My Goals for this Summer

Just warning you: my list of goals for this summer is… pretty long. And I doubt I’ll finish half of them. But that’s okay! I’ve never actually done summer goals before *fp* but I wanted to try them out this year.

• Complete “A Trip to Spain” summer reader for Spanish – My Spanish teacher gave us this… workbook? reader? for the summer and I want to do it. It’s got little stories in Spanish that you have to translate and then questions 🙂
• Deep clean/reorganize room – I already posted about this (shared room inspiration board) but I actually need to do it now.
• Make a study/school plan for 2019-2020 school year – Let’s face it – I never actually use these. But I want to make one just the same… enough said.
• Practice piano daily – I want to improve my skills (and maybe start violin?) this summer!
• Workout 3 times a week – My original goal was daily… but that’s SO hard for me, so I decided to make it easier.
• Make ten blog posts every month – Eeep this is going to be hard but it’s summer so I have time right? (shakes head)
• Prepare six blog posts for backup – I like to have several posts already written ready to post if necessary, plus if I go on vacation or something it’s a lot easier.
• Find babysitting opportunities/babysit twice – Right now I only babysit for my family, but I want to start doing it for other people (probably from our church/family members)
• Earn $50 – It might not be much, but I don’t want to push myself too hard.
• Read at least 10 books from summer reading list – I might end up sharing this with you guys (it’s kinda boring though) but I made a summer reading list and I want to read at LEAST 10 books from it (I’ll read more than 10 books this summer for sure, but this is from the list)
• Do a 30-day photography challenge – I’ve gotten really bad at taking pictures daily, and I want to do a challenge where I do a prompt daily for a picture 🙂
• Drink more water (big full bottle daily) – I am SO bad at drinking water, and I need to change that this summer!
• Make bread twice – Making bread is something I want to do a lot more than I do now (it’s SO fun, but it takes a lot of time). I want to make it at least twice this summer.
• Reorganize desk – pretty obvious!
• Journal three times a week – I’m bad at journaling daily, so I want to do it three times a week instead.
• Eat healthier – SO bad at this!! I want to change that (probably going to fail but whatever)
• Memorize 10 bible verses – It might not seem like much, but I definitely want to do this 🙂
• Make a long list of post ideas – Just so I can have ideas for posts!
• Keep room *really* clean – This is hard (especially when you’re sharing!) but I want to get really good at this this summer.

Those are my summer goals! What are yours?

Reacting to your assumptions about me!

WOW. This was SO fun, you guys! Here are the assumptions/my reactions!

 note: I created a bonus episode on my podcast to go along with this (it’s basically an audio format of the post, except with some extra content) that I think you guys would love! check it out 🙂

https://anchor.fm/christina-snyder

You are smart- thanks!  I guess 😂

You are pretty- well, thank you! 

You want to be famous- I guess? I really don’t know!

You love music- Yes, I do!

You are easy to get along with- I hope so! haha

You are really short- tbh I don’t know if this is true. I’m 5 foot 3 right now so I guess I’m short 🙂
You aren’t good at science- Well, it depends. I have a 98/100 in science right now, but I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite subject. This year is my first year with the Apologia curriculum and I love it 😍. Haha. This is the first year I’ve enjoyed science!
You’ve been doing photography for three years- *calculates* yes, I have 🙂
You love blue/purple- I guess! I like those colors, but I wouldn’t say that they are my absolute favorites 🙂
You don’t wear jewelry much– ehh. I mean, I don’t really have much jewelry, so this is true. If I had more that I liked/was comfortable I would probably wear it more often!
You love swirly writing- I do! But I don’t like it to be overpowering 🙂
You have cute writing- I guess so. I’m working on improving it, so tbh idk.

You like horses.- Yes, I do!

You wear contacts.- I do wear contacts!

You like taking pictures of Emily- how would you know this? jk I know pretty much every single one of my photography posts is about Emily 😛

 You like the color mint green. – Correct 🙂

 You like lettering/calligraphy.- YES! I do 🙂

You wear glasses– yes! I actually wear contacts during the day, but I do wear glasses.

 You’ve been to other countries besides the U.S.- Actually, no! I’ve never been outside of the U.S. (Alaska and Hawaii, but they are part of the USA :P)

You are a tea gal, not coffee- true! I’m not a coffee girl at all 🙂

You are a music nerd– kinda! Depends on what you mean, haha. I like music, but I’m not super up-to-date on releases and stuff.

You really like horses and dogs! – I do!

You’re really good with little kids- I think I am… little kids are the best 😛
You love light colors- Yes. My favorite color is LIGHT!! Light pastels 😍
You really like flowers– Yes, I love flowers! They are a great example of God’s wonderful creation 😉
You like things to be neat and organised– yes, I do! I can’t work if it’s not organized, haha 
You’re good on computers– I know (and can figure out) how to do/work almost anything but pretty much anyone can do that. That’s what YouTube was invented for, amiright?

You’re a morning person- I used to be a night person for sure, but a couple weeks of waking up early made me a morning person! 😁
You do a lot of exercise- I mean, yes, but I should do more, haha!

You listen to country music- yes! I do! How do you know me so well? 
You’re shy at first, but chatty and enthusiastic around people once you get to know them- I am 🙂 I’m not very good about meeting people haha!
You’re favourite colour is green- not really? I like it, but it’s not my favorite!
You’re really smiley- I guess? I try to smile more often 🙂 
You have long hair (dark) – WHAT. How do you know me this well? You are correct!

I assume you love coffee – actually, no! I like the super-sugary starbucks tho… (I KNOW!!) 

I assume that you’re a night owl- I used to be! I guess I can kinda sorta do both? I can stay up late and wake up early, haha 😝 

I assume that you prefer movies over TV shows- yes, I do! Also, we don’t have cable tv so I don’t really watch tv shows.

I assume that you love Disney- I do like Disney! I don’t approve of some of the choices they’ve made but I really do like Disney 😂
I assume that you haven’t decluttered your closet in a long time- actually, no! I decluttered it last week 😜

I assume that you’re passionate about blogging!- I am passionate about blogging! Blogging is amazing 😍

You have freckles- Yes 😢
You’re over five feet tall- Yes, I’m 5 foot 3!
You despise brussels sprouts- Okay how did you know this? BLECK. 😂
Your bedroom is painted turquoise blue– It’s not (it’s not actually painted yet 😝) but maybe it would be if it was?
You have a crush on Tom Hiddleston- well, I had to google this person! Never heard of him before. But he is cute… 😂

Your family goes out to eat about three times a month- that’s probably about right 😉
You like donuts- I LOVE DONUTS… way too much!
Your bujo is a e s t h e t i c- haha yes it is 😂
You listen to Christmas carols in the middle of July- I sure do! 😃
Your bookshelves are sorted in color order– Yes and it looks so good!!!

You want to go to France eventually- I would LOVE to go to France!

You don’t like roller coasters- I do like roller coasters, but not too much!

You braid your hair– I try to (I’m probably the only person who can’t braid their own hair…)
You used to like Barney a lot when you were young- ehh. I didn’t really watch Barney when I was little, but I guess I would have liked it 😃
You’re something of a hopeless romantic- yes 😂
Your favorite super hero is Wonder Woman- YES.
You don’t like scary movies- I HATE scary movies… and many things scare me 😆

You’ve never read The Call Of The Wild- I never finished it… I got really bored halfway through 😂
You can paint quite well- I don’t paint that often but when I do I always enjoy it!
You know the capitols of all fifty states- In second grade…. maybe I do still? haha
You live in North Carolina- actually I don’t! I live in Florida 😁
You have a big backyard- I guess…
Your family owns a trampoline– Nope. I wish haha 😂
You’ve been ice skating at a birthday party- Yes, I’ve been ice skating and bowling on many third and fourth grade birthday parties 😜
Your favorite flavor of cake is chocolate with buttercream frosting- WHAT. Okay you know me so well…. YUM!!
You don’t like spicy food.– Correct! I don’t like spicy food.

You’re not into sports- I’m not really into sports, true 😄

Your brothers play ice hockey- They don’t… they would probably like it though!

Your dad graduated from Patrick Henry College- wow. this is oddly specific… but not true. Thank goodness- if it was, I would be seriously concerned that y’all are stalking me 😂
Your middle name is Elise- that’s a really pretty name, but my middle name is actually Raquel (spanish for rachel, my mom’s name😊)

Your favorite season is spring.- I love spring! And fall 😃

You’re on the shorter side.- heehee this is true 😉

Your favorite color is teal.- yes, teal is one of my favorite colors!
You like flowers.– I LOVE flowers 😃
You like cats better than dogs.- actually, not really! I’ve only had bad experiences with cats though!
You love little kids.– yesss little kids are the best!
You’re very organized and great at time-management.– I think so

!
You tend to have a lot of free time.– yes… though most of my free time is when I’m procrastinating 😂
You like pink- I like blush pink and pale pink, but not in-your-face pink or hot pink 😜

You’re good at singing.– I wish? I guess? I honestly don’t know!

 

also sorry about the weird spacing… for the life of me I can’t fix it! wordpress is being so annoying 😂

Thank you guys so much! This was so fun ❤

Recently: Books, Podcasts, Blogs, and Music

Today I decided to do a compilation post about what I’m reading and listening to! I don’t know why but I really like this type of post so I wanted to do it today. On Monday, I’m going to post my reactions to your assumptions about me (you guys… they were the BEST) and that’s going to be really fun so definitely stay tuned. Anyway, enough with the intro… let’s get started!

B O O K S

*Soo little disclaimer here… I read a ton more books but I wanted to pick two favorites. And these won!*

The War I Finally Won// Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

I read the previous book in this series to my siblings and honestly I really just wanted to know what happened to Ada… also now I want another book in the series. TBH I got so annoyed at Ada halfway through but now… i’m so sorry Ada! The ending 😰

 

Anne of Green Gables (the whole series)//L. M. Montgomery

I don’t have this cover… BUT HOW PRETTY! OFC I’ve already read this series but I just had to read it again. My favorite book in the series is Rilla (the last one) just because. Even though it’s SO sad. 

P O D C A S T S

Ariana’s Flying Life//Ari’s podcast is the best just like her blog! It’s been so fun to listen to her talk about diverse topics… guys I have a feeling that she’s AMAZING at debating. 😉

Blogging 101//If anyone should make this podcast, it’s Hannah. Because she’s a (very) successful blogger and entrepreneur, I’ve been hanging on to every single word of her podcast 😂 It’s amazing and you should definitely check it out!

Do you guys have a favorite podcast? If so, let me know- I’d love to check it out!

B L O G S

Soo I limited myself to five blogs… WHAT. Bad idea. 😲 There are so many blogs I wanted to include but didn’t because I wanted to do the first five that came to mind… no hard feelings if I didn’t include you! 😁

Ari//Ariana’s Flying Life//I know Ari’s blog is pretty much nominated in all my tags and I talk about her all the time but her blog is amazing! She’s a really sweet girl and her posts are always really uplifting and encouraging. She posts often so definitely go over and follow her! 

Maggie//Dreaming of Guatemala//Recently, Maggie’s blog has been one of my favorites. Her posts are very uplifting and are great reminders about God’s love for us. She also has been doing weekly challenges and positive change a lot recently, which is one of my favorite topics and a great reminder for me! Maggie’s blog is wonderful and you will not be disappointed if you go over and follow her.

Audrey Kate//The Junebug Blog//Audrey is so creative and her posts are so fun! I always love seeing a new one in my reader 😊 I found her blog pretty recently, and I’ve really been enjoying it. If you like creative posts, then check her blog out!

Covah//Dancing in the rain//I love Covah’s blog title and her design has me like… 😍 I really like her style of posts and they are always really fun. I would recommend her blog for sure!

Allison//A Farm Girls’ Life//Allison’s photography is really good, and I’m always really inspired after reading her posts. I don’t really know what to say about her site, but it’s really great and her photography is impressive. 😂

 

M U S I C

Soo I pretty much make a new playlist on Spotify every. single. day. But these are the songs that I include pretty much every time! Most (actually all) of them are worship songs…. 😂😂

• in christ alone//the solid rock
• washed away//nothing but the blood
• oceans (where feet may fall)
• our god
• this is amazing grace
• how great is our god
• you say
• blessed be the name of the lord

What did I tell you? 😂

This post was so fun! I hope you all enjoyed as well. Let me know your favorite podcast!

Christina and Camera CHANGES

agg why do I have no idea how to start posts?

ANYWAY…. how was your weekend? Mine was great! My Dad was home, and a break from school is considered great no matter what, haha. On Friday, I talked about my goals for February (and I have already failed the journaling one… I didn’t journal on the 1st. I know, I’m a horrible person. Seriously. I might be able to catch up on that, but I don’t know, haha. And I ramble way too much.) but I also hinted at a couple fun new changes to Christina and Camera. Soo… here they are! I’ll also be sharing the results from my question about what posts y’all what to see.

 

Two posts per week// I’m changing up the amount of posts per week.  They’ll probably be a little shorter, but hopefully around the same length. I really want to get more content out there, and I love blogging, so we’ll see if this works out.

Email List// I seriously haven’t been able to use this like I wanted too. Most bloggers send out emails with their posts, but if I’m email subscribed to them too, it gets annoying. Soo… what do you guys want to see in the email list? The stuff that I normally put in there are things I want to feature on the blog, so I really don’t know! Maybe more personal stuff??? Honestly I have no idea.

More personal// Honestly, I’ve been treating blogging like a business. Posts have to be done by a certain date, I must have this amount of followers, I need to be as professional as possible, yada yada yada. While this mindset is great for some people (aka those who actually blog as their job) I really need to stop. Healthy goals//deadlines are great, but I don’t need them to be set in stone. Y’all’s favorites of my posts are generally the personal ones, and the impersonal, business-style posts don’t get much feedback. how did I just figure this out!?! Basically, I want to post more things that are peeks into my real life, and more things that are personal to you guys.

Post ideas// Here’s the part of the show post where larry comes out and sings a silly song I share the results for what you guys want to see. Plus does nobody get that reference? Please please someone get that reference. I don’t want to be the only Veggie Tales fan out there… *looks around awkwardly*

ANYWAYS.

I suggested 8  categories, and you guys also made up 2 more.

1. Devotional//Bible study series 4 votes
2.  DIY//Crafting 4 votes
3. Desk tour//organization ideas 5 votes
4. The Lego Vlogs 1 vote
5. Book reviews 5 votes
6. Tags//Q & A// Collabs 3 votes
7. Recent photography 4 votes
8. Planner//planning 5 votes
9. Animal related one of your categories, 1 vote
10. Movie reviews one of your categories, 1 vote

So. I’ll be sharing pretty much all of the categories with 4-5 votes this month (except Bible Study series, I’m still working on that, but hopefully I’ll be sharing that sometime in March or April.

 

SO.

 

Bye, see you all on Friday with another post! Please chat with me in the comments.

the pictures in this post are from unsplash, a lazy photographer’s best friend 

February Goals

February is going to be a huge month for C & C (beware I’ll pretty much say this every single month in 2019… #sorrynotsorry ) and I’m super excited for it. Next week (on Monday, actually), I’ll be posting more about the fun new changes I have in store, but for now, I’ll be sharing my goals for February.

p e r s o n a l

01) Walk every day I’m probably (aka definitely) going to fail this one… but I want to try to take a walk every day.

02)  Read through Numbers I decided to read the entire bible in 2019 (halfway through January) and I actually JUST finished Genesis. If I want to stay on track, though, I need to read Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers this month. Ahhhh! I really really need to do this but it’s going to be hard. .

03)  Journal every day I’m going to fail this. lol. I really want to do this, but I’m awful at journaling//keeping up with it. I honestly don’t love writing about my day , but I’ll probably make it a mix of gratitude, prayer, and, of course, writing about my day.

b l o g g i n g 

1)   Post every Monday and Friday You’ll learn more about this in Monday’s post, but I’m trying to post every week this month (and year)- twice!

2)  Send out emails every week I really need to use my email list… and figure out a way to integrate it with C & C.

Sorry that this post was so short.  I’m trying to post more often with less meaty posts (but not super short like this one )

Our Florida Winter: Photoshoot

How has your week been? Mine has been good, but busy with school. I can’t wait for Christmas/New Year’s break! Do y’all like the Christmas “redesign” of the blog? It’s not as good as the regular one, because Mukta designed that one, but I like it. It’s fun to change things up! 

Anyway, today’s post is “winter” photography. If you could call it that… I’m a Florida gal, so our winter is basically the same as summer (except we kinda freak out at 65 degrees “It’s so cold! It’s going to snow!”- and yes, that is a real conversation). Plus the majority of these photos are of my cutesy little sis Em. Hey, I won’t complain if you won’t!

#sorrynotsorry

I decided to split the post into two categories: nature/outside and Emily/sibs (my siblings). So…. let’s get started!

I don’t really know why I took this photo (maybe it was a lighting test) but I actually kinda like how it came out. The quality isn’t great, but I like the different elements. The stones are so pretty, and I love the layering of the steps and the plant.

This picture is weird… I like the detail of the cherry tree’s trunk, but the angle is really crazy… what do you think?

There were a couple of tiny flowers by our sidewalk, so I tried to take a picture of them. Believe me, it’s harder than it looks! I was literally lying on the ground hoping that none of our neighbors were watching me… the things we do to get a picture!

THIS PICTURE IS SO PRETTY. I literally have no idea why I like it so much… but I love the pine cone.  Plus we have some bokeh in the back… yaaaaaassssss!

I can’t decide which I like better- the pine cone in focus or out of focus. In this picture, I really like how sharp and clean the grass is, plus I like the bokeh.

BEHIND THE SCENES/// I moved the grass so I could focus on the pinecone… it was way harder than I thought! Steadying the camera was MUCH harder with only one hand…. plus I was lying on the ground.

I don’t love this picture, but I wanted to show y’all how huge our cherry tree is. It might not be super big, but we planted this thing from when it was TINY. It was about the size of a marigold, I kid you not. It’s so huge now! We planted it at the end of February in 2017, so we haven’t even had it for two years.

The light was so pretty coming from the top of the tree, so I had to take a picture!

I love the way the light is coming in through the leaves! This picture is so pretty 🙂

Now for the part of the post that you OBVIOUSLY came for… my cutsie patootsie sister Em plus my brothers! Plus an overload of camera mirror selfies (that sounds weird) of me!

C: Make me a cool rapping singer. Here I’ll sing for you “BOOM BOOM BOOM I’M A RAPPER”  I obliged. 

C: Take a picture of my eye… with sunglasses on! 

Okaaaayyyy?

Em’s face the entire time that C was posing “as a cool rapper”

I don’t normally like color contrast like this, but this is adorable! I love her expression… J was posing for me like this, and she decided to copy him.

OH MY GOODNESS I’M FRAMING THIS… How cute, though? I love it. 

Wouldn’t you love to knock on a door and have this cutie answer? How adorable! 

BTS (behind the scenes): She was actually trying to slam the door on me while I was taking them. She was literally saying “Out, Tina! Out, Tina! Chris-tin-a, get out!”. 

If you look past the blurriness, she’s adorable! 

“And what are you doing here, my good friend?’ (not what she was actually saying lol)

I tried to capture pictures of her running… and failed.

I told her “Pose for me”  and “be a model” (she doesn’t know what a model is lol) and this is what she gave me. 

I love her messy face… She looks so deep in thought.

She was mad at me when I wouldn’t let her “see it, see it, see picture”… I haven’t taken the picture yet!

But when you tell her to smile for the camera… CUTENESS ALERT! I love this picture!

Need I say more?

She found this random green ribbon… and she loved it!

Selfie of me! Probably not the best part of my fave to take a picture of… hello acne + freckles 😦 

I have no idea what he was doing…

 

They have ganged up against me! I took both these pictures within 10 seconds of each other…

 

 

MIRROR SELFIES

These were so fun to take! I might make one my profile picture!

Sorry for the long post… I hope you enjoyed! Let me know what picture was your favorite!

Thanksgiving Outfit Ideas

I can’t believe that Thanksgiving is almost here! When you read this, I’ll be on the home stretch- the last day of school before Thanksgiving break. Yay!

Idea 1: T-Shirt and jeans

This is SO comfy and also really casual. A thanksgiving t-shirt would be super cute!

Belle Lily has a ton of cute thanksgiving themed shirts on their site. They’re really inexpensive and they also have a Black Friday coupon code right now, so definitely check that out. Here are some of my favorites:

  

How cute would any of those be with jean and ankle booties? It’s super effortless too! They also have a ton of long sleeved options for all of you lucky ones who actually have a temperature change during the fall season.

Idea 2: Sweater Dress

Sweater dresses are GENIUS! They’re a great choice for thanksgiving too.

This sweater dress (picture credit) is a great idea! It mixes sweaters and dresses so well. This is the perfect choice if you don’t want to wear jeans.

This sweater dress outfit (picture credit) is also super cute. It’s simple and effortless but it looks adorable.

Idea 3: Coordinate!

This awesome compilation is perfect for families. There are lots of color schemes, and they’re so cute! Coordinating with your family is SO adorable. Plus, you can use all of these ideas for your own personal outfit too!

I hope you enjoyed this short (but hopefully sweet) post! I’m off to go make yummy goodies for thanksgiving!

 

 

September Review & August Goals

 

As is my custom at the beginning of each new month (that sounds so weird), I’m going to do a review of how September went and go over my goals for October!

Ooh, this one is lots of fun! I have quite a few photos that I took in September, so buckle down and enjoy the ride 🙂

 

August Review + September Goals

Calico Critters Photoshoot

A non-expert’s overview of Bible Journaling

How I write my blog posts

Goals from September:

• Post 4 times on C & C ✔- I did this one! Check the “Posts this Month” section in this post to see what they were!
• Post 4 times on QTE ✖ Nope! I’m actually taking a (hopefully temporary) break from QTE because I’ve been majorly busy. Hopefully next month I’ll have news along these lines to share with y’all- I have something really exciting coming up!
• Send out a Monday email on the C & C mailing list twice✖ Nope! However, if you’re on the mailing list, you did get an email explaining some of the new changes 🙂
• Participate in a challenge/giveaway on another blog ✖ No… If you’re hosting a giveaway or challenge on your blog, please let me know. I love participating in things like that !
• Start using my school schedule ✔ Yup!! I did this one, but I changed up my school schedule just a bit.

Next week’s post is all about the Planner- YAY, but for now, I’m going to give y’all a little peek into my planner for October!

 

^ My adorable reading log. I’m writing this on the 3rd, so I’ve already added some fun books!

I know this is blurry and oh so behind-the-scenes, but this is reality when I was setting up my planner. Plus, if you read my How I write my blog posts post, you’ll recognize what’s up on my computer screen!! I really like this photo, which is weird because it’s really bad! But I love the reality of it 🙂

• Start using the mailing list again- send out emails on the 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th (Mondays)
• Use Habit tracker in planner
• Use reading log in planner
• Participate in a challenge/giveaway on another blog

Thanks for reading! What are your goals for October? Did you finish everything you planned to do in September?

How I write my blog posts

Have you ever wondered how I write my blog posts? It’s definitively not one size fits all, but my current method works well for me.

Planning

This step might seem minor, but it’s actually very important! About a month in advance, I pick the posts for the next month from a list that I keep of things I’d like to post. Then, I add them to an excel sheet that I keep (excel is like sheets for google) going.

I used to use monday.com for this step (just because I had a 30 day free trial) but it’s expensive if you want to keep using it, so I just decided to use an excel sheet.

Here’s an example of my excel sheet for June, July, and August:

Once it’s added to the excel document, I open a google docs and start planning the post. For example, in my bible journaling post, I listed all the supplies I would include and found links and prices for all of them. Most of the time this is just a simple bullet list of what I want to include in the post (for some posts, I don’t even do this, like a photography post).

Photos

I try to include photos in all my posts, even if I grab them from Unsplash (like the one above). If I need to actually take photos with my camera, I do that, but if I’m getting the photos online, I pick the one’s I plan to use. Then I add EVERY SINGLE photo that will be in the post to an empty draft. This includes my “Hello” Photo, signature, and dividers.

Writing

 

This step is pretty self explanatory: actually writing the post! This includes typing captions for photos, and actually building a post. I generally do this in 1-4 stages (depending on how much work it is).

Then, I schedule the post! I write my posts about 1-2 weeks before they go live, which relives me of stress. For some posts that are more personal and need to be written closer to when they go live, I try to prep as much as possible ahead of time.

I hope you enjoyed this little peek into my blog post planning+preparing process (triple points for alliteration)!