My Kinda Day!

I know that my blogging is so sporadic. Haha, my apologies. ;)

After about an hour of my parents agonizing about my safety, they decided that they would let me get out on the "icy" roads so I could go to the Holiday Fest at the Carver Park in Diamond.

It's actually an event for little children and we used to go to them all the time when I was young, but this time I was going to see a friend from college who volunteers there every time they have an event.

This is my friend and her mother who is an amazing seamstress and makes a new dress for Holly each event they have here. Her dress hem was lined with the most delicate beadwork. It was unbelievable! 

The little children at work with their crafts.

Museums and displays get fairly boring to me, but there is something about getting a glimpse back in time that I love... regardless if it looks like museum. Ha!

 When I saw these binoculars out on the deck, I had an idea to take a picture through them... and try to make it look like it does when you are actually looking through them.

So these are my attempts!

After the event was over, and most people left, I went on the little trail there.

I am such a sucker for trails -- it doesn't even have to be a spectacular trail.

Okay, I have to insert a few comments here:

First: That picture I took of myself was quite a painful process! It might look like a fun thing to do... blow snow out of your hands... Ha! but really my hands were soooo frozen and it hurt to even try to put my gloves on. Yeah, but it was worth it ;)

Second: I love to be all matchy-matchy with my Facebook profile and cover pictures and I realized that this picture matched my snowflake picture perfectly! That made me happy ;D

(there you go for all you non-Facebook users) :)

Just some ice and some macro ice.

I wished my family was there with me at this point so we could get a family picture here. 

But, alas! All I got was one of me trying to represent my whole family. ;)

{Umm... and it's a good thing there was no one else around or I would have felt really stupid setting up my camera and running up there to take a picture of myself. ;P }

Once I was completely cold, icy, freezing, numb, raw, rosie-cheeked, red-nosed, and chilled through-and-through, I hopped in my car and drove home a very happy girl. :)

-MarLeahJoy

Flash from the Past {Personal}

I just love pictures so much... too much.

So I will share some cute ones from my past (hopefully you agree that they are cute, I mean, I'm not biased towards myself or anything, right?!) ;)

50's day dress up for 2nd grade :) My mom was always so good about sewing us the perfect outfits for these occasions.

Everything about this picture is perfect, and I will be forever grateful to my mom for capturing it on camera. I mean, it doesn't get more little-girlish than pig-tails, tippy-toes, and mouth gaping open ;)

Some how I really remember this day so vividly in my mind! Momma was working with the garden, and she had removed some of the elephant ear plants for some reason and I was so, so happy to get to use one as an umbrella. I held it proudly above my head back to the porch and I don't know how long I sat on the swing like that, but apparently long enough for someone to come take a picture of the happy girl.

"Fwhello? Yesh, we are marshmallows today! Now, just let ush go play in the snow!" Haha

My Nanna would always supply us with snacks at camp (It was mostly because she wanted us to come visit her in her trailer, but we loved to visit her anyway). I think graham crackers were actually my all-time favorite, but vanilla wafers must have ranked up there pretty close for me to be doing this.


I just love childhood, and I love the memories :)
-MarLeahJoy

Starting College {Personal}

I am absolutely in love with college... which is amazing, because I was really hesitant to even go to college. I did not want to be stuck with anymore homework. But I think my brain is already kicking in and ready for a challenge after being on break for so long.
When I was in my accounting class Monday evening, I started to freak out a little when the instructor was already talking about assets, liabilities, credit, debit. But then I was like, "Wait, I know what he's talking about...." So I think that will be my most challenging class, but I'm kind of excited to learn, what my instructor calls, "the language of business".

I love my schedule so much because it allows me to have all the morning to myself, and that's what I always hated about going to high school, I had to leave my cozy room so early in the morning.
And I love having my window open to hear the birds and let the beautiful soft sunlight reflect off my floor. I think it's so pretty, I even took a picture for you. ;P

During those 3-4 hours before I go to school, I include a run with our dog who is terribly annoying to run with. Here's a story to illustrate:
Yesterday, I was running along and all of a sudden he just stepped right in front of me and stopped with his body turned, so I t-boned him and stepped on him, and stumbled all around. On top of that I was running down a hill... it's a wonder I didn't flip right over the dog onto my face! :P That would have been interesting to see a video of. lol.

This morning before my run, I remembered something on pinterest, and I was inspired to try to replicate it of myself running.... Ummm... It didn't quite turn out like I expected, but I got another idea from it. So I guess that's okay.

I made it from three pictures I cloned together in Lightroom. I had to take a few loop holes to get that done... like combining the pictures first into one picture, clone, and then crop back to just one picture.
And it is by no means a perfect clone because I didn't even zoom in when I cloned it... it was just a quickie... just for fun :)

and... that's how I did it in a few minutes during my break between classes.

One more class today and that concludes my classes for this week. [Did I mention I love my schedule, lol, I've told about everyone that asks me about college that I'm so excited about my schedule :) At least I'm not griping ;)]

-MarLeahJoy

First Morning Camping {Personal}

It rained really hard last night. (it sounded pretty cool inside the yurt - btw)

So this morning it was still drizzling and our hopes 

to make a nice big breakfast over a campfire were kind of canceled. 

But someone who woke up early left us a perfect fire going on in a pit inside the activities pavilion. 

So we got to make a nice breakfast after all, hitching off of someone else's fire, hehe. :)

yummy, yummy food :)

Sis. Rosie put the biscuits in with the coals... she said there are a certain amount of coals you are supposed to put on top so that it will cook right. Nifty, nifty... I never knew that!

Heather took this one :)

Slightly burnt, but they weren't shabby. :)

hehe ;)

Depending on the weather, we might go kayaking today. :DDD

-MarLeahJoy

Senior Trip {Personal}

I've had a blast today. It all started with withdrawing several hundred out of my bank account, haha. Heather and I headed out to Hot Springs together, and we were the first to get there of all the girls so we went shopping for all the food. 

Okay, now for a crazy obsession-confession: I love socks!

We stopped at Ross so Heather could get some socks, and I just couldn't resist.

I just bought socks YESTERDAY! So do I need more socks? NO!

But while she was looking for some I found the best socks ever, so I bought them. And that's almost all I've been thinking about this evening. Every-time I would go back inside I would change out of my flip-flops into my socks (just ask Heather, lol).

"Oh, DEAR!" I don't think anyone can understand my sock obsession... But it's very real! 

And why am I saying this? Hopefully, so someone will get a good laugh at my insanity.

Enough of that. Here's our Yurt!

It is so cool to stay here. I almost feel like I own it because it is secluded enough. 

We walked down to the dock on Lake Catherine at night,

 and it was so foggy you couldn't even see the water. 

Our yurt at night.

Us girls getting wifi at the conference room at 1am. :)

 The only normal picture we got. 

I'm already having such a great time... 

-MarLeahJoy

Senior Road Painting :)

My friends that did road painting with me are all from different countries, so we all painted 

our country's flag and had a little fun.

Maria -- foreign exchange student from Spain

Jaime -- from China, but our teacher teases her about being Russian

This girl is the only reason I have survived high school! Love her! :)

Don't take it wrong... It's a very sarcastic joke from our AP English class. ;)

-MarLeahJoy

Aching for Summer

I really wish I was an expressive writer and could share my feelings like
some poets can. If I could, you would be so overwhelmed
with a longing for summer, because I'm having so many sweet memories
of warm nights and get-togethers with those I love most!



I like our other cat's personality better, but you really can't beat her "modeling".



Hehe -- look at her eyes. She's a goof!



By just being outside -- feeling this almost-summer weather -- my heart seriously
began to ache for more of those things that are associated with summer. Volleyball,
tennis, camping, traveling, freedom, gardening (yes, gardening -- no matter how much
I dislike it some days), Monark!, workdays, sleeping outside, etc., etc.
*But... just so that you know that I'm not always "looking for tomorrow" and not
enjoying today... I had a really great day today :)
Life is so good! :)

-MarLeahJoy