady--while having tons of fun! :) 

Treason, by Dena Hunt:  This was a rich, suspenseful story about Catholics living in Elizabethan England. Many history books overlook the horrible persecutions that the Catholics faced during the reign of Elizabeth, and this story brings the reader into the daily lives of a variety of Catholic characters during this time. I love historical fiction, and I really love well-done Catholic historical fiction; so I really liked this book! 

Death in the Choir and Death of a Liturgist, by Lorraine Murray: These books were both extremely entertaining and mysterious. Death in the Choir comes first, and I liked it, but I really liked Death of a Liturgist. Scenario: traditional Catholic parish, full of people who like their ways. Enter the liturgist, who throws out kneelers, replaces Latin and hymns with Praise & Worship music, and tears down the Stations of the Cross to instead put up "Stations of the Earth." Judging by the title, I'm sure you can guess what ultimately happens to said liturgist--but who did it? (and no one, even the religious sister, is above suspicion)

Besides these library gems, I also recently had the blessing and opportunity to help proofread a manuscript for the fifth book in the John Paul 2 High series. It was a very fun book, which kept me reading until I finished it at 3 a.m. on Sunday morning! :) 

I didn't get a picture of the chocolates,
but I did get one of St. Therese! Though
unfortunately, this is before I added the black
pupils to her eyes, so her blue eyes are
a tad difficult to see here. 

I also had fun adventures in the kitchen the other day! For my Advent Angel's present, I decided to crochet a little St. Therese and add in some chocolate truffles. I had never made chocolate truffles before (I usually stick with making coconut or peanut butter chocolates) , but I had some leftover cream and chocolate chips in the house, so why now? I discovered that these things are one of the easiest desserts to make in the world, barely take any ingredients, and taste awesome. Seriously. Chocolate ganache truffles. They will change your life. (Well, maybe not life-changing...but diet changing? Definitely!)

I hope y'all are continuing to have an incredibly blessed Advent! Cling to Mary and the virtue of hope as we prepare for the coming of Christ!