I sat down to start the editing of my novel ( I'm re-writing my first four chapters before I send it out again) and I was listening to music like I always do. The song Everything by Tim Hughes started playing and I realized that this song makes such an amazing prayer.

God in my Hoping
There in Dreaming
God in my Watching
God in Waiting
God in my Laughing
There in my Weeping
God in my Hurting
God in my Healing
By my Everything

God in Writing
God in my Working
God in my Playing
God in my Cleaning
God in my Friendships
God in my Waking
God in my Sleeping
God in my Worship
God in my Serving
God in Caring
God in my Thinking
God in Everything

This is my prayer today
Where do you want/need God to be in today?
                

Missing the Sea

Two of my favourite songs to listen to right now. I just bought the Mat Kearney CD a few days ago!! IT'S AMAZING!! His voice is incredible and his lyrics are so romantic and beautiful. You really need to listen to his new CD!

My Weekend

I am quite appalled by my lack of posting and I really must apologize. Life has been so very hectic and busy. I found a  new job, as a jeweller, and I'm loving every moment of it. It's so fun getting to polish and sell diamonds all day.
The best thing that happened though, was YC on the weekend!! Anyone who knows me, knows that this is one of the most important three days of my life. For all you people who don't know, YC is a giant youth conference that sweeps across Canada in May of every year. I've hit YC for the past six years and every year, it's totally amazing. They bring some of the best Christian bands out there, they bring comedians, and some absolutely incredible speakers. It's a weekend where you get back on the same page with God, have some amazing worship time, and rock out to bands and basically have a total blast.
This year my two all time favourite bands were there. Thousand Foot Krutch (yes, it's spelt with a K) and RED. Both bands played a really wicked show (like always) and the only down side was the fact that they didn't play long enough.
Every year, on the Friday evening when everything starts, they make a REALLY HUGE deal of the beginning of the weekend. There is 16,000 kids that attend and we all gather in the Rexall arena in Edmonton. There are fireworks INSIDE, and music, and lights, and glow sticks, and people screaming, and hands in the air, and so much energy it feels like the place is going to burst. Seriously, this is SOOO flippin' cool. This year, the song they chose to start the whole thing off was the new Owl City song off his new EP "Shooting Star". Last time they played a song by a band like that, they brought them to play live the next year. I hope that because they opened with an Owl City song, that it means they're going to bring him next year. Seeing Owl City live is one of the top thing on my list of "Things to Do Before I Die".  I think he would be amazing to see live. Who wouldn't love that?
You can go watch the YC KICKOFF on Youtube. You should totally check it out. If you love Owl City, then you'll want to most definitely want to see this. And I just think it's so cool regardless of who plays. I wish I could have all my friends come, unfortunately almost all my friends live a loooong distance away. Oh well, maybe someday.
I need to cut this short today. I work here in an hour so I need to go get ready. have a great day.
Hugs

My Friday Evening!

Okay, I am writing this with my itouch, so sorry if it turns out so terribly!
It has been a boring day. I had a day of filling out paperwork for my new job. I start on the 8th of May and I'm super exciting! I am going to be a jeweler!! I get to play with diamonds all day. Oh Joy!!
Anyways, after that I had such a boring evening...until I found flour, coco powder, and icing sugar! Oh yeah! I made a chocolate cake!! I made mini chocolate cakes with sugared strawberries and lemon cinnamon icing!! I know right? Pretty amazing!

Quicky

Hey everybody
I'm just here to post a quick picture of what I woke up to this morning. I took this photo on the way to Church! How crazy is that?! Snow in the middle of April! I really thought we were gonna be getting Spring! I guess not!

Jewelry, Jewelry, Jewelry!

When I started this blog, I had lofty ideas of having the whole blog centered around writing and the writing life. Somehow, in the past few months, it has changed into a blog about me...and all the random things that I do and like. I really do apologize to the people who just wanted to hear about writing. Turns out, I am a lot more than that, and writing is not the only thing in my life. Turns out, I like many more things.
Like crafting. I have been on this huge crafting thing for a while now (I really think I have my two sisters to thank for that). I am not a huge crafter, Like my older sis, but I am getting there.
I thought that for this next post, I would share my latest crafting project with you all and let you give it a try.
Here we go:
The dilemma: I have TONS of jewelry. The only place I had to put all this jewelry was in my little jewelry box. I hated having to go through it all and spend ten minutes untangling a giant ball of necklaces to only find one. It drove me nuts
The solution: Build a jewelry frame for all my stuff. I looked online and found one for $80 dollars!!! Crazy right? So yes, I'm (or I did) building/build my own version.

 I started off with a picture that I bought from Value Village. It was only 15 bucks so I'm still a looong way from 80 bucks!

 I pulled the picture from the frame and stapled some fabric from my sister's collection to the back of the cardboard picture.

 This is what it looks when it's stapled down. If you're going to do this, make sure you iron out your fabric first. It makes it SO much easier for you to get it stapled tightly to the cardboard.

 This is what the back looks like when you have it stapled. I taped mine down after just to make sure that it stays super neat.

 Next, I took some brass wall hooks and nailed them into the board so that they were evenly spaced and so that my necklaces hung fairly even.

 For the earrings, I took two squares of foam,covered them with the fabric and glued them with contact cement to my board. The earrings just push into the foam and stay there nice and tight. I have a small dish that I keep the spare backings in. I usually use the same backings for all my earrings.

 I used two silver hooks and a wooden rod, to hang my bracelets and rings from. The picture is pretty straightforward there.

I'm sorry the pictures aren't the best. I used my ipod to take the pix and they didn't turn out as great as I thought they would. The fifth picture from the top, is the finished product. It turned out really great and in the end only cost me around 20 bucks. Pretty great, eh?!
Well, I hope you all have a really great weekend.
Hugs

??

What a crazy couple weeks this has been. My two sisters and I have landed back into the frozen north. It seems so weird to be home when the rest of the family is still down south. I don't do separation well. I like having my family all close where I can talk to them and spend time with them. Only a month and a half left. I'm sure I can make it *sniff, sniff*
I spent the afternoon today job hunting. Oh how I really wish I didn't have to be doing this. It feels so crazy looking for a job when I've had the same one for like five years now. It's a bit of a sore spot, so we won't visit it today.
Ummm. Sevenly is up today. This weeks seven dollars goes toward's Jessie's JoyJars. Which gives joy to kids with Cancer. I don't much care for the girl's T but the guy's T is super cool. I love the boxing gloves.
Also, my sister blogged a really moving blog the other day about abortion. I was planning about following in her footsteps and blogging about this really saddening topic, but she said it so well that I'm just going to refer you over to Bethy's  blog and let you check it out. It really is something that we should all be aware about and work towards ending. God created all life and who are we to decide who deserves to live? Please head over and read it.
Hugs Ladies and Gents

Sevenly Monday

Okay, to start this off. Does anyone think that the new blogger stuff is super hard to get used to? I am having a super hard time trying to find out where everything is. I guess I was just so used to the old that it's hard for me to adapt to the new. It kind of sounds like how the next few months are going to be.
Yes it's true. I have ended my winter season on the boat (little tear leaking out here) and I am starting my new summer season. Excited but nervous. Happy but sad. I'm sure the summer is going to be a blast.
The real reason I hopped over here was to tell you guys to go and check out Sevenly. That's right, it's Monday and they have a new T out on their site. I really hope you guys are checking this out. It's a really fantastic way to change the world. I love what these guys are doing. This weeks charity is Compassion International and will go toward giving mosquito nets to children in Rwanda  to help prevent Malaria. To check it out just hit them up here! Seriously people. Check it out.
Hugs

Bahamas Recap

Hello everybody. I re-read my last post and I am horrified that you were left with such an uninteresting post (unless you went and looked at some of those dresses, in which case, it was probably well worth it). But seriously, I should have left you with something more exciting. My apologies.
For all you guys that didn't know, my family and I sailed to the Bahamas this week. WOW!! Did God ever use His imagination when He made that place. It has such astounding beauty.
We were only 27 hours of sailing to get there. I totally thought that it was going to take longer than that, but it turns out when you get into that golf stream, you really fly. We spent four days in Bimini. We swam in oceans of bright blue, found shells, and had evening walks and watched the sun set. It was so relaxing. It was just what I needed.
We were out at this sandbar searching for sand dollars and starfish and had sharks and stingrays swimming throughout the water around us. It was SO cool. I would have loved to have spent so much more time there. It was relaxing and it gave us all a chance to have some family time together before I fly home.
Yup, that's right. I fly home in less that a week. The 5th of April will find me back in the freezing north of Canada, job hunting, and trying to drink enough Starbucks so that I don't freeze rock hard. But that's a post for another day.
Hugs <3

Sidetracked

I had this long, interesting blog planned out for today. It was going to be all about the end of my winter, cross-stitching, and plans for the summer. All interesting enough stuff, but I made the mistake of surfing the web and finding sites that I just couldn't pull myself away from. 
Sites like this one where the wedding photos are just magical had me totally mesmerized. I was on this site for hours. SO BEAUTIFUL!!
And this one too. I can't believe how stunning all these outfits are. The 'Sidesaddle' outfits are SO pretty. I want them all. I like ALL the 'Set Sail' dresses as well. The 'Carousel' dresses will someday be mine. Mark my words. And all the 'Up and Away' dresses are so vintage and fab. Seriously people. I LOVE THEM!!
If you checked out these sites, then you totally understand why I didn't do a proper blog. I was sidetracked by beauty. You can't fault me for that.
Hugs

Monday One

Ladies and Gents. The new Sevenly shirts are up. The money from these shirts go toward giving clean drinking water to children in India.
These tops aren't my fave but they are still really cool. If you like them, then get one. It's a great way to help people in need. All it takes is 20+ bucks. A great deal if you ask me.
Hugs everybody, and please, just check out the site. You don't have to buy anything, but at least it's getting the name out there. I personally haven't bought a T yet (It's the first thing I do when I get back to work) but at least I know what's going on around me. Please check it out.
Hugs

Light Bulb Necklace

 Yesterday was "light bulb changing day" here on the boat. We went through Mom and Dad's room and changed all three roof lights and changed out the bulbs with new ones. We fixed one light and I was astounded to see that as it burned out it turned into this cool swirly sort of blue. I decided that there was something that needed to be done with this. It was too cool just to throw out. 

So here's what I did:  This is a small light bulb. It's not like the ones in a normal house. First, I twisted the metal base off the light bulb. Now I just had the glass. (This step is a bit time consuming. You have to be patient and just slowly work the base off. You don`t want to break the glass.

Next, I made a loop out of crafting wire.

Then, I filled the groove of the light bulb with hot glue and stuck my loop inside.

Finally I slipped a black chain through the loop and low and behold, I had a light bulb necklace. It's possibly my most favorite necklace. 

Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of the making process. Sorry ladies. 

Ts for Missions

Everyday, there are people who put their hands, hearts, feet, souls, and minds into helping the people around them. These people are called missionaries. Missionaries take the world upon their shoulders and do everything within them to change what little they can in a dying and broken world. These missionaries take time from the comfort of life and family to do what most people aren't willing to do. They endure pain, heartache, loss, discomfort, and fatigue with their only reward being silence. But, these people have heart. They know that the small amount they are doing is changing lives. It's making a difference, and in the end, they will get that final "Well done my good and faithful servant". I think this will be the best reward of all for those people.

But, there are also people who do what they can from their home. They feed the homeless, they rescue the weary, they pray, and they support from a distance.

I love looking on the internet at sites that devote their time and resources to the hurting world. My favorite site is Sevenly. Sevenly is a website where every week they pick a new organization and make a T-shirt devoted to that organization. For that one week, you can buy that T and seven dollars from every purchase will go to that organization. It's a GREAT way to get informed about different organizations and how you can help them.  It's also a great way to get cute Ts. Come on now people, don't tell me you don't like cute clothes (PS: Dudes, they have epic Ts for guys). 

You really need to check this site out.http://sevenly.org/ .

They are really doing a great thing. So, from now on every Monday when they update the T, I will let you know. You really don't have an excuse not to check it out!!

Hugs

 

Tag

The lovely ladies over at Polkadots and Moonbeams have tagged me. I am virtually computer illiterate (unless it has to do with Microsoft Word and Itunes) so this should be interesting. Hopefully I do it right. 

The Rules:
1) Post these rules.
2) Post 11 random things about yourself
3) Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post
4) Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer 
5) Go to their blog and tell them they've been tagged
6) No cop-outs in the tagging section like, "If you are reading this" or "if you follow me". You have to legitimately tag people! 

Okay. 11 random things about me.

1) I hate small spaces when they're full of people. I could sit in a tiny, tiny box and not care, but you put me and a hundred people in a room and I get claustrophobic. 

2) I'm pretty sure Seasonal Allergies are going to be the death of me.

3) I LOVE nail polish

4) I cross-stitch and adore doing it.

5) I'm addicted to Starbucks

6) I have always wanted to learn to play the Violin but I learnt the Piano instead.

7) I have four brothers and sisters.

8) I used to have a pet dog, fish, and turtle.

9) Shopping is fun but only when it's at a bookstore or if I'm with a bunch of friends.

10) Owl City is some of the cutest music in the world.

11) I lived in Hong Kong for six months of my life.

*sigh* That was a lot of work.

Here are the girls 11 questions for me:

1.Would you rather be invisible or fly?

I would rather fly. I would love to be able to see the world from up there. I think it would be like sailing through air.

2. Who is your best friend?

My little sister is my best friend. She's incredible. Strong, beautiful, brilliant, and funny. Gosh, is she funny.

3. Your current favorite book?

First off, I think it's cruel to only ask for one. Pride and Prejudice. Pride and Prejudice will always be my favorite book. I've read it more times than I care to count.

4. Favorite hero of all time?

This one is so easy. Captain America. Have you seen that guy? He could save the world with his pinky finger.  He's also the best looking super hero...just saying.

5. Do you wear glasses, contacts or is your eye sight pretty good?

I wear glasses. It's time for new ones though. 

6. Are you artistic? If so, how?

I guess I am. I write, cross-stitch, and craft.

7. Everyone either has a word or a saying that is always coming out of their mouth, what's yours?

Dang and True Dat. I'm not sure why.

8. What is your favorite color combination?

I really like vintage blue and pastel pink (my blog colors).

9. Cat, dog, bird, fish? What is your favorite pet?

Dogs are the bomb. Nothing compares.

10. Is there a particular genre of movie/book you like best?

I really like adventure. Like the Bourne movies. Those are some of my faves.

11. Favorite humorous movie quote?

Hmmm. There are so many funny ones out there. 

Okay. I LOVE the movie "Nacho Libre". Legit. It is super hilarious. My family and I watched that movie just before we went sailing for the first time and I think we quoted that stupid movie a billion times.

Fave quote:

Incarnacion

"My favorite color is light tan. My favorite animal, is puppies. I like serving the Lord, hiking, playing volleyball."

Nacho

"You've got to be kidding. All those things you just said are my favorite things to do. Every. Day,"

Hahaha. I think it's just hilarious. I know, what a weirdo.

Here are my questions for you:

1) Who is your favorite author?

2) If you could have only one piece of furniture in your bedroom, what would you pick?

3) If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you go?

4) If you could go on any missions trip, where would you go and what would you do? (After you answer this question, go do it.)

5) Starbucks or your local coffee shop?

6) Hiking in the wilderness or jumping out of a plane?

7) Mars or Jupiter (why?)?

8) Favorite kind of chocolate?

9) Math or Science?

10) Best place in the world to eat dinner?

11) NIV or King James? Why?

I don't have many people to tag, but here we go:

I actually only really follow two blogs so Bethany over at Bethany's Blog

And Riah and Lys over at novelsandbits.blogspot.com 

Hahaha. Sorry to tag you again ladies (You don't have to do it again)

Mean What You Say

A few days ago, one of my favorite bands (Sent By Ravens (SBR)) came out with an incredible new CD. They blew me away when they came out with their first Album, Our Graceful Words, and now they did it again but on a much larger scale. They have really found their mark. They have defined their sound and I can see these guys having a fantastic career. They are something very unique. This CD, Mean What You Say, has really deep lyrics. They have been forcing me to think about things, life, what I believe. (Can you tell I'm really proud of what this band has become?)
The hit song, Mean What You Say, is my favorite. I think it's climbing up into my top played pretty quick.
Here's some of the lyrics:

Every inch we talk
They make a sound we walk
You better mean what you say
You better mean what you say
Less God...more gun
They aim for the heart but we ain't got one
You better mean what you say
You better mean what you say


I don't need to hurt with my hands
I could find some value 
Destroy it with my mouth
Hey, could you ever love again


From the womb...we're taught
You make a sound...I walk
You better mean what you say
You better mean what you say
With words like drugs
We speak of heart
Like we know what one does
You better mean what you say
You better mean what you say


How often do we really think before we speak? How often do we destroy with our mouths? I sure don't think before I speak. I hurt people all the time with the words I say. We live in a "fast" society. We want things now. We want to drive, fly, sail, and walk faster. We want things in an instant. Because we are so impatient, we don't pause to think of what we say. Our mouths are probably the fastest things in this world but we aren't willing to slow it down. It's okay to go slow.
Think before you speak and mean what you say.

Baggy Wrinkle 101

 Today was a fun day in the sun. We cleaned out the back storage compartment of the boat, sorted all our rope and anchors, and made rope mats and baggy wrinkle. That's right. We made baggy wrinkle. What is baggy wrinkle you ask? It is an anti-chaffing gear that sailors use on their boats so that their sails don't rub on their rigging. 

 Here is a step by step guide to making your own baggy wrinkle (trying saying it ten times fast)  in case you ever take up the life of a sailor.

 1) Baggy wrinkle is made from old used rope. You cut it into six inch lengths and separate each strand until you have a good amount of rope. Just like in the picture below.

2) You loop each strand onto two lengths of whipping twine.

3) Finally you tie off your ends and wrap the finished product around your rigging and say good-bye to chaffing. It's as easy as 1,2,3. And a great way to work on your tan .

 

We are planning a trip to the Bahamas before I fly home (there was a fire on one of the islands and we are going to bring some aid to the families that were affected) so it will be a great opportunity to test out our baggy wrinkle. I'll try and post a picture of it up before we leave.

My Writing Journey as of 2011

In 2011 I learnt an incredible amount of things about myself, my future, my desires and, of course, my writing. Writing is the core of who I am. I love words and the power that they possess. Words are at the center of everything we do. It's how we communicate our feelings and comfort one another. I find written words even more incredible. Every person's writing is different and unique and beautiful. Writing is an amazing thing.

In early 2011 I finished my second novel. I was so proud of what this book had become. That novel taught me so much. I saw God doing incredible things with my career and I was so excited for my future. Once the novel was finished, I edited the poor thing to death. Editing that novel was for sure the hardest part of that whole experience, but in the end, I was beyond happy with the book. In my mind, it was perfect and brilliant ( I think that most author's feel this way about their books at some point in their career) and I was SO sure that it was ready for publication.

The summer of 2011 found me researching agents. I read what they represented and researched what they were looking for. I selected eight...and began to form my proposal. This part was hard, but not as hard as editing I found. Anyway, I finished my proposal and sent it out. Three weeks slowly dragggggggged by and I was discouraged and miserable. I was seriously wondering what I was doing. Being an author was the stupidest career choice and I felt like an idiot for thinking I could do this.

But me, being me, I couldn't quite or give up. Writing had burrowed into my soul and I knew I was never going to be able to dig it out. It was there for good. And quite frankly, I didn't want it out. It had become a part of who I am and I just couldn't part with it.

In August I made a trip down to Nashville and hit my first conference. Ted Dekker, Eric Wilson, Tosca Lee, Steven James, and Robert Liparulo. These were people that (in my mind) were the ultimate authors. These guys (and gal) knew how to write. I figured that three days with them would blow my mind and I would come away just as amazing as them. Ya, that didn't happen. 

I spent the rest of that summer working and sucking back so much Starbucks that I'm surprised I didn't drown (It doesn't help when your little sister works there and you get free drinks and a discount).

In October, I left work and headed down to the Caribbean to help with our Mission's life. While I was there I finally heard back form all eight agents. My novel had potential but "it just wasn't what they were looking for" and "it needed more work". I was devastated. I mean, I just editing this novel to death and it's still not good enough. It's still not readable. 

So, I made a HUGE choice. I wasn't going to write for the whole winter. I was going to take a break, bet my head on straight and spend time with my family and friends. That lasted about two weeks then I was back at my computer typing my brains out. 

The one thing I haven't done though, is re-edit my book. I couldn't do it. Oh, I tried. I tried to change the first chapter. Tried to make the book what the agents wanted, but I couldn't. 

Maybe someday I'll finally be able to take that step and change the story, but for now, it's perfect the way it is and quite frankly, I don't think it will ever be published. It will always be my "second book" and that's it.

Am I disappointed? For sure. Would I still take all that time away from life, all that hard work, and write that novel again if I had to? You bet. That novel was an incredible point in my life and maybe, someday, it will be read my someone other than me and it will change lives. Maybe.

Write Inside's New Look

As I am sure you all have noticed, Write Inside has a wonderful new look. My wonderful "internet" friend did this all up for me. You have some amazing talent Riah, I love it :) 

If you love what you see here and would like to get your blog "Revamped" you can find Riah over at riahdesignstudio.blogspot.com. 

As you can see by my wonderful blog, she does a great job.

THANKS a bunch Riah. I love it.

Construction

I am in the middle of designing. Should be done soon!

Ri