Summer Bucket List

So summer is officially here now and everyone is making plans on what to do during the holidays. I really liked reading other people's bucket list but just felt sorry for myself since I have to do school......I know, it's my fault I got behind and now have to take summer classes to catch up and reach my goal to graduate in May '14.

But yesterday, after reading Kellie's bucketlist, I decided to quite feeling sorry for myself and create a doable but fun bucket list.

This summer I want to:

- Read one book just for fun! Nothing school related. I don't lack reading.....it's just reading a book for fun....we shall see what book it it.

-Go to Hohengrete- this is the highlight of my summer. Going to my churches camp....the last one my church had was in '07. There will be games, hiking, swimming.....what ever you want to do....and preaching every night!!! Woohoo.....I am so excited!!

-Camp on our terrace for one night.....we did that when I was a teen and I think it would be fun to do again. Maybe. We shall see.

-Sleepover- Either I'll invite someone or go to someone's house....just make some fun memories!


-Take a boat ride- There is a boots ride called "The 4 Castles". It goes along the Necker river starting in Heidelberg (my hometown) till Neckersteinach. There you'll see 4 smaller castles that you can hike up to and see. Patrick has never been there....fun fun fun!

-Movie night- One night where we watch a REALLY long movie, eat chips, candy & sugar pocorn and just have fun!

- Take a long bike ride- Already have this planned.....just need to pray the weather holds up.

-Make at least one or two more DIY's -I have soooooo many ideas and things I need to do. I have a whole bag full of things I want to refashion....and few things that need to be painted and....ok you get the point.

-Design a few blogs-I am already working on this because of the giveaway....so YAY!

-Summer Photo Session.....with Patrick. I LOVE pictures. ♥

-Bake Cookies- Just because....cookies are good

-Visit the Castle- I know we already did....but I want to go again in the summer....when the fountain is on and the grass & trees are lush & green! Maybe even take the tour inside??


What's on your (unofficial) list this summer?

I'm Featured on SITS Girls Today!

Today I am the featured blogger at SITS! I have been looking forward to this day for quite some time and today's the day!!! SITS is a great blogging community where you will learn new things about blogging and social media and meet many great bloggers. My blogging life has really been enriched by the SITS community and greatly encourage you to check it out!

Anyway....

Hello and Welcome to all my SITS visitors!

Pick up your feet and stay while.... if you want to know more about me and my Blue Birdhouse read {here}. Or maybe you love romantic stories and would like to know how I met the man of my dreams read {here} but our story is still being written so you just might have to stick around to see how our story ends.....

Did you know:

I love crafting

Nature photography

 

or that I live in Heidelberg, Germany?

But enough about me. You have lots of time to get to know me. 

Just follow me on Bloglovin', G+, Facebook or Twitter and we can keep in touch!

Say, tell me, where are you from?

Why I {heart} Bloglovin'

So the other day Krista asked me if I could explain Bloglovin' to her. I gladly told her all about it and thought I'd share with you my thoughts as well.....

So you've probably heard they want to delete Google reader in July. So like everyone else I opened a Bloglovin' account....at first it was just in case and since my Boglovin' readership was growing I decided to add the ticker on my blog but didn't really use Bloglovin' yet.... well that was until I saw how great it was! Here are my reasons I like bloglovin' as a reader and as a blogger:

As a reader:

I personally never used Google reader... just clicked on the titles in my blogger dashboard. But I started getting so overwhelmed by all the blogs I was following and would always be missing posts from my favorite blogs.

Bloglovin' lets me group my blogs...and so I created my "Daily Reads", "Keep in Touch", "In the Kitchen", "Blogging", "Photography", etc.... this way I know when my favorite blogs publish and I can only  read those and if I have extra time I can read others as well...

Bloglovin' always shows the first picture which is great.... pictures speak to me and if it's an interesting picture I'll read the post. On Blogger Dashboard it sometimes didn't show the picture.

Bloglovin' is free and super easy to use. And in case you already follow a lot of blogs on Google reader they have an easy import tool that will import all the blogs you follow to your Bloglovin'.

As a Blogger:

In Google reader you could read the entire post without ever going on the blog....bad...because we won't receive ranking or feed counts. Bloglovin' on the other hand only shows the first picture and maybe two sentences and in order to read the post you have to click to the blog....bingo....our statistics go up.

These are just the two things that stood out to me and the reason I now follow on Bloglovin'. I'll still follow on GFC occassionally but I'll read the posts.... on Bloglovin'.

I can only encourage you to go check Bloglovin' out.....add the ticker and start growing your blog readers on Bloglovin'!

How do you follow your blogs?

My Birthday

First of all I want to thank everyone that participated in my giveaway! I had lots of fun and wish I could design new blogs for all of you!! 

The winners were contacted and cannot wait to collect ideas and start designing.

My real birthday was very very hot....and very very nice!

walking Paxton in the vineyards

Eating my favorite cereal my dad sent me....marshmallow mateys

Patrick helped my mom pick cherries at her job & helped me clean the school....and rode his bike everywhere. THANK YOU Honey!

My mommy and I

My birds came downstairs to cool down. Boy does it get HOT upstairs!!!

Beautiful flowers!!

At a store........☺ Yes, we look real sweaty. :P

Yummy dessert: Cherry muffins, icecream & homemade ice coffee...Mhmmmmm.

I have a picture of Patrick wearing my new girly summer hat & me a bright pink shower cap....you want to see it? If enough people comment I will.... ☺

My Party

Sunday afternoon I invited some of the young adults from my church and celebrated my birthday. It turned out greater than I had hoped....'cause we had lots of fun! We played two games....one is called scissors and the other one is a game called "I have never"... the second one is crazy and fun!!!

My Beautiful Cake:

In this picture you can see my HORRIBLE sunburn on my arms & nose. *sigh*

Opening Gifts:

This was our second time together on my birthday....the first time we celebrated my birthday together we just started courting two weeks ago. ☺

It was a beautiful birthday party and now I am waiting for my real birthday tomorrow.... I'll enjoy the little family celebration. ☺ 

And I can't wait to see who the giveaway winner is!!!

The First Miracle?

Patrick had a job interview in Security Wednesday.

.....and he "got the job"!!! 

They said they want him to start part time now and THEY will work on getting him his work permit. (This opens the possibility of him getting a work permit so much more!) 

He has to take a written and oral exam in German testing his knowledge on Germany's legal rules. This is going to be a big challenge. Learning rules is hard enough....even more so in a forgein language!!

The guy from church who is helping him is doing security himself and said that the test is pretty easy and believes Patrick should be able to pass it.... 

If he passes the exam they promised him would get a full time job! Another guy in our church working security 21 years asked HIS company about getting Patrick in and they said they would take on Patrick full time....so now Patrick pretty much has to decide which security job he will take.

It's scary....It's exciting!

Please pray for Patrick as he will try to study for his exam in July & that he will get the work permit.

The Lord is a faithful God and if this is his will he can not only provide a job but also help Patrick remember what he learned and make the German government give him a work permit.

 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Matthew 18:20

What has the Lord blessed you with this week: a bible verse? a simple gift? an answered prayer?

Father's day & Graduation Card

**Dad Don't Look at this post yet**

So today I wanted to finally show you the graduation card I made and what I created for Father's day....

Pop-up Graduation Card

I like making my own cards when I have time and especially for something special like a high school graduation! So I went on pinterest and saw this cool idea for a pop-up card

You can find the tutorial {here}.

My Father's Day Card:

Again I went on pinterest and saw this sweet card...and so I drew it myself. 

The D-A-D glasses were so funny and my Dad likes fun and so I decided to make him a pair

What are you doing for Father's Day this Sunday?

PS: I have some good news for you tomorrow....

June Sponsers Feature

This month I wanted to let my sponsors introduce themselves! And since it's my birthday month I asked them what they like about birthdays.

I Introduce....

I am an farmgirl entrepreneur currently living in a vintage bus in the gorgeous mountains and valleys of rural North Idaho, striving to serve the Lord in every aspect of my life and share His love with the world.
I love to sew and create beautiful things, and am at present working on expanding my own clothing label, located at kelliefalconerdesign. My workspace is a 10x12' canvas wall tent, where the birds sing from dawn to dusk and the coyotes pick up where they leave off. I love my life here, and embrace the challenges it entails as part of life's grand adventure.

Adventure, aspiration, and unique beauty are the birthright of all, and with each of my designs, I strive to capture that spirit and allow you to experience it for yourself. My blog is an extension of that.
Stick around awhile and you'll see how zany it can really get. Because though life isn't perfect, it is so very, very beautiful.

What is your favorite thing about birthdays?
"Simply that birthdays are my favorite!  The nostalgia, the celebrations, the little things that loved ones do to make you feel special and cherished."

.........................................

 My name is Krista and you can find me blogging at Chris and Krista. Chris and Krista is a blog about faith, hope and love. My husband and I are currently following God's call in our life to be missionaries in Germany. We use our blog as an extension of our ministry, a way to stay connected to friends and family, and a great creative outlet! Our goal is that Chris and Krista is a place where you can come and see that despite all the problems and terrible things in life, there is still good happening in our world and we can find hope in Jesus. Come on over, stay awhile, and be encouraged!


What is your favorite thing about birthdays?
My favorite thing about birthdays is that its a whole day (or in my case, I take a whole month) of celebrating someone I love! I love to go all out and I love it when someone does the same for me! My husband was never very big on celebrating birthdays, until he married me. Now, both of our birthdays are huge in our house!  

...............................................

 Hi, I'm Lisa from The Thrifty Challenge and my blog is all about recycling, reusing and thrifting to create a space you love. I'm a bit of a craft addict who loves upcycling.

What is your favorite thing about birthdays?
My favourite thing about birthdays is being able to spoil the ones you love and make presents and cards you know they'll love.

.................................................

Hi everyone, it's Samara from over at The Secret Life of Samara. I live in Australia and I am married to a husband who is 6"8; I stood on a stool to kiss him at our wedding! Sometimes I still use that stool, but mainly just to reach the potatoes on top of the fridge. I don't have a pet kangaroo but I do have a rabbit called Nibbles, who I write about a lot on my blog (I think Iris is Nibbles' number one fan!). I am not great at cooking but am fairly good at crafts. I refurbished our kitchen table, which I am super proud of. Generally I love to blog about my life and what's going on in it. Come on over and say hi, I would love to meet you.

What is your favorite thing about birthdays?

My favourite thing about birthdays is that everyone does everything for me- ha ha! I love being made to feel special on my birthday.

Go visit them and you just might find a new favorite blog!!!

The Twirled Checkered Dress

Today I walked the dog through the vineyards to town to send off a graduation card for Patrick's brother (tutorial coming soon) and this is what I wore.....

 This dress was gifted to me by one of my college friends.....I tried it on and it fit so perfectly! I love the casual jean top with the summery checkered pattern. And the twirled pattern on the top.....just gives it flair.

Dress- gifted

Camisole- walmart

Shoes- Thrifted

Jewlery- gifted & SIX

Is there anyone your close to that graduated? What did you do for them?

PS: This is what Paxton thinks of my taking outfit pictures: