I love this week.

Let me tell you why:

I've been listening to a lot of Christmas songs, and that always puts me in a great mood. Our favorite local radio station has been playing Christmas music nonstop, and last night I may have downloaded 55 Christmas songs... Here's the ones I got: A Very She & Him Christmas by She & Him (after listening to it for months on Spotify), The Christmas Sessions by MercyMe (maybe my favorite... it's got all the classics), Hey! It's Christmas Vol. 1 and 2 and Carol of the Bells by BarlowGirl (my favorite version of this song right now).

My sister came up for a surprise visit last night and was able to spend the night with us. We ate really good food, drank coffee (umm... three times... I'm a little embarrassed to admit that) and had really good conversations. And tomorrow, I get to drive down to her house to stay a couple of days.

On Friday, my love and I are going out of town for the weekend to visit some of my very favorite people. I'm so excited. Our weekends at their house are usually spent around the campfire, making s'mores and eating great food, shopping and thrifting, discovering new movies, talking about old times and having really wonderful late night conversations.

Tonight my little sisters, our mom and I finally saw Hugo. I thought it was brilliant and so beautiful! And it was the best 3D movie since Avatar, if you ask me. I can't wait to see it again already.

On Saturday, we spent the morning serving our city's unfortunate families, providing Christmas gifts and food to help them make it through the holidays. Serving others is so important to me, and the whole thing was very humbling. After, we met up with my Grandmother and lots of ladies from her hometown at Crystal Bridges, and then Mom, Richard and I discovered a really great new coffee place. I'm obsessed with their vanilla honey latte!

I hope your week is going as well as mine! I'm so happy and thankful right now. It's a good point in time for me. :)

Please excuse the mess.

We just got back from a week-long trip two hours south to visit our families. We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving week, despite the fact that Richard's hometown flooded Tuesday night and many houses and businesses around town were damaged. We had the best time visiting with our families and friends. We ate so much good food (specifically Grandmother's cranberry sauce, Aunt Rin's sweet potato casserole, and, of course, my dad's deep-fried turkey). And, as you can tell, we did way too much shopping. (I'm not even sure how all of this fit in our car on the drive home!) 

I'm glad to be home, and I'm even more excited about the fact that I only have two weeks left of this semester. But I came home sick and am very worried about how I'm going to manage to accomplish all the things I have to accomplish this week when all I want to do is snuggle up on the couch with a blanket and a box of tissue.

How was your Thanksgiving? 

Summer via my iPhone.

Hydrangeas. Weddings. Coffee smoothies/iced coffee (I might have a coffee problem). Night swimming. Sweet tea in Mason jars. Lemon meringue pie. Flea markets. Road trip planning.

I'm enjoying this summer so much already! ♥♥♥

goals.

I'm not a big fan of making New Year's resolutions. It's just that I can never seem to keep them. There have been so many years that I've said I would get in excellent shape, become more organized, get all A's... and those things just never happened! Although I'm not big on resolutions, I believe in setting realistic, achievable goals; for me, it is the best way to accomplish things that are important to me without being too harsh on myself.

Here are a few things that I hope to accomplish this year and practice throughout my life:

1. Stop worrying so much. I'm a worrier, and I tend to worry about things that a) don't matter or b) are way beyond my control. It is such a self-destructive habit, and this year I'm going to work on not stressing out over insignificant things.

2. Get healthier. I need to exercise more, eat better, drink more water (and less sweet tea), and take my vitamins every day. I want to live a full, long life, and there is no better time than the present to develop healthier habits.

3. Be a better sister, daughter, granddaughter, girlfriend, friend. I think I am a good sister already, but I know that I need to be an even better role model for my little sisters who are 9 and 12. Plus, I want to spend as much time with them as possible before they grow up and realize they are far cooler than I will ever be.

4. Be more giving of myself. I believe our purpose in life is to serve each other, and I don't feel like I have been serving anyone but myself lately. It is time to forget about myself for awhile and focus on the needs of others.

5. Spend more time in prayer and studying scriptures. Everything else will follow.

Is it really only Monday? It must be at least Thursday, right?

Today I am:

*thankful for hot tea with lemon and honey, Nyquil/Dayquil, Robitussin, Vick's Vapor Rub Patches (have you seen those? brilliant!), warm blankets. It's my third time being sick in a month, and I've got a serious smoker's cough (and I don't smoke).
*thankful for my love. This has been one bad month, and I'm not certain that I would still be sane without his love, support, and kind words.
*thankful that my love doesn't make fun of me for saying funny things in my sleep.
*thankful for soup, sweet tea (always), Wendy's Frosties, Momma's Mexican cornbread.
*thankful for the new Taylor Swift cd. Yes, I'm one of those people.
*thankful for the movie Elf. Sophomore year, I watched it every single day for about a month. While getting ready for school in the morning, after school, late at night, middle of the night...- oh yeah!
*thankful for my family. All of them. Momma, David, sisters, brothers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins. They are hilarious, supportive, honest, wise, caring, selfless, beautiful, and I love them very much.
*thankful for health insurance and Obamacare (on my parents' insurance until I'm 26? Thank you, sir).
*thankful for answered prayers. Nothing is more important or more amazing than that.

hello, hello!

it has just been brought to my attention that i never, ever blog anymore. sorry guys. i am probably the worst blogger in the history of blogging.

this summer has been quite uneventful in the sense that i've taken no fancy vacations, nor have i done anything terribly worthwhile. in a way, this makes me a happy lady. at the same time, i feel lazy & boring! but i cannot remember a summer that has been so relaxing.

i have seen lots of rainbows. gone on lots of picnics & mountain drives. spent so much time with each of my sisters. met an octopus (!!!). learned to cook an array of fancy desserts & made my first roast which got rave reviews & made me a happy lady.

i went bowling lots & lots of times (and my highest score is still 84... embarrassing). had weekend guests. went to a lovely friend's wedding in a field in missouri. went rafting & i got big-time injured. went on a tulsa adventure with my baby sisters & boyfriend.

i spent a friday night in a garage on a ranch with my big family in louisiana, playing instruments & singing gospel songs. saw the biggest fireworks display of my life while laying in a field next to the river with some of my favorite people. ate lots of barbie snowcones with my boyfriend.

these little things have brought immeasurable happiness into my life as of late. my life is bursting at the seams with love.

next week, i'm road tripping to california with two of my favorite women. hopefully i'll remember to blog with lots of stories & photos of what is going to be an amazing trip!

easter weekend.

i think i'm even more tired after this busy weekend than i was before it started.

on saturday, my baby sisters had a convention for church in which they performed in a play & received gold medals for pretty little sculptures that they've been working so hard on! after the convention, my family headed down south to grandmother & grandaddy's house to eat lots of good food & celebrate such a special day. i went to richard's church, & it was easily the best church service i'd been to in a loooong time.

after a huge lunch on sunday with both sides of our family, my cousins, siblings, richard & i played with guns & grenades, watched my cousin robert play on the roof in a ghillie suit, & had a full-on brawl with confetti eggs in the garden & in the street. my family is crazy. i love them.

ice skating!

Let me just begin by saying this: I was definitely not meant to be an ice skater.

Richard & I took Maci & Hali ice skating, and I don't remember this last time I saw my little sisters laugh so hard. It was Richard's first time, and he is a natural like Maci. They're so cute spinning around on the ice as Hali & I literally can't force ourselves to let go of the side.

And all those blurry pictures? That's us falling. Whoops.

And do you see how beautiful my sisters are? It amazes me. I love them.

happy birthday richard!

my love's 21st birthday was friday. i spent weeks planning a big party in fayetteville for him & lots of his favorite people. but by the time friday rolled around, we were completely snowed & iced in & unable to leave the house, much less drive two hours to fayetteville! i couldn't even get the poor guy to a liquor store so he could make his first legal alcohol purchase. :(

it was a big letdown, but i think i helped him to make the most of it. we went on the longest hike of my life even though it was frigid (he thinks we are bear grylls people) & discovered a beautiful cliff overlooking the river. we went sledding on saturday morning up in the mountains with my sister & two precious little girls. my niece hailey was such a good sport on our two-mile trek even though she was up to her little knees in snow!

it was quite inconvenient, but i absolutely loved our snowy long weekend together.

i'd just like to say that...

i am thankful for my family. for supporting me in all of my last minute decisions. for giving me financial help when i need it (which is a lot, trust me). for putting up with my weirdness, mood swings, and last minute crazy ideas.

i am thankful for the university of arkansas. the fact that they accepted me and helped me work things out just days before classes started is unbelievable.

i am thankful for missouri state university for all the memories, fun, and my best friend ashley.

i am thankful for knowing exactly what i want to do with my life. it eliminates so much stress, and believe me, i do not need anymore of that.

i am thankful for the beautiful weather. fall's on its way, folks! it's been perfect for riding my new bike.

i am thankful for the interesting people i have met and have grown to love.

i am thankful for my new car. it has cruise control and a working heater, both of which my old car didn't have. hooray!

i am thankful for my hilarious, beautiful, smart, sassy friends. every single one of them. and the unforgettable memories of them that i hold so close to my heart.

i am thankful for the silly things. like sweet tea/hot tea/coffee, my iphone, crunchy peanut butter on honey wheat bagels, tea parties, front yard camping "trips." the list goes on.

i am thankful for the numerous amazing memories that this summer brought. stay tuned for many of them in picture form.

and, i am thankful for this blog. i know i neglect it too often, but i promise i'm working on that!

happy 4th of july!

My favorite thing about Independence Day is that my family celebrates it literally for days. The weekend long celebration started last night and will continue going strong until Sunday.

I made yummy patriotic cupcakes for a picnic.

We bought a ridiculous amount of fireworks which I could not get to fit into one picture. I wish I would've taken one of all the debris from last night's 2,500 dollars' worth...

I hope you all have a happy and safe 4th! The rest of mine better include a hot dog, more fireworks, and a long afternoon at the pool.