When you're sick...

It's a great opportunity to brush up on html!

What do you think of the new design, folks? The header is by Ara, as was my former one, but all the other edits are by me. :) I'm working on learning more about blog design, with the help of the fabulous Hannah from Beauty Blog Designs.

Also, I changed things up (just slightly) on my photography blog, and would love if you checked that out as well!

And so this post isn't completely boring, here are a few pictures for you:

Our cat, looking completely bored and a bit nonplussed because of this inquisitive little puppy:

So anyway, hope you enjoy the new look! :)

On Days like Today...

On days like today, I want to fly.

On days like today, I love romping with an adorable puppy and an equally adorable younger brother (just don't tell him I said that).

On days like today, I want to write outside in the wildness of the wind.

On days like today, I love alliteration.

On days like today, I wear bright colors and sunglasses.

On days like today, I love spending "girl time" with my Mom shopping. 

On days like today, I laugh because of the sheer joy of life.

On days like today, I wish I could capture the sunshine in a bottle.

On days like today, I experience a longing I can't explain.

On days like today, I am caught up in the ecstasy and beauty of life.

Apologies, questions, and... puppies!

My sincere apologies for my lack of posts this month. Ever since I got home on the 5th, I have been crazy busy from sunup to sundown. You would have thought that going home for the summer would mean that I'd have more time for things, but I got right on a schedule and haven't had much time for anything extraneous since!

Apologies aside, I have a few questions for you:

I've been trying to figure out what my goals are for this blog. I currently I have 137 followers, and am about halfway through my second year blogging. I could keep pushing to get more followers (not to say more comments!), but I realized that shouldn't be my goal. Instead, I desire for this blog to be a place of encouragement and edification for Christian girls (and guys, though I'm typically talking to girls). So, my question for you is: Am I achieving this goal for you? Do you feel like this is a place of encouragement and edification? If not, please tell me what I can be doing better. Are there specific kinds of posts you'd like me to write more often? Would you rather me talk less or more about myself?

Please help me make this the best place I can, gals. I desire to do this for you, not for myself, and therefore I would love and greatly appreciate your feedback in this area.

Also, if you could vote on my poll on the sidebar about disqus and other commenting things, I would greatly appreciate that. 

And now, to the last item mentioned in my title:

 We got a puppy! Her name is Pepper, short for Peppermint. :) She is an Australian Shepherd, and pretty much the cutest thing ever. I always considered myself a cat person, but this little ball of playfulness is quickly winning my heart over to the other side. :)

My Quoteable Family

I'm back home for Christmas, and realizing just how much I've missed my family. They're funny, witty, silly, crazy, sweet, kind, loving, and just all-around wonderful. It's hard to imagine how I've spent about three months of this year apart from them.

With all of this fun and humor come many quotes. I'm the type who loves to capture things - make sure that whatever is said, seen, or heard is recorded in some way. So whenever someone says something funny, I love to write it down!

Here is just a small sampling of them so that you get a glimpse of the fantastic fun we have:

"God is the ultimate multitasker." (said by an unknown member of my family)

"Joy is a melody fashioned from sorrow." (said by a good friend)

My brother: "If the most something can do is nothing, then that something is worth nothing. If the least something can do is something, then it is worth something." (try wrapping your brain around that one!)

My brother (on my insistence in writing down everything funny that came out of his mouth): "The dreaded pen to paper... don't write that down!"

Mom: "I think I need more sleep than the average bear."
My brother: "Well, the average bear sleeps all winter!"

I've decided that each week I'm going to post either a quote (by myself, someone I know, or someone famous [or all three XD]), or a thought. I have a lot of small things I think of that don't work well to turn into larger posts, and so this shall be a good way to express them.

I hope you all are having a fun time with your family as well, if you are with them. What are some funny things you've said?

I hope you didn't feel abandoned...

My family went camping this last weekend, so what with all the packing and getting things done and everything, I kind of forgot about you all on the blog world. (I'm weely weely sorry! Please forgive me!) Hopefully you all didn't feel too abandoned. ;)

I had a great time camping, though! We went with at least nine other families that we are friends with from our homeschool co-op, and it really was so much fun. I had a great time hanging out with friends I hadn't seen in awhile, playing some killer soccer, baseball and ultimate frisbee, getting tan (haha - more like burn!), tubing down the river, playing card games, roasting smores, singing campfire songs and playing guitar, and laughing my head off! I could do a whole post about the awesome time I had - but I'll just say, I had a blast.

So there's a ton of things I need to catch up on with you all! First in the order of business: Ten Top Tips! Here they are (with the votes in parentheses).

1. Visit and comment often on blogs you follow. (22)

2. Don't become someone else on blogger, be yourself! (20)

3. Make sure your blog is easy to read (20)

4. Be patient and do the work to keep your blog maintained and get the word out (20)

5. Proof-read and review blog posts (15)

6. Use big photos for photoblogs (15)

7. Visit and follow blogs with similar interests to yours to get more readers (15)

8. Plan and think carefully about ideas before going ahead (14)

9. Know your audience and the goal of the blog (13)

10. Keep sidebar organized (not too many widgets/buttons)

I'm glad so many people participated in Three Top Tips, and I hope it was helpful to you all! I know I learned a number of helpful tips. ;)

Also, I plan on posting my answers to your questions from this post tomorrow. I'm really enjoying writing out my answers to them, and I want to extend the invitation one more time: if there's anything you'd like to know about me, or just any questions at all that you have for me, please comment and ask away! I would love more questions to answer. :D

Next, I would like to direct your attention to this lovely blog button over here:






Like it? Yes, I finally have a button for my photography blog! I also changed up the layout and design of the blog some, so I would love for you to go over there and check it out! Don't forget to become a follower if you like the pictures! :D

Another thing I'd like to mention is that I'm going to be entering Cornet Crazie's writing contest. Y'all should consider yourself lucky (or blessed) to be able to read one of my short stories (I don't usually post my longer works so no one steals them). Right now I've got to figure out just what story to enter, and then I'll post it! The contest ends on the 16th, so head on over there and enter before it's too late. :)

Alrighty - well that is that! Is that enough information for you to take in at once? ;)

Planting Chums - Fun Games

I missed last week's topic on Hannah's "Planting Chums", which was "Food Loves" (that's good anyways, because I have so many it would be hard to chose!)

This week, the topic is "Fun Games." Now I have to tell you, my family is really into games. It all started with my dad: he loved to play board games with his friends when he was a kid, and his love of games has continued as an adult (he still gets together once in a while with a friend and plays this really complicated World War II board game). He enjoys buying us the games he loved as a kid, and we usually really like them as well.

Needless to say, we have a lot of games. And not just the traditional games you see like Monopoly or Scrabble or Uno (though we have those too). We have games like Kingmaker and The War of the Ring (from LotR) and Wooden Ships and Iron Men (which I'm sure you've probably never heard before). And we also love to make up our own games as well.

So, I have a lot of favorite games. In this post I will try to limit myself to five. (Ack, this is hard!)

First off, I love Settlers of Catan:

We recently got this game for Christmas, and have been playing it with my dad every chance we get. It's kind of hard to explain if you've never played me, but trust me, it's a lot of fun. You're trying to rule the board by having the most settlements, cities, and roads. It relies both on chance and strategy. The awesome thing about it is that it's never the same twice!

Second (really more of a tie) is Dutch Blitz:

This fast-paced card game is so much fun - and the more the merrier! The first time I played it, there were like ten people playing. I was so lost as everyone frantically was putting down cards all over the place. I've gotten much more speedy now!

This one you probably haven't heard of: Landslide.

This is one of those oldies-but-goodies. My dad played this game as a kid, and he introduced it to us. In the game, you are a presidential candidate, and your goal is to win the most states (by a landslide). It's a whole lot of fun!

Fluxx. The wackiest card game I have ever played.

There's really no way to describe this game. It's hilarious and completely random, and will have you sometimes groaning with frustration as you try to follow all the rules that are laid down. The winner is often the person who looks like they're losing (and you usually can't even tell that). And it makes some hilarious inside jokes!

Last but not least is good old Apples to Apples!

This is one of my all time favorites, and the one our family most frequently agrees to play (we're all pretty picky when it comes to our favorite games). We've developed quite a few versions of this two - blind, put down two, opposite... always loads of fun.

Ah, now I'm raring to go play games with my family! :)

Daybook, and a Crazy Week

It's been a crazy last couple days for my family, so sorry for the longer amount of time between posts. This week we had to empty out our livingroom and diningroom/schoolroom in order to put in carpet. It was a lot of work, especially since we had four bookcases we had to empty out. I seriously think we have like hundreds, if not thousands of books! And after the carpet was put in, we had to put them all back again. Thankfully, I think things are just about back to normal now. :)

Find out how to do An Inspired Young Woman's Daybook here

Today I did my chores, put books back on the shelves, wrapped presents, and baked a lemon cake for my brother's birthday.
I'm feeling very tired, yet happy that most of the work is done.
My outfit is jeans and a grey sweatshirt with a big brightly colored heart. It says "Lovin' Life" underneath. :)
Outside my window it's a blustery day: rainy, windy, drab & dull. But I'm thankful for the rain because that means we'll be having green grass and flowers again soon!
A song that's stuck in my head is... the theme for Pirates of the Caribbean (my brother was trying it out on the piano, and you know how I am - if I hear a song, it's stuck in my head the rest of the day!)
Something (a book, song, movie, person...) that's inspired me recently is my friend (Violet), giving me one of her famous "lectures" on my story. :)
A prayer of my heart this week is that I would not procrastinate!
I am creating a cake for my brother's birthday, also, a beautiful home!
I am reading... hahaha should I even answer this one? 
A scripture verse or passage that's stuck out to me this week is James 1:2-4 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."
A spiritual lesson I'm learning is to have a cheerful and helpful attitude, no matter how tired I am.
An attribute of God I've seen this week is His peace, and unity in our house even as we're going through this crazy week.
A picture I’d like to share: 

(Poem is "A Rainy Day" by Longfellow. I thought it fit with today!)

A creative goal for next week is to figure out Christopher's character a bit more, and to edit up to chapter 11 in my novel.
Did I complete my goal from last week... not quite. I only worked on the first three chapters. :P Hopefully I'll have more time this week - and not procrastinate!

vibrant fall

Today was the first day that was a proper fall day: bright blue sky, trees ablaze, windy and crisp.  It made me feel like having a juicy honeycrisp apple while feeling the wind on my face. Fall is such a beautiful and vibrant season!

Yesterday I made an apple pie for my younger brother's birthday. It took a very long time... but I think the end result is very nice!

 I tried out the lattice weaving for the top, and surprisingly it worked out well!

I used a large assortment of apples: granny smiths, braeburns & one each of Jonagold and Honeycrisp apples.

 

We'll have to see how it tastes... we're celebrating his birthday tomorrow and so we haven't eaten it yet. We almost ate it last night because it smelled so good - but thankfully I rescued it from my family!

Hope you are enjoying your fall as well... take some time to go outside, eat a fresh apple, maybe even bake a pie!

~Melody