God's Plan For Me This Year

First of all I'd like to welcome all of my new readers to my blog! 

I'm Amanda Rose and I hope you enjoyed your first visit to Sew Much To Say and keep stoppin' by. I do have to stay that I officially started nursing school this week (eek!), which means that busy is now an understatement when describing my life. I'll still try to be posting often and have a few posts up my sleeve (or in my camera) for this week already. 

Secondly, I'd like to thank everyone who has been following along as I tried to complete my list of 40 things to do before I turn 20. Even if you only read the one post, I appreciate it. I have been asked what I have on my list of goals this year, so here are my goals for this year:

Monday Mingling Co-host!

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What I Learned This Year

Well, everyone. The day has come and passed. I have turned twenty this week and kissed my teenage years goodbye. I'm in no rush to be 21 because I'm sure this year will fly by far faster than I want it to without me wishing it away. 

I have learned a lot about myself this year and the people that I surround myself with. I have also learned a lot about who I want to be. By focusing on my energy and trying to keep my energy positive, I have found one of the keys to happiness. When someone apologizes, I forgive. If someone acts wrongly towards me or is unnecessarily negative, I force out even more positive energy to counteract their negative energy. It is working, too. 

You are the energy that you bring. 

Now for what you have all been waiting for: my list of 40 things to complete before I turned 20.

I did not complete them all. This was a complete learning process and I learned what is important to me and a lot about myself from several of these goals..even if the lesson was learned by not completing them. 

Here is the list of my goals with a photo or short summary. Click the link to the full post if you'd like to read more about a specific goal!

40 Things to Do Before I Turned 20:

The Land of Endless Books

Well, everyone. A little over a year ago I decided to try and read 20 books before I turn 20. I turn 20 in a few days and so It is about time to wrap up this reading list of mine. I don't get much reading done during the college semesters, but love reading when I get a chance to. 

Yesterday my mother and I went to this amazing book store in the next town over. It was the kind of bookstore that dreams are made of. Here is the video that I posted on my Instagram:

Looks Like I'm Next In Line

This weekend I went to a beautiful wedding for my friends Crystal and Evelyn. 

And I caught the bouquet! 

So, It looks like I'm next in line to get married. 

In a few years, right? Here are some glimpses at my dream wedding thus far:

ABCs of You and Me

Hello, everyone. I stole this post idea from Sarah over at A Girl Smitten. Go read her post, too. It made me laugh and her gifs of Emma Stone made my heart smile, too. 

A: Attached or Single? Attached to my man for almost 3 years now. That is a long time when you start in different states, graduate high school, graduate college, move in together...etc. Those are some big changes we've survived, people!

B: Best Friend? My best friend has been Miss. Kacie since 9th grade!

C: Cake or pie?  Cake cake cake. Chocolate cake. Or Vanilla with raspberry jam filling. Yum. I'm drooling.

D: Day of choice? Everyday is my day of  choice! Unless it is Saturday, then I choose Saturday.

E: Essential item? If you read yesterday's post you'd know that would be my conditioner.

F: Favorite color? Pale pink and brown and olive green.

G: Gummy bears or worms? Worms.

H: Hometown? A tiny village in the valley

I: Favorite indulgence? Chocolate with almonds as of late.

J: January or July? July!

K: Kids? I want them so badly.

L: Life isn’t complete without? God!

M: Marriage date? We'll see.

N: Number of brothers/sisters? One brother who is like my little twin.

O: Oranges or Apples? Tangerines.

P: Phobias/Fears?  Terrified of Aliens and Spiders, in that order.

Q: Quotes? “Watch and pray, dear, never get tired of trying, and never think it is impossible to conquer your fault.” 
― Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

R: Reasons to smile? Just look around!

S: Season of choice? Fall. I love everything about it. Crisp air, chai lattes, skinny jeans and boots, scarves, crunchy leaves, cuddly sweaters. There are so many beautiful smells and textures!

T: Tag 5 People. Everyone who reads this post consider yourself tagged!

U: Unknown fact about me? I have wanted a pug dog for as long as I can remember. Once I do get him and name him Cashew this blog will be filled with photos of him and of me kissing his face.

V: Vegetable? Artichoke

W: Worst habit? Not wanting to exercise.

X: Xray or Ultrasound? Ultrasound because that reminds me of pregnancy and I want to deliver babies.

Y: Your favorite food? It is a tie between sushi and peppered beef jerky.

Z: Zodiac sign? Leo

Please don't forget to enter my August Sponsor Giveaway, there are only a handful of entries so far so you have a great chance of winning! Come on guys, It is FREE!

This could be you:

How to Know When Your Hair Is Too Damn Long

I've been asking you guys on Twitter and Facebook how to know when your hair is too damn long.

I feel like girls are always trying to grow their hair out. The most challenging part is not cutting it while you are trying to grow it long. You know the temptation to keep it at your shoulders or to go to the hair dressers and cut a few inches off to "trim the dead ends."
Well, I'm here to share with you how to know when you hair is finally to the point where you need to stop growing it. When you need to let go and chop it back down to size. Here are some tell tale signs that your hair is too damn long:

August Sponsor Giveaway

Hello, lovely readers!

Today I'm teaming up with Susannah from Simple Moments Stick ,Wendy from Effie Girl and Melissa from Lulu and Sweet Pea to bring you August's giveaway! 

We have four lovely prizes to give away this month:

I'll be giving away one of my Tea Wallets from this post.

Wendy will be giving away these silver hoop earrings.

Susannah will be giving away one of her "little one" ad spots on her blog.

And Melissa will be giving away 3 months large ad space!

You'll have all week to enter and the terms and conditions are listed below.

Don't forget to tweet about it every day for daily entries!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Perfect Homemade Pancakes

Don't those look delicious? 

Alec was yelling at me because I was trying to take photos of my pancakes instead of eat them, while he stared hungrily at the ones on his plate. Luckily, I snapped the photos and we got to eat all of these lovely pancakes. Something about making food from scratch makes it so much more enjoyable to eat. Here is how to impress your breakfast guests (or just your family) with homemade pancakes! They'll be impressed when you tell them that you don't even own box mix. You can make these all with ingredients already in your kitchen, I promise!

D.I.Y. Tea Wallets

I finally got to sewing something and It felt so good to be making something again. I was inspired last night and cut out all the pieces in the dim light so they would be ready to sew in the morning. 

As soon as I woke up I had some breakfast and got right to sewing. I'm happy to say that I have three new items in my etsy shop and one gift for my lovely mother.