EmilySacra.com

Instagram Lovelies - .003

2012-02-13T11:55:00.000-05:00

I haven't done one of these in a while, so I have a TON to share! Haha!

Best chicken in town??? At Exxon??? I don't think so :)

Gorgeous spring buds at the bank!

Yummy baked potato leftovers from Cracker Barrel :)

Joelle's princess

My Rapunzel

My Rapunzel {we were having fun coloring :)}

Prom dress shopping {even though I don't have a Prom to wear it too ;)}! Haha!

I'll always love PB&J's :)

At the library.

My new laptop!!! Editing on CS3 :) {post coming soon :)}

First time driving on the interstate on January 11th!!! Woot-woot! :)

Family size? Ha, I don't think so.

Angry Birds band-aids? Oui Oui!

Oliver helping me fold towels :)

Snow on January 20th!

Pancake fail :P

Jo-Bob and I! Look at her teeth {or lack thereof :)}!

*sigh* I love driving :)

Chicken fajitas!!! YUM! {hmm... I think I know what I want for lunch! :)}

Mom and I are now addicted to Settler's of Catan :)

Mr. Hershey! {doesn't that look comfy?}

He's sooo cute :)

My remote!!!

Woot-woot! 64 degrees on February 1st!!! :)

Ugh. Snow on February 8th.

Almost-budding trees in town!

I almost always find him here after my shower!

Clean sheets!

Joelle says that if you wear your pajamas inside out, put a spoon under your pillow, and flush ice cubes down the toilet, it will snow the next day :) {pst... it didn't ;)}

CHEESY macaroni at Panera's!!! Whew, this lactose intolerant girl will NOT do that again! Ha!

Writing in my 5-year journal... February 10th's question: If this day was an animal, which animal would it be?'

Water is the absolute best thing after an intense workout!!!

Hehe :) He loves to stick his tongue out at me!

Do you have Instagram? Come follow me @emilysacra :) I'll return the favor!

Jenny + Mark

2012-02-12T15:30:00.003-05:00

Emily Sacra Photography
Jenny asked me to take a few pictures of her and her boyfriend, Mark. Aren't they cute? :)

Favorite! :)

Any favorites?

P.S. This was my first time using BlogStomp!!! I absolutely adore it! It literally took me 2 minutes to watermark and resize all these photos, when it would have taken me 20! Yay BlogStomp! :) Thanks to Katelyn James Photography for recommending it :)

Lucia, etc | B&W Photo Challenge

2012-02-10T16:55:00.003-05:00

Lucia, etc. is hosting a photo challenge! This months challenge is Black and White. Right away, I thought of this photo!

Thanks, Lucia!

Oh How Pinteresting Wednesday - 19

2012-02-08T10:44:00.003-05:00

Linking up with The Vintage Apple for Oh How Pinteresting Wednesday!

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Been there, pinned that! {I think that should be my new motto :)}

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I have been wanting to do this for a loooong time! I even have the chalkboard paint! I'll get around to it one of these days...

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Ahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My birthday is in... 53 days!!! I want the black ones. Please and thank you. ;)

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Oh my... I absolutely adore this. And does that staircase split in 2??????? *sigh*

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I made these on Monday, and they failed. But it's a cute idea anyway, right?

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Me neither.

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Loooove! Grow, hair, grow!

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Mint pie... YUM! Hopefully, this won't fail like my Lucky You pie ;)

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LOVE! Where can I find that scarf, shirt, and those sunglasses???

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Words can't even describe this.

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Life-size Words With Friends anyone??? :)

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*huge sigh because I love lace SO much!!!*

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This, my friends, is my dream room. I can't think of anything more perfect!

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The Dark Hedges in Ireland! What I wouldn't give to have a photoshoot there...

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Big time closet lust!!!

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"I'm sorry, did I miss one?" Wow, that hits you right in the face, right???

my pinterest
the vintage apple

Stuff people say to photographers

2012-02-07T19:30:00.003-05:00

This video, like this one, has been circling Facebook for the past couple hours, and it needed to be posted here :) It is absolutely hilariously true!

"Wow, your camera takes great pictures!"

"Ew, delete that one!"

Selective coloring = Ew! {yes, I went through that stage too :)}

Why homeschooling is best

2012-02-06T20:57:00.000-05:00

While many of my friends are in school for 8 hours a day, I am having fun all day long :)

I start out every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday with an intense workout...

Looooove Wii Active 2!!!

Then Joelle and I usually play Wii for a little. We are especially good at flying :)

I won this shirt from Chick-Fil-A {no kidding!} from their birthday celebration! I had no intention of winning, but Kate {who is now their director of something-important...} called me and told me I had!

Then it's time for school, which I sometimes choose not to do :) I honestly don't mind playing catch-up for a few days! I'd rather have my whole week off, and do all my school work on Saturday! But it doesn't work that way... usually :)

We had a TON of leftover chocolate milk from the pancake breakfast, and it finally went bad, so Joelle and I had to throw it out! We could have thrown away the cartons, milk and all, but it was so much more fun to dump it out :)

This morning I was checking my e-mail and blogs, and saw this incredible recipe from Kevin & Amanda! I told Joelle that we had to make it, so we did! It was really easy, and sooo delicious!

Ahhhhh... Chocolate Chip Lava Cookies!!!

Joelle had such a chocolate-y face!

Then we had to have a little spelling lesson...

No Joelle... It's 'chocolate', not 'chaclit' :) Although your version sounds so cute ;)

I absolutely love homeschooling! I never want to go back to school!

Courageous

2012-02-04T10:58:00.002-05:00

I can't believe I hadn't seen this movie until last night. It was incredible! Definitely Sherwood Pictures best film yet :)

And yes... I may or may not have cried through {basically} the whole movie.

My favorite was Nathan Hayes {second from left}! He reminds me so much of my own daddy :)

This scene is pretty intense!

I was like, seriously??? Just DANCE with her already!

This family was so funny! I loved their story.

I loved this talk! Nathan's example of God the Judge was awesome!

Haha! I loved this scene! I agree 100% with Nathan, and I love my daddy for believing the same :)

This scene was way too sweet! I absolutely loved it!

Oh, and possibly the best scene in the entire movie :) {sorry for the quality! I can't find any other videos}

Have you seen this movie? If not, you most definitely should. It's absolutely incredible!

Bubble Blowing

2012-02-03T17:03:00.000-05:00

Joelle got a new bubble blower thing from a friend, so yesterday we tried it out!

Then Joelle and I used my new remote to take some bubble gum blowing pictures!

Joelle has trouble blowing bubbles, but it's so adorable :)

She couldn't blow any, so she just decided to pop my own :)

How to take silly pictures

2012-02-02T17:44:00.000-05:00

1. Acquire a camera remote

2. Hand the remote over to your little sister

My fabulous camera remote {this one} came in the mail yesterday, and Joelle and I have been taking pictures out the whaz! We took over 400 pictures... just yesterday! Of course, there were more today :) I think that everyone needs a camera remote. It makes life so much easier! Mine even focuses when you press halfway down on the remote! But even so, lots of these are out of focus. But I don't care! They are perfect to me :)

I'm about to dump 40 pictures on you all. Sorry :)

Joelle has this thing with singing... she is absolutely never quiet :)

When she doesn't have the remote, she is begging for it!

Victory!

See what I mean?

She made a lunge for it!

Aaaaand she won.

Fishy faces!

She said, 'Let's do Valentine's hearts! Except, mine will look like a triangle' :)

I give up.

A tractor drove by with a load of hay bales, so Joelle said 'Hey! Let's do The Hay Bale!'... So, we did The Hay Bale ;)

Then we decided to try to spell words... Can you guess what they are?

From top to bottom, cat, Emily, and Joelle :)

I'm sure Joelle and I will have lots of fun with my new toy :)

February Tree

2012-02-01T18:21:00.001-05:00

It's the first of February, and we had the windows open! It was fabulous! Although this fantastically warm weather most likely won't stick around, I am enjoying it for now!

Oh How Pinteresting Wednesday - 18

2012-02-01T10:30:00.001-05:00

It's February! Can you believe it???

Linking up with The Vintage Apple for Oh How Pinteresting Wednesday!

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Tuscany, Italy. Reminds me of Letters to Juliet!

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A bench out of old pallets! How smart is this???

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I am definitely making these for Valentine's Day!

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Top of the stairs booth... Genius!

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Love {except for the tall boots}!

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Eeeeep!!! I want!!!

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Don't give up!

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Oooooooh.... This is absolutely gorgeous!

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Lanterns!!!

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*GASP!!!!!!!!!!!!* A two story closet?!?!?!?! *swoon and die*

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How to eat trail mix... too true.

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Beeee-utimus! {except for those shoes... yuck!}

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I would take this room any day!

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Yes. Just, yes.

my pinterest

the vintage apple

January Photo Challenge

2012-01-31T20:30:00.000-05:00

This month was so crazy... Since it's January, most of the challenges were to get snow/winter related photos, but we barely got dusted with snow! I was also a little confused, because there were more than 10 items on the list... So I took that to mean that you could pick. And even if that's not what they meant, that's what I'll do ;) And since it's my blog, and I can do whatever I want to, I may or may not choose to do more than 10 each month! Ha! :)

track my progress here

First Snow:

And that's basically all the snow we got! Haha!

First book you read:

1st John. I read this whole book every day for almost 2 weeks! It's an amazing book!

Bowls of soup or cups of hot chocolate:

Haha! Fail! It's the water for the hot chocolate, right? That must count for something.

Indoor play:

Kate's boyfriend, Jon, made this chess board... Isn't it incredible?

Kids bundled up to go outside in the cold:

It's just been too warm for coats! I had to make Joelle pose :)

Family members taking down holiday decorations:

We had taken down all of our decorations before January 1st, but our Christmas tree was still on the porch! Haha! So at least I got the Christmas lights :)

~~A couple~~ Sisters snuggling by a glowing fire:

I was slacking on this picture, and didn't have a couple readily available, so it had to be Joelle and I :)

People sledding:

Are you kidding? No way was there enough snow for sledding :) What a crazy January...

Snowmen:

Obviously, no real snowmen, so Joelle and I had to settle for fake cotton ball ones :)

Stacks of sweaters:

I'm just gonna go ahead and warn you that some of these challenges are pretty strange :) But anyway, here are my many sweaters!

I'm excited to start next months photo challenge! Hopefully February will be more 'normal' :)

It's the end of January...

2012-01-31T19:53:00.002-05:00

And it was 70 degrees! We only had like, 2 snows, and that's fine by me! Dad wants one big snow, but I say that it might as well be spring!!! I was dying to go shopping, so we finally went today... and I found nothing. Thankfully, a trip to Maurices is in the works :)

It's so green and I love it!

We had coupons, and stopped for ice cream :)

Look at Joelle's fabulous new plaid lumberjack shirt!!! It's actually the exact same one that Jenny has {seen in this post}, because Jenny got hers out of the little boys section a few years ago :)

I hope spring comes soon!

We have too much fun with hair dryers

2012-01-30T20:03:00.001-05:00

{hair dryer experiment 1 here}

Joelle and I set up another contraption the other day, so we could be models with 'that wind-blown hair' ;)

Just a test picture, but isn't she adorable?

She's getting really toothless! Ha!

Not quite achieving this :) Haha!

B&W or color???

Pretty Pretty Princess | Part 1

2012-01-28T11:42:00.000-05:00

Emily Sacra Photography
Joelle is such a trooper! For almost 2 hours, she watched DC Cupcakes while I curled and pinned her hair... Then she put on a beautiful sleeveless princess dress, just so I could get these pictures :) She's the best!

Part One almost has a Tangled theme to it...

I love these twirling pictures...

Pascal! :)

She was very cold!

Any favorites? I absolutely love them all!

One more, that Joelle wanted me to do :)

All Pascal and castle images via Google

Ice Skating

2012-01-27T10:53:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, Kate took Joelle, Kathryn, and I ice skating at a new rink in Massanutten, which is only 20 minutes away {much closer than the 1 hour trip to the old rink!}! I hadn't been ice skating in years... My cousin Michelle and I had a 'thing' for ice skating when we were younger, and were convinced we were going to be professionals! Haha! We basically spent our childhood years living in roller skates! When I first got on the ice yesterday, I was super wobbly, and it felt sooo weird! But then as I skated around I got better and better! Joelle has been living in roller skates the past few weeks, and she was fantastic! She raced around the rink faster than I did :) I only fell like, 3 times, and the first time was because Joelle bowled me over! Haha! The second time may or may not have been because I was trying to dance to Forget You... :) Joelle fell 3 or 4 times, and the last 2 times she started crying ;( I have some huge strawberries on my leg now, from the rubbing ice skates! I will definitely wear long socks next time :)

Thank you SO much Kate, for taking us! I had a blast! :)

I didn't take my big camera, so I just used my iTouch to take pictures... Enjoy!

That guy in the blue ^, was fantabulous :)

Skate at your own risk! :)

Sistahs!!!

I took 2 videos of Josie-Bob ice skating... This first one, Kate is with her, and she falls down at 0:16! You can usually follow her, because she's in a bright blue coat :)

This one I followed her around, and I was terrified I was going to drop my iTouch! Haha!

Do you enjoy ice skating?

Could it be spring?

2012-01-26T20:30:00.001-05:00

Unfortunately, no. But it sure felt like it yesterday! It was absolutely gorgeous! Joelle and I took Oliver for a walk on the cul-de-sac, and took pictures along the way!

A girl after my own heart :)

LOVE!!!

Some Instagram pictures...

Me and Jo-bob!

Hopefully spring will come soon!!!

EmilySacra.com

2012-01-26T20:14:00.002-05:00

What does everyone think of my new design? I absolutely love it! And obviously, not just the design, but the name change too! Flip Flops and Polka Dots was just too 'cutesy' for me. EmilySacra.com is so simple!

For those of you wondering, my last name is pronounced sort of like S-ache-ra ;) Lots of people say it S-ack-ra, and that is just not right! Ha! I'd be really interested to see how many of you all thought it was pronounced that way! We've had some crazy pronunciations though, including S-uh-ca-ra... ??? ;)

So anyway, I'm so happy with my 'new' blog! And now for the story ;)

I decided a few days ago that I really wanted to make this change, so I started working on it right away! If you know me, you know that once I get an idea in my head, I work non-stop to get it! So anyway, I wanted to change my URL and blog name to EmilyJoy.com. Before I made a huge blog design, I checked to make sure the domain name was available, and it was! So I made a lovely blog design, totally centered around EmilyJoy.com. It was completely finished yesterday, and I went to go change my domain name. It was not available. Apparently, you have to buy it from GoDaddy.com... for $69.00. Ha, no way! I already have my own domain name! So I spent yesterday changing everything from EmilyJoy.com to EmilySacra.com :) And now I'm very happy with it!

And the full version:

{click to see it larger}

I'm really happy with my changes, and I hope my fabulous readers are too!

Are you feeling lost?

2012-01-25T19:55:00.001-05:00

Don't worry! You are still at Flip Flops and Polka Dots :) Well, what it used to be! Welcome to EmilySacra.com! I will do a longer post later, but I just thought I'd let you know that this is the right blog! Haha! I'll tell you all about my mishaps with this experience, because I'm sure you're all dying to know ;)

Oh How Pinteresting Wednesday - 17

2012-01-25T11:21:00.004-05:00

I can't believe it's Wednesday... AGAIN!

Linking up with The Vintage Apple for Oh How Pinteresting Wednesday!

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Road trip!

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Cute!

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Ahhhh... how loverly!

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DELETE DELETE DELETE!!!

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Proverbs 19:21

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You're not a lady! You're nothin' but a sister! ;)

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Oh my... I'm kind of obsessed with laundry rooms! Especially blue and white ones :)

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Pinning balloons down at different lengths for an instant backdrop!

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WHITE kitchen!!! {I wonder how long it would stay clean like that? :)}

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Ooooooh man... I would wear this every day of the week!

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I love this!

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Wow... that is a pink bathroom :)

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Ha!

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I really want to make this!!!

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Excuse me!

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I WANT this!!!

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Loooooove the headboard!

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Ever.

my pinterest

the vintage apple

Pancake Breakfast

2012-01-24T19:06:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, I had asked you all to pray for my dads co-worker, Doug, and I'm delighted to say that he is doing MUCH better! Praise the Lord, right??? He's home now, and will hopefully be back to work sometime late February - early March!

This past Saturday {the 21st}, we had a pancake breakfast for Doug. Mom planned the whole thing beautifully, and we had lots of generous donations. The breakfast was from 7am-10:30am. It had snowed the night before, so Jon picked Kate, Joelle, and I up at 7am {mom and dad were already there... they had been there since 6am!} and took us to the paint store. We took over the second shift at around 8:00am, and kept flipping and serving pancakes until 10:30! It was a huge success!

As usual, I have lots of pictures :)

Some people said that we should do this every Saturday, and call it Shenandoah Paint and Pancakes! Haha!

My grandpa is such a table hopper! He knows everyone, it's crazy! Haha!

These were some of the best pancakes I had ever eaten! They were so fluffy!

Doug himself!

Messy mixer!

LOTS of syrup!

Joelle LOVED flipping and serving pancakes!

Steaming hot pancakes!

Dee-lish sausages!!!

Jon's snail pancake... We had to use the extra batter somehow!

Yum yum!

Thank you all so much for praying for Doug! I'm sure the prayers are still appreciated :)

P.S. There is some very new stuff coming to the blog soon, so don't freak out! Haha!

Just call us Einstein!

2012-01-20T15:34:00.000-05:00

Wait, I thought I was Betty Crocker? :)

Joelle and I read in a magazine about making a ping pong ball hover over a hair dryer, so that's what we did yesterday evening!

We taped a bottle to my hair dryer, and put the hair dryer in a box with holes for airflow.

We are such scientists! ;)

I took a video of Joelle explaining it:

Isn't she so cute? Her face and voice at the very end is typical Joelle ;)

Then we were trying to find other things to hover, and Joelle discovered this paper towel! Haha!

"A flying experiece!" ;)

This also works just using a hair dyer by itself, but we decided to do it the hard way :) Sister bonding time, right??? ;)

cookies & milk

2012-01-18T20:08:00.001-05:00

I love these striped fudge rounds!!!

And B&W's... I'm loving them lots :)

This whole blog post just completely matches my blog! Hehe :)

p.s. no way did i drink all that milk! haha! not this lactose intolerant gal. she would prefer to not have a miserable stomachache thankyouverymuch.

How teachers REALLY grade essays

2012-01-18T11:14:00.001-05:00

Funny, right? :) Haha!

Oh How Pinteresting Wednesday - 16

2012-01-18T10:31:00.001-05:00

Linking up with The Vintage Apple for Oh How Pinteresting Wednesday!

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I WANT a hanging bed!!!

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Oh my lanta!!!

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GORGEOUS wedding hair!

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Napa... *swoon*

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Haha!!! No kidding!

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Ahhh... this makes me want to have a party. At night. In the summer. With flowers. And lights.

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Right on!

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Oh my word... SERIOUSLY WANT!!!

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LACE!!! Ok, I'm done. No, actually, I'm not. LACE!!!!!

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Is this post full of absolutely everything I want in my future house or what???

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So cool...
"The following is a picture taken directly over these camels in the dessert at sunset. It is considered one of the best pictures of the year. Look closely, the camels are the little white lines in the picture. The black you see are just the shadows!"

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For serious. I absolutely hate seaweed at the beach!!!

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You have no idea how much I want this!!! I have everything but the coral skirt... MUST OBTAIN CORAL SKIRT!!!

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I absolutely LOVE that blue-green color!

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I'm not into the whole 'Hey Girl' thing, but I thought this was hilarious!!!

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Ooooooh girl! I got my nails did! :)

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Oh my word, if you have never seen this, go watch it. It's hilarious!

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lovelovelovelovelove

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Oh my word yes... Or sometimes I start telling people about something and they say 'Oh, I already read that on your blog' ;)

my pinterest
the vintage apple

Seven lies about being homeschooled

2012-01-18T10:03:00.000-05:00

I know that the vast majority of my readers are homeschooled, like me, so I'm sure you'll find this hilarious! And even if you're not homeschooled, this video addresses 7 stereotypical lies about homeschoolers :)

Haha! My favorite is #2... I had never thought about it that way before, but it's oh-so-true!

Recipe: Trifle Cake

2012-01-15T19:40:00.001-05:00

Trifle. Every year on my birthday, for the past 3-4 years I've had a Trifle cake. But we only have it once a year, on my birthday. Obviously, that is NOT enough! It's one of my favorite desserts {right now it's tying with peanut butter pie}, so I decided to make it yesterday!

It is so incredibly yummy!

Isn't that such a pretty bowl??? It's moms graham cracker fluff bowl :) Except, right now, it's my trifle bowl!

Here's the fabulous recipe!!!

Chocolate Trifle Cake

Ingredients

1 fudge brownie mix

3 packages instantchocolate pudding

1 {12 oz} cool whip

Crushed Oreos {or Heathbits, Kit Kats, or any other candy!}

Directions

Makebrownies. Let cool and crumble it up! Mix pudding according to packagedirections. Crush Oreos. Layer in 3rdsin glass bowl… Brownies, pudding, cool whip, Oreos {repeat until the bowl isfull}. Chill for 8 hours.

Kit Kats and other candies like that can sometimes get mushy or soggy, so I think that Oreos work best! Actually Heath bits work absolutely best, but I don't like Heath. So Oreos it is! Also, the recipe says to chill for 8 hours, but we couldn't wait so ours only chilled for about 1 and a half :) And it tasted absolutely perfect! Haha!

Let me know if you try this recipe! I'm 99% sure you'll absolutely love it!

3 girls and 2 cameras

2012-01-13T12:03:00.001-05:00

Almost every time Kathryn and I get together, we have a photoshoot {case in point: here, here, here, and here ;)}. Yesterday was no different! We babysat in the morning, and had a photoshoot in the afternoon! We also made her her very own watermark! Joelle joined us at the end of our photoshoot, to add some fabulous-ness :) She's such a drama queen!

We used both of our cameras for this photoshoot. Pictures with Kathryn's watermark are take by her and edited by me!

*just so you know, I am being forced to put some of these pictures of me up :) And Kathryn has no choice as to which ones of hers go up! Mwahahaha ;)*

These next two pictures kind of failed...

Yay for sun!!!

Do you have a favorite?

Oh How Pinteresting Wednesday - 15

2012-01-11T13:25:00.004-05:00

{she made a new button... just in case you're confused :) I sure was! Haha!}
Linking up with The Vintage Apple for Oh How Pinteresting Wednesday!

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I'm having some serious foyer envy right now...

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Cookie dough dip... *drool*

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Nooooo Comic Sans!!! {good quote though :)}

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Oh my word, so true!

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Seriously, how awesome is this???

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Yellow house, white picket fence, and snow????? YES!

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Oooooh yes.

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I adore that shirt, jacket, and scarf! Actually, I would totally wear that whole outfit. No problem.

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"You make beautiful thing, you make beautiful things out of us..."

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I really kind of miss the beach...

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Gah, I love lace. So much.

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Indoor hammock? Yes, I think so.

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I'm pretty much in love with Bobbi and Mike.

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What is it with me and foyers???

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Story of my life! Ha!

my pinterest
the vintage apple

A real post?

2012-01-09T18:02:00.000-05:00

No kidding! It's not an Oh How Pinteresting Wednesday or an Instagram Lovely??? I'm sure you all are shocked :)

I never posted about the first snow of the year... January 2nd!

One little snowflake in focus... haha!

Bye bye Christmas tree... December 4th 2011 - December 31 2011

Oliver loves sleeping there! He can watch out the window all he wants!

It snowed today too... But it's the kind of snow that sticks on the ground but not the roads. You know, the not-very-fun kind.

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I cleaned out our bathroom today, and the bathroom shelf was NASTY! So mom and I decided to get rid of it and put a picture up instead. Now it looks like a guest bathroom, and not a bathroom for 4 females! Haha! So we needed a picture... Mom said that she loves the winter tree against the cloudy sky pictures, so we went to my favorite winter tree against a cloudy sky location :)

Here's what I got:

Forgot to clone the tree trunk...

This one is our absolute favorite! But it's horizontal, and we need a vertical picture, so...

{check out the before... it's pretty hideous :)}

So I think we're going with this one!

We also like this one, but again, it's horizontal. Plus, we liked the mountains in the others :)

Then we stopped to get some farm pictures. I was hoping the horse would come out so I could get some pictures of it by the barn, but it wouldn't co-operate.

I thought the branches over the water would look cool, but it's just a big jumbled mess :)

These 3 were looking at something the whole time...

And I finally found the horse!

Favorite!

Oops! Nose chop!

Ah, much better :)

Mom wants the tree picture in sepia, but I want in black and white... What do you think?

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Joelle got some new Wii stuff in the mail today...

Wii Sports Resort {!!!} with a remote grip and Wii Motion Plus. We also got a Wii remote charger.

And on Saturday Joelle got a new Wii remote, with the Wii Motion Plus inside {you need the Motion Plus to play Wii Sports Resort, and we knew it was coming in the mail! Plus, we really wanted 2 remotes :)}, and a game called FlingSmash. We got a super good deal on it, and basically only got FlingSmash because it came with the black remote :)

I asked Joelle to help me with a picture, and it FAILED.

This one is SOOC, because it wasn't even worth editing :) The snow was really clumpy, so it wouldn't blow nicely, like this one did :)

Off to order a poster-sized tree picture... in sepia. *le sigh* ;)

January Tree

2012-01-09T13:44:00.001-05:00

Am I failing at this or what? It's January 9th, and I finally get this post up. At least it's up now :) As you can see, it is snowing! I guess it will be a little before spring comes...

Instagram Lovelies - .002

2012-01-07T13:02:00.001-05:00

Some recent Instagram pictures:

I couldn't believe it. Mom got 'Lickings' for 114 points!

Mom got her name!

And 'O Hi Frog!' :)

Joelle and I rented Just Dance 3 and Go Vacation! Joelle and I got very good at Dynamite :)

Oliver found a piece of pizza after a family get-together on New Years... :)

Why is the 25 cents upside down?

Some INCREDIBLE pizza from New York Flying Pizza!

Ollie-bear sleeping in a doll bed :)

White Chocolate Mocha from Starbucks on Monday!

Sleepy puppy.

Snow on Tuesday!

Me and Ollie-bear!

Awkward bubble gum blowing...

BFF's!

The pups in his handsome new plaid coat ;)

Oh How Pinteresting Wednesday - 14

2012-01-04T11:16:00.001-05:00

Linking up with The Vintage Apple for Oh How Pinteresting Wednesday!

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Why can't my hair curl like that???

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Oh my word yes...

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Beautiful...

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I would love this, but I'm a light sleeper so I would probably wake up... Boo-hiss.

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Seriously??? *face palm*

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*drool* I would never leave the bathroom!!!

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If we have the ingredients, I am SO making this today!

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I'm a big fan of purple :) Definitely the chucks and NOT the Uggs!!!

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Love.

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Gorgeous...

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They probably don't get many complaints...

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Cool whip!

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LOVE!!!

my pinterest

the vintage apple

3 things that make me happy

2012-01-03T09:35:00.001-05:00

Firstly, I am really excited about my new challenge! Hopefully I'll stay excited, right? :)

Secondly, my new picture wall! I was at D.J.'s house, and she has a wall full of pictures in her room, and I thought it was so cool! So right away I gathered all my favorite pictures, and had them printed! I got them from Snapfish, and I found a 50% off coupon, so I only ended up paying $10! Whoot-whoot! :) So here it is:

I have 14 beautiful pictures on my wall now, and it makes me so happy!

I can't decide on my favorite...

I really love the one of Joelle and I {the middle one}, but I also love the puppy mug! The awkward tree picture shows all of our personalities, and I love the one of Joelle and I holding hands... It's too hard to pick my favorite!!! Do you have a favorite?

I was counting my pictures, and realized that I was missing one... I looked around, and found it!

I'll put it underneath the birdie and beside the picture of Joelle and I :) I can't believe I missed this one! It's definitely one of my favorites :) I made this wall so that I can always add pictures! I will change out the winter pictures with all the other different seasons! Some of the pictures will stay up year-round though.

Thirdly, I found this on someones blog {can't remember who's...}, and I loved it! I went to Barnes and Noble that day and snatched it up! I decided to wait a few days and start it on January 1st. It's a beautiful 5 year Q and A journal!

It's tiny too! It's a little smaller than my hand, but I absolutely love it!

It has beautiful gold-lined pages!

Everyday there is a new question...

If you could go back in time and change something, what would it be?

What is YOUR mission?

What makes you happy?

{via}

New Year Photo Challenge

2012-01-02T18:06:00.000-05:00

I've decided to start a new challenge this 2012 year, and hopefully it will help me come out of my shell a little as a photographer. Photography is something I obviously love, and I think that this years challenge is much better than last years :) This is 10 Can't Miss Photos To Take Each Month!

I'm hoping this will work well, and be lots of fun! I will most likely do a post at the end of each month with the 10 photos. I guess we'll see how it goes, right?

Check out my progress here!

2012

2012-01-01T10:20:00.000-05:00

the annual fireworks picture :) not mine of course. here's 2010, and 2011

Well, it's 2012! Can you believe it? It took me almost 2 months to finally start writing '2011' in my journal, and now I have to start all over??? *le sigh*

I am so excited for this new year! There are many wonderful things coming up... a wedding in February, my 16th birthday in April {!!!}, my license in July, and Joelle finally gets out of her booster seat in October! God is so good to have blessed my family and I with yet another fantabulous year...

And I had to throw this in here :)

Here's to 2012!

Almost 2012

2011-12-31T11:08:00.000-05:00

2010 | 2011

I honestly look forward to doing this post all year... It's when I make a recap of the year, and share some favorite pictures! I did something a little different last year, and I loved it so much I wanted to do it again! I remember thinking last year 'that was so much fun, I'm definitely doing that for 2012!', and thinking that 2012 would never come :)

Here we go!

January

It's a new year! I reached 600 posts, and was so thankful to see how far I've come! About mid-January I was in a real slump. My pictures were awful, it was cold, and I wanted spring. I began my 101 Things To Do In 2011! I couldn't wait to get started, so I completed my first goal right away!

February

We went to The Children's Museum for the first time, and had a grand old time! :) My parents celebrated their 22nd anniversary on the 11th, and we got a day of beautiful sunshine! Huge wildfires spread around the Valley, but thankfully God kept us all safe. Joelle learned how to read, and I made supper for a whole week!

March

I thought about how in 7 months I'd get my Learner's Permit, and took Tobin's 3 year old pictures! Joelle lost a tooth, and SPRING WAS COMING!!! I decided to try a wonderful-looking new recipe for St. Patrick's Day, and it failed miserably. Kathryn, Elliott and I went to Winter Jam 2010! It was an absolute blast! I made a new blog design, and got my own custom domain name! Hello emilysacra.com!

April

I turned 15!!! The end of school was nearing, and Kathryn treated me to a birthday tea party! My family and I went bowling for my birthday, and I got a haircut. I decided that I love making things with Polymer clay, and used it to feed my Angry Birds obsession :) Mom, Kate, Jenny, and I went shopping for a whole day, and had the most wonderful time!!! We celebrated Easter, and I got another lightning shot! I celebrated my 700th post. And then SCHOOL WAS OUT!!!

May

We celebrated Mother's Day, and Kate's 21st birthday. I asked for 100 followers, and you lovely people delivered! Then I hosted The Fantastically Fabulous Blog Giveaway! I had 14 amazing prizes, and it was a smashing hit! I gained over 30 followers, and had 175 comments on that post! Jenny and I had a fun photoshoot, and Joelle and I had a duel. We also went swimming for the first time in 2011!

June
I got sun burnt, laughed at this for days, and changed up my blog design! My Aunt Mary Beth took me shopping for my birthday, and we had a fabulous time! Mom and Jenny had their birthdays! I became addicted to Pinterest, and made Whatchamacallits! I showed off my finished room, and everyone loved it! I began taking Drivers Ed and loved it! Rode a dirt bike for the first time, and had a major leg cramp and fainted!!! The first day of summer came! I celebrated having Gidget for a year, and ordered a Lightscoop!

July

I was almost proud of this lightning shot, and got some fabulous firework pictures! I learned the Greek alphabet in 10 minutes, and had a traumatic experience at the pool. Dad brought home Mr. Hershey, and I finally got my Wednesday night special at Cracker Barrel! Joelle and I had a fabulous Disney Princess Movie Marathon, and had tons of fun! I said HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Oliver, and Kate brought me a camera necklace! I celebrated my 3-year blog anniversary by having another giveaway!

August

I bought a gorgeous sofa at an auction, and thought about the last days of summer... I revealed my super secret surprise... a beach trip! I posted part 1 here and part 2 here. I began my Sophomore year of school! We went back to the county fair, and I won 5 ribbons! I figured out how to make my 50mm a macro, and I experienced my first earthquake!

September

I was contacted by Easy Canvas Prints and given a free canvas! I took Kathryn mini-golfing and to Sweet Bee's for her 14th birthday! I took a month off from Facebook, grew teary eyed at how much Joelle had grown! I also took a week off from the computer. I read 100 books, and took Sarah's Senior portraits! Joelle lost yet another tooth, and it finally started to look like fall!!! I also made a sinfully delicious dessert :)

October

I passed my Learner's Permit test!!!!!! I was way more than ecstatic :) The same day, we celebrated Oliver's I've-Been-With-My-Family-For-One-Whole-Year anniversary! I did some product photography for Amelia Bedelia Designs, and LOVED it! I began Oh How Pinteresting Wednesday, and it has become a weekly thing! I hinted at a secret I had... I used the tripod and got some fabulous family pictures! I got 200 followers!!! I absolutely couldn't believe it! *kisses to you!* Joelle turned 7! We got our first snow, on Joelle's birthday nonetheless!

November

I finished my tree series, and showed how each tree looked each month! I finally revealed my secret, Emily Sacra Photography! I got bangs, and Michael Buble's Christmas album! On 11.11.11 I made an epic wish, and got a Pumpkin Spice Latte :) I also tried out some twinkle lights, which I loved! Joelle and I made Monstrous #3, and I got a big family picture on Thanksgiving Day! Went crazy on Black Friday, and bought an iPod Touch!!!And Joelle bought a Wii :)

December
I went to my first Christmas parade since I was 8, and we got our Christmas tree on the 4th! I started Christmas break, finished memorizing Philippians and reading the whole Bible! I obsessed over colored bokeh, and Joelle lost both of her front teeth :) We celebrated Christmas day by being super busy! Haha! I guess that's normal when Christmas is on a Sunday :) Jenny and I had a plaid photoshoot, and I got some of my favorite pictures from the whole year! I completed my last goal of the year, with 43 goals left ;)

I was super busy this year! Obviously, my 101 in 2011 didn't go as I had planned, but that's just OK. I didn't stress about it, and I had fun with the goals I did complete! I'm definitely not doing it again though :) 101 things is a lot to do! Especially when some of them are kind of crazy :) Like I said, I had 43 goals left, completing 58! Some of them I will complete later, like I'm going ice skating sometime this coming week! It was a fun year!

I put together a couple collages of my favorite photos from 2011! I had to make 5 collages, 12 photos each, 60 photos in all! So here you go!

Happy almost 2012 everyone! I bought this journal, and I can't wait to start it January 1st! Do you have any big plans for 2012? I'll share some of mine in the next post!

Au revoir 2011! You've been a fantabulous year!

Prayer for a friend...

2011-12-31T10:41:00.001-05:00

Hey everyone! If you all think of it, please remember to pray for one of my dad's coworkers, Doug! Monday evening, Doug was taken to the local hospital with a brain hemorrhage, and then flown by helicopter to a larger hospital. He is on the road to recovery, but he will be at the hospital for a while longer, and I know he and his family would appreciate everyone's prayers! We went and saw him last night, and it looks like he's doing pretty good, considering :)

I know I have readers everywhere from the U.K. to Germany to Australia and even more places! How awesome that blogging lets me talk to people halfway across the world??? It's like one huge prayer chain! :) Thank you everyone for praying! I'll update as I get more information.

Last goal of the year?

2011-12-30T15:38:00.000-05:00

track my progress here!

Joelle and I are finally finished reading the Laura Ingalls Wilder books!!!

33. Read all the Little House books to Joelle

Done! Somedays, we would read 8 or more chapters, to make up for the weeks we missed! Haha!

These books were my moms. We have a whole shelf, full of only the Laura books!

The hardback ones {the ones we read out of} have seen lots of lovin'! :)

1. Little House in the Big Woods

2. Little House on the Prairie

3. Farmer Boy

4. On the Banks of Plum Creek

5. By the Shores of Silver Lake

6. The Long Winter

7. Little Town on the Prairie

8. These Happy Golden Years

My favorite book has always been Little Town on the Prairie! We actually didn't read Farmer Boy 3rd... Joelle didn't think she would like it, so we went ahead and read On the Banks of Plum Creek, but then she decided she wanted to read it, so we did! Farmer Boy is my dads favorite :) He says he would read it over and over and over again!

Joelle had never read all of the Little House books before, and I'm so glad I was the one who got to read them to her!

The funny thing about The Long Winter, is that the pages were put in wrong! When you open up the book, it looks like this:

It's backwards and upside down!

So you have to turn the book around and flip it upside down to read it :)

Just like that ^ :)

We also have the Little House books in paperback:

these aren't all of them of course :)

And we have the Rose series! I actually haven't read any of them... Maybe I'll do that next year :)

This is from when Joelle and I were reading Farmer Boy:

taken from this post

Have you read all the Laura books?

Oh How Pinteresting Wednesday - 13

2011-12-28T10:18:00.000-05:00

Linking up with The Vintage Apple for Oh How Pinteresting Wednesday!

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<3

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YES!!! Especially at church :)

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I loooove lace dresses...

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Haha!

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Ahhh... journals :) {love the processing too!}

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I would absolutely love one of these!

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Oh, I absolutely love Winnie The Pooh :)

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I'd be OK with this master bath.

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The colors, strips, chandelier, mirror, just AH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

{♥}
That's about right.

{♥}
HAHAHAHAHA!!!!

my pinterest

the vintage apple

Jenny's Plaid Photoshoot

2011-12-27T09:51:00.000-05:00

emily sacra photography

Jenny is obsessed with plaid. She buys it every chance she gets, yells out 'PLAID!' when she sees someone wearing it, has a whole Pinterest board dedicated to the stuff, and wears it all the time. So a couple days ago, Jenny said 'Emily, the day after Christmas, we are having a plaid photoshoot'. So we did. And here are the results!

Jenny wanted a dark, woodsy edit, and it was so much fun! I'm really happy with how these turned out!

We brought along a bottle of steaming hot water, in hopes that we could see some steam in the pictures... We didn't, but it was a nice thought :)

I love the warm colors in the first one ^, because it definitely wasn't warm outside :)

This arch makes me so happy...

This one did not turn out the way I was hoping it would... It looks like she's dying! Oops! :)

Sometimes, dumb buildings just won't go away, no matter how hard you beg and plead.

I was like, 'look like, 'I love this warm cup of coffee', and she said 'I do love this warm cup of coffee!''! It was freezing outside.

Love!

She covered up with one of her plaid shirts, and then I would say 'Go!' and she'd whip it off! I think we got like, 2 shots like this, because she was so cold :)

So what do you think?

For those of you who follow both this blog and my photography blog, you'll probably see double of most things. I take the pictures of sessions from my photography blog, and then post them here. It's basically the same post, but on different blogs, for those followers of mine who don't need one more blog to follow :) However, I don't post everything from Emily Sacra Photography onto Flip Flops and Polka Dots! So if you don't follow ESP, you might be missing some great stuff :) Also, please don't forget to 'like' me on Facebook! I've got 59 likes so far, and I'd love some more!

*IMPORTANT* There will be 2 giveaways coming up soon! One will be here, on FFPD, and the other one will be on my ESP Facebook page! It will be sometime at the beginning of 2012, so like ESP and follow FFPD, and get ready for some free stuff!!!

... And happy holidays!

2011-12-26T10:13:00.001-05:00

{this song}

Merry Christmas everyone!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas full of family, joy, opening presents, and remembering the reason for the season :)

We had a wonderful Christmas with my mom's side of the family on Friday evening:

Joelle played Hanging With Friends on my iTouch.

And we attempted a 3-of-the-4 sisters picture, which obviously failed. FAIL CROP SENSOR!!!

Moonlight Path body wash from Margaret!

Christmas Eve, mom was busy cooking for a nice big lunch the next day!

Fresh, hot, homemade bread!

Christmas cards from family and friends!

Peppah! :)

Christmas morning, we all woke up around 7:15am {even though certain sisters said they wouldn't get up until 7:30 :)} and opened presents!

Us sisters had sorted all the presents the night before :)

A big box of cheese puffs! I got one when I was her age, and she said she really wanted one too!

Oliver loved his new rope!

An adorable hat!

And.......

A violin! Remember when she was using candle holders? This is a 'my first violin', but it makes her so happy! She's been playing and playing and playing ever since she got it :)

My BIG present to Joelle is this PVC pipe playhouse!

She loves it!

My Christmas outfit!
shirt: american eagle | jeans: american eagle | shoes: target | scarf: christmas gift | earrings: christmas gift

My Christmas gifts!

Feather earrings from mom and dad and a beeee-autiful scarf from Kate {now Kate, Jenny, and I have the same scarf :)}

A magnetic dart board from mom and dad {I stink at it :)}!

Soul Surfer from Jenny!!! Yay!!!

Kate made these for Jenny and I! Hers is gray with circles though. Isn't it so cute???

A gingerbread man spatula from mom and dad!

Zatarain's rice!!! I absolutely love this rice, but we never get it, because it's like, 40% of your daily sodium :)

A gorgeous silky, purple scarf from mom and dad! I've known about it for a couple months :) I had really wanted a purple scarf, and when I saw it at Target, mom said she would give it to me for Christmas!

A beautiful green notebook for notes at church!

Lots of antibacterial hand gel from Kathryn!

Pink hand gel holder from Kathryn, and hand gel from mom and dad!

Fuzzy pink pj pants from mom and dad!!!

Sarasa Zebra pens from mom and dad!!! {Sarasa's my favorite :)}

A bookshelf from Joelle :)

P.S. From Joelle, To Emily.
My books and journals :)

I have so many old journals, Joelle made me a bookshelf :)

And possibly my favorite, a hot pink hairdryer!

A fail of a blowing-my-hair picture:

The BEST feature... the cord retracts! It's the little things, right? :)

Plus I got lots of little things in my stocking {we opened those Christmas Eve night}, like candy, pens, gum, chocolate, and stuff like that :)

I hope that everyone had half as wonderful a Christmas as I did! I couldn't have asked for better gifts, but mostly a better family :) I love my family so much!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

It's not beginning to look like Christmas

2011-12-24T10:35:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas Eve!

It's been in the 40's and 50's here, and absolutely no sign of snow. Sometimes, it actually seems more like Spring! *gasp!* But Christmas will come tomorrow, whether or not the snow does, and I will be so glad to dig into those presents under the tree! I've also been working on a big present for Joelle, and I can't wait for her to see it!

On Wednesday we all {minus Kate} piled into the van to go look at Christmas lights! It's a tradition to go look at what we affectionately call, 'the Spaghetti-o train' :)

See the train? Years ago, while we were looking at Christmas lights, we saw this train and burst out laughing because it looked like it was shooting spaghetti-o's! It was very late, and when Kate, Jenny, Joelle, and I start laughing, there's no stopping us! We had barely left this house {our first stop} when Kate called and said that she forgot her keys and was locked out of the house. So we turned around, went home, let her in, left the dog with her, and went back! Jenny and I decided that we should be judges of the peoples Christmas decorations, because some streets were just Scrooge-ville! They needed some Christmas cheer.

We came home, and found this adorable ~~gingerbread house~~ graham cracker house that Jon and Kate had made!

Does anyone else think this looks like a face? With the peppermint candies as eyes?

The fire-pit!

And smoke coming out of the chimney!

Joelle and I bought real gingerbread house kits and made them yesterday!

I love the faces she makes while she's concentrating!

Mom made loads of sugar cookies:

Then Joelle and I had a photoshoot with our houses... they turned out better than in 2009, no? :)

Joelle's is on the left, and mine is on the right :)

Mom had made these Christmas tree and camel butter press cookies, so I snagged one for my house! {btw, isn't that a fail of a window? :) they never turn out like the pictures...}

I love the colored lights! I want to do that every year :) It makes it looks so nice!

That wreath took me forever to make, and it turned out pretty hideous! Haha! Better luck next time, right? :)

I'm so proud of these icicles! They turned out way better than in 2009!

Joelle's:

I love all the little things she copied from me! The wreath, icicles, butter press cookie tree... it's so cute :)

Attempting to get a Christmas Eve Eve picture...

and the goober had gumdrops in her mouth!

So this is the best one:

I absolutely adore her smile in this one! It melts my heart :) Those dimples are soooo cute :)

Again, merry Christmas Eve! I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas tomorrow!

Oh How Pinteresting Wednesday - 12

2011-12-21T20:44:00.002-05:00

Linking up with The Vintage Apple for Oh How Pinteresting Wednesdays!

Almost forgot to post... not even putting the links in this time! It's crunch time!!!

I say this all the time! Haha!

Beautiful...

I SO want to try this! Maybe in my new photography studio {haha. if I ever get one :)}

So true...

Soooo beautiful!

YES PLEASE!!!

Haha!

I would love it if it had straps!

Salmonella!!!

Viewfinder business cards! So smart!

I am SO having these at my wedding!!!

Sorry it was so rushed!!!

Santa's beard tells us...

2011-12-21T16:09:00.000-05:00

Only 4 days until Christmas!!!

Last time I posted about it, there were only like, 6 cotton balls on! Now there are only 4 left!!!

On Saturday I met my new friend, DJ {check out her awesome blog here!!!}, at her house and we had a baking day! We made Oreo truffles {YUM!}, sugar cookies, peppermint bark, and white chocolate chex mix.

These were basically the best things ever.

Aren't we so cute? :) She's a photographer too... how amazing is that??? Plus she goes to my new church, which makes me so extremely happy :)

A family {only 4 of us though!} picture taken Saturday night:

{taken by a relative at a family christmas party}

Sunday night was dads big debut as an actor! :) He played Herod at the church he, mom, and Joelle go to. I tried to get some pictures, but it was incredibly horrible light. My ISO was cranked all the way up to 1600 {as high as it can go :P}, and since I was using my zoom lens the lowest aperture was 4.0, and it would go up as I zoomed. All in all, don't expect these to be amazing :)

My daddy! :)

Joelle and Alayna kneeling at the cross.

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. Revelation 3:20

Tomorrow is my baking day with Kathryn, and I will definitely have pictures from that! Merry Christmas Eve Eve Eve Eve!!!

How to get rid of the lightbox effect in Blogger

2011-12-18T14:13:00.001-05:00

Has anyone else noticed that Blogger has added a new lightbox feature for your photos? Some people like that, but I'm not a big fan of it... at least not the way Blogger did it! I finally figured out how to get rid of it, and it is so extremely easy! Here's how:

If you're not sure what I mean, read on.

This is the normal display for a Blogger blog:

Say you want to see a picture bigger. When you click on it, this is what you see:

You still can't see it as big as you may want to. So here's how to make it open so you can see it bigger.

First, go to your Blogger Dashboard, and go to Settings {under the arrow thing :)}

Under Settings, click on Posts and Comments.

Right at the top, you'll see where it says 'Showcase images with Lightbox'. Select No. Save!

Now when you click on an image, it will show up like this!

Does anyone really like this new-ish feature?

Lovely Tree Stuff

2011-12-16T21:16:00.000-05:00

Our tree smells lovely. And it looks gorgeous. And I love all the presents under the tree :)

This picture was taken last night, and mom wrapped a ton more this morning! We are so blessed.

Our cute little snowman we got at the tree farm this year :)\

I got Oliver a present. Can you guess what it is? Dad thought it was a bone, but it's actually a new rope. His old one got thrown in a bleach bucket {don't ask}.

It is SNOWING! Though very, very lightly. Some more snow + flash bokeh :)

Joelle and I also discovered that if you just point your camera up at the sky and fire the flash, you can see an uber-amazing flash-lit area of snow :) You should try it. It's pretty awesome.

Only 8 more days until Christmas!!!