200 Posts!! // Giveaway // June Wrap-Up

Hey all! Guess what!?!?! (Hint: look at title of blog post)

Yep. That's right! This is my 200th post! And, just for kicks and giggles, and because there's a first time for everything, I'm going to do a giveaway!! ^_^

To Enter:
Go HERE. Then follow the necessary steps. It's that easy! ;)

The winner will receive a FREE, personally signed copy of my self-published book: "The Silver Flower"! If you already have my book and win, I can sign it for a friend or family member.

And now for the June wrap-up... *nervous laugh*

Life:
Well, as you probably all know, I graduated last month...which kept me pretty busy until it happened. That was really the one big thing that happened. I, along with three other teens from our church that I've known...basically my whole life graduated together. Which was super fun! :)

Brandon, Me, Aileen, and her brother Garrett:
The four 2016 Grads of MCC! :)

We each got our own mini ceremony within the bigger ceremony, and had a personalized slideshow that was basically our lives squished into five minutes. I am proud to say that despite going a little crazy finding pictures and songs I wanted in my slideshow, I still managed to have the shortest slideshow. :)

The whole family came up after the slideshow and
Dad (no surprise) as well as Mom (also no surprise)
gave a little talk about me and what it was like
growing up around me and trying to teach me. ;)

No explanation needed. ;)

The Grand Moment: I got my diploma!
Oh, and Sam photo bombed. ;)
My "stage smile" (the smile I put on when
someone shouts out "Smile, you're getting you're
picture taken") managed to be far more
natural looking than Dad's "stage smile". XD

Welcome to "Ma table"...oh, that's French for "My Table"

 

The "boy cake"
Which I actually liked better...the looks, not the taste.
I'm not a huge cake fan period.

We each got a table for a few keep-sakes and favorite snacks (I had salt & vinegar potato chips, Rollo's, candy corn, and roasted and salted peanuts.) I even got to create and order a photo book from Costco for people to sign! ^_^

The "girl cake"

Me 'n' my table before the ceremony

My brother got his wisdom teeth out, which was interesting...to say the least.

We've been spending a lot of time planning Sarah and Jesse's wedding, ordering bridesmaids' dresses, flower girl dress, other wedding clothes...etc. Not to mention trying to find a bunch of people willing to help us out during the Big Day.

Also, my Grandpa Olson (Mom's dad) had a big old car get-together at our house, and so we got to learn about and ride a bunch of old cars, including an old electric car that made hardly any noise! It also didn't have a steering wheel. Which added a whole new level of awesomeness. ;)

This is the electric car: see? No steering wheel!



And Father's Day happened. Max and I took both parents out for lunch the Sunday before FD since we knew not only would FD be really busy for our family, but also that if we could find time during that day to take Dad and Mom out for lunch, probably everyone else and their cousin would also bring their father's out for lunch that day...so we didn't. Since we just LOVE being different. ;)
What did YOU all do for your dad's in celebration of them?

One last thing, my older sister Margaret has a piano studio, and she wanted to have a little more privacy while teaching her students, so we moved our piano to where our dining room used to be, our dining room to where our entry-way table sat, and our entry-way table to where our piano had sat. :) It sounds more confusing than it actually was. ;)

Our new "Music Room"
This had been our dining room.
That's Margaret on the piano.
It does look cool. You've got to admit it.

 

Our new dining room.
With a surprisingly neat living room behind it. ;)

But, even though June was still busy, it did end up being LESS crazy than May. Thank goodness. If I had another month like May, I think I was in danger of going insane. ;)

Reading:
Sadly, this month wasn't as good reading-wise as last month...mostly because I focused more on writing and because there weren't long car rides to read during. ;) I did read some though:

The Choosing (Rachelle Dekker)

 

A Mighty Fortress (Faith Blum)

 

 

The Piano Girl (Sherri Schoenborn Murray)

 

 

 

The Tinkerer's Daughter (Jamie Sedgwick)

 



There should be a poll on the side of my blog with these books, so go and vote. Now. Just do it. ;)

Writing:
I did manage to write 100 words each day. At least. Some days were more, but the average was over 100. Which was awesome. Granted, not all of that was on stories...(I've been writing notes for an American Literature CLEP and some of that was journaling or poetry) but still, I managed to write some in my stories too.
The Princess & I: Three chapters
Beyond the Galaxy: Three chapters
Ocean Mist: Six chapters
A New Name: One chapter
Out of Darkness: One chapter
"Millions That Will Never" (a poem)
"Coffee Courtship" (a short story)
So you can see why I said I focused more on writing. ;)


Favorite Quotes Found During June:


Goals I reached:
Here's the goals I made last month that I was able to accomplish:
1: GRADUATE FOR GOODNESS' SAKE!!! (Been there, done that! And so glad to be done... :D)
2: Keep writing at least 100 words a day. (Yep. Check)
3: Write five chapters in "Beyond the Galaxy" and "The Princess & I". (Nope. Better luck next time...)
4: Finish one of the new short stories. (ALMOST THERE! But alas, I did not. This month though... ;)
5: See if I can get 35 followers. (Again, almost. I gained three though! You guys are awesome!)
6: If tagged, try to post the tag within a week. (Yes, I did this one! It helped that I didn't get any new tags. ;)
7: Do another Pet Peeve Post. (Next month...I will do another one next month! -_-)

Goals for July:
And some new goals for this month:
1: Keep writing 100 words a day
2: Finish editing "Alice & Alyssa"
3: Write five chapters in "Beyond the Galaxy" and "The Princess & I"
4: Finish one of the new short stories
5: See if I can get 40 followers
6: Do another Pet Peeve Post
7: Write two more poems
8: Read at least ten books

We'll see by next month if I've bitten off too much for me to chew. ;) Hopefully not, but we'll see.
How was YOUR month?