i love the rain

A hurricane - probably the most exciting thing that's happened in Maine since "The Patriots Day storm," Apparently it was a huge storm that took down some trees on Macworth Island. It was a pretty big deal. 

about the video: I apologize for any excessive wobbling in the film — the wind was strong and I could barely hold a camera. (also: note that none of the film, especially of the trees, is sped up.)

However, I'm not too sure his can be considered as a hurricane, I think it may have been officially downgraded to a "tropical storm." Whatever she was, he name was Irene. Irene was not to angry, but quite moody. We didn't get an excessive amount of rain, but the wind was incredible. After the storm, some small branches and leaves were strewn about the ground, but nothing more than a little foliage on the pavement resulted from this "hurricane" (in Maine.)

We recently took my sister to college (the post is forth coming,) and the hurricane hit worse in Connecticut than it did here in Maine. The branches left around the campus made the ones here look like twigs. The damage was not pretty, especially in a small town we stopped in for gas — entire telephone poles were laying broken across the road. I hope everyone in these areas affected by the storm are able to quickly recover.


The day before we went to Connecticut was when the real storm happened (luckily not during our drive.) My dad's house lost power for nearly two whole days — even when it was bright and sunny.  Luckily, my mother's house did not lose power, so I was actually able to take a shower at some point. I'm hoping none of you were bothered by Irene. Aside from the minor damage in the yard, I quite enjoyed her. I love the rain so much [perfect song for me.] The other night before Irene came, it was raining, and I just sat outside of my deck. It was so peaceful.


LAST DAY OF FREEDOM: Yes, school starts tomorrow. And I am not happy. Not one bit. The only thing I'm excited for is that I will actually start wearing put-together outfits (for the most part) and not wearing a tee shirt and sweats like I am now (although I love my tee shirt and sweats! and as always I will put them on the second I am home from school)

i love the rain — the real tuesday weld

almond brownies

best brownies ever — update: I may be posting a little less because there is no computer at my mother's house.


ingredients:
3/4 cups sugar                                         2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla                                              1/2 cup almonds, chopped
1/2 cup flour                                            10 oz semisweet chocolate chips 

 {heat chocolate in a saucepan on medium heat}

 {add sugar and vanilla}

 {stir until smooth and glossy, cool to lukewarm}

 {add eggs, one at a time}

 {add flour and stir well}

{add almonds, and put in a large baking dish}

{bake at 350˚ for 25 minutes}

it takes me away {california part 2}

SO... While in California, I (of course) went to San Francisco. I used to live in Mountain View {my Grandma lives in Palo Alto, the next town over, which is where I stay while visiting.} Palo Alto is about 45 minutes away from San Francisco, and I love going there.

 

As we always do, my aunt and I first went to the Ferry Building. If you don't know what that is, it is a large terminal for ferries traveling across the San Francisco Bay. It is located right on the water, and inside is a bunch of little stores and markets. 

Whenever we go to the Ferry Building, we always go to this cute little chocolate place. They make homemade vanilla bean marshmallows. Usually I'm not much for marshmallows, but these are amazing! So delicious. Plus they have other great original chocolates like orange, chili, jasmine, and many more. We also go to this olive oil place, that always has many samples!

And for lunch, we always get bread and cheese. We get the cheese from the Cowgirl Creamery. They make the best cheese ever. And then and cute little bakery next door. We ate bread and cheese outside by the water while listening to a cute old man play the saxophone. 

On the weekends, across the street from the Ferry Building is usually a bunch of arts crafts. While walking around the booths, there was an awesome VW Bus — titled the PEACE VAN. They were giving out free Peace Tea: some new iced tea in a can, nothing special - but their van was awesome!

Next, we went to Crissy Field — the beach/ park right near the Golden Gate Bridge. Although I used to live there, we always sort of do touristy stuff while I visit. But Crissy Field is beautiful, I didn't get many pictures, but I took some video :)

1957 — Milo Greene

spin me round again {california part 1}

So while I was in California, I went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. Some of the fish/aquatic creatures there are indescribable. In one section, they had a one million gallon tank. It was probably bigger than my house. In this tank there were things like hammer-head sharks, sunfish (the really weird looking fish in the video,) turtles, and even sardines! :) 

{watch the video in HD (: }


I am so sorry about the random noise that starts halfway through the video. I have turned off the background noise and re-uploaded the video 4 times but it won't go away :(it's fixed!

The one million gallon tank was one of my favorite things at the aquarium. My other favorite was the jellyfish. They had several different kinds. There were these jellyfish called moon jellies, and they were a very pale pinkish color, and they had really short tentacles. There were also some jellyfish called lion's mane jellies, purple striped jellies, and sea nettle jellies. The coolest ones were probably the sea gooseberries. They were the cutest little things!! They were like little neon lights! {you'll recognize them when you see them}

There was also a giant kelp tank, which also had sharks, and other various creatures of the sea. And there was a whole exhibit for sea horses. Some of them were so cute and little!

hide and seek — imogen heap

oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

a classic cookie. yumm

cookies:

1 stick plus 6 tbs butter, softened                         3 cups flour

3/4 cups brown sugar                                             1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 cups sugar                                                          1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla                                                              1 1/2 cups oats

2 eggs                                                                        1 cup chocolate chips
1 tsp baking soda

{beat butter and both sugars together in a large bowl with electric mixer}

{add eggs and vanilla}

{add flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt}

{mix in oats}

{add chocolate chips; mix by hand}

{I used half mini chips and half large/normal sized chocolate chips}

 

{drop dough in round balls on cookie sheet — bake for 8 to 10 minutes at 350˚}

 SO SORRY 

I didn't get any picture of the final product! :( I had refrigerated the batter and baked them later that night so the lighting was terrible!

i'm back & posting

quick post...

just letting you know that I will be posting about all of my adventures soon!

this is a picture from my trip two summers ago... but I just enjoy it so much. (my sister and friend)

votre couronne et la gloire {guest post by Blythe}

       Hello, I just want to say,first off,I'm excited to be posting here,second,I'll do my best to give you all a helpful,inspiring post, (which I'll probably fall short,but I'll make it my goal anyway.)☺

             The best thing to do when you want to have fun is to jump right on in,so let's do this thing...

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                   A girls hair is her crown and glory,so lets treat it like royalty shall we.

         First off is knowing whats best for your hair type,is it curly,wavy,straight, poker straight??

 Certain things are 'perfect' for on type of hair on the other hand it might just destroy an other type of hair.

Here are a few basic's for treating your hair like royalty

• Brushing your hair when its wet is not helpful for any hair type; it will break your hair

• Brushing your hair is not what I would suggest for any type of curly hair or wavy hair; will make it frizzy and puffy.

• Don't wash your hair daily;it will strip your hair of its natural oils and nutrients.

• Aviod using hair products with alcohol: for curly hair never use acohol products.

• Shower with 'warm' water; hot and cold water isn't good for any hair type. 

• Leave conditioner in your hair for a few moments before rinsing.
  
  
  

  Those are just a few basic's (if you have any tip's or stuff to add go right ahead and comment below with them.)

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So you know some basic's for taking care of your (some of you or a lot of you might of already new them,but anyway),lets move on to some hairstyling.

I don't know about you girls,but I love styling hair,if you even mentioned something about styling your hair, I would be there with my hands and a can of bobbing pins.

 I love seeing new tutorials for a super cute hairstyle's too. Now I don't what type of hairstyles you all are into,but I'll just throw some summery ones out there, enjoy.

Note:I don't condone the way the girls dress in these videos,I know some of your dress like that,so no offense I just wanted to say that I don't and I don't condone it.

I tried to upload a formal updo video that I made,but it wouldn't work along with my vintage hairstyle tutorial as well... : (Oh,well. I made up a mini box tutorial for the vintage tutorial though;

See the whole tutorial HERE....

Well,I hope you enjoyed this post,I know it wasn't the greatest. I'm sure you'll all be glad when Emily returns and this blog will be back in the safe hands of its owner.☺

( votre couronne et la gloire is 'your crown and glory' in french in case you were wondering.)

                                                    blog/etsy shop/photography blog

Clouds {Guest Post by Rachel}

I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells.  Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope.  Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life's realities.  ~Theodore Geisel


I'm more than entranced by clouds.

As a little girl, I could pass endless hours gazing up at the sky, painting the strangest pictures in my seven-year-old head.

How could I see such marvelous shapes...

...such effortless patterns...

...so much beauty in the simplest of things?

A puff of airy water, floating above our heads...pale against the blue summer sky.

Toes in the grass, painted hot pink to match my tiny flipflops, curled with my kitty and little sister...

...these were the ways I spent my childhood afternoons.

Creating stories for the characters the clouds created...

...dragons storming castles to save beautiful princesses from evil knights, for the dragons were always the heroes in my dreams of youth...

...rainbow roads that led to Oz and Narnia, places where I had never been but knew existed in the sweetest corners of my heart...

...ice cream cones as big as a tree, and trees as small as my hand.

Such sweet illusion.

Such childlike innocence.

I want to stare at clouds again.

You are worried about seeing him spend his early years in doing nothing.  What!  Is it nothing to be happy?  Nothing to skip, play, and run around all day long?  Never in his life will he be so busy again.  ~Jean-Jacques Rousseau

About the author: I, Rachel, am a 20 -year-old dreamy newlywed, and the author of DramaticElegance. My blood runs red with passion and delight...composed with hints of freshly brewed coffee, melted chocolate, and the ink from a thousand pens. My eyes glitter with stars and imagination...my nose is flooded with the aroma of country breezes and white jasmine. My lips are laden with poetry and prose, glory and honor to the King of the universe. I am the love child of music and candlelight. I am the daughter of Aslan, and my song is love. I am a princess of the Kingdom of Heaven. I am a thundering whisper. I am a roaring lamb. 

I am only me.

(You can also find me on my twitter, you can email me, and you can also check out my August giveaway)

secondhand (an instructional guest post by olivia)

Hello, lovely readers of Emily's blog. This is Olivia from of horsefeathers, and today I have a quick post on thrift shopping.

Oh yes. Thrifting is fun, cheap, and often yields spectacular results. Shall we?

PART ONE » PLACES

Before we get into the dos-and-don'ts, we need an actual place to go thrifting, yes? Fear not. I promise that somewhere near you is a good place for thrifting.

My top three?

1- Goodwill.

2- Yard sales and flea markets.

3- Salvation Army.

I can guarantee that somewhere around you there is one of those places. But one you get there, there's a whole other realm of shopping you need to be introduced to. It's very different from the mall.

PART TWO » QUALITY

Always check secondhand clothes (and bags and shoes and jewelry, for that matter) very carefully for holes, frays, or defects. A lot of the time, you can't return your purchases, so be cautious. Nothing is worse than getting a great deal on a pretty cashmere sweater then coming home to have someone point out there's a big moth hole in the back.

PART THREE » COST

Bargaining is a skill you need to learn, especially for yard sales and flea markets. 

It even worked for me a few days ago at Goodwill. I had like five nice shirts, and twenty-two dollars. The total was $24.97. So, putting on my best innocent-and-young face (which was a little difficult since I was looking down on the cashier lady, being about a foot and a half taller than she was) I took out my money and told her that's all I had.

I got all five shirts for $22.

If you just think something is overpriced, you can pull the same trick, even if you DO have more. Say you like a certain pair of boots. They cost $16, but you think you could get them for $10. Pull out Mr Alexander Hamilton and plead for your life... ahem, your boots.

This will work especially well if you look a bit disheveled. Mess up your hair a bit. It makes you look a little poorer. Maybe the seller will feel sorry for you.

PART FOUR » PUNKING IT UP

Getting into the thrifting world? Already an established citizen?

I have a challenge for you.

Pick out the dowdiest, ugliest, most old-lady-ish thing you can find — a cat sweater should do the trick.

Now work your magic! Make it wearable.

Here's some hints:

A fresh face does wonders. Being young (and by that I mean under 30) lands you points for ugly clothes.

High heels make everything better.

So do short shorts, little dresses (worn underneath), and black.

This girl did an excellent job of turning a weird sweater into something amazing. She bought the sweater ("jumper", since she's British) from a thrift store ("charity shop"; again, I wish I was British). In fact, check out her whole profile. Lots of her stuff is thrifted.

Good luck, lovelies, and happy thrifting!

xoxo

Olivia

My own (most recent) thrifted outfit. None of this stuff is new.

Dress from my basement (1990s), sweater from my grandmother, shoes and bag from a thrift shop.

Whole post here.

Books, Inspiration and what to do when in need... (a guest post by Romi)

Hello Poppies and Love August Followers!
My name is Romi, a fifteen year old from Tasmania, Australia and I am here to tell you all about the amazingness of words, writing, books, reading and also share some of my favourite and most inspirational finding... (pictures...)
I should warn you now, I am a total word obsessor and love finding totally new and wholly creative words... including the above shmaggle (another new one! YES!) "most inspirational finding..."
Ok, now I feel that I really ought to move on, before I make you all really confused!
And trust me, I can make it quite easy to do that!

I'm a reader and have made it a sort of quest of mine to find amazing and unusual books, that inspire every part of the mind and leave you wondering what'll happen next... and also being an aspiring writer, when I read I take in things and think of how I can imporve my writing from reading others... if that makes sense...?

So, I'm firstly going to tell you about some immensley inspiring and fantastic books that are currently about.. enjoy this part of my post!

*The Invention of Hugo Caberet is a really amazing book, it's half picture and half words- the pictures are amazingly detailed and beautiful and the words are just brilliant! It's sure a book for anyone and everyone!

*Chasing Odysseus is a retake on The Oddysey by Homer- it's a book like no other and something that hasn't been tried very much at all... it's awesomely interesting and captivating!

*Life's not Always Black and White is a book of quotes, pictures and is great if you're feeling a bit down in the dumps, it really does brighten your day!

*Love Aubrey is a book about a girl who was involved in an awful, life changing accident that leaves her all alone, and trying to cope when you're only 11 is hard... so she needs to try and let people in.

*The Worst Thing she Ever did is a brillaint YA book and it's heart moving, sad and brilliantly inspirational... very sad...

*India Dark is a story based on a true story and is very mysterious, difficult to cope with and very brilliant!

And I'm currently reading a book called Days Like This, it's a dystopian novel set when the heating of the world is overtaking people's lives and the world itself.
It's amazing and very hard to take in too...

Now, it may not be immediately connectable for you all, but to me, writing, books equals inspiration.
For you and your different dreams like fashion, photography, cooking or flying may all equal that same thing.
Pictures that inspire me to dream and write are in the many and all across the universe... I have piles of inspirational quotes and pictures on my computer, and I want to share a few with you now... I hope they inspire you to find something you love...

I love this...

Totoro from My Neighbour Totoro is the most amazing film ever...

Inspiring, aren't they?

I'm a total animal lover, but sadly we don't have foxes where I live...

oh how I adore this..

This is a most amazing house!

This window... perfection!

I may be inspired fairly frequently, but I never will stop loving the fact that inspiration is always around, whenever we want to be inspired, are feeling down or just happen to be looking through something, inspiration is no doubt not far away.
I hope you've enjoyed my gusteyness, thank you Emily for letting me come over!
Romi.xoxo


About Romi...


I am Romi! Hello! I'm 15 years old, live in Tasmania, Australia and adore reading, writing, inspiration and blogging, creativeness, words in all forms, typewriters, getting letters, making things and animals... nature is brilliant and I can't be with it enough.


I write two blogs- Where The Writer Comes To Write where I obsess over books, writing and do frequent Q&A's with authors and The Dreamy Tree where I post inspirational photos as much as I can!
I also have an etsy shop called Willows and Whispers where I make and sell steampunkish lockets and earrings- all made from old watch parts! I also have a few prints on my shop too!
R.x