Summer of Something New blog challenge: Week 6

     I cannot believe that this is the last week of the SOSN blogging challenge! These past six weeks went by so quickly. If you've been reading along all summer then be sure to check out the week 6 posts on the other blogs participating: elle-oh-vee, Forever Convinced, The Shore Life According to M and Gina Alyse! For my last week of the challenge, I had originally wanted to conquer a difficult recipe or attempt another Pinterest craft. But what I ended up doing was so much more meaningful to me then any of those options...

     I have a bad habit of buying devotional books (or requesting that my mom buy me them for Christmas) but then never finishing them. I have a 365 day devotional that I got for Christmas in 2011, and I've been stuck in the day 320ish range for over a year. That is just one example! I always get really pumped up about getting a new devo book, but once I dig into the "hard stuff" it usually ends up back on my bookshelf and is sadly forgotten about.

     I've been a big fan of Christian author Dannah Gresh for awhile. I read her best selling book about modesty called Secret Keeper back when I was in middle school, and I still can remember many of the great truths in the book. I read one of her books on the importance of sexual purity called And The Bride Wore White this past Spring, and I also enjoyed it. So when I found out that she had a new book coming out called Get Lost, I decided to treat myself to pre-ordering it. The description was something along the lines of "this book is perfect for girls that have guy problems/place too much importance on guys/etc" and I thought that this would be perfect for me. As many of you know, my freshman year of college wasn't great in the romance department (you can read about that here and here). I was definitely struggling at the start of this summer with the fact that I'm still single, and this book sounded like a cure to my problems.

     I started reading it right away when it arrived in my mailbox a few months ago. But when I realized that after only a few chapters in the book turned into 10 intense devotions (called a "Love Feast"), I put it back on my bookshelf. These devotions involved serious prayer, Christian songs to listen to and meditate on, and journaling assignements. One weird pet peeve of mine is writing in books that I buy. I can't stand it. I'm not really sure why, but I think it might be because I enjoy lending friends my favorite books, and obviously I can't do that if I've written personal stuff in a book. Journaling in a book that I've bought makes the book really "mine," and that's always weirded me out for some reason.

      Well, I decided that I would bring the book back out and commit to doing the 10 day Love Feast as the last part of the Summer of Something New challenge. I figured that it might also put me in the habit of having quiet time with the Lord everyday. That's something that I've always struggled to make time for, and something that I'd like to have in my schedule for sophomore year.

     ....

     Ladies, this book has literally changed me, and for the better! I read it hoping that it would make me stop obsessing over the fact that I'm single. Well, I can't say that it was an intstant cure for that, but as I've gone about the Love Feast I can say that I'm a lot more confident in being single then I was at the start of summer. And what I can also say is this book has touched SO many areas of my life!! As part of the daily devotions I have had to ponder all sorts of topics, ranging from how solid my own faith is, the importance of Christian friendships, being patient, Christian service, self-worth, inner beauty, and soooooo many more! This book was like a slap in my face reminding me how I can't do life on my own, and how I need a relationship with God to be the best that I can be. With every devotion I saw how much of a "baby" I still am in my faith, which makes me excited for all of the growth that is to come!!

     I am so happy that I did decide to do the journal entries, and to listen to the songs that Dannah reccomends. All of those have helped me to get the most out of this Love Feast experience. I have also been highlighting many wonderful quotes from the book as I went along. Below is my favorite quote:

     "The fact that God created you IS your worth." 

     Wow, just wow! I had never thought of self-worth in such a simple yet profound way. That is just one of the many quotes that have stuck with me from reading this book.

     Today (Friday the 2nd) will be day nine of the Love Feast, which means that I only have one day after before I finish this wonderful book. I have loved making quiet time a part of my day, and to my great delight I haven't missed a day since I committed to finishing this book! While late mornings may not work for me once my fall semester starts, I do hope to still find a time each day to curl up with a good devotional book and work on my relationship with the Heavenly Father. :-)


     I would HIGHLY recomend this book to any unmarried gal! I know that the main point of the book is to teach us ladies how to fall in love with the Lord instead of the idea of a perfect earthly man, but honestly I have gotten so much more out of this book then just that. Dannah Gresh is an amazing author who writes in a way that is easy to understand, yet speaks deeply to one's heart. She has a great testimony and a wonderful ministry. I would love to see her speak in person someday! I believe that this book could also bring a girl into the Christian faith... day one of the Love Feast is geared towards new believers, and explains all about Jesus in a way that was so clear and inviting.


     Happy Friday everyone! I have a very exciting weekend ahead, filled with fun plans with friends, including my Japanese exchange student BFF Anna who I haven't seen in over two years!! She is back in Maine visiting her old host family and she has brought her real family with her from Japan. I can't wait to see her and meet her family! Here's a picture of us at my Sweet 16 in 2011:

...I appear to have been going through a fashion crisis in 2010. Converse with leggings and a mini skirt, an arm full of silly bands... what was I thinking?! ;-) I do miss my full head of bangs though.

     Visiting with Anna is only one of the many things that I'll be up to this weekend, so expect some weekend updates posts early next week!


     xoxo Miss ALK
   

Summer of Something New blog challenge: Week 5

     Yes, I am posting this week's SOSN topic a day early. ;-) I'm doing this for a specific reason though: the "new" thing that I am doing will be done on Thursdays, and since today is Thursday, that felt more fitting than posting it on Friday.

     Something that's been a blog dream of mine since I really started getting into blogging a couple years ago was to start a popular link-up/weekly post type series thing that anyone could participate in. That description probably sucks, so let me throw out some common names of popular versions of these and see if you recognize any: Awkward & Awesome Thursday, Hello Monday, What I Wore Wednesday, What I'm Loving Wednesday... and there's probably many, many more, but these are some that I've seen pop up on the blogs that I follow.

     It took me a long time to figure out what my series could be about. I wanted it to be a simple enough concept that any blogger could participate. I also wanted it to be something that reflected positivity. I may try and sound positive in most of my blog posts (and honestly there is a lot of good in my life!), but I have to be honest and admit that I'm a pessimist at heart. It's a constant battle for me to try and fight this, and I believe that and important part of my faith is for me to keep trying to see the good in things and the blessings that God gives me. So with all of this in mind, it finally hit me:

Favorite Things Thursday!

     

     The concept is quite simple: join me on Thursdays in the future by sharing one of your favorite things! It can be literally anything... but expect to see a lot of 90s pop culture and Southern food references on my end. ;-)

     

     When Meg did my blog design, I made sure that she created an extra button for my new series. The only thing that I ask is that if you decide to join me in the future, please snag the code for this button from my homepage and put it in somewhere in the post! If this gets really popular I may consider doing an official link-up, but I think the button is a good place to start! 

     So stay tuned next Thursday for my first FTT post! And in the meantime please check out my college fashion guest post on The Darling Prepster!

     xoxo Miss ALK

Summer of Something New blog challenge: Week 4

     Happy Friday! I can't believe that we're more than halfway done the SOSN blog challenge now, and that my summer is also halfway over! Seriously, the month of July is flyin' by.

     After recently joining Pinterest and browsing a bunch of pins for make-up storage, I decided that it was time to do something about how I keep my poor make-up brushes. I've always just thrown them in my three various make-up bags that I have. This can lead to them getting ratty and old looking though, and they also had gotten very dirty since old make-up often collects on the bottom of my make-up bags.

     I originally wanted to try making the mason jar make-up brush holder shown in this pin. In fact, I was really enthusiastic about it. The day that I found that pin I went to the closest Michael's store and bought a mason jar and spray paint. The next morning I decided to start coating the jar. This is how it turned out:

     After I'd let the jar dry for a few days I went to the garage to see how it turned out. Long story short,  I will never have a career as a spray painter. There were tons of spots on the jar that didn't have enough paint, and some that had too much! And then there were weird little air bubbles on one whole side of it.

     If I had a good attitude about perseverance, I probably would have tried to remove the paint and start over, or buy another mason jar. But instead, I headed back to Pinterest and looked for other ways to store make-up brushes. ;-) That's when I found this idea! It looked much simpler than the mason jar idea since there was no spray painting involved, and I actually liked the way that it turned out better. Here were the supplies that I used!

A small glass vase, vase filler beads and ssome scrapbooking stickers to decorate!

     But before I could stick my brushes in their new home, I had to clean them. Pinterest saved the day again with this nifty pin which talked about making a solution to wash brushes with three parts dish soap and one part olive oil.

Doesn't the olive oil in the dish soap kind of look like an egg? Freaked me out a little since I hate eggs, but alas once I mixed them together it was "eggy" no more. ;-)

Look at all that yucky old make-up coming off the brushes!

After their bath

     Once my brushes had dried for a few hours it was time to assemble their vase! I ended up not decorating with the scrapbook stickers because I thought it was cute enough with the scalloped edges and the clear beads!

     How cute is this?! Can't wait to bring my new brush holder to school. It will look super cute in my dorm room!


     On a random side note, I'd like to bring up the topic of Snapchat quickly. I've had this app for a few months now, and to be honest I've never really seen the point of it. Maybe only two of my friends even use it regularly, but I usually just talk to them through texting. It does seem though like it would be fun to get into if I had people that would send me hideous selfies (I would do the same for you!). So, I thought I'd offer it up to all of my blogging friends! I don't want to post my Snapchat name here since you never truly know who is reading your blog... (you get my drift) but if you're interested just tell me in a comment on this post that you are, and we can exchange usernames over e-mail!

     I had a friend in high school that I would always text ugly selfies to before Snapchat ever came out. It was just "our thing." I had a few of the pictures saved on the computer, so this is what you could expect from me if we decide to be Snapchat buddies!

     Thought those would end this post on a "Fun Friday" note!

     To see more Summer of Something New posts today please check out these blogs!

• elle-oh-vee
• Forever Convinced
• Gina Alyse

     Fellow SOSN blogger mQs is currently on vacation this week, but check back to her blog in a few days to see what she's been up to!

     xoxo Miss ALK

     P.S. Expect some BIG changes on this blog soon. I may or may not be getting an awesome new design, and for the first time ever it's from an actual blog designer! It should be going up today or tomorrow. Talk about a "something new" :-)

Summer of Something New blog challenge: Week 3

     Since this last week of working two jobs has been crazy busy for me, I still wasn't able to finish my Pinterest craft project yet. :-( Hopefully that will be next week's SOSN post! But I was able to do something "newish" this past Monday night... cooking a new recipe with my mama!

     When I was younger I used to love helping my mom in the kitchen. She is the one who taught me most of what I know about baking and cooking! But as I grew older and my schedule got more complex we rarely had time to cook together anymore. I would use the kitchen only to bake things for my high school advisory (home room) or for gatherings with friends. I didn't really have any desire to help cook meals anymore.

      So this past Monday it was kind of nice to be working with my mom again in the kitchen. Dinner was a cabbage/carrot coleslaw (not my favorite- but I was a good sport and ate it anyways!) and we also tried a new recipe for meatballs. I love eating meat and I love homemade meatballs... but my love for them grew after we made lamb meatballs! Lamb is my favorite type of meat, and the meatballs were amazing. I would share the recipe but unfortunately the book that it came from had a pretty strong copyright warning inside it, and since I don't want to get sued for sharing a meatball recipe I'll just tell you to go to Pinterest and search "lamb meatballs" if your'e interested in making some.

     Throughout my high school years my parents and I used to fight a lot. I'm an only child and while I love them both to death, I'll admit that I gave them tons of grief in those years. I feel like for much of high school all I did to them was complain about how I didn't have an iPhone or car. Well, eventually I got both of those things and then I realized that there will always be things that I want and can't have right away, and that was no reason to take stuff out on my mom and dad! In those years I was also never enthusiastic about helping around the house (still working on that one)...

     This little evening of cooking dinner with my mom will stay with me in the coming school year... and I bet I'll think of it when I will be sick of cafeteria food and miss her cooking! ;-)



     Happy weekend everyone! Expect many more posts next week! I'm planning to do some back-to-school fashion posts soon, and there will also be some exciting blog business news!


     xoxo Miss ALK

Summer of Something New blog challenge: Week 2

     Happy belated 4th of July everyone!! Hope that you all had a great holiday. I spent the beginning part of my day working at my day camp job, and then I headed to the beach with my parents! My mom's side of the family has an annual 4th of July party in a nearby beach town. My extended family is small but is was wonderful to see everyone. And one of my cousins announced that she and her husband are expecting a baby this winter! I ended my day with going out to one of my favorite Mexican restaurants with a co-worker from the day camp. Is it un-American of me to eat Mexican food on the 4th of July?! Haha. I was very grateful to have the night off from work and to have some time to relax! I have been working a ton of hours the past couple weeks so I haven't had much time for friends and family.

     But highlight of the 4th was the fact that I got to be "twins" with my grandma:

Beach cover-up: Talbots

     Anyways, now onto the main subject of today's post: week 2 of the summer of something new challenge! I was originally working on a Pinterest craft project that I found, but due to my crazy work schedule I didn't have the movitation to finish it. Hopefully that will be next week's "something new." The thing that I chose to do for this week was half inspired by Pinterest and half by the 4th of July- I did 4th of July nail art!

     If you go to my Pinterest you will see that I have been pinning a few nail art designs with anchors and nautical themes lately. I decided that if I stared at some of my favorite nail pins for long enough, I could hopefully try and replicate the design on my nails! For my toes I just wanted to do my own thing. Here are some pictures of the steps that I took! (Ignore the fact that the polish job was very messy at first- I later cleaned up my nails with q-tips and polish remover!)

The finished product on my new favorite summer sheets! :-)

     The stripes on my big toes didn't come out as well as I hoped, but I didn't think it was too terrible for someone who has terrible handwriting and isn't good at fine details. ;-) And I love the way the anchors came out! The anchor design was much easier than I thought it would be, and it's definitely an idea that I will keep in mind for future nail art endeavors!

     My nail art got me in such a 'Merica mood that I had to wear a festive 4th of July outfit as well!

• Tank top: 579 stores (August 2012)
• Shorts: J. Crew (March 2013)
• Belt: Forever 21 {came with a different pair of shorts} (January 2013)
• Sandals: Target (May 2013)
• Earrings: Belk (September 2012)
• Bracelet: Christmas gift from my former boss :-)

      I didn't have time to shower and formally "get ready" for my dinner out after our afternoon at the beach. My hair was a damp and frizzy disaster, so I decided on a simple bun. The length that it's at now makes it hard usually to stay up, but since it was damp it held just fine. I also used gel to make my bangs disappear. ;-) That's why I love side bangs- it's not hard to disguise them! I'm not usually a bun person but I think it worked alright with this outfit.

     I'm obsessed with this cute ruffled tank top that I got last summer. It literally matches everything and was one of the best basic pieces that I've ever bought! Lately I've been tucking it into various pairs of shorts and pants, like I did here. 

     I love the way that these J. Crew shorts fit my body! I've worn them a bunch since I got them this spring at a J. Crew outlet down south. Since the tank top is so "ruffly" I decided against wearing a necklace, so instead I wore a bracelet with a nautical touch and patriotic colors, and some small red hoop earrings. I had gotten those earrings last fall to wear to games and spirit events at my former university since one of the school's colors was red. Glad that I can still get some use out of them! 

     Be sure to check out these blogs today to see more Summer of Something New posts:

• elle-oh-vee
• Forever Convinced
• The Shore Life According to M
• Gina Alyse

     Also- be sure to check out my blog tomorrow! I don't usually post on the weekends but I will have some exciting news about my first ever group giveaway!

     xoxo Miss ALK

Summer of Something New blog challenge: Week 1

     Finally time to share my first post for the Summer of Something New blog challenge! I did my "new thing" for the challenge last Sunday, at the start of the week. Since I had such a busy week coming up with work, I wanted to make a little treat item that I could take with me as a snack for my breaks. However, since I've left for college last summer my mom has been trying to have a sugar-free diet for her health, and has asked that I don't bake large portions of sweet treats anymore and leave them around the house. So with this in mind, I knew that whatever I made had to be small. Small portion recipes are also great to have around for instances such as if you're having a friend over for the afternoon and want to share some homemade treats, but don't want the hassle of making a huge batch of something and having the whole kitchen a mess.

     Well, the recipe that I found had a lot of great qualities! First, it was a very small portion. I was able to make everything using only a tiny mixing bowl and one cookie sheet. Second, the cookies didn't have any regular sugar in them, the only sweeteners were honey and the semi-sweet chocolate chips. Not quite "sugar free," but better then using a ton of regular sugar. And third, they're eggless! This is big for me because I HATE eggs. Seriously, I think they're the most disgusting things ever. I don't eat any type of eggs (like scrambled or boiled), and just the smell of them cooking makes me want to puke.   Obviously I do need to usually use eggs when I bake, but even just cracking and touching them makes me grossed out. So it was great for me to find a recipe that made delicious cookies and avoided them altogether! This also means that the batter is safe to eat! ;-)

     The original recipe for the cookies that I made can be found here at a website called Sugar-Free Mom, but I changed a couple things so below is the exact recipe that I used:


Almost Sugar-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 2 tablespoons softened butter 
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup white flour (you can also use whole wheat flour for even healthier cookies)
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

      Ready to hear how easy this recipe is? You combine everything in a small mixing bowl. Since there's no eggs and only a few ingredients, there's no order as to how things should go into the mixing bowl. 

    Next you make small balls of cookie dough on a baking sheet, and then bake the cookies at 375 degrees for about 10ish minutes!

     These cookies came out really soft, which was wonderful because I'm not really a big crunchy cookie person. They tasted best warm and right out of the oven, but made a decent snack for my first few days of working both jobs. The whole recipe only made like 12 cookies, but that was perfect because clean-up was easy and since I was the only one eating them it meant that I wouldn't eat too many. I'm definitely going to keep this recipe on hand for the next time I have a friend over and want to make something quickly! 

     To see more Summer of Something New posts, check out these blogs today!

• elle-oh-vee
• The Shore Life According to M
• Forever Convinced
• A Beautiful Heart

     Tonight is my very first (and only!) night off from work this week, and I'm going to use it to do some errands, which include a trip to Michael's to get some craft supplies for an upcoming week of the Summer of Something New challenge! (I know that I just posted about how I'm currently on a spending fast, but this craft project will create storage for some important items of mine, so I think it's necessary! It will also help with dorm room organization once I head to school.) I also hope to grab some Indian take-out food to bring home for dinner, and after I'll hopefully continue to make my way through season eight of the That 70s Show on Netflix. :-)

     

     xoxo Miss ALK

Introducing the Summer of Something New blog challenge!

     Boy oh boy do I have some exciting blog news today! And doesn't exciting blog news make Mondays better? I think so! :-)

    *drumroll please*....... I now have (real) social media icons up! After realizing that it was beyond me to make my own, I ordered some from an Etsy shop. I think they make my blog look like 100% more "professional" already, and I may or may not have clicked on them about a bazillion times because I'm so happy about their arrival. #bloggingnerdstatus

     You probably know that's not the real reason for this post though... the real news is I'm introducing that I'm co-hosting a fun blogging challenge!

        A couple months ago I started e-mailing back and forth with Elle exchanging ideas for a summer blogging challenge. She and I had done a 30 day blogging challenge back in early 2012 when I was still writing on my old blog. :-) It was a lot of fun and allowed us to get to know each other and our readers better! Unfortunately it summer is a busy time so an everyday of the month challenge didn't seem too realistic, so we eventually decided upon the Summer of Something New challenge!

     Basically each week for the next six weeks Elle, myself, the two other fabulous gals that are joining in will commit to trying one new thing, and then blogging about it that Friday at the end of the week! So this week's posts will go up on Friday, June 28th, and the last Friday of the challenge will be Friday, August 2nd. If a blogger cannot post on that week's Friday for whatever reason, the post can be shared on Thursday or Saturday.

     The beauty of the Summer of Something New is that you can you can literally do anything as long as it's new to you, and you blog about it! Some ideas include trying new recipes or craft projects, taking a day trip to somewhere you've never been before, learning a new skill, reading a different type of book than you usually read, etc. I always find that I tend to get lazy during my free time in the summers, so I'm looking forward to this as a way to stay busy and creative when I'm not working!

     Now let me introduce the bloggers who will be participating with me:

*Elle: First up is my co-host for the challenge! Let me just say that I have a lot of favorite blogs I follow, but Elle definitely writes one of my top favorite blogs! I love her honesty and realness, and she has a great sense of humor, too! She is a great role model for college girls like myself, and I am so thankful that we were able to become blog friends! One thing that I find interesting is that one of the reasons that we both started blogging is because it was a way to vent about school. ;-)
     Elle and her husband J are "not-so-newlyweds" who just celebrated their 2nd wedding anniversary. (Side note: they're one of the cutest blog couples that I know of.) Elle is currently in a graduate program studying to become a counselor. She and J are both Christians. They're also fur-parents to a very cute dog named Cooper who makes frequent appearances on her blog.  Elle blogs over at elle-oh-vee about enjoying married student life! 

*Jessica: Jessica is one of my newer blog friends, but she's one of the sweetest bloggers that I've ever "met"! This girl has one of the biggest hearts for Jesus that I've ever seen. Her testimony was so encouraging for me to read, and I encourage all of you to read it too! Her blog posts are always so down-to-earth and fun to read.
     Jessica is a new college graduate from the Northwest who is getting ready to take on grad school! She is passionate about photography, iced coffee, chocolate travel and being a Young Life leader. Jessica started her blog, Forever Convinced, as a way to share her faith with others. 

*mQs: Miss mQs from The Shore Life of M and I have a lot of interesting things in common! Both of us blog under our initials, and both of us are soon to be college sophomores who are also transfer students! It was really cool for me this past spring to be able to read another gal's blog who was going through the transfer process as well. mQs wrote up her own bio for me to share with all of you!
     My name is Michaela Quigley (mQs).  I'm an east coast girl starting my sophomore year of college.  I am studying Middle Grades Education with the intention of becoming a teacher.  I have a passion for fashion,quotes,  photography, sports, the beach, Starbucks, shopping, food, exercising, and crafting.  These things are all noticeable throughout my blog. I started my blog, Shore Life According to M, in January 2013. I had been following blogs for about six months, and with the start of a new year I thought it would something fun to try.  I have always been a creative person.  In college I found myself not being able to express my creativity as much, so my blog became a way for me to be creative and take my mind off of the stress of college. My blog doesn't really have a theme.  I write about whatever inspires me each day.  I am working to expand my blog and obtain a larger following base, as well as make my blog bigger and better. I am always open to feedback and suggestions, in fact I love hearing what my readers have to say.  It is one of my favorite parts of blogging.  I am excited for this month long challenge with Ms. ALK and what it has to offer me and all of my readers.

     I'm so excited to be doing such a fun blogging challenge with three awesome bloggers! I can't wait to see what fun ideas everyone brings to the table. And the good news is for all of you reading this; there's still time to join in if you'd like to! Just make sure to e-mail me asap (which you can now do using that handy dandy little e-mail icon!), and I'll add you in!

     In other news, today is my first day of working at both summer jobs. I have evening and afternoon shifts, which means that I'll only have less than an hour later to drive home, change from camp attire into business casual attire, eat dinner and then leave for the next job! Eeek. Pray that I'll be able to make this in time!


     xoxo Miss ALK