Grateful with Goals

I am so grateful for spring break. I feel so renewed, and like I just had an amazing week. I took photos, went camping and adventuring, baked a ton of food, celebrated Easter, and executed a tea party. And slept. Oh, it was wonderful to sleep.

The big thing I did this week was a camping trip with my family- we stayed in a camper cabin (which is just a cabin with a wood fireplace, beds, and a table iside it in the middle of the woods), and hiked all around Lake Maria State Park. It was beautiful, albeit chilly. On Friday, I was definitely wearing 5 layers the majority of the time.

Also, I had a tea party! Having a tea party has always been a dream of mine. Either that, or just move to England, where tea is a regular thing. Or at least I think it is. . . I haven't ever been there. That's another dream! But I baked FRENCH MACARONS and just about DIED! I started them at 8:00pm, and didn't get to bed 'til midnight! I also baked cranberry orange scones that turned out amazing, and made tiny cucumber sandwiches, with lemony-dill cream cheese. It was so fun!

Easter was amazing. I really loved seeing all of the different posts on instagram, crazy as that is, from friends and organizations alike. And they're still popping up in my feed- I was just reminded of how amazing our Lord is, and how free we are. Like wow. There's someone who loves me so much they died for me, but so powerful He then come back to life, so that death isn't the end. What?! One of my favorite posts read "resurrection means that the worst thing is never the last thing". I feel so filled with hope, and excited about life.

Today was my first day back from break. Last night, I couldn't even imagine going to school this morning. Props to me, because here I am, finished with a whole day. I don't plan on completely sliding through the last two months of school, but it's certainly becoming harder and harder to stay motivated-- all I want to do is create, sew, bake, have fun with friends (pinterest scroll, eat chocolate). . . So I've created some goals for myself, to get through the end of the school year.

1. In general, improve my health. I'm going to try to eat better and exercise more, because I focus better, sleep better, and in general feel better when I'm making good health choices.

2. Do one creative thing a week. Creating is fun! I'm going to sew, bake, paint, draw, decorate my room, take pictures, and write! I have this love for imaging and writing stories that's gotten buried beneath all of the essay-writing skills I've been taught, and I'm just now starting to dig it back up again! Fun!

3. Keep my room clean. Self explanatory.

4. Bump my grades up.  I know I can do it. If I could just find where I put my motivation . . .

5. Worry less, trust more! I tend to worry about everything- my grades, my social life, my schedule, and it's really counter-productive, and just leaves me tired and tense. I need to remember that I can't be a lazy bum, but God's got a plan; I don't need to figure everything out.

6. Make space in my life. I need to stop rushing through everything, worrying about where the time's going, and slow down.

7. Go to bed earlier! What if I went to bed at 9:30 every night. What a dream.

Haha well now that you've read about all my problems. . . thanks for stopping by! Have some more pictures!

 Camping is the best.

 Sister selfie!

 My bread didn't rise. It tasted good though!

 Go google food puns. Just do it. And maybe put on the child safety filter, just in case.

Adorable! Take note future husband/boyfriend/person trying to ask me out

 TEA PARTY!

Bye!

Magic Hour

You know that time of day when everything seems to have a golden tint, and you can practically hear the sun as it begins to sink into the horizon? That time of day that is so often used as the setting for the last scene of that family-friendly movie you just watched that had you teary and smiling all at the same time? Well, that time of day, the hour or so just before to just after the sun sets or rises, is called magic hour (or golden hour), most likely because the lighting is truly magical for taking photos.

I just downloaded an app that tells you when magic hour is (called magic hour- go figure), and being on spring break this week, I just had to test it out. I walked to Theodore Wirth parkway, right by my house, to capture some of the nature over there. Everything's still sort of dead, but somehow all ended up looking pretty in the sunlight anyways. I was also sort of looking for an opportunity to flaunt my new boots (thrifted, but they were barely used) to everyone driving around at 7:00pm, I suppose.

Here are a few of my favorites! I didn't even edit them- the lighting/color was a bit tricky when I was shooting as it was constantly changing with the sun setting, you can see the progression/change in amount of sunlight from the first photo to the last one. But I can't wait to try taking some morning magic hour photos, and some with an actual subject too! There are so many possibilities!

Nifty boots, right?

Cute French T-shirt DIY

The lovely weather we've been having has made me feel the need for cute short sleeved shirts, but unfortunately my bank account hasn't been very agreeable lately.

I've seen cute DIY t-shirts like this one all over Pinterest, calling for everything from sharpies to iron-on fabric to complete cutesy french phrases. Since a trip to Michael's would kind of defeat the frugal point of this DIY, I found some sparkly silver fabric paint in my cupboard which worked really nicely- I love sparkles, so  I'm excited to wear this!

What you need:

• A white t-shirt to decorate
• Fabric paint in a color that makes you happy, and a paintbrush
• Cardboard or a notebook
• A short french phrase, or phrase in another foreign language that you like

Put your cardboard inside of your shirt so that it lays flat underneath the area you are going to paint. You might have to pull it tight around the back of the cardboard, so that the part of the shirt you are painting on is stretched taught.

Like so.

Then paint!

I just free-handed "Ciao Bella" (Hey Beautiful), but if sketching it out in pencil first works better for you, go for it. Wait a few minutes after you're done before applying a second coat.

Once you're finished painting, let your shirt dry flat for 4+ hours, and wait a total of 72 hours before washing it, with cold water and inside-out.

Then go find a cute skirt to pair it with and hope for spring (and regret all of the money that you spent on coffee a little less) !

Ciao, Bella!

Earl Grey Tea Granola

Tea is so good. And so is granola. So obviously, tea flavored granola pretty much beats everything else.

This tastes like a cup of lemon earl grey tea, and blueberry white chocolate chip oatmeal cookies mixed together; the flavors are all subtle, but really good. I adapted this recipe from Baking Magique, but feel free to switch it up however you would like to. Part of the beauty of granola is you can add or take away whatever you want!

This granola isn't super sweet, because I wanted to be able to make it a part of my daily routine and wasn't looking for a bowl full of sugar first thing in the morning, but if that's your thing, or you like things sweeter you can add more sugar, honey, both, or whatever floats your boat :)

This is kind of a large recipe for granola, so if you don't plan on sharing it with at least a couple other people I would recommend halving it. And be careful not to burn it! I did- and cried because of the copious amount of burned granola sitting in my cupboard, so make sure you're checking it often, and take it out of the oven as soon as it's a beautiful golden color.

My measurements for this recipe, and all granola I make really, are pretty approximate- basically, as long as your granola isn't doughy and wet before baking and you don't put your chocolate in the oven, you're set :)

 Earl Grey Tea Granola:

2/3 cup water
2 earl grey tea bags
2 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup pecans
1/3 cup chia seeds
2/3 cup dried blueberries
1/2 cup chopped white chocolate
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp sugar
roughly 3 tbsp honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
heaping 1/2 tsp cardomon
scant 1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Boil your water, and once it's stopped boiling (if you make tea with water that's still boiling your tea will be bitter) pour it over both your tea bags. Let them steep while you prep the rest of your ingredients, or about 15 minutes.

Combine your oats, chia seeds (don't spill them- they make an awful mess!), spices and salt in a big bowl. Mix well and set aside.

Zest your lemon, and mix the lemon zest and 1 tbsp sugar together with your fingers to release the oils in the zest. Add the zest mixture, lemon juice, honey, and vanilla to the hot tea. Pour the tea mixture and melted coconut oil over your dry ingredients and combine well.

Pour granola onto a large parchment-paper lined baking sheet or pan and bake for 30-40 minutes, stirring every ten minutes. After about 20 minutes in the oven, stir in the walnuts and pecans. Be sure to watch for your granola to turn golden, and take it out as soon as it does. The granola should still be soft when you remove it from the oven, but will become crunchy a it cools.

After letting the granola cool completely, for 15-30 minutes, stir in the dried blueberries and chopped chocolate. Store in an airtight container cute mason jar in a cool dry place for as long as it takes to get eaten!

Enjoy!