Yeah, I'm still alive.

I do apologize for leaving you with no news of my exciting life for two whole months. ;P

I wore this outfit into town this morning (library book sale!!), and on the way home stopped by the nursing home my grandparents recently moved into to visit. 

As my sister stepped through the door, this random old lady exclaims- "Oh, what a pretty dress!" & then as I came through the door- "Oh! That one is even prettier!"

Which was kinda funny, but not necessarily true- 'cause Amanda's outfit was really cute. :D

What I'm Wearing: 

 Tunic/Dress ~Mossimo Supply CO -Thrifted 

Skinny Jeans ~Blue Spice -Thrifted 

Combat Boots ~Mossimo Supply CO -Thrifted 

Belt -Thrifted 

Necklace -Gift 

Earrings -Claire's

A (mostly) Instagram Update

Yep. This is me becoming one of those bloggers who don't post for weeks, and then when they finally do, they cheat and post Instagram pictures of yummy coffee drinks and ice cream with sprinkles, and then try to tell you that they've been crazy busy. 

Except this post doesn't have any coffee or sprinkles- just tea- but you don't have to be jealous or suddenly crave it, 'cause it was semi-nasty...

I caught a cold that's been going around- sore throat, cough + stuffy nose.

So I drank tea that wasn't super delish, and that made my throat feel a bit better. 

(I'm mostly over it now.)

Hauling maple sap. This is the first year I can remember where the trees have still been running in May.

(photo credit)

My bestie & cousin's wedding! 

Despite the super chilly weather (we nearly froze taking pictures outside [& that really didn't help my cold!]), it was a rather fantastic wedding, and I had a ton of fun.

Guess who caught the bouquet? 

...it was pretty much either catch it, or let it smash into my face. Fortunately, I had just enough hand-eye coordination to do the former.

It's finally been warm enough the past few days to be outside without bundling up.

Today, I found the first hepaticas of the year! If you're from Minnesota, you know that means- Spring!!

: a week of hairstyles :

Here's a look at the sorts of hairstyles that I'm doing nowadays...

Sunday

I rag curled my hair Saturday night, and slept on it, and so when I took it out it was super poofy.

Like, Shirley Temple with a bad hair day poofy. Seriously.

I decided to put it up, and pretend it was a Marvelous Updo, instead of a ponytail with a couple of bobby pins stuck in it. 

Monday

The next day, I had Leftover Curls. 

So I wore pigtails, and felt teenybopper-ish. 

Tuesday

French Over. 

And so, the next day, only the front section of my hair was wavy...

Wednesday

...Which meant that french braids were needed to hide that.

Yay! My hair is finally long enough again for them!

Thursday

I washed my hair, and then put it up while damp into a french twist/bun thing.

Friday

Accent braid + side pony that I didn't pull through quite all the way. 

Saturday

  I didn't really have a clear idea of what I wanted to do with my hair, so I just started braiding random braids, and ended up with this.

The End. :)

It's always winter in Minnesota...

...Always winter, and never Christmas. 

: on my sewing machine :

So, remember that secret project I said I had to make?

I finished it. And I decided it was probably safe to share it with you all. :)
 

A friend of mine is graduating from high school, and her sisters are putting together a quilt with each of her friends making a square for it.

The theme color is yellow, so after some deliberation (and much Google image browsing for inspiration), this is the design I came up with. 

I've never made a quilt square before, so I was pleasantly surprised when the corners all matched up nicely, and amazingly, I only had to rip out and re-sew about 2 inches where the rick-rack had gotten a little bit crooked.  *faint surprised cheer*

So now that I have that completed, my current sewing project is finishing up my bridesmaid dress for my bestie's wedding... :)

Ugh.

Guys. It finally happened. I've been hoping for years that it never, ever would.

Remember that wedding Amanda and I were playing prelude for?

Yeah, that was today.

So... 

We played the first song, and that went OK, but it wasn't great, since we still had a bit of stage jitters. 

The next song- "All I Ask Of You", is our favorite to play together. 

It was going good. I was just starting to relax and enjoy myself, when-

TWANG!!!

Broken harp string. 

Microphones are wonderful things. It amplified the horribly-awful sound throughout the whole sanctuary.

After a pause of Panic, Shock and Horror, Amanda and I exchanged what-do-we-do-now looks, and then I did my best to play around my missing string. 

...

The rest of the wedding was nice, though.

Oh, and I sort-of nearly caught the bouquet. It kinda hit me on the way down, and then lay on the floor for several seconds, so if I were more of an outgoing person, I could have scooped it up before the bride's sister finally picked it up. :D

January Update

It feels a bit weird not to be taking Project 365 photos anymore- in fact, the first couple days of January, as it was getting closer to evening, I'd suddenly get this sinking feeling like Oh, the light's almost gone, and I haven't taken a picture yet today! and then I'd remember that I don't have to anymore. :)

So here's a bit of an update of what I've been doing since the new year.

-Every year after my birthday and Christmas, the cleaning bug bites me. Since I've just received a plethora of New Stuff that I need to find a place for, I always end up going through my cupboards, and giving away things I haven't used in awhile.
Says Mollie after receiving some hand-me-down Stuff: "I like it when you clean your room!!"

-I also re-arranged my bookshelves, because I had a lot of books sitting sideways because they wouldn't fit until re-arranged.

-We went skiing. Morgan got a concussion, and many of the runs were shut down and/or icy. The rest of the weekend we spent mostly playing video games and watching movies at my aunt & uncle's house. :)

-I knit a bracelet! It was surprisingly easy, and I'm really happy with how it turned out.

-This is the part where I brag about my awesome sister. She made me a TARDIS journal as a belated Christmas present. I'm trying to hurry up and finish my current journal, so I can start writing in it! :)

-Also, she drew me an AMAZING fan art of Jill and Tirian from "The Last Battle".
Because I ship them. Like crazy. And forever.
I'm sorry if you (like a few of my brothers and besties) ship Jill and Eustace, but you'll never convince me. They've tried, believe me.
...and don't use that argument about Tirian liking Lucy, because she obviously likes that Emeth dude.

*cough*

K, end of fangirling. :D

...and a question:
Since I'm not doing Project 365 this year, I have a feeling there's going to be a sudden drought of posts after posting every four or five days last year.
What sorts of posts are you hoping to see this year? Ideas? 

We Interrupt Our Regular Programing For A Special Announcement...

Haircut!!

As promised...

...a few of my favorites from the photoshoot that my sister-in-law did with me about a month ago.

I didn't realized until later that I'd dressed exactly like my blog header... :D

Library Book Sale Haul

Today was the second day of our library's book sale. 

Amanda and I were slightly disappointed that we hadn't been able to make it to the first day of the sale- I mean, other people probably got all sorts of cools books that we could have bought! ;)

But then...

We found out that after noon it was $2 per bag of books. 

Oh yeah! 

"Life in the Great Ice Age" -I used to read this book all the time when I was growing up.

"Half Magic" -I confess, I already had this book- but not in hardcover! ;P

"All-Of-A-Kind Family Downtown" -I had this one as well, but I'd forgotten. And it's a hardcover, so I had to get it.

"The Hundred Dresses" 

"Through The Green Gate" -Another book I read a lot as a kid.

"Encyclopedia Brown's Book of Strange but True Crimes" 

"Russian Wonder Tales" -I grabbed this one as we were leaving. It appears to be a collection of Russian fairy tales.

"The Phoenix Dance" -This one looked kinda interesting, so I added it to my pile. Has anyone else read it? 

"Swords For Hire" -I read this once several years ago, and if I remember correctly, it was kinda fun.

"Bulfinch's Mythology" 

"The Eagle (of the Ninth)"

Eleven books + $2 = Win. :D

June 20-23 {Boundary Waters Camping Trip}

This weekend Amanda, Morgan & I went canoeing/camping in the Boundary Waters with a group of friends from our Bible Study.

June 20

Since we were reaching our campsite by canoe I put all my stuff in plastic bags to keep it dry. 

June 21

 Once we reached the campsite some of the group went back for a second load.

The rest of us set up camp.

When we finished setting up tents the others weren't back yet, so we went exploring. 

But first we wrote them a message so they wouldn't wonder what happened to us. ;P

We had MRE's for supper the first night. It was better than I was expecting, but not something I'd like to eat a lot of. :)

 Mine came with a just-add-water strawberry shake...

June 22

 Pancakes for breakfast.

 Morgan climbing up a cliff...

...and Jim jumping off it. 

I did jump off as well- but I don't have pictures in my possession to prove it. 

You'll just have to believe me. :D

I found a rather perfect place to journal, right next to the lake.

There was a gorgeous sunset that evening.

June 23

Daniel juggling axes & a machete. :D

We packed up camp and canoed back to the main land Saturday morning- so we wouldn't get caught in a storm that was coming.

We did some sightseeing on the way home- there was this amazing building that looked kinda like a castle. 

I want one. ;D

We finished off the trip with a stop at Dairy Queen for ice cream and then went to see "Brave"- which was super fun. :D

How did you spend your weekend?

A Thing Of Horror

Dear Readers,

Prepare yourselves.

The thing I am about to show you will Shock and Horrify.

And if it doesn't, you belong in a mental institution.

I was browsing the pattern catalogs at our local fabric store.

I picked up a Burda Style catalog.

On my way to the costume section in the back of the magazine, I flipped past the maternity section.

And saw-

That.

o.O

May 25, 26, 27 & 28 {Camping Trip}

This weekend we went camping along the Big Falls River with a group of friends. 

May 25- Reflection

Leaving home.

May 26- Canoeing

We went canoeing twice.
Altogether we had eleven canoes going down the river. :D

My canoeing buddy, Amanda.

Me.

We were Very Bad, and didn't wear our life jackets. However, the next day we canoed some class two rapids -which was super exciting and fun- so we did wear them that time. :)
We had a smaller group when we canoed the rapids, (only 8 canoes...) and we all made the whole trip without overturning our canoe, except one boat.
And it wasn't Amanda & me- we were awesome. ;P
I didn't bring my camera on the rapids trip- in case we overturned, so no pictures. :/

May 27- Campfire

One of the families in our group had some of those thing-ers that turn the fire different colors when you burn them. Pretty. :)

May 28- River

The Big Falls River. 

Spring!

Northern Minnesota.

This is April a few years back.

 

March 2012. 70 degree weather.

Not gonna complain. ;D