Autumn flurry

I love Autumn, it's my favorite time of year. But sadly, now that I'm an adult with responsibilities, I don't seem to have the time to enjoy it like I used to. I've been so busy, as a matter of fact, I haven't even been able to blog recently. 

Here's a few things that have been keeping me busy.

1. Homeschooling Mark and teaching Rachel's Bible class. 

This seems to be taking more time than I thought it would, not that I'm complaining. I've been enjoying it. 

2. Piano

I now have piano lessons, so I've been working on that besides practicing for playing for congregationals. I also try to play the piano for most of my singing specials. 

3. Housework and family

I've been trying to spend more time with my family, which includes coloring with Rachel and teaching her a little piano, reading to Mark, and bike riding with my family. Matthew's sick right now, so he's been taking up a lot of my mom's time. Which means I've been taking up the slack with housework and cooking. Once again, not complaining, just informing you on what I've been up to. ;) 

4. Christmas Play

I will be directing my first Christmas play at the church we're helping. I'm excited and nervous, as I've been retyping last year's Christmas play's script and adding necessary changes. I'm also singing two solos in the play, which are both a little difficult. They're "Mary did you Know?" and "O Holy Night". They're difficult for me due to all the lovely singers that I've heard sing those two songs, I feel that I'll always be inferior when I sing them. So anyways, please pray for me with that. :) 

5. Reading and shopping.

Ok, these are my two guilty pleasures (nope, it ain't chocolate). I've been doing some shopping, and getting mostly jewelry. Yes, I do still like to buy jewelry, even though I make jewelry, because I can't make everything. But I do love the ability to tweak store bought jewelry to how I like it. 

Here's the jewelry I've gotten recently.

I was so shocked the other day as I was browsing at Cato and stumbled upon a bubble necklace. My mom would tell you I went ballistic. And that may be only a slight exaggeration. I started on a mad search in each color category to find out all the colors they had. I got the purple one and came back later for the red one. They're so much prettier in real life than the pictures. At first I wasn't sure I liked the faceted look, but now I think I like it better than the smooth bead bubble necklaces. I have no problem with getting the knock offs (especially when the name brand is $140 and I got these for $12 each!). I did get the teal one and the pink one as well, but they're supposed to be Christmas presents from my mom to me, so ya'll can't see them till I open them for Christmas. :) I know we're not very traditional with our Christmas shopping, especially where I'm concerned, because my family has a hard time figuring out what I want. I can't blame them, I kinda have a tendency to change my mind often. So I usually end up picking out my own presents, then my mom wraps them, and I open them for Christmas. No big deal. :) 

light blue earrings $2 clearance 

green shimmery necklace $.99 clearance

blue heart shimmery necklace and earrings $5 clearance

I shortened the chain in the pic before this one, and made this bracelet using charms that were sitting around. Balance is something I need a constant reminder of. :) 

White chain and pearl necklace $2 clearance

All jewelry in this post was from the clearance racks at Cato (only the bubble necklaces weren't on clearance.) They had a bunch of goodies in the clearance section, and I nearly cleaned them out. :) I did hold back, and didn't get every cute thing I saw on clearance. Oh, and they green necklace in the picture? It came  on this circle wire thing, but I didn't like it, so I simply switch out the green and blue pendants. I think it works well.

I have been reading a lot of good books, really too many to mention. But I like the authors Lori Wick, Sharon Gillenwater, Wanda Brunstetter, and Tracie Peterson. Most of the books I've been reading have been by one of them. I love the public library option on my Kindle. :) 

And lastly, someone gave me this book.

I loved the movie, so I was so excited to get the book. Can't wait to read it! 

So how's your autumn been going? 

biking

pinterest

Last night, someone at church gave us a bike. They had found it on the side of the road, and since it's in working condition, thought maybe someone could use it. I haven't ridden a bike in years, but I've been wanting a bike for a long time. My old bike and I had been close friends, and I rode it everyday. This bike is not very pretty, but it does work. So instead of taking pictures of it, I thought I'd share some cute ones from Pinterest. When I saw the one above, I immediately fell in love. A horse AND a red bike? perfect.

pinterest

pinterest

{Beautiful picture. ^ I love baskets on bikes. And once again, it's red! ^_^}

pinterest

{I'm no where near good enough yet to take a pic while ^ bike riding. Maybe one day.}

I'm so excited about this new way of exercising, though I have a long way to go to get used to riding again. My brother and I are looking forward to riding every morning, and getting some good exercise. 

Since it's a boy's bike, the chains are not covered, and I was too afraid to risk any of my skirts getting greasy or torn. So I went to my last wanted option, the culottes that have been put away since I was 13. I don't really care for them, I think they're uncomfortable and ugly. But I took a few pics for ya'll to show you what they look like. 

(No, I didn't go biking barefoot, I just took off my tennis shoes when I got in the house, and didn't feel like putting them back on for the picture.) 

 

Yes, you may laugh if you want to. ^_-. It's not the most appealing outfit, but it works well for bike riding. This is my favorite t-shirt. It was given to me at the last church we helped, for National Day of Prayer. If you can't read it backwards in the mirror, it says, "Every Knee Shall Bow." 

Tonight, we're going to Jonny Carino's for Rachel and Matthew's birthdays. Rachel's was last Tuesday (while we were all sick) and Matthew's was yesterday. 

Rachel with her new chef's hat, apron, and mitt.

Rachel's been wanting an apron like big sister, so we found her a cute one on eBay. She loves it, and even wanted to wear her new apron to Walmart. ^_-. 

So do you enjoy bike riding? 

P.S.

I got an email saying that my new lens is in the mail! I'm watching that tracking number like a hawk, lol.