Off To The Land That WARM Forgot...

Well... today my Mom, Dad, Brother, Other Brother, and I are bustling about, packing and organizing and packing and packing stuff for our trip to Michigan. We're leaving tomorrow! :D

I'm not opening my suitcase until we get there... it's about to burst! (I seriously hope it doesn't!!)

I'm packing books to take along to read on the way. My mom also made audiobooks for us to listen to.

Now, faithful readers, I have 2 questions for you. Don't let me down on the first one!!

1. What are some games and/or activities that you and your family do while on long car trips?

2. What favorite, special vacation has your family taken - that you remember?

So the next post will probably be written from Michigan! :D

Ta-Ta-For-Now!

Julia

I'm: Working!

Button Instructions, Books, and Boo-Hoo...

First of all for the Boo-Hoo...




I am very saddened by the New York Giants' loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. They really didn't have a good day today... Eli, I am very sorry to say, was not on top of his game.

So enough about that.

Now, second thing I have to share... I found a NEAT WEBSITE where you can read many different books online for free. You can download them to your computer. And you can print them, if you want the cost of all that paper and ink. Check it out!

Okay, so now we get to ... The Part You've All Been Waiting For! :)

Instructions for making a blog button

• First you have to take a picture and re-size it... I think 200 x 200 pixels is the biggest you can get it and still have it fit on your sidebar. My image is now that size. I used Olympus Master to get mine the exact size that I wanted. If you can't do that you can click 're-size' once the picture is on photobucket. "Small" works. *TIP* A square image works best.



• Next you have to upload your re-sized picture to Photobucket.com, or another picture-hosting site. you have to create a username and password. But it's free.



• Copy and paste the HTML of the image to an HTML/javascript gadget in your sidebar. On Photobucket, all you do is wave your mouse over the image and four different codes will pop up beneath... you'll want the third one down.



• Now you have to get tricky and change the code. Don't worry, I will tell you exactly what to type where. -if you used photobucket- Your code will say .. something like a h r e f = http / / : 'the photobucket username' Right there you erase it and put in your blog address. (right after the address it will have a line / and a question mark ? .
  
• Copy and paste this:

<br />YOUR TEXT HERE<br />

and put it in a "Rich Text" gadget in your sidebar. I put mine just underneath the button. Erase the 'your text here' and copy and paste the code from your button into that exact spot where the 'yourtexthere' was. And you have a button! Hope this helps you out. I am SO BUSY that I don't even have time to post a jane austen picture!!

Blessings!
Julia

Oh My Goodness- I just made a blog button! :)

Look to your right, all mortals reading these words, and behold what I, a person with VERY little computer knowledge, have created!

It's a blog button!

You can copy and paste the code into your blog and have a cute little square to click on when you want to visit me! :D

I am SO thrilled for the generous help of the wonderful and very smart LANEY, without whom I could not have accompolished this miracle. :D

Thank you Laney!! Love you girl!!

Blessings,

Julia

(sorry if I sounded ridiculously silly, I just had to reward myself a little for about ten hours of work and puzzlement...)

But I did it!!! YAY!

I Feel: Jubilant!! Giggly! Giddy! very Grateful to Laney!!

And... Relived that that's all over with. :)

Mysterious Symbols

This is so interesting and I just had to tell you about it!

(Note: only works with the fonts 'Times New Roman' and 'Arial')

You can add these symbols to your posts, or anything else, for that matter! Simply type the LEFT "Alt" key, while simultaneously pushing a number or numbers located on the 'numpad' on the right side of your keyboard. (not the numbers at the top of your keyboard.)

Smiley face☺ is Alt, 1

Heart ♥ is Alt + 3

Diamond ♦ is Alt + 4

Club ♣ is Alt+ 5

Spade ♠ is Alt + 6

Bullet • is Alt + 7

Bullet ◘ is Alt + 8

Music Notes ♫ is Alt + 1, 4

Sun ☼ is Alt + 1, 5

Try it and see! ☺

(Oh, and keep entering the jewelry giveaway!)

Blessings,

♥Julia♥

Currently I'm: Enthralled in a good book. :) It's a wonderful place to be. :D

Come Enter To Win My Jewelry Giveaway!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW ENDED, thank you to all who entered. :)

In honor of my 101st post, (YAY!) I am giving away 6 beautiful pairs of my handmade earrings. :) You can enter for as many as you want, or if you just like one or two, just put the numbers in your comment and I'll only enter you for those. There will only be one pair of earrings awarded to each winner. Giveaway winners will have their names picked out of a hat (lol) on January 26th. Deadline to enter is January 25th. Leave me a way to contact you (i.e, your blog address) and I'll let you know if you're a winner!

If you want another chance to enter, post about this giveaway on your blog with this picture:

And now for the descriptions:

1. A pretty pair of pink earrings, with rose-colored Swarovski crystals, silver findings, and pink alabaster Swarovski crystals. In case you aren't sure what a Swarovski is, have you ever seen those crystal figurines in the mall? The really pricey ones? That's what these delicate little beads are made of. :) They sparkle like diamonds.
2. A cute pair of green earrings, with apple-green czech crystal rounds and little clear Swarovski crystals.
3. A gorgeous pair of dangle earrings, with light sapphire-colored Swarovski crystals and little clear Swarovski crystals. These are eye-catching. I made up the unique design myself. :)
4. A sophisticated pair of purple earrings with plum-colored glass lampwork beads and opal amethyst-colored Swarovski crystals.
5. A sweet pair of earrings made with white and clear glass lampwork beads with little roses in the middle and clear Swarovski crystals.
6. And last but not least, a striking pair of earrings made with black crystal-cut glass beads, silver findings, and small silver balls.

And if you do not have pierced ears, never fear! I can change all of these earrings (which by the way have sterling silver-plated surgical steel hooks) into clip earrings very easily. :)
If you're interested in seeing more of my jewelry, visit My Etsy Shop!
Happy Entering!
Julia
I am SO Excited!!!!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow...Let Us Not Freeze...

In one week my family and I are driving all the way up to Michigan to visit my grandparents, aunt and uncle, and my cousins and their children. :) Above is a picture my aunt sent us of some of the snow they had recently... yikes. :D My two younger brothers are SOOO excited about actually building snowmen, snowforts, and having snowball fights! Woohoo!!

I, on the other hand, realize that all that snow means one thing. *COLD*!! And we grew up in South-Western Florida. Also my brothers and I have never seen more snow than just a light dusting once in Tennessee.

So I'm really hoping I'll be able to cope with the weather conditions! I'm planning on taking plenty of warm sweaters, thick fluffy socks, scarves, and mittens, a warm down coat, and yes... long underwear... so I think I'll be as prepared as possible. :)

Do any of you have tips on staying warm in cold weather? I could use some!

Blessings!

Julia

Currently I'm feeling: Peaceful.

Miss Jocelyn's Winter Bundle Giveaways!

Miss Jocelyn over at A Pondering Heart is doing an amazing giveaway! She has over $700.00 worth of prizes she's giving away in batches. It's the biggest giveaway I've ever seen!!

I especially wanted to remark about one giveaway that I thought was really neat. You could win your own customized "blog button" and bookmark icon! Isn't that neat?

Anyway, just thought I'd letcha know. :)

Julia

Currently I'm feeling: Recumbent

Here Come The Fireworks

So I thought I'd try something new and upload a few videos, as well as pictures, of the sparklers my brothers and I lit last week on our driveway in front of the carport.These two are some of my better shots. Not so blurry. :)

This is one of Steven's sparklers. (Do take a minute to watch it, it's not that long)

He was so excited about the sparkler! It was quite funny. :) I love his enthusiasm.

Okay, well... I was going to post a few more videos but that one took SO long to upload that I think I'll stop with that! :D

Blessings!

Julia

Currently I'm : Hungry, and very Busy!

Lovely Weather We're Having

Today was delightfully sunny! Yesterday was quite gloomy, what with all the fog and chill in the air. I liked today's weather better! My family and I went down to the local state park and relaxed by the river. My brothers and I threw our frisbee around for a while. My parents and I had a great time sitting in folding chairs watching the river flow by, feeling the soft breeze in our hair and the warm sun on our faces. I think it was about 70 degrees! (farenheit)

Not bad for January! :D

Julia

P.S.
My mom did a post about our day as well, with pictures! See Here if interested. :)





Currently I'm : quite Chipper!

Blog Finagle-ing and Movie Madness

Hi Readers!

Well, the first thing you might have noticed is the new background. I'm still messing with it but I think I like this one better than some of my other attempts. :P

I really like these header pictures I made...

...But I couldn't find backgrounds that matched!! *sigh* It looks like I'll just have to learn how to design backgrounds. How I'll do that, I have no idea. :) Anyone got any tips??

And for the second part of my post, My family and I watched two new movies yesterday and enjoyed both. The first one was "Horton Hears A Who", which was really cute and crazy, and I loved seeing a favorite story come to life. The second was "Wall-e", which was so cool and also very bizarre...but enjoyable. :D That sounded funny. :) Anyway, I give both movies a thumbs-up.

To quote my younger brother, "Today was the Best Day of 2009!"...yet! :D

Hope you're having a great 2009 so far...

Julia

Currently I am... slightly aggravated, about messing around with blog backgrounds that didn't work... but really I feel Okay. :)

My First Post of 2009

For today, I just felt impressed to post the lyrics to this song... It seems like it fits today really well. :) To hear the song, click on the little playlist at the top of my sidebar. (Turn off my other music first by clicking the miniscule 'pause' button)

New Day by Avalon:

Chorus:

It's a new day,

Oh, it's a new time

And there's a new way,

I'm gonna live my life

All the old has passed away

And the new has come

Thank God, it's a brand new day

Lookin' back at yesterday,

There are things that I regret

But I put the past behind me

And I never will forget

You have covered my mistakes,

And my broken dreams

Now over the horizon

I see the dawn is drawing near

And I realize the sun did rise

Tomorrow's finally here

Chorus:

And it's a New Day,

Oh, it's a new time

And there's a new way,

I'm gonna live my life

All the old has passed away

And the new has come

Thank God, it's a brand new day

Now when I wake up thinkin'

Of the things I've done before

Memories I could not escape

Well they can't haunt me anymore

Now I can hold my head up high

'Cause I am not the same

You've changed my whole perspective

And with new eyes I see

I've become a new creation

'Cause of what you've done for me

Chorus:

It's a New Day,

Oh, it's a new time

And there's a new way

I'm gonna live my life

All the old has passed away

And the new has come

Thank God, it's a brand new day

Cause of what you've done for me

Now I am not ashamed

This heart of mine is finally free

And I will never be the same!

'Cause it's a New Day,

Yeah, it's a new time

And there's a new way

I'm gonna live my life

All the old has passed away

And the new has come

Thank God, it's a brand new day

(repeat chorus)

End.

My absolute favorite line in the whole song is "And I realize, the sun did rise, tomorrow's finally here". I used to get shivers when I heard it. :) I still do, sometimes.

So what did you do for New Year's Eve? I was at home. My brothers and I lit sparklers outside on the gravel driveway and I filmed some of it... I'll have to post a video later. :D

Blessings to all and a very Happy New Year to everyone!!!

Julia

Currently I'm feeling: Happy, and extremely Optimistic about the new year!