Catching Up

Again, it's been a while since my last update. I've gotten a job working at a paint it yourself pottery studio and that takes up a lot of my time lately. I love working there and babysitting a couple of times a week. Here are a few photos to keep you updated with my life. I'll try to keep things updated better. (Also, I'll be going out of the country for 6 months starting in January and hope to keep this up. I should be able to keep up with it better because I hopefully will have more interesting things to capture each day). Anyway, hope you enjoy!

 

This is the bird I drew out for the blog I'm a part of with some friends I graduated from college with. It's called Needs More Blue and each week we pick a theme for us to create art based off of. You can check it out here.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure this is part of why our economy is so bad. 

 

I got to go to the first Bama Game of the Season. VS San Jose State

Huge, nasty spider that I killed with Raid. I was not about to get close enough to squish it. I was also afraid that if I squished it a ton of baby spiders would come running out. GROSS

 This is my super cool outfit for the "Anti-Penn State Birthday Party I went to before the Penn State Game. I got it at Vaper Thrift Store and it says "I <3 Ethiopia" 

Awesome tent I made with the kids I babysat, complete with Spider Man Sheets.

Sketch. 

Candle 

 

Balloons from work

My first NFL football game- Broncos VS Titans. GO BRONCOS. We won. :)

Day 38: Toy in my Cereal

Today I found a toy in cereal. Seriously, I didn't know they still did this! I didn't notice the advertisement for it on the box when I bought some at the store today but when I opened up my box of honey nut cheerios (that and grilled cheese got me through college- no joke. Not cuz I can't cook, but I never had time to cook) out came this little toy. Not the best toy in the world though. They just don't make 'em like they used to...

Day 36: No Air

No air, no air... No, I'm not making a reference to Jordan Sparks. My air conditioning is out. This is the temperature in my room at 10:30pm. Hmmm, could be worse, I suppose. At least I can sleep downstairs where the air is working. Ps: I know it says off. I turned it off so that it wouldn't freeze up from running 24/7 trying to cool down.

Day 35: New clothes for cheap!

Obviously, everyone these days is on a tight budget. As a recent college grad (who is still looking for a temporary job by the way),  I am also one of those people. Today I headed to the mall to spent some of my Belk gift card I got for graduation and walked out with only this shirt. BUT this shirt only cost $5.60 AND I used a gift card so it was FREE. :) Hopefully it'll stay warm a bit longer so I can wear it for a while. This was not the highlight of my day, though. I had a wonderfully encouraging conversation with a good friend of mine today, but failed to get a picture of us. Oh well, this is a good 2nd place.

Day 33- August 22nd

Hm, I knew I had gotten behind, but I didn't realize I had gotten THIS behind. Oh well, today is a new day. I mentioned in an earlier post that I like to drive- especially on nice days. So, I went for a drive and took some pictures while I was at it. This is one I took and edited. I wanted it to have a "old time" feel. It's not as good as I would have liked (my trial of photoshop went up and I'm saving up for a new computer before I buy it). But, here it is anyway.

So It's Been Awhile

Ok, it's been awhile since my last update. I know I said I was going to post a picture EVERY day but honestly some things I did just didn't seem like they'd be interesting enough to put on here. Also, I got a little discouraged. But who doesn't? We look to God for strength and keep moving forward. One of my best friends reminded me to seek to glorify God in the small every day things of life as well as the big things. I needed that reminder. Anyway, I have been doing things and here are a few pictures. I went to a drive in movie last night but didn't get a picture because we didn't get there until right before it started. Then it got too dark. Here are a few pictures to catch you up.

This is Buck. Two of my friends recently moved to Texas and I went to visit them before they did. Buck belongs to my friend, Eddy. This is us in the car. I love that he looks like he's smiling here.

 This was during Tax-Free weekend... That's right, if you spend $50, you get a free smoothie! Sounds like an expensive smoothie to me...

 I babysit every Monday (and other times). Silly faces with Leah.

Day 12: Eat Authentic Kurdish Food

Yesterday I went to Nashville to check out a Kurdish picnic. Nashville has one of the highest populations of any US city of Kurdish refugees. To learn more about these people and all they've been through, check out this link: Kurds. I don't know what the name of each food was, but it was so good. I also learned some Kurdish dances!

Day 10: Ode to Facebook

"Country Music. Many who like Grey's Anatomy like this." Since when do country music and Grey's Anatomy have anything to do with each other? No, I did not spend all day on Facebook, but I thought it was funny.

Day 9: Fire Alarm

Yes, this is a smoke detector and yes, I did set it off today: for the second time this week. Don't worry, there wasn't a real fire or anything. No, I didn't burn anything while cooking either. This smoke detector in my college roomie and her hubby's new apartment is in such a way that if you're not careful, the steam from the shower will set off the alarm. Luckily, it did not go off until about 10 minutes later cuz that could have been a bit embarrassing...

DAY 8: Butterfly in the Grill

Ok, if you're an animal right's activist, please don't hunt me down for this (ignore the pun). I did not kill this butterfly, just saw it stuck to the grill of the SUV parked across from me as I left the mall today and I had to take a picture of it. Why? Because it was beautiful in a sad kind of way. I haven't gotten to edit the photo to my satisfaction though because I currently am saving up for Photoshop.

On a happier note, I got an awesome tumbler today that holds both cold AND hot drinks (at Bed Bath & Beyond) and got to test it out when I went down to the pool for a couple of it hours. It works and is amazing. Yay for cooling off in the pool and yay for freakin sweet tumbler (that also has a lifetime guarantee.)

Day 7: See Eclipse

Obviously, this is not a picture of me. Nor did I take this picture. But yesterday (ok, so I'm a little late on posting this, so sue me) roomie and I went to see Eclipse. Yes, I have read the books (she got me in that) and no, I don't have a "team"- as in Team Jacob vs Team Edward. 

Day 6: Ruby vs the ducks

Meet Ruby. Ruby is my college room mate's dog. She lived with us for a while our junior and senior years of college. My friends live in pretty nice apartment complex and today we decided to go for a walk after dinner. We saw these ducks and they come right up to you because they're used to being fed. I decided to see how Ruby would react to the ducks and they to her. At first it wasn't bad but once the ducks realized I had no food for them one of them smacked Ruby with her wing! It surprised me so I let out a small scream. No worries, Matt took her back out to them to chase them around a bit to "reclaim her manhood." Ruby is a girl, so I think it was more to reclaim his manhood in not letting his dog get beat up by ducks.

Day 5: Road Trip to Georgia

This is me driving. Not the most exciting picture in the world, I know, but today's blog is really more about what the picture represents than the actual picture itself. I spend a lot of time in the car. I love to drive- road trips are the best. (Side note: I've always wanted to road trip across country with friends, maybe drive to San Francisco or something). If I'm bored, I'll take a drive. If I just need to get out for a while or need a quiet place to talk out loud to God where I know no one can hear me, I take a drive. I'm the one who volunteers when there is a pretty good distance to drive and we're trying to decide who will drive. It's not that I don't trust others, I just like to drive. I tend to get bored if someone else drives.

I can remember when I turned 16 I was so excited about this new freedom I had. I was told that would grow old real soon and I would dread driving-especially long distances. This honestly has happened a couple of times, but most of the time I love to drive. If I'm by myself that's great because I can sing at the top of my lungs or spend time praying out loud to God. If someone is with me that's great too because some of the best conversations I've had with people have been in the car on a trip. There's just something about it that I love, maybe it's because quality time is one of my love languages, who knows. (Insert plug for Gary Champman's Five Love Languages book here. For real, it's legit. It's not some silly "self help" book so don't not read it because you think it is or because you think you're too scholarly or to "manly." I know lots of "manly men" who loved it and just because it's not some deeply theological book doesn't mean it's irrelevant and not worth your time. It's something you can implement not just in a marriage or a romantic relationship but in all of your close relationships. Maybe now I'm rambling, but I felt like it needed to be said.)

Anyway, where I went to college was a 4 1/2 to 5 hour drive away from my home so making the just under 4 hour drive to visit my college room mate (who I haven't seen since her wedding 2 months ago) and her husband for the week really wasn't bad. Yes, it was probably the most desolate drive ever, BUT it was such a beautiful day that I couldn't help but enjoy myself.

I mentioned that today's post was more about what the picture represented than the picture itself and that's because it represents me going to visit someone I had spent the past 2 1/2 years living with and now don't. I no longer refer to her as "my room mate" but she is now "my college room mate." I have to specify because I'm no longer in college. It's weird for me. Add the and her husband and that just makes it even weirder. Ok, I guess it's not weird (I mean, they'd been together for like 6 years before they got married so it was time). It's just more evidence that my college days are over and it's time for the next chapter to unfold- whatever that might be.

As I was driving and admiring the clouds in the beautiful blue sky, I saw a rainbow. It wasn't the most magnificent rainbow I'd ever seen, but it still made me grin like a kid in a candy store. I really like rainbows because they're not just pretty but are just rare enough to evoke excitement from me when I see one. I also like them because they're a symbol of a promise. Not just in Genesis when God created the first rainbow as a symbol to Noah that he'll never again completely flood the earth to kill mankind, but in my own life as it's been a symbol of God's promise that he does have a plan for my life and wants to bless me. I'm not out here on my own trying to fit all of the pieces together and figure out what to do next. God is leading me and guiding me and as I look back at the beginning of the summer I can already see how God has been teaching and molding me and using this time to not only prepare me, but to use me where I am. God used the rainbow as a promise to Noah then and He has used the rainbow (a couple of times now) this summer to remind me that he does have a plan for my life and I do have purpose and he does want to bless me with the desires of my heart. I'm sad that I wasn't able to get a good picture of the rainbow (I did pull over on the side of the road to try and get one) but like I said, it wasn't the best one I'd ever seen. Either way, it was still pretty and it still reminded me of God's unending love and I am thankful for that blessing today.

Day 4: Knee Boarding

I went to the lake with some friends today and got the chance to knee board. I LOVED it. It wasn't too hard to get up and I had a lot of fun on the waves; I didn't just stay in the wake, "the safe zone". I'd love to do it again sometime and get more and more adventurous jumping the waves. I can't tell you how many times I bit it face first when I was on the inner tube (which I'd been on before) though. Turns out I wasn't lifting my head up enough to keep from getting sprayed so much that I couldn't see. This resulted in some pretty wicked wipe outs. Sadly, I don't have a great picture of any of those wipe out, but trust me, I got knocked around a bit. If you're friends with me on facebook I'll be putting up some pretty good action shots later, so check em out!

Day 3: Baked Peaches

Ok, so I am aware that this is not the most interesting thing, but it's something that I've wanted to do for a while and we happened to have some peaches around the house (which also just so happen to be THE hardest peaches to get the pit out of. For real). So I figured it was time to Carpe Diem and make some baked peaches! My mom actually laughed at me when I said that this was today's blog post. "We need to get you a more interesting life." Thanks Mom, love you too.

Anyway, they didn't turn out too bad. I didn't have brown sugar (could have sworn I did) so I used regular sugar. I had to guess as to how much cinnamon and sugar and nutmeg to put on there. Also, the 15 mins was not even close for my oven (maybe due to too much cinnamon, sugar and nutmeg??). I had to end up putting them in for like 30 or 45, I can't really remember. So, basically, you're probably better off finding your own recipe! Enjoy! Oh, I also recommend a small scoop of vanilla ice cream with the peach while it's still warm. :)

Day 2: Mehindi

                 My try at henna, aka mehndi- not the greatest, but a good first try, I guess.


I was cleaning my room today (shocker! ha) and came across a packet full of cards, notes, and letters that were sent with me to encourage me while I was in South Asia for a couple of months last year. Wow, it feels like it's been more than just over a year ago since I was there. As I read them, I was comforted and encouraged once again to know people were praying for me. My heart was also filled with a strong desire to go back. The harvest is ready, and one day I will go back. I had already been planning on doing henna on my foot for today's blog but now it seemed even more appropriate. Henna on my foot and a prayer in my heart for South Asia.

PS: Thanks again to everyone who wrote me to encourage me while I was away. It was a blessing both then and today.

Day One: Daylight Doughnuts

Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE coffee. You also might know that I'm really not that huge of a fan of doughnuts. However, today I woke up with a urge to try a new doughnut place here in town (well, new to me anyway). So, off to Daylight Doughnuts I went. The coffee wasn't very good, but the cinnamon sugar twist (which some would say really isn't a doughnut) was pretty good. Maybe I'll go back and try another one sometime. Nothing too adventures for the first day, but a good start.

New Beginings; You're Invited

Two months ago I graduated from college and I'm finding that many others are in the same position as me: excited to be done with one chapter of our lives, yet uncertain of what the next one holds. Now, I know that no one can really say what the future holds no matter what age you are or what stage of life you are in, but I find myself uncertain of what the next step is in life. I have had goals and have worked toward them for the past four years and upon completing some of these goals (like getting a BA in photography) I am realizing that sometimes plans change. I still have dreams and hopes and ideas of how my life will go, but I'm learning to trust God with all of that and remember that all the details are in His hands.

So, I am seeking His purpose for my life and am pursuing a few different options. In the mean time, I'm not going to just sit around! In an effort to keep myself doing something and to keep life exciting (and to show Daniel that my life is interesting... kind of, haha), I'm going to post a picture each day of something from my day; something new, fun, exciting, or funny from my day. This will give me something new to do everyday as well as make me appreciate the everyday blessings of life. No, I am not the first person to ever do this (credit goes to Sarah Lynch and Jessica Roman. I got the idea from a combo of the blogs you did). Yes, some of the photos will be artistic seeing as I am a photographer, but most will probably just be snapshots from my life.

I invite you join me on this journey as I take in the world around me and remember that God has a purpose for my life: even this time of waiting right now. Maybe you'll think I'm silly or boring or maybe you'll find some kind of comfort in knowing that you aren't the only one out there who has no idea what the future holds. Either way, I hope this is a blessing to you. I've decided I'm not going to miss out on it any longer, but I'm going to make the most of every day I have because I'm not guaranteed tomorrow.