Beach... {guest post by Emily C}

My last guest poster is the sweet, the GORGEOUS, the amazing photographer, the recently-engaged {::squeal!:: so happy for her!} Emily C. She's the brains behind last year's Summer with a Purpose & is just generally one of the kindest & positive people in the ol' blogging world. Emily? Meet my readers. Readers, enjoy Emily's post! :)

 

Beach.  Just the mention of that word makes me happy! Hi, I'm Emily from Old Country Cottage!  Yes, another Emily ;)

I've lived in Florida my entire life, always within 15 minutes of the beach.  It's got to be one of my favorite places to go, especially in the summer heat!

Being a photographer, I love to photograph the beach.  So, I thought I'd share some recent beach photos of mine!

I also wanted to share some of my favorite beach themed items from Etsy:

~ Organic Beach Towel ~

From Beauty and Spa
Every time I see these pop up on Etsy, I love them!

~ Aqua Seaglass Sand Dollar Necklace ~

From SAMISEAGLASS

I adore seaglass jewelry!  I have a seaglass necklace that I wore the tar out of!

~ Shark (recycled) ~

From Recycled State

I just love this.  I think it's creative and fun... plus, I love marine animals!

~ Nautical Wreath ~

From The Baker's Daughter

How cute is this?  I really like wreaths, and this one is no exception :)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Guess who wants to go to the beach now??

I hope you enjoyed this guest post!

ABOUT ME:
I am first and foremost a servant of my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ...  I'm recently engaged (Aug 6th, 2011)... I have two wonderful parents... I have an awesome older brother who is married to one of my best friends... I live in Florida... I'm a photographer... and my life's purpose is to glorify God in the way I live my life - my life is because of Christ!

For a tad longer "about me" and to read more about the little things in my life, head over to my blog!

summer with a purpose: week ten

I seriously can't believe it's been ten weeks since Emily Elizabeth started this wonderful blog carnival! It's been great, but it was only a summer thing, and summer's coming to a close this weekend, so bye-bye bathing suits and hello bookbags!
So what have I been doing the past 3 weeks (I know, I haven't exactly been the best blogger when it comes to SWAP)? Grab something to drink and settle back, because it's been awhile...and I've been productive, of course. :)

• Landed some baby-sitting jobs the past week. Baby-sitting for a new family I've known through CBS last Saturday and another job yesterday have kept me busy this past week. I hope this keeps up, although it would have been nice to have this kind of demand all throughout the summer. 
• As you already know, I redesigned my blog, which is a big deal for me. Another round of applause for Emily, please. She's now made me less frightened of HTML and all that jazz...so much so I'm considering picking a less busy background. Thoughts? I'm really searching for a background that's not too busy, but not a solid color, a header that's not too matchy-matchy, and everything else under the sun. 
• Another big thing that happened was the organization that took place in the schoolroom, as per Mama's suggestion. It looks great, although my desk is still a bit cluttered. All those books are too much for my 2 desks. Dad moved his office into the schoolroom, so that prompted a full cleaning session in the big cabinet. Pictures are below!

• The biggest thing that's happened is we officially started school this week. If you're looking for more details, see the post I'm planning on doing tomorrow. Will you look at all those textbooks? They could seriously knock someone out or inflict an injury if needed. Not that I think about that or anything while I'm reading them. :)

Thanks again to Emily Elizabeth for keeping me (and many other bloggers) accountable this summer. Summer ending isn't any reason to stop, though, so I might post an update from time to time.

summer with a purpose: week 6

There I went going on and on about keeping up with the SWAP, even though I've done away with the blog-about-this-on-this-day stuff, and I skip last week. Oh well, brace yourselves, because this SWAP post is chock full of two week's worth of productivity!
Along with some odd jobs, like always, here's some of the big things I did...

• Worked my tail of in math. After you get over the shock of me saying "worked my tail off", read my lips when I say this: I have less than 10 lessons left, which translates into a week's worth of lessons, if I'm a good girl and do 2 lessons a day. Can I get a Woot, Woot!
• Cleaned off my school desk. I must admit, I'm one of those people who never works at their desk, but hates it when someone else does. This was the before:

And I'm sorry to say I don't have an after. Use your imagination, readers!

• Another big thing was having a sewing date with Emily. Oh, how I love sewing a straight line. I know most young women bloggers have Esty shops and make most of their own clothes, but I'm not one of them. I drool over handmade necklaces and purses, and attack a clearance rack like no one's business. So to fix a dress all by myself is really cool. Thank you, thank you. Hold your applause, please, for the comments. :)

• Some more sewing news! I've started making these little precious flowers at night while watching TV. I can crank one or two out a night, and I've got big plans for them, so keep a eye out for...something. I'm not quite ready to tell yet. 

Finished my photo wall! Wanna see pictures...of pictures? Of course you do!

• Speaking of photo news, I've been searching through three years of photos, picking my favorites to get printed with the other 75 free prints...that expires tomorrow. I've got to get it done tonight, but it should take long, really, because all I have to do is put them on the flashdrive.

I'm sure there are more things, that I'm forgetting, of course, but those were the major projects! If you're particiapating in this little blog carnival (it's not really little, but it could use some more people!), make sure to stop my Emily's latest post and link up! She thanks you in advance...

summmer with a purpose: week 5

Can you believe that summer is pretty much halfway over?! No more reading by the pool, drinking a Dr. Pepper and watching Clark and Dad swim. No more sleeping in and reading in my bed before I even make eye contact with another human being. No more blogging without having to wait until I finish school...at 5:30 at night. Man, seems like my summer revolves around reading and blogging! There's not a better combo than that. :)

So what have I been doing this week, besides reading and blogging? Well, I've...

• Worked on my CBS coloring sheets some more. Granted, there are still 50 million of them, but each one do is one less I don't have to do while I'm there so I can be in a core group! Score.
• Baby-sat some. Sure, I didn't get paid for half of it, but at least I'm keeping busy. Now, if I can find some more jobs, I'll be good to go. 
• Remember the last FF Challenge? I have a grand total of two dresses that I hadn't worn for it, and I knew that wouldn't work, so when Clark was looking at bathing suits, I wandered over to the clearance rack at, where else other than Target. Ten dollars later, I walked out with two sundresses. Um, awesome!
• While I did do some little jobs, along with my chores, I also did some pretty big projects that were on my SWAP list. Like what? Well, I got some pictures developed with my 75 free prints that came with my new camera. Long story short, the lady at the photo center gave us another coupon to get some more prints since we misunderstood the regulations. 

Also, I made a photo wall! I'm so proud of it, and since Sam helped me, make sure to give her a virtual pat on the back. Want to see? Of course you do!

 Not too shabby if I do say so myself. Thanks to Emily Elizabeth for hosting this productive blog carinval. Keep up the good work, ya'll.

summer with a purpose: week 4

Hard to believe it's been a month, no? Although, it's only been three weeks for me, but for the rest of you productive people, it really does seems like a month. Thanks so much, Emily Elizabeth, for creating and hosting this blog carinval! I've, mostly, stayed on top of my chores and such this summer, and I have my blog, and bloggy friends to thank for that. Just knowing that someone is waiting to see what you've done all week is a huge motivator, am I right?
Alright, enough with the sappy stuff. Let's see how productive I was this week, shall we?

• Helped Mama finished the CBS prep. Now all we have to do is finish those pesky coloring sheets and we're good to go! 
• Exercised every day this week, but Thursday I wasn't able to. Still, I've gotten back into the swing of things, and it was on both mine and Mama's to-do list. 
• Washed a truckload of dishes, then took pictures of said clean dishes. :) After supper last night, I washed even more dishes, and between being in the pool and the soapy dishwater, I'm afraid my hands are going to be permanently wrinkled. 

One thing that saved my hands was this little beauty. Seriously, it's every dishwasher's dream.

• Worked on math all this week. Why is that productive? Well, it took a lot of perseverance to do thsi kind of Alegbra...

And even more to do this. Because, frankly...this scares me. Literally, I was scared to even look at the following lessons. Please tell me I'm not alone in this...

And what in the world is this about? I'm pretty sure high schoolers aren't made to learn this stuff; it should be saved for the glorious class that is called College Algebra.

• Dusted, vacuumed, and washed my bed sheets. Nothing says summer like hanging out your clothes to dry. 

Made a couple cards...a thank you and a birthday one, to be exact. I think they turned out pretty nice, some of my best ever!

I think there's something else I meant to add, but my mind isn't functioning right now. It might have something to do with the fact that it's a weekend, but I can't rightly say. ;) Ever had that problem?

summer with a purpose: week 3

**UPDATE**
So far today, I've read my Bible (before coming downstairs!), excerised for 25 minutes, unloaded the dishwasher, cleaned up the kitchen after lunch, cleaned the downstairs bathroom for the guests tomorrow, and mowed for 30 mins. Seems like I've broken my unproductive streak, huh? By the way, I'm not naming names or anything, but someone has to use my sparkly clean toliet tomorrow...or else! :)
It's really week two for me, but whatever. A mere technicality, the date is...
Just like Emily, I'm afraid I wasn't very productive. Sure, I did a lot of odd jobs this week, like scrubbing the kitchen counters and my bathroom floor, along with finishing up the CBS task Mama and I were working on, but I didn't knock out any big tasks. Oh well, I still have most of the summer to complete my summer bucket list, if you will.
What have I worked on concerning my list of...stuff? Well, I've made great leaps and bounds in my math. In fact, I did so much math this week, I was able to take off for the holiday weekend. Virtual high five, bloggy peeps! I also cut back on my computer time, but not by much. My bad. Oh, one more thing; I have kept up with my regular chores, daily and weekly. I never really had a problem with that, but never hurts to have it written out that you need to improve on something. Motivation, you know?
Can't wait to see what things you've improved on this week! I'm off to spend a Friday night with the family...and maybe eat a ice cream cone. Hey, it's summer after all!

five reads for friday, plus summer with a purpose

Two blog-this-on-this-day-of-the-week combined into one post?! Can it be done? Is it breaking the unspoken laws of blogging 101? Who knows, but I'm not letting it stop me...
First of all, this Five Reads For Friday installment is the Summer with a Purpose edition. What's SWAP? Well, I'm glad you asked! Emily at My Life Belongs to Him decided that she needed to break the pattern that so many of us adopt once school is over: becoming a couch potato. I'm so guilty of spending way too much time in front of a screen, whether it be computer, TV, or anything else, so I really thought hard about it, and told Mama about my decision, and guess what? She decided to join me also! Pretty cool, huh?
Since I missed the first week of this particular blog carnival, I'm combined both weeks, so brace yourselves...

• I know this is on most everyone's list, but finishing school, namely math, is really high on the priority list. In order to keep up with other homeschoolers in my grade, I need to get cracking on it. Mama isn't pushing really hard, and I do have some days where I don't do a lesson, but there's the days where everything clicks and I do two lessons instead of one. It's touch and go, but I'm getting there.

• Getting in some sewing practice. I know this is one that is on a lot of other people's list also, but I have some dresses that are currently being held together by pins...and some that just plain need to be made a little more modest. Mama and I are going to make some tote bags out of old t-shirts, so be sure to check back each installment to see how they look. 
• Finding (and completing) a do-it-yourself devotional. I'm not sure what the deal is, but it seems like all the bible studies end when you have the most free time. Plus, summer is when you can get really out of touch with God, so I'm determined not to be a victim. Anyone have a good, inspiring book and/or devotional that they really liked? Leave your suggestions in the comments, please!
• Setting goals/ time limits on the computer. I struggle in that area, but this week was different since we were in town a lot. I know there are going to be days where I'm stuck at home, so I really need to keep myself accountable. Ya'll, help me with it, okay?
• Finding more baby-sitting jobs. Seems like the offers slowed down in summer, when you'd think they'd pick up. Oh well, maybe I'll even look for a part-time job at a local nursery! Who knows what I could land in the job field?
• Last, but not least since I know I'm forgetting something :), keeping up with my regular and summertime chores. I've done pretty well with them, but there's always room for improvement, right?

Switching gears...

I had a pretty productive couple of days this week, which is pretty exciting. On Friday, I tackled dusting and vacuuming my room, along with putting away my clean clothes that sat in my chair way too long (pic below!)

I also helped Mama get a head start on CBS things. I never knew how hard it was, so it was a little of a rude awakening. Yes, I have the hard time of coloring this sheets for a display. :)

Lastly, I practiced my ironing skills, and did a pretty good job! 

Mama demonstrated how to properly iron white denim, and I've since figured out that I really dislike ironing. Oh well, better get used to it!

Now for the Five Reads For Friday part of the post...
Go HERE to see all the links, and to grab some ideas if you're brain just isn't thinking hard enough. Also, go HERE to see the most recent posts that all the participants have linked to.
I'll be back to my regular FRFF post next week, so check back then! Hope to see your blog on that list of links...