19.12.11

"baby, it's cold outside..."


This is my first outfit post-like ever, & I'm pretty excited! Now, I don't want Hillbilly Chronicles to become a fashion blog, by no means! I love fashion blogs, but I want to do a bit of everything- like pastor's girl's ponderings. I want to have photography, recipes, words, & fashion all together to create Hillbilly Chronicles &

I'm also really excited for Christmas, I almost don't want December to end. I mean, what other major holiday has a whole genre of music to go with it, all the movies there are for this season (yIt's a Wonderful Life, Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer, The Nativity Story, &  Miracle on 34th Street) food you only have at Christmas, the nostalgic fondness of Christmases past, & the family & friends that surround you at Christmas time. It's wonderful....





//Beanie/ de Lux//Vest/thrifted//Sweater/thrifted//Skirt/Down East Basics//Tights/Target//Boots/Target//


love,
josie

PS camera remotes & tripods are awesome-just sayin'

18.12.11

how do you do this again?

I was really tempted to google "how to restart your blog"- but didn't.

I searched my mind to figure out what or how to restart this corner of the web I have, & I think I know how. By simply starting over again.

A dear friend suggested to me to start writing on my blog again, & looking around at some of my favorite blogs, I realized that I don't necessarily write every day, I don't have to cram tons of photos into my posts, I don't have to stick to just pictures, & I don't have to keep the same look this blog has had since who knows when.

Simply put, I learned that my blog can be anything I want it to be: I can reinvent. & That's what I'm going to do.

I'm not going to worry about statistics of how many web page views I've had, how many followers I have, how often I blog,  or balancing post topics. My new & reinvented blog will be a place for me to express myself through words & pictures. Not a place I fear of running out of topics for, apologizing for how often I don't post, or what people will think of me.

So with out further ado, I welcome you to the new & reinvented, Hillbilly Chronicles.

love,
josie


29.5.11

hi, my name is josie and i'm a bad blogger.

The title says it all.
I've been a bad blogger, and i have millions of excuses and i'm sure you don't care. But I have decided *not* to blog this summer... I will drop in every once and a while to update all my lovly readers. But here is some of my reasoning for not blogging this summer:

-I was cast in the musical Damn Yankees, and even though I got a chorus part, it's going to be alot of work and I'll have rehaersals everyday, and I'm going to be working my butt off working on lines, dancing and songs. Which I'm so excited for and don't mind but it's all very time consuming.

- I don't want to feel guilty about not having anything to write about.

- I have school to do through the summer. I know it stinks, majorly. But I just have a 10 page paper to write, a couple literature analysis' to write, and math to do. Also, teaching my little sister Tabitha to read.


Buuuuut, I will occasionally drop in here! :)




If anyone wants to do some guest posting here on Hillbilly Chronicles email me here: no1joey11@aol.com! I'd love to have people guest posters {is that even a word?!}


So, I'll be back, thank you everyone who follows me, you mean the world to me!

27.4.11

speechless.

speech·less
speech·less [speechlÉ™ss]

adj

1. temporarily unable to speak: temporarily unable to speak or unable to think of something to say, e.g. because of surprise or fear
2. unable to speak: lacking the power of speech
3. remaining silent: choosing not to say anything
4. unspoken: not expressed in words
5. hard to express: difficult or impossible to put into words

I don't have words not to express what I want to say, so I'll leave with this

PS My Easter was wonderful... Laid back, informal and peacefull... I hope your's was just as good as mine! :)

22.4.11

easter.


I've been thinking about it and I'm thinking I'm going to take a little Easter break and be back on
Monday... So, see you all then! :)

The pictures below and above of our pygora {angora and pygmy} goat who just got sheared yesterday... She's so different without her big shaggy coat!



20.4.11

what a loverly day.

It was so loverly today when I opened my Blogger dashboard and saw 4 comments waiting to moderated... That's a first for a looooooonnnnnggggg time! Thanks so much to everyone who commented! :D




It was loverly today when I got Subway and got my delish sub on their flatbread… It was so yummy! And an fyi- the BLT sub is amazing… But I don’t want to think how many carbs are in it!! But I guess it makes up for the trip to the dentist this morning {the dentist is NOT my favorite place} and also, I’m going to have to have my wisdom teeth out soon. My a couple of my wisdom teeth are coming in crooked and they are going to just take them all out… Kind of nervous about that! Has anyone else had their wisdom teeth taken out? Speaking of the dentist, I was happy to find a recent blog love of mine {Pioneer Woman} featured in a magazine in the waiting room… Pioneer Woman is amazing. *sigh*

*Micah's golf ball*


It was loverly today because I got a new fashion magazine, new from the store {which is a first for me, I usually get them from thrift stores or the library}… It’s the May edition of Marie Clare . I love looking through fashion magazines looking for inspiration in fashion makeup and even photography! Does anyone else out there love to scavenge through fashion magazines looking for the perfect fashion inspiration?





It was loverly when I was doing my barn chores this morning to hear little kitten “meows”. The cat who had kittens last year was pregnant for awhile and finally had her babies either last night or this morning… I don’t know how many kittens there are because she’s hiding them under our barn loft steps! But I’m excited to have kittens again!

*Mommy's potting plant markers*


It’s loverly that it’s not raining today! It rained all day yesterday, not really rain, but more of a “bleh” drizzle which I DID NOT want to go out in; and today I have to run {and I did! Kudos to me! lol} because I haven‘t all this week! I also came up with another motivation to run/train: the community theater that I did my play at have a 5K every year to raise funds for the theater and I have convinced Bridget and Miranda to do it with me… Bridget *loves* to run and she likes to run fast, so she’ll run across the finish lines while Miranda and I jog/walk across it… hehe. But, it should be fun!. J



Finally! Day 30 of the 30 day challenge!

30.A picture of someone you miss

- All my It’s a Wonderful Life peeps {It’s been about 6 months… Time flies in some ways but it’s been forever in another way… But I miss them all sooooooooooooo much!}

- My grandma Cindy and my Grandpa Doug who have both passed away… :’(

- My amazing family in Indiana and everywhere else!

- The friends I haven’t seen in ages

- The 30 day challenge… Hahaha

But what do YOU want to see since the 30 day challenge is over? Let me know!



Love,
-Josie

19.4.11

sweet.


There's a photo challenge going on @ Little Somethings {an amazing blog I love} and the photo challenge theme is simply: sweet.

the post were i'm jumping up and down!

Buds. What a beautiful word. I have been waiting for a long time for this day. The days were I can jump up & down screaming, “I CAN FINALY POST PICTURES OF ACTUAL BUDS!!!” And spring is here!



Yesterday I was out riding my bike and as I raced up and down the driveway, I kept seeing all these buds popping out of trees and I *knew* I had to go get my camera and come back out… And I did just that. I was so excited to finally capture some spring buds…



And I now know why blind people who have seeing eye dogs aren’t photographers.

Wait- don’t ask me why it occurred to me that blind people could be photographers…. I mean, if they wanted to they could do anything! But, the reason I said that is because I had the dog we’re babysitting {she’s a sweetheart, but she can be a tiny bit stubborn on where she wants to go} on a very short leash and had it around my wrist while I was snapping away pictures and we had some problems deciding where we would go *together*… But in the end she was soooo good and sat while I took my pictures… But my wrist was veryyyyyy sore after her pulling against it. {Keep in mind that it was only about 24”... And that is surprisingly short when you're trying to take pictures!}.



Spring is slowly but surely coming back to Michigan… I told you how it snowed in mid-March right? Yesterday it snowed about two inches in the morning and then melted by the late afternoon! That’s Michigan weather for you! But I have a feeling we won’t be having a “White Easter”… At least I hope we won’t!! Have any of you had a “White Easter” before?



I’ve been seriously thinking- no, make that scheming to get an iPod touch… I’d LOVE a 4th generation 64GB, but I have the feeling I’ll end up getting the 32GB. *sigh* But anything will be better than my current 8GB iPod nano. I mean it’s a great iPod and I love having it but with all my Broadway music, I have 1.9GB left to fill, and I’m not so thrilled about that… But that’s on the wish list after I get a 55-250mm lens. I particularly want that lens for this summer’s adventures {my trip to Baltimore, the musical that’ll hopefully be in… *crosses fingers* and our county fair} and also on that list is an extra grip. My friend Miranda has one for her camera and it’d be nice to have it on mine, but it’s just a distant thing to get…



Finally, Day 29 of the 30 day challenge! I’m *thhhhiiiiisssss* close to being done! I think once it's done I'll start doing some outfit posts and my morning routine kind of thing like @ The Dressing Room Door  But, we'll see... What do you *you* think about it???

29. A picture that can always make you smile



This picture is of a perfect summer moment; getting ice cream at the local ice cream store in a golden summer evening light…Bliss.

Love,
-Josie

18.4.11

easter week hopes and days 27-28

This week will be special for me. And hopefully it will matter. Yesterday at church my Pastor gave a great sermon on how we can make this Easter week matter and having receptive hearts to spiritual growth that God can do by:
"weeding" out the negative things {like sharpening the focus of what media you intake}
and
"feed" the healthy things {reading the Easter story, talk to Christian friends about what's really important and slowing down}



The ways I'm hoping to accomplish these goals are {and I am in no way trying to appear self-righteous, I am simply trying to share with you all what I am trying to do to be intentional this week!}



I want to "weed":
-Internet time {Facebook, and any thing that consumes valuable time}
-Plan blog posts more effectively {the latest posts have been "blah" and thrown together in a hurry... I want to slow down and plan the posts out}
-And I'm going to try and listen only to the Christian music on my iPod, no secular music... So I can center my thoughts on God and everything about Him...

I want to "feed":
- Reading the Bible this week
- My working out each day
- Efforts in being productive this week {making my Easter dress... I again waited last minute to make it. And with all the time spent offline, I'll be able to finish it quicker!}

What do you think? Are you doing anything special this week for Easter?




27.A picture of yourself and a family member
Me and my littlest sister T




28.A picture of something you're afraid of
Being on a big boat in the middle of the ocean without enough lifeboats when the ship sinks... Big boats scare me!



*none of the "Titanic" pictures are mine*

Love,
-Josie

16.4.11

nov. 18th, 2010 and compliments.

25.A picture of your favorite day
November 19th, 2010... It was my birthday, we had a performance of It's a Wonderful Life {sigh, sooo many good memories!} Sadly, I don't have a picture of it!! :( But, here's a recent favorite picture of mine!
*below* It's a soapy egg shell... I found it simplistically beautiful :)





26.A picture of something that means a lot to you
Compliments. Compliments I get on my photography work mostly {though compliments on my blog, hair, clothes are nice too!} but recently the compliments have meant sooo much to me. :)


-Love,
Josie
PS Mangoes are the best!

14.4.11

Gas Prices Are Awful These Days.

24.A picture of something you wish you could change

I wish I could drive next year when I am 16 rather than waiting until I'm 18...


Also, I wish I could change the price of gas prices. They are awful here in Michigan. :/

-Love,
Josie

13.4.11

Day 23...

23. A picture of your favorite book
I have waayyyy too many, but "The Bride Collector" by Ted Dekker is a fave! But I basically like any Ted Dekker or Frank Peretti book! :)

12.4.11

Day 22 and Confessions...

22.A picture of something you wish you could like better:
RUNNING!! I've been running/jogging for almost 4 weeks now and I still hate it. I'm doing it for the exercise by the way, not for fun, more on that later...




Inspired by Calottta's confession posts, here I go:


confession: I hate running. But it's part of the exercise program I've made myself to get in shape for summer and more specifically, Damn Yankees. The community theater where I did It's a Wonderful Life, is putting on the classic Broadway musical Damn Yankees . The storyline is genius and goes like this: *this is taken from the theater's website that you can see here *

Joe Boyd is a typical middle-aged man who is addicted to baseball. Every baseball season is painful for him because his team, the Washington Senators, always loses to the Yankees. Joe ends up making a pact with the Devil that allows Joe Boyd to turn into the slugger, Joe Hardy. Hardy becomes the savior of the Washington Senators and a star in the Major Leagues. The problem is that Joe has also agreed to let the Devil have his soul. Luckily, the deal included an escape clause that allows him to return back to his normal life. After great success as a baseball player and various attempts by the Devil to convince Joe to remain young, Joe decides to return to his wife.
 *Dancing in the show requires athletic, jazz steps.

So seeing the note at the bottom about the dancing, my BFF Bridget and I are working out. I'm trying
getting in  shape by running, biking, sit ups, stretching, wall sits and eating healthy {working on that eating healthy part!} Bridget challenged me to being able to do the splits by the audition, I'm getting there! I can now touch my toes, which I couldn't before... ;)

The characters that Bridget and I are hoping for are "Lola" {the main girl} for Bridget and I'm aiming for the part of "Gloria Thorpe" {she's a newspaper reporter and sings my fave song in the show!!} But we are working hard for preparation for the audition in exactly 35 days!!!!!! Not that anyone is counting, hehehe... But I'm getting nervous and very excited for it... Excited to be in a show @ the OCP and see people I haven't seen in 5-6 months from It's a Wonderful Life. And yet nervous about failing the audition and the audition itself... Even if I don't get any part I'm planning on working backstage somewhere... So I'll keep you posted on  the whole thing! :)

*yummmmmmmmm*



confession: A 24" rooster scares me. Seriously. That rooster while come up and attack you... He'll peck you and ruffle his feathers and it HURTS! He stalked me while I was feeding my rabbit Darcy and scared me so bad I screamed bloody murder because I thought he'd attack me. But he would not leave me alone, he'd follow me and freak me out. If you can't tell, I don't like chickens much!


confession:  I can't stand a beagle's bark.... We found a stray beagle wandering around our yard, eyeing our chickens and so my mom caught him and he's in our dog's kennel and our dog is spending some quality time outside on a leash... But that dog won't shut up! It's sooo annoying. And I thought our dog's bark was bad... But at the moment we have 3 dogs at our house: the stray, our dog, and a dog we're babysitting. Fun, fun, fun. I'm not really a dog person either... :P

I need to go.... And work on my history homework that is calling out to me to finish.. Meh. But I'm paying attention to it's constant calling and I'm gonna go do it!

-Love,
Josie

                                     *ice in lemonade... a summer staple right there*




11.4.11

of day 21.... and please, i need your input!

21.A picture of something you wish you could forget

There are many things I can answer this question with...

I could say, the time I completely kneeled in the mud to get a picture of a spider walking on water, and didn't get the picture...


Or the times I've found candy... On the ground, so no free candy..




But seriously, my answer to this question is but I don't exactly have of picture of the thing I want to forget, so I'll just say it...
Seeing my Grandma Cindy's dead body before she was cremated. it was the last time i ever saw her and I often wish I could forget what I saw, but it was her...I miss you soo much Grandma! :'( ♥  I didn't think she looked peaceful, it was almost shocking to see her dead body after seeing her walking away to catch her flight on our trip to CA in 2009 for my Uncle's wedding, and then a month later she's dead. It was awful...

Grandma Cindy *around* 1974


She was beautiful when she was younger, she reminds me alot of Barbra Streisand in "Yentl"... They both had the same haircuts and look so much alike. Which is awesome because Grandma Cindy was a big Barbra Streisand fan, something she has passed onto me... <3





It's finally Spring!!! It was gorgeous and 82* yesterday and today it's 60* and cloudy.. Bleh. But hopefully tomorrow is nice-er... :)

I'm known amongst my friends as someone who has really *weird* dreams... It gets downright freaky at times!! But last night I had a dream that I lived right down the road from Carlotta and we met in person and it was awesome!! It was loverly, *sigh*... {She's one of my all time favorite bloggers}

-Love,
Josie

PS I don't want to be obsessed w/ numbers or stats but recently I've gained followers and then lost a few followers... Is there something I'm doing wrong or is there anything I should change? Do differently? Please let me know! I'm just asking you as followers to let me know how I can change things around here! I'm honestly now worried about having gazillions of followers, I already have 78 lovely followers and I'm happy if you are one of them, but I'm kind of curious of this trend of gaining and then losing followers... So PLEASE let me know your opinion!!!!

10.4.11

Days 19 and 20 {I gotta keep myself from getting behind!!}

19.A picture and a letter:

Dear very special person who is reading this,
You are amazing to be reading this on my blog! You are covered with the fingerprints of God and I am sooo glad I {maybe, I don't know who all will read this! lol} know you!
♥
Josie

PS my favorite cookies are oreos, so, if ya know, you have see some in the store, i'm open to donations ;)




20.A picture of somewhere you'd love to travel:

NYC!!!!!



So, I think Spring has arrived in MI, I'm sweating and gross from the lovely 82* we had today!! :)

-Love,
Josie

8.4.11

Days 17 and 18....

*No pictures tonight, I need to get off the computer, but I have the answers written out, but maybe pictures tomorow!*

17.A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently
My camera and the compliments that I have been getting on my photography, they really mean alot to me...


18.A picture of your biggest insecurity
My future, I'm worry sometimes of what the future holds and what God has in store and what I want to happen, I'm afraid they don't always line up... But I'm trying to learn to let God take me and my *whole* life, not just the parts I'm fine with whatever happening, but I'm trying to learn to trust Him with my everything...

6.4.11

Is This Getting Confusing????? Day 16

Okay so I was flipping through the past days of this photo challenge, and I realized "Maybe, perhaps I have skipped a day..." I looked through the days and I don't think I did. but if I'm wrong PLEASE let me know!!

16.A picture of someone who inspires you
I have a waayyyy too long of a list but on the list are:

Eastlyn... You can see her blog here: http://hisplanting.blogspot.com/

*photo credit: Sarah Cusson*


Lauren Conrad... I love her sense of style!! And her book "Style" is the best ever! Tons of great fashion inspiration!



*sigh* don't those clothes look ah-mazing??


And finally the wonderful bloggers, Carlotta @ Pastor's Girl's Ponderings I guess you can say I was a follower of hers before she got a gazillion followers, but I love her outfits, writing style and amazing photography!! :)


*photo credit: Carlotta*


Olivia @ Horsefeathers... I've been following her for awhile too... I love her nature photography and her tasteful editing and outfits and make-up... I just love her all around! :)

*photo credit: Olivia*


And Jodi @ Life With The Dubys... I know Jodi in real life and she inspires me so much in life and her fashion... She has her definite style and isn't afraid to reflect it! Plus, her photography and camera are sa-weet! She's the friend w/ the Canon 50D... :)

-Love
Josie

5.4.11

Day 15... :)

15.A picture of something you want to do before you die
Live my life to it's fullest and document every step of my journey called life...



Last night I was checking out some blogs, mostly fashion blogs and found a bevy of fashion inspiration... Here's a highlight of what I found:

None of these photos are mine, they belong to many different people, here are the awesome bloggers and sites they belong to:
Starting in the left hand top corner, the first two belong to: http://clothescamerasandcoffee.blogspot.com/

3. Belongs to Forever 21




9: I have no clue! :/


13-14: I have no idea, found in Olivia @ Horsefeather's post:


15: Ruche.com


All the links stated are awesome, awesome sites, feel free to click away! :)

-Love,
Josie

4.4.11

Day 14...

14.A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without

My BFF, Bridget...She has always been there for me, and I seriously couldn't imagine life without that girl! <3

3.4.11

Day 13....

13.A picture of your favorite band or artist
Newsboys!!!! Well, I actually have wayyy too many, but they're at the top of the list! :D

2.4.11

Liquid Sunshine Giveaway @ Horsefeathers and Day 12

An awesome give-away is going on at Horsefeathers! Go check it out! :) Here are the answers to the questions:




  • Favorite season, and why? 



  •      Summer... A season of so many possibilities!





  • How would you describe your personal style?



  • Preppy with a mix of vintage... I have alot of vintage inspired pieces in my closet! :)



  • What's one weird thing you can do? (The stranger the better!)



  • Umm, I can cross four fingers on each hand at the same time.. I can't really do anything THAT weird... hehehe



  • Rain or shine?



  • SHINE!!!



  • Confession time... what's a flaw of yours?



  • I get my heart set on things and then I'm *crushed* {no, not really} when it doesn't work out..



  • Favorite music?



  • Broadway musicals... Seriously my iPod is 75%-85% Broadway musicals :)



  • Who do you admire/look up to?



  • I have sooo many but I adore Emma Watson... I love her style and new haircut!



  • You've just won an unlimited lifetime supply of... what?



  • CLOTHES!!!!! {I don't mean to copy you Olivia!}



  • If you were an animal, what would you be?



  • A cat...



  • If you knew you were going to die in a year, what would you do with your
    time?



  • Go to as many cities I can {L.A., San Fransico, N.Y.C, Chicago} and shop my heart out!



  • You're now a gazillionaire... where do you go to spend your money?



  • I'm going to save alot, but go on a big shopping spree...



  • Classical music: love it or hate it?



  • My Grandma Cindy LOVED it... I just don't get it... So I hate it!



  • Phobias?



  • Sharks, bears, big ships in the middle of the ocean



  • Hop on a plane and go live somewhere for a year... where is it, and
    why?



  • N.Y.C, I LOVE that city...Or San Fransisco... I love the culture and diversity of them..


    • Would you/do you perform on stage?
    YES!!! I love the stage! :D


    12.A picture of something you love
    My journals... I've been keeping one for about 4 years... :)




    Love
    -Josie

    1.4.11

    Of Day 11 and Strawberry Jam....

    11.A picture of something you hate: My handwriting... Though, I haven't met a person who likes their own handwriting.



    This past week we had no sugar at all... Zilch, zip, nada! No powdered sugar, white sugar or brown sugar {I feel so racists when I list the kinds of sugar} It sure made baking things difficult! My sister made shortbread to go with strawberries and whipped topping...*Without* sugar. Yep, you can only imagine what it tasted like alone, but with the strawberries and whipped topping it tasted normal. *sigh of relief*


    But today I saw the last of it left and I decided to be brave... I toasted a slice and slathered strawberry
    preserves on top: It was delicious! Yumm-o! It was sooo good!




    Today we had the Spring semester at Delta... I just take Photography and TOG {history} and I have 2 hours were I hang out with friends... I'm loving photography this semester! Since I have my SLR, there's a lot I don't get, but, when the teacher {Mr. Julian} is having us {the 4 kids who have SLRs} use Manual mode {I'm hating it right now, but I have about 7 weeks of classes to learn to love it ;) lol} But I found the manual focus, and it's amazing! I'm really happy with it... *swoon*, just kidding, but it is amazing!


    Spring. What a marvelous word. It is a word Michigan has forgotten. In mid-March it was gorgeous... The snow was all melted, it was warm enough to go outside  without a big winter coat... the on March 23rd, it snowed and iced everything! It was very frustrating! It was like, "Hey, it's March and why do we have a winter wonderland?" Gah! But over this coming weekend, it will be warm enough to melt the remaining snow. Yay! So soon I'll be able to post pictures of flowers, buds and green vegetation like y'all out side Michigan! :) Below are daffodils Mommy got today... A little sign of spring! ;)


    What are you looking forward to this Spring/Summer?
    Do you like *your* handwriting?
    Did any of you pull pranks today for April Fool's Day?

    Love
    Josie <3