recent diys

 

 I've always loved making crafts, and pinterest is pretty much a dream come true for crafty people. There's an absolutely endless amount of ideas for projects and diys and recipes. I thought I'd share some recent diy projects that I've loved making over the summer. I wish I could take credit for all these ideas...but I owe it all to pinterest. :)

teacup candle

 This may be my favorite diy project ever.
 how-to: There's a good tutorial at this blog:  
 things I learned: 1) Instead of buying very expensive wax flakes or a wax block, you can just buy a white candle, take the wick out, and use that instead to melt down. 2) You can use crayons (I used half of a pink cone) to color the wax. 3) Food coloring will not work. 4) This makes a bit of a mess...but it's very worth having to clean up afterwords!

 flags card

 No explanation really necessary... you simply cut little triangles from as many different colors/patterns of paper you can find, draw a few curved lines on a plain card, and stick the triangles onto the curved lines. Kinda adorb.

TOMs pillow & wallet

 I love TOMs. I'm not one of those girls who are crazy about shoes...but TOMs are the exception. And they come with cute canvas bags or "flags". Which turned into my new favorite wallet and my new favorite pillow. how-to:
Wallet: here
Pillow - just fill it with fluff (I used the stuffing from a pillow that my mom didn't need anymore) and sew the open edge of the bag!

framed book

I was looking for something simple but interesting to hang on my wall. This is exactly perfect. 
how-to: My dad scanned the page from the book (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe!), fixed the color (on a photoshop-like program) and printed it out onto print-paper.

 painted bobby-pins

 Painted...with nail polish. Granted, this is weird. But it's awesome. Nail polish is the best thing for painting glass jars, keys, and...now, bobby pins. Just try it.



 There's more, but I'll have to save the rest for another post!
 And I'll post soon to catch up with my daily photos.

Almost forgot! This is my pinterest accout: http://pinterest.com/hanmaryw/

the end // alcott challenge

  At the beginning of summer I posted about doing the Louisa May Alcott Challenge - a lovely reading challenge hosted by Tarissa. And even though I've been doing a lot more school this summer than I had originally thought I would have to do, I still have been reading L.M Alcott books and really enjoying it. I originally had 3 things on my list to read, and I got two done - and the third book I'm hoping to read soon. Here's a bit about the books I got to read:



                                                            

Under the Lilacs

   the story: The tale begins when Bab and Betsy - two young sisters - discover a runaway circus boy hiding in their barn. To the little girls, this is frightfully exciting, and at once become friends with Ben and his talented poodle. This is the tale of all the happenings of the town and the adventures and mishaps of the two sisters, Ben Brown, the kind Miss Celia, and her younger brother Thorny.

 my thoughts: Sweet, funny, quaint. The characters were so lovable, and Alcott's style of writing is just so lovely. I think it's geared a bit towards a younger age of children than some of Alcott's other books (like Little Woman, or Rose in Bloom), and also unlike her other books it's not specifically just for girls. It was such an enjoyable little book and I'm so glad I read it.

Little Women - radio theatre

Note: I was originally going to re-read An Old Fashioned Girl but when the time came, I decided it was due time I read Little Women again.

 a few quotes:

 "Let us be elegant or die!"

 “I want to do something splendid...something heroic or wonderful that won't be forgotten after I'm dead. I don't know what, but I'm on the watch for it and mean to astonish you all someday.” 

  “Now and then, in this workaday world, things do happen in the delightful storybook fashion, and what a comfort that is.” 

"Don't let the sun go down upon your anger. Forgive each other, help each other, and begin again tomorrow."

 my thoughts: This is one of my all-time favorite books. It's just amazing. I love the story more and more each time I read (or in this case, listen to) it. The characters are so real and I love them to bits. And even though I have the story pretty much memorized, it still makes me laugh and cry at the same parts. Anyway, love this book.

 the radio theatre: Okay, I adore Focus on the Family's Radio Theatres. I could listen to them all day. Their Chronicles of Narnia ones are just perfect, as with The Secret Garden and Les Mis. And this one? No exception. It's absolutely lovely. The voices are wonderful (young Jo's voice is perfect!), the music is beautiful, and they kept quite true to the story. Side-note: I saw that an Oliver Twist radio theatre is coming out soon...eeeep!



  I've enjoyed doing this challenge so much; I was reminded of what a wonderful author Louisa May Alcott is. I'm hoping to finish my goal and read Jack and Jill soon!

the daily photograph / day 3 - 8

   

     two reasons with excuses:

    1. My camera's battery ran out and I couldn't find my charger for two days, thus the instagram photos!

    2. There's no Day 6...it was rather an odd day (doing math at 10 o'clock at night...)...but still, oops!

|a thunderstorm! we very, very rarely have them here.|

|card-making|

|reading a Louisa May Alcott book on my dad's kindle-app|

 |just noticed I have a telephone pole/wire thing going on...weird...|

august // the daily photograph

 
I orignially was going to do a photo-a-day project in July. I was all set to start on July 1st. But one day I realized I had lost track of the date:

"Mom, what's the date today?" 

"Let's see...it's July 2nd."

 "WHAT?!??! NO!!! PLEASE NO!"

 I couldn't bring myself to start on July 2nd. It just seemed completely and utterly wrong.

 So I decided to wait 'til August 1st. And thankfully I didn't miss it and I remembered to take a photo. I'll be posting my daily photos at least once a week. I haven't been doing as much photography as I used to, and I hope this will get me back in the habit of constantly taking photos! Here are todays and yesterdays:

 

   
 Two of my favorite things: Pink roses and old books :)

 A bit of a catch-up: I've been frantically trying to finish school before summer ends so I can start next years school on time. It's a bit stressful. Also, unfortunately, there's not quite as much blogging time as I previously thought (read: practically no blogging time whatsoever). Although the doing school til (sometimes) past 8:30 part is not very fun, I have been doing some fun stuff on weekends. I just pretend that my weekends are my real summer holidays, so I try to fit as much in as I can. Going places, reading books on my summer reading list, going on walks, re-decorating my room, making crafts & baking - all my favorite summery things. So other than having no blog time, it's not been that bad at all. #optimism #whenlifegivesyoulemons (yes, those are hash-tags. In a blog post. I decided to bring those into the blogging world. You're so welcome.)

 Back soon with my daily photos!

currently:

reading: The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle

listening to: Loverly from My Fair Lady

loving: Brittish Television. (Sherlock + Downton Abbey = happy me).

louisa may alcott: what I'm reading

  Tarissa from the lovely book-filled blog In the Bookcase came up with the Louisa May Alcott reading challenge for this summer- and right away I knew I had to join in.

  Alcott's books were some of the first books that got me into reading. My sister had a lot of them on her bookshelf, and one day I timidly decided to give one a try. And subsequently, I then devoured the rest of them. And even though my ten or eleven-year-old self adored them, I haven't read them again since. Which is definitely sad.

 So - that's why, when I saw the blog post about the challenge, I realized I had to read some books by this wonderful author again.

 The hard part was picking which ones. But after much thought, I decided on these three:

I. An Old-Fashioned Girl - This, alongside Little Women, was a favorite when I was younger. I'm excited to read it again because I hardly remember anything about it.

II. Jack and Jill - A lesser-known one that I never got a chance to read, but sounds like a really sweet book.

III. Under the Lilacs - This is another one I've always wanted to read. Since they're not at   my library, I might make an exception to my only-read-real-books rule and read this and Jack and Jill as ebooks. (!)

  I'm a little bit crazy excited to read these books this summer.

  You should check out this reading challenge, whether you're a fan of LMA or you have no idea who I'm talking about. I'm having fun already and I haven't even started reading.

“That is a good book it seems to me, which is opened with expectation and closed with profit.” 

-Louisa May Alcott

well, i'm back

 |lax airport, goodye to L.A, alfred, sunset at dublin airport|

 I'm going to be honest with you. The plane ride/airport experience was a total nightmare. I've come to believe that long airplane trips, especially overnight ones, are pretty much one of the worst things in the world. There were two good things about it, though - I got to watch Jane Eyre and Sherlock Holmes on the plane, and I got to hear British accents everywhere during the layover in London...

 And plane rides are always worth it in the end.

 |Every time I see this picture I'm reminded of how scared I was for my camera to be so close to the water|

 We've been home for almost four weeks, which is hard to believe. It's been busy - the first week or two we unpacked and got everything in order, and then Caleb and I got back into school-work. It may take a while to really get used to living here again. California, I have to admit, after all my worries beforehand, was awesome. I met some of the loveliest people in the whole world, had some of the funnest (totally a word!) days, and I know I'll miss a lot of things. It's a strange mix of being overjoyed to be home, and missing my big sister and friends back in America.

  I may have to do school through the summer, but I'm still looking forward to it - I've made my summer reading-list, I've got some projects pinned on my pinterest that I'd hoping to work on, I'm planning on doing a photo-a-day thing for July, and I'm definitely going to try to blog more now that things have settled down a bit.

  Well, goodbye for now, have a lovely Thursday!
   

  P.S - if you can guess which movie/book I am quoting in the title, you earn awesome-points :)

currently:                                                                                                                   

listening to: my father's father by the civil wars                                                          

reading: inkheart by cornelia funke                                                                             

obsessing over: les miserables...the radio theatre, the musical, and this new trailer. 

bid the forest floor goodbye

 Remember me? I'm that girl who used to take pictures and write on this blog. I'm the girl from Ireland who left to live in California for a year, something she was kind of freaking out about. And I'm that girl who's, unbelievably, going back home soon.

 

 |Gotta love instagram, right?|

 Here's a list of things I need to say. Because lists just make everything simpler.

1. I have no idea why I stopped posting. It's kinda weird. Oops.

2. I'm so glad to be blogging again; I had forgotten how much I loved it.

3. I really am going home soon. 2 weeks. It's kinda crazy. I'm really happy about it!

4. As much as I hate to admit it, I know that when I'm home, I'm going to miss California and the lovely people here. A lot.

  

5. I'm completely out of practice when it comes to blogging...so bear with me please!

6. And also, Team Peeta. Just thought I'd make that certain right away.

|I love the roses here. Even when taken with a cell phone, they're still beautiful.|

 Just a short post for now, but it's a good start right? In the next few weeks I'll be busy packing and getting ready to go, and trying to squeeze as much time as possible hanging out with my friends here. And then when I get home - I have a lot of catching up to do on here!

|Can anyone guess where this was taken??|

 Loving:

This song

This book

This movie