My First Post- An Introduction and Explanation

Hello, dears!

Welcome to my brand-new lifestyle blog, Lilac & Ramble! *incoherent screaming* *confused jubilation* *uncontrollable sobbing* (Kidding on that last one. Ish.)

For this very first post, I thought I’d give some explanation and credit where it’s due. So here we go!

First and foremost, all glory be to Christ, the Creator and Sustainer of little old me. It has only been by His love and grace that I have been able to get my act together enough to start something like this -it’s because of Him that I even have an act at all! ;) I’ve actually been thinking and praying about doing something like this for at least six months, but over this last month I’ve felt like God’s been giving me extra little pushes to actually dig in and do this thing! Yeah, a lot of the content on here will just be for fun, but I do believe that God has put me where I am and given me the friends that I have for a reason. I’m, um, extremely quiet at most social events (except for in one-on-one conversations with people I’m close with- mention something I’m interested in, and you will unleash a fire hydrant flood of words. I apologize to all my past victims. XD), but I do have a voice and I’ve been praying for boldness to share God’s love to those around me. I’m a far better writer than speaker though, so a blog is going to be good practice for getting a little more vulnerable and speaking up around the people God has put in my life! So, there’s that, haha.

Second order of business, I’d like to thank my friends for being SO encouraging and supportive, managing to get excited by my very non-enthusiastic texts like, “hey guys, so I’m actually starting a blog… here’s the link if anyone’s interested!” I astound myself with my insecurity sometimes. XD But seriously, it makes me so happy and much more confident to know that people out there, even if there’s only 5 of you, are subscribed and are actually (hopefully? XD) going to read my posts. :)

I’d also like to particularly thank my best friend Emily B., who designed the majority of my blog and DID SUCH A GOOD JOB! Seriously guys, she’s amazing. :D She also took the posed photos of me in my about page, you can see more pictures of our photoshoot in my backyard here. So thanks dearest Fili, you’re the best (although you probably already know that because I tell you so often)!

Now, let’s do a quick tour-of-sorts of my blog. First there are my Home and About pages of course, pretty self-explanatory, and under More you have Gallery, where I’ll be sharing some of my latest art pieces and photography from time to time, and Writing Snippets, where I’m planning to share some of my favorite lines or short pieces from my own personal writing- expect a bunch of random quotes with no context, a few longer paragraphs now and then if I’ve written something particularly acceptable recently, and perhaps a line or two of poetry, once in a blue moon. Perhaps. (Woah, long sentence o_0) Oh and Blog Buttons is fun too- there you can check out some of my favorite blogs and sites, most of them by people I know! :D

And finally, because people have been asking, I should probably explain more about what exactly I’m planning on posting about, hehe. I’ve already started brainstorming and writing future posts... how about a nice teaser list with bullet points to keep things somewhat organized?

Be looking for…

• Thoughts and ideas on creativity

• Sketchbook tours

• Selections from my Commonplace book (a Commonplace book is basically a journal of lines and quotes that you stumble upon in literature and that are particularly beautiful, wise, or striking)

• Thoughts on the latest book I’ve read (not a review, mind you, just thoughts. ;D)

• Nature-y things

• How particular books, characters, or ideas have made an impact on me

• Art tutorials?

• Guest posts

• Musings about God and His world

• Miscellaneous ramblings that may or may not be interesting to read

I do hope that at least some of the posts will be interesting or beneficial, but we shall see. XD I’m certainly not an expert on any of these things, I’m just a girl trying to navigate the world as much as anyone else. I’m not sure how often I’ll be posting, but it won’t be more than weekly because an excessive amount of emails in your inbox gets annoying haha. The current unofficial motto for this blog is “I don’t know, we’ll see!” So we’ll see how this goes! XD

That’s about all I have to say for now! (Goodness, I wrote a lot more than I was planning o_0) Thanks again to everyone who has already trusted me enough to fill out the little form with your names and emails… it seriously means a lot. :P Until next time my dears, my ramble-readers!

Soli deo Gloria!

-Alayna