This Year's Awesome Sweet Stuff

Here are some of my favorite sweets I've had in 2012 =)

Mocha Coconut Frappuchino from Starbucks! Mmmmmm....

Ghiradelli Peppermint Bark! This stuff is soooo good.

Auntie Annie's Cinnamon Sugar Soft Pretzel! 

If you've never had one, stop what you're doing and go get one RIGHT NOW. They're AMAZING.

Chocolate Mud Pie Bluebell Ice Cream! Bluebell ice cream is always delicious, but this flavor is especially good.

Pretzel M&M's return as one of my favorites this year! They always have been, they always will be.

Hope this gives you a good idea of what to eat when you have a sweet tooth ;)

<3. Brooke

This Year's Awesome Music

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! I know I sure did =)

Since it's nearly 2013, I'm posting a mini series that looks back on all my favorites from the past year.

To start off, I'm going to show you my favorite music from 2012:

Gold - Britt Nicole

From this post, you probably already know I'm crazy about this album. It has the best music in the world, and it's defidenlty worth buying!

Eye On It - Toby Mac

Got the album for Christmas, but have been listening to several of the songs before. I really like all the great music on 'Eye On It'! It's really energizing. My favorite songs include 'Me Without You', 'Eye On It', 'Unstoppable', and 'Favorite Song'.

Fearless - Group 1 Crew

SOOOOOOO awesome! Group1Crew sings great and has REALLY catchy songs. 'Goin Down' from their album has been stuck in my head all day.

Heart - Audrey Assad

Audrey's album released in February of this year is really pretty. She has a really soft voice and calmer songs which are a change from what I regularly listen to, but they're really good. Favorite songs are 'Even The Winter' and 'Won Me Over'

Those have to be my top 4 favorites that came out in 2012! There's so much good music though, so those are just a few. What are you favorite albums and songs from this year? =)

*Brooke*

The Night Before Christmas

Tonight was the Christmas Eve candle light service at my church. 

Then we drove around to see Christmas lights.

Finally, we got home and opened a few presents early.

We've had this Christmas Eve tradition for as long as I can remember, and I love it. 

For to us a child is born,    to us a son is given,    and the government will be on his shoulders.And he will be called

    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

<3, Brooke

Sooooooo true...

On Emily's Pintrest. Couldn't help but posting it, since it is SOOOOOOOO true for me. Literally, I started laughing when I read this since it is JUST like me. Music is so awesome, and I seriously start 'acting out' the song I'm listening to ALL the time. Mouthing words, and 'performing' the song. This is becoming my desktop background ;)

<3, Brooke

Candy Cane Nails

 Step 1 - Paint your nails with a base coat of clear

Step 2 - Paint a coat of red

Step 3 - Use a fine tipped nail brush. I used the 'Brash White Fine Art Nail Polish' from Payless. It has a very thin tip making it easy to paint. Start from the corner of your nails, and slowly paint 2 white stripes. leave a small gap, and paint two more stripes in the upper corner.

Step 4 - Paint over a top coat of clear

I know it's only 2 days till Christmas so you probably won't get to try this, but I thought I'd post it anyway :)

Merry Christmas Eve, Eve everybody!

<3, Brooke

Christmas Caroling

We went Christmas caroling, and it was SO fun. It was freezing outside, my friends and I shared lots of laughs, and singing at every door was awesome!

My friends Hannah and Allie bundled up in the cold weather

 Before we left to carol. We always gather in our driveway and have a creative opening. This year it was a countdown to caroling, which is why there's a screen in the background :)

 My friends Breanna and Andrea, and I in the middle. We enjoyed caroling!

After done caroling we got home and had a party with hot chocolate, cookies, and other good food. Breanna and her family stayed till 2am, which gave up plenty of time to take photos (which we took A TON) and laugh! So in other words, I had a fantastic time.

*Brooke*

December Update

Is it just me, or does that cupcake look amazing? ;)

So I've decided once every month I'm going to give you an update. 

First off, I've had a wonderful December. The house is really festive, we've been doing a lot of activities, and I've continued to play basketball :) Tomorrow's our last game for the year (which I will unfortunately miss), but games will start up again in early January for me.

Tonight we're going Christmas caroling, which I will post pictures of tomorrow. Every year for the last 12 years, my older brother has organized a caroling event. He builds a 'float' with a traveling Christmas tree for people to see as we carol, he play music as we walk through the streets, and we stop at houses to sing and give them invitations to our church. this year I think we're going caroling with 45 people. That is a LOT of people to go caroling with, but also very fun!!!

So a random thing I'm excited about; TobyMac is going to be performing in the Disney Christmas Day Parade! He has the best Christmas music, and he's one of my favorite artists, so I'm really happy about that!

You may have noticed that I recently updated my header. I'm planning on adding pages to, but those are still in the works. I can't get past my 'About Me' page. I feel like I'm writing a book, not a paragraph, so I need to condense it soon. Also coming soon are a 'Dreaming' page (sort of like a bucket list) and a 'Color' page (which is also in the works).

Question about my header to other bloggers: Is there a way to extend my header across the whole top of the page, without it widening the blog posts under it? I hope that makes sense!

Have a wonderful first day of winter everyone!
*Brooke*

The Christmas Song

In this post I made a list of some of my favorite Christmas music. I decided one list is not enough, as there are so many more songs I've started listening to since that post. So, with that said, here are my other favorite Christmas songs =)

Last Christmas - Britt Nicole

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Francesca Battistelli

Christmas This Year - Toby Mac

Winter Snow - Audrey Assad

The Night Before Christmas - Brandon Heath

12 Days of Christmas - Relient K

Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree/Jingle Bell Rock - Jump 5

Go Tell It On The Mountain - Big Daddy Weave

<3, Brooke

Candy Cane Lane

Pinterest is the most amazing collection of everything wonderful. I can spend forever looking at everything- today it was Christmas cookies.

via Cynthia Otts

via Chung-Ah Rhee

via Mary Harmon Swenson

via Liz Berg

via Karla Marie

via Jennifer Billingslea

via Deborah Fair

via Laura Moyer

Don't they all look so pretty!? My cookies are always flat. I'm planning on posting any Christmas cookies I may make this year. Let's hope they look this good ;)

***Brooke***

Oh, Christmas Tree

<3, Brooke

My Birthday

I had a great birthday. Winning a basketball game, eating cheese cake, and getting my driver's permit!!!

I'm driving!!!!! Watch out world! Seriously though, you may want to consider staying off roads for a while. First time I drove I started doing this odd mix of giggling and then biting my lip every few seconds since I was freaked out. Second time I just giggled. Especially when a car was behind me, and I wasn't sure what to do.

It's going to take a lot to teach me to drive well. Hopefully soon =)

-Brooke

Final 15 Before 15

(Second post today... my goal is to post 3)

Here's the full 15 before 15 list

So I'm going to do this final post a little differently. I'll tell you what I did complete over the last couple of months.

7. I did it... 15 colors on my nails! You can tell I'm obsessed with nail polish right? 

9. Met 15 new people. It helps when 10 of them are on your basketball team ;)

13. Ran 1.5 miles in 15 minutes or less! Can not remember my exact time, wish I did.

14. Somehow I did too much math, so I'm 15 days ahead. No plans to touch that book again until the New Year.

So 4 goals... pretty good? Maybe? Okay, so I could of completed more. So now here are your reasons I didn't complete the other goals:

1. Score 15 baskets in my basketball games - First of all, I've only had two games. I didn't even get to play in the 2nd game because it was so close. I am played the least of any of the players since I have no experience. My coach does not want me to shoot in most situations. That makes since why I've scored 0 baskets, right? I hope :)

2. Have a 15th Birthday party - Possibilities I will have one a little late... like maybe a month late............

3. Write 15 letters to my pen pals - Got to 6, not quite 15... kind of forgot to write.

4. Learn 15 new songs on piano and guitar - I have not played much piano or guitar lately because I need new guitar strings, and our piano is out of tune. 

5. Write 15 short stories/poems - I got lazy.
6. Make 15 different desserts - I was going to bake a ton around Thanksgiving and these last few weeks, but since I got sick, and then got sick again, it didn't quite work out.
8. Read 15 books - I honestly love to read. Why I didn't read any books these last few months? I got part way though quite a lot of non-fiction books. In the way of fiction, I couldn't find any good books to read. Suggestions?
10. Read 15 books of the Bible - I really should have read 15, but I kind of found myself skipping around a lot instead of reading a full chapter. I read lots of half chapters.
11. Draw 15 real people - Let's just say I've not been very artistic today. Or yesterday. Or this week. Or this month.
12. Make 15 bracelets - There's not much point to that goal, but I didn't reach it. I usually end up breaking them before I finish making them, so it didn't quite get there.
15. Try 15 new foods - 15 new foods is a lot.

Wow, that was like a speech. Can you tell I'm kind of hyper today? ;)

Well, maybe next year I'll finish more goals! At least I got 4 :)

-Brooke

Christmas Clothing

I know... I've neglected to blog daily like I said I would. Therefore, prepare for a lot of make-up posts ;)
Did I mention Christmas is in 15 days!?
Oh, and also I'll mention I could not find a song title which fits the post, even though I said I would for every post here.

Okay, so fashion has always interested me. After searching at various stores, I found some very sparkly, bright, and interesting outfits for Christmas time.

Bright red with frills

 Simple, scarlet colored dress

 That totally looks like a candy cane. wow.

 The burgundy colors and beads make this dress really elegant looking

 Okay, so I love the color red. Overall this dress is really pretty.

 Maybe not my favorite dress... it does like a huge wrapped up present though, so it totally fits the theme going here ;)

Sparkles, Belt, Christmas.

What features on these Christmas themed outfits do you or don't you like? I love reading other people's opinions on clothing!

<3, Brooke

Jingle Bells

21 Days Till Christmas!

So as you all know, I am totally into music. Here's what's been on my Christmas playlist:

No Christmas (Without You) - Group 1 Crew

Marshmallow World - Francesca Battistelli

The First Noel - Toby Mac (feat. Owl City)

Because It's Christmas - Sidewalk Prophets

Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Barlow Girl

Winter Wonderland - Avalon

Christmas Is - Francesca Battistelli

He Has Come For Us (God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen) - Meredith Andrews

Silent Night (Emanuel) - Matt Maher

Let It Snow - Jeremy Camp

If you only have time to listen to 3 songs, make it the first 3 on my list :-) 

I listen to a wide variety of music, but the first 3 are probably my tops. 

Group 1 Crew's 'No Christmas (Without You)' has a great beat and catchy lyrics.

 'Marshmallow World' by Francesca Battistelli feels really Christmasy and is lots fun.

'The First Noel' sung by Toby Mac and Owl City gets a makeover to an up-beat hip-hop style song.

 If you've got spare time though, listen to all the music on this list. Christmas music is the best ;-)

*Brooke*

Because It's Christmas

22 Days till Christmas everyone!

To celebrate this season, I'm starting a new series with daily posts. 'Blogging Through Christmas' will be about all the wonderful things that happen between now, and December 25! I'm really excited about this series, and I hope your excited about this season! 

Merry Christmas everyone!

*Brooke*

P.s. I'm naming all my posts after songs :-)