My life – Page 2 – The Writer of Letters

Some recent photos and little life update peace sign

Hello! I figured I’d pop on here tonight and do a quick life update because I haven’t done one in basically forevrrrr. so please enjoy!

Things that have happened:

In October/September I passed both my written and drive test for drivers ed so I will officially be legal to drive by myself on February 21st, my birthday! I can not wait, driving is so fun in my opinion and I can’t wait to be able to go hang out with friends without needing to be a ride from my parents.
I reached 300 followers on my blog AND I’m hosting a Christmas giveaway to celebrate! Check it out here and enter for a chance to win 😉 I also re-designed my blog with a new theme and I’m loving how it turned out!
With Covid going around still my family has done quite a bit together as a fam. One day we went on a mini road trip up into the hills to a nearby mountain and I got some cool pics!
I’ve fallen of the bullet-journaling train for now, but I’m hoping to hop back on next year. I just needed a break to get my creative juices flowing but I’m still loving pen-paling! My friends and pen-pals are the best, I’m so thankful for each of them!
I’m in the Christmas spirit, even more than last month and tonight we got our tree and are soon to put it up and decorate it so that is always exciting!
I still drink lots and lots of coffee but I’ve started drinking a bit of hot cocoa because the caffeine has started giving me headaches.
We start Christmas break this Thursday and we’re on break until JANUARY. I’m so excited!!

Anyways, that’s a quick update of how my life has been going! Now enjoy some pictures 🙂 *I edited all these with Lightroom.

Pumpkin spice cold brew- one of the actual good coffees I can make and man is it GOOD 🤩

My new blog design! Check it out on my website 🙂

This is the prize for my giveaway!! Minus the fairy lights, I’m keeping those 😉

Mail from one of my friends that was unexpected made me very very happy, so if you recognize this mail, thank you!

Mr. T is getting quite big and he’s still the cutest thing ever <33

I got the new boots and I LOVE THEM. They are the perfect fall boot for almost any outfit and ahhhh I was so excited to get them!

I love love love this picture but one of the things that really really annoys me is how my shoe is untied *cries* you might’ve not even noticed that before I mentioned it so if so, please pretend u never even saw my shoe lace xD

Anyways, thats all for this post! I hope you enjoyed this quick update! How’s life going? Do you celebrate Christmas? if so, how excited are you on a scale of 1-10? I’m a 100/10 dude, so so excited! Whats your favorite Christmas tradition? Favorite cookie? Chat with me in the comments, I’d love to talk 🙂

thanks for reading lovely, means the most 💛

x, Jasmin

More of my favorite books from 2019: More YA books cheers

Hey guys! Last week I did a post about some of my favorite books I read in 2019 and there were so many I had to do a second post 😉 Here is a link to the first post! So, with further ado, lets get onto the post!

My reading matured over the year and I found our library’s YA (young-adult) section so I started reading books from there! I’ve got a lot of great ( and not so great) books from that section so I’m vv happy I found it 🙂

Braced:

This book is about a girl who finds out her s-curve in her back has gotten worse and she now has to wear a back brace for her Scoliosis, RIGHT as a new school year starts. ughhhh that would be horrible 😦 My friend has scoliosis but its not bad at all, her back is just a little curved. Do you know of anyone who has scoliosis?

Black Radishes:

Y’all. I really liked this book. It was a WWII fiction book, which if u couldn’t tell by now are my favoritist xD. Its about a Jewish/French boy named Gustave who’s family moves from Paris to the countryside to avoid the nazis. Paris is eventually overcome and occupied but the small town where Gustave and his family moved is in the un-occupied zone still, although their still not 100% safe in the country. Gustave meets Nicole, a young girl who is helping with the French resistance and along with her, Gustave connives a plan to smuggle his cousin and cousins family through occupied France and into America, where they can live without fear of being caught. Its a good book and keeps u on the edge of ur seat!

Dinah Harris Mysteries:

My mom randomly bought me this series and I am very grateful, bc I ended up LOVING this series! The books are a little graphic but their really good books and the main character becomes a christian and struggles with addiction but with God’s help she overcomes the addiction! I’d highly recommend but they’re a bit graphic so be cautious about that 🙂

The Last Time We Say Goodbye:

This.is.a.sad.book. ugh. This books follows Lex and she try to return to normal after her brother Tyler commits suicide but Lex is haunted by remembering one text that Tyler sent that could have changed everything. Suicide is a terrible things and it happens way tooooo much 😦 Here’s the National Suicide presentation Hotline, if you or anyone else is thinking of harming themselves: 1-800-273-8255. Remember, people love you so so much and suicide is never the answer.

What the Night Sings:

This book is yet ANOTHER fiction book about WWII and its ANOTHER good one! It tells the story of Gerta, a musician who lives thru the horrors of WWII and tells the story of how she came to the concentration camp and how she leaves, it inspiring and good :)]

Queen of Hearts: Coming of Age in a Hospital Bed

this was a super good book about a girl who has tuberculosis during ( can u guess?!?!?!) WWII! surprise! xD its a good book tho, highly reccomend!

The Chaos of Standing Still:

This book is about a girl who gets stuck in an airport terminal due to snow on New Years eve. She is almost OCD, with how crazy organized her phone is but she has one unopened text. And that text is from almost a year ago. When Ryn bumps into a boy and they both drop their phones, the story starts. Accidentky they both pick up each others phones bc they have the same phone case and then they separate on their own paths in the busy airport. When Ryn opens her phone and realizes the unopened text is gone, the phone is unorganized and no longer how she had it she is confused but a phone call from the mystery book clears things up when he explains they switched phones on accident. Annnnddddd I’ll let u read the book to hear the rest of the story xD

The War Outside:

Two unlikely girls meet in unlikely circumstances. and then more unlikely things happen. its sad. its good. its also based post-WWII so duhhhhh obvi I liked it 😝

Rose Under Fire:

This is by the same person who wrote Code Name Verity so I was excited to read it! and it didn’t disappoint 🙂

Wild Bird:

This book is about a girl named Wren who was getting in trouble a lot so her parents sent her to the desert where she went to this camp where she learned to live off the land. I really liked this book and it was really cool bc the camp she was sent to is an actual thing, so I thought that was cool. I’d recommend tho 🙂

Waiting for Fitz:

This book is about a girl who has OCD and a boy who has Schizophrenia and they meet in the hospital.It was interesting to read and learn more about OCD and schizophrenia.

Not if I Save You First:

This book is interesting. Its about a presidents son and a secret service mans daughter. interesting. u should read it xD

If u haven’t noticed my reviews are getting shorter and shorter bc I’m getting tired haha

The Hate U Give:

This book pulled me in from the very first page but it does have a LOT of violence and language. But its a super good book about an important thing and its really eye opening. I throughly enjoyed it!

AND THAT IS ALL FOR TODAY!!!! I hope u enjoyed, have u read any of these books? what was ur reading goal for 2019? Whats ur goal for 2020? Mines 50 books, and I’m pretty sure I’ll hit it bc its only a hill compared to last years mountain XD

xx, Jasmin

The real reason for Christmas

Hey dudes! CHRISTMAS IS IN LESS THAN TWO DAYS. I can not believe it!!!

Today my post is about the REAL REASON for CHRISTmas. Everyone (including myself) gets really caught up in the holiday bustle and cheer and giving and recieving gifts and many people don’t really remember why we celebrate Christmas.

We celebrate Christmas because God sent His one and only son, Jesus, to be our savior. God sent Jesus to save us from our sins because He loves us. Imagine giving up your so for everyone in the world. Jesus didn’t want to be hung on the cross but he did just for us. So we could be saved. Anyways 😉 I’m getting a little of topic.

God sent His one and only son Jesus to be our savior. Joseph and Mary were ‘espoused’ when they found out the virgin Mary was great with child.

Luke 1:30-35:

30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

Meanwhile, A decree from Caesar Augustus went out that the whole world should be taxed. So since Joseph came from the house and lineage of David, Him and Mary went to the city of David. It was a journey to David and they had to go slower because Mary was pregnant and so with time it became time for Mary to give birth.

Luke 2:1-6

1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

Mary and Joseph were in Bethlehem and they stopped for the night, as Mary was about to have Jesus and They went from inn to inn looking for room. But alas, all the inns were full and there was no where to stay. So Joseph and Mary went into a stable and there Mary birthed the Savior. They named him Jesus.

Luke 2:7:

7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And God sent angels to the Shepards that were out in the fields tending their sheep to tell of the saviors birth and he put a star in the sky to lead the wise men to Jesus.

Luke 2:8-20

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

And the wonderful story continues in the Bible but that’s all for my post today :)) Hope u enjoyed and have a wonderful Christmas! Don’t forget why we celebrate it though 🙂

Xx, Jasmin

Making a gingerbread house yummmmmm

Hey dudes/dudettes! Last night my friends came over and we did our secret Santa gift exchange and we made gingerbread houses! Instead of gingerbread we used graham crackers because then we didn’t have to bake them and it’s just overall easier 😁 So my sister and I had two friends over and we decided to have a gingerbread house contest! We split up into teams of one friend/one sister, made some rules (you can’t use the internet to come up with ideas, no leaving the kitchen, no peeking at the other team etc.) and we gave ourselves around 3 hours. Yᴇs ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɪs ᴀɴ VERY ʟᴏɴɢ ᴛɪᴍe ʙᴜᴛ ᴡᴇ ɴᴇᴇᴅᴇᴅ ᴀ ʟᴏᴛ ᴏғ ᴛɪᴍᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴄʀᴇᴀᴛᴇ ᴏᴜʀ ᴍᴀsᴛᴇʀᴘɪᴇᴄᴇs sᴏ ɪᴛ’s ᴏᴋᴀʏ. Anywhoooo we set up our counter and whipped up some icing/edible glue to create our buildings with!

We had lots of candy and a good amount of it got used up! We kinda ate just as much as we put on our houses but it’s okay 😂

We used a random recipe for the glue/icing and it was cream of tarter, egg whites and powdered sugar. It was really nice glue and it really stuck/ is sticking everything together!

We went for the slanted roof look and it was an actual struggle but we did it by stuffing paper towels into the building to support the roof! Also we cut the graham crackers with some knives and that was hard but we managed 😀

This was my sister/friend’s teams creation! It’s actually really cool and super creative! My favorite things about it are the little tower thing on top, that’s supported by Charleston chews (idk what it’s called 😂) and I like the little Christmas tree they made in front! It’s cute and cozy and Christmas-y!

Here is mine and my friends!! Taaaa daaaa! I’m quite proud of ourselves, I feel like a proud parent 😂 my favorite part about it is probably the ocean with the little dudes surfing in their tubes (otherwise known as peach rings) and I also really like the roof and the door! We could have added more candy but we ran out of icing/glue and our feet were tired (ik, ik, we’re getting old welp) but overall I really like it!

We also decorated the back but we didn’t spend much time on it! I LOVE the m&ms on the roofline, they give a Christmas light look and it’s great!! Also both the houses tasted amazing 😂

So that is all for this post! Hope u enjoyed! I can not believe 2020 is in like 10 days and Christmas is in 4!!! I’m so excited!

Comment which building is ur favourite! Have you ever made a gingerbread/ graham cracker house? What’s ur favourite candy?

Xx, Jasmin 💕