Finals Finals Finals....

Wow, so its been a very very long time since I wrote in this blog. Sorry that I have been MIA for the last several weeks or months, school has been 100% crazy!!! I have been so swamped between school and Phi Lamb that I have barely had time for myself. All I've done is go to class, do homework, study, have somewhat of  a social life, and sometimes sleep. Like seriously, thats it. I've been crazy. I'm talking crazy eyes crazy. 24/7. But luckily the semester is over!! I had my last class today and all that's left is a few projects and some finals and then I'm done with my first semester at UF!!!! Whew, it went by way to fast. But I feel like I grew a lot and learned a lot and I'm excited for the rest of my time here! But I just wanted to update (kinda) that I'm at least alive and breathing. Once all my finals are done, I will sit down and actually do a post that really lets you know what's been going on in my life lately...promise!! I'm currently in Library West studying my life away so I'm going to get back to that so I can get some sleep tonight! Toodle-oo lovelies!

Discovery...

I made my first discovery today. I'm allergic to Covergirl Naturalluxe mousse mascara. Lucky me. I bought it on Thursday and I wore it Friday. It felt really light and I didn't realize I had mascara on. But then Friday night, my eyes were all itchy and not feelin so hot and then all yesterday my eyes were obnoxiously itchy. So then this morning, I woke up with almost swollen shut eyelids. Like seriously, puffy to the max. I should have taken a picture of what they looked like when I woke up. I looked like I was on drugs. For real. It was awful. I ran into my sister's room and woke her up and said, "Look at my eyes!!!" and she thought I had pink eye. But rest assured, I do not. After working at a daycare for 3 years, I know what pink eye looks like and what I have my friends is not pink eye. Anywhoo. I missed my church service because I had an ice pack on my eyes trying to make the puffiness go away. But I made it to Sunday School looking like a puffy eyed weirdo. But it's ok. Hopefully my eyes will be better tomorrow. If not, I'm gonna go see a dermatologist. I'm also going to Target and get a refund on that crap cause we all know that mascara is kinda pricey. I want my 7 bucks back. So right now I'm wearing my glasses (which I should wear all the time, but I don't) so that they cover up the puffy eyes. Haha, it's a genius idea, I know. Here's a picture of me with the ice pack on, it's quite amusing...haha

I feel like I look like a superhero of sorts. Even though I looked like a complete weirdo, my eyes were feeling goooodddd! Unfortunately, I can't be wearing that to movie night tonight. Darn. I'll have to endure the pain I guess. I hope ya'll had a lovely weekend! Movie night beckons so I must go. Toodle-oo lovelies!

As of late...

As of late, I'm...

1. Never up this late

2. Always tired

3. My feet are aching and so sore

4. My back hurts

5. Somewhat on the grouchy side

But still incredibly happy. Know why? I got a new job and while it's extremely tiring and busy, I absolutely love it! The people I work with are hilarious and we have such a good time. But today was the best day since I've started working there because my feet didn't hurt once today! Which if you'd been there last week, whew, let me just tell you I was a mess. I could barely walk when I got home. It was awful. But I got some new shoes that really relieve the pain in mah feet so I was feeling good today! 

I went back to Sonshine today to visit my kids and let's just say, I got a little teary-eyed when I walked in the door. All their jaws dropped and they all ran up to me yelling "Emmy Emmy Emmy!" and giving me giant hugs. I haven't been there for 8 weeks and they have changed so much! They are saying complete sentences and carrying conversations, it's amazing. I had a couple of them come up to me and say how much they missed me. My heart totally melted. Even though I love my new job, I still think of my kids every day and miss them terribly! It was nice to go visit though and I think I'll go visit them again soon! But I'm gonna head to bed since I have work in the morning...blahhhh. Only 4 more days till the weekend! Haha, toodle-oo lovelies!

Back to Reality...

Days 4-6

So there's not much to report on days 4 through 6 because I was at my Papa's house and since he lives in the middle of nowhere, well you get the picture...haha. But we did do some "shopping" at Sparta's one store and I bought myself a new Vera Bradley! I love it, its super cute! That's pretty much the extent of the rest of my time at my grandparents, sad but it was really relaxing! So on Tuesday (day 6) we left and started making our way up to Williamsburg, Virginia! We made a little stop along the way at Appomattox and saw all the buildings and stuff there, it was really cool!

Hahaha, they had outhouses all over the place!

I'll post more later, I have to go to bed since we'll be getting up early yet again....but I'll be posting days 7-10 which are from Jamestown, Yorktown, Williamsburg, and Petersburg! Toodle-oo my loves!

My mountains :))

Isn't it pretty?? 

Day 2=lots of driving! and Day 3 :)

No video today. Sorry! Today (well actually yesterday, I had no internet connection yesterday) we took off on our 2 week adventure! We left Gainesville around 4:30 and didn't make it to my grandparents in North Carolina till 2:30 in the AM. Needless to say we were all verryyyy tired! The ride up here was not that bad except for being a little cramped in the backseat because of so much stuff but other than that it was good! I passed the time by watching Pirates of the Caribbean on my laptop :) Day 3 consisted of nothing but relaxing which was awesome. My grandma made pancakes and we hung out around the house. My mom and I walked down to the creek which is where me and my sister spent a lot of our time when we were younger. After talking for a bit, we made the ridiculous walk back up the very big hill to my grandparents house. We were both out of breath by the time we got to the door, and very tired haha. My favorite part of today was sitting with my grandpa and him telling me all about his time in the military. It was really cool. He told me some stories and showed me his medals. I have such a cool papa :) I also got to feed a hummingbird! It was really cool, I had a bottle cap filled with sugar water in my hand and I held it out and I was very still and the hummingbirds would come and drink out of it! I could feel their wings touching my hand and one of the hummingbirds almost sat on my hand. It was beyond cool! I'll have to post pictures soon! But I'm off to bed now, toodle-oo lovelies! :)

Day 1=lots of packing

Here's Day 1 of my video blog. Enjoy!

New Idea!

So as stated in my previous post, I won't have good internet connection while I'm on vacay, so I'm going to make a video each day telling what we did and when I get back from vacation, I'll post them one day at a time (maybe more) so you can share in my adventures! Sound good? I'm excited! Day 1 will be coming tomorrow cause that is the day I'll be stressed out packing! haha toodle-oo lovelies! :)

Trying something new...

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all those wonderful fathers out there! I've had the special privilege to grow up with my dad who is the best father I could ask for (I might be a little biased ;) Anyways, I am very close to my dad and am such a daddy's girl! I'm incredibly blessed and thankful for all he has done for me and my family. He is truly a self-sacrificing man. He is a family man because he grew up like that. He grew up with 2 wonderful parents who taught him the value of a marriage, a family, and a relationship with Christ. For me to have a father like that is absolutely amazing. I'm excited to spend today with him and just letting him know how much he means to me. I am a daddy's girl through and through. I hope you all have a great day with your fathers too!

That's my daddy! :)

Toodle-oo my lovelies! Have a great day! :)

I love babysitting

Ok in all honesty, most people would not make that statement. Unless you are me and you flippin love children even though they can be real moody and downright mean sometimes. So tonight I was babysitting my cute little boy from the daycare I used to work at and let me just tell ya, at the beginning of the night I was already ready to go home. He was being all moody and particular about what he wanted to do and where he wanted to sit and he even threw in a couple of tantrums just cause. Oh, I should probably tell you that this kid is 2 years old. Yep, 2 and he gave me 2 of the hardest hours of babysitting evaaa. But it was all worth it. You know why? After I finally figured out what show he wanted to watch and he finally stopped being so moody (joker was moody cause he hadn't had a nap earlier) he sat beside me on the couch and was all curled up to me. Next thing I know, he's out cold. Couple seconds later, he rearranges himself to be laying on me and is dead asleep. Cutest. Thing. Ever! It made me want to have a little one of my own so bad! But let's be real, I can SOOO wait for that! I'm babysitting two more times this weekend so I have a busy weekend ahead! Hope you lovelies have a wonderful weekend! Toodle-oo! :)

Happy Birthdayyyy!

So today was 2 of my favorite people's birthday; my mom's birthday and my niece(technically cousin) 1st birthday! It was a very exciting day! Last night the family went to Connastoga's which is an awesome place down in beautiful Alachua for my mom's birthday dinner and then today was all dedicated to Princess Mya! She of course didn't mind all the extra attention towards her ;) She even took a couple steps today! She got a lot of presents and got really messy with her cake! She is such a happy baby and I'm glad I get to be her Aunt Emmy :)

Isn't she adorable?!

She LOVED that cake! 

The adult cake..haha

Well that was my Saturday and I loved it! Hopefully ya'll had an eventful one as well! Off to bed, toodle-oo lovelies! :)

Feeling a bit sappy....

Ok, so maybe sappy isn't the right word for how I'm feeling tonight (I guess it's technically this morning...) I'll just start from the beginning. So about 3ish hours ago, I started watching disc 3 of season 3 of Gossip Girl. My friend Miranda got me obsessed and now I'm trying to catch up so I've been watching all the seasons. Side note: it's really good!! Back to the point. About an hour ago, I started crying. Why? I have no idea. Nothing sad was going on in the show and so I was very confused as to why I was suddenly tearing up. As I continued watching Gossip Girl, it hit me. I was crying because I hate being single. I know, it's a stupid reason to be crying but in all honesty, being single for 4 years with only 2 dates during those 4 years absolutely sucks. I miss having a boyfriend, I miss going on dates or staying in and watching a movie, I miss walking around holding hands and cuddling. I've seen so many relationships start this past year and I've been to two weddings so far this year and for some reason, it is just tearing me up inside about being single. The thing that is killing me is that I thought I was ok with the fact that I was single. I mean, I guess if I'm being honest it's always bothered me but I thought I'd come to grips with the fact that when the time was right, I'd stop being single. It was during my sophomore year of college that I'd come to the decision to be fine with being single. I had prayed that God would give me peace about it and at least for a year, I felt that peace and I was truly ok with it. So why is this coming up now? There are so many thoughts that are in my head and to be perfectly honest, all of them are questions that focus on what's wrong with me. Why have I been single for 4 years? Why can't I get a date to save my life? Am I not good enough? Am I not pretty enough? Is there something about me that guys don't like? I've never felt more like an insecure teenage girl than I do right now.

I know that God makes everything work together for my good. I know that when the time is right, God will give me a man that is more amazing that I've ever dreamed of. I know that he will love me more than I deserve and he will help me grow in my relationship with Christ. I know all of these things, so why is it so hard for me to trust in it? I feel so ready to have this perfect guy that God has picked out for me and I just don't understand why after so many bad past relationships I still have to keep waiting. I'm not a very patient person and I feel my patience dwindling day after day. I know that this is all probably God testing me and its His way of getting me to trust Him more. I know I need to and I want to because I know not trusting God is worse than trusting in the unknown of what God will do in my life.

Sorry this post was so long, I just needed to somehow get all this out. This nice thing is that I'm not alone in this whole "I hate being single" ordeal. Good night lovelies! :)

It's been a rough couple days...

Hey guys, so I'm sorry that I haven't written in what seems like ages. It's been a little rough here lately. I guess I'll fill you in from the beginning. So two weekends ago, I went to Pensacola to see the wedding of Matt and Jess Seitz! It was a beautiful wedding and I'm so excited and blessed to have been a part of it! I got to hang out with some awesome people that weekend and it was a great weekend! Last Monday I applied for a new job at the bookstore at UF campus which will be great since I can't drive until July 1st (found out yesterday that I got the job! but won't start until July 1st, ironic huh?) Anyways, on to the news that has really put a damper on everything. Starting today, I will no longer be working at the daycare. Apparently this past Friday was my last day, except I didn't know that. I got to work on Monday and my boss was surprised to see me. Mind you, I never gave verbal or written notice of when my last day was. My boss had made a new work schedule and I wasn't on it and she had already promised this other girl my hours. So needless to say, Monday was NOT a good day. Yesterday was even worse because my boss told me she was going to try to work it out to where I would "share" hours with this new girl. I'm kinda over working there and I'm so frustrated that it might be good for me to not work there anymore. Maybe all this is happening because it's God's way of telling me that I should quit. I don't know, all I know is that I'm am emotionally drained. I hope today goes somewhat better though I'm sure it won't because I'm telling my boss today that I'm done and I say goodbye to all my parents today which will be very hard for me. Whew, so that is the update on my life. I'll be sure to update once everything is finalized. Have a great Wednesday lovelies! :)

Done Done DONEEEE!!!

That's right folks! This girl is finished with her last semester at Santa Fe!!! WHOOO-HOOOOO! This means...drum roll please......HELLLOOOOO UF!!!! I'm sorry, I just cannot contain my excitement!! I finished my last final today and I find out grades on Tuesday so hopefully there will be NO surprises! Tonight has been so relaxing, the most stressful thing I've had to do was laundry! I'm so excited for this summer for a number of reasons. Reason number uno, NO CLASSES!!! Reason number dos, I get to hang out with awesome people all summer. Reason number tres, three of my good friends are getting married this summer, yay weddings!!! Reason number quatro, I get to spend this summer wedding planning with my bff who's getting married next May! And finally, reason number cinco, I can FINALLY relax and I have time to read books that aren't assigned reading and I can devote time to this blog! So I'm really excited for this summer and I can't wait to share all my adventures with you!

My summer starts off with a bang as I am going on a mini-vacay this weekend! Me and a bunch of my friends are going to Tampa/Orlando to go to the beach and go to Harry Potter World!! EEEKKK! I'm excited, I haven't been yet! I'll post pictures once I get them! So I hope you all have wonderful plans for this summer and I'll be sure to update ya'll on my summer adventures! Toodle-oo my lovelies! :)

Oh What a Glorious day, what a glorious way that you have saved me!

Happy Easter my lovelies! I hope you have all had a great day with your families but also I hope you celebrated the fact that Christ is risen from the dead! Christ died, like He said He would, and He rose, just like He said He would and I'm so incredibly blessed that He did! Today has been one of those days that I wouldn't trade for anything. I had the greatest time going to church with my parents at their church and then eating Easter lunch with my family and my aunt and uncle. Spending time with my family is so precious to me and it was just so awesome to be able to be with them while we were all celebrating Christ's resurrection from the dead!

Off to study for my finals this week...eeekk! (Oh this is nbd, but I got an A in my psych class which means I don't have to take the final...but just like I said, nbd ;) haha toodle-oo lovelies! :)

I can see the end!!

It's almost the end of the semester! Seriously, only 4 days left of classes and only 2 days of finals!! EEEKKKK!!!!!! I'm applying for graduation on Wednesday!! And then I will finally, FINALLY, be done at Santa Fe and I will be moving 15 minutes down to UF!!! WHOO HOOO!! (Can you tell I'm excited???) Haha, anyways, this week will be crazy so I will probably not be posting anything until after finals which shouldn't upset anyone since I already do a horrible job at posting every other day anyways! But seriously, this summer I will do a much better job at blogging since I will not have school to worry about!!! There will be lots of fun stories and pictures and everything! Yay!

Here's my to-do list for this week:
1. Study study study!
2. Finish my science class!
3. Do my religion project...tonight...since it's due...tomorrow....whoops...
4. Make sure I have an A in Psych so I don't have to take the final!
5. Study my hardest for that dumb Topics Math class...booooo!
6. Study for Religion.
7. Apply for Graduation. Whoo-ohooo!
8. Eat and sleep at some point this week...
9. Clean my closet...that might have to wait until after finals...
10. Have a victory dance at 3 pm next Thursday cause I'll be DONNEEEEEEE!!!!!

That seems like a lovely to-do list right? Ugh, so much to do, and so little time to do it! Hopefully I'll stay somewhat sane this week...

Until after finals, toodle-oo my lovelies!

So blessed :)

Hello lovelies! So tonight was my last fish school of the year. I know, bring on the waterworks right?! But seriously, it was really sad, I kept holding back tears the whole time. I've grown so much in my relationship with Christ and it's because of fish school that it happened. Watching my fish kids grow in their relationships with Christ was more of a motivation for me because I want to always be someone they can look up to and come to for advice. I don't think it's hit me yet that fish school is actually over. It hit me a little tonight during fish school while we were passing around journals for everyone to write in. And then when I read what my fish kids and my fish husband wrote in mine, I kinda just couldn't keep the tears back any longer. I feel so blessed to have had this opportunity to be a leader to these freshmen. They each have a special place in my heart and I can't wait to see how God works in their lives.

Whew, on other news, I'm almost done with everything I need to have done for Preview for UF!!!! Just a few papers to hand in and then I'm all set! I'm 2 weeks away from graduating from Santa Fe (HOLLAAAA!) and then I'll be a student at the University of Florida. I can't believe that this moment is finally here! The school that my parents went to, that my grandparents went to, that my sister goes to is the same school that I will be going to! Eeeekkk!!! UF has such a special place in my family's hearts because so many of our family has gone there! I know my parents were soooo happy when I got it. This was the only school that they wanted me to go to, and let's face it, it's the only school I want to go to as well! So it all works out! Well, I'm off to bed. It's been a loooong day and I needs my sleep!! Toodle-oo lovelies!

Officially a Florida Gator!!!

This will be a short post but I wanted to let you lovelies know that I got in to UF!!! I'm officially in the ProTeach Unified Early Childhood program.!!! It's a long name, I know but I don't care cause I'm in it!!!!

Hope you lovelies have a fantastic day!!!! :))) Go Gators!!!!

Happy Monday! :)

Hello!! Just thought I'd update you guys! While this Monday started off kinda rough it got a lot better with the news that my UF application has been sent to the College of Education for a final decision! EEEEKKK! I'm getting sooo close to finding out if I got in! I'm all kinds of emotions right now; nervous, excited, scared, happy. I'm realllllllly hoping I get in cause goodness knows I do not wanna move away! Hopefully I will be able to stay in Gainesville and become a Florida Gator! I'll keep ya'll posted :)

This weekend I led a DNOW with high school girls and let me just tell ya, it was CRAZZYYYY! But it was so so so awesome! I loved every minute of it! I learned a lot and grew from it and also realized some things about myself. The girls also learned a lot and got a lot out of this weekend so it was good! But I am anxiously awaiting dinner so I'm gonna see if I can hurry it up a bit! Toodle-oo lovelies! :)

Busy busy bee!

Hello there! Just thought I'd take a few minutes from what has been a crazy day to say hey! Unfortunately my crazy day is not over yet. Seriously, it's after 12 in the AM and I'm still up doing laundry and cleaning and packing. What a great way to spend my evening....but I can't complain. I'm so excited for this weekend because I get to spend all weekend with youth doing a Disciple-Now weekend!! It's basically a youth retreat and college students come in and are leaders for the weekend. I've done 3 so far and they are a blast except I always come back exhausted but happy :)

There was going to be a lot more to this post. But it's 2 in the AM now and I'm STILLLLLL doing laundry and I'm STILLLL cleaning and I'm STILLL packing. Anddddd I have to be at work at 8 in the AM. I guess it's another 4 hours of sleep kinda night. That stinks. Greatly. You know another reason why it stinks greatly?? Cause I have a horrible cough that's caused by that yucky good for nothing pollen! It has me all stuffed up and coughing up a lung (it's ok, I mean I don't want a lung anyways...) Hopefully my stuffy nose and my yucky cough will not ruin my weekend. OH! I hear the bell for the dryer! Yayyyyy!!! Last load of laundry done!! Guess what that means?!?!? I get to go to bed! Oh happy day! (A little slap-happy/delirious. Can you tell? ;)) I hope you lovelies have a great weekend! :) Toodle-oo!

It's a miracle!

So the first week of school after spring break is officially over and guess what? I wasn't stressed. For a whole week! That means for 5 days or 120 hours or...ok I'm really not gonna try to figure out how many minutes but seriously! I wasn't stressed at all this week! I really thought I would be and I mean, let's face it, I do tend to get stressed out pretty easily. Maybe this whole not stressed thing will last until summer! Hang on, let me karma-cap that! Ok, done! Karma-cap is just like knocking on wood but you do it when there's no wood around (also because it's cooler :)) Anyways, I'm actually really excited for the rest of this semester. For the first time in a while, I haven't been thinking about where I'll be in the summer or the fall. I've been focusing on right now and what I need to do right now and what God is telling me right now. It's been helping me a lot! I never thought that focusing so much on the present would help so much! It's really encouraging and makes me feel more at peace about things. But I'm gonna head to bed but I just wanted to share that with you guys! Good night lovelies! :)

Hello chaos of school...

So Spring break is officially over because I'm doing homework and getting everything organized...ughhhh. It was an incredibly relaxing week though. Seriously, parking my bum at my best friend's house and spending all week with her was a great way to spend my spring break. We pretty much had wedding talk alllll week and looked at wedding dresses and bridesmaid dresses and talked about hair and makeup. I can't wait till the wedding plan really starts kicking off; I'm so excited for my bestie!!! So apart from that, spring break was just incredibly relaxing and STRESS-FREEEEE!!! Which is exactly what I needed so I'm incredibly thankful for that. I'm all well-rested for this week and for the rest of the semester. Although, I can't wait till summer break! Haha! Well I'm off to go do more homework and be productive....more like watch a movie and eat!

Also, I have a new obsession. It's with a hair straightener. The best. hair. straightener. EVER! It's called a GHD straightener and it seriously makes the perfect curl. What's so awesome about it is that it doesn't damage your hair. It somehow adjusts its temperature to your hair type. It's awesome. The only downside is that it costs like almost 200 bucks. Any of you lovelies want to help me out in getting it??? Haha...here's a picture of the back of my head with the perfect curls and a picture of the straightener.

Perfect. Curls. Am I right or am I right?!

It's beautiful isn't it? If you wanna see the website, here it is! http://www.ghdhair.com/

Have a great rest of your Sunday lovelies! :)

Bye-Bye Spring Break... :(

So it's nearing the end of my spring break and it seriously breaks my heart. If you listen closely, I'm almost positive you will hear it breaking; it's kinda pitiful. Anyways, this is the one spring break that I've done nothing, like literally nothing. I didn't go anywhere, to the beach, cruise, lake (you get the picture). I sat my bum at my best friend Danielle's house for the week. So I got here Monday night and her dad took us out to B.J's for dinner! Yum! We got a pizza and then a King's Cake afterwards. If you don't know what a King Cake is, shame on you! Not really, cause I didn't even know what it was till like I was in high school. It's basically a delicious yummy cinnamon roll with mardi gras color sprinkles on it. I don't know the full story but it's yummy! So Tuesday we laid out by the pool for a few hours and talked for a loooongg time, it was great! Wednesday kinda sucked as I was a wee bit sickly, so we stayed inside all day. Today was also cruddy since the weather decided to be really overcast and blahhh. But we spent most of yesterday and today looking at wedding dresses and bridesmaid dresses since my bestie is getting married soon! It was great fun! Hopefully tomorrow will have better weather since I am in desperate need of a tan! But now it's off to bed as I'm am exhuasted. Toodle-oo lovelies! :)

Helllloooo Spring Break!!

Ahhhhh!! It's here! Spring Break, that one glorious week during spring semester when I am able to forget about school and work and do nothing, I repeat, nothing except relax in the sun! :) It sounds so amazing right?!? I'm so excited, I for real can't even contain all my excitement! All next week I'm doing nothing except hanging out with my bestie Danielle. We made this perfect plan; spend all day by the pool, eat, listen to music, watch movies, sleep and then do it all over again the next day! Pure bliss? I think so!

Anyways, part of the reason I'm so excited for Spring Break is that it'll give me a really, really, reallllly nice vacay from all this stress I'm dealing with. So I'm super duper excited for this week. I'll have to update you lovelies as the week goes on! Right now it's time for a much needed good night's rest! Toodle-oo! :)

What are you lovelies doing for Spring Break?

My break up letter

Don't worry, this isn't a break up letter to you or my blog. This is a break up letter to stress and worry, the two pesky emotions that never seem to leave me alone. Lately I've been overwhelmed with all these decisions about school and work and summer plans and it's definitely taken its toll on me. I realized something today though, I am letting stress and worry rule my life. It's taking over my thoughts and even my actions. I'm a lot more crabbier and I get frustrated a lot more easily. It's really a downer when you think about it. I'm usually a very outgoing and bubbly person and now because of these two pesky emotions, I'm not. It disappoints me and, thankfully, that motivates me to get rid of those feelings! One of my fish daughters told me today that I need to break up with stress and worry. So while it seems really silly to type all this, I'm going to do it anyway :)

Stress, you've been in my life way too long and I'm done. You do nothing but make me all nervous and emotional and you cause me to have meltdowns. You make me have freak outs about all these decisions and you don't give me any peace. When people ask me how I am, my answer has been too frequently "stressed". So since I'm breaking up with you, my answer will finally (hopefully) be "Great!"

Worry, I don't even know what to say to you except good-bye!

I know that I'm still going to have my days when I'm stressed or worried or both but I also know that God has the control to take these emotions away. So I'm trusting in that fact and I'm putting all my faith in God that He'll help me through all my trials and that He'll help me to make the right decisions about school, work, and life. So stress and worry, I'm officially breaking up with you! Boy it feels good to say that (even though I feel completely ridiculous typing it!) Well I'm off to catch up on The Bachelor! Toodle-oo lovelies! :)

No sleep=breakdown

This past weekend I went on a retreat with my church. The retreat was called A Retreat from Apathy. It was really awesome and really opened my eyes to putting God in the center of my whole life and in everything I do. While the retreat was amazing and totally worth it, I got less than 9 hours of sleep....for the whole weekend. And for me, sleep is something I have to have. Like, I love sleeping. For those that know me, when I get really sleepy I get to be one of two things. Either I get really slap-happy and giggly or I get really emotional or grouchy. Unfortunately for me, I was both of those things last night. For the majority of the afternoon/evening I was pretty slap-happy and giggly. Later on, as I was talking to one heck of a fish daughter (whoo hooo!) I became very emotional. At fish school last night we had talked about God's will for our lives and how in order for us to figure it out, we have to let go of whatever control we want/have. At times, we are so selfish in asking God to make something happen for us. God already had a plan for our lives even before we were born. I don't know about you, but that's pretty mind-blowing to me. He already knew my whole life and what I was going to be and where I was going to end up? Wow. Pure craziness right there. Anyways...so I began thinking of all the decisions I have to make. Decisions which have to be made in the next several weeks. There are several problems that arise from this situation. One: I am a horrible decision maker. Two: How do I know which decision is right? Three: What if I make the wrong one and everything goes chaotic? Four: I DON'T want to make any of these decisions. 

So that makes me kind of at a crossroad. I don't want to make these decisions but I have to. Because of all this over-analyzing going on in my head last night, I preceded to have a breakdown. It was really sudden which made it worse. And it was right before my leadership meeting...great timing right? Fortunately for me, my bff Lo saw me as my breakdown was starting to happen and she pulled me aside and waited for me to spill (because she knew I would). Here's how it went down..."I don't want to make any of these decisions and there are too many decisions and what if that and what if this and blah blah blah" Seriously I can't even understand my mind sometimes. All these questions and concerns and fears come flooding out and I didn't even realize I had all these things in my head! I was just so suddenly overwhelmed that everything was a much bigger deal than it really was. I mean, these decisions are kind of big life decisions but in all honesty? Not doing me much good going around and having all these meltdowns. I mean, I know that I need to trust God completely and just stop worrying and stressing about all this. But that's easier said than done. And for a person like me who worries and stresses out like it's my job? It makes it harder to just simply give that up. I sometimes feel like I'm holding on so tightly to a life preserver so that I don't drown in all this stress and worry that is of the world. I hold on like it's giving me a "sense of security" when it's really giving me all these fears. Like if I don't hold on, everything will fall apart. I wonder what would happen if I just let go. 

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, " declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. " 

Early Spring? Yes please!

Happy Wednesday my friends! You know what I love about warm weather? It's time to break out the bathing suits or rather buy bathing suits! This is seriously a highlight of my spring every year. Like for real, I'm not kidding! So today, I went a little crazy and bought TWO bathing suits and yes, I bought them in February where it should not even be in the 70's yet butttt since I live in the sunshine state....helllloooo warm weather!! :) OK so that was my excitement of the day, apart from being able to sit outside for an hour and a half of course! Alright, excitement over about warm weather and bathing suits.

So it's the middle of the semester and all my professors are talking about how we are past the mid-way point of the semester which means this semester is almost over. Which makes me very excited because I graduate this semester (EEKK!) but it also freaks me out cause it's now crunch time. Something on my new years resolutions list was to make all A's this semester....like I said, crunch time. This means no more procrastination! I can do that right? Yeahhh I can. Starting now. Because, although I love this blog, it present a little procrastination problem. Soooo I'm gonna go be productive! Much love :)

TGIF!

For real guys, Thank Goodness It's Friday! It's been a stressful, tiring week. Let me just tell you, my body does not handle going to bed late, getting up early and then working/going to class all day. It's almost 11 in the pm and I'm still awake when I should be in bed but I wanted to write to you guys and tell you my exciting news! I just submitted my undergraduate transfer application to the University of Florida just 5 minutes ago!! Now, of course, I have to wait for like ever but whatevs. My application is done and I don't have to worry about it anymore! If God wants me to go to UF and become a teacher then doggone it I will! Hehe :) Anyhooo, I'm super super exhausted and am in dire need of sleep so I'm off to bed. I hope you lovelies have a wonderful weekend! Good night! :)

Treasure Hunt!

I always seem to find stuff when I'm least expecting to find it. You know, like you are trying to find your favorite shirt to wear and you can't find it and then days later you find it? Don't worry, it happens to me all the time. But yesterday I found a book I've been looking for for like weeks! It's called A Man Worth Waiting For by Jackie Kendall and it's amazing. I haven't finished it yet (duh, because I couldn't find it!) but what I've read so far is really good! It pretty much goes through the story of Ruth and Boaz and how a girl should look for a Boaz for a future husband instead of a Bozo. Meaning, find a guy who is so in love with God instead of himself or his job or whatever it may be. I really love the story of Ruth and Boaz. Like I really hope my future husband is like Boaz! Also, it's really fun to say, "I want a Boaz, not a Bozo!" or "Stop being a Bozo and start being a Boaz!" One of my favorite things Jackie says is, "Let God write your love story. Let him surpass all your expectations." So I highly encourage this book for you single ladies out there; it really changes what you look for in a guy! :) Here's a picture of the book and my happy face at finally finding it! Hope you lovelies have had a great Monday! :)

My sincerest apologies...

Guys, I seriously suck at this whole blogging thing. I've had this thing for over a month and I've only posted 6 times, well 7 now. I'm ashamed :( I started this as a way to be creative and write about things in my life and so far, I've failed. Well that's all about to change! Starting today, I will make a post AT LEAST every other day if not every day! I'll make a conscious effort to do so; not that I'm expecting a whole lot of people to read this but it'll just make me feel better if I make the commitment to stick to this! Ok, now that all my apologies are out and hopefully I've gotten forgiveness from all of you, let's just move on, sound good?

So I hope you all have had a wonderful Saturday. I on the other hand had a whirlwind of a Saturday! Seriously, I spent 8 hours doing a developmental psychology exam. EIGHT HOURS! Longest. day. of. my. life. I took it the first time, didn't so as good as I wanted so we, meaning me and my momma (because she's awesome and still helps me take college exams :)),  looked up the questions I got wrong and then prepared to take it again and what happens? It's not the same questions. Awesome. It would only happen to me. So we take it anyways, and by the end of it, I was so over it. So I submit it and do a heck of a lot better! Unfortunately for me, my teacher takes the average of both exams, not the highest score. Boo on you psych professor! Oh well. At least the first 5 hours of day my were productive. I got to spend it babysitting one of my favorite families and got some moolah in the process. Added bonus!

Random fact about me: I love sappy chick flicks. I really don't know why but for some reason I love them. Not all of them because, let's face it, some of them are really quite ridiculous and obnoxious. Right now as I'm sitting here trying to think of creative things to write, I'm watching "The Holiday" which just happens to be one of my faves. How exciting would that be to basically switch your life with someone from another country for a couple weeks?? You would have a completely new life, new experiences, new friends, new everything; but only for a couple of weeks because that is probably all I could handle. Though at times I do dream about moving somewhere completely different (like Rome, ahh!!) and starting a new life but let's be real, I do not have the courage to do that. But it is quite idyllic to think about isn't it? Anywho, I'm off to bed (to dream about my could-be life in Rome). Goodnight and sweet dreams! :)

Where would your ideal place be to live if you could just pick up and go?

We're going on a bear hunt...

Ok so I hope you have all heard of this book, "We're going on a bear hunt, we're going to catch a big one. It's a beautiful day, we're not scared..." Yes? If not, then I ask you kindly to get out of the rock you're living under :) It's a wonderful book and today me and my bestie, Lo, got to act it out! So the book has parts and the parts are the flowy grass, the cold river, the squishy mud, the dark forest, the snowstorm, and the cave. The family goes on a bear hunt and goes through all of this and ends up finding the bear in the cave. Sorry if I ruined the ending for anyone but seriously? You had to have seen it coming ;) So Lo had to act it out for one of her classes and it turns out that I have some flowy grass in my backyard AND a forest complete with a river and mud. Perfect! Unfortunately the snow and the cave were absent but we're not complaining. So after a delicious lunch, we head on our adventure. Let me just tell you that we were not wearing very adventurous looking clothing. We were definitely lookin as cute as can be but we toughed it out and went into the forest to look for our bear. Side note about mine and Lo's friendship: We are flat out 100% ridiculous, I love it! So obviously our adventure was going to be just as ridiculous as our friendship. Thankfully, it did not disappoint! While walking through the forest to the river, we commented on how we were so glad that we weren't walking out there when it was dark because it was already pretty dang sketchy, even during the day. So we finally found the river and I filmed Lo acting out the book. I felt kinda bad for Lo cause she was the one that had to get in the river and it was cold! But we got the video done, mission accomplished! Unfortunately we never saw the bear, which isn't really unfortunate at all, for us at least. It'd be real unfortunate for the bear if he ran into us crazy people! This is all to say that I had one of the most fun, eventful Sunday afternoons I could possibly have. When I get the chance, I'll post the video of us trying to find the river, it's hilarious :) Well, I'm off to go read a book, or watch a movie, or quite honestly go to bed, haha. Toodle-oo!

What did you lovelies do on your Sunday afternoon?

My favorite verse :) Psalm 27 1: The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

Today was such a good day :)

I have been waiting for a day like today for about a month. I'm not even kidding; my life has been so chaotic and frustrating for the past month that to have a day like today was amazing! Here's the short synopsis of why my life is chaotic: I'm dealing with some medical stuff that has resulted in me not being able to drive for 6 months. Yeah, that's not a typo. I'm under doctor's orders (and if you know my mom, I'm on her orders too) that I cannot drive my car anywhere until June. When my doctor told me that, I was like "Really?? Because I'm not a college student who goes to school full-time and works everyday and NEEDS my car!!" Ugh, so it's been a frustrating month so far...but only 5 more months to go! Even though that part of my life is quite unfortunate, everyone in my life has been so amazingly awesome with all of this! Seriously, I've never had so many people offer me rides, make sure I have a ride home, and see if I need to be picked up to go somewhere. It's incredibly overwhelming to know that I'm so blessed with so many amazing people! Ok serious stuff over, now on to why my day was so great!

 Last night I was able to hang out with my best friend from high school and we had a sleepover just like old times! We watched Eclipse (Hellooo team 8-pack! haha) and then stayed up until 3 AM talking about everything. It was so fun! We haven't been able to hang out in so long because of different school schedules and now my whole "can't drive for 6 months" deal. Her family is like my second family so it was really fun to hang out with them. Today we watched the Gator basketball game which was a total bummer because the Gators lost...booo! :( We actually should've won but whatever, I won't be bitter...

So another reason why today was awesome was because I got to go shopping! At Old Navy, which is my favorite store AND here's another bonus, I got to go shopping with a fellow Old Navy lover..Jessica! It was so fun hanging out with her looking at all the clothes and talking about life. After shopping, you always go eat because shopping makes you hungry, it's a proven fact! At least for me it is! So we went to T.G.I Fridays where we ate sooo much! But it was sooo good! We got a three course meal for 13 dollars! That's what I call a deal! After coming home, I did 5.6 miles on our stationary bike. I know I'm saying it like it was no big deal but lemme tell ya, it totally is! I'm really looking forward tomorrow because I get to go to church and learn more about my Savior which is always a highlight in my life. I also get to have lunch with my bestie who I haven't seen in forever! So while I'm hope my tomorrow is good, I also hope that you guys have a great Sunday!!

Here's a song lyric that I love! "Our God is greater, Our God is stronger, God You are higher than any other. Our God is healer, awesome in power. Our God, Our God"

Wait, Wait, and some more Waiting

I feel like my life is one big waiting game at this point in time. I have all these possible decisions to make and I can't make any of these decisions until I figure out what the outcome of different things are. It's actually quite frustrating. I'll give you an example. I applied for a summer camp job a couple of months ago for Centri-fuge (which is a totally awesome camp!) My interview was this past November and I just now got an email from them, which isn't that long but it's long enough. The email said I was on a waiting list and that until a position opens up for me, I'll be on the waiting list until May 15th. May 15th?!?! That's like already practically summertime! If I got this job, I would have to fly out to the training place on May 27th. So, right now there are a lot of different scenerios running through my head. I could find out in like 2 weeks and have like a solid couple of months to get everything together. Or I could find out a month before leaving and be a little rushed, but I'd be ok with it. OR I could find out a week and a half before leaving and be the most chaotic person alive. I mean, I hope I find out relatively soon so that I don't become that chaotic person who goes crazy when she's rushed. You know who I'm talking about. I'm sorta banking on the belief that God is making me wait to teach me an enormous amount of patience so that when I'm surrounded by high schoolers all summer, I won't go crazy. Oh well, I guess I'll figure it all out. I just gotta keep believing that God's plan is so much better and bigger than my own plans and that whatever He has planned is going to be absolutely amazing!

Isaiah 40:31:
But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.

First week of school is over!

It's Thursday and I'm done with my first week of classes. Granted, classes didn't start until yesterday but hey, I'm not complaining! I'm taking four classes, all which I'm pretty excited about. Well, that's actually a lie; I'm excited about 3 of the 4. The one I'm not looking forward to is Topics Math. What the heck is that?! My teacher said it was supposed to be the "easier" math and yes, she even used air quotes when she told us that. So we'll see about that one... My other 3 classes include Earth, Space, and Science which looks pretty interesting so it should be cool, Developmental Psychology which is required for my major and my teacher is pretty funny so that'll be a good class. My last class and the one I'm most excited about is Contemporary World Religions. It covers 6 major religions which I'm so excited about because I don't know that much about other religions so it'll be an awesome class. The one major downfall to class starting is that already, on the second day of school, I have homework. Homework!! Ugh...can't stand that stuff. Oh well, I guess it's an unfortunate yet unavoidable part of college. Speaking of homework, I must go and complete some lovely math problems..ickk. Toodle-oo!

1 Corinthians 15:56 "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."

School starts this week...

My second semester of my junior year starts this week, I can't believe I've been in college for this long. I have mixed feelings about this semester; for one thing, I graduate in April with my AA...Whoo-hoo!! I also am one semester closer to finally being at UF and being in the elementary education program! Which means I'm that much closer to being done with college, FOR GOOD, and starting my career as a kindergarten teacher. While this feeling brings on a lot of excitement, it also scares me because in just 3 short years, I'll be a working adult with a full-time job...crazy!!! I have to start making "adult" decisions about life now; the biggest decision is all about financial stuff (though I wish I didn't have to think about that one). Other decisions include where to live, where I should go for a job...etc. The list is endless and there are so many possibilities, so how do I know what to do? I feel like at this point in my life, I can't do anything but have faith in God. All these decisions that I have to make, I can't take them lightly. My biggest struggle in my life deals with control; it is incredibly hard for me to give up all my control and give it all to God. I'm getting better at it, but it is a day by day process, heck a minute to minute process that I probably will never master, but at least I'm trying. So as I go through this semester and all the decisions that comes, my desire and my prayer is that God will show me the answers to at least some of the million questions I have. So here's to a new year, a new semester, new experiences, new everything; I can't wait to see what 2011 brings. :)

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

It's 2011! Here's to the start of an amazing new year!

Happy New Years! I have a long list of New Year’s Resolutions that I’m determined to accomplish this year. Some things on my list consist of making straight A’s this semester, which I’m sure will be a difficult task in itself! I want to travel to multiple states this year (which if I get this summer job, I will!) Some bigger things on my list consist of me wanting to be more daring, more creative, and more individualistic instead of following the crowd. But that’s a story for another day. One thing on my list is to start a blog. I’m starting this blog for a couple reasons. First, I love writing; it’s relaxing, fun, and it gives me a chance to be incredibly creative. Second, I’ve been inspired by many of my friends to start a blog. Though I’m doubtful many people will actually read what I write, I think it’ll still give me great pleasure just to be able to freely write about whatever I want. That’s the beauty of writing a blog; I can write about anything I want to! It can be whatever I want it to be! I can write it like a journal or like a column from a magazine or I can just write out my thoughts of the day. In my case, this blog will be mostly my thoughts, experience I have/am going through, advice, maybe some ranting, and my ups and downs; what it’s like being me as a working college student trying to be completely and incandescently  happy with my life. While I would love to say that I’m committed to writing every day, I know that’s just not possible for a working college student like me. So I will write at least every other day and I’ll especially write when the occasion calls for it. One thing you should know about me, and this is the most important thing about me, is that I am a daughter of God and I’m doing everything I can to live my life completely and totally for Him J