Pondering...

Followup to FF Challenge

I did wear skirts for a week straight. No pictures. Sorry. A couple interesting things that I did in skirts was working in the workshop and climbing up on a haybale to take pictures. My favorite combination is probably a long brown skirt and teal top :/ I'm going to be trying to wear skirts more often, especially now that the weather is nicer. (In fact, I'm wearing one right now :)

Fearlessly Feminine challenge

Well Amanda has been doing the Fearlessly Feminine challenge. So I thought I'd give it a go too. Actually I have been wearing skirts pretty much every day this week. She took the words right out of my mouth when she posted last week:

"In the past I haven’t had the wardrobe for being a dresses-only girl. Over time though, I’ve been trying to make an effort to buy more skirts and dresses when I do need new clothes, so my clothing options have been expanding. *smile* I believe God is pleased when girls dress femininely. I know people have different opinions of just what that word means, and I don’t think less of anyone who wears pants. But my personal conviction is to wear skirts as much as possible. In the winter I find this the hardest because I’m so cold all the time, so this will be a good stretching exercise for me. *grin*"

These past couple years I have really been interested in reading articles about dressing modestly and even more so when it talks about wearing skirts. So I thought I would post this. Please leave your thoughts! :)

The Challenge:
To wear only skirts/dresses for an entire week (7 days). Post some pictures on your blog and show us some of your outfits. If you don’t have exactly 7 different skirts, that’s o.k. Mix and match with your shirts. If you’d like, post every day of your challenge week and show us what you wore like the other ladies in the links above did. (I am hoping to do so.) And be creative! You can easily be modest and fashionable at the same time. Being modest and feminine doesn’t mean wearing a skirt that covers your toes and a shirt that comes all the way up to your neck, and has dull colors. No! You can be modest, feminine, lovely, beautiful and stylish all at the same time! So, be creative! Throw in some accessories. Put on a hat if you want; Dress up with some jewelry or earrings, fix your hair in a lovely do. Show us how you can look modest and feminine, yet with some added style.


For those who already wear skirts everyday:

If you already wear skirts regularly, please participate anyway! This is for all females. Show us how you mix and match your clothes, what type of fabric skirts you like best (blue jean, cotton, etc.), your favorite skirts and outfits, etc. We’d love to hear about it!

For an extra challenge:

-Venture out in your attempts to be fearlessly feminine!

-Fix your hair a different way each day of the challenge week. Must not be the same in all 7 days (that means 7 different hair-styles). Be creative and try new hair dos *smile* Take a picture and show us. -Wear a different pair of earrings if you have pierced ears, each day, or if you don’t, a different piece of accessory.
-Show us pictures of daily activities of you in your skirts.

The Goal of the challenge:

-Venturing out for one week to be fearlessly feminine in the way you dress.
-Experiencing a week of skirts/dresses and comparing it to your regular ways of dress and style.
-Evaluating yourself at the end of the week and comparing it to your regular way of dress: how was the experience for you? Any particular stories? Did wearing skirts rather than pants affect the way you felt? The way you felt about yourself? The way you acted? The way you carried yourself? Were you able to go about everyday activity as freely as pants? How did people respond? Were you more respected? Did you feel more like a lady? After the challenge do you desire to keep wearing skirts more regularly, or were you desperate to wear pants again? ETC.
-Sharing with other girls your outfits and give ideas of mixing and matching.
-Showing how beautiful female femininity actually is.

100 days!

until camp!!!

[photo credit]

And then I can see these wonderful people!!!

Grandpa

Happy birthday Grandpa!!! I wish I could be with you to celebrate, but alas alas I cannot! :( I miss you soo much! Thank you so much for being such a wonderful example to me. And for always encouraging me with Scripture and little 'e-notes.' They mean a lot to me.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!!! I love you tons!!!

Like father, like son

Busy as a beaver

and sick as a dog! What weird expressions! Why is it the dog that is always sick?... :) Actually, I'm not that sick, I'm getting better. I thought that I'd tell you why I won't be here the rest of the weekend. I am still alive. I think.


The reason I'm busy? Piranesi!!!!! You see, there was an artist in the 18th century named Giovanni Battista Piranesi. He got sick (maybe that's where I got the idea) and had really scary dreams on account of his high fever. What were in these dreams? Prisons. Or Carceri d'invenzione if you prefer. We have to take one of his etchings and expand it using our imagination. Eeek! Look to the left to see which one I am in the midst of doing. Well, after we sketch it out in graphite and making sure everything is in perfect proportion, we use pen and ink over it. And are NOT allowed to spill the ink. If we do, we somehow have to incorporate it into our design. One of the teachers said the inking should only take 10 hours. That's a laugh!!! A couple hours on a beam. By the way, inking is supposed to be done on Monday. Yeah, I hope I make it through this weekend...

Posted:

I'm sick. Really sick.

Who needs a title?

Sorry I haven't been here lately again. And I'm sorry for the webdings font on the last post! In Mozilla, it looks perfectly fine, but not so much in IExplorer. :) Let's see what has been going on lately? Homewor homework homework. I have a five page research paper due tomorrow at 11. We have a Piranesi assignment where we have to add onto his etching using our imagination. We have two weeks to complete it and it will be in pen and ink. Today in design, we made valentine's cards. Yup, that's right, valentines. We had to make it 3D, but it was really fun. Speaking of which, Happy Valentine's Day everyone!! In case you didn't read it last year, click here to read about why we celebrate this holiday. Remember to thank your true valentine today. For His eternal love for us.

Should I stumble or soar?

So it's been more than a week since I posted, and since I don't want to become like some people and never post, I thought I'd let you know that I'm still alive. Well, I don't know how alive I am actually. I just got a bad grade in design. I was trying to convince myself that grades aren't that important. Not working too well. So after class, I came back to my room, turned on K-love and opened my Bible for some help. This is what I turned to (Isaiah 40:29-31):

"He gives strength to the weary, and increases the power to the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

That is exactly what I needed! Funny how God does that, isn't it? So I guess the choice is up to me. Should I depend on myself or put my hope in God? Should I stumble or should I soar?

Happy birthday!!!

Happy birthday, daddy!! I love you so much! I hope you had a wonderful birthday and I wish that I could have been with you to celebrate. I am thankful that I am here at school. And without you, that wouldn't have happened! Thank you sooo much!!!! A couple tidbits:

• A volunteer fireman, certified to operate the Jaws of Life
• County Commissioner
• Owns and operates small business, Tires and More
• FULL-TIME farmer/rancher. :)

I love you, dad!!!!!!

Europe? I wish.

So I was talking to my awesome RA today about school. And the Europe tour came up. It is mostly for archies (architecture majors) but anyone can go. She was aying how much she improved her drawings and self-esteem. How I wish I could go!!! Ah, Italy, Italy, Italy!!! [swoons] Okay, I'm back. :) Well, she was saying that she saved up since her freshamn year because it costs about $5,000! Sigh. There goes my dream.


There is hardly anything to do in studio tonight. Hooray! Of course I was there for six hours yesterday.

People of the Week

on ABC news is... North Dakotans!!! How cool, right? Click on the link below to watch the video. Has some of the National Geographic "controversy" in it. Also, if you search, there is another video talking about North Dakotans 'accepting' the award of people of the week. Good clips, hope you watch them!

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4157223

Can you...

guess where this was taken?

New band on the rise?...

More randomness

I'm back at college and guess what?! My room-mate moved out to have a room for herself. (I guess she couldn't handle rooming with a goldfish! ;) It is so exciting!!!!!!!!!!!!! I rearranged my room (with some help from strong friends). And it's awesome! I have a bed dedicated just to my reading, computer and [ahem!] homework. :D

The plane ride was good, pretty uneventful. I was able to navigate the O'Hare airport easily and find my luggage (even though they put it on the wrong luggage claim thing).

I have class at 8 in the morning tomorrow. It is so hard to believe that school starts tomorrow. And it is so weird to see so many people my age again. :D

Sidenotes--

I completed my Hawaii scrapbook. YOU should come see it this summer. :)

I finished Be Still My Soul by Elisabeth Eliott on the plane ride. An amazing book. Highly recommend it. I think I highlighted pretty much the whole book. :D I'm starting Humility:True Greatness by C.J. Mahaney. I've only read one chapter, but so far it's really good.

I got a haircut! (A little shorter than initially envisioned...)

Randomness

Tonight, Chase, Savannah and Miranda stayed at our house because my mom's Bible study met and left the kids in my care. :D So maybe I'll post pictures of that later. Too many pictures loaded already. ;)

Kendra!!!!! Hooray, we actually got to see her!!!

Practice with 'ghosting'

Candid glamour shots

Friends! (sometimes fiends... :)

My fascination with broccoli continues.
Click on the picture to really get the full impact of its greatness.

Coyote

A foot stuck in the table on New Year's Eve. :D

What a purdy aunt and her niece!

D.C., that darn cat! :) Speaking of which, he almost perished. He got squished under the garage door, but he seems to be doing alright. [sigh] He certainly fits his name!

Procrastination...

...is a funny thing. One minute you are washing the broccoli for vegetable pizza, and the next you are taking the most fascinating pictures one has ever seen.

Blessed

Well looking back on this past year, I realize (probably only partially) how much I have been blessed. I have a family that supports me going to a Christian University and supports me in my dream to become a photographer. THANK YOU!!!! There are so many other things I am thankful for this year, but this is the thing that sticks out to me. Besides, with my goldfish brain, I don't remember (and may not be aware of) all of the things that have impacted me this year.

Lately I've been reading a book by Elisabeth Elliott (I read Passion & Purity fairly recently- awesome book!!) called Be Still My Soul. I just got through the second chapter, but it is such a blessing to read. I just love it!

He may be asking us to... turn over to Him fears which hold us in bondage, to give up forms
ofself-improvement or recreation or socail life which hinder disobedience.
Afterwards, with a joyful lightness of spirit and awareness of God's active
involvement in ordering our happiness, we may wonder why we waited
so long.

Breaking news!!

Andrew, my [ahem!] blogging brother has finally posted on his blog. If you have followed with his blog lately, you may have noticed that he hasn't been posting lately. Okay since August. :) Go visit!!!! Maybe he'll humor us and post at least a little more regularly if we leave more comments. :)

A side note: I finished The Penny. It was really good!! I stayed up reading it for about six hours straight. I just couldn't put it down. And I don't know if I should tell how late I stayed up. :)