It's the People, Not the Places

A couple of weeks ago, I was sitting outside of the Science Hall on campus, killing some time after a meeting with a professor and before class started. I was eating an apple and enjoying the glorious weather we had that day (80 degrees only a week after an ice storm--that's GA weather for ya). There were tons of people milling about around campus. People catching up with friends, a group of guys playing football on the field, etc. I kept thinking how this place--this university--has changed people in certain ways. How people will never forget their 4, 5, 6, 7+ years spent here. How this is "the best time of their life" for some and how it's just a stepping stool towards a final goal for others. And then it hit me. It's the people, not the places that make all the difference in the world.

It's the people who made every one of my years at Augusta Christian so special. It's the people who understood the woes of dress code and relished in the lunch privileges of senior year that make me love my time spent there. It's the people who know all the inside jokes and remember every trip we took together. It's the people who spent hours investing in me, listening to me, and encouraging me during life's trials. It's the people who helped mold me into a better person, not the place.

It's the people who play in the snow with me and celebrate the little things in life with me. It's the people who came into my life at exactly the right time. It's the people who I go to lunch with after church on Sundays and who are willing to meet up for light night Krispy Kreme or Waffle House. It's the people who embrace me because of my flaws and who teach me something new every single day. It's the people who will make my college experience so special, not the place.

*not all are pictured here 

It's the people who ended up meaning so much to me that I decided to spend another summer with them. It's the people who evolved into being another peculiar yet special family. It's the people who understand that hiking up the rappel trail scares me so much that they let me ride in the truck when necessary. It's the people who you don't see for months at a time, yet when you get to see them at that special place, you begin again right where you left off. It's the people who make me love every minute that I get to spend at Camp Cedar Cliff, not the place. 

It's the people that I fell in love with in Australia, not the place. It's the people who took me to see the native animals and who brought me Macca's cokes because they knew I loved them. It's the people who washed my clothes and listened to my struggles as I lived two months in a foreign land. It's the people who welcomed me into their homes and their lives and gave me a new family in a land 10,000 miles away. It's the people who make me miss that suburb of Melbourne every single day, not the place. 

It's the people, not the place that make life so beautiful. 

Currently...

I ran across this post that I wrote around this same time last year, and I decided to do it again this year to compare the differences!

Reading: Restless: Because You Were Made For More, by Jennie Allen. This book is incredible. Here's my favorite quote so far: 

"God is accomplishing a thousand tiny purposes at any given moment around us. There is only so much we can know, but we can leave the stuff we can't know to God and believe He has it all worked out. It may feel quiet, and we possibly even feel forgotten, but God is moving to work out His plans all around us. What is our part? Trust." 

Listening to: The Art of Celebration by Rend Collective which just came out yesterday. It is FANTASTIC. Hop on over to iTunes and buy it. Also, Tides by Bethel Music is pretty good. It's only $4.99 on iTunes. You can't beat a deal like that. 


Eating/Drinking: Baked Lay's BBQ Potato Chips and anything caffeinated...I need as much caffeine as possible to survive student teaching. 

Cooking: One Pan Chicken Alfredo.  This is one of the BEST pinterest recipes I have ever made. I will definitely be making this one again.

Running: Every now and then...I had a plan to become better at running this year, but let's be real, it's not happening. I ran some the other day at boot camp. I have all these dreams of being a cool runner, but I never put forth the time/effort to become one. Maybe one day.

Writing: Lesson plans, lesson plans, and more lesson plans. And reflections about lesson plans. It's all about lesson plans. 

Feeling: Ready for spring break, a little sad because Hannah + Jonathan  are moving, and sort of old because Jack turns FIVE in a couple of weeks. Five, people, five. 

Wearing: Gap, Old Navy, or JCrew pants + cardigans. #teacherlife

Missing: Camp, Australia, my besties, and free time. 

Wanting: To have my new iPhone...just trying to be honest here, people. 

Learning: How to trust those around me and how to trust the Lord COMPLETELY. 

Enjoying: Good books, evenings with friends, time at work, and catching up with some of my favorites. 

Pax, ATL, 7, & More

What a horrible title but I couldn't think of anything more creative, so that's that.

If you've seen any type of news coverage or are friends with anyone who lives in Augusta, than you know that we got hit really bad last week by Pax. While Atlanta and Charlotte got snow, we got ice. Ice, ice, and more ice. My parents and I were without power for almost five days, and it was no fun. Okay, it was sort of fun the first night...reading by oil lamps (because only my parents would have those) and having flashlight wars, but after that it was no fun. I am incredibly thankful for a gas fireplace and a gas hot water heater. We survived, and while there are rumors of another ice storm in the next 10 days or so, I'm going to enjoy the spring like temps we have right now.

Kaila and I had been planning to go to Atlanta this past weekend since, well, since the last time we went to Atlanta. It's fun to get out of Augusta, and it's fun to see old friends. We said goodbye to crazy looking Augusta and hit the road headed west. It was a very low key weekend, but it was really nice. Our big adventure was going shooting, and it was so fun, even if I wasn't very accurate :)

Rend Collective let out a music video to their song "My Lighthouse" yesterday. I love it so much already, and I can't wait to get their new album in March!

Also, I was planning on starting my next month of 7 yesterday, and I was going to do only 7 foods. But with where I am spiritually and emotionally, I decided to do my social media month starting next week. I'm going to be doing my 5 weeks of student teaching, and I think it will be the best move for me so that I can be fully committed to teaching and not distracted. 

Happy Tuesday!

snowwwwwwww

I didn't wear a jacket to work on Monday. I didn't even have a long sleeve shirt on. And by Tuesday evening, I had two shirts and my ski jacket on because it was SNOWING! In Melbourne (Australia), they say you can experience all four seasons in one day. In Augusta, I'd say you can experience all four seasons in one week. It's supposed to be in the high 60s this weekend. Anyway, it snowed, and you can bet that we had SO MUCH FUN! Two snow days + two-ish inches of snow + six friends = a really fun night.

This was only the beginning!

We had snowball fights on snowball fights on snowball fights. It was so fun to feel like a five year old again. 

The next morning, I headed over to my parents' house to see their snow. Lucy didn't enjoy the snow as much as the rest of us did. 

My backyard was so pretty!

Right after my dad took this, we attacked him with some snowballs. My mom and I also had quite the snowball fight :)

Hope you and yours enjoyed the snow if you had some! 

Birthday Celebrations

Sometimes my birthday can get overlooked because of Christmas festivities and New Year's Eve celebrations. But reality is EVERYONE in the WHOLE world celebrates my birthday so it makes my birthday so much more fun! I spread out my birthday celebrations for about a week, and each and every celebration was so fun!

We spent New Year's Eve and Kaila's boyfriend's house. Once the clock struck midnight, Patrick found this piece of cake and lit some candles and everyone sang to me. I laughed and laughed because they all knew that I don't like cake, and then once I blew out the candles, I handed the cake back to Patrick to eat. 

I went to Carrabba's for birthday dinner with my parents. THIS chocolate delight was DELICIOUS!

The fab five were at it again for my birthday dinner. We headed downtown to The Cotton Patch, and it was such a fun time with these girls! After dinner, we headed back to my house where we talked for hours about education, the government, our futures, etc. We felt like old ladies discussing these things, but I'm so grateful for these lifelong friends. 

Kaila surprised me with a trip to Atlanta for my birthday weekend. Through me being nosy and a friend kind of spilling the beans, it ended up not being as much of a surprise as it should have been. BUT it was tons of fun. We shopped a lot, ate lots of good food, played fun games, froze in Piedmont Park, didn't get enough sleep, and laughed a lot. I'm already looking forward to my next trip to the ATL. 

Christmas 2013

Christmas this year wasn't too crazy, but that's okay. Sometimes it's nice to have calm, small holidays. I enjoyed the time spent with my family, and I'm glad that two of my grandmas were there to celebrate with us! What a blessing for them to have another Christmas.

Cuteness. 

We spend Christmas Eve with my dad's side of the family. This is the newest member, sweet baby Hayes! How precious is he? (This is just before he peed on me. Real life.)

We ended Christmas with dinner at Waffle House!

The Sunday after Christmas a few of us went to Lights of the South, refusing to believe that Christmas really is over. 

Had no idea Addison was back there :)

Love this sweet friend!

New Year's Eve isn't supposed to be too crazy either, but I'm okay with that, too! And the birthday celebrations are about to begin!!!

2013 Year in Review

2013 was a fab year. In January, I wrote this, "21, you've been nothing short of fantastic so far! I cannot wait to see all the fun things that come with your year!"

This year was incredibly fun. I made and met some incredible new friends, God worked in magnificent ways, I fell in love with a beautiful place, and I continued on this journey that God has called me to. There are some things I wish had taken place during 2013, but they didn't, and I'm just going to have to be content in where he has me this year. So, without further ado, a look back on some of the highlights of 2013! 

January: I turned 21!

February: I led my senior girls in their last DNOW! 

March: Drew got married, and my BD and his wife got saved!

April: Kaila and I went to Atlanta, and I threw Hannah a bridal shower. 

May: I went to Hilton Head twice, and Hannah got MARRIED!

June: I went to camp!

July: I was still at camp!

August: I went back to camp for a weekend, and I went to Florida for Labor Day Weekend. 

September: I went to camp again (clearly I fell in love with camp this year).

October: I started my student teaching (and SURVIVED it).

November: I spent a lot of time with the Dukes at camp, and I hosted my first Thanksgiving dinner! 

December: I hosted the FIFTH Annual Tacky Sweater Christmas Party!

2013, you really were great. I made some awesome best friends, I slept outside two times too many, I stood by one of my best friends as she got married, I drove to Asheville and back too many times to count, I had two of my best semesters in college, I read as often as I could, I cooked a 20 pound turkey, I was a student teacher for five weeks, I made it a full summer at camp, I watched my birth dad and his wife get baptized, I became an even bigger fan of phone dates and spur-of-the-moment visits, I spent more money at Gap then I should have, I joined a new church, and I made as many fantastic memories as possible. 2014, I cannot wait to see all the joy and fun you bring! 

Fifth Annual Tacky Sweater Christmas Party

On Thursday night, we had our FIFTH annual tacky sweater Christmas party. I can barely believe that this was the fifth time we did this. How have we been doing this five years? I feel incredibly old. (You can read about Year 2, Year 3,  and Year 4.)This was the lowest turnout we've had, but it just shows how old we're getting. People had things to do with their husbands (okay that was only Hannah), and plenty of others were either out of town or just busy with life. To be completely honest, I'm not sure if we'll get to have one next year. So many of us will have graduated (not me) and we'll be well into adulthood. One of my friends just accepted a job in Texas, and I have other friends applying to grad school. IS THIS REAL LIFE? I feel so old. Okay, moving on....

Typical. 

Love these ladies!

Thanks, MB, for making us take a "fake" laughing picture :)

I have no words. 

I just want the world to know that my sweater is about the 12 Days of Christmas (best one I've ever had; shout out to my mom for getting this one for me!)

Love this sweet best friend of mine!

Hope you are enjoying the tackiest, merriest time of the year!