Like pearls slipping off a string....

"I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string.” -L. M. Montgomery

The simple pleasures of my life:

Sunsets.
Ice cream with sprinkles.
Elephants.
The smell of early mornings.
Rainy days.
Cups of tea.
Long talks with good friends.
Blankets.
Fall afternoons.
Laughing till you cry.
Spring days that make you feel like dancing.
Old movies.
Christmas lights.
Flowers.
Schedules.
Skirts.
Warm fires on cold nights.
Cider in the wintertime.
Inside jokes.
Rooftops.
Summer evenings.
Books that make you cry.
Listening to silence.
Starry skies.
Letters in the mail.
Sailboats.
Balloons.
Christmas mornings.
Moonlight.
Thunderstorms.
Rambling through woods.
Music.
Waking up to the smell of coffee.
Campfires. 

Summer 2012 Recap.

Greetings! Remember my last blog post. Way back at the beginning of summer. When I told you I would post about all my summer plans soon?

Well... it's September 7th now, and that obviously didn't happen.

But I'll tell you what I'll do to make up for it. Instead of looking ahead to summer as I planned, I will look back on it.

First things first.

We (my family that is) started the summer off with a road trip. Six people, one car, 1,252 miles of road to travel.

All the way from Midland Texas to Yellowstone National Park.

We amused ourselves in the car by playing catchphrase, watching The Andy Griffith Show, and...

Playing Hey Cow. You get a point when you get a cow to look at you. Peyton's pretty good at it. 

The bin full of snacks in the back  of the car. We know how to do road-trips.

Rainbow. You can just barely see it in this picture, but it was actually a double rainbow. And yes, we were quoting that stupid double rainbow youtube video. 

Peyton, Mom, Davis, Dad, Kate, Me in front of Upper Falls.

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. It was gorgeous.

A pretty grand time all in all, even though we were a bit car weary towards the end. 20 hours of Hey Cow with six people, one car, and a snack bin running on empty... well let's just say we were glad to get home. :)

And then after that, it was a most hectic week or two of unpacking, laundry, cleaning house, and packing again.

Then off to Harmony Hill.

(Photo Credit: Chelsea Miller)

It's always one of the best weeks of my year. And no matter how much I look forward to it, or how wonderful I anticipate it to be, it always, always, exceeds my expectations.

After that, LAKE TIME! I love the lake. I really do. Days at the lake go somewhat like this: Wake up. Have my quiet time. Eat breakfast. Read. Read some more. Read outside on the hammock. Go swimming. Eat some watermelon. Read. Go wake boarding, skiing, or tubing. Read some more. Eat a hamburger, or hot dog, or ribs, or something else yummy off the grill. Play catchphrase. Watch a movie outside. Watch the moon rise up and shimmer on the lake. Watch the neighbors fireworks. (The benefit of being surrounded by rednecks). Go to sleep outside searching the night sky for a shooting star until you finally drift off to sleep.

And lake days are some of the loveliest days of my summer-hood.

And then I went to the airport to welcome my brother home. He went to China for a six week internship. I don't know who decided to make it six weeks, but it was a bad idea. That's waaaayyy to long.

We were glad to have him back. He brought me back lots of goodies. A panda hat like the one he is wearing in this picture, a pearl necklace, some of those nifty silk slippers, a fan (I've almost mastered the art of flicking it open in one swift motion like a pro), some sort of China currency, and.... drumroll....... a PARASOL! I've wanted a parasol for such a long time now. And now I have one! 

Then what did I do? I went a wedding!

She's my cousin, and she's pretty fantastic, and SHE'S MARRIED NOW! Which I really can't believe

(I could post every single picture from her gorgeous wedding, but instead I'll just let you click here)

Then, my friends, I woke up one day and realized summer was over. Summer 2012 gone and done with for forever. And it's time to start my Junior year. Time goes by so fast it scares me, sometimes.

Good thing about starting school?

School supplies.

 I looove shopping for school supplies. That's just one of the many nerdy things about me.

Piano Guys, One Republic, and Beethovan. Yes pleeease!

I love the Piano Guys. So much. I've listened to this one a few bajillion times today. 

It's okay, you can turn it up loud and dance around the house like a ballerina if you feel the need. I won't judge. 

Aaaah. I love it. 

I'm off to bed now. Hopefully a blog post about some of my summer plans soon! 

"Y'all come back now, ya here?!"

Studying.

Summer is drawing closer, maybe it's even here for some of you lucky ones. I'm starting to wrap up school, and I'm kind of like really excited to be done with my sophomore year of high school. It's kind of weird thinking I'm half way done with high school. So weird that at times I'd rather just not think about it... 

I heard some one talking to a homeschool mom today. She said something like "I am so ready for school to be over. You're lucky. Y'all get to stop whenever you want." ha! I wish... but I'll save my corrections of common homeschool misconceptions for later. You're very welcome for that.

So as school is wrapping up, I think it appropriate to tell you of some of my study habits. 

Tea. It's a must. How am I supposed to study for a final without tea? And it has to be Earl Grey. Actually I'm even more specific. It has to be Twining's Earl Grey. It comes in a pretty yellow package and tastes better than all the other brands of Earl Grey. (Take my word for it. I've had earl grey taste testing sessions. Obsessed with tea? Ehh, maybe just a little.) :)

And my favorite study snack is probably those oatmeal cookies my mom makes. They are de-licious.

And pencil or pen? I go through phases. Sometimes I prefer pencils, then other times a pen. Right now I'm leaning toward pens. 

Oh, and of course, you can't study without some background music. My go to study music is either John Schmidt (From the Piano Guys) Pandora station, or some Last of the Mohicans / Narnia / Rudy soundtrack.  

Do you have any study drinks, or snacks, or pen/pencil preferences, or music, or anything else that doesn't fit in the categories listed above?

Good luck to all of you finishing up, and congrats to all of you who have finished, and I envy all of you who don't have to go through finals anymore. 

As you may know, Tuesday was the first day of spring. A day worthy of celebration in my opinion. And so celebrate I did. 

Kate and I dressed in our most springish outfits, and made cookies, and lemonade, and we got some fruit and butterfly shaped Little Debbies, a book of poetry, a kite, and a blanket, and somehow managed to pack it all in our bike baskets and keep it in our baskets all the way to the park. (I'm almost positive that sentence is a run-on, but frankly I don't feel like being grammatically correct today.) And then we had a delightful pic-nic. 

It was grand.

I love spring. 

-Sarah

Gotta Love Antique Stores

It's always a good day when you discover a new antique store in town. 

Yes. I do so love vintage things.

Keep out: No blessings allowed

I used to hate those kind of signs. I was the little kid people wanted to keep out. My brothers were awesome, (still are) and they didn't have any signs like this. In fact their room was pretty much always open to me, even in the middle of the night if I had a bad dream I could always just go sleep in the boys room. And so going over to other houses where some doors had "keep out" written on them, it used to puzzle me and make me mad. Due to the fact that I had brothers who would take me anywhere anytime and not ever complain about it, I didn't understand why anyone would want to keep their siblings out. 

I think I understand now. Our house is flanked by two homes in which two girls Kate's age live. Since our house is in the middle, it's sort of the meeting place and little girls seem to be constantly running through the house. Although I've never liked those types of signs mentioned above, I was tempted to put one up today. All I wanted was an undisturbed hour of watching a movie on my computer with my coffee and my cobbler. But of course, after just a few minutes I hear the door knob turn, and I roll my eyes.

They started playing with the typewriter, and trying on dresses. One of them had a scratch on her leg, and I just found a little spot of blood on my white comforter. (I regret not getting her a band aid when she asked for it now.)

Most things will break after a while if someone who doesn't know how to use it plays with it. (The typewriter). And did they ever think to hang the dresses back up? No of course not, they're scattered all over the floor. I wonder if that spot of blood will come off? 

Is it too much to ask that I just have a little peace and quiet in my own room? Well, truthfully, I think it is. 

After all, do I really use that typewriter to type with? No, of course not. It ran out of ink years ago, it's just cool decoration on my desk. If they broke it, I'm not sure I'd even know. 

And you should see my room. It's so cluttered with my own things that I don't think you'd hardly even notice the dresses. And don't forget, miss Sarah Lunsford, that you once loved to play dress up too. Did you always pick up those costumes after yourself? I don't think so.

And the blood is just a little spot. Even if it doesn't come out it isn't nearly as big as the ink stain on my old sheets that resulted from me leaving an open pen on my bed. 

And overall, should I let these little things stand in the way of me spending time with my sister? Of course today was an exception. I just wanted an hour to myself. But the truth is, today isn't an exception, it's just another day. There will always be an excuse to close your door and block the family out. But siblings are blessings, and I don't think we would ever put a "No blessings allowed" sign on the door of our room. Even if they mess things up a bit, I don't think those tangible objects are as important as long term relationships.

This is definitely something that I need to work on. 

Closing the door is just too easy sometimes, but in the long run I don't think it's worth it.

More Books!

I've added a few books to my collection of pretty books. And here they are....!

From bottom to top: 

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

To Kill a Mockingbird

A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Stories

A Tale of Two Cities

Oliver Twist

Cranford

Sense and Sensibility

Lorna Doone 

and

The Pilgrims Progress

I kind of love books. 

Your's Truly,

~Sarah~