Favorite Place to Shop for Kids

Well since I don't actually have kids, this doesn't really apply to me... but I like shopping in general so I will talk about where I buy my clothes. 


The main place I shop, especially for jeans would be this place. They normally always have cute clothes and some great shoes. Flip-flops or sandals. Great sweater in the winter too. And nice, modest shorts for the summer. My favorite place. Speaking of this place, I have two $15 giftcards there... I should go look around there.... Mental note made.

This store is not only a place where I shop for random things but also clothes. They have some really cute things each season and I love them. The only thing is that you know your going to find someone else with the same outfit sooner than later because everybody (the normal ones) think that this place has some cute clothes and shoes and accessories and hats and purses and lots of other things too. 

I always go to this store with my mom. She is the one that introduced it to me and I love it. Most of my clothes come from here (or the two stores above) They always have great sales going on (side note: NEVER buy anything that isn't on sale there because it will eventually be, probably the next week) But they have a great clearance section and I love shopping here too!

I love the next two stores a lot too. I don't visit them enough. (and won't be for a while seeing as I'm on a budget) But they always have cute clothes! Their tops are adorable! I always find something there... even if I don't need anything. 

And the last two stores that I love shopping at (well I only love shopping at them or any of the above stores if I'm in a "clothes shopping mood" and thank goodness that isn't super often) are two normal mall stores. They have lots of different options yet I normally can always find something at them, if I REALLY need something (it might not be in the style I want.. but it normally has my color choice, which is nice.) 

College Life

Where do I even begin??


College has been, by far, the best experience of my life! And that's an understatement. I have learned so much about myself and about others in the month and one week that I have been here than I would have learned anywhere else. I have met some pretty incredible people and have had so many opportunities to share my faith... I just can not even put into words how awesome of an experience it has been.


So many things have happened since I've moved to the wonderful San Marcos. I left my hometown on Tuesday, August 23 with my parents. We stayed the night in a hotel in Austin that night because the next day, I had check in at Texas State at 11am and I didn't want to miss anything. Little did I know, God had some other plans for me that day. We left the hotel the next morning (Wednesday, August 24), at about 10:15ish, since it only takes about 30ish minutes to get to San Marcos from there. In the next few pictures, you'll figure out what happen:

And this is how felt after everything happened:

So my start to college was definitely was not how I expected it to start. But God loves to surprise us and give us challenges to work through. But I know there was a reason for the wreck and even if it was just to learn how to become more patient, that's a good lesson to learn in general.

But I still got to move in that day, just a whole lot later than expected. 

Here is a few pictures of my room and random things (if your my Facebook friend, you've seen these):

Speaking of meeting some great people, God has provided me with some awesome Godly girls in my life. Some the same age, some older. He has been so awesome with protecting me from some of the craziness of college and keeping me sane. I have been so blessed and just continue to realize how present God is in my life. 

I have visited a few churches here in the area and I really enjoy two of them. One is on Sunday morning and one is on Sunday evenings. I have to continue to visit both and pray about which one God wants me to be involved in. I know He has some amazing plans in store for me at which ever one I attend.

Classes are going well. I still don't enjoy the whole learning part about school but its still fun... (as much fun as studying/learning can get) But it is nice knowing some of the classes I am taking now will actually help me with my future unlike those that I took in high school... But hopefully my attitude toward school will continue to stay positive and that I will continue doing well. 

I do have to add about my favorite class is for sure bowling! I love that class! My highest score so far is 134 and I am super impressed with that. My goal to reach by the end of the semester is to hit a 200... big goal but hey, it just takes practice.. right?

I've learned I love dancing. It quite fun. Especially two-stepping. I might stink at it, but it is o so fun. If you've never tried it, TRY IT! Even if you hate dancing, you should try it. You might just like it! I sure do. 

Well that's all for now because my brain doesn't know what else to talk about for now and I'm just rambling about how awesome college is.... I'll ramble more later. But for now, I'm going to go get ready to put my cowgirl boots on and get my dancing self ready because we are going out dancing tonight for my friend, Mallori's birthday!!! 

Talk to ya'll later!

HAPPY EASTER!!!

Jesus has risen!! How wonderful it is! 

 
I love this song and it is such a great one for today! ENJOY!

 
Have a wonderful Easter Sunday!

Peace and Love

Exhaustion, Stress/Nerves and Summer

I am so tired today. I didn't go to sleep until after 4_AM last night… That just shouldn't be humanly possible. But I could not for the love of goodness stop thinking about different things going on in my life. My future, my friends and family, my relationship with the Lord, school currently and school in the future aka college and many other things that just came to mind. I was so frustrated which didn't help anything and I was so tired, I became an emotional mess. This might sound weird to some people but I love the feeling after a good long cry, especially if I cry at night. The only thing is I like to sleep a long time after the waterworks and this didn't get to happen. I only got 2 ½ hours of sleep……… not enough! But I feel somewhat better today and I hope that all my stress for things going on starts to dwindle soon.

I am so excited about college but like I said before it completely freaks me out. I know I will be successful but the thought of failing does pop into my head. I am so nervous about meeting new people (because I tend to judge way too quickly. I have high standards for people, which is terrible and wrong but I am working on it) and building lasting relationships with others. I am also starting freak out about finding a church home and a Sunday school class to join. I've been thinking about how I have gone to the same church that I am going to now since we moved here 12 years ago. I have been with the same group of girls (which I have never been super close with) for that time period too so I'm ready to go find my own church home but thinking about it makes me scared and nervous but also o so excited.

Did I say that I was tired? Because I am. Really tired.

So that is what is going on with me emotionally since I know everyone in the blog world wants to know about it. And right now in my "what people see on the outside" life, there is really nothing abnormal going on. I wake up, go to school, come home, eat lunch (sometimes, sometimes I forget), go to work, leave work and on Mondays go to class, Tuesdays go home and eat dinner, Wednesday go to church, Thursdays go home and eat dinner, and Fridays come home and eat dinner. I do other things on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, but it always varies. I have a pretty exciting life, right?

Graduation is almost here! We just started our sixth 6^th weeks of the school year and I'm so ready to be done. I am ready for some change in my life. As scary as it is, it so very exciting. (Can you tell I have very mixed emotions about this?)

And this summer is going to be SUPER busy! I graduate May 28^th and then the craziness begins:

    June 8-9 I have orientation at Texas State. This isn't Fish Camp. Just orientation.

    June 13-17 is Vacation Bible School (I am so pumped I get to do it this year because the last 4 years I have had cheer camp the same exact week)

    July 1-9 Babysitting Beach Trip (I go as the nanny)

    July 10-15 High School Camp for church

    July 17-21 Middle School Camp for church (I'm still not sure if I'll go as a youth leader yet)

    July 26-31 Mission Trip to St. Louis

And I'll also be working when I'm home and I'll also have fish camp during the summer sometime, I just hope it's not during High School Camp or Mission Trip. It can run over any of the other things. So I'll be crazy busy… But I'll have lots of pictures.

 

Hope all of you are having a wonderful Wednesday!

Peace and Love!

Just Missing Jesus

This was the title of the sermon today. To say that Sundays always fill my heart and make me happy would be an understatement. I love Sundays. Although it's hard to wake up "early" and get ready, once I'm at church (if I go in with a happy, joyful and positive attitude, and even when I don't), I seem to get something fantastic brought to my attention or I get questions I've been asking answered. And today was no different.

For those of you who do not go to church, today (Sunday, April 17) is Palm Sunday. This is the Sunday that comes before Easter. And today, in my opinion, was just what I needed before this next week. The sermon was titled "Faces in the Crowd: Just Missing Jesus" and the main verse was John 13:21-30. It says:

21 After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, "Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me."

 22 His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. 23 One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. 24 Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, "Ask him which one he means."

 25 Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, "Lord, who is it?"

 26 Jesus answered, "It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish." Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. 27 As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.

   So Jesus told him, "What you are about to do, do quickly." 28 But no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. 29 Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the festival, or to give something to the poor.30 As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.

After reading through these verses, we did this outline. And the way my pastor presented this was awesome. I'll attach the sermon below the outline so if you want to listen you are more than welcome to. *I'm uploading this blog on Sunday so the online sermon won't be online for a day or two*

This is the outline:

Sermon Notes        Sunday, April 17, 2011

"Faces in the Crowd: Just Missing Jesus"

(John 13:21-30)

The story of Judas Iscariot is the story of a wasted life. He had every opportunity to choose well and yet, rejected Jesus Christ. How is it possible to be so close and still miss relationship to Jesus and eternity in heaven? It happens all the time. Pray for today as we celebrate the Lord's Supper and focus our hearts on the Savior.

1. We miss Jesus when we think we are
   fooling Him .
   
2. We miss Jesus when we want Him to
   fit our mold .
   
3. We miss Jesus when we allow
   closeness to breed familiarity .
   
4. We miss Jesus when we partner with
   the wrong people .
   
5. We miss Jesus when we
   ignore His invitations .
   
6. We miss Jesus when we
   reject His love .
   
7. We miss Jesus when we know
   guilt without repentance .
   

"A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment himself" (1 Corinthians 11:28-29 NIV)

 

ONLINE SERMON:
http://www.fbcallen.org/pages/page.asp?page_id=124704 (Just scroll to the bottom and click the last one)

 

This sermon made me think about how sometimes I am not always joyful with the things I do. I don't always thank my Heavenly Father for giving me a roof over my head, food on the table, parents and family members that love me, and all the other little things in life that add up to be very big things. I also thought about the main question which is "Am I missing Jesus?" For me, I have accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior BUT just because I have done that, does not mean that my journey is done. I have to live my ENTIRE life, not just parts of my life, for him. And sometimes that is tough and hard. But I have to remember that not everything is going to be easy with my walk with Christ. I'm going to have days that test my patience, my strength and my will-power. I have to remember that my life is because of Christ love for me. He died on the cross for my sins, paying the highest sacrifice. I don't know what your answer is to that question above but I hope that if you don't already believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and he died on the cross for your sins to make a way for you to go to heaven, that you would accept this amazing gift that has been given to you because you never know when your last breath will be.

 

Hoping everyone is having a wonderful Sunday!

Peace and Love!

 

Saturdays

I don't know about anybody else, but I love Saturdays when I don't have anything planned and I get to sleep in. Even better when I have nothing planned all day and I get to sleep till whenever I get up and I get to do whatever I feel like doing. Like today. I was completely lazy and I didn't want to do anything so I stayed in bed until way to late but I'm a teenager so that's acceptable.. right? But I was slightly productive today and I cleaned my room! WOOHOO! I was productive! And when I say clean, I don't mean I just picked the dirty clothes up off the floor and threw anyway the junk mail in the corners. I mean I vacuumed the edges of my room, moved my furniture around, threw away things that I will probably need later and then after all that even changed the sheets on my bed. So I say today was pretty productive. I still haven't taken a shower. But it's not like I'm leaving the house. Its 11o'clock at night. Then after all of that, I made chocolate cake balls! Well, I started them. And so far they look pretty good, even though they are chocolate and not white cake. Here is the recipe I used. It's a Paula Deen recipe, so it has to be good right?!?

Paula's Cake Balls

Paula's own version of this trendy sweet!

Serves: 36
Cook Time: 20 Minutes

Smithfield Product: None

Ingredients

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package cake mix
  
• 1 (16 ounce) container prepared cake frosting
  
• 6 ounces of chocolate flavored confectioners coating disks or bar (available in white chocolate, dark or milk)
  
• Food Coloring (optional)
  

• Paula's Favorite Combinations:
  
  • *Red Velvet Cake/Cream Cheese Frosting and dipped in white chocolate coating
    
  • *Strawberry Supreme Cake/Strawberries and Cream Frosting - Dipped in Chocolate Coating
    
  • *White Cake/Mint Chocolate Chip Frosting - Dipped in Chocolate Coating
    
  • *Caramel Cake/Chocolate Mocha Frosting - Dipped in Chocolate Coating
    
  • *White Cake/Wild Cherry Vanilla Frosting - Dipped in Dark Chocolate Coating
    
  • *French Vanilla Cake/White Chocolate Almond Frosting - Dipped in Chocolate Coating
    
  • *Dark Chocolate Cake/Cream Cheese Frosting - Dipped in White Chocolate Coating
    
  • *Spice Cake/Cream Cheese Frosting - Dipped in White Chocolate Coating
    
  • *Lemon Cake/Lemon Frosting - Dipped in White Chocolate Coating
    
  • *Confetti Cake/Vanilla Frosting - Dipped in White Chocolate Coating
    

    Steps
    

    Prepare the cake mix according to the directions on the box. When cake is finished baking allow to cool for 30 minutes. Crumble the cake into a large bowl using a stand mixer or a hand mixer. Add the frosting and mix until well combined. Place the bowl in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours or overnight. 
    
    Line a baking tray with wax paper. Use a melon baller as a scooper to form balls with the cake mixture. Place on wax paper. Once you have used all of the cake mixture, place the baking tray in the freezer for 1 hour. Melt the chocolate in a glass bowl of the microwave, stirring every 5-10 seconds until smooth. At this point you can add a bit of food coloring if you are using white chocolate. 
    
    Remove the balls from the freezer. Using one toothpick, pick up the balls one at a time and dip in the chocolate. Use a second toothpick to slide the ball off the first toothpick onto the wax paper lined baking tray. 
    
    NOTE: We found that an old Easter egg dipper works as well. If the balls fall off the toothpick into the chocolate, they are not firm enough to work with and you'll need to place them back in the freezer for additional time 
    
    Once you have covered all the balls in chocolate coating place the tray in the refrigerator until the chocolate coating is set. At this point you can drizzle other chocolate on the balls for decoration.
    

    Serving Suggestions
    

    Serve with a cold glass of milk!
    

    From:
    http://www.smithfield.com/recipes/recipe/paulas-cake-balls
    

    
     

    Hope everyone has had a great Saturday and received lots of rest and relaxation.
    

    Peace and Love!
    

    
     

Show Us Your Life- Book List

I really hate when you write a whole long blog and then Microsoft Word stops working… That really bugs me. Maybe because it just happened. Let's see if I can rewrite this.

I don't really read. I'm not a big reader. I don't like reading. Maybe because I'm dyslexic (and yes I had to use spell check on that) or maybe because I think it's boring or maybe because I have ADHD and I can't focus when I read. But those are all excuses. Don't get me wrong I do read. I like books. Its fun to have a good book to read and you don't want to put it down. But that is really hard for me to find. I hope that as I get older I can start to enjoy reading. I don't really know what will happen. Without further ado I am going to share with you my favorite books because I am not currently reading any:


 
Redeeming Love

 
Between Sundays

 
A Walk to Remember

 
The Doll People (and the second book The Meanest Doll in the World)

 
To Kill A Mockingbird

 
The Boxcar Children Series

 
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

These are just a few. My mom introduced me to Karen Kingsbury and Nicholas Sparks and I love their books. I also am forced to read some of these books because of school. And at the time I hate them but then after school ends I normally really enjoy some of them. And some of these I learned about when I was a kid. I love children's chapter books for many reasons. 1. They are easy to read. 2. There isn't any bad language. 3. They are normally really good stories. But that's all I can think of for now. Hope everyone is having a fabulous Friday!!!


 
Peace and Love!