Blogging goals

I started this blog post...in earlier January but I never posted it because I realized it sounded like I was whining.  

I am a small time blogger but sometimes I wish I was a big blogger, it might be vanity. I first started this blog thinking I would just share my creative writing the story I was working on at that time. But soon I realized I wasn't writing a lot. Then last spring this this blog just became about my life with inserts of my story. But I guess in someways I thought one day this blog would be explosively big. My dream was a blog like the one Julie Powell had in the movie Julie and Julia.


But I am still a small time blogger dreaming of one day being a big blogger with 100s of followers and lots readers. Right now I sit at 18 followers and a small little Facebook page where I post everything I write. So though small I try to have a presence on the social media front. 

But who wants to read a blog of some one just whining. I have read lots of lots of bloggers I follow that give hints on how to grow them my favorite come from one of my favorite bloggers Desirous of Everything in her post What I have learned about blogging this year so far. Maybe I like it so much because she mentions my blog. But was reading her blog that I was inspired to put my blog under construction in August to boost its appearance. But I also found a new blogger I like A Law Student's Journey.  She blogs a lot about crafts. While I am not a crafter (but if you are... I really recommend it). But she has a post called Tips to Grow your Blog. I feel in some ways I want my blog to grow but I also want it to be a place where I stick to my statement on top. 

I am the kind of person that believes in love, believes in sappiness, believes that God has a grand plan for it all, and I am enjoying the journey of figuring it out.

But there are more things I would like to do...

1. Include more music. In my post Music of my life  I said "I like music but I am not a music expert. I can not play a note of music because I never learned how to read music and I can't sing but that doesn't stop me from singing in my shower or at church. I also can't tell the difference between a melody and harmony. But I still love music all kind of music too.." So to be true to my music loving self I am going to post more songs. I will post them near the top of my post so you can listen to them as you read


Here is one of my new favorites...

Love is Waiting- Brooke Fraser

2. I will try to take more photos of my life. While I do love pinterest and will continue to use it. I want to take more of my own pics to share with you my lovely readers. Of course I only have the camera on my phone... I will try to take more pictures to share my life. 

Like this picture, I took at my Dad and Step-mom's house, 

it inspired my post In want of Womanhood 

and part of my story A Blooming Flower

I am setting those two goals now and when I think of others I will share with you.

Things that will continue...

1. I will post about my story. I started this blog primarily to show off the story I was writing. But now it has turned into a blog about my life, faith, and dreams. But one of my major dreams in life is to be an author so I will of course be posting more about my story. If you want to read it in it's entirety (up to date) I have set up a blog just for my story you can find it here. Of course on the right hand side are all the links to it. 

2. I will write about my life. Rather it be about my faith, my love for Jane Austen, Downton Abbey, Gilmore girls or books. It might also be about what events/struggles are going on in my life. I have loved people reading these and either making comments/suggestions or giving me virtual hugs. I have always used this blog as kind of a diary and I will continue to do so.

3. I will keep celebrating my little and big triumphs like when I reached 100 post or 100 followers. Or when I write pages in my story. Or when I finish a semester in school, or when I finally school (that will be a big triumph).

 Hope you enjoy the journey too.

Snowy Days in Boston

"Snowfall (kind of love)"-Ingrid Michaelson

Good song for this kind of weather

Hello lovely readers,

Here in New England we can't say winter really starts till January. I think it is so we can convince ourselves that winter won't last forever. But I think I can say winter has come to Boston. Last Sunday when I checked the weather before going to church I checked the weather on my phone and it said 6 felt like -12. By the time I left church it was 12 and felt like -6. Even though I have lived in Boston for 6 years I still don't know how to dress for that weather (maybe you just can't). Over the week we have had flurries of snow but nothing that stuck. But yesterday we had our first snow. Now it wasn't much but I took some pics of it.

Right now I like the snow, when I was home watching it come down it was nice and quiet. I made myself a cup of hot spice tea and watched a movie. Even when I went outside it seemed like the world was quiet. It was very nice to have an excuse for a quiet day.

Now it wasn't much snow but I took some pics of it on my walk home.  

The Fens under snow

I love seeing paths of people who ventured away from the sidewalk 

I was trying to capture a couple walking through the snow

Icicles from a car. Also the thing I don't like about the snow... when it turns to brown.  

I don't have a great view from my window but here is the park across the street from me. 

The little sparrow on the top of the tree... very brave birds to brave the cold. 

I liked seeing the red berries on this bush. 

The fence of the park...I liked the contrast between the black and white

Winter Break... Part 3

My winter break is about to come to an end. 

Here is a song to end my winter break on.

Winter Song by Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson

I start back to school on Tuesday. It is weird in a good way to be going back to school. I know I have only had a month off but in some ways it feels like it has been longer. I mean I went home for Christmas for a week and got some down time but I also got to see a lot of family. I loved my down time, there was one day I was sitting on the sofa with my lab top in my lap and I was working on my story but I was still in my pajamas and my dad asked me if I was okay. Yeah I was great I wasn't thinking about school or work, I was just having a care free day (it was wonderful). But since coming back to Boston I feel like I have had another month to adjust to real life. 

In the month I have had off I have done...

1. A lot of reading...I finished off North and South (a book it took me all semester to read), A Jane Austen Education and started reading The American Heiress.

2. I have written a lot. I started the winter break with only 9 blog post on my blog Sisters of Pine Haven I am now up to 17 blog post. In other words that comes to 66 pages and 28,000+ words. It is not quite the 50,000 words that people had to write for National Novel Writing Month. I know that was in November but I wanted to see how many words I could write in my month off. Oh well maybe one day I will finish the novel. 

3. I have spent lots of time with my friends. My friend had a great New Years Eve party, where I felt I danced all night. I am not a good dancer but I do love to dance around. One of my best friends and I have hung out a lot rather watching the Golden globes, episodes of Downton Abbey or going to to go see the movie The Artist. 

The movie The Artist owes a blog post of its own it was so good. I didn't think I would enjoy it as much as I did but I loved it a lot. If you don't know anything about it, it is all silent (minus a few parts) and black and white. But the plot takes place during the end of the 1920s when the film industry switches from silent films to talkies. The main guy, George Valentine, is a big silent film star doesn't embrace the idea of talkies. 

Of course when I left the film I wanted to see Singing in the Rain, Jean Dujardin, has a very Gene Kelly way about him. I was so happy when The Artist won so many Golden Globes and I wish the movie well in the Oscars. 

4. I also spent way too much time on social media from Facebook, my blog, to YouTube (mostly looking up Downton Abbey videos), and Pinterest getting lots of great pictures that really helped inspire my story. 

5. Most importantly I have left my full time job in order to be a full time student. It is weird to leave a job I have had for a year and a half. It was not in a career I wanted to pursue long term but I did make it a part of me, I guess that is natural to make something you do every day a part of you. But I didn't realize how much it was a part of me until I left.

Over all it has been a good break...nothing too big but lots of time to relax and great time with friends. I loved having dinner on a random Tuesday night at the Cheese Cake Factory. That is probably my favorite thing about breaks having my nights free to do what I wanted. 

Have a nice weekend. 

Jane Austen and Faith

In my last post, A Jane Austen Heroine, I wrote that... I am ready to say I want to be a Jane Austen heroine, I know a lot of girls say that and they mean they want to have a Jane Austen love story... well that might be true but I want to be is an Austen heroine who spends some of her life living in an ideal world with big dreams but then learns through mistakes and errors the life she really wants.

Well last night I was praying I realized I am a Jane Austen heroine and I have a perfect Jane Austen hero... God. I know, I know it sounds corny but hear me out. The number one thing I like about Jane Austen novels is all her heroines are flawed... they all mess up.

I mostly like Emma she is a hopeless romantic, she speaks without thinking and meddles in other people's business but Mr. Knightly loves her anyway. He sees passed all her flaws and loves her. God is like that he loves me when I am mean, inconsiderate, and when I judge too quickly. He wants me to admit my mistakes, learn from them, grow in Him and change my ways. But no matter what God loves us. To me that makes him the greatest Hero. I have to thank Him for seeing beyond all my flaws and not only loving me in spite of them but saving me from my flaws so I can have a beautiful future.

God is better then Mr. Knightly, Colonel Brandon and Mr. Darcy combined.