Weekly Saint Report - #1

So, I said last week that I'd be posting my weekly saint report I have to do for school every Friday. Well, its Friday people so here is my first report. Enjoy!

St. Joseph of Nazareth

Saint Joseph was born in approximately 90 BC to Jewish parents in the line of King David. He was a carpenter by trade and a very holy man. 

Later in life he became betrothed to the young virgin Mary, who was also from the line of Kind David. Not long after the betrothal, Mary told Joseph that she was with child. Since they were not yet living in the same house, Joseph knew the child was not his. At that time, it was considered a grave sin if an unmarried woman was found pregnant. The punishment for this crime was to be taken outside of the city walls and stoned to death.

Joseph was a compassionate man, and not wanting Mary to be killed, he decided to quietly break off the engagement. Before he did however, the angel Gabriel visited him in a dream. He told Joseph of Mary’s miraculous conception and that the child in her womb was the son of God - the prophesied Messiah. The angel also told Joseph that he was to be Mary’s husband and protect and provide for her and the Son of God. The angel also said that the baby’s name was to be Jesus. Joseph followed the advice of the angel.

A few months laster, a census was ordered by Caesar Augustus, so every man had to return to his home town to register. Taking Mary, who was nine months pregnant with Jesus, Joseph traveled to Bethlehem to follow the order of the Emperor. While in Bethlehem, they could find no room at the inns and were forced to stay in a stable where Jesus was born. They were visited by shepherds who said that an angel had appeared to them proclaiming the birth of the Messiah. Likewise, Magi from the East came to visit the holy family, bringing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh for the king.

While still in Bethlehem Joseph was visited by the archangel Gabriel again, who came to warn him; King Herod, after hearing of the birth of a new king, ordered the death of all Jewish male children age two and under to be murdered. He did this in jealousy to protect his throne. Heeding the angel’s advice once again, Joseph took Mary and Jesus and fled to Egypt where they lived in hiding for a few years.

After Herod’s death, Joseph returned to Nazareth with his family. During the rest of his life he provided for and took care of his young wife and Jesus in Nazareth, remaining a very holy and devout Jew. Finally, Joseph passed away quietly in their small home on July 20, AD.  

St. Joseph is the patron of the universal church. He is also the patron against doubt and hesitation, fighting communism, and a happy death. St. Joseph was never formally canonized until centuries after his death. Like most early saints, he was declared a saint by popular consensus by the early Christians. He was officially declared a saint in the 12th century.

Learn more about St. Joseph here.

Jazmine's Sword!!!

Hey All!

Guess what my Grandparent's brought me two days ago!

Ta daaaaaaa!

It's a sword! A real sword that looks almost exactly like the one on my cover! Isn't it AWESOME! This is what I will be using as part of my 'Jazmine' costume when I start doing signings in the summer.

My dad brought it back here to California from Spain like 25 years ago.

Hands in the air... or die!

Jazmine... with a (Ty Zeiter) makeover. lol :-)

Tahoe Vacation & Birthdays

So, me and my family just got back from a week in Tahoe Donner last Saturday. It has been two years since I've been in Tahoe and I only live 2 hours away! Last summer we were extremely busy with Farmer's Market and Ranch work, same with the year before. But we got to go this year! It was so nice and relaxing! I didn't go in the snow because there wasn't a tone out there, but I was able to write a short story for my little sister Ali's 11th birthday (I will be posting it on here sometime soon!), and I read a book, watched a tone of movies and did crazy makeup with my mom and sisters!

I can't say how great is was to just relax and eat junk food and just be on vacation! My brother Zach, my mom and I watched 4 movies in a row one night and it was epic! We didn't go to bed until past 3 in the morning! ;-) We watched X-men 2, Lockout, MI: 3, and the Bourne Identity (my mom didn't see the last one because we didn't start it until midnight!

My little sister Mariana (we call her Nina) just turned 6 on March 1, which is really kind of scary :-O And my other little sister Alisandra (Ali), turned 11 on March 5! So, yeah, its been a week full of birthdays!

Anyway, here are some pictures from the highlights of our week long vacation:

 On the sledding hill in Donner

 Michael is so cute!

Having fun...

 Lets Race!!!

 Me having fun playing with the make up. 

This is a dramatic winged liner with green, blue and purple liquid glitter liner.

 I am going to start doing makeup tutorials and posting them on Youtube.

This is my idea for a Red Riding Hood look.

Close up.

This is different brown shadows with a liquid liner and a long thin wing. There are red whine stones on the wing and yellow glitter liner in the inner corner.

(my skin doesn't look to good here :-P)

Birthday buddies! <3

The Birthday Table ;-D

Hope you enjoyed the pics! As you can see we all had a really nice time on our week long vacation!



Starting next week I'm going to be posting the saint reports I have to do for school every week. I am going to write them in historical order, starting from the first century AD, until now, the 21 century AD. I will be posting every Friday starting with Saint Joseph of Nazareth. Some of the stories are really amazing so I'm sure you won't get bored with them... well I hope not because I actually really enjoy them!

I think I'm also going to post my Latanica Saga short story next week so keep your eyes peeled for that!

Cheers!

~Ty

Liebster Award

  Thank you Melissa for nominating me for the  Liebster  awards. Check out her blog  everybody! Melissa Reads.

 Here are the rules to the game:  thank the person who  nominated you, answer the 11 questions they asked you, nominate 11 other people and ask them 11 question in return. According to the rules the award should be sent to people with under 200 followers.


The Questions from Melissa:

1. If you could live anywhere in the world where would that be?

Honestly, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else other then where I am right now. I love where I live! I hope someday to travel to Europe, Africa, Ireland, Hawaii, Palau... everywhere basically:-)

2. Burgers or pizza?

If they are burgers made from my family's homegrown beef... then yes, burgers.

3. Introvert or extrovert?

Extrovert.

4. If you could invite any three characters (from movies or books) to dinner at your house who would be invited?

Wow, that's REALLY hard. Um... I think Jack Sparrow is hilarious but I think he would creep me out in real life... I'm in love with Anakin Skywalker but he's too serious to be a lot of fun. Crap! Do I have to answer the question? Haha, just kidding. How about... Padme`Amidala, Peter Pan, The Pevensie siblings, and lets just throw in Thor too ;-)

And I picked these people because... I would love it if Padme`could share her wardrobe, I wan't to fly and go to Neverland, I think the Pevensies and I would just have a tone of fun together (especially if we could find a portal to Narnia), and who wouldn't want to hang out with a god?

5. Who is the one person you would be beside yourself to meet?

Liam Neeson (because he is just awesome), George Lucas (who wouldn't want to talk about Star Wars all day... and with the guy who made it up?!) and I can't wait to get to heaven because then I get to talk to everybody that ever lived!

6. If you were able to suddenly time travel where would you go?

Medieval times because of the dresses, but what if I end up a peasant?

7. What t.v. show (if any) are you currently following?

Once Upon a Time, and Hercules: the Legendary Journeys.

8. What is your go to: Comedy or Drama?

Comedy

9. What is your favorite sport?

Horse back riding. I also like watching baseball.

10. What do you absolutely LOVE?

I love traveling with my family, and finally finishing a book!

11. What do you absolutely HATE?

People who are two-faced.

And here are my Nominees (yeah, I know I don't have 11 but I got tired of trying to find bloggers with under 200 followers)

Diana: http://dianailinca.blogspot.com


Amber: http://flareoflight.blogspot.com


C.S. Marks: http://www.csmarks.com/c-s-marks-blog/


Geninne: http://blogdelanine.blogspot.com


Lauren: http://howbourgeois.blogspot.com


Julie: http://www.juliekieras.com


(I know he has 206 followers but, you know, whatev): http://afantasyreader.blogspot.com


And here are my questions:

1. If you could magically transport yourself to any book or movie, what book/movie would you choose?

2. Chocolate or Vanilla?

3. What are your current top 3 favorite songs?

4. Who would you rather meet, your past self or you future self?

5. Lord of the Rings or Star Wars?

6. What is your dream vacation?

7. What person from history would you most like to meet?

8. Hobbies?

9. What are your top 3 favorite books and movies?


10.  If you were an animal, what would you be?

11.  What is your goal?

The Homelanders book 1: The Last Thing I Remember - by Andrew Klavan

Charlie West just woke up in someone else’s nightmare.

He’s strapped to a chair. He’s covered in blood and bruises. He hurts all over. And a strange voice outside the door just ordered his death.

The last thing he can remember, he was a normal high-school kid doing normal things—working on his homework, practicing karate, dreaming of becoming an air force pilot, writing a pretty girl’s number on his hand. How long ago was that? Where is he now? Who is he really?

And more to the point... how is he going to get out of this room alive?

Initial Reaction:

I really loved this book! 

The books I normally read are either fantasy or historical fiction, so this book was really refreshing! This is the first real thriller I’ve read, the other two being on the more mystery/spiritual side. I loved the action, the Christian values, patriotism and the theme of never giving up on what you believe in no matter what the cost.

The book begins with Charlie West waking up in a torture room with no memory of how he got there or why... and he just heard his captor give the order of his death. He then proceeds to escape, and during the first half of the book, while he hides, he tries to recall things from the last day he remembers. 

He is finally able to get away from his captors, only to find out that a whole year has passed since the last day he remembers. And not only are the terrorists after him, but the authorities as well, determined to lock him behind bars for a murder that he doesn’t remember committing... the murder of his former best friend, Alex Houser...

The Characters:

Charlie West is the main character. He’s your normal seventeen-year-old American teenager who goes to church, tries to do what he believes is right, and is a black belt in karate. I actually really liked Charlie, and that really pleased me because the last thriller I read was The Hunger Games, and Katniss drove me crazy! (I’ll be doing a review on The Hunger Game books sometime soon). Charlie was a nice guy, got good grades, and dreamed of being an Air Force Pilot. He had his problems and doubts but when something bad happened, he always went back to his beliefs to sort out his confusion.

Beth Summers is Charlie’s crush. She’s sweet, pretty, and is a nice side character. None of the characters’ personalities have really developed yet, but I see great potential for almost all of them.

Charlie has four main friends and they’re all awesome! Seriously, these kids just made me want to jump into the book so I could hang out with them. They were hilarious!

Alex Houser is Charlie’s old best friend. They drifted apart after Alex’s dad left and they moved away. Since then Alex had gotten into trouble with bad choices of friends, drugs, and smoking. He turned into a really messed up kid and was starving for answers. He was also looking for consolation in the bad things that he was doing.

And finally we get to the Homelanders. The Homelanders are a group of Americans recruited by Islamic terrorists to help destroy America. Because the Homelanders are Americans, they can blend into society where the terrorists can not. They are America haters and are intent on destroying it from the inside. They are the one’s who held Charlie captive in the beginning.

The Plot:

I was really hesitant to read this book because of the synopsis. I mean, what normal teenager wakes up in the hands of Islamic terrorists who are torturing him for information that will aid in the destruction of America? It’s just not realistic. What kind of kid knows that kind of information? 

The Writing Style:

I really enjoyed the writing style. The author did a great job communicating Charlie’s thoughts and internal conflicts. And also, he really knows how to write what a teenager would think, and some of Charlie’s thoughts or references were hilarious!


Concluding Thoughts:

Even though I haven’t found out the reason for Charlie waking up in the hands of terrorists with no memory, I still really enjoyed this book because of the characters and the writing style. I definitely recommend it. I give this book a 4 out of 5 stars.  

For ages 13+

You can buy it here. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's day everybody!!! Today is the day of love when we celebrate the love between husband and wife, brother and sister, parent and child, grandparent and grandchild, friends and cousins, and all of the above! :-)

Do you know where Valentine's day comes from? Or how the exchanging of cards came to be? No? Well I'll be happy to tell you!

Valentine's Day--believe it or not--is actually the feast day of St. Valentine (or Valentinus, which means worthy, strong or powerful). He was a Catholic priest and martyr during the Christian persecutions under Claudius II in the two hundreds. He was convicted of treason because of his faith in 2070 and for marrying Christian couples. When refusing to deny Christ, he was beaten with clubs and when that didn't kill him he was beheaded on February 14. 

The exchanging of cards began with a legend involving St. Valentine. While in prison, awaiting his execution, he healed the blind daughter of his jailer. And during that time he developed an fatherly relationship with the little girl. When he left to endure his martyrdom, he left a little farewell note for her signed, "From your Valentine." And that's when the giving of cards began!

Pretty cool hu?

If you want to learn more about St. Valentine, click here.

So Valentine's Day isn't really about being all lovey dovey and giving kisses and chocolate to your crush, but celebrating the love  itself. For love isn't just physical and emotional... the true meaning of love is wanting the best for the other person.

xoxo,
~Ty

PS - Stay tuned in for next week because I'm planning on doing a book review on my favorite teen thriller series!

Jazmine Artwork

So, believe it or not, writing is not my only hobby. I also LOVE to draw! And so, as my third post, I thought I'd stick with things on my book and show you some drawings of the main character Jazmine! These sketches were done during different times during the writing process and they show my concept of Jazmine as her personality and looks changed... and changed again. And it also shows my progress as an artist throught the years.

This was one of the first pictures I did of Jazmine in 2009 (I was 12).

This was also in 2009.

This was done in 2010 I belive. The Unicorn is Lunar and the man is one of my earliest version of Adrian... He looks like a musketeer... scary :-P (I was 13).

This was done as concept art for what pose I wanted Jazmine in for the cover. I drew it in 2010 at like 10:00pm. I was 13.

This was in 2011 (14).

And finally, the drawing I put in the book! The one in the middle is Jazmine (obviously) the panther is Ramza, the unicorn is Lunar and the man is Adrian. I was 15 when I finished the final draft for this drawing. :-)

*     *     *

I hope you liked them! I'm obviously not a professionl, but I'm going to keep practicing and hopefully someday I will be!!! If you liked these please comment and tell me because that will encourage me to post more of my sketches. (I also love drawing mermaids, fairies, etc.) I'm also hoping to start doing some colored pictures. I have a few but I want to do more... color just adds so much! 

Well, see ya'll next time!
~Ty