18 is behind me.

2010 has been full of blessings, a few struggles, lots of changes, and year that only God could have ordained. Year end review in pictures? I think so!

eighteenth birthday celebration.

snow in augusta.

fashion show. 

D-NOW.

Easter Sunday with Uncle Johnny.

Amelia Island. 

Best Prom Date Ever!

New Orleans, LA. 

Senior Trip. 

Graduation.

Favorite High School Teacher!

Summer Camp. 

Hilton Head. 

BD & me in Huntsville.

Best Friend & me in Panama.

College Road Trip!

Best Friends. 

 

Auburn!

Steeplechase. 

Thanksgiving.

3 Generations. 

Cousins. 

so thankful for all that God gave me in 2010. cannot wait to see what He has in store for me in 2011!

My First White Christmas.

The plan for Christmas this year was for the family to wake up a little earlier than normal (we never do Christmas before 11 AM in my house), open presents, go to our friends' house for lunch, then me leave their house to head to Alabama for my Christmas with my BD and his family. Well, Mom woke me up at 7:45 as my Dad was coming back home with my grandma. We all ate breakfast and read parts of the Bible together, then headed to the living room for present time! After we were done opening presents, I went to my room to grab my phone. I had a text from my BD that said "Merry Christmas...we have 1 and a half inches of snow on the ground...you still coming?" My heart sunk. I knew that my Mom would probably not let me go. She freaks out enough about me going to Alabama when it's a typical day. So me driving for 6 hours + snow would be a definite no from Mom. I went back in the living room and told my parents. Dad said it was okay as long as I was super careful. So, a few hours later I was headed to Alabama.

In my opinion, my trip is broken up in three parts: the drive from Augusta to Atlanta (2 hours), the drive from Atlanta to Birmingham (2 hours), and the drive from Birmingham to Huntsville (2 hours). I usually stop in Atlanta and Birmingham due to my super small bladder :) The drive from Augusta to Atlanta wasn't too bad. There was mainly rain, but no snow. But once I hit Atlanta, it turned into that awful snow/rain mix. I thought I was NEVER going to get to Huntsville! I stopped in Birmingham at a gas station and the whole thing seemed so surreal to me. Driving to my family on Christmas Day, snow everywhere...it seemed like something out of a Hallmark movie to me. Plus, I was spending CHRISTMAS with my biological family. Yeah, this had to be out of a movie!

I got to Huntsville and it was beautiful! Snow was everywhere. It was a White Christmas that I had never seen anything like before. My family and I had a really good Christmas dinner and we hung out a lot that night. The next morning, we woke up to like 3 more inches of snow! It was gorgeous. That afternoon, I had a snowball fight with my two cousins who are 5 and 6. It was something I'll always remember.

Let's just say this was one of the most different Christmases I've ever had, but I loved every part of it!

my cousin Jackson and me BEFORE our snowball fight :) 

Jackson making a snowball

JP's super cute face, but he nailed me with that snowball right after I took this! 

the things i love...

...well, at least the things i love this week.

1. pictures inside my mac cover
2. my Christmas tree, even though it tilts waaaayyyy too far to the left
3. the store, 2nd & Charles
4. Lights of the South, despite the freezing cold weather
5. Tacky Sweater Parties
6. the book Operation World. check out more here
7. Christmas Eve Services
8. this
9. Nutella
10. my adorable coat i bought this week!

That's about all for my random post of the day. Merry Christmas Eve everyone!!!

guest post.

my best friend Chelsea let me guest post on her blog, Free to Be Me.
it was such an honor and if you click on the yellow box on the side of this blog that says "I was featured on free to be me" then it will take you straight to that post. AND check out her blog...it's way much more creative than mine and very encouraging :)

it's the simple things.

today, i bought the cutest jacket at Old Navy. it's one of those peacoats, that goes to your knees, and it's navy. i absolutely adore it. i came home and told my mom about it and wore it around the house for a solid 40 minutes.

it hit me that it's the simple things in life that help me go through my crazy day to day life. it freaked me out that i'm going to Alabama on Saturday. i haven't seen my BD and his family since June so i'm sort of nervous. plus i'm meeting some of the family that i've never met before. yeah, i'm freaking out.

but, then i look at the cute starbucks cup that my gift card is in that my big "brother" Drew gave me today for Christmas and it makes me smile. i see my little tree in the corner of my room and i smile again. i see ALL the pictures in my room of my precious best friends and i smile some more.

i realize that it is really the simple things that mean the most to me.

home for the holidays.

ever since college started, one of my absolute FAVORITE things is when my best friends come home. weekends that i get to spend with them are the highlights of my week, sometimes even my month. some of my favorite memories of this semester have been when those best friends of mine have been home :)

since it's Christmastime and we're in college now, time spent with my friends gets to be longer. and i love it! over the past week, i've already gotten to hang out with my best friends numerous times.

Christmas Dinner at my house one night! 

The 2nd Annual Tacky Sweater Party

Success? Check! 

Christmas is next week.

wow.

i looked at the calendar yesterday and was like "oh, I'm going to Alabama next week. Yay!" Then it hit me. I'm going to Alabama next week. CHRISTMAS IS NEXT WEEK.

with everything going on from finals to friends coming home to taking the annual Christmas Card Picture with the family, i guess i failed to really realize that Christmas is next week. until yesterday.

yesterday was a super duper hard day for me, but i learned a ton. i have this issue where when i do something that i end up regretting, i tend to live in that moment. instead of assessing the situation, processing the outcome, and moving on, i play the "what if" game. which is so not healthy.  Erwin Lutzer puts it better than I ever can when he says, "In Christ, we can move out of our past into a meaningful present and a breathtaking future."

so, even though i've been super busy so far in December and i wish i had done some things differently, i'm grateful for what the Lord is teaching me through it all. my future, which is in Christ, can and will be amazing as long as i don't live in the "what if" stage.

and realizing that Christmas is next week, i'm going to keep my perspective on what Christmas really is all about--the birth of our Savior and Lord.