A Round of Happy Birthdays!

*HARRY POTTER SPOLIER ALERT!* Just so you know=)

Happy birthday to Harry Potter, JK Rowling, and my baby-sister-who-isn't-a-baby-anymore!!!!

JK Rowling has seriously touched millions of lives and inspired millions of writers with the Harry Potter series. There are honestly very few books that have had such a strong emotional hold on me.

Afters months and months of pestering Catherine to read HP, she finally picked it up and fell in love almost as much as I did. And, actually, here's a picture of her reading it:

Appearently, we both get very emotionally involved with HP. She had just read about Lupin and Tonks dying. Poor kid.

What I wouldn't give to read HP again for the first time. *Sigh.*

Anyway. . .

I'm so blest by Catherine's life. I had to wait four loooong years for her=) She turns eleven today, which is way too crazy and makes me feel old. Before she was born, I would always tell my mom how unfair it was: she shared a room with my dad, and my brothers shared a room, but I had no one to share a room with!

After Catherine was born, we moved to a bigger house and my wish came true. I finally had a sister to share my room with! And then, about a year later, another sister came along and I had TWO sisters to share a room with! Wasn't I lucky?!

I was a strange child.

. . .years later, we would fight over who got to have their own room in our new house. . .naturally, being the oldest, I won. Isn't it funny how much we change?

But I did share a room with her for ten years. She's a neat freak (like, a crazy neat freak. She looooves cleaning anything. Even like a bathroom or a kitchen.) and she's kind-of-sort-of rubbed off on me.

Catherine inspires me. So much.

She's one of the most giving people I've ever met. She will seriously drop whatever she's doing and listen and help with whatever problem. She has a beautiful smile. She has a beautiful voice. She loves to read and make up stories. She loves watching Pride and Predjudice with me. (BBC-- there is no other watchable version as far as we're concerned.) She read the first chapter of my book and is constantly asking me question after question about it.

Catherine encourages me to press on with life, even when it's hard. When I have bad days, she makes me feel better. When my best friend and I resolved a very long fight we had, Cate was so excited for me. Everyone in my family couldn't believe that we were friends again, but Catherine told me how happy she was.

And sure, we argue just like sisters have since the beginning of time. We fight over the bathroom, over hair ties and bobby pins. . .typical girl stuff.

We were arguing about something a week or so ago, and I was clearly winning the argument, when Catherine exasperatedly threw her hands up in the air and said as she walked out of the room:

"FINE. But I get to marry SNAPE then. So THERE."

Isn't there a saying about how those who you love the most and who love you the most can also annoy you the most? Because if there isn't, there should be.

Anyway. . .Catherine rocks. And I'm so glad that she was born.

Happy birthday, baby sis. I love you forever<3

New Look!

I'm sure you've noticed that I've given my blog a makeover. If you haven't, well, then, please take a moment to notice.

There. Now you've noticed!

This blog turns one-year-old on August 20th (I can't even believe it) and I've been wanting to switch things up for a while, for a variety of reasons. Anyway, please be sure to check out the "AM Does NOT Stand for Amplitude Modulation" tab=)

I'd love to hear what you think about the new format, the "AM" tab, or whatever else you feel like telling me!

I don't know about you, but I'm on CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

I promise I have not been ignoring my blog! Well, at least, I have not been intentionally ignoring the blogging world. But I have disappeared for over two months. And I give you my most sincere apologies.

But I do have excuses! Legit ones. Because an apology isn't an apology without excuses, right?

Excuse Number One: We are FINALLY in Toledo!!!!! We moved in May 13th and I LOVE my house. It's taken a lot though to unpack and get settled. I have my own room *squeal!* which is awesome.

After months and months and months and months of waiting. . .I honestly cannot believe we are here. It has been so incredible, though. Sure, there has been heartache and homesickness, but God is truly working through all that. He has affirmed time and time again that what He calls us to, He will provide for. I'm so amazed by all He is doing in my life.

Excuse Number Two: My book! Which now has a title! AWAKEN! I am so crazy in love with my characters and the story and everything (feelings that only a writer could understand, right?). But this has seriously consumed all my time. It's actually quite a mess right now and would not be quite as beautiful to you as it is to me, so I'll wait until I do my edits to post an excerpt.

Anyway, I'm on Chapter Twenty-Two (as you might have guessed) and AWAKEN has just reaffirmed my belief that writing is the best job ever. Writing is like an emotional tidal wave-- I'm so happy about my characters one minute and I am so angry with them the next. One moment I can't write fast enough and then a half hour later, I'm forcing myself to keep pushing the keys on the keyboard. It's exhilarating and tiring and leaves me breathless and amazed at the beauty and power of words. It keeps me up late at night thinking about my characters and distracts me from whatever I should be doing at times.

But it's always so worth it.

So, my dear friends, thank you for your patience. Now that things are more settled, I'll be doing my best to write more. How many times have I said that?! Oh, well, life goes on. Honestly, once I get myself to sit down and blog, it really doesn't take that much time. I just have to remember that, I guess=)

And, as always, feel free to check out what I've been reading on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/16867672-anne-marie-schlueter

Anyway. . .what have you guys been up to? Any exciting writing projects? I'd love to hear about it!