So, Pinterest.

I have a mixed relationship with Pinterest. I've been pinning for around three years, and over those years I've wasted hours and hours mildly entertaining myself, pretending to research things, and sometimes actually finding helpful information. This totals up to over 7,000 pins onto 32 boards and I-don't-want-to-know-how-much time spent on this site.

Please don't misunderstand me, I really like Pinterest. I think that it is a useful site to gather lots of ideas on projects. For example, Pinterest helped me research and plan my graduation party and actually made me more productive. Pinterest also provides a refuge for when I don't want to think. It makes me laugh. It prompts me to cook. It inspires me to create. But sometimes, I spend too much time on Pinterest. Do you understand? It's a blessing or a curse, depending on how you use it.

With all of that said, I want to help you to use your time wisely but still get the most out of Pinterest, so I've compiled my top ten useful Pinterest pins I've ever pinned. Ever. And as I said earlier, I've pinned quite a few things.

I'm what I like to call a versatile pinner, meaning I pin lots of different things. Verses. Dresses. Make up. Recipes. Room decor. Ballet. Humorous things. Cats. Quotes. And more. So narrowing my almost 7,000 pins to the top ten useful pins made things challenged me. But I did remember, without much searching of my boards, my ten most used pins on Pinterest.

Get your mouse ready to click that pin-it button.


1. Cardio Workout by PopSugar Fitness


I go back to this workout again and again when I need a quick cardio burn. It only lasts ten minutes, but it kills you! When I first started doing this video, I needed to pause it at least twice to catch my breath, but now I can do it and PopSugar Fitness's ten minute jump rope workout in a row! This testifies to how much stamina this little beast can give you! (Also, check out the other PopSugar Fitness videos. Most of them are around ten minutes and I find them to challenge me and still build me up!)

2. Social Media Timing by JCSM

Found here

This chart assists me more than I care to tell you. I don't know when the best times to post are, and so I often times refer to this chart to make sure I use my social media wisely. As a blogger, this helps me to spread my content efficiently and effectively.

3. How to Pose for Pictures by Kate Pease

Found here

Whenever I pose for pictures, I always remind myself of these tips, and they work wonders too! Multiple pictures and examples accompany each tip, and she makes posing clear and fun! Supermodel status, here we come!

4. Combat Words by Unknown

                                 

For a writer of a fantasy trilogy, this pin helped me to better write battle scenes without repeating thrust and defended over and over again. Also, I benefitted from reading this post on eight things writers forget about when writing fight scenes.

5. Oatmeal Banana Pancakes by Inside Bru Crew Life

Found here

I don't make many of the recipes that I pin (I won't lie). But this one I have made many times, and I even developed my own take on the recipe, coming soon to the blog!

6. How to Contour by The Beauty Department

Found here

Contouring. It's a mystery. But this illustration breaks it all down, and so I bring it out every now and then when I want to sculpt my face. The Beauty Department gives many useful and simple pins that clarify so many beauty hacks and tutorials!

7. 42 Stock Photo Websites by International Bloggers Association

Found here

Sometimes, when blogging, I just need a good picture of a desk because I don't feel like cleaning mine, taking the picture, editing the picture, and then uploading the picture. That's where stock photos come in, but finding good stock photos can prove challenging. This website gives so many options that I always find what I'm looking for!

8. How to Half Tuck Your Shirts by Babble

Found here

Half-tucking shirts baffled me for a while, but this girl shows you clearly how to effortlessly pull off the half-tuck. As a side note, this pin gets repinned constantly from my clothing board. Almost every day someone else will repin it.

9. Brown Sugar Garlic Chicken by Food.com

Found here

So, technically, my mom pinned this recipe forever ago, but it all counts. (I did go and pin it recently.)

This recipe rocks! We make this simple dinner at least once a month because my whole (rather picky) family eats it (except for one who eats plain meat with no sauce). It tastes delicious and goes well with brown rice and corn. I will add that when we make this recipe, we use chicken thighs instead of breasts because thighs taste better. We've also made this recipe with pork chops instead of chicken. So next time you need an easy dinner, check this pin out!                                                      

10. Blemish Covering Makeup by Lisa Eldridge


This video revolutionised the way that I looked at foundation and concealer. Lisa Eldridge explains things with great clarity (and a lovely British accent) and thinks of makeup with simplicity, emphasising natural beauty. Please go and binge watch her videos, because they will (a) enable you to look extra beautiful and (b) make you want to go to the makeup store and buy everything.

I hope that you enjoyed these top ten useful pins that I've pinned on Pinterest. Now, of course, I love so many other pins on Pinterest, but these have stuck with me and actually benefited my life. To see more of my Pinterest account, please click here. Feel free to follow me and pin away! Also, don't forget to repin my pins from the blog! It means so much to me when someone pins or repins one of the images from the blog!

Enjoy the beauty and laughter in the world, good gifts that come from a better Father!

Princess Hannah

(p.s.- I'm in New York right now, starting my first week at American Academy of Ballet! I appreciate prayers, especially because my back is still healing. Thank you guys so much for all of the support!)

Life sometimes seems to move in fast forward.

Take this past week for example: I didn't anticipate this week to hold so many things (especially because my sisters all left for camp), but my days filled with preparations for my trip to New York. Ordering things. Shopping. Filling out forms. And (of course) watching New York movies! (Breakfast at Tiffany's anyone?) I visited with friends, went to ballet, prepared blog posts for six weeks (the posts are ready and very exciting and new!), and went to the chiropractor (I injured my back at church camp and it never got better. Prayers appreciated).

With all of these activities going on and worries in the back of my head, I felt like life slipped through my fingers and left my with an empty shell. I sat down on my bed Wednesday night (late, as always), finally setting aside time to read God's Word, feeling tired and fearsome. I feared not getting everything done. I feared not liking New York. I feared homesickness. I feared injury. I feared the mess of a life that I got myself into, where I didn't even read God's Word until after midnight! These burdens weighed upon me as I read Psalm 3, but then something happened.

But God happened.


I started reading Psalm 3 weighed down from the idea that I missed out on life because I couldn't do it, but I finished reading Psalm 3 with tears of joy streaming down my face (I always cry more past midnight). The worries of this week threatened to overcome me, but God reminded me right then that He had overcome the world!

So let's discover the wonders of Psalm 3.

Before we read this Psalm, though, let me give you some context. David (the author of this psalm) too felt the weight of the world on his shoulders, but he feared not a sore back or a stressed week but for his life. And worse yet, he feared that his son (who turned against David) will kill him.

And David had a right to fear.

So he fled from his son and gathered up those still loyal to him to prepare for what comes next, and everyone knew that it won't look pretty. But sometime in this turmoil and doubt David sat down and wrote these words:

1 Lord, how many are my foes!
    How many rise up against me!
2 Many are saying of me,
    “God will not deliver him."
3 But you, Lord, are a shield around me,
    my glory, the One who lifts my head high.
4 I call out to the Lord,
    and he answers me from his holy mountain.
5 I lie down and sleep;
    I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.
6 I will not fear though tens of thousands
    assail me on every side.
7 Arise, Lord!
    Deliver me, my God!
Strike all my enemies on the jaw;
    break the teeth of the wicked.
8 From the Lord comes deliverance.
    May your blessing be on your people.

Wow.

Let's break it down right now. The first two verses grabbed me, because I felt the same way, although my "foes" didn't wear armor or carry a sword. They just prodded into my thoughts and led me into worry. They surrounded me and tried to suck the life out of me, convinced that God wasn't enough. For these fears that I gave into convinced me (whether I realized it or not) that God wasn't enough.

But God.

But God is my shield and He is enough!

Verse three. Oh, verse three. Here we find that God isn't scared of the world. He doesn't change with the world. He is constant, and even more inconceivable (and yes, I do know what that word means) He protects us. He comes to us and gives us hope. He lifts our heads up so that we can see Him, and when we look upon Him, then the foes in this world fade away. For who can come against the LORD?

David proclaims God as his shield and glory, putting his eyes on God, and then he takes it a step further: he depends upon God. Belief always leads to action, and so David, once he put his eyes on God put his trust in God. He called out for help, because he realized that he couldn't do this life by himself.

And, inconceivably enough (yes, I keep using that word), God answers. He calls down from heaven to answer David, just like He answers you and I. This doesn't mean that He answers the way that we want Him to answer, but it does mean that God answers! He is dependable, not only in idea but in action.

Now what?

David waited.

No, correction, David rested. David rested in God's protection and answer. He trusted that, even though his son marched out to kill him, God would be enough. And then he fell asleep. He fell asleep in the midst of a fast-forward-life kind of day. He fell asleep even though he could have stayed awake in fear of the thousands that came out to take his life. Verse six doesn't talk lightheartedly of tens of thousands on every side, for David did face a big problem.

But David trusted a bigger God.

David trusted God to deliver him. He knew that God could overcome any situation, and that even if things didn't turn out like David anticipated, that God was still God and still protected those He loved.

And how did that trust play out? What happened to David?

God protected. God provided. It wasn't perfect or pretty, but God shielded David and continued to use David for His kingdom. David's trust didn't go to waste. Our trust in God never goes to waste.

So, the challenge presented in Psalm 3 goes as follows: do we trust that God is bigger than the foes that we face, and even more than trust, will we rest in the sufficiency of God's protection even when worry bangs on our minds to come in? Do we depend upon the Creator to sustain us? Do we call out in faith to the LORD who had never yet failed?

Let me tell you, when you do this, rest will come. The morning will follow, and then you can live. You can then live in God's glory and within the embrace of His arms. You can stay sure behind his shield of protection. You do not need to fear. The LORD is here. And "[f]rom the LORD comes deliverance." (Verse 8)

"I tell you this, so that you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

-Jesus recorded in John 16:33

My friends, these verses stilled my busy heart this week, and I pray that they bring truth into your life as well! I love how God spoke to me that night and told me exactly what I needed to hear, although I don't know why I'm surprised at that! Let's live. Let's live in this crazy world that moves too fast. Let's live in Jesus, who has given us life. Let's live in the But God moments that free us from ourselves.

For the world threatens to overcome us.

But God overcomers all.

Princess Hannah

(p.s. I fly out to New York Sunday, and so I won't be as active in the blogging world until August. I will keep y'all updated as much as possible!)

And whiskers on kittens





Bright copper kettles 




And warm woolen mittens



Brown paper packages tied up with strings



These are a few of my favorite things




When the dog bites




When the bees sting




When I'm feeling sad




     I simply remember my favorite things

Hey guys! In case you haven't noticed, it's summertime! And so, in celebration...
Five Fantabulous Favorites: Summer Edition. (In case you don't know what this means, I share five things that are A, fantastically fabulous, and B, current in my life but applicable to yours! To see my previous Five Fantabulous Favorites, click here and here.)

1. Movies 

What's summer without some (or maybe more than some) movies nights? So far, I've seen...

Tomorrowland- A visually gripping, fast-paced movie that followed the idea that we can shape our own futures. I enjoyed it, although I can't say that I will watch it again and again. The colorful characters and interesting setting really made this movie pop.


Thor: The Dark World- Here is a movie that I have watched again and again! I love the character friction between Thor and Loki in this movie, not to mention that gripping last scene. Visually epic and intellectually grabbing, this movie meets all of the qualifications for a perfect summer movie night film.

When in Rome- A typical chick flick, this movie follows the life of an ambitious woman who accidentally makes several men fall in love with her. Full of humor and cuteness, this is a perfect movie for girls night in.
Get Smart- A hilarious movie that follows not-so-spy like Steve Carrell and miss-perfect-spy Anne Hathaway as they embark on a bumpy road to save the world. My whole family laughed all of the way through this movie! Seriously, watch this movie and you will feel better about life. Or at least you will exercise your laughing muscles.