thinking out loud.

do you ever get so caught up in the chaos of life that you forget to look around and notice how beautiful your life is? 

I completely did that this week. 

backstory:

I woke up complaining, 

thinking that none of my friends loved me 

(pity party, i know)

which is such a lie!

they all love me

just as much as i love them

sometimes we just need to sit and bask in the sun

give yourself enough space to actually let people in

if i stay too closed minded and caught up in selfish ambition

how will anyone even be able to get past my brick wall.

so today we were blessed with summertime heat

[attempting to ignore the pollen]

i sat outside in a field

basked in the sun

giving myself a break from chaos

and sure enough i saw a friend i hadn't seen in a while

what a beautiful conversation

with laughs and genuine compassion for each other

even though we both live two very different lives

seeing her smile after i hadn't seen her in almost four months

made my day...

what made your day?*

to be anywhere.

Greece.

i have always wanted to travel to greece.

i'll admit it stemmed from gilmore girls.

i love alexis bledel.

so sisterhood of the traveling pants...head over heels in love with it.

but in all honesty, who wouldn't want to be there?

it is romantic

authentic

and beautiful

forget that they don't speak english, i think i can manage...

i wish i could immerse myself in the cities on the cliffs.

and being there with you, would be the cherry to this sundae.

photos via

be bold.

don't you love when you step out of your shell and be bold and it pays off!  

Last night i took the opportunity and chanced it.  

i was bold and fearless.  

I spoke my heart.  

and it payed off. 

hopefully it will be the start to something greater and better than before. 

i hate regretting and leaving feeling open and empty.  

without walls, vulnerable, wanting, and not filling these voids with love.  

so here's to being bold and fearless, to taking lemons and making wonderfully delicious lemonade.

 

{via}

QBA. (explanation below)

so this weekend i got the awesome opportunity to take a few wonderful ladies to ocean isle beach for what we at younglife call campaigners weekend.  we worshiped, praised and learned all weekend long.  it was beautiful.  the weekend contained lots of QBA aka quality boss action.  those ladies are the craziest and came up with that phrase, and i loved it! QBA happened frequently.

{sunrise on saturday}

 

{L.O.V.E.}

 

{jump}

  

{stroll}

{through the legs}

 

{pose}

{laugh}

it was a great weekend overall.  i love these girls.  i love this thing called younglife.  most of all i love Jesus, and how much he loves me!

how sweet it is...

when you actually get to have a conversation where "how are you?" isn't code for small talk.

to see an old couple...and you can still see the love.

 to enjoy the silence

to have a great read with a cup of coffee

{shoes}{couple}{sitting}{sip}

i believe

today has been a lazy day for the most part.  i slept in until like 10:30 which is beyond lazy for me. i ate lunch with preston and his parents. we talked about classes and weddings. Preston dropped me off and i have pretty much been sitting in the same place since then...with the occasional walking to the door to let the dogs out and answering the phone when it rings. 

other than that i have been reading other blogs and thinking.  we are so lucky to have everything we have.  those in Haiti are walking through their crumbled lives.  most of them have lost everything including friends and family. my heart and my prayers go out to them. 

{via}

there are tons of ways to help.  if you have the money you can text "Haiti" to 90999 which adds $10 to your cell phone bill and all $10 goes to the American Red Cross to Haiti aid.  if you can't send money, pray.  i have complete faith that God is there in Haiti helping those families find each other and stay strong amongst all the disaster surrounding them.  

my thank-yous go out to those bloggers who are able to send money based on how many comments they recieve, and those with etsy shops that will send proceeds to help as well. 

{via}

i'll have my cake and eat it too, thanks.

Hello lovelies!

last night we had a tiny birthday bash for my mom who turned 49 30! ;) we had plenty of food and then some! we ate my mom's favorite...st. louis toasted raviolis with bread, pasta, other things and of course, cake!

for her birthday we surprised her and stole all of her  very organized  recipes about a week ago and made them into cook books for her.  we originally thought two 1-inch binders would be fine, absolutely not.  it took us four of them with over 200 slip covers (each slip cover had at least 3 recipes in it!)  I must say that it was a project but we were glad to have done it for her. 

today has been so beautiful! it was almost 60 out which was fabulous.  I had an early class then just got to hang around my house with my puppy elsie and her friend hank, the dog. Preston came by this afternoon and we took the pair on a walk.  i must say, elsie is growing up fast, but i am doubtful that she will ever learn how to walk on a leash properly.. hank on the other hand is a pro.  we enjoyed our walk.  Preston and i rarely get to spend some alone time together so it was nice to just walk and talk about nothing in particular....

 {via} 

tonight i'm going to a highschool basketball game with the younglife team! so excited about that.  Then afterward it will be the sonnets by shakespeare popcorn and a movie in bed! can't wait!*

i hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

agape

last night i made some of my guy friends dinner... we had mac-n-cheese with hot dogs cut up in it and green beans--a childhood favorite.  it was really nice to get out of my mini apartment and hang out with them... while i was there i told them about my absolutely not stressful day and how great it was.  they ended up being great guys to vent to.  they helped me realize that it wasn't that much work, i just needed to focus on God and He alone would help me get through each day! one of my friends j even had my shakespeare professor last semester and said he was hard but a great teacher and that he learned a lot.  so i slept well last night with no nightmares about school!

today was busy so i didn't exactly have the time to even think of stressing about class.  i did finally purchase my books which i will pick up tomorrow.  once i get cracking on my reading this weekend, i will feel better to have some things crossed off my homework list.

other than that i have realized that there really is no reason to stress over things you can't control.

i am also working on setting boundaries.  my pastor spoke about it the other weekend during the first section of a series he is calling "Resolutions" in spirits of the double digit year. i am working on learning how to say "no" more often to ensure that my days are meaningful and led by Christ.

 

i know that sounds hypocritical because i was talking about how i need to get cracking on my school work...but last semester i really learned the value of time with Christ.

I am doing this group through young life called BRU Crew (Bible Readers United...we felt cool when we made up the name hah!) we spend an hour a week together reading the Bible.  We started at Genesis 1 and are reading all the way through it in 9 months.  Hard, but honestly it has been well worth it. this group forces me to spend time alone with God on a regular basis on a personal level.

i'm not going to lie, i am a little behind because i wasn't a very responsible reader over break. but i am sure that i am more stressed about the reading than Jesus is.... last semester the time i spent with God really made me reevaluate my priorities.  for some reason it all clicked.  i was able to balance all my school work and everything else and it paid off.  so even though i was super stressed the other day and called it my "challenge" and thought it would be impossible to do great,  forget what i said.

i know i will be able to because i am focusing on Him and He alone gives me the strength to get through my days.  So by focusing on Him daily, all the craziness of class and school work fall right into place.

"...do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34

{http://iamnothingami.tumblr.com/post/247174443/via-sassaroon}

merci beaucoup

 Thanks so much to Katy Mary for my very first Blog Award!  She just started a new blog called Three Hundred Sixty Five Loves and it is fabulous! My favorite thing about her is that no matter how small my little blog family is, she always takes the time to comment!

So with all things there are rules to this award:
1) Thank the person who nominated you for this award.
2) Copy the award & place it on your blog.
3) Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
4) Tell us 7 interesting things about yourself.
5) Nominate 7 bloggers.
6) Post links to the 7 blogs I nominate.

so here it goes... all about me-

1. I am a natural blonde

2. I wish so much that I could be the editor of a fun weddings or interior design magazine, and I am very sad that the publishing world is going through a rough spot

3. I played clarinet for 10 years and just recently stopped playing due to school.

4. I love music you can sing along to.

5. I am a caffine addict.

6. I am also a coffee whore--starbucks white chocolate mocha and caribou morning break

7. I am completely in love with my quirky pup elsie (:

Here are 7 of my favorite ladies-

1. Katharine is one of my dearest friends I met at college.  She definitely deserves this award because her posts are so real.  She speaks truth more than anyone I know and i love her for it.

 2. Laura may be one of my top read blogs.  I love everything she puts on it about decor.  She also has an amazing etsy shop with beautiful art!

3. Gracie is so fantastic.  She has a wedding coming up.  She is marrying the man of her dreams, and I can't wait to hear all about it! Her blog is just a joy to read. 

3. Nicole is another top read blog on my list.  Not only do I hope to be her sister in law some day, but i hope my blog gets to be as lovely as hers!

4. Taza is famous in the blog world, for real. If you haven't read her blog or seen the cute pictures of her puppy, go asap because it is amazing!

5. Amanda's blog is so great.  Not only does she speak so much truth but she also always takes the time to drop a love note!  She is so wonderful and her blog is so fun to read!

6. I have recently started to get into the novelista barista's blog.  her coffee inspired blog has definitely drawn me! go check it out!

Now that i feel famous and all, go check out their blogs and leave a little love!

 

love, love, love....

Sure is the season for love!

i am so happy for all my friends who are engaged right now!

most of you don't know that I work for a local weddings magazine called "Weddings Magazine"

maybe work isn't the right word, haha, i'm the intern.

but this job comes with lots of perks.

I get to attend bridal shows!

Over the weekend, i attended a 2 day show.

I saw so many people I knew!

I don't dress up too too much, but i did love getting cute for the show!

i always try to wear cute "work" clothes, but it never works... but last minute i had this great idea to pair these two shirts with a navy pencil skirt and they both looked fabulous....so day 1 and day 2 outfit complete without buying anything new!

Although I loved meeting other vendors and talking to brides about their big day one of my favorite things to see was the love!

There was so much love in that room!

The families were such a support to the girls planning.

Some families came without the soon-to-bes and were just getting ideas.

It was so adorable to watch how the "lucky grooms" treated their soon-to-be-brides.

Always thoughtful and loving.  The smiles and gentle touches of genuine feelings are hard to describe but that feeling has embraced me this weekend.  I cannot wait to know-to know for sure. 

I know I always say that I can't wait to get engaged and married, which I can't but at the same time after this weekend I know I can wait a little longer to be sure it is the right timing. It is every girl's dream to find her prince, I've found mine,  we both just need to grow up a little more!

my guy

last night after posting about 2009.2010, i was thinking about preston and all that we did this past year.

preston is such a great guy.  i sometimes get tongue tied thinking of how to describe him.

We went through so much when we first started dating. Although it was mainly friendship spats with people we don't really hang out with now we are in college... then it seemed like my world had crashed around me.  The past two and a half years have really brought me to reality about living a life that has meaning.

-Here is a little tid bit about my guy-

he is shy.

until you get to know him.

then he frequently acts like a 5 year old on a sugar high.

he's extremely strong and makes me feel safe no matter where we are.

he is huge into working out, but whenever we go together he seems to motivate me more than work out himself.

he puts up with my N.C. State antics, even though he is a UNC fan.

he loves to teach me.

he teaches me how to play video games the "right" way.  How to golf, although I'm pretty much a professional (just kidding).

  he is extremely selfless.

he always thinks about me, and my concerns.

he puts up with my wedding craze, and baby name lists.

sometimes he even reads my blog!

he gets annoyed at how much I apologize for little things that don't matter.

he has taught me to love more deeply than I ever have before.