Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
~ Mark Twain
A Year in Pictures – Weeks Eight, Nine, and Ten
The photos for weeks eight, nine, and ten of my picture-taking challenge! Previous photos can be seen on the page: A Year in Pictures. Enjoy!
Day 50 – tiny wool fox
Day 51 – fabric acorns
Day 52 – seven sisters rose
Day 53 – a lovely lunch
Day 54 – serenade
Day 55 – rustic fabric acorns
Day 56 – kale
Day 57 – photograph for a school project
Day 58 – sleeping kitty
Day 59 – homemade granola bars
Day 60 – a quick sketch
Day 61 – a great CLEP test score! (CLEPs are scored on a *really* different scale)
Day 62 – choir music
Day 63 – our backyard compass
Day 64 – my awesome parents
Day 65 – boring picture, I know. but I took it for documentation purposes, not with photography in mind
Day 66 – at a conference
Day 67 – bathing beauties
Day 68
Day 69 – cooking gumbo with my “Grammy”
Day 70 – Acacia blossoms
Life Update and Some Randomness 2.0
You know what? Life is just grand. That’s the perfect description of my life as of late. It’s busy, often crazy, and flat-out exhausting. But it’s also oh so beautiful.
And it’s full of things worth celebrating. Like passing Business Law. And having 45 college credits to your name. And the plan to have 60 sometime in August. And close fellowship. And the graduation of three close friends. And bubbles. And doors that unexpectedly swing open. And board games. And picture-taking. And laughter. And hilarious G+ hangouts with people from 5 different states. And dancing. And this song☟ (which I’ve had on repeat for days).
So with that, I leave you with hopes and plans to be back very soon. Thanks to all my lovely readers for sticking around and taking to time to read my ramblings.
adventure is out there!
CP Virginia Gathering 2013
This past week, I went on a grand adventure. It was filled with laughter, hugs, smiles, silliness, ukuleles, games, music, walking, hiking, Ultimate frisbee, skits, worshiping, praying, touring, picture-taking, and very little sleeping. 
The occasion? My wonderful dad and I traveled the 1,120 miles to Virginia to meet up with some of my dearest college friends from all over the country.
Daddy & I on the hike
Most of us had met through the student forums of the college program that we’re using to complete our bachelor’s degrees. (Blog post on that coming soon!) Getting to meet my brothers and sisters in Christ (and college) for the first time in person was beyond amazing.
To top off this amazing event, we had a professional photographer chronicling the entire week. Shout out and huge thanks to Mr. Joe for all the amazing pictures he took (many of which are featured in this blog post). The rest of the photos were taken by myself, my dad, Austin, and my twin Emily.
a few of us on a hike next to the Potomac river
The hike along the Potomac river was one our favorite activities of the week. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect.
the lineup :)
Wednesday was game day at the house. Despite high wind, we played Ultimate frisbee all morning. After lunch, we laughed ourselves silly playing The Character Game (a new favorite!) and Party Quirks.
In the evenings, we’d all pull out our instruments, song sheets, and hymnals and worship together. Mr. Josue led us in a week long study of 1st Thessalonians. Spending time in the Word together was such a special time.
On our last day together, we rode the metro into D.C. and toured some of the monuments, the Library of Congress, and a couple of the museums. Then we all headed back for a Spanish and English prayer meeting/Bible study with our hosts’ church family.
The Library of Congress
<3
This is the amazing family who opened their hearts and home to all us crazy college students. Thank you Mr. Josue, Mrs. Terri, Jenn, and Joshua for a wonderful week!
late nights turned into early mornings
the word which is spelt A-A-G-H, exclamation mark
finally getting to hug Cassie
riding the metro
“October, Vulcan, Psychic, Convict, Stark, Oatmeal…”
exchanging Star Trek references with Austin & Drew
setting the pace
meeting Sierra, Kaitlyn, Jenn, and my twin Emily
“I thirst”
deep spanish voices lifted in praise
bilingual Bible study
bottle caps
“She kept catching the frisbee! It was annoying.”
exchanging contact info
interviews
text messages to keep me awake
A Year in Pictures – Weeks Five, Six, & Seven
Here’s the photos for weeks five, six, and seven of my picture-taking challenge! Previous photos can be seen on the page: A Year in Pictures. Enjoy!
Day 29
Day 30 – young brussel sprout plant
Day 31 – a darling chicken print out I put together for my mom
Day 32 – our neighbor’s grandson came over to visit a turtle crossing the yard
Day 33 – lovely two-toned marigold
Day 34
Day 35 – wee folk Tintin & Snowy
Day 36 – a weekend filled with Biology study materials, a study in Proverbs, and watching the Emma miniseries with my sister.
Day 37 – can’t wait for the satsumas to ripen!
Day 38
Day 39 – our new disc for playing Ultimate
Day 40 – ginger blossoms
Day 41 – one of our bantams looking for worms in the puddles
Day 42 – lake view
Day 43 – the day I met my wonderful friend, Catherine.
Day 45 – a fairytale pumpkin
Day 46 – slowly ripening lemons
Day 47 – a stack of cut fabric, ready to be sewn into acorns
Day 48 – program and ticket from a wonderful performance!
Day 49 – my dad shooting his bow
When life gives you lemons…
I’ve loved lemons for as long as I can remember. It’s a love that I share with my mom. We specifically ask for “extra lemon” with our drinks so that we’ll have a cache for refills. Places that take our request seriously and bring us a bowl full of wedges instead of one extra perched on the rim of the glass get extra points. Every glass of water I pour for myself has a good squirt of lemon in it. We go through the stuff like crazy. So, three years ago we bought a Meyer lemon tree.
It’s first year of life in our backyard was, as expected, rather dull. No lovely yellow orbs hung from it’s spindly branches. Year number two, it was feeling a bit stronger and managed to push out around a dozen big juicies. So when year three came trotting around, we expected oh… 30+ lemons. That would have been great. But…
Despite the massive amount of blossoms that bedecked the tree in the spring, we still didn’t anticipate a total harvest of over 250 lemons. We ate them, we gave them away, we made pies, we gave more away, we decorated with them, we made lemonade, we sliced, squeezed, and well… enjoyed having such bounty.
During the week after Christmas, we decided to harvest the last few before they rotted or froze. There ended up being 138 “last few”. It took 2 full evenings to completely process them.
We couldn’t let all that wonderful zest go to waste, so my sister and I wielded the micro grater and saved as much as we could. My mom chose to use the zester and thus received lovely goldilock curls. After the juice was strained, we bottled some for immediate use and froze the rest in ice cubes trays. We’ll use these later when we need to make a lemon cake or ward off scurvy.
One of my favorite lemon desserts is Ina Garten’s Lemon Yogurt Cake. Enjoy!
Ingredients
For the cake:
~ 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
~ 2 teaspoons baking powder
~ 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
~ 1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
~ 1 cup sugar
~ 3 extra-large eggs
~ 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
~ 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
~ 1/2 cup vegetable oil
For the syrup:
~ 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
~ 1/3 cup sugar
For the glaze:
~ 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
~ 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 1/2 by 4 1/4 by 2 1/2-inch loaf pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease and flour the pan.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into 1 bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, sugar, the eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula, fold the vegetable oil into the batter, making sure it’s all incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean.
Meanwhile, make the syrup by cooking the lemon juice and sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.
When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan. While the cake is still warm, pour the syrup over the cake and allow it to soak in. Cool.
For the glaze, combine the confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice and pour over the cooled cake.
A Year in Pictures – Weeks Three & Four
Here’s the photos for weeks three & four of my picture-taking challenge! Previous photos can be seen on the page: A Year in Pictures. Enjoy!
Day 15 – homemade birthday card for a friend
Day 16 – playing peek-a-boo
Day 17 – dragonfly in the lemongrass
Day 18 – compass rose drawing tools
Day 19 – studying for the Biology CLEP
Day 20 – feeding pasta to the chickens
Day 21 – homemade salsa
Day 22 – the kitchen clock
Day 23 – looking handsome
Day 24 – a selfie!
Day 25 – a yummy lunch
Day 26 – new converse shoes
Day 27 – female cardinal
Day 28 – cucumber salad at my favorite Japanese restaurant
Liebster Blog Award
My dear friend Maribeth tagged me with the Liebster Blog Award! Thank you m’dear!
According to the tag, I am supposed to list 11 random facts about myself, and answer the 11 questions that my awarder asked. I’m also supposed to tag 11 other bloggers, but I don’t really know any bloggers that haven’t already been tagged. So the tag ends here. ;)
So here we go, 11 random facts about myself:
- I am a sophomore in college!
- I love polishing silver. Don’t know why, but I do.
- I think in academic years, not calendar years. So for me, the year is just about halfway over.
- I tend to stand with my feet in really awkward positions. Only, they aren’t awkward to me. I wouldn’t even notice it if my family didn’t bring it to my attention.
- I write almost exclusively with Sharpie pens.
- I play Ultimate Frisbee almost every week with a great group of people.
- I have never, ever, straightened my hair
- I am part of a volunteer choir that will be backing up Keith & Kristen Getty at one of their Christmas concerts this December!
- I’ve been to 16 states.
- I’ve had my picture taken with a presidential candidate twice.
- I’ve been on TV twice, and in a newspaper 4 times.
1. What is your earliest memory?
Argh… that’s difficult because I can’t tell if I’m actually remembering or getting mixed up with photos or videos. I vividly remember a lot of things when I was four. I have a vague memory of my grandparents home when I was about two. That’s probably the earliest memory that I can think of.
2) What is your favorite holiday tradition? {Any holiday will do.}
Every year my family has a wonderful time dying eggs. We get really creative, make a big mess, and have a grand ole time. 
3) What is your favorite musical? {This can be Broadway, a Disney film, Rodgers & Hammerstein, etc.}
That’s a hard one. There are three that I grew up with, have memorized, and love more every time I watch them. For this tag, I’ll go with White Christmas. It’s a must-watch every year.
4) Would you consider yourself an early bird or a night owl?
A night owl. I’m much more likely to stay up later than get up earlier.
5) How has the Lord worked in your life since this time last year?
Oh wow. Where do I start? The Lord has blessed me immensely over this past year. He has brought some amazingly wonderful friends into my life and they have been such a blessing to me. To make it even more amazing, I met several of these on an online forum!
6) If you could have dinner with three theologians and/or heroes of the faith, who would they be?
C.S. Lewis for sure. Let’s add Paul and Timothy to the mix as well. They have intrigued me ever since reading The New Testament Diaries by Gene Edwards.
7) How would you describe your favorite kind of fictional hero {not heroine}? Are you generally attracted to or intrigued by the aggressive, scholarly, reckless, quiet, jovial, brooding, tender, or straightforward?
Um… I can’t say that I’ve ever had a favorite type of hero. I guess it depends on the book (or movie). Different personality traits are going to be best in different situations.
8) What are you currently reading for pleasure? Schoolbooks don’t count.
I just started Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens. The first sentence did little to impress: “Thirty years ago, Marseilles lay burning in the sun, one day.” If I had written that in a paper, it definitely would have received a mark from the red pen.
9) If you could live in any other state, which one would it be and why?
Either Texas (because it’s Texas and I’m a Texan) or Tennessee (because of the weather and awesome views).
10) What is your opinion of coffee? Do you drink it? If so, how do you drink it?
Coffee smells awesome. *nod* But I’m not a “coffee drinker”. I drink it every now and then, and then it’s usually more like having a little coffee with my cream than the other way around.
11) You’re about to go on an extraordinarily long trans-Pacific flight and you’re only allowed to take one DVD with you to watch on your laptop. You are allowed to bring either your favorite of the Narnia movie trilogy…or your favorite Star Trek episode. With Patrick Stewart. Choose you this day.
You know me well! Let’s see…. ah ha! The Narnia movies are about two hours long. One Star Trek DVD has about four episodes each 40 minutes long. So… I’ll have to go with Star Trek. It will last me longer on the flight.
A Year in Pictures – Weeks One & Two
I recently bought myself a camera. It’s a Sony a390 coupled with a Tacoma 18-200mm lens. My mom challenged me to take (at least) a picture a day for a year. I’ll be posting the pictures here on my blog, but also on the page, A Year in Pictures. Though all these photographs, you’ll end up catching glimpses of my life, the things and people I love, and how my photography skills are progressing!
Below is the first two weeks of pictures. Enjoy!
Day 01
Day 02 – our sweet cat, Gumbo
Day 03 – one of our broody bantam chickens
Day 04 – my little sister
Day 05 – back yard during hurricane Isaac
Day 06 – spider lily
Day 07 – Biology study materials
Day 08 – books packed for a trip. a thick classic, a new favorite, an old favorite, and two from the library that didn’t turn out so good.
Day 09 – canyon view in northern Alabama
Day 10 – cheese at Sweetwater Valley Farm
Day 11 – an adorable duck outside a restaurant
Day 12 – mountain barn
Day 13 – mountain river
Day 14 – early morning in the smoky mountains
She Tagged Me!
My dear friend and fellow blogger, Victoria of Hope Writer has tagged me! Thank you for tagging me, Victoria! Several of your questions made me think long and hard. Enjoy!
If you could learn a new language, what would it be?
If this is the instant, “I know kung-fu” kind of learning, I think I’d pick Chinese. But if I actually have to learn it… maybe Spanish. That would be pretty practical.
Which three books are your top favorites of all time?
Aie, yie, yie… let me think. That’s really hard. Ok, here we go.
The Reb and the Redcoats ~ Constance Savery
The Chronicles of Narnia ~ C.S. Lewis (Yes, I know it’s a series. I can’t pick just one.)
The Keeper of the Bees ~ Gene Stratton-Porter
What is your favorite line/quote from one of those three books?
”One word. All you’ve been saying is quite right, I shouldn’t wonder. I’m a chap who always liked to know the worst and then put the best face I can on it. So I won’t deny any of what you said. But there’s one thing more to be said, even so. Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things – trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that’s a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We’re just babies making up a game, if you’re right. But four babies playing a game can make a playworld which licks your real world hollow. That’s why I’m going to stand by the play-world. I’m on Aslan’s side even if there isn’t any Aslan to lead it. I’m going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn’t any Narnia. So, thanking you kindly for our supper, if these two gentlemen and the young lady are ready, we’re leaving your court at once and setting out in the dark to spend our lives looking for Overland. Not that our lives will be very long, I should think; but that’s a small loss if the world’s as dull a place as you say.”
Puddleglum, in The Silver Chair
Which three movies are your top favorites of all time?
My goodness, just three? *sigh* Well, here’s three of my favorite movies of all time.
National Treasure has been a favorite for many years. The Revolutionary war, (or, as I like to call it, the War for American Independence. :D ) is my favorite period in American history, so the historical aspects of the film made it even more of a winner for me.
Monsters, Inc. definitely makes the list. It’s my favorite Pixar film, hands down. My sister and I quote it constantly.
I grew up watching Calamity Jane. This western musical starring Doris Day is so much fun and watching it brings back so many memories. We have nearly all the songs memorized.
What is your favorite line from one of those movies?
What is the nationality/ies your family comes from? (i.e. Scotch, Russian, etc)
Mostly Scottish on my dad’s side, Irish and a bit of Cherokee on my mom’s.
What are some of your favorite phrases, exclamations, or sayings?
Oh… that’s a hard one. I tend to say “Oh dear” a good bit. Don’t know if that’s my favorite. I love some of the British sayings. ”Jolly good” is always fun to say.
Who are five of your “best friends” (favorite characters) in literature?
Uncas (Last of the Mohicans)
Little Sister (Laddie)
Reb (The Reb and the Redcoats)
Puddleglum (The Silver Chair)
Victoria Gracen (The Obsession of Victoria Gracen)
What is a movie that you love that people would probably totally not associate with your personality?
Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV show and movies). I’m particular that it be the Next Generation. Captain Jean-Luc Picard beats Captain James T. Kirk of the original series, hands down. No question.
Which historical figure do you look forward to visiting with the most in heaven?
C.S. Lewis
I’d have to go with C.S. Lewis. Because of his writings, I think we’d have a lot to talk about.
A Wee Passion
This is Lindsey, one of my favorite Wee Folk. She stands 2.5 inches tall.
When I was little, I gravitated to the smallest toys with the most parts. Toys like Playmobil became favorites due to their tiny stature and hundreds of tiny accessories. My favorite part was setting up their house (or farm, or hospital, or butcher shop, or who knows what). As I’ve grown older, that love for tininess and details has not lessened. The enthusiasm turned from playing with tiny details to creating them. It was then that I was introduced to Wee Folk. I was hooked. If I were a craft, I would be a Wee Folk.
What are Wee Folk? They are diminutive figures whose bodies are made of bent pipe cleaners wrapped with embroidery floss. Their wool felt clothing is embroidered to fill in the details and assist in bringing out their personality. Finally, they are topped with a wooden bead for a head and hair made of embroidery floss. They range in size from a baby at 1.2 inches, to an adult at 4 inches tall.
Wee Folk are originally the creation of Salley Mavor, a magnificent artist who shares how to make Wee Folk in her wonderful instructional book Felt Wee Folk: Enchanting Projects. The book provides basic instructions as well as patterns for clothing.
With Salley Mavor’s book in hand, and your creative juice flow set on high, you can create your own original Wee Folk. The technique is versatile enough to make nearly anything you want! The WeeFolk featured in this post are all my own creations. People often marvel over the detail that I put into these little people. But adding in all those details is what I love doing!
Some despairingly remark that the devil is in the details. But it’s in the details that I often find the greatest opportunity for creativity.
