BIG news!

So, big news this month!

This isn't gonna be a normal blog post, just an announcement- a REALLY cool one.

I'm self-publishing an ebook!

It's a collection of my best poems, which I'm going to be publishing on Kindle soon, and it's SO exciting! :D It's also going to include some of my own photography, because yayyyy!

that's all, stay tuned! heehee

~rhiannon~

History Fest and catching up!

Hi!!!!
So, it's October, and that means one thing for my family-
History Fest.

History Fest, if you don't know, is a super cool event run at Jack McGowans farm just outside of Mankato, Minnesota. It's got, like, all sorts of crazy crap going on. So far, this year, there's been...

• A gang of pirates (including Captain Jack Sparrow himself)

• FAIRIES.

• A cool saloon girl to hang out with.

• A VERY shocked temperance lady

• TROLL FIGHTS

And so, so much more, including the Satori Violet Belly Dancers 

Pottery made by my awesome friends,

(straight out of the kiln!)

AND SO MUCH MORE, including Cody The Buffalo, at least 3 different pirates, jousting knights, a new Huckleberry Finn addition...

It's an incredible experience, and I'm glad to get to do it so often. Tomorrow (Saturday the 11th) will be the last day of the year *sobs* but that's just how it is. 

I'm posting again soon, for more photos and such. Also, I'm posting my favorites to my Flickr account, here. 

ALSO, I SAY THIS WITH COMPLETE DISBELIEF, FIONA IS THREE AS OF TODAY. THREE. HOT DIGGIDY DANG HOW IS IT POSSIBLE? IDK. 

also shoutout to my best friend since who knows when, Jess, who just turned 15 on the 8th.

YAY!

So...

bye!

Hello again, old friends.

oh dear, it's been a while since I've written. I know, I know, I always make excuses- but there's a reason for it, I swear!

I've been in and out of the hospital/doctor's a lot lately, since I've been getting chest pains over a year now and hopefully we're going to get those sorted out. So there's that.

We also got pet parakeets. That's pretty damn sweet. They're awesome.

And I'm not selling homemade shell candles at a local shop! :)

I've also been doing lots of photography lately, posting it all to my flickr, aka HERE.

Also I'm dangerously close to reaching page 100 of the book I'm writing, so that's super duper exciting! Who knows, maybe I'll actually finish this one.

Oh and I cut all my hair off.

also I want to bleach it and dye it bright red. Like, this shade. how cool would that be?

well, I should go. My novel awaits, and it needs a few more pages! Realistically, I'll probably write again within the next year. Maybe.

Bye!!!!

~Rhiannon Lee~

Hello again!

SORRY FOR DISAPPEARING FOR LIKE A MONTH AND A HALF.

I have lots to do right now. I am not doing the pageant this year, so I'm not COMPLETELY busy, but I do have lots to do. FOR INSTANCE, writing my poetry-I don't need to write it, but I like too, my book (yes I am writing a book. It's at 81 pages at the moment, so here's to hoping it gets finished), I got my DSLR in last month so I've been doing photography a lot (pictures on my flickr). That's pretty much it, I THINK, but I'm forgetful so who knows?


I also spent a good week or so in Nebraska, visiting my close friend Jess and her family, which was awesome. 

 we TRIED to catch minnows. it failed miserably.

dramatic modeling, of course. 

and, most importantly, dumb selfies.

so that was really fun! Now, because I've covered pretty much all the major stuff, I think some random pictures are in order!

so, there we are. It was a pleasure blogging again, hope to post again soon, bye!

~Rhiannon Lee~

June 3,2014

So, this post isn't going to be upbeat like normal, or photography, none of that. This is an update on my life, and it's probably going to be really sad, because my life is sad right now.

My great grandmother, Marie Lueck, passed away on Saturday, May 31.

 She was a truly wonderful old lady who lived to be 97 years old, which I think is pretty impressive. She was pretty amazing.  We all miss her so, so much.

I remember, she used to have these parties on Christmas Eve every year. The grown-ups would sit in one room and talk, and do a secret-santa kind of thing, and we kids would play. She had to stop doing those a few years ago, and she moved to a nursing home a while back.

We all miss her a lot, and we'll never forget her.

On a lighter note, things have been pretty okay for us, too. I mean, as good as they can be when someone in your family dies. Jack's gone back to his horse-riding day-camp thingymajig. Victoria's moving out in a few months for her school, and me and dad are buying a DSLR camera.

Alright well, I have to go now.

Bye,
Rhiannon Lee

recap of Florida 2014

Yes, yes, I know. I was supposed to actually blog during the trip. BUT I couldn't get to my pictures for a while, and the internet was pretty bad at our condo (but that doesn't matter because we were at a beachfront condo-trust me, I'm not complaining) so I didn't have too much time to blog. Anyway, I have the pictures, I have the internet connection, and I'm finally blogging! Everything is right with the world!

Day one, we left at like 9:30. Everyone was a bit grumpy, as we all had to get up at 8 and we all suck at waking up even moderately early.

we made it to Hannibal, Missouri that night. fun fact- Hannibal is the birthplace of Mark Twain! Cool, right?

Day two I told you guys about. Lots of rain, lots of semi trucks, very stressful. No idea where we stopped.

Day three, we saw the ocean. It was in Georgia, and it was really hard to actually find beach access, but we did. AND I got a picture of mom and dad at his first time at the ocean.

sorry it blurred, it was already getting kind of dark, and I moved. oops.

Day four we stopped at Jekyll Island in Georgia before we made it to the condo. Jekyll Island, by the way, is gorgeous, even in the pouring rain.

a view from the dock. 

it was gorgeous there.

 rain on the rocks

there was also a dead jellyfish. Sad, but they look awesome so I took a picture.

Anyway, so we got to Florida who knows when on day 4, and it was awesome. the condo was gorgeous, and you could see the ocean from my parent's window. We were about a block-ish from the ocean, and it was super neat.

After that, I kind of forget what happened what day, so I'm just going to say a bunch of things we did- with pictures, of course.

I fed a super friendly pigeon near the fort in saint augustine.

I found shells at Vilano Beach (amazing, by the way. I TOTALLY recommend going to Vilano if you're going to be near there. it's fabulous!)

 
Tons of stuff happened, too much to put into one blog post, so here's a big bunch of pictures.

 NOT EVEN JOKING THERE ARE WILD PARAKEETS IN FLORIDA.

this is what Vilano beach looks like up close. Gorgeous, right?!

A HUGE bunch of stuff happened, and I'm not good at writing long blog posts, so I'll post more later. 

Bye,

~Rhiannon Lee~

It's raining it's pouring (vacation to Florida- day two)

Hello again! Surprised to see me so soon? me too. Anyway, day two is complete! It's like, two minutes till 9 here, and I figured why not blog, right?

So, lot's of exciting stuff happened AGAIN.  here's a list.

• there were, apparently, tornadoes on the same stretch of road we drove, only a few hours after we were there yesterday. 
• 4 semi trucks nearly hit us, because there are terrible truckers around here.
• we went to Nashville for the second time in my life, so that's cool.
• the rain was so severe yesterday there were practically lakes in the cornfields

the world's like, most gorgeous fields of what we presume is flax, basically seas of yellow flowers. Wanna see?

sorry it blurred, it was taken while driving.

• tornado warnings! FUN
• we saw Metropolis- HOME OF SUPERMAN (or at least we drove past it.)

So, I have to go now because I'm totally wiped out, so I'll sign off with a short poem written by me.

Trucking by Rhiannon Bayer

I've never really been a fan

of driving near truck drivers.

They go too fast,

and whiz on past,

and never use their manners.

Bye!

~Rhiannon Lee~

did someone say Mark Twain? (Florida 2014- day 1)

So, day one of the Florida 2014 vacation has finally ended in Hannibal Missouri- hence the title, as it is the birthplace of- you guessed it- Mark Twain.

After driving pretty much nonstop since we left around... 9:30-ish, we finally got here to our hotel at 8 pm. We faced lots of crazy stuff, from mini-meltdowns over bumpy roads to hour-long rain/thunderstorms.

this is just a mini-update, as it is really late (okay it's 11 but that feels late. I dunno, I'm on a good sleep schedule now so...) anyway, sleep time.

Bye then!
~Rhiannon Lee~

Honey, I'm home!

So, I'm back in Minnesota, the land of 10,000 lakes. 

My plane landed at like, 6 or something tonight, which is good. As annoying as my family can get (and that's REALLY annoying. Just cause I don't blog how childish and idiotic they get doesn't mean they aren't childish and idiotic, because they are) I did miss them. Anyway, now I'm watching a House (Ya know, the doctor-y show with the drug addict guy) marathon and chillin' in my ASU (Arizona State University) hoodie. So that's cool. 

Also, it rained earlier. I would've taken pictures, but my camera is dead. I forgot the charger on the trip so I had to make one fully charged battery and one at 50% last for 11 days. I succeeded, because I'm that frick fraken cool.

So, who wants a list? I like lists.

Things I did In Arizona I've never done before

• Flown on an Airplane by myself
• stayed with a kickass person in Arizona (said kickass person is named McKenna)
• driven up a mountain
• discovered I do NOT like driving up mountains.
• Discovered I like flying in airplanes DEFINITELY a lot more than I like driving.
• had 3 of my favorite TV characters die in one day
• gone swimming outside in April without dying of frost bite.
• flown on an airplane by myself for the second time ever.

So yeah. Also, me and Kenna wrote a poem together, entitled Broken. Here it is.

This isn’t me.

I’m trespassing in your life,
draining you of everything,
and wearing a mask molded of
my skin.
~
Don’t touch the fire,
we’d rather die a slower death.
I am a piece of hot metal,
digging deep down into your skin
and branding you with my fingerprints.
mine. you’re mine.
why do i feel guilty for hurting you?
l wanted to feel something
for a while it was pleasure,
but now i can only feel pain.
~
You scarred me with invisible blades,
and seared my skin
like pouring acid
over a thousand wounds.

Why do you feel pleasure hurting me?

You stand on the edge
of glass and destruction,
the soul barrier blocking the two,
but you only fuel the feud.

The only reason
we aren’t broken
is because you break me.
~
I ripped out your heart 
and i consumed you
i unraveled you until you were nothing but
dust and blood and
fragments of soul.

somehow, it was never enough.

i could have told you
everything, and 
i could have dressed your wounds.

i can’t apologize to ashes.
it’s your turn.
kill me.

then we both will be free.

~~~

The squiggly line thingy separates points of view as well as the poet. The odd numbered parts- the first and third- are by me, and the even are by Mckenna.

So yeah, I've got to go try (and fail) to readjust to Minnesota time and temperate.

Bye!!! (SORRY I LOOK SO BAD IN THE PICTURE. I LIKE NEVER WEAR MAKEUP SO I LOOK REALLY UGLY GENERALLY ESP RIGHT NOW OKAY)

Signing off,

~Rhiannon Lee~

hehe hi

I think it's safe to say that I  suck at remembering to blog. Even I know that.

I've STARTED blog posts like 4 times since I've got here but I'm too lame to keep writing. Anyway, so here this is.

Well, Arizona has been pretty freaking awesome so far.  The airplane ride was really cool, other than when I was terrified we would all die because of the fact it was raining part of the time...

this was like, two minutes before we took off. 

but it was all really cool, especially flying.

so that was all really great.

SO, let's flash forward to when I landed. The airport was HUGE, I mean like, really, really big. That may be because I'm a small town girl, but I don't think so. The place was a maze.

And then I saw McKenna. It was really, really cool seeing her again- it HAS been 9 months since we'd seen each other in real life.

that's her being really awesome

ANYWAY so after the touching reunion, we all went for pizza, which was really yummy. that's where the pic of Kenna was taken.

 

I'm not going to describe everything to you because that's like describing an entire week in a blog post which would take a long time. SO, instead I'm going to put a bunch of photos up, and captions what's happening in them. That way, I can show y'all my pictures, and not have to type so much. Win-win. 

we did lots of photography.

McKenna was on sale at a candy store (ALL the chicks were 30% off! ;) )

 

Lots of other stuff, too. We drove up a mountain (and 3/4 of the people in the car, including myself, REALLY freaked out. None of us are good with heights, as it seems.)

We went swimming, we shopped at a bookstore (kenna got Star trek, and I got a Stephen King novel).

We took a ton of pictures while hiking,

She's really cute.

Kenn also got pictures of me, but I am like, quite literally the least photogenic person in the universe, and therefor I look dumb in like, all of them.

So, I'm going to go now, because I've spent like 3 hours on this blog post because I keep getting distracted and I really ought to post it before I forget it and just wasted all this time for nothing.

Bye!
~Rhiannon Lee~

ONE DAY!!!

GET THIS- Tomorrow, at ten AM, I'm getting on a plane. Three hours later, at Eleven (1 pm for us Minnesotans) I'll be getting off said plane- IN ARIZONA!

in less than 24 hours I'll be hangin' with my really super close friend, Mckenna, and having the time of my life. It's gonna be a super fun, Buffy, Sherlock, Doctor Who, Dr. Horrible, etc filled time!

We'll also do sportsy stuff, don't worry (looking at you, mom. ;) ).

BUT I will worry, because I, a Minnesotan, who thinks 60 is super-warm tank top weather (IT IS HERE), am going to be chilling in a place where 70 is cool. Basically, I'll melt. BUT I'LL BE HAPPY!

so, long story short, I'll try to blog, but I have memory nearly as bad as my mother's (which is terrible, btw) so, I may or may not blog during the trip. Hopefully, though, I will!

This is Rhiannon, vacationer extraordinaire, signing off! ;)

~Rhiannon Bayer~

PS

comment if you can think of anything I should check out in AZ!!! :D

Ways to calm down

As (possibly) many of you may know, winters in Minnesota, or any part of the Northern U.S., from what I can tell, really kind of, well, suck.

Roads are all icy so you can't drive too far, it snows every few days so everything is either covered with three feet of it, or dead(people not included).

There are perks of it, sure. I mean, at least we have snow. I can't imagine living in somewhere like Arizona, partially because of the laws, partially because of the weather. Even now, when we're in the mid-thirties, highest(Fahrenheit, obviously.), and in Arizona it's 70s-90s around this time (going by my friend Kenna, who I'm going to stay with in like, 5 days, and also by weather websites). So, there's that.

The point is, you get cooped up after a while. No matter how cool the people are that you're stuck with, it's still mad-making after about four months of cold. It's also very stressful.

So this is my post about that very thing- stress. Whether it's my reasoning- being trapped with six other people from December to late March, even though they're cool people,- or it's you're school or something, or you're kids, whatever.

So, here they are!!!!

• MUSIC.

Not all music. Definitely not.  No, you need to create a playlist of songs that make you feel just... better. Maybe it’s punk music that makes you feel really cool and tough, or maybe it’s something just really catchy (boybands, Ke$ha, etc.), or even the soundrack of a musical! My personal mix consists of the Buffy The Vampire Slayer episode Once More With Feeling( IT’S A MUSICAL BUFFY EPISODE! :D), punk music, and a LOT of moody music and alternative rock. it’s really random, yes, but it makes me feel happy.

• walking/running/biking

This is, admittedly, harder with all the snow and ice around here, but it still makes me feel a lot better.  Maybe get your playlist on an MP3 player and drag it along, or just enjoy the sounds of nature, traffic, and your feet hitting the ground. Whatever the soundtrack of your walk or run is. Music isn’t advised (or safe) with bike riding, so I like to just go somewhere without people.  20-30 or so minutes is normally long enough for me to calm down.

• makeup/accessories/clothes

So if any guys read my blog, they probably won’t relate. Or maybe they will, who am I to judge them? (I’m not. If ya wanna have feel good makeup, go crazy! :D)  I’m adding this because it’s a very fun thing to do.  

Personally I like really dramatic makeup, like in my selfie that I blogged. winged eyeliner, red lipstick, all of it. (I’m wearing it now, actually.)

• poetry

So, I’m pretty sure by now you guys know I write poetry. Sometimes cheerful, sometimes (actually, it’s mostly) moody.  I’m adding one of my poems now, so you can see what kind of writing I do.

Every Detail by Rhiannon Bayer

You are a flame.

You burn so brightly in my eyes,

I feel as if I’m staring into the sun

every time I’m graced

with your ever-welcome presence.

Every detail of you

is etched in the stars,

as you, a constellation

and I, a mere stargazer.

You fascinate me,

your ever-present hunger for knowledge,

and your constant need to speak your mind.

Every detail of you

is poured into the sea

as if you are a whirlpool,

and I a small ship,

caught in your cyclone.

You are what I cannot believe,

someone so brave,

so passionate,

so wonderfully oblivious to the world’s darkest shades.

Every detail of you,

written across my heart

like you are ink,

deep as coal, precious as gold,

and I am just another girl,

admiring the words of the world,

because you deserve them all.

 

It's not on the list, but I also find writing really angry stories/letters/songs/whatevers helps.  I'm on page 41 of my homicidal book which has no names- any ideas? Comment 'em maybe! (please do! That'd be really nice of you!)

Also, if you have any other ideas for stressful stuff, comment those!

~Rhiannon Lee~

Hey there! :)

Hey! Rhiannon here! :)

Not much is up right now. Well, it's snowing, which isn't exactly spring-y weather (unless you're from, say, Minnesota, like me. Then it is normal.)  But it's pretty warm out (well, it's 28 degrees. Pretty warm for here this early, I guess.) so the snow is mostly melting when it hits the ground. Mostly.

Also, in exactly one week I'll be flying to Arizona to stay with my best friend, Kenn. Not sure if you remember her, but she came in September.

(see that cutie? It's her. She's awesome.)

So yeah, that's super exciting. We're going to look at the graffiti there,take lots of pictures, watch TV shows like Buffy, Doctor Who, and Supernatural.  Also, being as we took like, no pictures together last time, we're going to have a lot of selfies to make up for it. So, be warned, I may blog them.

I'm also going to (try to) blog pretty often on the trip. I know I'm not exactly good at remembering to blog, but I'm sure I'll manage- maybe.

So, now that all that's over, how about some pictures? :D

Sorry, but most of the ones I've taken recently are from the zoo. Not the zoo trip I blogged about earlier this month, we went again, but still, same zoo and all.

BUT I think I got some okay pictures.

a tiger sticking his tongue out

had this at the zoo as long as I can remember, finally decided to take a picture.

a plastic ribbon tied around this tree

bald eagle

and again.

and again.

red panda

peacock

so, yeah.

On other news, I'm working on a new book/story thingamabob.  I can't say too many things (channels River song- spoilers! [I'm a Doctor Who nerd now. yay!]) but I can tell you guys the basic plot.

Cat, a sixteen year old girl, is also a homicidal killer. She's recruited by the TTFE, a secret group that recruits teens like her from all over the world to, well, kill people.  My book follows her, and a lot of other characters, while they try to figure out their crazy lives as serial killers, some trying to get better and not murder more people, and others doing the exact opposite. It's written from Cat's point of view, and I'm at about 36 pages as of last night.

Also, more poetry! Lots of poetry! I might even post some of my poems on here later, depending on if they suck or not, which I'm not exactly sure of, so yeah.

So yay! I've got to go now, you know, write some, eat some, take some pictures, also listen to music. Such a busy,busy life(SARCASM!!!!).

Bye you guys!

~Rhiannon Lee~

The zoo!

Hi! Sorry I haven't blogged in ages, I couldn't find my camera card reader, and without pictures, my life's pretty dull.

So, lots of cool stuff's been happening lately! I dyed my hair purple, which is pretty fun!

(the picture sucks, but I don't have too many pictures of myself, so yeah)

Anyway, I also took my first ever OFFICIAL selfie, because Toria made me.

(she also did my makeup. She's cool like that.)

Anyway, continuing on! For my birthday, we got to go and stay with some really cool people! I saw tons of amazing graffiti, and it was all pretty awesome. Sadly, though, I took the pictures with my film camera, and have yet to get those developed.

So, next month, even more awesome stuff will happen, including me getting to go FLY (IN AN AIRPLANE!) to Arizona to see one of my best friends EVER, Mckenna!!!!!

Now, back to what the post is officially about, which, if you read the title, is the zoo! We went to the Great Plains Zoo yesterday and, despite it being like 20 degrees out, it was amazing.

It seems like every animal in that place was posing majestically for me, so I think I have to post their pictures here, yeah? :D

a very tired, very bored snow leopard

the world's cutest tiger

really evil looking Pallas cat

this cutie sat up and posed. :)

this adorable snake

this duck because he was adorable and all

this goat, who, by the way, is TOTALLY smiling

the snow leopard being like every other cat, and by that I mean licking stuff.

the tiger got right up by the window...

then decided to stand up. He was like, seven feet tall.

then he and the other tiger posed

And posed again.

this lazy bear :)

this cute hawk

swans

and bald eagles, because they're awesome!

So yeah.

I also got a Kindle this week, so that's cool. Our local library is one of the ones doing digital books, meaning you can take out eBooks through Amazon, read them on your Kindle, then you return them when you're done! I just finished Cursed by Jennifer L. Armentrout. Great book, really well written. I liked it a lot! So, yeah.

Bye!!!!

~Rhiannon Lee~