Step into My Shoes // Autism, Authors, and Non-Profits

I pride myself in being a bit of an atypical blogger. I'm not your cookie cutter Lilly Pulitzer wearing, Pink obsessed, high heels gal or all black and white or navy and coffee shop aesthetics. - NOT THAT any of that is bad. I'm guilty of liking these things as well, but that's not what I focus on as a blogger. Also I have discovered that the above is what the majority of my readers like reading and are interested in. -  Part of this is because of my age. I'm 15, a rising junior in high school. I don't have the time nor resources (money in particular) to achieve that chic lifestyle everyone covets. Instead, I have a different story to tell. A story past my about page. A story that brought me to this point in my life. Where I'm sitting. Surrounded by succulents, cacti, bromeliads, tulips and cucumber melon scented candles. At a white desk (handmade by my dad). With a Camelbak filled with lemon water. Around 3 PM on a Sunday. Writing this post for you all to read at whatever point you are in your lives. 

Let's take this back to the beginning... or at least earlier on in my lifetime.

Goals (Update)

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Can y'all freaking believe it?! It's July.

Just saying that is crazy. 

ANYWAYS, if you're new here.. This is just something I do monthly. I keep track of my original goals I had placed for 2015, and update y'all on how I'm doing. Honestly this post is for me. You can read, skim, or not read.. I really don't care. 

ORIGINAL Goals for 2015

~ Smile more 

~ Quality over Quantity (in everything. not just blogging)
~ Work on my handwriting (because mine sucks) 
~ Stay active on social media (yet another thing I suck at. unless we're talking about Pinterest...)
~ Build a loyal Classy Cathleen following (I would really love to find new readers this year!)
~ Instagram more (and another thing I'm awful at. It's a miracle if I post more than once a month.)
~ Continue to practice photography skills (I love photography, so I obviously want to get better)
~ Fix up old posts to make them the best they can be (some of my posts when I first started out were not good at all.... so I want to fix them up, and republish them out their on the web!)
~ Write more letters (snail mail is becoming a lost art, and I am determined to help to bring it back)

Smile more- I'm alright on this one. I don't see as many people over the Summer, and usually when I do they don't need as much encouragement as people at school do hahaha. But I have been trying to watch what I say and think about the results of what I say. My goal has been for myself to smile more, build other people up, but really I've learned that I need to just pay closer attention to others, then build them up.

Quality over Quantity- I'm really so proud of this. Last Summer my blog was a load of BS. All I did was share crummy pictures and put together collages and share them with y'all. Those posts sucked. I had like 5 going up a day because I was way more focused on quantity. This year, I'm so proud of how I've stopped myself from going crazy with posts and think about quality.

Handwriting- It's getting there.. I mean in the Sunday School class I help out in, this little girl, Savannah told me I had beautiful handwriting. That's gotta count for something, right?

Active on Social- CHECK CHECK CHECK! Now I just gotta stick with it through the school year..

Okay I seriously have the most amazing readers ever. Y'all make me smile. My birthday was the best ever thanks to you guys. From all the sweet messages and emails to those who came to my virtual ice cream party, y'all are just the best. I'm so blessed. 

Instagram more... YES! I love my Instagram, and I post at least once a day.. but most the time it's like 4-7 times #sorryimnotsorry

As y'all have seen in this post, and this one, you know I've been practicing my photography..

AGAIN I HAVE YET to update old posts... It'll happen eventually.

I have been sending out at least one letter a week for the past month. I also joined the Snail Mail Sisters which paired me with 3 lovely girls, Faith, Syd, and Sophia! 

Quick Reminder that the Bloggers Get Cookin' Linkup GOES LIVE TOMORROW! Can't wait to see what all you lovelies have cooked up for the linkup! Here's the info if you have no idea what I'm talking about. 

An Author for a Momma

Well, from the title of this post I'm sure you can assume what I'm about to freak out about..........

MY MOM IS AN AUTHOR! A real-live, published, about to send a copy of the book off to the Library of Congress author!! I couldn't be more proud of my amazing momma, and all of her accomplishments, but this book.. It's amazing! 

So... What's the book about? 

I live in the small but great state of South Carolina, and am blessed to have 47 awesome state parks all withing 4 hours of my house. A couple years ago the state parks announced a challenge: Become an Ultimate Outsider. In order to become an "Ultimate Outsider" one must first visit every SC state park. My mom found out about the challenge and immediately decided that our family of 6 was going to head out and get it done. So that's what we did. Read along as we travel the state, park after park, experience after experience, and become The First Family of Ultimate Outsiders.

From the pictures at the beginning of this post it should be obvious that there is never a dull moment at the SC state parks. From historical sites to historical homes, cabins to long hikes in the woods, and from lakes to the beach, South Carolina has it all.

The book is titled The First Family of Ultimate Outsiders: beyond Autism, ADHD, Apples, and Angst. 

Here's the summary on the back cover:

I stared at the stupid screens growing out of my children’s hands and reflecting off of their beautiful faces. I watched the process of the deepening hypnosis. There isn’t a loving parent who hasn’t envisioned hurtling an i-device through the window and into the path of an oncoming train. I WANTED MY CHILDREN BACK !!! But how? How can a mother woo her dear ones back from the world of apples, droids and galaxies? It is at the moment of deepest desperation that we humans remember what is most dear and basic. I remembered the trails. We set a goal. We would, as a part of the South Carolina Ultimate Outsider Program, explore every state park in South Carolina. The parks had just launched a challenge for people to tour each park in the system – all 47. At journey’s end, the explorers would be bequeathed the title of “Ultimate Outsider”! The cool title alone would have been worth the trek. Curious. Accept the Ultimate Outsider Challenge and welcome my children back into the intimacy of family. I had had enough of being cast out of my children’s experiences in favor of fickle technology. I laid out the task. We, as a family, were ready to become Ultimate Outsiders.

Hooked yet? If you're interested in purchasing.. Check out the book on Amazon!  Have a Kindle or use the Kindle app? You can purchase via Kindle for $2.99 RIGHT NOW through the 26th! Otherwise, you can order a paper back copy for $19.95. 

Be sure to let me know if you order.. I'm mentioned throughout the book as "Wetfoot" by the way.. more stories in the book. 

I know this isn't the typical post, but come on! My mom's an author now! How could I not share?!

Goals (Update)

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It's May... Goodness gracious! Where did my freshman year go? I'ts almost Summer, and it's just crazy how fast this school year has gone past! So anyways, if you're new here, you probably don't know about my monthly goal update posts here on Classy Cathleen. If you've been hanging out and following along for awhile, well another month has past so it's time for an update! 

Here were my original goals for 2015:

~ Smile more 

~ Quality over Quantity (in everything. not just blogging)
~ Work on my handwriting (because mine sucks) 
~ Stay active on social media (yet another thing I suck at. unless we're talking about Pinterest...)
~ Build a loyal Classy Cathleen following (I would really love to find new readers this year!)
~ Instagram more (and another thing I'm awful at. It's a miracle if I post more than once a month.)
~ Continue to practice photography skills (I love photography, so I obviously want to get better)
~ Fix up old posts to make them the best they can be (some of my posts when I first started out were not good at all.... so I want to fix them up, and republish them out their on the web!)
~ Write more letters (snail mail is becoming a lost art, and I am determined to help to bring it back)

Smile More: I've been smiling a lot lately.. On the inside and out. I've been trying to be much more appreciative and being nice to everyone. If that sounded fake at all.. I swear I'm not fake, I've seriously been trying to thank everyone and be kind whenever I can.

Quality over Quantity: Well, I haven't been blogging as much as many other bloggers out there, but when I do publish a post I try to spend time on it and really put thought into it. With school stuff I've tried to spend more time on my work and focus on totally completing the project fully instead of half way doing it. With exams coming up soon I've already started studying a month and a half in advance so that I'm prepared for the tests. I guess that goes with quality over quantity? I don't know.. 

Work on my handwriting: As I've been creating study guides, I've tried to practice a little. 

Stay active on social media: I've been doing a decently good job at staying active. My Instagram and Twitter have been pretty good so far in my opinion... I've kept up Polyvore, oh and Pinterest-duh, also I've kept up my Snapchat story for anyone who wants to follow along! And let's not even talk about my facebook page... I can't update that silly thing to save my life. 

A Loyal Following: Well, I told some of my friends about my blog these past few weeks... Love all y'all by the way! Thanks so much for joining me along my blogging journey :) And any new lovelies that have started following me.. Y'all are the best! 

Instagram More: Oh yeah, I got this. 11 posts (on average) a week! Also, I've gotten to the point where I'm super proud of my feed. I love taking photos for my account, and sharing them with my followers.. 

Photography: Our latest assignment was architecture.. and I think it went well enough! I've learned so much about the dark room and black and white photography. It's really been a ton of fun!

*skipping over fixing up old posts because it'll be better just to start that over the summer. 

Write more letters: YES I've been doing great at this! I've sent quite a few letters to so many great girls over the past little bit, it's been great! Shout out to those lovelies: Y'all have been so great to get to know, and look out for another letter coming your way soon! 

OTHER Goals:

-Finish another book: I'm thinking Girl Boss or maybe one of the others on my Pinterest board or my Reading List.

-Continue with my handwriting: I think my first attempt worked out, so I really just want to give it another go, and maybe write some full sentences in fun fonts!

-Have some more bloggers I know interviewed for my new Tuesday Talks. 

-Get my science grade up to a B?

-Purchase some new fun, Spring pieces!

-Continue to stay active on Instagram

-Keep up with my Cooking with Cathleen posts and share one or so a week

Yep. Nope. I didn't finish the Girl Boss book (actually I never started), but I did read another book.. This Is What Happy Looks Like which was super cute! I read it for a breakfast book club that my friends Courtney and Madeline started up. A review possibly on that later? I don't know.. Stay tuned.

I need to get more bloggers up on here for Tuesday Talks- Y'all email me if you would be interested! 

Science grade is currently a 91!!! Y'all that's a B! 

I just had a new Cooking With Cathleen go live yesterday, so hopefully you'll be seeing more of those from me soon :)

So if you made it this far, good for you! You now know a lot about me and my life lately and my accomplishments. April was an amazing month, so here's to an even more amazing May! 

Goals (Update)

If you're new here, or don't remember my post last month, or the month before, or the month before that... I do these little Goal updates on my 2015 Goals. The only reason I share these on my blog is so that I can look back later on and see my goals (hopefully all accomplished) and get to be proud of myself! So since it is now April.. It's time to write the update on last month. 

2015 Goals:

~ Smile more 

~ Quality over Quantity (in everything. not just blogging)
~ Work on my handwriting (because mine sucks) 
~ Stay active on social media (yet another thing I suck at. unless we're talking about Pinterest...)
~ Build a loyal Classy Cathleen following (I would really love to find new readers this year!)
~ Instagram more (and another thing I'm awful at. It's a miracle if I post more than once a month.)
~ Continue to practice photography skills (I love photography, so I obviously want to get better)
~ Fix up old posts to make them the best they can be (some of my posts when I first started out were not good at all.... so I want to fix them up, and republish them out their on the web!)
~ Write more letters (snail mail is becoming a lost art, and I am determined to help to bring it back)

Smiling: Does enough count? I've been a little stressed, but I was all smiles when we were out camping, beaching and Spring breakin' last week! 

Quality over Quantity: I like to think that my posts are getting better. I'm no longer writing "just to get a post up". I'm putting lots of thought, planning, and time into each of my posts. It gives me such a great feeling to know that I've put that much work into something and seeing it go live. 

Handwriting: Yeah.. Nope. I've done nothing. Honestly I'm really disappointed. Maybe amidst all my studying this month and next, I'll get a chance to practice my letters while writing graphic organizer on study guide on vocabulary review.

Active on social media: I'm making a Tumblr and Twitter comeback! Facebook too! I posted on my page a total of about 4 times last month WOOO! hahaha, also Polyvore! I made a ton of sets, and it just feels so good to connect with people...

Finding new followers: YES SOMETHING I ACCOMPLISHED! I have made so many new and sweet friends and followers and have loved getting to connect with them. Primarily through Instagram and Twitter, but Polyvore and Pinterest and Tumblr are super fun too!

Instagram More: YES! I'm so proud of myself about this one! I diiiiid it!!! So many pictures from the beach, gardens, everywhere and I love my feed so much...

Photo Practice: We've had so many fun assignments this past month so I've loved trying out new things with my camera. We're playing around with photograms this week, which is super duper exciting. 

Fixing up old posts: I've decided to ignore this goal until Summer. It's totally unrealistic to think that I will have time to do that haha. 

Writing more letters: I've connected with so many lovely folks this past month, and hopefully will continue to connect with them throughout this month! I wrote 10+ cards, postcards, everything. It was so much fun decorating the envelopes.. I went kinda overboard on a few actually... #sorryimnotsorry but I love sending out letters in the mailbox. 

Goals for March:

-Finish another book: I'm thinking Girl Boss or maybe one of the others on my Pinterest board or my Reading List.

-Continue with my handwriting: I think my first attempt worked out, so I really just want to give it another go, and maybe write some full sentences in fun fonts!

-Have some more bloggers I know interviewed for my new Tuesday Talks. 

-Get my science grade up to a B?

-Purchase some new fun, Spring pieces!

-Continue to stay active on Instagram

-Keep up with my Cooking with Cathleen posts and share one or so a week

Update: 

I haven't read anything... Wow I'm awful. Um handwriting is yet another unaccomplished goal. Only one more Tuesday Talks went live on the blog. Wow, again. I'm awful with goals. Report cards came out yesterday. My science grade was a C. I purchased a few fun things for Spring, but not too many. Instagram, check! I've been doing pretty good at keeping up with it. Annnnnnd Cooking with Cathleen posts have not been too good either. I need to get cooking.. 

So what y'all should have learned from this post is that I am a total slacker and that I need to focus, and check these goals off. I honestly just need to FOCUS. If anyone has some good advice to help with checking off my goals, accomplishing them, and moving on and setting bigger goals for myself! Any quotes, advice.... anything would be much appreciated. 

I'm actually embarrassed at how little I've accomplished, but I just had to write this so I can look back later on and know what was up. 

Instagram lately

I don't think I've ever done an Instagram update type of post before... I guess I've just never been proud of my account. But if you follow me on Twitter, you know I've been obsessed lately. Also, this gives you a pretty good look into my Spring Break! I hope you enjoy, and make sure you're following me!!!

So let's go back in time about two weeks:

We had some super rainy weather for like three or four days back to back so I took this one morning while waiting in the car

Just some of the things I packed for Spring Break.... 

I was looking for some more penpals to send some snail mail out to and I posted this photo

My older brother has autism (post to come about autism awareness month) so we went to SC's Palmetto Campout for special needs, and it was amazing. It was freezing cold that night so we didn't actually spend the entire night outside, but I fell asleep in the hammock (which we won by the way) until about 10 or 11 pm. We got a big tent that will fit our whole family, and it was an amazing experience. 

Like I said above about the campout.. at the park we were at, we got the chance to try out a kayak on the lake. My sister took the front, I got the back, and captured this shot when we were sitting and enjoying the day. 

Sunset of our first night @ the park. Which was breathtaking... I love the sun after seeing it both set and rise. 

My mom and I took a walk to see the sunrise. It was an amazing experience... I loved seeing the sun rise above the water. 

So.. the first day we were there I just got a vanilla cup. Boring right? My stomach was bothering me, but I couldn't pass up ice cream. So instead of sharing my cup.. mainly because it was gone by the time I pulled my phone out of my bag.. I just took a snap of the flavors. top left: black cherry // top right: butter pecan // bottom left: strawberry cheesecake // bottom right: i <3 chocolate="" nbsp="" td="">

There was one day when there was just no wind. Absolutely none. The water was so calm and it was just amazing and that blue color was just too beautiful not to snap a picture of.

Look how empty the beach was! Myrtle Beach is never this empty... but God bless that it was!

mhmmm butter pecan makes my heart happy. So, so, sooo happy

Look familiar? It should! Unless of course you missed this post... I'm really loving just a simple tank tucked into a pair of fun shorts with a denim jacket! Especially when it was so chilly by the water with all the wind.

She sells sea shells by the sea shore -- oops my nails aren't painted.. 

And another from Brookgreen inside the Dr Seuss house -- "Be who you are and say what you mean because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." -Dr Seuss 

@ Brookgreen Gardens I loved this wall covered in leaves and ivy... See my post on Brookgreen here

We spotted this little crab scuttling around on the beach, so duh I took his picture and posted it

Black cherry was heaven in a cup. So, so, good. 

I know I know.. It's store bought, and I posted it a couple hours after the black cherry, but I just couldn't resist mint chocolate chip!

Props to my sister for capturing this! Didn't she do an amazing job?? My shorts, sandals, watch, and jacket details all in one photo! (Feel free to pin this on Pinterest *wink wink*)

It had been a while since I had posted a picture of myself.. so here I am haha! We didn't take enough photos for a whole outfit post so I thought I would just share them on instagram. 

I went through this thing last week where like my snack (other than ice cream) was this frozen berry mix. We picked up the bag from walmart-- Cherry berry mix something like that i don't know but I loved it.. So so yummy

The last time we got ice cream @ MB State Park... Flavor: Strawberry Cheesecake

As my caption said: this was my first time eating something other than chicken nuggets or a sandwich @ Chickfila. This Cobb salad with raspberry vinaigrette dressing was heavenly. Like I know what I'm ordering next time! Also ft my Lilly shorts

I took this photo @ Brookgreen Gardens, but posted it with a Happy Easter message on Sunday

Did you see my tweet yesterday?? Gotta love Food Lion and fresh fruit...

The same tweet I talked about in the pineapple photo above.. Goes with these lemons and oranges too hahahaha

a beautiful ivy covered wall @ Brookgreen Gardens -- see my post here

Sorry for all the photos, but I'm kind of in love with my Insta feed... Also, you can basically see what my spring break was! Ice Cream! Feel free to pin any of these on Pinterest, share on tumblr haha whatever! Also, PLEASE follow me on Instagram if you wanna see more photos! Just search Cathleen Slagle or @classycathleen_