Wonderful Newness!

Hello my lovely readers! How I've missed you! And oh the changes I have to acquaint you with!


So, first, the subject on everyone's mind.... yes, I am going to graduate! I gotta tell you, math class was awful close! I didn't do well on the first test a few weeks ago so I spend the major part of this week studying for my Thursday morning math test. With much prayer with me and behind me, I went in to take it.... and came out with a 69.3% in the class. I needed .7% to pass. So I came straight home and emailed my professor about it. And after even more prayer.... yesterday he replied. After he did the updates on grades, I would pass!!! Which meant I don't have to take that math class again this summer and I will indeed graduate this Spring! :D :D


Really, math class was such a great tangible example of my inadequacies and His grace! No matter how hard I try, no matter what I do in life, I will always fall short. Always. But He is a good God and if I ask Him for the grace and strength, He'll get me through that .7%! We serve a WONDERFUL GOD!!!!!!!! So that's my big news!


Now, I'm ready for the summer to start! The past few weeks, with graduation in sight, my creative mind has found new life. I thought all that studying had killed it! But oh no! I've been coming up with all sorts of crafty things to do with Hannah, crafty things to keep myself busy, stories to write, apartment decorating ideas, blog post topics.... the list is endless! It's going to be the best summer of my life so far. :)


As for smaller, more trivial news... I got my new phone Thursday! :D My current contract ends tomorrow so I can finally get on a new phone and a cheaper plan! Also, I got my hair cut this morning! It was very long, almost to the middle of my back, and to a point where it wouldn't do anything. And with the humidity the past few days (a warning of this summer), it would do even less than nothing! So what did I do? I got it chopped off! It is now swinging curly and happily above my shoulders! :D Yes yes I know, you're probably thinking "Casey! You're getting married in three months! What are you thinking?!?" Buuuut it will grow right? And it will make it very easy to manage this summer! So I'm pleased with it. :)


Well I think that's all my updates for you! Here's your song! :)

And now we return to your regular scheduled programming. :) Keep those smiles on and enjoy your Saturday! Until next time!



Pleasure is spread through the earth
In stray gifts to be claimed by whoever shall find.
~ William Wordsworth


Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt


There is no cosmetic for beauty like happiness. ~ Lady Blessington

Taking a Break

Hello all my dear neglected readers! I am sorry for the lack of posts but this past week has been pretty crazy. Being the last three weeks of school, there is lots to do. Last papers, finals, last projects, and being graduation time, I also have many graduation events coming up. As a result, I've decided to take a blogging break until school is over. That's three weeks m'dears. And after that, I shall hopefully have much to acquaint you with! Now here is a song to keep your feet tapping.

Enjoy the next three weeks and keep those smiles on! Until next time!


“Striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest where you haven’t planted.” ~ David Bly


“The best way to finish an unpleasant task is to get started.” ~ Anonymous


“Procrastination is the thief of time.” ~ Edward Young


“Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.” ~ Yoda


“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” ~ Thomas Edison

Monday Favorites: My Mornings

It's Monday again and I've got another favorite to share with you! It's my morning routine! Maybe yours is similar to this?

My Bible and journals

 A cup of tea (preferably peppermint :))

 Scones

 The Sunrise

And the house I nanny at has a big window facing east! Perfect for watching the sky! Our God paints some pretty amazing sunrises. :)


Well, I hope you're enjoying your day! Keep your smile on! Until next time!

"Be pleasant until ten o'clock in the morning and the rest of the day will take care of itself." ~ Elbert Hubbard


"I'll tell you how the sun rose a ribbon at a time." ~ Emily Dickinson

Wishlist Thursday: A Dream

Hello and happy Thursday to all you lovely readers out there! Today's wish list item is actually a dream that I'd love to see come true! It has to do with this fantastical place:

That's right! Barnes & Noble! Someday, I want to write a book that I find in Barnes & Noble. I don't care what kind of book, just a book. That I wrote. That I can walk into the store, find, pick up, smell the scent of new paper, hear the spine crackle as I open it, read my name on the front cover and know that the words inside, I put there! How amazing would that be!!! 


Well, that's all I've got today. Enjoy your day and keep those smiles on! Until next time! 


"And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise.  The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt." ~ Sylvia Plath


"If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it." ~ Toni Morrison


"It is necessary to write, if the days are not to slip emptily by.  How else, indeed, to clap the net over the butterfly of the moment?  For the moment passes, it is forgotten; the mood is gone; life itself is gone.  That is where the writer scores over his fellows:  he catches the changes of his mind on the hop." ~ Vita Sackville-West


"Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart." ~ William Wordsworth

Monday Favorites: Book Series

Hello my Monday readers! I wanted to share a few of my favorite book series with you today! :) If you haven't read any of these, you really need to do so asap!

Elsie Dinsmore by Martha Finley

The Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

(A series of short stories)

And on my reading list still:

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

(I have read The Hobbit)

Ah me. Good stuff that! Well, enjoy the rest of your Monday! Keep those smiles on and until next time! 

“I declare after all that there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything but a book! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library!” ~ Jane Austen

Feminine Friday: Weddings

Happy Friday to all you lovely readers! I apologize for my lack of Friday posts but I've had rather busy Fridays! Today I want to talk about weddings.


A little while back, I found this picture:

It really put my feelings into words about weddings. It seems like in the past few years, weddings have become such an ordeal. You have to have everything matching to your colors, serve several courses for a meal for your guests, have a ridiculously expensive photographer and if everything doesn't go perfectly, you failed and your day is ruined. As plans have progressed in my own wedding planning, I've discovered that I just want things as simple as possible! I just want to be married!!! I don't really care about all the big hullabaloo about it. Yes, I'd like things to be nice and I want to invite some good friends to help us celebrate but I DON'T want to make it the performance that so many weddings are nowadays. I don't want to loose sight of what the real reason is for the day! Carl and I are getting married! We're starting a life together! We're beginning a journey that will last for the rest of our lives! And I know that no matter what happens on our wedding day, I will leave as the wife of my best friend and it will be a perfect day!


Okay, enough of my rant. Here is your song. :)

Enjoy your weekend and keep those smiles on! Until next time!

"When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible." ~ Nora Ephron



"There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage." ~ Martin Luther

"Are we not like two volumes of one book?" ~ Marceline Desbordes-Valmore

"Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same." ~ Emily Brontë

Wishlist Thursday: A Woodland Cottage

It's Thursday! 5 weeks of school after this week! You can count that on one hand! *sigh* I'm so very ready to be graduated and done with it. How I would love to get away to a little cottage in the woods. Something that looks like this. :)

Oh that looks lovely! Oh well. I'll live and dream. Enjoy your day and keep your smiles on!

“I had rather be shut up in a very modest cottage with my books, my family and a few old friends, dining on simple bacon, and letting the world roll on as it liked, than to occupy the most splendid post, which any human power can give.” ~ Thomas Jefferson


“I am excessively fond of a cottage; there is always so much comfort, so much elegance about them. And I protest, if I had any money to spare, I should buy a little land and build one myself, within a short distance of London, where I might drive myself down at any time, and collect a few friends about me and be happy. I advise everybody who is going to build, to build a cottage.” ~ John Willoughby 

Homemaker Wednesday: Easter Eggs

Happy Wednesday my dear readers! As you know, Easter is coming up fast so it's almost Easter egg dying time! Dying Easter eggs has been a tradition in my family for many years. A week or two before Easter, my mom goes to the store, buys a dozen eggs and some egg dye and my siblings and I decorate them! This year, I have my nanny job with Little Bird and I've decided we're going to dye eggs of our own! :) I found a different way to dye eggs through Pinterest using Kool-Aid instead of egg dye and I want to try it! You can find the recipe here. Do you have any interesting egg decorating ideas?

Here's your song!

Keep your smiles on! Until next time!



'Twas Easter-Sunday. The full-blossomed trees
Filled all the air with fragrance and with joy.
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in spring-time. ~ Martin Luther

Monday Favorites: Lace

Hello my lovely readers! Today's favorite is something white, simple and just lovely. Lace! :D

Isn't it pretty? I want to use lots of lace in my wedding. :) And here's your song!

Well, that's all for today. Keep those smiles on my dear readers! Until next time!


"The real good of a piece of lace, then, you will find, is that it should show, first, that the designer of it had a pretty fancy; next, that the maker of it had fine fingers; lastly, that the wearer of it has worthiness or dignity enough to obtain what is difficult to obtain, and common sense enough not to wear it on all occasions." ~ Anon.