Praises and blessings!

So I apologize for leaving you guys in the dust for awhile now. Being a college/working student catches up with you quite quickly sometimes. I have all sorts of exciting news though to counteract that!

First off..

My apartment was having a renewal drawing this past week. Anyone who renewed by a certain day for another year was entered into a drawing to win an iPad. I did renew my lease, however was not at all expecting to win because I have the worst luck. But then, a couple days ago I got a phone call from my apartment complex saying I won! I got to choose between the iPad or iPad2! Very cool & very exciting. Of course the only thing I can think about is that I will now have something to entertain me in my 7 hour layover in Boston. Why do I have a 7 hour layover in Boston you may ask? That brings me to my second bit of exciting news..

I'm going to London! In less than 2 months I will be on my way to spend 10 days in London! One of the infamous M.E.L.K. members, Emily, is studying abroad in London and has been there since Janurary. What an amazing opportunity right? She has loved every minute of it and is getting so many cool experiences. Well my birthday is coming up in June so my parents decided to make my present this ticket to London to spend time with her! I am so unbelievably excited that I was skipping around a sports store when my mom told me on the phone acutally. Well I am still in the process of making a list of things I must see and do while there. I know we will see a play in the Globe Theatre, possibly make a weekend trip somewhere, see the famous cathedrals and who knows what else. I need to do some serious research in deciding what is vital and what is not so vital so I can make my stay as perfect as possible! If any of you have any suggestions or ideas for me, please send them my way!

Another bit of exciting news..

My boyfriend got a job! I know this may not be exciting to anyone out there reading this but this is a very big praise in my life. A little background for you, Ryan is a recent graduate from Baylor University. He graduated in December with a degree in finance. Since then he has been back in our hometown going back and forth to different cities with job interviews. He had been rejected by a few and was losing steam. Then this last friday morning he had a sudden interview at one of our local banks back home. He got the job offer the same day! What an amazing blessing! At this point, we are just happy he has a job, though it may not be his dream job it does provide him income! He was so excited that we went out and bought him new shoes and slacks, which he never does! He will be in a cubicle 8-5 but thats alright for now!

This picture is a very poor quality photo of a sketch I did a year or so ago. Its just a sketch of a few trees, nothing special. Ryan loves this sketch though for some reason. He has requested that I take it out of my sketch book and put it in a frame so he can put it in his little cubicle! So his cubicle won't be too bad now!

Last but not least, I wanted to share about my past weekend a little! I am in a Christian sorority at my school called Sigma Alpha. This past weekend was Sigma weekend, a weekend we spend in a cabin together fellowshiping and bonding!

This is my small group, girls I see atleast twice a week.

I love Sigma so much. There are so many amazing girls who are so on fire for the Lord. It is such an encouraging thing to be a part of and I always have a friend who will be there for me! This weekend we had a guest speaker who talked about our identity in Christ. I loved the overall message and really enjoyed the speaker. It definately gave me a much needed reminder to not put my identity in anything other than my Father. Whether it be a hobby, illness, my studies, boyfriend, etc. My identity is soley that in Christ. Which is so much better than anything else!

Top 12 movies

I'm a movie fanatic. I love watching,going to the movies and are a sucker for buying movies when I see them. I have quite a variety in taste when it comes to my favorites. I just consider myself well rounded, haha!

If I HAD to choose my top 12 favorite movies these would make the list.. (in no particular order).

1) JAWS (1975)  

2) Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)

3) Psycho (1960)



4) Crash (2004)

5) Pretty Woman (1990)

6) Nightmare before Christmas (1993)

7) Boondock Saints (1999)

8) Grease (1978)

9) 500 Days of Summer (2009)

10) The Notebook (2004)

11) Silence of the Lambs (1991)

12) Inception (2010)

An itty bitty post

"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." Romans 12:12

Romans is by far my favorite chapter in the bible. I can always find just the words I need to hear when I search there.

Now for my picks for the week:

Pillow. Anthropologie.

Anthropologie

Anthropologie

H&M

H&M

melk.

Sorry I left yall over the weekend! I was spending a nice weekend at home celebrating a friend's upcoming baby. I'm so excited for her! Isn't she an adorable pregnant woman?

Here is another one of my best friends who was also at the shower..

The first one is Kelsey and the second is Layna. They are two of my old best friends from high school and before that even. There is one more, Emily, who completes our foursome of besties. Emily is currently studying abroad in London (which I will visit in May and talk about in a later post). Anyways, we all call our group M.E.L.K. We made it up in middle school. It is supposed to be a spin-off of the word MILK because it sounds alike. Silly, but like I said, we made it up as pre-teens.
Emily was the first one of the four that I met. We met when we were both 4 and in the same ballet class. From then on we were completely inseparable and often mistaken for sisters strangely enough. The next was Kelsey. I met her in first grade and she automatically became one of my closest friends. The last to come into the foursome was Layna. We all met her in 6th grade when we started middle school. She also automatically joined our little group. Though technically Layna was the last to join M.E.L.K., we wouldn't be M.E.L.K. without her! And nowadays she is my closest friend!
All 3 of them are amazing young women who have such beautiful souls! They all have such wonderful personalities! I realize some may find it lame to dedicate an entire post to a few high school friends but these girls are truly amazing.  We have all been out of high school for 3 years and have all lived in separate towns with different lives. However, though we don't get to see each other or talk to each other about every detail of every day, we are just as close now as we were 3 years ago. I've lost best friends I had for my whole life since high school, but M.E.L.K. has never shaken. I know I'm young, but I truly believe that is true, honest-to-goodness, never-ending friendship.

I'll leave you with a few pictures from memory lane:

Emily & I. Before Elementary.

Emily & I. Elementary School Days

Emily & I. Middle School Days.

Myself, Kelsey & Emily. Early high school.

Emily, Kelsey, Layna and I. Early high school formal.

Myself and Layna. Middle School Days.

Emily, myself and Layna. Late High School.

Layna, myself, and Emily. Early High School.

Early High School.

Emily, myself and Layna. Late High School.

Myself, Kelsey, Emily and Layna. College.

College.

& most recent.. Myself, missing Emily, Layna and Kelsey.

Don't ever take for granted the friends that will never leave your side.

Today has been a busy day, so this post will be short, as promised. I will leave you with just a couple examples of some of my art. On a side note, I in no way am pretending to be an amazing, professional artist. This is simply a hobby of mine that I would like to improve on and show others. If you do like my stuff, I would love a comment on it. If you don't like my stuff, I would also like a comment so I can see how I can improve. Everything I paint is purely things right off the top of my head. Unfortunately, the majority of paintings I have done, I don't have pictures of because I give them as gifts. I tend to stay in the nature/tree theme though. Remember if you ever want to purchase anything or request something, just send me a email!

Done last night, this picture shows the true coloring the best.

George just wanted to be in a picture, coloring is off in this picture.

A sketch in pencil.

A little summary..

This post is designated to giving a little summary about myself. Nothing too serious, just a few tid bits accompanied by pictures. Firstly, I am a college student majoring in psychology and minoring in art. I am a Christian and try to live my life pleasing to God. I'm trying not to waste my talents he gave me and to use them to glorify him and his creation.

I love to paint and be creative in any way. This is one of my paintings I've done, its huge and hangs over my bed. The coloring is a little darker than the painting actually is, but that's just my camera tint.

 

I have two cats that I treat just like my children. I ADORE animals! This little girl is Paisley. I got her when I first went to college, saved her from my family farm. She is quite a spit fire but my little princess.

This is George, my little boy. I rescued him from an animal shelter not even a year ago. As the picture shows, he is a cuddler. He is currently cuddled by my side as I write this, attempting to lay on the keyboard. 

This is my beautiful mother! My parents are a big part of my life and I am very close to them. My mom is an amazing woman who I am so much like but also very different from. I love her though and appreciate her so much!

This is my handsome father! My dad is a character. I am very much like my dad as well. The time we spend together usually consists of fishing or doing something outside. He is so supportive and I appreciate that so much!

 This picture contains two important subjects. First off, my two brothers. The one with his arm around me is my little brother, the other on the right is my older brother. I love having brothers and being able to have them there for me and also be there for them. The second subject is my nephews. They are adorable and a big part of my life! As you can tell, family is very important to me.

And last, but definitely not least, is my boyfriend. He is a huge part of my life and I couldn't get by without him. He is a big inspiration to me and supports me so much.

Tomorrow will not be such a long post! I promise. This was just a glimpse of my life and what I find important.

& So it begins..

So welcome to my brand new blog!
I decided to start it off with a tad bit of a lazy post, my apologies. I would like to start though with saying that this blog is not meant to make me sound like a writer. I plan on updating daily or at least every few days with my thoughts on life and everything that that involves. I'm very passionate about observing my life carefully and trying to appreciate all that it entails. I hope keeping this blog will help me highlight those things and give me an outlet to express some of my creativity. I love to paint and will occasionally be posting new paintings on here, sometimes for sale. Next post I will tell you all a little bit more about myself, but today I leave you with the start of my weekly list of my own current top picks. Picks that I may purchase or just admire.

Here we go:

Anthropologie

Anthropologie

Nordstrom (Just ordered yesterday)

American Eagle

Steve Madden