a new school year = school year goals

The new school year is always a perfect opportunity for making goals. And I love making goals. A lot of these are ones that might be slightly unrealistic (working out four times a week? pshh) but I'm going to try my best.
What are some of your school year goals?

Psalm 63

O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you;

my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you,

in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

I have seen you in the sanctuary 

and beheld your power and your glory. 

Because your love is better than life,

my lips will glorify you.

I will praise you as long as I live, 

and in your name I will lift up my hands. 

My soul will be satisfied as with the riches of foods;

with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

Psalm 63:1-5

font love: august edition

download them (for free!) here:
payday
masana
blackout
type keys
the maple origins

in the kitchen

Let me start by saying that these are some of the best carrot cake cupcakes I have ever had. Ever. Beats the local cupcake shop for sure. Another highlight of these little bits of heaven is that they have lots of carrot in them. So that makes them healthy. Essentially, you don't have to feel guilty about eating them. Guilt free cupcakes? Yes, please! Let's get started.

You'll need:

• 4 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

• 3 cups grated carrots
• 1 cup chopped pecans (I leave these out)
• 
  

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.
2. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, white sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Fold in pecans. Pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Now for the heavenly cream cheese frosting:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 
  
• In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Stir in chopped pecans. Frost the cooled cake.

Warning: be prepared to eat at least ten cupcakes in one sitting. Happy baking!

recipe from here

Lovelies

-a lovely lunch with a lovely lady
-this "14 Ways to Make Mediocre Art" post is so great
-a whole week of sun. Washington finally realized it is summer...
-listening to worship songs in Spanish. you should listen to "the stand"/"agui estoy" by Hillsong.
-new school supplies. one of my favorite parts of summer!

what lovely things have you found or done this week?

wisdom from atticus finch

alaska skylines and robert frost

taken from the cruise ship

"Bereft"
by Robert Frost
Where had I heard this wind before
Change like this to a deeper roar?
What would it take my standing there for,
Holding open a restive door,
Looking down hill to a frothy shore?
Summer was past and the day was past.
Sombre clouds in the west were massed.
Out on the porch's sagging floor,
Leaves got up in a coil and hissed,
Blindly striking at my knee and missed.
Something sinister in the tone
Told me my secret my be known:
Word I was in the house alone
Somehow must have gotten abroad,
Word I was in my life alone,
Word I had no one left but God.

THE SIMPLE THINGS: blueberries

friday favorites

-the head and the heart's music [my favorite song is "looks like hallelujah"]
-kara's blog. the design is just so lovely.
-frozen peanut butter cookies. have you ever had frozen cookies? so delicious. try it.
-the book of acts. love. love. love.
-this verse:
"the God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. and he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. from one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us." Acts 17:24-27

thoughts on solitude

photo taken on my diana f+ camera

i recently read an incredible article by william deresiewicz on the "end of solitude". here are some of my favorite passages from the article:

"If boredom is the great emotion of the TV generation, loneliness is the great emotion of the Web generation. We lost the ability to be still, our capacity for idleness. They have lost the ability to be alone, their capacity for solitude...Today's young people seem to feel that they can make themselves fully known to one another. They seem to lack a sense of their own depths, and of the value of keeping them hidden. If they didn't, they would understand that solitude enables us to secure the integrity of the self as well as to explore it."

how do you go about finding solitude in your day, in your life?

MUSIC: JOHNNY FLYNN

photo from here

i am mildly obsessed.

listen to some of his music here.

pencil eraser bunting flags

i stumbled across this idea on pinterest and i decided to try it out myself. it is so simple and makes the cutest little cards. 

so...here is what you need:

a pencil with a new eraser, x-acto knife, paper plate, paint brushes for stirring, cup of water, paper towels, your choice of paint, and cards or object to stamp on

[happy first day of august!]

pssst: have you entered the giveaway yet?