Of baking addictions, sparkles, and patriotic eagles

 I hope y'all had a fabulous Independence Day, and that your Summer has been sunshiney and great so far! :-) Here's a little peek into my life recently... 

Dog-sittin' this cool dog. ;-) One of my cousins is staying with us for a week and a half while the rest of the her family is out of state, and this fab poodle, Cupcake, has joined us as well...I may or may not be the culprit for the abuse you see above. ;-) But seriously, let's get real: who can pass up on dressing up an animal? 

Independence Day! I made a tart....because sweets are a necessity of every holiday. ;-) 

To make this, I modified a recipe found via my new favorite site, Sally's Baking Addiction.

If you haven't visited this site before, 

drop everything and head on over. 

Seriously.

You will not regret it. :-D 

Also, I attempted a patriotic pedi, in honor of the day! I recently snagged a bottle of white Sally Hanson for $1.20 (woohoo!), and I finally got to use my perfect shade of candy apple red and some sparkly blue top coat that have been sitting in my polish stockpile for quite some time.

I realized the next day that I could totally keep it on for a while though, 

as those are my school colors as well...so, it's a win, win! :-D 

Speaking of college, I have officially finished the first of my Summer courses through LUO! Taking Intro to Global Studies was life changing...it completely reshaped every concept I ever thought I had about missions (both local and global), and challenged, convicted, and encouraged me every step of the way. To any fellow LU students, this is definitely an amazing elective option! 

{ source }

{ source } 

Now that I'm done with that course, I am on to BIBL 104 - Survey of the Bible... let me just tell you, it is really cool so far! :-D 

A lot of times while reading the Bible, a lot of places or things seem a little abstract...the events happened in a different culture at a different point in time than me, so it makes sense that somethings might not make sense to me sometimes in my own present-day context. However, the main book in this course is jam packed with maps, illustrations. tons of photography of the Holy Land in modern day, and a bunch of other great things that really let you dive into God's Word. All in all, completely awesome. :-) 

I hope you have a perfectly lovely night! Stay on the lookout for a post tomorrow stuffed with Sherlock gifs and pictures - I have been stockpiling them on my 221b board on Pinterest, and I am dying to post them. :-D

G'night!