Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!!

I really can't believe it's Christmas Eve.  Maybe it's the warmer weather lately...and maybe it's just how busy I've been...but it certainly doesn't seem like Christmas.  However, the calender isn't lying, and it is, in fact, December 24.  I hope that each of you have a very joyous Christmas celebrating the miraculous birth of our wonderful Savior, Emmanuel, Jesus Christ, the Most Perfect Gift!

  

The Money Saving Mom's Budget

Listen up, folks!  There is an exciting new book coming from Crystal Paine - also known as "the money saving mom"!

Here's a description of the book from the Amazon page:

Mommy-money blogger Crystal Paine distills her best financial advice and secrets from her blog MONEY SAVING MOM®, to help families get their finances in order. Based on The Money Saving Mom’s Seven Rules for Financial Success and written in a simple, straight-forward style, this book offers an easy plan for a complete financial makeover.
In the first few chapters, you'll learn how to set big financial goals and actually follow through with them, how to organize your home and life so you can have more time to focus on getting your finances in order, and how to implement a realistic cash budget system that can transform your financial situation.

After laying the foundation for financial success in the first few chapters, Paine then teaches you step-by-step how to cut your grocery and household expenditures by 30% to 50%. You'll learn both basic and advanced couponing techniques, 25 practical ways to save money on groceries without clipping coupons, how to buy prescription glasses for under $20, how to dress your children for free, and much more.

If you think living a frugal, simple and debt-free life means you can't ever enjoy dining out, entertainment or vacations, guess again! From money-saving vacation ideas to secrets to dining out on a budget, this book shows you how to enjoy strategic splurging -- and how to do it at half the price.

Sprinkled throughout the book are testimonies from people whose lives have been transformed through the principles Paine shares. You'll be inspired, challenged and motivated to spend less, save more and make the most of what you have.

Click here to order a copy of The Money Saving Mom's Budget!
 

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Hello, everybody!  I just wanted to let you know that I have not fallen off the face of the earth.  Not yet.  :-)  Basically, I haven't been home for an entire week at a time since back in August.  Here's a brief recap of my life since the beginning of September:

- Family vacation
- Home for a few days
- Out of town for two days (shopping for costumes and auditioning for "Office Seekers")
- Home for a few days
- Writers' Block (total of five weeks)
- Home for a few days
- Gone overnight to be an extra in "Office Seekers" (Steven Spielberg's movie on Lincoln)
- Home for a few days
- Six-day road trip with Advent friends (to KY and ultimately IN for the wedding of two of our friends)

And...today is my first full day home after all of that!  Supposedly, I'm home to stay for a while now (at least until January, and then I might be gone until May working on a movie).  Now I have a lot of catching up to do - at home, with my online correspondences, and here on the blog!  So you might have to wait a while longer to see pictures and hear about my adventures unless I can squeeze in some quick posts here and there.

I'll leave you with a picture that Stephen took today.  The puppies are glad to have me home!  :-)

 

Writers' Block Sneak Peek

After the most insane and challanging two weeks of my life, we have finally wrapped principal photography on Writers' Block!  I averaged a little more than 4 hours of sleep every night this past week...and I was doing better than some other members of the crew.  It was intense, and I am thoroughly exhuasted.  But we did it!  We made a movie!  And it's going to look amazing!!!

I'll tell you more about it later, but here is a quick sneak peek at some pictures I've taken during the past two weeks...

Jason Burkey and Jeff Rose, our two lead actors (playing Chip and Stu).

 Gary and Curt, playing our two security guards - Frank and Henry.

 Our studio boss, Chester Mayer, played by Jim McKeny.

One of our beautiful actresses, Jenn Gotzen, along with Josh Murray - a fellow actor and friend who was visiting set.

Sandra Van Natta - our beautiful secretary - with Josh and Jim.

Jenn as our gorgeous movie star, with Josh and Jeff.

The next to last night before we wrapped, I dressed up and had my picture taken with these two handsome fellas.  :-)  I had so much fun working with Jeff and Jason, and I'm going to miss them a lot!

 

More to come later!

  

Ann Voskamp

First of all, here is the welcoming committee that greeted me as soon as I arrived in Purcellville!

Today, I went with Mrs. Escobar, Rebekah, Lauren, and Felicia to hear Ann Voskamp be interviewed at Patrick Henry College.  She was amazing!  Now, more than ever, I want to read her book, "One Thousand Gifts."  She is an incredible person.  So humble, so full of Christ.  (Kyra, if you're reading this, I thought about you the whole time!  I wish you could have been there!)

David setting up the camera to record the interview:

 Ann Voskamp:

Peter and David hard at work taking things down after the interview:

 Ann was delighted to meet Brett Harris, and had him sign her copy of
"Do Hard Things."

 

Family Vacation 2011

What a wonderful week we had, full of rest and relaxation!  Some highlights included: lots of reading, countless games of Phase 10, beautiful sunsets, waking up to the gentle sound of water, making a short film with my brothers, watching several old movies we hadn't seen before, an endless supply of cookies and chocolate (things we never have at home), long rides in the canoe, and NO CHIGGERS!!!  I've gotten chiggers for the past few years, so I was very thankful to avoid them this time!

The first day we were there, I read an entire novel.  It has been YEARS since I've done that, and it felt WONDERFUL!!!  :-)  I am now a fan of Terri Blackstock, a contemporary Christian author.  I read the first three books in her Cape Refuge series, and I couldn't put them down!  They were so suspenseful!  And they were full of solid substance as well (no fluffy romances!).

Anyway, here are some more pictures from vacation:

The grandparents joined us for a cookout (and a concert!):

 The lake isn't great for swimming, but I did go out with Stephen one afternoon.  The water was so low!  We walked WAY out into the water (it felt like halfway across the lake!), and it was still only up to our knees.  I wish we could have gotten a shot of us out there, but everybody else was napping.

Heading back from one of our filmmaking expeditions:

A rather frightening little varmint!  Anybody know what this is?

 Mom and Dad headed out for a canoe trip:

 A very dramatic sunset one night!

The not-so-fun part of our vacation.  My car wouldn't start and had to be towed.  Meanwhile, Daniel and I were stuck in a hot parking lot for a long time because I couldn't get my parents on the phone.  Anyhow, it turned out that my car needed a new engine.

The clouds were magnificent!

My brother.  :-)

 A dress I found at a yard sale for $1.00!  I love the vintage look.  :-)

The dress that I made most recently:

Another beautiful sunset!

Well, I'm leaving tomorrow to be gone for a MONTH, and I have a lot of packing left to do.  I'll be working on Writers' Block for two weeks of pre-production, then two weeks of production.  I spent two days last week looking through huge Goodwill stores, and I must say that it is very frustrating when sizes aren't printed in men's suits!  I spent hours just taking suit pants off their hangers and measuring the inseams and waistbands.  I found a few suits that might work, but one pair of pants has to be let out two inches in the waist, while another pair has to be taken in five inches!  One of the actors is almost as skinny as my brother (which is saying a lot!), but he's also taller, so it was impossible to find anything closer to his size.  Hopefully I can make it work.  I'm also going to try to add pleats to the front, so that will be a challenge.

I'd better get back to my packing.  I don't know if you'll hear from me much in the next month.  I expect I'll be pretty busy.  If I have a chance, I'll try to upload some pictures from time to time.  :-)