easter weekend.

i hope you all felt the easter spirit alive in yourself & the world around you this weekend!

this year's easter officially marked my first holiday away from home. & to be honest i felt more sad about it than i thought i would. i got scheduled to work this weekend & on easter sunday. why old navy needed to be open on easter sunday is beyond me but looking at the positives in life money is well needed for this broke college student!

i made the most of my weekend alone, though. all of my friends & my floor went home for the weekend so it was literally me, myself, & i. i enjoyed the peace considering i had time to tackle homework & have a few solo dance parties in my room.

on friday i went to good friday mass. every year it is such an overwhelming feeling to wrap my head around the fact that jesus died for my sins! it reminds me of how underserving i am of this. i worked later on in the day & then spent the night watching the movie labor day. i love kate winslet! saturday was spent in the library on campus trying to plug out as much homework as i could. it always seems like the to-do list gets longer & longer every time i look at it. my evening though was what i love to do most: shopping by myself. i had a gift card left over from my birthday from my very best friend for target. so, i filled up my cart with as many things as i could, only for the fun of trying things on! i walked away with a mini haul & felt energized from the time by myself. sunday was such a wonderful day! the lord was risen & there was such a beautiful service at church. i felt reborn & ready to walk better in my journey with christ. work went by fast too, so there was definitely no complaining!

i gave soda up for lent this year. i'm a sucker for a cold coca-cola & today i splurged & bought the good kind. going without soda for 40 days (okay, yes i had it once, i got stressed ya'll!) was a challenge, but i think the purpose of lent is to teach you that you don't always need what you think you do. i'm going to try to keep it healthy & stick to water, water, water from now on! soda is only for emergencies, new rule!

dressing room snaps.  the cutest little lace top. 

i dance when i'm excited, apparently.

 // if you confess with your mouth that jesus is the lord & believe in your heart that god raised him from the dead, you will be saved//romans 10:9//

may the joys of easter & the new spring season bring you peace, hope, & happiness. xoxo.

a whole new world.

update! i got glasses! finally! no more shaky screens & squinting eyes in lectures! and my eyes have finally adjusted, thank goodness! i think this is the first official sign that i'm getting old, too. i also think with the temps in the high 50s yesterday it's an even bigger sign of spring! my mood is always a little brighter this time of year. one of my many resolutions was to start finding happiness daily, even if it was in the littlest things. i will admit this has been a little bit of a struggle at times. it's much easier to look at the negatives than the positives. i believe being happy is a choice you have to make daily. today, nice weather & good vision has put an extra bounce in my step. can you blame me though? i hope it's not a minnesota tease & will be here to stay! here's to the rest of the week to being as great as the beginning!

ketchup round two.

i haven't been here in over two months. i'm not happy about this either. i think i haven't felt like there has been anything worth blogging about in my life recently. i am still plugging away at school, this semester i took less credits but still seem to have just as much work. i am napping a lot more lately which i haven't figured out if this does more harm than good. i am trying to push through today without hitting my pillow. we will see how that actually turns out.

life actually is flying by. it's hard to wrap my head around the fact that freshman year is almost over. five weeks left, folks! where did the year go?! i really don't want to think about the end yet. i'm not ready to leave this campus, my friends, & my cute little room yet. i'm very surprised i am not sick of this small space. i am usually one who likes my time alone. i think having a closet & dresser that fits all my clothes has something to do with this. don't get me wrong, i am so ready for summer. it will be a much needed break. i hope i will be able to get through my list of things i want to do. thinking about the sunshine, ice cream, and shorts is helping me push through, though.

spring break has already came & went. i spent the week at home with my family & puppies. it was kind of a bummer that most of my friends didn't have their spring break until the week after mine, but it was so nice to be at home & in my own bed. i recently just got hired at old navy, too! i am so happy because this is my dream job. sadly, yes this is true. if anyone knows me they know i'm obsessed with old navy, i pray that i will not blow my whole entire paycheck there either. god, give me the strength! 

i'm also very happy to say that my weather report has been nothing but sunny skies the last couple of weeks! i am finally at a place in my life where i have wanted to be for a long time! 

spring is here, summer is around the corner, life is very good!

this year.

well this definately came too fast, but winter break is now over & school is well underway. i got back to the dorms on sunday & then spent the next four hours unpacking my ridiculous amount of stuff. at least i've come to terms with the fact that i'm an over packer. admitting it is the first step, right?

i had the best break because it was spent filling up my heart up with family & friends. it was so nice just to have a month of relaxing (kinda) & catching up with friends i had lost touch with. it was so enlightening to know that time hadn't changed any of them & our gatherings were just as fun as i remembered. god has definitely blessed me with amazing people in my life. 

2013 was a very challenging & emotional year for me. i have never been challenged as emotionally as i was last year & because of that i think i got lost in the mess of what used to be. i have never been someone who likes change & i struggle with accepting things. when things don't go the way i want them to, or the way i think they should, i question god. in hindsight, i pushed him away last year because life had a different plan than the one i had planned. the person that i was in love with decided that he had a different plan too. this was one of the hardest things that i've ever had to deal with. i haven't really figured out why yet. maybe it's because i never really got the closure that i needed. the whole thing didn't make sense, & still doesn't make sense to me. i pray that i will see the puzzle pieces finally fit together one day, & i will be able to understand it. 

but for now, i'm happy that i had my "aha" moment about a month ago. i realized that putting faith in god 100% was the only way to go. i think that one of the hardest parts for me was just letting go of the control i so desperately want to have, & to put it all in his hands. sometimes when things don't happen the way we want them to, that is god's way of saying "wait" or "not now." most of time, this is the most frustrating part because i've never been a patient person. now i remind myself, "god knows what he's doing, he knows what he's doing." because he really does. i know now that god's plan for me is going to be something greater than myself. that's the fun of it all i think. i don't know what's coming for me, but god does. waiting to see is exciting. 

looking back on the last seven months i have come a very long way. i have my family & friends to thank for that. this year i'm going to be a little selfish & focus on myself a little more. i need to take time to better myself everyday. i need to take time to accept the past & to fully heal my heart. i need to pray more daily. i've learned that i can talk to god whenever, & i will take full advantage of this. i need to do things for myself. i'm going to use this blog for me, as an outlet to let things go. i need to find happiness in the littlest of things everyday. but mainly i need to make god number one in my life. i can't wait to see where life takes me this year. 

i'm ready for whatever comes at me because now, i have him walking with me.

sweater weather.

photoshoots are so much fun & are even better when they are with your best friend.

these are some of my favorites from our last minute shoot. 

hello.

yes. yes. yes. yes. yes times infinity!

i can't wait to meet you 2014!

merry christmas from our house to yours.

staying true to me, here is my very, very, very late christmas post. 

i hope you & yours had the merriest of christmases! i can't seem to get over my love for this time of year & have not been able to wipe the smile of my face since! christmas definitely left just as quickly as it came, but as i write this there is still a sparkly christmas tree in front of me so i'm not ready to say goodbye quite yet! 

this christmas was spent at my house as always with my grandparents, aunt, uncle & cousins. this has been the tradition for as long as i can remember. this year though, my sister's fiancé (i refer to him as my brother) joined us for the festivities & i couldn't help but think that this is how it will be for the rest of my life! can't wait for them to tie the knot! i just get giddy thinking about it. as my grandma's memory is slowly slipping away, i cherish the times that we are able to have the family together in the same place.  

i hope you keep the spirit of christmas alive in your heart for the whole year.  it truly is a wonderful life. 

^^ my sister's a babe. ^^