Picture Day 3

I took this on my way home sometime over the summer. (The clouds were gorgeous that day!)  I cannot wait to go home for Christmas break and spend holiday time with my family!

Picture Day 2

So this is my adorable younger sister on her birthday this past year, hence the cake and candles.  Abigail and I used to fight all the time, but we get along a little better now ;) We recently saw Catching Fire together and oh my goodness what a great movie!

Picture Day

Ahhh I have a blog! Did I forget about this blog? Yes, yes I did. 

So I've decided to do this things where at least 3 times a week I'm going to post a picture.

The picture could be funny, serious, of people, of landscapes, something with a really neat story behind it, or something light-hearted.

I by far am no expert at photography, but I love taking pictures and I have tons of them, so I think this should be fun!

This is a photo of some of my team in Ireland.  We became great friends over the trip and got to have so many adventures with each other! In this picture we're in a very old Irish church and doing our "where's the roof" faces. Please note mine and Kelsey's wonderfully colorful pants.

Happy Monday!!

And You Can Tell Everybody This is Your Song

Okay. Okay.  I've been terrible lately about keeping up with this blog challenge.  Truth is, college is very very time consuming.  And now that I'm in a sorority, there's even more stuff to do! Not that I'm not enjoying it, it just doesn't leave a lot of time for blogging!

I was super bummed that I missed the blog challenge of "favorite playlist at the moment," so I'm going to tell ya a few songs that I'm really enjoying right now!

1. Joy of Nothing by Foy Vance (His new album was just released--called Joy of Nothing-- and it's soo good! He was Ed Sheeran's supporting act when I saw him back in January, and like Ed Sheeran, he's very good live.)

2. Royals by Lorde

3. Keep on Walking acoustic by Passenger

4. Swallowed in the Sea by Coldplay

5. Everything Has Changed remix by Taylor Swift feat. Ed Sheeran

6. Wake Me Up by Avicii

7. Fix You by Coldplay

8. Flight of the Crow by Passenger (feat. a lot of different people)

9. Atlas by Coldplay

10. Hello My Old Heart by The Oh Hello's


So obviously I'm on a Coldplay kick.  And most of these songs aren't even new, but they're good. :) 

I'm discovering how wonderful music is now that I'm in college and everything is getting pretty crazy.  It's just makes me happy!

Happy Monday! Hope you have a great week!

And Then That Word Grew Louder and Louder

Hey Everyone :)

Okay so today has been so wonderful.  This week had some rough spots, but for the most part it was great, and I am so excited about what's coming up! 

I'm participating in the sorority recruitment at my college and today was the first official day of rush! It was so much fun! And might I say, I'm officially exhausted. If the standing in the hot sun didn't wear me out enough, the smiling sure did! :D It was great and I made soooo many friends.

Aren't we so cute?!

Anyway, back to the blog challenge.

Favorite Quotes and Bible Verses

(Please note: any Bible verses I quote are being quoted from the ESV)

Bible Verses:

• "For I am certain that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." --Romans 8:38-39
• Psalm 28
• "But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received form the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God." --Acts 20:24
• "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous.  Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord you God is with you wherever you go." --Joshua 1:9
•  "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." --Jeremiah 29:11
• I pretty much love every single Psalm

I could just list and list Bible verses all day :)

Quotes:

• "Be a true heart not a follower." --Ed Sheeran
• "Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire." --St. Catherine of Sienna 
• "Hold on to what you believe in the light, when the darkness has robbed you of all your sight." --Mumford & Sons
• "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain."
• "Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God." --Corrie ten Boom
• "Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible." --Corrie ten Boom
• "Get over your hill and see what you find there with grace in your heart and flowers in your hair." --Mumford & Sons
• "Smart is sexy." --Ashton Kutchar

Okay well those are just some of my favorite quotes and verses.

What's one of your favorite quotes and/or Bible verse? Leave a comment below! I'd love to hear them :) 

I hope you all have a great weekend!!

Consume Me Like a Fire 'Cause I Just Want Something Beautiful

Hey everyone. :)

I hope today is going well for you! I'm just going to be honest, it started out as a very rough day for me, but it got better as the day progressed. I'm glad to be in my quiet dorm now though.

Today's topic of the blog challenge I'm doing with my best friend is to write my favorite and least favorite things about myself.
  
So here we gooooo....

Least Favorite/Stuff I Hate About Myself

• I overanalyze pretty much EVERYTHING.  I guess it can come in handy in very rare situations, like if I needed to deeply think through something important, but for the most part it's just annoying.
• I'm super shy which does not help when meeting new people.  I'm trying so hard to overcome this.
• I am an introvert(which I suppose has to do with the above fact) and so I would much rather just hide in my room or find some quiet place at the library to chill than be around a bunch of loud people.  I really hate this because I don't want to be a cave hermit.  So I'm trying to push myself to be more out there.
• I can't sing work a flip, and I've aways wanted to be able to. It just seems like it would be a lot of fun.
• Oh and I'm not even the slightest bit athletic.  Seriously, it's embarrassing.

Things I Like About Myself

• I love to have fun with my friends and family, and I think I'm friendly :)
• I'm pretty compassionate and I like helping people
• I like that I'm artistic/creative. art=my happy spot.
• I'm a Christian and I'm very happy about that because I LOVE Jesus and don't even want to imagine what my life would be like without Him.
• I'm pretty good at solving problems (like life problems, not math problems.  Math scares me.)

Weelllllll those are some of the things I hate and like about myself.  Yeah, I'm not perfect, and I realize that every single day.  No one is perfect. But Jesus loves us anyway!  That's just amazing to me.

I wasn't really excited about this blog prompt.  Talking about myself and being personal freaks me out (introvert probs).  But that's one of the good things about this challenge! It's pushing me out of my comfort zone! So yay :)

Hope you all had a good day! :)  We're almost to the weekend! Sort of!  Hang it there!! 

And We Danced All Night to the Best Song EVER

Hey Everyone!!

So today Victoria and I are blogging about our weekends as a part of the blog challenge.

This weekend was just kinda chill for me.  But I'm not complaining, I really needed some fun relaxing time after this crazy week!

Friday I slept in til about 1pm.  Crazy, right? I didn't have any classes that day, thank goodness, but I did miss eating lunch with my friends which made me sad.  I think for a while they thought I was dead somewhere or something... Oops.

But the day got so much better!! That evening I went with some friends to eat at a fun local restaurant that has really weird and yummy food, and then we went to see a movie.  What movie?  THIS IS US.  Yes, we went to go see the One Direction movie, and it was wonderful.  Ha.

(I don't own this picture.  Obviously.)

 Not only did the boys make it just a wonderful movie to look at, but it was actually super funny and entertaining.  Highly recommend it ;)

Saturday I pretty much did absolutely NOTHING.  My roommate was out of down for the weekend so I had the whole dorm to myself.  I walked to the library with the hopes of getting some Starbucks, but Starbucks was closed, so I ended up just going in and writing.  That was really cool because I usually don't take time to just sit and write.

After that I came back to my dorm and was a very good college student and I did all of my homework.  Ha.  Just kidding.  I watched wayyyyyy more episodes of Pretty Little Liars than I would care to mention.  My roommate got me addicted to it!

Sunday I went to church and then met my family for lunch.  I hadn't seen them in a week so that was nice.  And then I came back to my dorm and then I went to a Bible study that evening.

My best friend, Victoria, spent the night after that because our plan was to wake up extremely early and go kayaking with a group of people.  But there was a flash flood warning so kayaking didn't happen.  Instead, I went home, did laundry and ate dinner with my family. Then came back to my dorm and did homework.  Livin' it up.

Well that was my weekend!! And all in all it was very happy :)  I hope you had a great Labor Day!!

(And by the way I've been playing around with the look of my blog.  So if you thought it looked different, it does.  You aren't crazy, about that at least..)

I Will Survive

Post number 6!!!

This topic isssss.......

How To......

...Survive Your First Week of College

Okay, I'm just going to be honest.  This first week, I don't think there was a point at all where I had a firm grasp on knowing what the heck I was doing.  Yeah, there were times that I was that freshman with the campus map. (But it's a map on my iPhone, so it was a bit more discreet than a huge piece of paper.)

Needless to say, I am absolutely no expert at this college stuff yet.

But I am going to tell you just a few things that I found handy to have or do (or not to have or do) that made this week a little more optimistic.

- Eat. There is a lot of walking and you're going to need energy for that.  If you stay up late watching New Girl and decide to sleep in and skip breakfast before your morning class, you will regret it. Not that I know from experience or anything.... 

- Have snacks for in between classes.

- Take the dang stairs.  Not the elevator.  Why?  You need to work off all the food. No one wants the Freshman 15.  Gross.

- Listen to music or remember to do something that is calming.  It's a stressful week and you'll need something to keep the nerves down.

- If you decide to put a white board outside your dorm door for people to leave messages to you, remember that there is a high chance that not all those messages are going to be sweet and nice.  Especially if you live on a coed floor.  Just saying..

- Talk to people. It's nice to hear from other freshman that you aren't the only one freaking out about something or not having a clue as to what's up.  And talk to upperclassmen too, if you can, because they've already been through what you're going through and can offer some pretty good advice.. (usually).

- Leave for class about 30 minutes (or a different time depending on where your dorm is) before class is supposed to start.  Sometimes the class buildings can be super confusing to navigate and you don't wanna be late for class.

- Sit on the front row in your class. Yes, you will probably look like an overachiever, but I've found that it is so much easier to pay attention and stay awake if you sit in the front.  You can also hear the professor better and I think it shows the them that you actually care about the class. 

- Be sure to see things and be able to give them your own opinion, especially in you live on campus.  What I mean by this: there are going to be certain groups (*cough* frats) that many different people have VERY different opinions about.  And some people will say one thing, while another will say the opposite.  Get opinions from several people, not just one person, and pay attention to what's going on around you and how certain people are acting.  You don't wanna end up at a party that you find out is not somewhere you really wanna be.  I do NOT know this from any personal experience, but from listening to people and hearing VERY different things about different groups, I could see how it would be easy for this to happen.

- Do your homework, and have your books on the first day of class because YOU WILL HAVE HOMEWORK ASSIGNED. Sad, I know.

I'm done. This week has been insane, but I've loved it :)

Go see how Victoria survived her 1st week of college!

The Joy of Nothing is a Sweeter Something

Heyyyy. So I forgot to post yesterday, so here is  the yesterday (Wednesday) post.

I nearly forgot about it again today. Until now.  And it's 2am.  I'm tired.  So guess what? It's gonna be a short blog post.

Go see what Victoria wrote.

What I'm Excited About

I'm excited about this weekend.  It'll be a four day weekend because I have no classes tomorrow and Monday is a holiday. I'm going to see the 1D movie with Victoria and some other cool people, I'm going kayaking, I'm going to not have classes, and I'm going to sleep. So excited.

And I'm just excited about life right now.  I love living in my dorm, I'm excited about my classes, hanging out with my friends is so much fun, and just living and moving forward and enjoying life. It's all exciting.

Oh and I'm excited that the new Foy Vance album came out.  It's really good.  :)

~~~

Okay goodnight! :)

What Time Is It? The Time of Our Lives!

Late again. You might as well get used to it.

Day #4!!

Today's topic is....

First Day of College

It's slowly beginning to sink in now: the responsibility; the need for balance; the excitement of entering a new world.

And today helped me face these things even more.

Today I had my first day of classes at my university. It's so hard to believe that college is starting! This is real!

I'm just going to give you a basic summary of how this day went for me.

It all began when I woke up by the dreaded and annoying sound of my alarm at 7 o'clock this morning. I got ready and then headed down to the cafeteria with my roommate for breakfast. 

After that we both walked up to the technology computer doctor place to get our computers fixed. I ended up being there for 2 hours. Woohoo. But my computer can use the wifi now :)

Then I went to the campus health services place to get cold medicine. (I would get sick on the first week of school.) The nurses were all so nice there! It made me happy.

Then I went back to the cafeteria to meet a friend for lunch.

I went to another cafeteria with another friend so she could get lunch.

I went back down the campus to get meds and soup from my mom. (She had to come into the town so she brought me some get-well noodle soup.  Presh right?)

Then I walked back up to where the cafeteria was to mail a whole stack of letters.

Then I walked back to my dorm with my friend so she could eat her lunch and so I could crash.  By this time I had basically walked all over campus.  And I have a sprained ankle so my foot felt like it was going to fall off. (Okay just exaggerating a tiiiiiiny bit there..)

Back in my dorm I drank some fruit punch Kool-Aid and my day instantly got better.

I then went to my first class at 2pm. (Yeah, my schedule is spoiling me.) It was college algebra.  I'm allergic to math, so this class wasn't too exciting, but the professor really seemed to care about us knowing the material and seemed to want to help if we have trouble (which I'm sure I will), so that was really nice.

Immediately after this I had History of Western Art.  Now, first off I was pretty nervous about this class because I had the bright idea of looking on Rate My Professor and the professor for this class had some pretty bad reviews.  And then I found out that it is pretty much one of the hardest classes of it's kind. Yikes.

But I ended up liking it.  A lot.  The professor seemed actually pretty cool, funny and she appeared to care about her students and their success in the class. Now, she's not going to hand out grades.  This will be a tough class.  But I'm excited about it.  I love art, and I love history.  So this class seems like it might be my happy place.

After that I was starving and so I went to the cafeteria and got some food and met a pretty cool person that is majoring in art. (I'm thinking about doing something with art so it was neat to be able to talk to someone who is actually doing that.)

Then I came back to my dorm and crashed and did math homework.

So it's been a long day.  But I really did enjoy almost every minute of it.  It got me super excited for these next several years.  I'm sure it's going to get tough, but all adventures are, and they all are worth it in the end. 

I think this year is going to be so much fun! And I'm so happy that I am going to a college with some of my best friends and also meeting new friends. It's wonderful.

Alright.  That's it. :)

Happy Monday!

Go read about Victoria's first day at college! (We're going to the same college by the way..)

I Don't Care! I Love It!

Okay so this is really late. But here is the 3rd entry of the blog challenge with my best friend, Victoria! Go look at her blog.

Today's topic:

Summer Bingeing

What was my guilty summer pleasure?

*cough* 

It was food........ *cough* Okay it was food.  My guilty summer pleasure was food.

When I went to Ireland I ate. And ate. And ate. And ate some more. It was glorious.

I discovered that I love food. It makes me happy. Yeah, call me a fatty if you want.  But it's true. Food is good.  And I eat healthy.... usually. And exercise...... on occasion.

But anyway, over the summer I ate food.

The consequence of this bingeing?  I got a food baby. :( Oh well. It's not like I had rock hard abs to begin with.  But I don't really care. I love it. *Jams out to Icona Pop*

But hey, my college has a gym! Woop woop!

Oh! Which reminds me! I moved into my dorm today!! *Happy dance*

Isn't it cute?! ;P

I'M SO STINKIN' EXCITED ABOUT COLLEGE!!!

Classes start Monday! :O

Happy Friday!!

A Whole New World

Day #2 of the blog challenge!! Victoria and I decided to blog every other day (so Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) because it takes a lot of motivation to blog everyday and requires certain blondes to not fall asleep while they should be blogging. Yeah, I know. But I was so tired!

Visit Victoria's blog to see her entry on the prompt.

Today's topic is......... *drum role*...........

Do Something New and Blog About It

Yesterday I did something new! And exciting! I rode with some friends and went to a city outside of Atlanta where one of my friends volunteered and did some mission work over the summer.  

I was informed that this city is one of the most dangerous cities in Georgia.  But it filled with what seemed to be some of the most interesting and amazing people living lives that I'm sure would be filled with fascinating stories.  This city is the home of numerous refugees, making it filled with many cultures and many different languages. 

This experience was completely new for me.  I had never been to this city.  I also had never been around so many people from so many different countries and cultures at once before!  Being in this city was almost like being in a different country, and it was amazing!

While my friends and I were there we rode around while my friend who stayed there this past summer was our tour guide. We drove through many different apartment complexes, some 100% refugee occupied and others only partly occupied with refugee people. We then ate at this restaurant that had food from this country that I don't remember the name of and I tried some chicken something. Note: even if you order non-spicy, it's still spicy. But super good :)

After that we went to a farmers market filled with foods from all around the world, and the workers there were from many different countries.  I had been there before, but it was still fun and exciting.

From the farmers market we went to what was the best part of the day: one of the apartment complexes that my friend worked in this past summer.  We visited one of the families she taught English to, and we all got to meet the children that she knew.  They were so precious! I honestly wished I could have stayed there for much longer.

From this new experience I learned that there is a whole mission field right here in Georgia.  I mean, I already knew this, but I had never experienced it to this extreme.  I got to see a whole different world in my own state! And I got to meet some amazing and adorable and spectacular people.

Soooo I really encourage you to do something new. Explore your home town.  Meet knew people.  Seriously, there is a whole new world just around the corner! (Or down the interstate.  However you wanna look at it.) 

Of course if you aren't up to something massively drastic, try a new cooking recipe, go work at your local soup kitchen, clean your room, random dance...

Anyway, my point is, do something that you wouldn't normally do. (But don't do anything stupid or dangerous. Use your brains people :P) It's nice to get out of your regular routine every once in a while and see and experience something new... :)   

It's a Beautiful Day and I Can't Stop Myself From Smiling

I have some fun and exciting news!!! Well, it may not be as fun for you as it is for me. But just clap your hands and pretend like you are jumping for joy.

My best friend, Victoria, and I have decided to do a month long blog challenge together! What this means is that everyday we are going to each blog about the same topic but with our separate stories and spin on it. (Besides on weekends.  Who want to do anything productive on weekends?) Go check out Victoria's blog here. 

We are both new to the blog world and so we are hoping out of this experience we will become more comfortable with blogging and become a teeeeny bit more experienced.  Okay and we're also hoping more people will look at our blogs.  Because right now I have about as many followers as Lucy did believers when she first told people about the wardrobe: none. 

So what's the first post? I'm so glad you asked :P 

We decided to go with a happy post for the 1st one.

10 Things That Make Me Happy :)

1. Chocolate. Chocolate makes me happy. nuff said.

2. Jesus makes me happy.  I absolutely love when I'm down or just having a stressful day (like today. I stepped in dog poop on the way to my car and didn't realize it. Until I got in my car. By then it was already in my floor board and smashed into the peddles.  "ew" is an understatement.) Jesus gives me such joy because I know He is always going to be there and He is always going to love me. And through Him I can find the positive in negative situations. (Like bleach. If you ever have to scrape dog turd out of your brake peddle you will thank Jesus for bleach.)

3. My best friend (Victoria) makes me so happy! She's pretty much the most bubbly person I know and is so much fun to be around.  She's also always there when I need to talk about anything serious.  She's just awesome.

4. My family. I love them.  They do annoy me sometimes, but I wouldn't want to change them for anything.  They are always there and my two younger siblings bring life to any dull moment.  It's going to be so weird when I move out to go to college.  We're all so close! 

5. Trees make me happy, as weird as that sounds.  When I went to Ireland this summer, some of my team told me I was a hippie.  But seriously, I really do enjoy trees. They are pretty and seem to be always changing, but they never truly change what they are. (*deep*)

6. Music makes me happy. Especially music by Ed Sheeran, Mumford & Sons, and The Lumineers. So good! 

7.  Another thing that makes me happy is art.  I like to look at art by other people, and I also like to paint and draw.  I by no means am an expert artist, but there is just something about holding a paint brush or pulling a charcoal pencil across a piece of paper that just clears my head and make me content.

8. Traveling makes me happy. I love going to new places and doing new things and meeting new people. I suppose the world in general just makes me happy. 

9. Helping people makes me happy.  I really and truly cannot stand to see someone in misery or distress. 

10. Writing makes me happy.  I like how when you write, words seems to have more value. It's a whole different and wonderful realm of expressing yourself.  The possibilities are endless.

Alrighty, those are my ten things that make me happy! If you want, add a comment with things that bring you happiness. I'd love to hear them!

Happy Monday!   

Love Shake Down My Walls

 Honestly, I don't even know where to begin.

So I guess I'll just start.

On July 5th I left my small home town to go on a mission trip to the land of Ireland,  and I just returned 2 weeks ago.  I went with a wonderful team of 12 people that I had never met before, and by the end we became a close family.  I wasn't really sure what I was expecting when we got over there, but I know what happened on that trip I wouldn't change for anything.

I've heard people say before that when someone goes on a mission trip, usually they are changed and effected more than the people they went to go help and share Jesus with.  I wasn't sure if I believed that before I left, but I certainly believe it now.

From the minute my team and I arrived, I think I then began realizing how much I need to just put my trust in God and not in myself or in my plans.  For an example, I knew we would be sleeping on the floor, however when we arrived at training camp they informed us all that we would be staying in one of the pastor's gardens.  Until we arrived, we had no idea that in Ireland, the people call "gardens" what we would call "yards."  This was not my plan, but it was God's plan.  And I just had to live with it, and guess what! I loved it.  We all loved camping in the garden.  It was beautiful and so much fun.

While in Ireland helped with  two kid's clubs and lead a drop-in center for youth.  The experience was amazing and lovely.  The people in Ireland are wonderful, and I loved getting to know them and getting to hang out with the youth there.

I think this trip not only helped me grow so much closer to God and just be in awe of how awesome He is, but it also helped me come out of my shell.  I'm so much more comfortable talking to people now, people I know and people I am just meeting, and I enjoy it!  Realizing that God is in control of EVERY circumstance and has a plan for everything and everyone, helped me calm down and just surrender to Him.  I still have panic attacks on occasion, but I don't worry as much because I take SO MUCH comfort in knowing that God has my back. :) And this is so nice knowing with college about to start!

All in all, it was the most amazing experience I had ever had. This trip made me realize my love for the world, my love for art, and most importantly how extreme God's love is for every single person.  JESUS IS AMAZING.

Get Out, Get Out, Get Out of My Head

Ok so I recently had a revelation.  

Not  a serious one.  I'm actually making this post because I'm trying to take my mind off of everything I'm stressed out about and I just want to write about something mindless.  

So I'm going to talk about ONE DIRECTION!

Insert *"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"s and "EEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKK"s* here.

Ok so this post isn't about fangirldom.  Nor is it about 1D hate.
Ok so this post isn't reeeeeeally about One Direction in particular.  I'm just using them as a very good looking example.

This post is about dealing with celebrity fandom syndrome.  You could even call it CFS. No actually you can't.  Because there is a legit chronic illness that uses the acronym CFS.  It's called Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. And I have it.  And it's not fun at all.

So anyway. This post is about realizing you have fangirl syndrome, and learning how celebrities are just people and learning to chill out about them.

I'm going to give this post another title:

~~~FACING YOUR INNER FANGIRL~~~

*Please note before you read any further that I am merely a 17 year old young lady with a MacBook, love of writing, an overactive imagination, and plenty of crazy personal experiences.  Take any advice within this blog with a grain of salt. This is more for mindless entertainment.  I'm not a shrink. *

Once Upon a Time, back in my senior year of high school this past February, I wrote a research paper on whether celebrities should receive special attention or not.  The thing was 12 stinkin' pages. When I wrote this paper, after hours. and hours. and hours. of research and tears and blood and sweat, I came to the conclusion that no, celebrities should not receive special attention.  I came to this conclusion for 4 reasons:

1. Celebrities are just people like everyone else.  Their jobs just so happen to involve acting or singing or professional sports playing.

2. Fans' extreme obsession can have negative effects on the celebrity.  Like fan mobs.  People get hurt and the celebrity can become emotionally scarred from all the attention and lack of being able to live a normal life.

3. Fans can be scarred because they begin to look upon the celebrity as their role model.  This is actually good in some circumstances: Ed Sheeran kicked his butt and worked hard to get where he is-- he seems to have a good work ethic.  Something that many people lack.  However, when I was 12 sooooooo many girls completely IDOLIZED Hannah Montana/Young and Innocent Miley Cyrus: young "country" super star supposedly grounded in family stuff and working to pursue her dreams as a singer/actress.  Ok.  But now who do you have?  Miley Cyrus: trying to be up-and-coming superstar who seriously flaunts her body in some pretty scary ways.

4. Your ultimate concern becomes your religion.  You worship what you hold sacred.  If you hold stars sacred, guess who're you're worshiping? CELEBRITIES.  And if celebrities are your ultimate concern, your religion kinda becomes Hollywoodism. That's frightening.

I know what you're thinking: "Mary, I really couldn't care less about your boring research paper."  Yeah.  It was boring.  But now I'm getting to the fun part!

What I didn't realize when I wrote the paper is that giving celebrities attention isn't necessarily bad.  When we give attention to celebrities, they are able to make a living, and we are able to see that they are normal people like us with some pretty awesome careers and have some crazy stupid moments and some rough days.  What we don't need to do is worship them. 

We don't need to let our inner fangirl consume us.  And this is how to fight her:

Look at this picture:    

I don't own this picture! (I got it off Pinterest...)

If your inner fangirl isn't screaming aloud right now, give yourself a good slap in the face to wake her up.

Reality is, the members of One Direction are hotties who are talented vocally and have adorable accents.  I mean, who doesn't like a guy with an accent?!

Two days ago my friend informed me that while she was sitting in her practically front row seat with her cousin at the 1D concert, Harry Styles waved at her.  And then she fangirled.  And then Harry laughed at her.  She practically had a moment with Harry Styles, awkward though it may have been.  Needless to say, I was pretty much green with envy for the rest of the day.  And very mad at myself for not coughing up the money last summer for a ticket to that concert. Oh well.

I would be lying to you if I said that I wasn't a fan of One Direction. I would be lying if I said that I didn't know every one of their songs and that I didn't have posters of certain members of the group taped to the back of my bedroom door-- in a total noncreepy way.  (But I've never classified myself as a "Directioner." I don't like to label myself.)

I've thought about how cool it would be to meet them and hang out with them and ok maybe date one of them.  DON'T YOU DARE LIE AND SAY YOU HAVEN'T.

But yesterday, I do believe I conquered my inner fangirl.  I came to a realization.

It all began when I showed my grandmother a picture on Pinterest of the British guy who waved at my best friend.  Yeah, I was still jealous.  And do you know what her response was? She said (and I quote): "Oh God, he's ugly!!" 

My dear, sweet, spunky grandmother.  She has no filter for her words.  If Harry Styles was within hearing distance of her she probably still would have said it.  Not that she's mean.  I think she's one of the coolest, sweetest people ever, and I love her to an extreme.  She's just brutally honest.  A trait I actually admire.

 I however believe that Mr. Styles is not ugly.  But when she said that I took a deep look at a picture of his face.  You do the same. Try to contain yourself.

I don't own this picture either! I got it off Pinterest as well..

Um.  Do you know what I see? A person.  A person who is living his dream.  A very good looking person.  But a person.

And reality is, every person is beautiful and fantastic because God made them.  And He's perfect and doesn't make mistakes.  

What I think happens is that we as stupid crazy humans come up with our own individual idea of beauty and "hotness" and judge people by it, instead of looking at the individual gorgeousness and talents in those around us.

Seriously. How many gorgeous guys are in your school or at your job?  I know there are plenty.  Do they have British or Irish accents?  I guess that depends on where you live.  Can they sing well?  Probably not.  But I'm sure they have some sort of cool talent.  If they don't then they're a loser and you shouldn't waste your time on them. :P

Anyway, lots of babbling later, my advice for over coming fangirldom to you is:  WAKE UP AND LIVE, PEOPLE!!!!!!!! GO OUTSIDE, GET SOME SUNSHINE, TALK TO SOME CUTE NICE GUY YOU ACTUALLY HAVE A CHANCE OF TALKING TO (just be careful.  don't come across as desperate or sluty.  That's not gonna get you a good guy.  Trust me.) GO OUTSIDE AND SPIN AROUND WHILE SINGING "BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY"!!! THIS IS THE REAL LIFE. LIVE IT. WAKE UP AND SEE THE BEAUTY AND EXTRAORDINARY THINGS IN THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU. yep.

In conclusion, yeah I think it's okay to know One Direction's songs (or have a favorite actor and watch their movies), and it's ok to think that a member of the band is gorgeous (or that actor is gorgeous).  It's ok to think Jennifer Lawrence is cool.  Which is good because I think everyone does.  

But keep in mind that even though that member of 1D is super hot, you most likely will never meet them, and you absolutely are likely to never. ever date them. or marry them. They may seem like Mr. Right, but you don't know them.  You may think you do, you creepy little stalkers, but you don't.  And what's important is that THEY DON'T KNOW YOU. But there is some hottie guy in your life that does. And some fascinating people in your life that do. Go talk to them. Mmmhhhmmm.

Celebrities are PEOPLE who's lives are in a snowglobe for everyone to witness. They're going to make mistakes. And so are you.  It's ok to look up to them, but don't wrap your life around them.  Because, yet again, they're people, and they're going to make mistakes. Try looking up to people you can actually talk to, like a family member, a teacher or something.

If I was a celebrity, I would want people to love my work, to be a fan of my work.  To like me because I was good at my job, and support me because of that.  Not because of my personal or physical appearance.  Think about it.

Ok this was a long post.  If you actually read the whole thing, I'm impressed.

--Mary

Oh Breathe, Just Breathe

I've always wanted to be a fighter, a "go-getter," someone who from the moment they wake up can't seem to stop.

But the truth is, deep down inside, I just want to hide under my covers all day in my warm comfy bed.

I'm not lazy.  That's not it.  When something needs to be done I do it.  I worked hard all through high school and my grades show it, I worked hard at my work, and I work hard at home.  Ok, maybe except in my room, but that is beside the point.

I think my problem is that whenever I sense a high stress situation, I try it avoid it.  This is probably because recently I have been diagnosed with anxiety.  And it's gotten pretty bad.  I don't like shopping anymore, I don't like being around people at all really.  I've discovered that I think that I subconsciously believe that if I avoid something that might be stressful then I won't have a panic attack.  I really hate panic attacks. (And anyone who says that anxiety is all in your head and you just need to "get over it" and "calm down" and "quit thinking about it" is an idiot.  How about you go have a panic attack and then we'll talk.)

But anyways, I've discovered that when you avoid things and push them away, life just gets more stressful and then the anxiety gets so much worse.  Like you begin not being able to sleep at night.  When I push things away, the stress doesn't go away.  It just keeps building up and pushing me down.  I know it may seem like a "duh" fact, but with anxiety, it's sometimes easy to forget.

So I've begun to start a new goal.  A goal to embrace the stress, breathe, go along with it, and fight it.  I know its not going to be an over night change.  It takes a while to break a habit and start a new one.  But I will work diligently at it.  I know I'll probably have to live with this anxiety for the rest of my life, and I would much rather take over it than it take over me.

I've also found it helps to talk about it.  Now, I'm a naturally very shy person, so usually the idea of talking to some one about something personal makes me extremely nervous, but I've been blessed with a best friend who just so happens to be going through the same stuff and is super encouraging.

Also, breathing helps.  Taking deep calming breaths can help relax the panic.  And remembering to breathe when going into a high stress situation I've discovered can help stop the panic attack before it starts (that was an idea I got from someone else). And it works.  Not all the time, but sometimes it does. And the less panic attacks the better.

Also, I've found eating helps.  This is no scientific discovery that has been tested, proven to work, and doctor recommended.  I have just found this out personally.  (I mean, what good granola bar wouldn't help any situation?!) Maybe food just relaxes me.  I think I may need to find a new method of therapy though before I end up the size of my house.

I also have to constantly remember that I am not alone.  Sometimes when I'm having a panic attack I basically panic because I'm panicking.  I think something is seriously wrong with me, and I feel like it's just me.  But it's not.  I have to remind myself that there are many people with anxiety, and where I am sure that every person's symptoms are different, it's nice to know I'm not alone.  We're not alone.

So go out and soak up some sunshine or dance in the rain.  Whatever your weather is up to right now :)

--Mary

It's a New Dawn, It's a New Day

So this past week I did something daring, something bold, something slightly idiotic, and something I feel might make all the "live while you're young" people out there very proud.

I quit my job.

I quit my job without a backup job.

Smart, huh?

Why the heck would I do this?  Well, it was not as spontaneous as you might think.  I'd been thinking about it for a while.  Truth is, I'll be leaving for Ireland in less than 2 months and as soon as I get back I'll have a few weeks before I start my freshman year of college.  And my parents really don't want me working my freshman year.  And without having the commitment to work, I will be able to visit with some family that is out of town that I otherwise wouldn't be able to see over the summer.

So yeah, it wasn't as reckless a decision as it could have been.  I thought through it, did a cost benefit analysis, and here I am with 2 days left of work.  It's kind of bitter sweet because I really have enjoyed my job and the awesome people I work with and such. And I've learned so much from this employment.  It has been truly a wonderful experience for which I am extremely grateful. 

But I'm excited about where this is taking me.  I am going into a new stage of life, jobless though I may be.  Soon I'll be in college learning things and striving for a degree that will enable me to start in a career that I love.

In the words of Mr. Buble: "It's a new dawn, it's a new day."

Yeah I know, that's a little dramatic.

But really, I kind of am now understanding what people say about remembering when they were my age and feeling like they had the world at their finger tips.  Right now I don't feel like I'm on top of the world, but I feel like I'm climbing my way there.  Yeah, it's going to be tough, and yeah I'm going to mess up.  But I'm excited about making mistakes.  I'm excited about coming to the realizations that I am so far from perfect, and I'm excited about living with that.  I'm excited about fighting my way to the top.  I'm excited about not having an extreme life plan set up, like the major or career I want to pursue. 

I'm just excited about my plan for climbing and falling and climbing again.

--Mary

I Just Came to Say Hello

Well, hi :)

If you have looked to the right you've probably noticed that my name is Mary. And I love Jesus. And like chocolate. And really want to see the world. So since you know my name, and all of that, I'm gonna skip the introduction of myself. 

Okay so let's face it: first blog posts are always awkward.  And when I say awkward, I mean like momentarily forgetting the name of your coworker you've worked with for 6 months when saying hello to them, receiving a Christmas present from someone that you bought nothing for, and realizing when you are out in town that you probably should have worn the beige underwear with your light colored dress instead of the bright blue.  Yeah, 1st posts are awkward. I think they're awkward because you really have so many expectations for them, and so many ideas and things to type, that to the reader you most likely end up sounding like a 4 year old with too much sugar.  Or you have no idea where you're going with the post (like me) and end up rambling about awkwardness, blue underwear, etc.

My plan for this blog is to blog about pretty much everything.  

In exactly 10 days I will be graduating from high school. *insert extreme happiness here* This summer I plan to do absolutely nothing except what sounds fun (ok I'm still gonna work, and clean, and stuff.), go to Ireland to tell people about how awesome Jesus is, and then go to college.

COLLEGE. Hello. I'm excited. And only sllllllightly nervous.  I mean, I've been homeschooled all my life (but I'm not one of those all day TV watching homeschoolers.  I actually kicked my butt in school, mind you) , so its going to be a whole new world.  And I believe I will have lots to blog about: decorating a dorm room on a minimum wage budget, eating in college in a healthy style (or trying to--I really like pizza, okay?!), and I'll probably even vent on crazy things.

It's exciting.

So what's up with the blog name?  Well I like cherries and enjoy painting.  They make me happy.  And it's very hard to choose a name that isn't taken.  Not everything has to be deep.  :P

 Ok I've blabbed on loooonnnnnnngggggg enough.  And I really wanna go eat ice cream now.     (I just got this new computer and so I'm not eating or drinking within 5 yards of it because I'm a klutz.)

Oh and since I just got this blog I'll be changing some things around and such.  Just FYI.  Feel free to give feed back.  Unless it's negative.

--Mary