Beautiful Blessings - 8/17/16

~ having my blog for 4 years

~ seeing how it's evolved and changed in the past few years

~ excitedly looking forward to see what I do the next few years

~ enjoying all the guest posts I've had to celebrate

~ ways God has used it to bless others

Expectations...a reflection on the First Summer of Dating

I basically began dating at the end of spring, beginning of summer; the quasi month of May. This past winter, John and I decided to write a bucket list of ideas just for fun of things we wanted to do this summer when we began dating! Well, as he heads back this weekend for college, I thought about the bucket list, and realized we didn't do much at all which made me rather sad. I pulled up today, and realized just how much we did do! To celebrate the end of my first summer of dating, I'm gonna see how many things we did on my list of 26 things! {Edited to add: One of them I realized was a winter-only thing, so 25 is sliiiiiightly more accurate!}

1. Beaver Lake! - CHECK! We did this as our first date! We planned on it for foreveeeeeeeeeeeeer!
2. Spending time together in prayer and God's word! - CHECK! We aim to do this every day over Skype! Skype is awesome by the way!
3. Go through a devotional together! - Nope! Maybe next year!
4. Movie nights at either one's house! - CHECK! Lots of movies at my house, and I saw Star Wars 7 (whatever it's called XD) at his!
5. Dance together! - CHECK! We've attempted this XD It sorta worked
6. Dance together under the moon! - CHECK! We actually managed to do this too! Again....it sorta worked but not really XD
7. Picnic at John's camp! - CHECK! I went to his camp on July 2nd to celebrate the 4th of July!
8. Picnic at Beaver Lake! - CHECK! Did this on the first and only date to Beaver Lake!
9. Picnic at a park! - This gets 0.5 check mark because we did if you count either Beaver Lake or going to a park with a picnic with my family!
10. Chimney Bluffs! - Nope! Maybe next year! 
11. Spending a day at John's camp! - 0.5 if you count half a day for the 4th of July celebration!
12. Read a book together! - Nope! Maybe next year!
13. A Sunday drive! - CHECK! Just to the store probably, but we've gone for a ride on Sundays!!
14. Teach John how to crochet! - Nope! XD Maybe next year ;)
15. Get ice cream together! - CHECK! Did this a couple times!
16. Get together with Heidi! - Nope! Maybe next year! <3 
17. Hike the Canal trail! - Nope! Maybe next year!
18. Share tea! - I'm gonna say 0.5 because we probably did XD
19. Pick wildflowers! - Nope! Maybe next year!
20. Dinner date on July 1st! - CHECK! XD we were both cranky, but we did it anyways! We dressed up and he gave me my first bouquet of flowers which I've hung to dry <3
21. Fireworks! - CHECK! I love watching him enjoy fireworks! <3
22. Sunrise/Sunset picnic - 0.5 because it sorta counts when we went to his camp!
23. Lights on the Lake - well.........this is winter XD soooooo it's not included in this
24. Date at Red Lobster - Nope! Maybe some other time!
25. Date at Panera - CHECK! We went to Panera twice! Once to meet a friend, and then on the 1st for dinner because we changed our minds last minute.
26. Date at Barnes and Noble to browse (and a place of John's choice afterwards!) - Nope! But we better do this next summer XD I love Barnes and Noble ;)

Soooooooooooooooo to tally it all up!

14 out of the 26 we accomplished! 

1 was impossible since it's not Christmas time XD

And that leaves 11!!!

Our most popular date that we had was going to Walmart! XD Don't question why, but we always had fun just window shopping or finding presents for people! Another one we did was to Wegmans (the picture below) which is the same genre. 

And lastly, the second most popular date we had this summer was play games and watching Star Trek together! <3

Beautiful Blessings - 8/16/16

 

(photo taken by my coworker)

~ the sound of pouring rain on the roof

~ coming out the front door at work to see a double rainbow - a much needed sign to have hope

~ the brilliant white of the cloud above me

~ the golden yellow sky behind me

~ seeing the day draw to a close in a fiery orange,

Beautiful Blessings - 8/15/16

~ eating swiss chard and thinking of my friend who is missing it right now

~ wishing I could be a kitty and live at the library

~ seeing beautiful pictures in a puddle

~ and seeing a completely different one from another angle

~ looking up to see rippled clouds in a blue sea

~ a sun dog - a tiny rainbow of hope

The 3rd Blog-iversary post!

Last year for my blog-iversary, I wrote a post highlighting 10 series of books every homeschooler (I've known) reads!

Without further ado:

10 Series Homeschoolers Read

Beautiful Blessings - 8/14/16

~ perfectly spaced coffee to get through a long day

~ a cat nap before work

~ a beautiful sunset on our way to the store

~ having a blast shopping together (John & I) while he got things for college next weekend

~ ending out visit with peanut butter sandwiches

Beautiful Blessings - 8/13/16

~ shopping with Mom and finding a cute outfit

~ meeting her childhood friend in person

~ enjoying some Cafe Kubal...which wasn't made by me! XD (we serve Cafe Kubal coffee at work, so it was fun going to another Cafe Kubal establishment)

~ yummy homemade snow-cones on a humid sticky hot day

~ going to work and enjoying some other Cafe Kubal creations...I love their ginger lime syrup!

Beautiful Blessings - 8/12/16

~ going to the Zoo to see the new elephant pool

~ enjoying a snack of french fries while we wait the rain burst out

~ a special surprise of going out for lunch

~ getting a chance to watch the Olympics while we eat

~ a special necklace from John with my favorite verse on it...a very belated birthday present! ^-^

Beautiful Blessings - 8/11/16

~ calling up a friend to catch up

~ discovering there are kitties on her island

~ hearing a voice you haven't heard in a long time

~ seeing how big this world really is

~ grateful for friendships that are separated by hundreds of miles

The 2nd Blog-iversary post!

For the 2nd blog-iversary, I posted my Homeschooler's "Rap"! 

To read the lyrics, you can click through to the original blog post, or if you can't view the video, click the link above it! ^_^ Enjoy!

Without further ado:

Homeschooler's "Rap"