A Week of Awesome

Hello there, so I realized today that it has been a week since I last posted. Turns out this blogging thing takes some getting used to. Anywho, I figured I would share a little about these past seven days. Oh, and forgive me, as I do not have that awesome blogger mindset yet to take fun pictures to document my days:



one. Having my sweet friend Becky visit me last weekend. Our activities consisted of shopping, watching hilariously-horrible Lifetime movies, laughing like fools, and of course eating...a lot. (My stomach was not too happy with me) I am so glad she was able to come and see my home!

two. Starting a new devotional She Reads Truth. Truly ladies, this one is crazy awesome! My friend had told me about it, but I was hesitant at first to start because I was currently reading through another devotional. Then I saw a woman whose blog I read doing it so I decided to give it a whirl. Let me tell you, the author, Cindy Beall is awesome. This reading plan has legit been identifying everything I've been struggling with recently, and some of the readings are my favorite passages of encouragement! I have really been challenged these past few days to open up to God. Also, knowing that countless other women are reading this plan with me is quite encouraging!!

three. Water parks. Mountain Creek in particular. Confused? Allow me to explain. On Tuesday, I helped out as a youth leader for my old youth group. I wasn't planning on going on this trip at first because I had gone every year while in my youth group, but when my youth pastor asked for help I couldn't say no. I am so glad I didn't! I got to spend the day with some pretty awesome teens (is that weird to say if I'm still a teen? Because they were only middle school-aged) Anyway, it was so fun, even though it was a tad chilly, because there were barely any lines!! All in all awesome.

four. Catching up with friends that I hadn't seen in a couple of weeks. Tuesday night a few friends and I roasted marshmallows and enjoyed chatting outside in the beautiful summer weather. Wednesday, my friend and I ventured to an outlet mall to catch some sweet deals. The shopping was not nearly as good as the conversations he and I had during the drive though.  And last night, a couple of girlfriends and I met for some de-licious froyo and some much needed girl talk.

five. Continuing to try and figure out this blogging thing. I am currently looking for inspiration on how to jazz mine up a little!

Well, that's about it. I'm really going to try to be more frequent with these posts...and hopefully snap some pictures to add! 

Sweet Summa Timeeee

So the other day I saw on a blog a list of to-do's for the summer. She wrote down her goals of what she wanted to accomplish in these few short months. Well, that got me to thinking about how lazy I have already been since coming home from school a month ago (yikes, a month!!). So here is my list, let's hope I can achieve all of it with flying colors :)

• Go to Philly: I only live like 40 minutes away...and yet I NEVER go! Yeah, let's change that.
• Meeting with someone: I want to weekly meet with either my old youth leader who disciples me, or one of my girlfriends from church. I want to use this time to fellowship and growth together.
• Go hiking: time outside in nature=awesome.
• Go to the beach: (like the Philly one) I live about an hour away from the Jersey shore...no I'm not talking the lame show :p So I want to take some day trips.
• Exercise daily: I am horrible at making new habits, and this is definitely something I WANT to make a habit of. 
• Read my bible daily: Once again, I'm bad with routines. But this one is super important and I want to keep this up! After all, what's better than time with my Savior?
• Get an A in Calculus: In a few weeks I'm taking calc at the local community college, so that I can get it out of the way. Math has always been a strength of mine, so I better get a good grade!
• Have a picnic: Once again, nature=awesome.
• Find new coffee shops: Starbucks, I love you so, but you're getting a little too main stream. I want to find one of those cute hole-in-the-wall places :)
• Go to the library: I'm trying not to lose all my brain cells this summer, so I want to enrich my mind. I'm think this one should be bi-weekly.
• DIY weekly: I have these creative juices flowing, it's time to put them to use!
• Clean the house weekly: Ok, so I'm not thrilled about this one, but honestly it's the least I can do! My parents work full-time and I'm at home lounging like a bum. I want to pitch in!
• Go to a museum: I hope to go to a few actually! There are a lot of historical places right in my town and I want to visit some of them this summer.
• Go to thrift stores: I LOVE shopping, but i'm on a college budget. I want to find some cool little gems that don't break the bank. Oh, and this can help with my DIYs.
• Limit electronics use: This one is a big one, I am attached to my iPhone! (and computer and TV). It's a problem. Especially since I'm often on more than one at a time. So I want to change that! I've already starting eating meals sans-TV, and I'm trying to leave my phone away from my while in the house. There is so much beauty around me, I don't need to miss it because of my Iphone screen.
• ENJOY!: Well, that one is self-explanatory...it's summer time!!! I want to live. it. up.

Peace

Today was a great day, not because of the tasks I performed (what's great about cleaning up a house?!), but because of my quiet time this morning. I am reading a devotional that goes through Luke and today I read chapters 3-4. I started out in a rush, just wanting to get through it, but God had other plans. You see, the passage I read talked about how Jesus was tempted. My devotional prompted me to identify temptations I am struggling with. What started out as a quick answer turned into four pages of me pouring myself out to God. I've been working through a lot lately, but for some reason I convinced myself that God didn't have to know. I was convinced that I didn't have to give these things up to him because he couldn't help. I didn't trust his power. Well in those minutes of me scribbling away on my paper, I opened up for the first time my thoughts, regrets, fears, and anxieties. Stuff I hadn't fully vocalized to anyone. Its truly funny how God works. This was stuff multiple people knew bits and pieces about. I asked for prayers of strength while I dealt with the problems, but never actually went to God myself. My quiet time was the perfect example of how God knows what he's doing and he is here to help. After working through every thought and fear I could think of, I went to God in surrendered prayer. He left me with a peace that it is going to be okay. In fact, his plan is better than okay. 

A New Adventure

Blogging. Seems simple enough, you just write & submit. Well, not exactly. I have never had a way with words, and it always seems like everyone else is better at writing than I am. Well about seven months ago, I stumbled upon (literally… it was on Stumbleupon) a fashion blog. This girl’s style was amazing, and she wrote about her life as she was wrapping up college. Well, between her musings and outfit posts, I became hooked. Like literally. I scrolled back to her first posts and had to read the whole blog from the beginning! Then when I was caught up, I started reading one of her sponser’s blogs, and a chain reaction ensued. Over winter break I spent hours (wow, I’m cool) reading through from the beginning of about four or five blogs. They were fashion-related, life-related, and even a little God-related. It amazed me how attached I became to these women’s lives. When there was a baby announcement I was so giddy; a loss in the family, I felt sad. How was it that I had never met these women and felt like I knew them so well?

Fast forward to now: I currently am following over twenty blogs on Bloglovin’ (is that a lot?), and even have tabs open on my desktop of other blogs I want to start reading from the beginning. What started out as a vehicle for clothing ideas has transformed into learning about family, school, work, and ultimately being encouraged by women on fire for their faith in God.

I guess now would be a good time to talk a little bit about me. I am 18 years old, just a baby, starting out in the “real world”. I live in Pennsylvania, but just finished up my freshman year at Binghamton University. I have a passion for people, sweets, and being weird with friends. I love shopping, and have thankfully started to be a little more frugal about it. I am a born-again Christian and am always struggling to live my life in a way that can honor the Lover of my soul. I have often contemplated starting a blog of my own over the past few months, but I just kept shooting down my own idea. There have been a lot of reasons:

1. What would I write about? I feel silly even considering making a fashion blog. I love clothes but I am not very creative, and what good would just posting pictures of myself do? God? I love my heavenly father, but I can be very timid in my faith. It is something I am working on, and I don’t want to just sound like I am standing on a soap box 24/7. Then I realized, my favorite blogs I’ve read combine those things and tons of other aspects of their lives. My blog should be a journal. To document my (sometimes boring) life and show what drives me daily. My faith drives me, so through my posts, God will hopefully be apparent along with the little things that bring a smile to my face.

2. Will I be able to keep up with it? I am not one to stick with routines. Daily quiet times, keeping in touch with people, working out. I just become lazy, and settle for mediocrity. But maybe, just maybe, this blog thing can be different. It can keep me accountable to the things that are most essential to my life.

3. This one is the scariest to me: Will people read my blog? There are thousands of blogs on the internet. Some are pretty darn famous, and some don’t have any followers. I wanted my blog to be interesting to other people (me being a people-pleaser). And what about the people who already know me? What if they think this is stupid or narcissistic? Then it hit me, if I write the blog to please others, it will never meet my high expectations. So here it is. I am writing this for myself. As a journal I can look back on years down the road and reminisce about my joys, my struggles, and my growth.

   
 

And so begins my blogging journey. My hope is that it stays a constant learning experience for me, and that I can glorify God through my words. 

via