Perspective

I found this really awesome video the other day, and I thought I'd share it with you. It just reminded me of how incredibly beautiful our world is, but more importantly how incredibly beautiful my own country is! I get so caught up in daily life that I sometimes forget to thank God for this amazing place He created for all of us. 
  USA Roadtrip 2011 Timelapses from Brian DeFrees on Vimeo.
Sometimes I don't understand how people could not believe in God, I mean.. just take a quick look around you. At all of the wonderful creations He has created, at all of the people that surround you in your life, all of the stars in the sky, to me.. they're all signs of His love for us. This video made me sit back and reflect on all of that, and it serves as a great reminder to me to just take a step back and thank God for all that He has created and all that He has blessed me with.
I wrote all of this before the events in Boston, but I wanted to add something since this kind of fits the above topic. I am so proud to be an American, especially in times like these when we are attacked on a very personal level. We always join together in times of distress and great need. No matter if we're conservative or liberal, no matter what our personal beliefs about religion are, no matter what ethnicity.. we always come together and help each other. That is something no terrorist organization or crazy person that just wants to hurt innocent people can take away from us, no matter how hard they try. My thoughts and prayers are with the family of those killed, injured, or affected in any way, and to the residents of the great city of Boston. God is with all of you during this tragic time. I pray for peace upon the hearts of those affected. 

PS. For those of you interested, the video above is actually thousands of pictures made into a video. The man who made it used a Canon 60D, and had it take a photo every 5 seconds to record his trip around the US.. he drove more than 12,225 miles and traveled through 32 states. The video I have above is the photos his camera captured while his car was parked and he was out doing things (or sleeping I suppose). If you want to watch the video of his trip around the country, you can find it here.

Day 5: Courage

Alright, I've been wanting to write this post for a while now, and I finally have sometime to actually sit down and think it through. For those that know me in real life {apparently this isn't real life?}, you'll know that I'm pretty shy..well, when I'm uncomfortable and feeling awkward, which is about 72% of the time I'm out in public. Honestly, I just don't know what to say to people most of the time. Seriously, that's the only problem I have, I just don't know what to say. I'm so much better at writing down my feelings, a la..I have a blog. When I speak, I say things in the wrong manner or my words get all twisted, and I learned during my time as a teenage girl that saying what you feel is true might not always be the best way to go about it. I'm self-conscious. I'm afraid I'm going to offend someone. I'm afraid people will judge me. I'm afraid that I'll say something wrong. I over analyze my every word. These things are constant. It gets so heavy. 

This also means dealing with my ridiculous communication skills can be rough. I'm so happy I have Curtis. He's so much better at communicating than I am, and he helps me along the way. Even if he does hurt my feelings sometimes when he calls me absurd for not just spitting it out. But, I still have struggles. Telling him about this blog was really difficult. I don't know why, I just thought he was going to think it was crazy, weird, odd, strange, vain, all of the above. I put vain in italics because honestly, it is the one thing I'm most afraid of when people do actually start finding out about this blog. I've only told Curtis, my best friends, and Curt's sister, oh, and my mum, but that was before it actually started. I just don't want people to get the wrong impression about this blog; it isn't so I can go out and take a million pictures of myself (I kind of don't like doing it anyway..so awk), it isn't so I can show off all of the "cool" clothes I have (even though they bring me some happiness), it is not because I want people to like me and follow me and think I'm super awesome/cool/pretty..that's nice, I appreciate it if people do think those things, but it just isn't about all of that. This blog is about me and the things I enjoy. 

Part of the inspiration for this post was from this post Kendi, from Kendi Everyday posted on her blog when she first started out. I was curious about where all of it started for her, being like blogger royalty and all. I was so surprised to find that she too had reservations about telling people in her life about her blog, simply because she was afraid those around her where going to think of her as vain. Not to mention, in the comments section, there's a lot of big name bloggers that commented on how they felt the same way. Mind you, this was a few years ago, and none of them were nearly as popular as they are now. Crazy. That's all I could think of when I read it. Crazy how these people, that seem to have an overabundance of confidence, felt like little ole' meek me. 

But really, I love shopping, I love crafts, I love beagles way too much, I love photography (even if my dumb camera never gets repaired), I love Christ, I love writing down my thoughts, I love meeting new people (even if I am the most awkward person you ever meet), I love being an inspiration. Does that make me self-obsessed and vain? I don't really think so, but maybe others will. I've cried about all of this you guys, cried. I'm a pretty emotional person anyway, but it was a bit of a stretch for even me. But after lots of prayer and meditating on it, I've decided I love blogging, and I'm not going to quit just because a few people may think I'm ridiculous. There will always be people out there that think those kinds of thoughts, no matter what you're doing. 

But, I also want to translate this new found courage I have over to my real life. It'll be really difficult, I know that, but worth it, and Christ will help me every step of the way, that's something I'm certain of. He has so many amazing plans for me, and I just have to break out of this constricting, self-imposed shell I've created. 

I'd like to leave you with day five of the 30x30, and a few wonderful verses that I've leaned on in years past, but haven't implemented in my life near enough. I hope you find courage and comfort in them just has I have. 

Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your GOD will be with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9 

Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. 1 Timothy 4:12

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

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.  Proverbs 3:5-6

Since courage is the whole theme of this post, I thought I'd wear something pretty courageous today. That scarf is really from the dollar store, and yes, I'm totally wearing it as a shawl/jacket type thing. I was rather nervous about it when I was walking into class and later when I went to Hobby Lobby, and sure, I got some weird looks. But, I like it, and it doesn't matter what others' opinions are about what I'm wearing. As long as I'm modest and feelin' cute, I'm happy. Plus, I'm totally digging the Southwestern style revival, and this totally felt like it. I think it's the boots..So cool how a simple item like a scarf can amp up an outfit in seconds. All I did was unfold the whole scarf and tie the corners together so I had arm-holes. What do you guys think? Yay? or Nay?

Have a fabulous Friday ladies, it's finally the weekend!
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Scarf: Family Dollar
Black Tee: Target
Skinnies: Gap
Booties: Gianni Bini (on sale!) 
Nail Color: Hong Kong Sunrise by OPI 
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Oh, we got our feet on the ground

And we're burning it down

Oh, we got our head in the clouds

And we're not coming down

Song of the Post: Girl on Fire by Alicia Keys

Just a girl in the world

Part of today was pretty awkward. I ordered a tripod for my iPhone from Amazon last Friday, and it was supposed to be delivered today. So, I came home expecting a little package to be waiting for me at my doorstep when I got home from school. Welp, there wasn't one there, I was like, huh odd.. Maybe it's in the mailbox? I checked the mailbox, nothing there either. So then I looked on Amazon to see if it was still out for delivery, and this is where it gets awkward. It had been delivered, yes, but to my old apartment. So, I rushed over to see if the people that lived there were home, and if so, hoping they wouldn't think I was a complete crazy person that sends packages to their house. Also, I was hoping they hadn't tried to send it back or something..that would've been stressful. So, I got to the apartment, knocked on the door, waited for about 20 seconds, heard the people in there say, "it's some girl," waited 5 more seconds, knocked again, and then a guy opens the door, I awkwardly explain my situation, the girl that was there with him says there isn't a package..but I can see the package on the back porch (there's sliding glass doors), and then we get it all sorted out. It was weird, and they were really confused, but hey, I got my tripod! It's pretty awesome, but going to take some getting used to.

Also, another reason why this rushing around to find my tripod package was so annoying, I've been searching for a few books. Ruby Slippers: How the Soul of a Woman Brings Her Home, Coffee Shop Conversations: Making the Most of Spiritual Small Talk, and Jesus Calling. All of which are obviously Christianity books, but I've been really feeling God tugging on me lately to become closer to Him again and I'm in need of some inspiration. Ruby Slippers is about femininity in the church and in Christianity; now, I'm not really one to speak up most of the time.. in fact, I'm not even really a feminist. Sure, I believe we as women should have equal rights, but I also believe we are here to serve. Serve God most importantly, but also, to serve our loved ones, our communities, just about anyone and everyone that we are called to care for and help. I haven't been as good of a servant in the past few years, I've been so caught up with life, school, wedding planning, and well, let's be honest, sleeping, to really care about being a servant. Okay, that wasn't the best way to word it, I have cared and wanted to be a better servant of Christ, but I've been struggling to find my place here at school and at the church I am currently attending. Sometimes life gets so big, I just get overwhelmed and want to close up and go back into my little shell of comfort. But, I'm working on it, and I hope that all of these three books guide me closer to my relationship with God, with Curtis, with my family, and with my church. There has to be a place for me, and I know I can find it..I've just got to try a little bit harder.

As for the other two books, the Coffee Shop Conversations is a book I hope will help me feel more comfortable talking about my relationship with God. I'm certainly not a Bible know-it-all, although, I would like to be able to use more scripture in my life, but my hope is that this book helps me think about spiritual talk and how to speak to those that may not know Christ, or even be better at talking with those who do know Christ. The third is a book a lot of people around me are reading. It's a daily devotional book, and while I was frantically looking around for the cheapest version of it I could find today (I'm just going to order it from Amazon btw), I read the devotional from my birthday (which is tomorrow!!), here's what it said:

Keep your focus on Me, I have gifted you with amazing freedom, including the ability to choose the focal point of your mind. Only the crown of My creation has such remarkable capability; this is a sign of being made in My image.

Let the goal of this day be to bring every thought captive to Me. Whenever your mind wanders, lasso those thoughts and bring them into My Presence. In My radiant Light, anxious thoughts shrink and shrivel away. Judgmental thoughts are unmasked as you bask in My unconditional Love. Confused ideas are untangled while you rest in the simplicity of My Peace. I will guard you and keep you in constant Peace, as you focus your mind on Me.

Such wonderful, wonderful encouragement. I literally almost cried when I read it in Hastings..(I am such a girl). But I felt like Jesus was talking straight to me, telling me to just focus on Him and everything would work out as it should, everything would be okay, and I know that it will. I'm not a fretter normally, fretting makes me nervous and I mostly feel like I don't have time for it anyway because I have so much on my mind. But, this passage just calmed me, and I realized haven't been truly calm in a long long time. I have to put Christ first more in my life, so so sooo much more, and I'm ready to do that. I also realized something else today, while I spent some quality time in my car (thank you awful College Station traffic), this blog.. I don't want it to specifically be for fashion, or crafting, or photography, although I do love all of those things, I want it to be about me, and an enormous part of me is Christ (the whole part in fact!) and my relationship with Him. So, I want Him to be a large part of this blog. I've never been one to write in diaries, I find them tedious and they kind of make my wrists hurt, so this will be my diary...my very public diary (awk). And I hope that not only me, but others get inspiration from it. For that's my purpose here on Earth, to be an inspiration, a follower of Christ, a leader, a listener, a mentor, all of the above, and I hope that people don't misconstrue my meaning behind all of this, because I'm not a pusher. Never have been, never will be. I will not push my views on to others, rather, I would like for them to show interest in it and maybe consider talking to me before I start rambling on about the Man who saved my Soul, Jesus Christ.


Now, on to less serious business.. I just got a bloglovin' profile! I can already tell it's going to be a life saver when it comes to reading blogs, all of it there in one place, easy to find, plus, I can mark things as already read! Awesome! So if you'll just click the link below to follow me on bloglovin'. It's also super easy for those that don't have a blogger profile to follow along too! Follow me on Bloglovin' :)

Oh, and outfit of the day!

Got the comment from my future sis-in-law that I looked like I was from the 80's, not what I was going for..but whatevs. Oh, and ballerina buns normally make my head hurt, surprisingly, my head still doesn't hurt..it'll probably start hurting now though since I said that, ha.
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Forever 21 Navy Blazer: Similar
Urban Outfitters Mint V-Neck: Similar
Gap Boyfriend Jeans: Same / Similar (Save)
Target Flats: I seriously can't find anything that looks like them..sad face.
Michael Kors Gold Watch: Same
Toe Nail Polish: Siren by Pure Ice
Ballerina Bun Tutorial: Here