Home from the Teach Them Diligently Convention ~ Jewelry Pics!

I'm ho-ome! *sings cheerfully*

Ahh, I can't tell you how good it is to be home again. I'm very tired from our long weekend, but it was a great success!

Where was I, you ask? I didn't tell you? Oh my! I was at the Teach Them Diligently Homeschool Convention in Spartanburg, South Carolina!

(I was so busy preparing for it that I didn't have time to blog for a few weeks!! Do forgive me!)

I wish I had the energy to write more in this post, but a picture is worth a thousand words, so I hope these will suffice...

My booth! Signature pink curtains, cozy carpet for feet that had to stand all day (mine) and new banner identifying the whole shebang.

 But I suppose I should start at the beginning. ^ The nice bed in our hotel room... Mama and Daddy slept well! :D I slept in the fold-out couch and the boys parked themselves in cots here and there.

 Our cozy little kitchen and table that became the makeshift office/laptop platform. :D MOHL girls, I emailed and chatted with you from there! :D

 A STOWAWAY? Yes indeedy - Survivorman snuck along for the ride and quickly made himself at home. (He's an inside joke in our family. We take turns moving him when nobody's looking... you never know where he'll pop up next!)

 Okay. Back to the booth. My brothers' booth was right next door. We had something for everybody! It was fun seeing people's reactions when they found out we were related. "You're one family?" "Yep." "Cool!" :D

 Closeup of the left side!

Closeup of the right side!

My view, all day, from my chair, looking out...

The chandelier earring rack, hanging necklaces, one of my mademoiselle stands, and the samples of the eBooks.

 Closer view of the very-dangly chandelier earrings...

Up-close shot of the spinning copper necklace stand...

The mademoiselles and the back half of the left side..

The wall of necklaces, bracelet stand, and otherwise right half of the booth....

 The earring trees! My Daddy made these for me. I am so thrilled with them... this year we changed to all-white stands instead of the dark brown ones and I absolutely LOVE the look.

 Another view... Hmm, you can see the cute 'cherry-drop' set on the white bust in this shot...

 The bracelet rack!

The eBooks on CD that I was selling! (Go HERE for more information about those!)

The princess-length serpentine chains with sparkly pendants... and a few spring-like necklace-earring sets! Those all sold! ('cept for the champagne-colored square crystal pendant)

 More jewelry! And cute jewelry bags that a friend of mine makes... I was selling those for her.

A closer look at the banner I designed for my booth....

*sigh* Was going to keep this one if it didn't sell... but it did. :D Oh well. Must not be meant for me.

 Wall of necklaces... part one,

Two,

Three,

And four! Many of these are now gone... sold! :D

I am so thankful that I did as well as I did. There were some very good speakers, which was great, but distracted people from shopping, I think... :D Still! I was very impressed with how the coordinators set up the convention, it was very well done and I will be coming back (If they'll have me) ;) ... if they have the convention again next year! :)

Oh! And........

 The Warfare by Duct Tape booth!

The eBooks my brothers wrote on creating their historically-based duct tape weapons! If you know any boys, chances are, they'd love this. More info at: WarfareByDuctTape.com

Off to rest and read...

Do I Dare?

Do I dare to announce to the world this idea, this wild inspiration, that has taken me by surprise and swept me off my feet?

Do I dare open up, and share, and tell you what I've been dreaming and planning and imagining?
Do I dare to acknowledge that my fingers have been busy hammering away on the keys of my laptop in an exciting, thrilling race with my mind?

Do I dare to spill my secret, and listen for the echo of your replies, hoping for cheers, but dreading a disapproving silence?

I dare.

I'm writing a book.

It's a completely different book than my other completed novel. I finished my Jane Austen-inspired story set in Regency England and I'm in the process of editing it.

But I'm 28,000 words into my newest work. A suspense/action/thriller/mystery.

Set in several European countries. Present-time.

I love mysteries. And action. As long as it's clean. But I don't consider myself particularly brilliant at coming up with a mystery. I never figure it out before Sherlock Holmes. I'm always surprised at the endings of the Perry Mason cases.

But this story seems to be working.

I hope to introduce you to my two main characters soon. I love them. I feel excited about finding out what happens in their story... because I'm writing the book, chapter by chapter, and discovering it as I go along! I only have a few vague elements I want in the ending. I don't know how it all happens yet. But I want to find out.

For now, I'll share their names.

Cara Stephenson.

Bryce Reynolds.

I've had to stop writing their story for now... because I have so much work to do getting ready for the homeschool conventions. Displaying a booth full of jewelry and CD's of ebooks on how to make jewelry takes a whole lot of preparation, leaving not enough free time in which to write a book.

I'll continue thinking and planning for now. Maybe my mind can do the fine-tuning and discard some of the ideas, holding on to the ones that turn into golden pieces of this puzzle called a story. It'll be good to take a little breather, come up for air. Then when I have time, I can dive into the delicious depths of my writing again.

So... stay tuned.

And what do you think about all this? Do share your thoughts, I'd be thrilled to hear them.

Independence and Maturity

The other day, I drove myself somewhere.
All.
Alone.

It was the first time I'd gone anywhere, just me and the car, without a single person with me.

It was ... exhilarating!

It was ... sobering.

I went to Curves and worked out. By myself. And it turned out that I was the only person in the gym at that hour besides the owner who was running it. She and I chatted while I jumped, bounced, hopped, skipped, and did all sorts of things on the machines like pulling levers and pushing bars and moving things back and forth. (I love Curves....)

We had quite a conversation! She asked me where we went to church, where my family was from, and what my daddy did for a living. I basically got the sweet, Southern, interrogation. :D If you live in the South, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. :D It was well-meant, of course, and the lady is the sweetest woman, but she was finding out everything she needed to file me away in her social records. Did I belong in the aristocrat section or the downtrodden dumpster-diver section? :D

She told me that she thought I was very well-spoken and my speech was precise and easily comprehended. Also that I didn't have a southern accent. ;) I was touched by the honest compliment that I was "well-spoken". She wasn't "sloppin' sugar", like I've seen before. (the sugar-sloppers will remain nameless to protect the guilty) ;)

I really am seriously thinking of writing a novel set in a small town in the South. There's so much material right at my fingertips! ;)

But anyway. What was I talking about? Ah - independence.

On the way there, my usually quiet drive got crowded when I was stopped at an intersection while a long string of schoolbuses rolled out onto the road, halted by flashing lights and a signaling policeman. While stopped, a whole bunch of cars got clogged up, which made changing lanes up ahead a little difficult, but I kept my cool and did a great job. I parked smoothly and danced up the steps into the gym.

~*~

This sounds silly, but going there all by myself made me feel like a grown woman.

Which, I guess, technically, I AM. I'm almost 21, after all. Some days I feel so young and inexperienced... more like 15 than 20. And then other days, I feel like I can handle myself like an adult. When we're running a booth at the homeschool conventions I can handle crowds of people with endless questions without even breaking a sweat. My feet might get sore from standing all day, but my composure never falters.

It's on the days I'm tired and stressed and I get annoyed with the housework, food prep, or my brothers that my immaturity shows. Why is it so easy to present a perfect facade to the outside world, but so difficult to be meek and quiet and kind at home when the pressure's on to get dinner on the table, the clothes in the washing machine, or help a family member out?

It's on the home front where the true test of maturity shows the real results. Who I am in private, under the sheen of capability and social graces on the surface, is who I really am. The way I interact with the people I am closest to defines my character.

~*~

The trip home was uneventful. I cranked up the radio and sang along as loudly as I wanted to, with no fellow passengers around to complain or ask me to hush up. (All the while watching the speedometer like a hawk, lest it creep past the requisite 5 miles over the speed limit, because if you're over 10 miles over, a cop will pull you over, you know...) ;)

Daddy and Steven welcomed me home, standing in the driveway on their way back from checking on the chickens. I tapped the horn in a victorious "beep" and waved as I pulled into the carport.

My family told me they were proud of me. I can handle myself in the real world just fine.

My desire is that my conduct at home, in the comfort of familiar surroundings, around my family, is as sparkling and sterling as my behavior out there where everybody can see it.

MIA - Missing In Action?

Hey Everybody!

I did not mean to disappear out of sight like a little chipmunk diving deep into a burrow. But it happened, quite by accident. 

Indeed, I've been so busy I feel a bit like a puppy chasing its tail in circles and never catching up!

Before I forget to tell you, I have a post coming up tomorrow on Meditations of His Love that I'd love for you to read, featuring a song that has really spoken to my heart without using any words. 

My design inspiration for my jewelry pieces has been old-fashioned, vintage, peach, and old turquoise.

There you have it. Peach and turquoise. In one photo.

I have a book review, a soup recipe, pictures of some of my jewelry projects, and the release of a stunning new website + a giveaway all stacked up in my "To-Post" box. I will try to crank them out within the next few weeks! So stay tuned. :) I haven't gone anywhere, life has just revved up a little for me and the scenery is flying past more quickly! :)

Have a lovely weekend!

Little Letters...

Dear Laptop... I am so grateful for you. You are my portal to the outside world, my canvas, my outlet for creative expression... my friend. ;) Also my addiction and time-vacuum. But we won't go there. :D Time certainly flies when you're having fun...

Dear Lounge Chair... I immensely enjoyed our date together on Sunday afternoon when the weather was fine and I was able to soak up some sun. I'm so glad I brought you back from my trip to Florida. I think we're going to have many good times together as the weather grows warmer... ;)

Dear Jewelry Pliers... hang in there with me. The craft shows will come and then they will be done, and then you may return to your happy place in the tin pot with the other tools on my worktable, and the days of overuse will end!

Dear Gym... I am looking forward to seeing you today. And Wednesday. And Friday. I need you, for my energy is shrinking and my .... uh.... I'm not 'shrinked' in areas that need it....

Dear Bath & Body Works... what would I ever do without your body cream, (so wonderful for super-dry winter skin) fragrance mist (a tasty uplifting of the senses, with 0 calories) and shower gel? (bubbles! I love 'em!)

Dear Perry Mason DVD... How in the world did he figure out that case?!? I had no idea that guy that looked like the murderer was actually an F.B.I agent.... Thank you for being a great stress release...

Dear Fuzzy Socks... Bless you.

Dear Crochet Hook & Yarn... I promise, I have not forgotten you! And my cousin liked her afghan, you did your job well. :D I will return to you when my 3-part Quest with a capital Q (otherwise known as Homeschool Conventions) ... is over.

Dear Hair... I'm thinking it's time for a trim. I know you just got down to Mid-Thigh, I'm happy for you, you look great... but it's for your own good. Those split ends won't be ignored for long. And could ya lighten up a little? One of my online blogging friends mistook you for "Dark" and we both know you're a natural blonde. :D

Dear Inspiration... Please, don't go away.

Dear Dirty Dishes... Where in the world did you all come from? You'd think there were fifteen people living in this house, not five...

Dear Adobe Photoshop CS5... I WILL CONQUER YOU. Be warned.

Dear Novel... You darling thing! Wait until we finish editing! It was the most thrilling moment of my life when I wrote your "The End" five minutes before this year began. :D

Dear Baby Chicks... Welcome to the world, you five new, precious babies. I can hardly believe we hatched you with only the aid of a broody hen, and in the middle of freezing January temperatures, too. It's a good life, I know you'll enjoy it. Wait until you find your first grasshopper - yum-yum! :D

Dear Driver's License... I can't wait until you arrive in the mail. I'm making do with your counterpart printed on a folded piece of paper, but it won't seem "final" until I hold the real plastic card in my hand.

Dear Wal-Mart... Yeah! You saw us! Me and my (younger) big bro's paid you a visit all on our lonesomes, without hide nor hair of a parent figure. I drove through your parking lot without even a scratch, nor chance of getting one. I am so proud of me. Were you?

Dear Daffodils... Spring hasn't sprung yet. Don't die! You came up early but if you can just hold in the blooms for a few more days, I think we might get some warmth and you can blossom unhindered. Be patient.

I saw this fun idea over at "A Butcher, A Baker, A Candlestick Maker" and thought it was too cute to pass up! :D Hope you enjoyed it.

Driver's License Test Results:

 The news you've been waiting for... the result of Julia's Driver's License Test! Well... it was a rainy, drizzly, cold, grey day and Daddy and I went down to the DMV and the person took my picture before I was ready (thankfully it didn't look too awful) and then the instructor and I went out to take the test, leaving Daddy waiting inside.

Oh all right! Long story short - I PASSED.

Thank. You. God.

Incidentally, have you ever tried parallel parking an 18-foot F-150 truck in an 18-foot parking space? Me neither. :D I didn't quite pass that part. Which sort of bummed me out - I practiced so much on that parallel parking (using a 21-foot space and caution cones) and I had it down cold, and then to go knock over three (out of maybe 12?) cones on the test... sigh.

 My score was 80, and I only needed 75 to pass. Double *whew*!!! :D

I sort of feel like this little fella:

"One... small... step... for... Mankind, ... one... huge... leap... towards... Julia's... future."

Here I go! :D

2011- It's been good.

I almost let the last day of the year slip by without a blog post to mark it. But then I noticed some of my sweet friends doing posts and thought it would be a beautiful experience to write my own on the last day of 2011. :D

First, a neat picture I snatched that perfectly captures the changing tides of these years...

This year, I.....

• Became a better blogger! My total of posts for this year (including the articles I wrote for MOHL) is 102! Counting this post. :D Last year I only wrote 34 posts for Julia's Journal, mostly due to my old XP computer that didn't work very quickly.
• Got a new very cute laptop that helped greatly in becoming a better blogger, email-er, and writer.

• Nearly finished my novel, Lissie, set in Jane Austen's Regency world and with a similar but completely different plot line than Miss Austen's works. (I almost finished it this year, but I'm not quite at The End yet... but I'm only about 5 pages away, which is pretty close!) I'm very excited about it and have lots of ideas for the sequel swimming around in my mind.

• Went to two beautiful weddings, my cousin Kristen's on January 1st, and my friend Lauren's on December 3rd.
• Learned of two delightful engagements, my cousin Katie and my friend Allison H.
• Crocheted an ENORMOUS - thing. For Katie's wedding present. :) I will share pictures of it after I give it to her... don't want to spoil the surprise. :D

• Became even closer to my infinitely sweet friends in the group of MOHL writers! They are the sisters I never had. The weekly IM chats we've started doing refresh my soul and make me laugh so hard that tears run down my cheeks. There's nothing like Godly sisterhood.

• Improved my homemaking skills!
• Enjoyed fresh produce from our garden all year long!
• Hid under my bed while my parents butchered our first batch of meat chickens. ;)

• Went to the GHEA convention, and ran a booth in the exhibit hall for my jewelry and ebooks, which was such an amazing, thrilling, tiring, enriching experience. Met so many nice people that I don't even remember them all - sigh.
• Began regularly homechurching again with a great group of friends 30 minutes away from us.
• Found more fun blogs to follow and read! A list might be forthcoming.

• Discovered Perry Mason! ;)
• Started reading the "At Home in Mitford" series aloud to my family in the evenings, and reading the Bible and discussing it for a short time every morning at the breakfast table. I have so enjoyed this and I feel like my family is more closely-knit than ever... such a warm and cozy feel! It's truly wonderful.

•  Turned 20 years old in the lovely, fresh month of April. :)
• Gave my bedroom a stunning makeover to celebrate my birthday. Thanks for doing such a stellar job on my curtains and pillows, Mama!

• Watched a million (or so) movies with my brothers. :D Love you guys. I am so glad I have brothers who enjoy an intelligent movie (like a Jane Austen) as much as a just-for-fun one (Like Cars 2)
• Helped abovementioned brothers sort their vast collection of lego bricks by color.
• Went to see Courageous in the theater! (It was awesome.)
• Improved my frisbee skills with a lot of practice and sweat and dirt, spending quality time with my brothers and our friends up in P.T. city.
• Read a bunch of books, finding a few new favorite authors and a few authors I didn't care for. Dee Henderson was one of the authors whose books I liked tremendously, especially the Uncommon Heroes series about Navy SEALs.

• Drew a little closer to God, for which I am unutterably grateful and thankful.
• Began rising earlier in the mornings, and discovered I get much more done in the day when I do.
• Went through 2 months of Daddy not having any work, and learned to trust that the Lord's provision will always be there for the things we really need.
• Kept scribbling in my current little real-life journal, continuing the record of my life thus far that I started at age 11.

..... And did many other things that I don't have room to share. (Well, technically I do, but super-long blog posts get a little old...)



Winter is here, but so far it's been mild. I am looking forward to the coming of Spring, and yet knowing there are some hard days ahead sprinkled among the easy ones. January's frosts and February's cold winds are coming, but so are March's blossoms and April's soft breezes.

 Next Year, I'll....

•  Take my driver's license test on January 10th. And finally be able to go places and run errands on my own. A sobering, yet exhilarating thought.
• Go to three homeschool conventions to sell my jewelry! I'll be in Spartanburg, South Carolina for the Teach Them Diligently convention, Atlanta, GA for the GHEA convention, and North Carolina for the NCHE convention. If you're going to be at any of those, I'd love to meet you!
• (hopefully) start going to a ladies' gym with my mom. We're still waiting to decide on that, weighing the pros and cons.
• Play some more Ultimate Frisbee.
• Visit my Grandma in Florida
• Get to meet my sweet friend Rachelle in person! Still working on the hopeful details of that, but I am praying 'extra hard' for it to work out.
• Participate in the His Word in Our Hearts challenge that Meditations of His Love is doing this year, all year!
• Read more,
• Work more,
• Laugh more,
• Love more,
• Live more.

I have a feeling that 2012 is going to be another beautiful year.

 Happy New Year!

My Secondary Jane Austen Character Quiz Results

I get Elizabeth Bennet as my answer when I take a Jane Austen personality quiz, but when I took a quiz on which *secondary* character I was, I was rather surprised...

Julia's Result: Jane Bennet on quiz: Which Jane Austen Secondary Heroine Are You? You are Jane Bennet of Pride and Prejudice! Sweet, loving and compassionate almost to a fault, you have great difficulty in seeing anything but the best in people. You are quite five times as pretty as any of your sisters and most definitely your mother's favorite. You want to marry for love and not money, but somehow you manage to catch the eye of the richest bachelor in the neighborhood. How on earth did that happen? :) Quiz Maker Take this quiz & get your result

Which Jane Austen Secondary Heroine Are You? » online exam

Actually, I do look like her, in that picture anyway. :D Especially the flyaway wisps of golden hair around the face. I've looked up into the mirror to see those many times.

But I would have to say that I am not as sweet as Jane. My temperament is not so good and angelic, but neither am I quite that gullible. :D

It is quite true that I am five times as pretty as any of my sisters... for I do not have any!! Lol! I think it would be quite easy to say that I am prettier than my brothers... for they are handsome, not pretty.

But on the results, I was actually 43% Jane Bennet, 32% Jane Fairfax! :) Who'd have thunk? The remaining percentages were small increments of the other possible answers on the test, the least small being 12% Charlotte Lucas... because I can be calm like her sometimes if I put my mind to it. ;)

If you take the quiz, let me know who you get! :D

Also, there is a giveaway over at A Butcher, A Baker, A Candlestick Maker! It ends at midnight December 22. And she's having a feminine fashion week, you should check out her modest outfits! :)

A Last Gift

I named our chickens after Jane Austen characters. What that says about me, I'm not sure...

As follows, we were the proud owners of:

Emma

Harriet

Elinor

Margaret

Elizabeth Bennet

Jane Bennet, and...

Lady Catherine De Bourgh.

Among others that didn't "stick".

I know what you're thinking (at least, if you're familiar with Pride & Prejudice) a hen named after Lady Catherine de Bourgh? Yes, I had the nerve to name a proud, haughty hen with feathers on her feet after the great Lady Catherine herself. :D It fit, too. She would never let us pet her or pick her up like the other chickens and was very high-strung. ;)

Jane was my favorite.



This is Jane.  (You can see the gray-and-white Lady Catherine right behind her)

Often shortened to "sweet Jane" or "Dear Jane", she was definitely the most adorable little friendly chicken I've ever seen. We liked her so much that when it came time to get our next lot of egg-layers, we bought Buff Orphingtons (Jane's breed).

You might have noticed that I am referring to these chickens in the past tense.

Today... we gave them away.

I was shocked to find out how attached to those birds I really was. I mean, one could understand becoming attached to one's dog, or cat, or family pet. But chickens? Well - those chickens were our pets. But they had grown old... and were down to three or so eggs a day from ten hens. In short, they were eating more than they were giving us. And for logical reasons, we had to either give them away, or they would be eating us out of house and home... and we would have to put them in our soup pot. Oh! Dear me, it would have been quite shocking! (...to quote J. A.)

For a good while, they had been living in a little home we built off of one of the main chicken coops, and affectionately christened "The Dawdi Haus". (after the Amish term for a small house that the parents move into when they pass the farm down to the firstborn child).

There is the Dawdi Haus, with Daddy, and Jane. (There was a completely fenced run stretching out the back, not visible from this photo).

When my brother Mark brought in the eggs this evening after the final egg-check, Mama asked him if any of them had been from the Dawdi Haus, trying to determine how many our other chickens had laid.

"One." Mark answered, his face growing half-mournful, half-comical. "A last gift."

Do you know what I did?
I cried!

I was washing dishes in the sink, and a few of my tears fell down into the soapy water. I pulled it together within a few minutes, never having made a sound, and I don't think my mom and Steven even realized I had been crying. After all, it was silly, really... the chickens went to a good home with a young couple who had some little kids who would love them and keep them for pets, with the bonus of the occasional egg just for fun. But I'm going to miss them.

Sometimes there comes a time in our lives when we have to "let go" of things... and I don't like letting go. I like holding on. But if I always hold my precious 'things' close in a tight-fisted little grasp... then it won't be possible for me to receive, open-handed, the new gifts that the One who loves me most wants to give me.

So... I've let go, and my hands are open. :)