Kristen {guest post}

Today I *should* be somewhere between Dominica and home, if all goes well.  Meanwhile, I've invited Kristen M of K's Journal to introduce herself and her brand-new blog.  I met Kristen when she visited my blog and asked for advice.  After reading some of her poetry, I've realized that she reminds me of the writer I wanted to be at her age.  But enough from me!  I give you the amazing Kristen, young writer and great girl.

Hi there! I'm Kristin M, another writing blog author.  I recently commented on one of Emily's posts, asking her if she would visit my own site, K's Journal.  After reading some of my stuff, she asked me to introduce myself on her blog.  Due to my lack of publicity, I'm very grateful for the opportunity she has given me.
There's not really much to explain about myself and my blogging. I'm honestly just another writer who wants to be heard. I eventually would like to be a published author, but for now it's just me and my blog. My writing is meant entirely to express myself, to show the world who I am as a writer and as a person. As a true believer in creativity and the imagination, I love thinking about the unexplainable and the illogical, which you will see very clearly through all my posts. I like to share my philosophies, short stories, several types of poetry, and sometimes just random thoughts. Eventually I'll probably start doing some occasional updates on my everyday things, though. Me? I'm not really anything special. A writer, dancer, bookworm, day dreamer, sister, nature lover, Harry Potter freak, and in my parents' words an everlasting ball of energy.  :)  Most people wouldn't find anything particularly unusual about me...

If they ignored the fact that I'm 12, that is.

Yes, you read that right; you've been listening to a 12 year old girl this whole time. If you think my ideas are insane, I'd like to let you know that I agree with you 100%, but that doesn't necessarily mean they couldn't happen. But before calling the thoughts completely crazy, I would like you to simply ignore my lack of years for a moment, and listen to my writing. I expect to be underestimated, I expect to be overlooked, I expect to not be liked by everyone, but I most certainly do not expect to be swatted away before even being heard out.  All I ask is for people to listen - I'm not even asking you to like it, or to care. I just want to know what you think, what you hear...

Hope

By Kristin M.

A light within the darkness

A star that burns the night

Someone to wash away the tears
And tell you all is right.

A brightly colored painting
Inside a blackened room
The soldier that's left standing
To fight for the doomed.

A wall that's there to block you
From all evil and all dark
To sooth your everlasting scars
Without leaving a mark.

Sometimes it will be hard to find
Sometimes it's hard to care
But all you really truly need
Is the belief that it is there.

A light inside the darkness
A star that burns the night
Someone to show the hope within
To know that all is right.

That's it. Nothing much, but it's a start. If you're interested in reading some of my other stuff, you can visit my blog, K's Journal. I love having comments on my pieces, whether it's advice, compliments, or questions. I don't mind truthful opinions, even if you don't really like whatever I've posted, as long as it's not insulting or rude. Giving me ways to make it better would be really useful, too. Thank you so much for reading!

Becki {guest post}

Hi everyone! I'm Emily's friend, Becki Badger, from Being Becki. Before I begin, there are a couple things you should know about me that pertain to my post. 1) I'm sixteen. 2) I was homeschooled all the way through school. 3) I graduated high school in September 2010, two days before I turned 15. 4) I have four brothers, four sisters, and my mom is pregnant again. *squeal of excitement*



Today I want to talk about what it's like to always be different. Yes, I'm aware others have graduated early (my older brothers were sixteen when they graduated, and I graduated with one of them), and yes, I'm aware others have large families. But few people, I've found, have both. So if I'm with people who graduated early, they either went to public or private school or don't have a large family. If I'm around other homeschoolers, they often don't accelerate their kids (the way my parents decided to).  

You catch my drift? Okay, good. :)
The first thing to know about being different is: it's good!

I know parents say it all the time, but I promise it is. Believe it or not, if you're in a conversation and your differences come up, people aren't going to think you're completely weird. They might think you're a little strange, but everybody secretly wants to be special. So my large family, my homeschooling, and my graduating early . . . they all make me different. Special. I do, in all honesty, get strange looks from people when I'm taking care of my younger siblings in public, because they assume I'm the mother, but I don't really mind, because often when others look down on someone, it's because they wish they had something that person has.


And that brings me to my second thing. It takes some getting used to.

I've been part of a large family ever since I can remember. I have two older brothers, and (right now) four younger sisters and two younger brothers. So it's not that big of a deal for me anymore. But I have friends who come over and go places with us, and I know that they have to learn to get used to stares. Luckily, I have awesome friends who don't mind it, and even help me corral the younger ones. Also, having a large family prepared me for the looks I get when people find out when I graduated. I would be willing to bet your eyebrows went up and your eyes widened when you read that I graduated two years ago.



Three: it's fun!

 Wait, wait, wait. "Fun"? To get stared at and given strange looks? Becki, you must be completely off your rocker.
Okay, okay. Maybe it's just me who finds it fun. I've been different from everyone else for so long that I've learned the best way to deal with the stares and nasty looks is to enjoy it. Otherwise I'd be so stressed about what everyone is thinking that I'd come home and cry all day. Instead, if I strike up a conversation with someone I've just met, I play this little game. I tell them I have eight siblings and my mom is pregnant again, and I tell them I graduated two years ago, slipping these in periodically, and then just keep talking until they decide to ask me how old I am, and then I just enjoy the wide eyes and the questions.


Bottom line, different is good. Enjoy being different. If you have any questions or comments, I'll check back here periodically to answer. Bye, guys!

Katelyn {guest post}

Hi! My name is Katelyn Marie, I'm a friend of Emily's, and I'm guest blogging today! First off, thank you, Emily, for allowing me to write this post. I am really excited about this being my first guest post!

Anyway, my post is about once-in-a-lifetime experiences. I tried throughout the week to write about one life experience that was awesome and epic and something I'd never experience again. And, to tell the truth, I couldn't think of one.


Yep, my life is a bit normal. I've never been to another country, gone skydiving, gone zip lining, or... well, anything very exciting. But then it came to me: I could share my salvation story! After all, I could only be saved once. So . . . here it is:

The day had been sunny with just a nip of cold in the air, that January seventh. It was a Sunday, and I was very excited. I was only 4, but I wasn't going to let that stop me. I wanted to be saved. I wanted to become a Christian. I wanted what my grandmother, aunt, and mother had. I continuously told my family that I would get saved that day. They each brushed it off, saying, "That's sweet Katelyn." Of course, I was the oldest child, and they had never dealt with a child wanting to be saved.

Anyway, as soon as we pulled up in the church's parking lot, I unbuckled my car seat. (Yes, I remember that.) I jumped out of the car and grabbed my mother's hand. Once we reached the door, I let go and ran inside. I ran right up to our pastor and said, "Pastor, I want to be saved." He looked at me strangely, but gestured to the lady in the back, Miss Robin, to take me into the back room.

Once we were in the small circular room, I sat on one of those fold-up chairs, and she on another. She asked me a few questions, and I answered them. She asked me if I knew I was a sinner, and if I knew why Jesus died. Of course I knew, and I answered. She asked me a few other questions, and then I prayed. I asked Jesus to save me and come into my heart. I asked him to protect me from the devil and wickedness, and to help me grow up and be who God wanted me to be.

When I finished my plea to God, I opened my eyes and felt a peace and joy wash over me. I was suddenly very happy and excited. I wanted everyone to know! I wanted to shout it to the world! And I did, for the most part. I flounced out of the room and skipped into the auditorium. I twirled and spun and skipped. The choir was already singing, which made me even more joyous, as my love for music has been almost as strong in that time as it is now.

There is not a day that goes by, or has ever been, that I regret that decision I made almost 10 years ago. I am happy that I made it when I was that young, and not when I was 20 or 30. It saves me a lot of heartache and trouble I would have to go through otherwise. Don't get me wrong, I still make mistakes, plenty of them. As the saying goes, "I'm not perfect, I'm saved!" The best decision of my life? Most certainly.

Well, that's my greatest (and most possibly only) once-in-a-lifetime experience! Thank you for giving me your dear time to read this! You can find me at The Life of a Teenage Writer. God bless!

Galatians 6:9 KJV
Katelyn M. Shear

Being Yourself

I like seeing things from others' perspective - especially guys'.  Being a girl myself, I know well what insecurities females have.  We struggle with being happy with our hair, not obsessing over the marks on or shade of our skin, and focusing on being healthy rather than skinny.  I also know what females' opinions about guys tend to be.  European accents, the ability to play guitar, or the traditional behavior of a gentleman are attractive.  Then there's how we feel we're perceived by guys - we can't be too intelligent/serious or too ditsy/shallow, we have to keep up the natural look without 'letting ourselves go,' we have to be beautiful without being obsessed with beauty.


But then I read about guys, their insecurities, how they think girls view them, and what they really value in girls.  Often their truest words surprise me.  It makes me want to shout to the world - boys and girls alike - that when people tell us to just be ourselves, they really mean that.  They don't mean they want a made-up, carefully polished version of our personalities.  They mean they want the real, gritty us - acne, grating laugh, hatred of sports, and all.  Today's generation has gotten so caught up in 'being real' that "the real you" has become a stereotype of its own.  How twisted is that?

So I'm calling to people everywhere, but especially insecure teenagers, to let go of beauty and opinions concerning appearances and just be ourselves.

Girls: If you like the smoky eye look, then master it - without worrying that you don't look natural enough.  But if you'd prefer to never catch sight of a makeup aisle, then why go there?  If a clothing style from the eighties is making a comeback but makes you gag, feel free to hate it.  But if you treasure your comfort, then don't make yourself miserable to be "acceptable."  Whether you prefer reading memoirs or cheering at a football game, enjoy the hobbies that make you happy without thinking on the 'geek' or 'hot chick' stereotypes.

Guys: You love your truck but hate hunting.  You write poetry but you still love being the star quarterback.  So what if your interests don't seem to match up?  They're what you enjoy doing.  If you want to wear a tux and take your girl to prom, then you shouldn't feel bad for wanting to look nice.  But if you would rather swallow nails, don't wear the monkey suit just because you think your girl would like it.

I'm not saying we should define life by what makes us happy, or refuse to prefer others over ourselves.  What I'm saying is that we should stop freaking out over what that girl thinks of your outfit or whether your friends will think being a writer is corny.  Stop trying to fit in a box built out of your own worries.

This rather opinionated post was inspired by some survey results I read.  The survey asked guys their preferences in girls.  The results proved that the majority of guys don't like nail polish, don't care what you wear, and prefer personality over beauty.  It's true!

Adventures, Travel, and the Amazing Feeling That Is Takeoff

As you read this, I am either on a plane or in an airport somewhere between Georgia and the tiny third-world island nation of Dominica, where I will be spending the rest of July, along with twenty-one other teenagers and five adults from my church. We'll be helping the Cornelius missionary family host a VBS-style summer camp for native children, as well as helping around the church with services, maintenance, and anything else they need.

Prayers for safety, no lost luggage, and no delayed/nonexistent flights (yes, that happened last time this trip was made) would be appreciated.

As for this here blog, I have one of my own posts and some guest bloggers scheduled. However, I'm not sure if I'll have any Internet access during the ten days, and if I do I may not have time to use it. Therefore, any comments/emails will have to wait until my return.

I'm very excited for this trip. A lot of people I know would call our mission team crazy for (a) flying on a plane (b) to a foreign country (c) that happens to be a third-world country (d) in the Caribbean. They might also think our group crazy for (e) not staying in a hotel or (f) living like the people there, including sleeping arrangements, food, showers, etc. But for a military brat who loves to read stories about two women who go on a cruise and end up driving halfway across Mexico alone to claim an old trailer left to them by some great-uncle... well, this is my idea of awesome!

Oh, and did I mention that it's been entirely too long since I stepped foot on a plane? *Sigh* I just love flying.

30 Day Challenge: Day 29 - The Next 365 Days

This week is the second to last of the challenge, and today I'm supposed to share my "hopes, dreams, and plans for the next 365 days."  That's a lot of days to talk about, so I'll try to be brief. :)

{via}

July: Volunteer with Olympics-themed VBS at church. Go on nine-day mission trip with youth group to Dominica.

August: Celebrate the birthday of and possibly throw party for brother Jon. Start school.

September: More school.

October: Celebrate brother Nick's birthday.  Celebrate best friend Ash's birthday.  Celebrate one-year mark with boyfriend.

November: More school. Celebrate Thanksgiving.

December: Kick off second annual blog party, complete with giveaways, book reviews, author interviews, and guest posts.  Celebrate Christmas, my favorite day of the year.  (Christmas break too!)

January: Celebrate Mom's birthday.  Turn seventeen!  Hopefully celebrate with Ash and The Sound of Music.  (The whole "Sixteen Going On Seventeen" birthday theme is something I've always wanted to do.)  Conclude second annual blog party.  More school.

February: Celebrate brother Eddie's birthday.  Maybe throw party for him if he wants.  Celebrate Valentine's Day, a holiday which I *still* can't make my mind up on.  I mean, on the one hand, a holiday for love is a pretty idea.  On the other, it's a little ridiculous.  Why not celebrate love all 365 days of the year?  And why does love have to be so focused on romance?  There are a lot of different kinds of love out there.  Then there's the whole bit about it being a money-making Hallmark holiday...  But being the girly romantic I am, I can't really hate Valentine's Day despite all these things.

Oh, and maybe see boyfriend when his family PSC's. :)

March: Mail card and amazing gift I have yet to come up with to best friend Mikaela in lieu of celebration.  Celebrate Easter?  Will it be in March or April this year?  Also, spring break?  No idea when that will be this year.

April: Celebrate Easter?  Spring break?  Same questions.  More school.

May: Enjoy glorious Georgia weather.

June: Boyfriend's birthday. :) Dad's birthday.  Hopefully finish school on time this go-round.  Possibly be counselor-in-training at Wilds summer camp.

Yeah, nothing extravagant or extraordinary.  (Well, except the mission trip part!)  But it's my life, and I'm happy with the way it is right now. :)

Interview At Geekly Chic

Imani, a girl new to the blogosphere, recently saw my interview at Wassup Girly? and contacted me to see if I'd be interested in doing something similar at her new blog, Geekly Chic.  Considering my contact page offers to post about/help out other bloggers/teenagers/writers, and said previous interview was the first time anyone took me up on the offer, I naturally said yes.  So today I invite all my lovely readers to welcome another new blogger, this time a teenager blogging about what's hot and what's not for geeky girls, to the web. :)

A note: I do not always endorse or support all content on the blogs I share or am interviewed at; however, I do my best not to recommend websites that I personally would not visit.  That said, the blogs I share are reflections of the blogger's opinions and not necessarily my own.

The Sunshine Award

I'm a very lucky girl lately.  Katelyn from The Life of a Teenage Writer has nominated me for yet another blog award!

This one's called The Sunshine Award.

The Rules:

1. List ten things that make you happy.
2. Nominate three blogs that bring sunshine to your life and a smile to your face.

Ten Things:

1. a slight breeze on a warm day
2. eating ice cream with my family
3. talking with my boyfriend on the phone
4. going for a walk on a sunny may afternoon
5. a watercolor sunset
6. finding a little-known book in a used bookstore that turns out to be amazing
7. watching a movie for the eighth time with a bestie
8. collecting keychains from places i've been
9. catching marshmallows on fire to make s'mores
10. playing silly games like telephone or license plates with my brothers in the car

Nominees:

Jill of Notebook from the Heart

Rachelle of Inspiring Daring

Melanie of Only a Breath

Wear The Shnorts Day

Today is not a normal posting day, but today is the first Wear The Shnorts Day (aka WTS Day), a new official holiday created by Neville.  For details or explanations, you'll have to follow the links.  All I'm going to say is that it has to do with Frindle by Andrew Clements and is therefore a wonderful idea.  (My entire family adores Andrew Clements books.  I own all the ones we have, but I very rarely have them all in my possession, due to those strange boys raiding my shelves.)


In celebration of WTS Day, bloggers everywhere are posting photos of their favorite shnorts, or themselves wearing shnorts, or hideous shnorts - any photos involving shnorts, really.  So I give you a photo of me wearing the only non-swimwear shnorts I own:

No, that is not my house.  No, that hair's not natural.  It's usually about as straight as a ruler.

If any of my lovely readers would like to join in the celebration, just click on the badge to get started:

30 Day Challenge - Day 28: A Scar You Have and Its Story

I've been waiting for this one, mainly because it's the only one I knew exactly what to talk about the day I started this challenge.

See, I have this nasty(ish) scar on my leg - my left calf, to be exact.  And you'd expect a scar that looks like mine to have some sort of bragging-rights-story with it.

You'd be wrong.

It's a very simple story, really.  My family was visiting my grandparents in Indiana, which is actually where I am right now.  Their next-door neighbors have two kids, the older being a girl roughly around my age.  (But definitely taller.)  She and I met when I was eleven and playing in my grandparents' sprinkler.  Since then, she and I have been sort-of pen pals and always hang out when I'm in the area.

Well, on this particular visit, she showed me how to climb the water tank in their yard and get into the tallest tree, which actually wasn't that tall - just tall enough that I couldn't reach it from the ground.  We climbed up there to get the cat out from the tree, and I realized how much I missed climbing trees.  (We had just moved back from Oki, where Nick was allergic to the tree sap, so tree-climbing had been prohibited.)  Well, we got down, but I decided to climb the other trees in the yard.

At one point, I scraped my leg on a pointy branch, but it didn't bleed enough to need even a regular Band-Aid, so I ignored it.

Then, as the slightest cut or blister tends to do on my skin, it took forever to heal.  At the time I was going through some sort of infection-phobia phase, so I put hydrogen pyroxide on it practically every day for several days.

Eventually, it finally healed up.  But, due partly to the sensitivity and chalky color of my skin and partly to my excessive use of the hydrogen piroxide, I was stuck with a scar.

One Lovely Blog Award

I recently shared that Sarah at Inklined nominated me for my first blog award.  Well, today I'm happy to tell you that my friends Katelyn and Becki have nominated me for my second!

It's called the One Lovely Blog Award, and I believe it was started by a teen writer whose name I don't know at This Page Intentionally Left Blank.

The Rules:

1. You have to thank the person who nominated you on their blog to receive your honor.

2. You have to tell 7 things about yourself!

3. You have to nominate 15 blogs and then tell them of their nomination!

Seven Things:

1. I'm actually rather terrible at talking about random things, especially about myself.
2. In case my lovely readers can't tell, my break from blogging ended semi-recently, and I've fallen in love with blogging yet again.
3.  I love watching movies or television shows with subtitles on, especially when the subtitles say the soundtrack's lyrics rather than just the song titles and artist names.
4. I have shared several random things about myself on this blog, including Things I'm Afraid to Tell You and The Game of Elevens (I invite other bloggers to read the latter and join in the fun!  It's never to late to play. :] )
5. I plan to resume the A B See Photo Meme, which I pretty much abandoned after my blogging break, as soon as I finish the 30 Day Challenge.
6. My obsession with socks, which I've mentioned once or twice on the blog, seems to have subsided.  My obsession with the combination of green and blue, on the other hand, has not.
7. I am addicted to Pinterest.  You can follow me if you want.  I usually follow back. :)

Nominees:

As usual, I'm not much for nominating blogs. :\  After all, the majority of blogs I read are big professional websites.  Call me a horrible person, but I just don't have time to read many others.

However, I can still nominate the ones I do read and love.  I have only five to nominate, so my lovely readers can add to the list in the comments if they wish, and then go notify their own nominees. :)

Marcia at Enchanted Musings
AnnaKate at Because He Loves Me
Anna at The Daughter of the King
Bailey at Big House in the Little Woods
Rachel at rachelcoker

Teens Can Write, Too! Blog Chain: A Writer's Worldview

Some of my lovely readers may remember the character interview I posted a while back.  I actually wrote that as part of a blog chain.  Of course, I forgot to link to it!  Well, today I join the July prompt for the same blog chain, and I figure I'd better start with the link: http://teenscanwritetoo.wordpress.com/2012/06/23/july-2012-blog-chain/

This month's prompt: How has writing affected your perception of the world?

My friends say I use big words.

I read the phone book because I like hearing strangers' names and imagining their lives.

I took my sunglasses case out of my purse to make room for a dictionary, a thesaurus, and a rhyming dictionary.

My favorite pillowcase is an old, faded blue thing covered in Sharpie notes, book quotes, and friends' signatures.

I have entire conversations with my friends in my head.

My dreams from the night's sleep generally end up in a never-finished story.

I search stock photo websites for random pretty people to make up lives for.

The personalized Google ads on my laptop range from engagement rings to way-liberal colleges to birth control ads, because I've researched for stories about wedding planners, rebellious college students, and pregnant teenagers.

If I had a gift card to any kind of furniture store whatsoever, I would rearrange my entire room just to fit another bookshelf in here.

25% of the time, "I didn't sleep well last night" translates to "I got lost in a book/my Kindle/an audiobook and didn't go to bed until midnight."

Certain friends and I talk more about rescuing kangaroos from invisible Wal-Marts or breaking a murderer out of prison using the sewer system than we do manicures or homework assignments.

I can't give directions to my own house, but I know what my friend was wearing last time I saw her or the general layout of my church (which is a very large one).

I never set out to base characters off people I know - in fact, I work to avoid it - and, when reading over my rough draft, discover I've written several of my own relationships into the story anyway.

I have a total of one poster in my bedroom, and it's from a book series.

I have no sisters to raid my closet, but my three brothers are always raiding my bookshelf.

Because I have to know my characters well in order to write their stories realistically, I find I understand and relate to people in my own life better as well.

A sunset or cherry blossom tree, or anything else outside that comes within my vision, is in danger of becoming a poem.

I'm worse at photography than most people I know, but I'm so obsessed with the beauty around me that I snap five photos of the same tree branch.  Literally.

I never go to a bookstore alone, because whoever is with me ends up dragging me out so we can leave at a reasonable time.  It wouldn't be fair to the bookstore staff to have to deal with that.

Have any of you seen the movie where a pregnant teenager is abandoned in the middle of nowhere by her boyfriend?  She spent six months living in Wal-Mart by sneaking in right before they closed, hiding in the bathroom, and then sleeping in the camping display.  She'd set a few alarm clocks, get up before any employees came to open the store, and use a shower head from the store shelf to bathe in the bathroom sink.  After returning the shower head and alarm clocks to their shelves, she'd hide in the bathroom until Wal-Mart had been open long enough and leave like a normal shopper.

Let's just say if I'm ever homeless/stranded/abandoned, I'm living in Books-a-Million.

July 7– Miriam Joy Writes

July 8– Musings From Neville’s Navel

July 9– This Page Intentionally Left Blank

July 10 – Here! :)

July 11– Scribbling Beyond the Margins

July 12– Lily’s Notes In The Margins

July 13– Comfy Sweaters, Writing and Fish

July 14– The Zebra Clan

July 15– Reality Is Imaginary

July 16– A Myriad of Colors

July 17– An MK’s Meandering Mind

July 18– The Incessant Droning of a Bored Writer

July 19– All I Need Is A Keyboard

July 20– Teens Can Write Too! (Announcing next month’s chain)

Interview At Wassup Girly

Hello, my lovely readers!  This week I interrupt the 30 Day Challenge to make an announcement: another first has just occurred in this blogger's life and I felt I ought to share it with you!

I've been interviewed by the author of Wassup Girly? (pen name Pretty Kitty.)  She's just recently started up her blog and I thought y'all might visit and make her feel welcome to the blogosphere. :)

My interview: http://wassupgirly.blogspot.com/2012/07/interview-with-emily-of-blog-of-maybe.html

A note: I do not always endorse or support all content on the blogs I share or am interviewed at; however, I do my best not to recommend websites that I personally would not visit. That said, the blogs I share are reflections of the blogger's opinions and not necessarily my own in every case.

Capitol Costume

It's said that three is the perfect number, and everything comes in threes, and lots of other stuff about one of my favorite numbers.  Since I've written two posts about the Hunger Games (one a guest post and the other a list of my fave HG links), I thought it only fitting that I share one more.  :)

I'm not sure if I mentioned this or not, but my friend Ashlee, two of her classmates, and I decided to go to the premiere of the Hunger Games... until we discovered it was midnight on Friday as in Friday morning, not Friday night.  Sadly, we were unable to make the premiere - but we did go on Friday night!


The theater was packed, although I must say I'm glad we didn't go to Imax.  (That line... oh, that line! *shudders*)  We adored the movie, enjoyed ourselves thoroughly, and spent the drive home discussing the story and debating Gale vs. Peeta.  (We also did a lot of explaining to Ashlee's mom, who had not read any of the books and missed a few parts to take a call and get soda refills.)

The thing that made the night so amazing, though, was my costume.  I was determined to go to the premiere of every HG movie and dress up for each one.  Of course, I decided that less than a week before the movie.  And, naturally, nobody wanted to dress up with me when we discovered we'd miss the actual premiere - but I wouldn't let that stop me!  Since I have a unique sense of fashion anyway, I picked a costume I could make from things I already owned.  Granted, it was definitely not the best I could do, but it was the best I could do without buying new stuff and spending hours getting ready.

I give you my amateur and last-minute Capitol look!

Vacation

Hi there, lovely readers. :) As of this past Sunday, my family is on vacation visiting relatives in Indiana. I have posts scheduled for this Thursday, this Saturday, and next Tuesday and Thursday as well. However, I may not be able to respond to comments or emails. I'll be sure to check in as much as I can, though. Just thought I'd let y'all know.

Anybody else going on vacation this summer? What are your plans?