Monday, March 31, 2014

March 2014 instagram roundup



March seemed to fly by relatively smoothly for me. Nothing too exciting nor too stressful. The fam & I watched the season finale of The Walking Dead last night, & when one watches a T.V. show like that, your life can start to look pretty stress-free in comparison.
As for my area in N.C., I think that winter is behind us (thank goodness). The next couple of days should be sunny and warm (must take more pictures). I am a big fan of the month of April, & I am happy it is that time of year again.You know the best date is April 25th? (insert Miss Congeniality reference).
How was March for you? An favorite moments?
God bless!
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Friday, March 28, 2014

high five for Friday

Happy Friday, peeps! I hope you all have had a wonderful week, and or have a fun weekend ahead of you. We have made it to the last weekend of March 2014! Can you believe it? I don't know how the weather has been in your neck of the woods but around here it seems that when ever we take one step forward with a nice sunny, spring like day, we then take about two steps back soon after that with cold and wet days following.
I recently discovered a blog by Lauren Elizabeth. I have really been enjoying her site. She has a link-up party every Friday, High Five Friday, where she lists her 5 favorites of the past week and gives other readers the chance to link-up their blog and share their 5 favorites. I thought this is a great & fun idea, so I decided to participate this week. Be sure to check out Lauren's blog to see her High Five Friday, & a chance at discovering some new blogs to enjoy.
1. My little brother & sister-in-law treated us to Smashburger Monday night as a very sweet thank-you gesture for helping them move into their new house. Smashburger is a delicious burger joint, with a very cool atmosphere. My whole family thinks this place has some of the best, if not, the best burgers we have ever tasted. Their burgers are made from fresh, 100% Angus beef, and the burgers are prepared a ton of different ways! 
When you have a taste for one, there is not much that can beat a good burger! ( I would have taken a photo of the hamburger, but I ate it too fast. You'll have to settle for this cool sign instead). 


2. Here is another food reference, hehe. I purchased this gelato by Talenti at my local grocery store the other day out of pure curiosity. To the best of my knowledge, I have never tried gelato (aka: Italian ice cream) before. Yummy! I bought two pints; Sicilian pistachio (seen below), & sea salt caramel. Both of these flavors are delicious & super creamy, & the ingredients taste very fresh. This is a little pricey treat, I paid about $4 for each pint (so I will save my next purchase of Talenti for a "special" occasions), but it is super tasty. I have taken my time and held back the urge to devour the whole container in one sitting.  I ate about 1/3 to 1/2 each pint in a sitting at a time over the past week. The lid is a screw-on, therefore resealable. I finished the pistachio first, cleaned it out & have been using the container to store cotton swabs in my bathroom. So,, really the $4 was an investment in bathroom storage ;)


3. My sweet little maltipoo, Owen, had a haircut recently, & this has been very beneficial in our cuddle time. Less stinky hair


4. I am loving all of the new blooms. My dad loves flowers. He planted a ton of hyacinths last year, & they have started to pop up all over the yard. I love the deep blue color of most of the flowers, & and the surprise pop of the fuchsia hyacinths that are scattered amongst them.


5. My last favorite of the week is this Youtube channel I rediscovered the other day. The channel is The Tommy Edison Experience. Tommy, who has been blind since birth, explains his perspective on life and certain experiences as a blind person. He talks about his childhood, how he doesn't understand what colors are, & explains how he can function without sight. He has a great sense of humor: he has a video of him making play-doh sculptures, guessing the color of scented markers, & he even shows how he uses Instagram. Yes, you can follow a blind man on Instagram (check it out)! 
He really makes me smile. I love his outlook on life & his great personality. You should check out his channel!




Have a great weekend!
God bless!
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Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Tunisian Tuesday 3




I am running a little late on my post today, but here I am.
I have started changing colors with my Tunisian crochet project (yeah!). I found this video explaining how to change yarn colors in Tunisian crochet. One can change their yarn color on the forward pass, or on the reverse pass; I changed my colors on the forward pass.
I am really impressed with how much I enjoy the feel of this stitch. It is so plush & cozy :). I would love to make a scarf with a Tunisian crochet stitch sometime in the near future.
I hope you have a wonderful evening.
God bless!

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Friday, March 21, 2014

27 Springs


I am so happy that we are having some beautiful weather these first days of spring! This year has been a much colder March then we are used to here in North Carolina. It has given us a greater appreciation for a mild, sunny day.
Another thing I am thankful for is that today is my parents' 27th Wedding Anniversary. Since they were married on this day their anniversary and springtime has become synonymous in my mind. I try not to take for granted the fact that I do have parents that are still together. This is quickly becoming a novelty in today's society. Their marriage has been a great blessing in my life, & the lives of my brothers'. I wish them another 27 years of marriage!




Happy Anniversary to mom & dad!
A happy spring 2014 to you!
God bless!

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Thursday, March 20, 2014

Some random facts...


I was in need of  inspiration for a post idea, so I thought that a random facts about me post would be a good idea {in the least narcissistic way possible ;-)}. So,,, let's get to it.

-I am a first born {yikes}. I have two younger brothers, Jordan, who is 11 months younger than me, & Jamison, who is 3 1/2 years younger. I would say we are pretty close. We have our sibling spats every now & again, but I would say they are two of my closest friends.

-One of the first things I notice about a person (if it is possible to see) is if he/she is right, or left handed (if you are ambidextrous; my mind is blown.) . For some reason, I find men more attractive if they are left handed. I am not the only one, my cousin thinks the same way.

-My current favorite Pandora stations are All Sons & Daughters, good acoustic Christian music, & Patrick Sweany, modern (& some classic) American blues.Until I was about 12 years old, I wasn't allowed to listen to secular, non-Christian music. The first ever secular album I had was Queen's News of the World (released in 1977) My taste in music does differ from many my age. Once, I was wearing a Beatles t-shirt & a man asked "Can you even name all those guys on your shirt?" "Absolutely" I answered, "McCartney, Lennon, Ringo & George", pointing to each face. The man smiled and said "I see a lot of kids wearing old shirts like that & they have no idea who the people on them are". I told him "I'm 'legit".   

-If I stumbled upon Shawshank Redemption playing on television, no matter how far a long it is in the film, or the fact that I have see it numerous times,  I have to watch it until the end. Great movie.

-My family & I share four animals, 2 dogs & two cats:

These four furry creatures bring a lot of entertainment & laughter to our house.

I have been told by friends and strangers that I look like Anne Hathaway. It's the eyes, & maybe in some of my mannerisms. I don't know if you can see it from a photography alone.  

-I am a coffee lover. I enjoy every sip of my daily cup of Joe. I do try to limit my consumption to 2-3 cups of coffee a day. If I go over that limit I get jittery. From what I understand, the first person who introduced me to coffee was my great grandmother. My mom told me that when I was a toddler, my grandmother would take a tiny cup-package that you get of half & half at restaurants & add a couple of drops of coffee to the creamer and would sneak it to me to drink. 

-I, with millions of others, love Netflix. I could go into more detail, but I thought I would instead post a video of Gary Gulman's monologue about Netflix. Why? Because, 1) I love Gary, & want to share his wit with the world, & 2) because he feels the same way I do about Netflix & describes it better than I would. enjoy!



That is all I have for now!


Have a great day & God bless!
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Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Tunisian Tuesday: week 2


Oh, how wonderful it is to end a cold & rainy Monday by changing into your p.j.s & cuddling with a sweet pup while grasping a hot cup of chamomile tea, a hook, and yarn. Well, I consider it wonderful, but to each her own.
I just unraveled the Tunisian crochet swatch I made last week and tried the same Simple stitch with my new size K (6.5 mm) afghan hook by Yarnology. I have only finished a few rows, but I can tell that the larger hook did help to minimize some of the curling in the project (all though curling is to be expected in Tunisian crochet from what I hear; I am still learning and investigating other methods to prevent the work from rolling up on itself).
A tutorial that I think is super helpful for learning the simple, or basic Tunisian crochet stitch, is this post on Moogly blog. Tamara Kelly made an easy to follow video, and an easy to understand photo tutorial all in this one post.
I am not 100% certain what I want to create, but I think that I will be making a pillow/cushion. One of the first Tunisian crochet projects I remember stumbling upon was this cushion from According to Matt. I love it! It is so pretty, and I feel that it is simple enough for a Tunisian crochet novice, such as myself, to attempted.
I hope you have a wonderful day!
God bless!
hannaH

Monday, March 17, 2014

St. Patrick


I am not Irish nor Catholic, and I am not one to "party", so St. Patrick's Day has never been a very big Holiday in my book. But I have heard the story of St. Patrick and am very impressed with his willingness to serve the LORD & how he showed forgiveness to those who wronged him. I felt that it would be good idea to share a brief history of the real St. Patrick. I am posting a short video about him below. Also, I wanted to add something that the commentator leaves out, the reason why the shamrock is synonymous with this day is because, St. Patrick used clover (with three leaves, not four) to explain the Trinity to the pagan Druids of Ireland.
Here is a short video if you are interested in hearing a detailed story of the real Patrick:


I hope you have a wonderful day!
God bless!
hannaH

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Pinspiration for Spring

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I thought it would be a good time for me to post an inspiration post, since I haven't posted one in a while. I am so excited about spring colors this past week. I am really in the mood for blush & peach tones, as you can see in the many of the images I posted above (you can see more images if you follow me on Pinterest). What are some of your favorite colors for spring? 
I feel like I gained a little more energy with the extra hour of sun light in the evenings that we gained on Sunday. I love Daylight Savings Time. I have been strolling around the yard everyday after work this week taking in the sunlight. The temperatures will be dropping (bummer), but will slowly return to the mild weather like we had at the beginning of this week. What is the weather like where you are?
I hope you all have a wonderful day!
God bless!
hannaH

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Tunisian Tuesday

Last week I worked on a swatch of Tunisian crochet. This is my first attempted at Tunisian crochet, EVER. I started with the Tunisian simple stitch:



I was so pleased at how easy this was to learn & execute. I have yet to try binding off (finishing off the project) , because the hook I am using (size H8 5mm) is too small and the project does roll up very badly (just as the tutorials mentioned crochet would do with a small hook, hence why I am holding the swatch down in the photos). So I made another trip to my Hobby Lobby & purchased a size K (6.5 mm) afghan hook by Yarnology. I am going to undo this project & start over with my new hook in hopes this will prevent the work from rolling up.
I will try this stitch again & get back to you next Tuesday with my progress. Once I get a good hang of the stitch, I hope to make my own tutorial for anyone interested. Check in again next Tuesday to see my progress with Tunisian crochet!
I hope you have a wonderful day!
God bless!
hannaH

Monday, March 10, 2014

Daylight Savings' Monday

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I hope you all (in the U.S. who follow Daylight Savings) were able to get going this morning after the time change. I was reading my daily devotional, Morning & Evening by C.H. Spurgeon, this morning & the morning verse for today is Psalms 30:6. I thought I was share the whole chapter of Psalms 30: 

1 I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up
    and have not let my foes rejoice over me.
2 O Lord my God, I cried to you for help,
    and you have healed me.
3 O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol;
    you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.[a]
4 Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints,
    and give thanks to his holy name.[b]
5 For his anger is but for a moment,
    and his favor is for a lifetime.[c]
Weeping may tarry for the night,
    but joy comes with the morning.
6 As for me, I said in my prosperity,
    “I shall never be moved.”
7 By your favor, O Lord,
    you made my mountain stand strong;
you hid your face;
    I was dismayed.
8 To you, O Lord, I cry,
    and to the Lord I plead for mercy:
9 “What profit is there in my death,[d]
    if I go down to the pit?[e]
Will the dust praise you?
    Will it tell of your faithfulness?
10 Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me!
    O Lord, be my helper!”
11 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
    you have loosed my sackcloth
    and clothed me with gladness,
12 that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.
    O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!

Have a wonderful Monday!
hannaH