r e s t

Lately I've been very tired. In every sense of the word.

Something I'm learning more and more in life is that rest is important. Not even just sleep. But rest.

Sometimes it's better to turn down plans to just lay in bed and watch a movie by yourself. Sometimes it's good to hit the snooze button. Sometimes it's good to take bubble baths. Sometimes it's good to just be quiet.

I'm finding myself in the rest. I'm finding God there also. Coming to him in the quiet, for me, means that He truly has all my attention. All my focus is on him. 

I hope that you can find rest today, and peacefulness in the quiet.

Time to turn a new leaf ~

It's finally here. The last day of 2015. I honestly thought that this year would never end haha. 

This is a day full of reflection and resolution making. A day full of celebrating what has come to an end and that which has yet to begin. Some people will go to parties with friends and others will stay in and spend time with family. 

Since I already did my "reflection of the year" post, I want this post to be all about my favorite things from 2015, and things that I am going to leave behind going into 2016.

:: Having a picnic with my sweet friends before they graduated ::

:: Going to bridal expos with my friends ::

:: Ice skating downtown with my very best friend ::

:: And going to the zoo with her ::

:: Lots and lots of grocery runs and coffee dates ::

Of course, there were many other memories, I just can't find pictures that document them all haha.

I'm not a big fan of resolutions because I'm really bad at following through with them. But there are a few things that I am going to choose to leave in 2015. Things that I feel need to be left behind so that I can better myself in this new year.

1.) Letting my emotions get the better of me :: I tend to do this all the time. No matter the situation or the feeling. Be it good or bad. My emotions almost always take control. This often times leaves me making half minded decisions on a wim just because it "feels right".

2.) Not celebrating tiny victories :: Tiny victories need to be celebrated. Because even the little things are important.

3.) Not telling people how important they are to me :: Something I learned in 2015 is that it is so important to express your love and thankfulness to those around you. To those who take time to be your friend and to be there for you.

4.) Being afraid :: In 2016 I want to be more adventurous without being so afraid of doing so. I want God to lead where my feet have never gone before.

5.) Not encouraging myself :: One of my God given gifts, I believe, is encouraging others. But unfortunately  a lot of the time I forget to encourage myself. In 2016 I want to always be reminded that is okay to cheer yourself on, and it does not make you conceited. 

There are a few more personal things that I am planning on leaving behind in 2015 as well. But all 5 of these are important. Maybe in reflection of your own year you have found a few things that you wish to leave behind as the year changed. I want to encourage you to not be afraid to do so! Change is good. Sometimes scary, yes. But good. 

So here's to a New Year. A fresh start. 365 new chances.

Have fun, and be safe.

Reflection on reflecting -

First thing's first, MERRY CHRISTMAS. 

I hope that everyone had such an amazing holiday and sweet time spent with family and friends.

I took a little Holiday break from my blog to focus on family and just to soak up this season. But as I was anticipating and planning this post, I went back to my posts from this time last year. Specifically my "new year" post. As I was reading I realized that I hadn't accomplished barely anything I had hoped to accomplish. Not just the petty little things either... but the big and important things as well.
2015 was not at all the year that I thought it was going to be. It brought so many challenges and hardships, and if i can be honest, I let it stomp all over me.
I know the new year is a few days away, but as I sit and reflect on this year and even reflect on the way I approached this year last year, I don't want to look back on 2015 as being a year of regret. Or a year of hurt. Of hardship. Of change that I didn't always like. Rather, I want to look at it as the year that woke me up.
You know how sometimes in life you lose sight of where you're going? That's what happened to me this year. And I think part of me was in denial about that, because I didn't want to believe it myself. The truth is that we are human. Sometimes we lose our footing. Sometimes we stumble.
That was me. Stumbling around, desperately trying to grab hold of what I thought I needed. When in reality, all I really needed was to be still, stop trying to do my own thing, and listen to God.
Have you ever had a realization like that? It's kind of like a slap in the face. But a very necessary, done-in-love, kind of slap in the face.

As the new year quickly approaches, I am going to choose to not look back negatively on this year.

“Forget the former things;
    do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland."
Isaiah 43:18-19

Maybe you find yourself feeling like me, and looking back negatively on your year. I want to encourage you that there are better things ahead. As it says in Isaiah, God is doing a new thing. In you, and in your life. That alone is something to be so grateful and so happy for.

Give Thanks ::

With Thanksgiving being tomorrow, I am spending today thinking about all that I truly am thankful for. When you take the time to reflect on things, you realize just how much there really is to the be thankful for.

- My Family. The Holidays are always so much fun and I can't imagine spending this time of year surrounded by anybody else but my family.

- My Friends. They say you find your life long friends in college and I think that is absolutely true. I am so glad to have found such amazing friends who care for me and love me just as much as I do them. 

- How God shows up in every season. Sometimes things are hard, and I think 2015 has been the most challenging year I have faced yet. But God is still God. And he shows me each and everyday how His love for me never changes despite how things around me change.

What are you thankful for this year?

Life lately -

Life lately has been a little on the crazy side. I am finding that as I get older there are just not enough hours in the day to do all the things I want to do, let alone need to do.. sigh.

As a result of feeling stressed and busy, I found myself procrastinating all my time away on social media. As much as I enjoy social media, there are some times when it just brings me down. There's always something negative or mean that I see that will just put me into a bad/sad mood. I can also honestly say.. that I am totally one of those people who will creep on celebrities or people who I think "have it all together", and I will start to regret every item of clothing I ever bought or never bought, and suddenly have this desire to explore the whole world. All this really does is leave me bitter and grumpy that I don't have a certain cool shirt or a bunch of random money lying around to fly myself to Paris. 

Lately, I have been trying to detach myself a bit from social media. As I get older I find myself envying those girls who are out of loop when it comes to the latest meme, or the "funny thing" that's going around on Twitter, or that one couple that just got engaged. Lately I'm finding myself craving authenticity, and I don't mean the hashtag. I am finding that I am admiring pictures I take even when I don't post them on instagram. I'm finding that I can say funny things without having to post them on Twitter.

I found something on Pinterest the other day while pondering these thoughts of ditching social media.  It's called the 7 day smartphone detox. I don't really like what some of the days say on this particular list, but I did like the idea as a whole. 

So this is my challenge to you today. Will you join me? Will you turn off push notifications? Will you delete the Facebook and Twitter app from your smart phone entirely? Will you resist the urge to look at your phone first thing in the morning? Now, I understand that you need your phone for work purposes and to contact people throughout the day.... but remember when that's all you could really use your phone for? Will you treat your phone like a non-smart phone this week? 

Have you been trying to detach from social media too? What are some things that you have tried that you really like, or that have been really beneficial to you? 

Also........

You may have noticed we changed our name! I'll touch more on this in an upcoming post ;)