Happy birthday to me (and America!)

Photo Credit: Unknown

Listening to: "God Bless the USA" by Jump5. (Naturally.)

Don't judge me. Please. (At least my mom thinks I'm cool.)

Actually, my birthday was yesterday. Yay, 22! (Actually, I think I've officially hit the point where getting older isn't a big deal. I mean, what's so special about 22?* That is not to say, however, that birthdays aren't a big deal. They will always deserve to be special!)

Anyway, it ended up being a good day. Even though my (wonderful) boyfriend wasn't able to come spend it with me, he made up for it by calling and texting me throughout the day. Then, after I got off work, I went to see fireworks in downtown Chattanooga with several of my friends. (They do them on the 3rd instead of the 4th. Obviously, the whole city just wants to celebrate my birthday.)

Pretty, pretty. I love fireworks!

Then I went over to Christy & Luke's to find that they had a cake waiting for me!

They didn't have candles, so they made a "B" out of sprinkles instead.

Today, I cooked out with some friends and basically just chilled and watched Seventeen Again. We were all too sleepy to do much else. Oh well. Still a fun time. :) After that, I ended up coming home, reading a book, and watching Friends. Ahh, I love holidays off work!

P.S. I'll be back tomorrow with Day #6!

*Besides the fact that I find it really weird that I'm 22. Shouldn't I still be like, 15? I'm not old enough to be a college grad!!! I'm not even old enough to be in college yet!

Friends in unexpected places

Photo Credit: Johan Lind

Listening to: "Moving Backwards" by Ben Rector
"Standing still isn't easy when the world's moving backwards." I love Ben Rector and I love this song. He's just good. I definitely recommend checking out his sampler on NoiseTrade. This song isn't on there, but two more of my favorites ("The Beat" and "When a Heart Breaks") are.

I've made a new friend this semester.

His name is Roy, he's 83 years old, and he's one of the sweetest men you will ever meet. Also, he really, really likes soccer.

I first noticed him at the very beginning of this semester. He was sitting by himself on a bench by the soccer field, as he does nearly every single day, and I had such a strong urge to go and talk to him. That doesn't happen to me all that often, and as soon as the thought came, along with it came a million excuses for why I shouldn't.

"I don't know him."
"What would I even say?"
"That's kind of an awkward thing to do."
"I'm not all that great at initiating conversations with people I don't know."
"I've never been good at talking to elderly people."

Blah, blah, blah.

Still, the silly excuses won out, so I smiled (I can do that) and kept walking...and felt really lame about it afterwards.

A couple of weeks later, I had to drop off something before my 3:00 class, so I left 10 minutes earlier than usual. He was sitting there again, and I had to walk right by his bench on my way. I smiled at him, and he gave me a huge smile in return, along with, "Hey! How are you doing?" Well, there was no way I was going to keep walking then, so I went over to him and we chatted for a couple of minutes. He told me all about the soccer game from the night before, and about how great the team was doing, and how much he loved the nice weather. Eventually, I had to continue on to class, but just those few minutes brightened my whole day. Since then, I always try to stop and talk to him when I see him, even if it's only for a second.

So anyway, today has been really rough for me. Overall, I'm doing okay, but there are just those days, you know? After classes, I was feeling really lame, so I just went home and poured a bowl of cereal for lunch (my cabinets are empty--definitely time for a trip to the grocery store!). I took a bite and immediately gagged. Nothing like a spoonful of spoiled milk. Ugh. Off to the PCSU for Chick-fil-A it was. On my way over, I saw Mr. Roy sitting on his bench again. Honestly, I didn't feel like stopping to talk, and was going to settle for a quick wave and a smile and be on my way. Just as I was about to cross the street, though, I couldn't. All I could think was, It's just a minute of small talk. Why pass up the chance to brighten someone else's day, just because I don't feel so awesome? So I made a quick turn and went over to say hi. We chatted for a second, he asked how I was, and I told him I was heading to get lunch. He paused for a second, then asked, "Well, where are you going for lunch?" I told him. Another pause. Then, "Well, can I come with you? Maybe we can sit and eat together!"* Obviously, I wasn't going to pass that up, so off we went to the PCSU. I bought his lunch, so he insisted on buying me a Coke, and we went and sat outside to eat.

It wasn't much, and honestly it was a little awkward at times when I didn't know what to say, but at the same time, it made my day so much better. I was hoping to give what I could to brighten his day a little, but I'm pretty sure he did a million times more for me than I did for him! He even asked me to come sit and watch the soccer game with him on Saturday :) It's just another one of those little things that come from the most unexpected places. Those are always the best.

Until next time (a slightly more serious list of things I like)...

• MacBook Pro. My computer decided to randomly die over fall break, so I decided it was time to make the switch. I am so glad--I love it.
• Psalm 33:20: "We wait in hope for the Lord; He is our help and our shield." (NIV)**
• SCL: Why I Hate Surrender. I love Jon Acuff and I love Stuff Christians Like. This is one of his serious posts, but it's a good one.
• A Holy Experience: Why It's Worth It to Keep on Hoping. This is from the same blog that this post came from, and it affected me in the exact same way.*** Absolute perfect timing.
• "Jesus Paid It All." This song says everything.

*This was so precious to me. He was so sweet and eager and excited about it. I love it.
**Actually, I really like that whole section--verses 16-22. I can't rescue myself from any situation; I'm not strong enough...even at my strongest. Only God. Even when it seems like He's nowhere to be found, I have to trust that He's going to help me, because seriously, what other hope do I have? Without Him, I'm screwed.
***I have never been a crier, but good grief. God keeps sending me little things that are so perfect at just the right time, and they hit me so hard. I can't help myself!

Finals week, fall 2010: Success!

Listening To: "If It's Love" by Train

I think it's safe to say that this finals week was the best yet. The exams weren't exactly my favorite, but I think all the fun stuff in between more than made up for it!

On the 3rd, after a much-needed roomie date to Rembrandt's...

Roommate, coffee, good conversation... Yes.

...I went to see Conrad Anker speak in Chatt. He's led several climbing expeditions, including some to Everest and Antarctica. Pretty sweet. I was originally supposed to go with Mike, but since he had to work, Kristi came along instead. I'm really glad--I've been needing some time with her anyway! After that was over, we walked around downtown a little. We ended up going into this organic grocery store called Greenlife and discovered they had a little café-type thing inside where they sold GELATO. Best. Discovery. Ever. Who cares if it was below freezing outside? Gelato is worth it.

Mango-pineapple gelato. Sooo good.

We always manage to have a good adventure!

The next night, I went with Mike to DJ a middle school dance. That was pretty fun--boyfriend, music, and getting to watch a bunch of kids act ridiculous. Sounds good to me! After we finished there, we went back to his place where a bunch of our friends were finishing up a Christmas/Hanukkah party, so it was fun to hang out with them for awhile.

Next up: Gingerbread houses! Kristi & Jaynese invited Mike, Jon, Will, Chris, and me over for dinner, followed by building and decorating gingerbread houses. I haven't done that in forever, so that was definitely a lot of fun!

This picture is my life.

Our house collapsed :(

The finished product!

After cleaning up, we went to Jon's place to hang out. We had already made plans to stay up all night and go watch the sunrise. We were all pretty exhausted though, so around 3:30am, we all crashed in Jon's living room for an hour. Around 4:45am, Mike, Kristi, Chris, and I headed up to Chilhowee. It was freezing (19 degrees, plus lots of wind), but this made it all worth it:

Good morning, world!

Seriously, most gorgeous sunrise ever. Check out more pictures here, here, and here. I wish I had the motivation to go see more sunrises because I like them just as much as sunsets. I just hate the early morning factor!

After sleeping for a few hours, a group of us went to Chatt for dinner and a movie. We went to Chili's to eat, and then ended up going to see The Town at the dollar theater (I love $1 Wednesdays!). This wasn't really my choice, as I'm not a fan of going to see movies like that without knowing what the heck to expect, but I survived it. It was pretty intense, but a good movie as far as storyline goes.

Friday, I spent the day running errands with Mike, going with him to DJ the Taekwondo awards ceremony/Christmas party (side note: I skipped rank!! I'm officially a level 2 green belt, which is pretty exciting for me. Totally wasn't expecting that), and then going out to Applebee's, courtesy of my parents (they gave him a gift card for his birthday). All in all, definitely a good day.

Saturday was Jaynese's graduation (I'll try to add pictures later, when I get them). So crazy--I can't believe that'll be me in just 3 semesters! Scary thought! After that, going out to eat (again), taking a short nap, and packing, Darren and I headed back to Georgia for break, which is where I am now. 4 weeks of being at home... We'll see how that goes!

Thanksgiving 2010!

Listening to: "Betty" by Brooke Fraser
(If you haven't heard her new album yet, you should. Brooke Fraser is always great, and this is definitely no exception! "Betty" is probably my favorite song, but there are plenty of good ones to choose from. If you get it on Amazon, there's a bonus acoustic version of "Flags." I'm a fan.)

The semester is almost over.

What. The. Heck.

How is that even possible?! It's been an interesting one, that's for sure! For once, a semester isn't ending on a lame note. It's about time! I'm kind of torn between being extremely ready for break (I hate school) and not wanting to leave at all (I love people).

One fun thing I've done of late: Lee Family Thanksgiving! A group of about 20 of my friends got together on Monday and had a big Thanksgiving dinner. Sooo good. We had SO much food, including 2 turkeys that my boyfriend made (stuffed and all!). I vote this becomes a tradition. (Well, you know, for the one year we have left in college...)

Best turkey I've had all year, and that's not an exaggeration.
I was definitely impressed.

Family :)

I spend the majority of my life with these people.

I'm currently on my last day of Thanksgiving break. It's been good, I guess. Between hanging out with my cousins and playing with Lizzie & Emma (cutest. kids. ever. No, really--they are), going to the movies with Zach, Joey, & Rachel, and eating 2 Thanksgiving meals (2 of the 4 I've had this week), I can't really complain!

Like I said. Adorable.

Emma loves playing with my hair.
Lizzie is just awesome & hilarious in general.

Now, I'm ready to get back to school and finish up these last couple of days of classes and finals, then spend an extra few days just hanging out. I'm pretty excited about that. :) Hopefully, there will be plenty of adventures between now and then, so expect another update sometime in the near future!

Like the leaves of autumn...

Listening to: Taylor Swift's new Speak Now album
(Finally getting to listen through the whole album is one of my rewards for surviving this week. Yes, I'm 20 and yes, I am entirely serious. I love Taylor Swift. I can't help myself. She's one of my favorites.)

Photo Credit: 8 Simple Rules

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of autumn."

- John Muir

Today is gorgeous.

Sunny, blue skies, with a cool breeze blowing the leaves off of the trees and swirling them around before they hit the ground...perfection. It makes me wish fall could last forever. It is, by far, my favorite season. I love the colors. I love the cool weather. I love watching the leaves fall from the trees. (It reminds me of music, somehow. If you could see music, I like to think it would look something like that. Random insight into the mind of me. You're welcome.) Today is one of those days that makes me love life, which is a nice change from all of the stress, uncertainty, and frustration I've been feeling lately. I need a little peace in my life, and today is one of those days when it seems impossible not to feel it.

I have sooo many things I want to write about right now. Instead of making this into the longest post of the century though, I'll condense a few of them into a list. I like lists.

A few favorite things...

• Hanging out with little kids at a local elementary school for a class service project. I learned from a first grader named Kaitlyn that Ohio is a faraway country in China. Who knew?
• Coffee. Enough said.
• Adam Young. Still. Go to his blog. Read/listen/love.
• Studying in the library with Kristi and Jon until midnight. Actually, I hate the library and I hate studying, but I do love them. Especially when all the studying stress gets to us and you throw Facebook in the mix. Enter posting the alphabet and counting to 50 (multiple times) on each others' walls, then laughing hysterically about the weird way Jon's thumbs bend backwards. Delirious? Yes. Hilarious? Yes.
• Having a discussion with my roommate about which characters from the Left Behind series we would be. (More I-hate-studying delirium.)
• Backpacker Magazine. Oh, the places I would go and the things I would do, if only I had money... 
• The Karate Kid. I watched it the other night with Kristi & Mike and liked it waaaay more than I expected!
• Goodmorning & Goodnight. I really like this blog. A lot. Good stuff.

In other news, I'm really thankful for my friends in general. Lately, I've been discovering that there are people who love and care about me a whole lot more than I ever thought, and that's really weird to realize, but so wonderful at the same time. As completely sick as I am of advice and "talks" and anything of the sort at the moment--and trust me, I am!--I know that it's a reflection of how much they care, and that's something I can't be more grateful for. So thank you. :)

One last thing. I reallyreallyreally want to go here:

Grand Teton National Park

Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. Road trip, anyone?

Happy Things.

Well, this week has certainly been interesting. Let's just say that if it were a rollercoaster, it would have consisted of a million loops and a few vertical drops. Definitely not of the pleasant variety. Fortunately, it seems to have evened out a bit (I think. I hope!), so I think things are going to be okay. Besides, I'm trying to make good use of my sense of humor and optimistic personality and be positive anyway, so without further ado...

Happy Thing #1: My roommate (who has recently developed an obsession with watching Sesame Street videos) posted this on my wall yesterday. It's pretty much my life.

Also, I forgot how much I love Jason Mraz.

Happy Thing #2: I love, love, love my friend Anna. I met her at camp the summer I turned 16 (see picture), and I've literally only seen her once since then (which was 2 years ago), but she has been one of the greatest friends I've ever had. We try to keep each other updated on our lives through a series of ridiculously long Facebook messages. It's funny how I can be so open and honest with someone that I never, ever see, but I love it. She's one of those people who I can almost always count on to get exactly what I'm talking about, just because we're so alike. She's wonderful. :)

Happy Thing #3: I LOVE THIS SONG!

Sorry it wouldn't let me post the actual video. Embedding is disabled. Lame, I know. But for real, it keeps getting stuck in my head. Lyrically, not exactly a happy song. But musically? It never fails to brighten my day.

Happy Thing #4: Thanks to fall break, being exempt from a midterm, and not having Taekwondo class this week, I only have classes today. Kiiiinda awesome. Plus, in said classes, I only had one midterm, and I swear it was the easiest exam I've ever taken. Seriously. I also got my Humanities exam back (the one I completely B.S.'d), and with the extra credit we're going to get just for watching the movie Troy, I have an A. Needless to say, it's been pretty good day.

Happy Thing #5: While it doesn't exactly feel like fall yet (the 80-something degree weather is killing me), the leaves are finally starting to change. One of my favorite things ever. Yesterday evening, I was driving around with Kristi on these random country back roads, and the sunset (which was completely gorgeous) paired with the reds and oranges on the trees was pretty much perfect. I wish I could have gotten a picture, but I don't think pictures would have done it justice. It was amazing.

Okay, I'm done now. I'm heading to my last class in a few minutes, and after that... Helloooo 5 days of freedom!!

My last few adventures of the summer...

Three things I've missed immensely:

1. Friends
2. Tennessee
3. Mountains

I was reunited with all of the above this past week, and it was awesome. (Also, I've noticed that "adventure" in any form is becoming my new favorite word...)

Darren's baseball team won state, so it was off to Lewisburg, TN, for the regional tournament. Lewisburg happens to be close to where Audrey and Mike are working camp for the summer. I was really excited because they're two of my best friends, and I was going to get to see them, right? Um, yeah, apparently, they decided that the one weekend I was going to be within 15 minutes of them would be an opportune time to go to Ohio. Thanks, guys.

Unfortunately, Darren's team didn't win their games, but they did play pretty awesomely, so I was still proud. Kristi came to see him play, too, so it was great to see her and to have someone to brave the heat with me! (For real, it should never be 100 degrees at 10:00 in the morning. Let's not try that again.) Her friend, Jeff, got bored in Murfreesboro, so being a flight instructor, he flew over to hang out with us for awhile. That evening, he took Kristi, Darren, and me up in his plane, which was pretty awesome! I had never been up in a small plane like that before, so it was cool to get to do that.

On Sunday, Kristi came to pick me up and I went to her house for a few days. Being us, we managed to have plenty of adventures crammed into a couple of days, and most of them involved the outdoors. Always a plus.

We went hiking, of course. We went to Abram's Creek, but it was super hot, so we didn't make it very far. We attempted to go down a side trail to see one of the Appalachian Trail shelters (just because), but it turned out you basically had to hike up the mountain to do so. We went about half a mile before deciding that it was entirely too hot to attempt anything more, so we turned around and went back towards the creek. Maybe in the fall. Anyway, we just waded in the creek for awhile, took a few pictures, then drove around for a little while. Typical us.

Later that evening, we dressed up a little more (the only time I looked halfway decent all week, I think) and we, along with Kristi's brother David, went to Pigeon Forge to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat! We got free tickets (typically $40) from Kristi's church, and even though none of us are particularly into that sort of thing, we didn't really have anything else to do, so we decided to go. Besides, my roommate has told me about a billion times how awesome it is, so I kind of wanted to see what the big deal was anyway. :) It ended up being a lot of fun (albeit slightly long towards the end...), so I was glad we decided to go.

On Tuesday, Kristi, David, and I went jet skiing with their friends Russell, Amy, and Kate. That was definitely fun, even though we only had one jet ski and weren't there all that long. It was just nice to be on the water, especially since I haven't even had the chance to go swimming this summer!

After finishing up at the lake, we went back to Kristi's house to pack up for a quick camping trip. We loaded up the truck and finally started making our way towards Cades Cove where our campsite was. (Kristi, of course, stayed true to form and packed 2 floats--never mind that our campsite was not near water.) It was around 10:30pm when we got there, so obviously, it was dark. However, Kristi, David, and I managed to set up our tent without a problem. As soon as we finished, David's friend Aaron got there. Perfect timing, I'm sure. The four of us played cards for awhile and then got ready for bed, since we were planning to get up before the sun.

We woke up at 5-something the next morning. Kristi and I ate Lucky Charms (very nutritious, of course) and finally managed to drag the guys out of bed and got them to eat, too. Then, around 6:30am, we got on our bikes and headed off to bike the 11-mile loop at Cades Cove! It was a perfect day to do something like that. It was early, so it wasn't hot, plus it was pretty cloudy. That made for some pretty awesome pictures. I've decided that, if I can't live in Colorado in the middle of the Rockies, I think I'll be happy to settle for the Smokies. Seriously, so gorgeous:

Is there any question as to why they're called the Great Smoky Mountains? Pictures totally don't do it justice. It was beautiful. When I see stuff like that, I can't help but be like, "Holy crap, God, You're amazing!!"

We did a few more random things during the week, and then yesterday, we decided to drive through Cleveland and hang out with Jon for a little while before heading to meet my parents. After driving around campus to see the random changes and sitting in the PCSU waiting for Jon to get off work, the three of us headed to Chick-fil-A for peach milkshakes (sooo good). Jon mentioned something about Will being back in town, so I texted him and he invited us to come over. We did, and after being there for about 5 minutes, Tuna* came down the stairs! We all thought he was at work, so that was definitely a nice surprise! I wasn't expecting to get to see either Will or Tuna, but I am so glad that I got to. I love those guys so much. It was sooo good to see them and hang out with them for awhile. It made me really glad that we'll all be reunited a little more long-term in just 2 weeks. YESSSS.

So yeah--definitely a good week! I can't believe I'll be going back to Lee just 2 weeks from today. I can't say I'm looking forward to classes and homework and such, but I am definitely excited to be with everyone again! This semester kind of has to be awesome. There is no way that junior year is allowed to be as lame as last year! The fact that I'll have an apartment, my brother will be there, and pretty much all of my friends will actually be on the same side of campus for once makes me really happy and excited and yeah, I pretty much can't wait. Okay, I'm done. Maybe I'll actually have a short post one of these days?
* Every now and then, it occurs to me what a ridiculous nickname Tuna is and what people who don't know him must think when I call him that. Oh well. It's pretty much impossible for me to look at him and think "Michael." It just doesn't work. He doesn't respond to it anyway.

The Day of Awesomeness

Awesome Thing #1: This picture.

I love them so much. Seriously. I am so thankful for every single person in that picture. They are some of my favorite people in the entire world, and I'm so glad they're my friends! (That night was pretty awesome, too--playing a bunch of random sports in the rain, including Ultimate Frisbee, rugby, and some random game Jon & Tuna invented that made no sense, followed by an adventure in the fountain...oh yes!)

Awesome Thing #2: I drove somewhere that I had never been before today...and I didn't get lost a single time. If you know me, you know that this is definitely an accomplishment. I was very proud of myself (and relieved, too--being late for an interview was not high on my list of things to do for the day).

Awesome Thing #3: I got the job at Camp JOY! (I pretty much already had it anyway, but I had my interview today, and it's official.) Yaaaay! I am super excited. My interview went really well. It was cool to finally meet the director (she and I have been talking on Facebook for a couple of weeks). She's cool and we seem to be on the same page about a lot of things, particularly spiritually speaking. That was definitely a huge relief! Anyway, I start my training and such on Monday, which involves getting paid, and that is something I definitely need. This means that I will be pretty busy from then until the beginning of July. The month of June is going to be crazy--I literally have something to do every single day, except for a couple of Saturdays. (I also won't have access to my phone for most of it, so if you text me in June, make sure it's on a weekend!) Seriously though, I am so relieved that I'll have stuff to occupy me. I need to stay busy. And who knows, maybe I'll be so exhausted from it that I'll want a lot of nothingness for a month in July. Heh! I have a couple of pending plans for then anyway, so hopefully those will work out. :)

Awesome Thing #4: I got all A's this semester!!!!!!! I am sooo excited about that. This is the first semester that I've managed to do that (there's always been that one class that I get a B in. Freshman year, it was Carmen's Spanish class and College Algebra. Last semester, it was Stats. Actually, I was kinda relieved to get B's in them--they were pretty rough!). I did have a little bit of a scare when I checked WebAdvisor the other day and discovered that I had a C in Ethics. Um, what?! I emailed Alan McClung ASAP, and he told me that he apparently didn't have a midterm grade for me. I don't know what happened, but I definitely turned in that exam! I let him know, and he basically took my word for it and changed my grade to an A. I love that man. Officially, if I didn't already. He's awesome.

P.S. I made a new header thing for the blog. It needed something more spring/summery. I like it in theory, but I feel like something is missing. I haven't figured out what yet, so it'll do for now. (On a side note, I love those tire swing pictures and I love that dress. I am so glad I bought it.)

P.P.S. I just killed a big spider that was crawling on my desk. Ugh. Another thing to be proud of myself for, I suppose.

End of the semester adventures!

Sorry for my lack of updates...life kinda picked up after break, I guess. Just in time, too--I was starting to lose hope for the semester altogether! The last month of it ended up being really great though, at least for the most part. :) Get ready for a picture overload.

I've done a lot of random fun stuff, but two of the biggest: Thunder and the Owl City show!

A few weeks ago, a group of about 11 of us went to Mike's house for Thunder Over Louisville (a big fireworks/air show to kick off the Derby). That was definitely fun, even if it was a little chilly at times...

Kristi, Mike, Will, Jon, Jaynese, and I walked around downtown Louisville for most of the day, doing exciting things (or not) like visiting Fourth Street Live...

We found a bookstore somewhere along the way, so we spent awhile in there (Kristi and I found Boyfriend Training Flashcards, so we decided to test the guys' knowledge. Fortunately, they're doing well enough). We eventually made our way back to where Mike's parents were holding down the fort to watch some of the air show.

We met up with the rest of the crew (aka Christy, Courtney, Pookie, Jesse, and Emily) at Panera for dinner, after which we proceeded to take a million pictures by the fountains outside.

Girls:

Guys (this picture is proof of why I love them):

After dark (and a little bit of a delay...), we got to watch some awesome fireworks!

After church the next day, Kristi and I decided to reunite with the tire swing in the backyard.

Sooo much fun (especially when the guys helped us out by pushing us)! All in all--definitely a great weekend!

Next up was the Owl City/LIGHTS/Paper Route show in Atlanta! In a word: amazing. For real. After making it to ATL, we found a place to park and discovered the adventure that is an Atlanta parking garage:

We then found a semi-sketch-looking deli where we got some surprisingly great food that we ate while waiting in line at the Tabernacle:

First up was Paper Route. I'm not really a fan in general, but they're really good live!

Next: LIGHTS! I love her, and she is just as amazing in concert as she is on her album. Not to mention that she's one of the cutest people ever.

And finally...Owl City! Adam Young is just awesome. Even more awesome? Throwing Matt Thiessen into the mix!

And, of course, Breanne Düren (the girl whose voice makes "The Saltwater Room" one of the best songs ever), who is quite possibly the most adorable person alive:

So yeah--definitely a good time! I am so glad I decided to go. It was definitely worth the money!

The rest of the time, I've done fun stuff like hiking (twice) with some of my favorite people:

We ended up going past the marked trail to climb up to see two other waterfalls. The second time around, this involved Kristi, Will, and I climbing rocks and hacking our way through the forest. Gooooood times!

And now I'm home for the summer. Sort of. In about 4 weeks, I'm off to Europe, and after that, I'm probably going to be working something called Camp JOY. I'll definitely have to update you all on that one! It'll be a good summer, I think. It's entirely possible that I won't go crazy this year. Let's hope so, at least.

"For I am His and He is mine, bought with the precious blood of Christ."

First of all, Easter break is going much better than spring break did...even if it isn't much of a break with all this homework I have to do. Oh well--such is college life! At least the lack of classes still applies.

So. Things have been a little crazy lately in pretty much every area of my life, but I'm surviving, and I think I'm getting myself back on track. It's funny (only not) how easy it is for me to lose my focus, especially when it comes to God. That's never a good thing--as if my life needs to be anymore weird and complicated than it already is to begin with!

Last weekend was a lot of fun (which was much-needed!), albeit completely random and spontaneous. Basically, Kristi and I decided we would go hiking at Chilhowee since we've been dying to go and the weather was gorgeous. Instead, we randomly ended up driving down all these back roads, when all of a sudden...

Kristi: "Umm...we're definitely 20 minutes away from my house."

We ended up in Knoxville. Awesome. We decided to go to her house for dinner, then went to watch the sunset (our "hike" of the day...if walking up a paved 0.4-mile path counts as hiking). After we finally made our way back to Cleveland (7 hours later), we worked on our presentation for Sociology, then met up with Mike at midnight (which, if you put it that way, sounds kinda sketch, now that I think about it). We proceeded to get back in the car, with Mike in the driver's seat. Every time we came to a turn, Kristi and I took turns deciding whether to go left or right. This turned into a 3-hour adventure on more random back roads that landed us in Athens, TN. It was so much fun though. They are two of my favorite people on the planet, and the perfect ones to have that sort of adventure with.

Oh! Random discovery. My brother told me about this earlier, and it is seriously one of the most amazing things ever.


Is that incredible or what?!? I can't even comprehend having enough patience to do that. Just thinking about attempting it stresses me out.

Anyway. Since tomorrow is Easter, I thought it might be especially appropriate (and perhaps especially cliché, but in this case, I really don't care) to share a song that has coincidentally been on my mind a lot lately. I was only going to post one verse of it, but then I realized that the whole thing is way too applicable to my life. It has been stuck in my head all day long, and really--it's incredible.

In Christ Alone
"In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My comforter, my all in all
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
‘Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
‘til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand."

Ahhh. So good. Really, what else can be said?

I like this, this, and this. Oh, and this.

I've been discovering lots of things that I like lately, so excuse me if this post is a little bit sporadic.

For starters, Jenny & Tyler did a show on Friday night in the Dixon Center. I had never seen them before, but I'm officially hooked. They are really talented, completely adorable together (seriously--and I don't say that sort of thing often), and really sweet, personable, and friendly overall. Their songs are so well-written (some of my favorites are "One-Eyed Cat," "Deepest Parts of Me," "Muse," and "Love Through Me") and their voices go together perfectly. Also, I love the design of their This Isn't a Dream album cover, especially the back!:

What can I say? I just really like artsy, well-designed things! That being said, I've been looking at lots of design blogs lately. It has come in handy, too, because it has inspired my roommate and I to come up with ideas for our apartment next semester (only 5 months away! I am so excited). One blog I've been reading a lot is design me daily. I was going through some of the archives yesterday and stumbled across a post on there that lead me to Single Stone Studio's Etsy shop that features lots of really cool wall decals. Hello, living room decor! A few favorites:

 

I love the way everything in this picture is designed. I wish we could use paint in our apartment, because I would so do this! I like the two-tone thing for the flowers.

 

Simple, but very cool and classy. You can also get it in your choice of one out of 40 different colors. Love it.

I apparently have a new thing for this whole birds and cherry blossom design thing, because I've found a lot of things like it that I really, really like. Too bad this decal is $75. :( Not quite in my budget.

Anyway, yeah, I'm getting really excited about this whole apartment thing. I love simple, modern things, and these with a nature-y theme are just a plus. Definitely my thing. It makes me wish I was getting my own house so I could go all out with paint and everything. Having an unlimited supply of money would be awesome, too... Sigh.

Something else I love: Photography. All kinds. For real. Favorite thing ever.

  © Mandy Lynne Photography 

This picture makes me really happy for some reason. I don't know if it's the colors, the lighting, the little girl, the fact that it's outside, or all of the above, but I like it a lot.

 © Max Wanger

I have a thing for engagement photos in general. :)

One last favorite thing: Sunny days in the park with friends!

 

Sunday afternoon, a group of about 12 of my favorite people went to Fletcher Park to have a picnic to celebrate Tuna's 20th birthday. It was gorgeous, and I loved getting to spend time with all of them so much! (My nose is still suffering from a run-in with a Frisbee, but other than that, it was a great time.)

Okay, sorry for the overload. Trust me, there could have been way more!