And the winner of the jewelry giveaway is...

#7, Morgan! I randomly generated that number using Random.org.

Here's her comment:

Morgan said...

Hello Julia!

I just wanted to say that I love your blog! I'm homeschooled right now (I'm a junior). You are a great writer, and I'm now following your blog.
And...while I'm at it, I'll enter your contest.

I like purple.
I have pierced ears.
I much prefer silver.
I like simple - long or small/short. Doesn't matter!
And I'm linking to your blog on my blog!

Congratulations, Morgan! :) Please leave me a comment with your address, and I will send you your custom-designed earrings! :) Bonus points for you if you post about it when you get them - lol! :D

Many blessings,

Post-a-Day #30

Last post-a-day! Wow! I made it! :D Some of my posts were rather insipid updates on what I'd done that day, but overall I think it was good for me to have something consistently posted. :) It will be nice to take a break if I want to, though. :)

My custom earring giveaway is ending today at 12:00 noon, so hurry and enter before it's done! I will be closing the comment section to tally up the entries.

I would like to wish a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my dear friend Taylor! :) Her family and mine get together very well and we love to get together for things like crocheting (just her and I) and riding around on their gator and golf cart... and making medieval movies and having medieval feasts... :) yeah. :D



In closing, I would like to 'dare' whoever wants to participate to write a post-a-day for one month. Pick any month you like, and see if you can accomplish it as well! It was a lot of fun, really. However, I do have a tip if you're doing this ... schedule a whole bunch of them way ahead of time! :D

That way, you won't be staying up late, realizing you forgot to post that day and.... scrambling for 'something to post about'! :D

Post-a-Day #29

Psalms 121 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

These are such beautiful words. My father read this to us a few nights ago and it just struck me as so beautiful.

Post-a-Day #28- Crocheted Doughnuts & Rock Ranch pics

Sorry for the lateness of today's post!
Today I helped my mom give her blog a 'quilty' ♥makeover♥!! I love it! Do go see it and tell her if you like it... Click Here.

A Preview

As for my Riddle... Wow, you are all just too smart! :) My hints were way too easy for you. :)
Yes, I was crocheting doughnuts. I made a strawberry one a while ago and then made a few more...

(Sorry for the blurry focus)

Vanilla with rainbow sprinkles

This one's not quite done yet - Grape with "jellybeans" on top:

I also have (left to right) First row: "Ultra Strawberry", "Double Chocolate", "Unfinished - I'm thinking of perhaps peachy-colored frosting-" and the grape and rainbow sprinkles ones.


*~*~*~*~*~*
We had lots of fun at the Rock Ranch! We heard later from a friend that it rained buckets after we left - good thing we got out of there when we did. :)

Daddy & Boys in the corn maze

The Rock Ranch is home to many different kinds of farm animals... I loved these miniature ponies! (They hardly come up to my knees in height!)
The goats were *very* friendly...
The very fortunate goats had a totally awesome treehouse and high bridges that, if clambered across, led to another pasture!

I spotted some sheep, too.

And we very much enjoyed the paddleboats! Daddy and I chased Mark and Steven around the lake, bumping into them when we could catch them. The boys loved it, pretending to be in the midst of a heroic "Naval battle". :)

See video for details. :)

They told us to move to one side of the lake so we'd be out of the way of the ... PUMPKIN CANNON??

That thing shot pumpkins WAY across the lake and they exploded upon landing in the pasture at the other side. Wow! It was so cool. Unfortunately I don't have footage of it firing or a photo of the pumpkins flying through the air above our heads. :O

We bought some water bottles at the "Possum Trot Cafe" ... which boasted, on their fake menu (not the real one, thank goodness!) "Raccoon Fingers, Hog jowls w' grease, Squirrel Gravy, Fried Muskrat, Possum Stew, Highway 36 Potluck" and ..."Road Rage Ribs".

Can anyone say "Eeeeeew!" ?

Hope you enjoyed today's post!

Post-a-Day #27

I would like to request prayer for my Mom... she has a bad cold that is worse now than it has been, and seems a lot like the 2-month thing my brothers and I struggled with. Please pray for her! We would really appreciate it.

Sigh - well, I didn't get the pictures of the Rock Ranch downloaded yet. You will have to wait until tomorrow.

:( Sorry about that!

Instead, I spend the day making something else. I'll give you a hint.

They're round.

They're soft.

You can't eat them but you wish you could.

:D Those were some pretty good hints! Let's see if any of you can guess what it is. :) I'll post pics of that when I get the Rock Ranch ones uploaded. :)

I do have something new in my Etsy Banner Shop! (Click picture below to see a larger version)

I designed that recently, and loved it so much I almost put it on my jewelry shop! :)

One last thing - I'd like to remind you to enter my 200th post celebration giveaway! :)

Love & Hugs,

Post-a-Day #26

It was a dark and stormy night....

She was exhausted and weary, sitting before the computer, listening to the clickety-clack of her fingers typing on the keyboard.

Her face, especially her cheekbones and forehead, was a glowing pink from her earlier exposure to the sun that day.

Guess where I'm heading with this?

Today my dad took me and my brothers to the Rock Ranch in The Rock, Georgia, and we had a wonderful time! Some dear friends of ours had given us a free family 'pass' to get in, and I'm glad we took them up on their offer. We got to meet them there and do some fun activities together.

Some of my favorites were the huge Corn Maze, the paddleboats on the lake, and ... the pedal cars! :D

However -

I got VERY sunburned, from being outside all day, my calf muscles are definitely complaining from all I made them do today, and I'm quite tired from all this activity. :D

I'll probably get some pictures posted tomorrow, and I have a few videos that are too good to waste away, unwatched. :)

Thank you so much to everybody who wished my dad a happy birthday! :) He had a great day.

Blessings!

Post-a-Day #24

A quick note before I go to bed...

:P I have got to start scheduling my posts more... :)

Thank you all so much for the comments on my skirts! :D I did not make them (sadly) I found them at T.J. Maxx after my dear real-life non-blogging friend Taylor recommended the store... and those were just what I could find in the 'clearance' section! :o) I just love a bargain. :)

I wore the brown one today shopping in Wal-mart (usual grocery run) with mom, and found to my dismay that if I'm walking long distances it tends to slip down! Now I have to find myself a cute 'sash'-type belt or scarf... perhaps that will help! :D It's very comfortable though, despite the ... um... slippyness... :D All of those skirts are, I bought them with that purpose in mind. :)

Ok... goodnight!

Post-a-Day #23 (Wordless Wednesday) - New skirts!

? ...

!!!!! :D

;)

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥! :)

Post-a-Day #22

According to my calendar, today is the first day of Fall!

However, us Georgians are still waiting for those leaves to change into beautiful colors. Right now everything is still green. (And wet! We've had a lot of rain lately and it's supposed to rain all week!) Sigh...

Well, yesterday I stayed inside away from all the inclement weather, and .... gave my blog a makeover!

The only thing I have left to finish are the sidebar tags like this one.

I was especially happy with how the new blog button came out! Make sure to update if you still have my old one! :)

But... I think my favorite part of the makeover, hands down, is the header.

I was going for a Scrapbook-style look, and I was thrilled with how it turned out. :)


This afternoon we are going over to a friend's house, so that means we have to get our school finished this morning... which means I should be signing off for now! :) Have a lovely day!

Post-a-Day #21

I'm almost done with the makeover! :) Do you all like it so far?

Post-a-Day #20

Okay - I am posting this today because I don't want to miss a day of posting, but I really don't have a post prepared, except to announce that ...

This Blog is Hereby Under Construction! :D

I am designing a new header, and I will be re-working my sidebar, and making a new post divider. I may even fix my signature to a cuter font. :)

So. Check back soon to see the new look! :)

Post-a-Day #18

...So I made myself a post divider! By itself I LOVE it............ but as a post divider... somehow it's kind of visually distracting. (I think that's my main design fault... being too visually overpowering, distracting, and such...) I think I will end up changing to something else. But it's on here for now... and if you are interested in making your own or using one from Shabbyblogs.com, I know where to find a really awesome, super-easy and beginner-friendly tutorial on how to do it! It's...

Wait, where did I put that?



It must be here somewhere.



Where could it be?


Aha!



Right ******>HERE<******!!!



heehee.

Post-a-Day #17 - ten honest things

Thanks to Rachel for for the Honest Scrap award! :D I was awarded by her after I saw that Jasmine awarded this to whoever wanted to participate .... and I did.... so ..... :D I had started writing it already... but I'm somewhat relieved, as Rachel made it 'official!' :D

Here are the rules for the "Honest Scrap" Award:

1. Say thanks and give a link to the presenter of the award ~ (Thank you, Jasmine and Rachel!)
   
2. Share "ten honest things" about yourself.
   
3. Present this award to 7 others whose blogs I find brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged me.


4. Tell those 7 people that they've been awarded the "Honest Scrap" and inform them of these guidelines in receiving

OK- for my ten honest things I'm also going to post 'Fashion-honest' things. (It just looked like so much fun! Otherwise I wouldn't be such a copycat). :)

1. Sometimes I have been caught being "too dressy". :) I love jewelry and cute shoes, and occasionally I wear too much of both at places like *cough* home-church...


2. My hair is so long that I can sit on it easily (or without meaning to - ouch!) and most of the time I just contain it in a boring ponytail to get it out of my way. (any tips on very long hair-styles?)


3. My fashion sense has a mind of its own sometimes... (lol)


4. I ask my brothers for their opinions often, which apparently drives them nuts, I have no idea why... Somehow they don't find choosing between a pink purse or a brown purse as fun as I do! :D


5. Patterned prints, Polka-dots, and Paisley - Oh My! :D I love them all.


6. I have WAY too many shoes. Seriously.


7. I also have way too much jewelry - It's a side effect of being a jewelry designer... you make some for every outfit! :)
   
8. If something is 'in' at the moment but doesn't look right on me - or it grates against my convictions of modesty - I won't wear it.
   
9. I've gotten my mom to wear dangly earrings... woohoo! She looks great in them too. :) Love you Mommy!
   
10. I wear pants or capris more than I wear skirts. :( Mostly because my skirts are all dressy - if anyone has reccomendations on someplace to get 'everyday' skirts, please drop me a note!

I award whomever would like to participate! I agree with Jasmine that 7 is just too few. :D

Post-a-Day #16

Thank you all so much for all the comments with suggestions of what to write! They're all excellent. I am working on some new posts based on your ideas!

For now, I have a very *tasty* recipe that I just posted on my cooking blog for you to enjoy! Check It Out!


Congratulations to my sweet friend Lindsay for reaching 100 posts! :)

In honor of this achievement she is giving away a totally cute bag that she made herself, with a lining and a pocket on the inside.

(I love that fabric - it would go with so many outfits and it's simply adorable!) :)

So anyway.... if you would like to enter for a chance to win that cute bag, or if you just want to stop by and say Hi to Lindsay, visit her blog, Content in Christ.

Post-a-Day #15

You know, I am really enjoying all the comments my 'Post-a-Day' posts are getting! Now my problem is ... replying to them all! :D So ... don't worry if I haven't commented back yet, it's just because I have so many people to respond to. :)





Sigh. For lack of really 'interesting' subject material, you will have to put up with another old 'What I've been doing recently" post. :) Hopefully you don't mind too much......





Let's see... I have been drying flowers in my closet:



(Sorry about the awful lighting - ick...) My dad brought home from work the beautiful bouquet that these flowers came from - the Landscape Design company he works for also runs a florist shop on the side, and Daddy occasionally comes home with 'leftovers'! :D (I love it!)

I've also been reading "Just Jane" by Nancy Moser, a sort of Novel/Biography of Jane Austen's Life... I found it quite believable and most amusing. :)
From that book I also learned that there isn't really a portrait of Jane Austen - they created one after her death from an unfinished pencil sketch her sister Cassandra drew.  Interesting, no?

So, my readers, I have ....

A Question!

"What would you like me to write about?"



I'll be curious to see your answers. :) If you're drawing a blank, here are a few suggestions for you to choose from, if you so desire...

• Recipes
• More Photos
• Poems/Scripture
• Links to my fav blogs
• Random Ramblings (haha)
• My opinions on practical matters

That's basically all I can think of at the moment... hopefully there's a reader lurking out there who will be inspired to write me a stellar, bright, witty comment with lots of inspiration in it! :D

Post-a-Day #14

Yesterday we went to our homechurch and had an excellent time fellowshipping with our wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ.



What I thought was really neat was that the family hosting was just building their new house next door to the garage/pool house that they had been staying in, and the plywood and framing and roof was up but uncovered - so they had each of us church members take a sharpie and write scripture all over their walls!

I thought it was such a wonderful idea, and after everyone was done it was really neat to walk around and see the words from the Bible all over the place. Some were especially fitting...

(I'm sorry, but I'm just going to paraphrase with the ones that I can't remember the reference for...)

"Forget not mine instruction, my son" - this was written by the father of the household over his son's closet entrance.

Psalms 121:8 The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore. - this was on the floor right before the front door. (my dad wrote that one)

Above the pantry door I wrote Matthew 6:20-21 "But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

Have you ever done something similar for your house or another house? What are some special ways you make a house meaningful to you?

Post-a-Day #13

Would you like to learn just a little more about me? My friend Arianna interviewed me for our devotional blog, Meditations of His Love, so if you're interested in reading that.... Click Here.

Post-a-Day #12

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

~ Robert Frost

I love this poem.

What are some ways you have taken "the road less traveled by?"