A major hair victory!

Those of you who know me know that I've been trying to grow my hair out rather unsuccessfully for about 8 months now. To say my hair grows slowly would be an understatement. I'm to the point where I seriously may use whatever vitamins you like, Mrs. Jackson. But anyway! Tonight I learned how to do something that will hopefully make the rest of this growing out process less painful. Check it out...






And now from the sides...
































I caved and bought a curling iron. It only cost 9 dollars at Walmart!!! For a first attempt at "celeb waves," I think I did alright, thanks to a rockin' internet tutorial. I don't usually post pictures of just myself, but this is BIG. I always wear my hair with a bobby pin up to one side. I mean for years, like all of college, but now, something new and fun to at least spice things up every once and a while! So that's my big accomplishment for this lovely Monday.


Boring first post back after a long blogging absence, I know, but it will have to do! Thanks for reading!

Too many thoughts for a proper title.

Who are we kidding? My last post was me trying to give myself a pep talk. And while it is true that I am beginning to realize the joys of alone time, I MISS YOU PEOPLE.

These people...


And these people...


A few of these peoples...


Oh and how bout ALL these people?



I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! People have to start visiting me or I will be visiting people!!

I have said the word "people" 7 times now. Well, that makes eight.


Hopefully, you get the point. I love you all, and I miss you every. single. day.



On a happier note, I'll be visiting this lovely little city very soon, and I simply cannot wait!





I plan on taking tons o pics and writing at least one blog post about this gorgeous place, my awesome traveling companion, Katie K, and Ben K, the reason for the season.


And on a random note, I would really like to have the funds to look this fabulous all the time.




No one should look that good in jorts.


That's all for now, happy Monday! Hope you enjoyed the most random post in the world.




(Images come from a google search of san fran and olivia palermo, just in case you were wondering.)

Self-analysis.

So from everything I've read about Myers Briggs personality types and all the diagnostic tests I've taken over and over again, I am an ESFJ pretty much to a tee. That being said, these days I'm beginning to realize something new about myself. I'm actually ENJOYING time alone. That's huge for me. I have always, always, always been an extrovert. My energy came from pouring into people and having them pour back. Recently, however, I think that's changing. I crave time to myself. I don't know if this comes from a job where I have people suggesting/asking/demanding me to do things all the time, or if it is is just a part of this whole "grown-up" thing. Either way, I'm surprisingly okay with it.

Now that's not to say that I don't still love and appreciate all the wonderful people in my life. I absolutely do, and I wouldn't be here today without each and every one of you. But I'm okay having a few hours to myself every now and then without thinking who should I call and what can we do. Does that make any sense whatsoever?


Check this definition:

"As an ESFJ, your primary mode of living is focused externally, where you deal with things according to how you feel about them, or how they fit in with your personal value system. Your secondary mode is internal, where you take things in via your five senses in a literal, concrete fashion. ESFJs are people persons - they love people." (Find more on this description here.)

I think my secondary mode is starting to challenge my primary mode. Maybe I'm in some middle ground of dual existence between the two. I love my people more than ever, but I cherish my alone time like never before. I'm hoping this newfound way of life is actually making me appreciate time with my loved ones even more.

So that's where I stand. Thanks for listening to my self-analysis. It's probably far more entertaining to me than anyone else, but still, if you've got any feedback let me know.

And to check out more information on personality types, which, if you're in our friend group, you surely have already been exposed to countless times before, here's a website to take the test for yourself. Enjoy! It makes for some quite entertaining reading, and then you too can write your own self analysis blog post, hooray!!

And I promise my next post will have some pictures (Hill!), I know I've been slacking...

Whoa.

So for a few days now I have been feeling pressured to blog simply because I hadn't done it in a while and was feeling like a major blogger slacker. Not a good thing for someone who eventually aspires to develop a super-interesting, high-traffic blog! But I knew from past experience that forcing it never works out well (My apologies for such posts in the past.) Usually one incident happens that gets my attention, and I run with it and just start typing. I know when I stumble upon some idea or thing that is blogworthy, and my goodness this post qualifies.

So through another blog that I follow, I was linked to this blog...

kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com

Katie, a cute girl from Brentwood, TN, went to Uganda for a mission trip after high school. Katie came home to start college after a few months away, just like she promised her parents. However, Katie felt like she was serving two masters and had to be back in Uganda. Katie dropped out of college, broke up with the love of her life, and sold almost all of her worldly positions and moved to Uganda. Permanently. Katie rocks my world.

But that's not all. Katie bought a home, helped start an orphanage and total global ministry/relief effort, and in the past two years has gradually adopted 14 young girls. FOURTEEEN. One with cerebral palsy. At the age of 21, she is a mother to 14, who is responsible for 400 children living in her orphanage. She raises money and works for their schooling, medical care, you name it, she does it. She has obviously followed the extraordinary calling of her God.

Katie blows me away with her faithful obedience and perseverance. She is a living, breathing example of the idea that "To live is Christ, to die is gain." She talks the talk and walks the walk. And most impressively, Katie is human. She feared all this change, hardly believing when the Lord called her to adopt her 7th child, then her 10th, 12th, 14th...Yet she did it anyway. Her faith is so strong, as well as her belief in the Lord's perfect plan, that she does whatever is asked of her by Him. Katie is a rockstar.

Reading about people like Katie (possibly for three hours last night as I read almost her ENTIRE blog when I should have been sleeping before my 430 AM wake-up call) makes me wonder so many things. Have I missed my calling? Am I listening, I mean really listening to what the Lord wants from me? Is there a bigger picture? Do I continually just makes excuses for why I am where I am? I absolutely LOVE my job, my apartment, my family and friends, my boyfriend, but reading this blog challenged my current state of contentment. Who is the Lord calling me to help outside the comfort of my blessed, simple daily life? I don't know, but I want to find out. I believe I was called into nursing, but once I gain several years of experience, where does He want me to go? Who does he want me to comfort?

I have no clue, i mean no earthly idea whatsoever, but I do know that stories like Katie's remind me to listen.





Visit Katie's blog. It will melt your heart. And it is also possible to donate to her cause via that site if you're so inspired. I don't know Katie, but the impact she has had on me from halfway across the world is incalculable. Thank You Lord, for doing something as simple as putting her blog in my path. I can't wait to see whom else her blog touches.

Nostalgia.

Alright this post is about to get kinda mushy. You have been warned.

While there are so many nice things about being a college graduate, alumni, grown-up, and old person, I seriously miss college some days. I was more than ready to be done when it came to an end. I was fed up with studying and felt like I had been so dedicated to academia that I had sometimes missed out on life. But now, I've reached this goal I've had for myself for so long, and all I'm thinking is what next? And where are all my friends? WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?! Why can't I be content?

I have countless things and people to be thankful for, but I miss my people being in one of two places, home or school. I miss being done with my day and having tons of my favorites ready to hang out at the drop of a hat. I miss the random, little things like horsepool, enormous piles of dishes in the sink at The Ocho, watching scary movies in the middle of the day with Mrs. J(that's your new name, old roomz), and the constant flow of people in and out of our old apartment, to which way too many people had a key. College was an awesome blur. I'm really wishing I had taken more pictures so I could remember all the hilarious and exciting and dorky things we used to do on a regular basis, but here are a few of my favorite pics from the past four years (in semi-chronological order)...

Freshman year. Whoa.

The party where I dropped the delicious cake on the floor before anyone could eat it.

ATO formal bathroom pic. Yates, I forgot how much I loved your dress.

STUART!!! May he live on forever at his new home/pond. (HE IS NOT DEAD.)

Group shot in motion in Nola.

Anna, we are domestic goddesses.

First and most epic/dirty farm trip.

Pretty old roomz.

The day HE touched my sweaty back. (No, not my boyfriend, the other guy, in the hat.)

Freezing cold Braves game in May where I attempted to open a credit card just to get a free blanket to prevent Catherine and I from getting frostbite.

20th bday party with amazing cookie dough cake!

Rush. There are no words. But I do really love this picture!

One of my most favorite pics ever with my new rooms.

Short hair and Aross. Follow her man's new blog by clicking over here----->

Kmac's 21st bday scavenger hunt. By the time we graduated that Kinko's guy knew all our names, well, at least mine.

NEW YORK. Trip of a lifetime.

A 21st purple extravaganza. My friends are models. Especially Shane and JT. And Katie K, you look fierce.

SB '10. Only Melissa...

We are the champions!

I'm starting to get really sad at this point in the picture timeline.
Graduation!

Oh hey Mrs. J. So glad your wedding could be our last friend hoorah!!! (For the next few months at least...)



I love each and every single one of you, and I miss seeing you all the time. Between Kmac and I, don't worry there will be some kind of awesome, huge, reunion trip for everybody in the future, and sooner rather than later!

For now, I'm trying to learn and pray to be content where I am, never settling but appreciating each day and learning tons throughout this new phase of life. I love my job and feel so blessed to be living in such a great city in an amazing apartment, I'm just glad I have all these wonderful pictures to go back to when I'm missing my people.

That's all the emotion I can handle for one post. If you made it this far, thanks for your dedication and look forward to a more lighthearted post soon!

P.S. So sorry for all the blog changes recently. I was bored with old layout so I'm trying out some new ones, but I think this blue-themed one might stick. Let me know what you think in da comments!

A-party-ment

After reading Yates's "Top ten things I didn't realize I missed about home, but I did" list, I was inspired to use a similar method to inform the blogosphere of Kate's "Top ten things I just really love about my new apartment." So, without hesitation and in no particular order...

#1. my bed.


It is purple, soft, and awesome. The bedskirt is not as gold as it looks in the pic either. That may or may not become a burlap bedskirt one day, just no time now and this color works for the moment! I'm OBSESSED with my bedspread. Just seeing it everyday when I come home from work makes me happy. And the risers beneath my bed, genius! My storage space tripled, easy. And my favorite awesome pillow. Here's a close up...


It's an unexpected pop of color designed in such a pretty, vivid way. Mom found this one, I think it ties everything in my room together perfectly and breaks up the purple a little bit.


#2. shoe rack


Don't laugh. I mean this in all seriousness. I love shoes so much, and this rack holds 36 PAIRS! Not just 36 shoes. That means all my everyday shoes can be displayed while leaving room in my closet for a smaller, more protected rack for my more expensive shoes. Who cares if my closet door won't ever be able to close? YA'LL. It may as well be artwork as far as I'm concerned.


#3. pictures

Kmac and I both LOVE pictures. Everywhere, all over the place, in all kinds of frames. Hence, pictures cover our apartment, and we haven't even gone into kmac's camera of unveiled pics yet. Here's a taste...




And this one, which refused to photograph well due to glare and reflection, is my favorite! Hill gave this to me and set it up for me because technology doesn't like me most of the time. He even set it to come on from 3-6PM. How cool is that?! So for three hours I see this wonderful little loop of some of my favorite pics. Oh, and it has a remote!




#4. chest o' drawers


My one and only successfully completed craft project. I will probably do a whole post on it once I get better knobs. But still! It started out a heinous shade of way too bright a blue, and now it is a pretty gray, hooray!


#5. mirror to be placed above chest o' drawers


My latest find. This mirror just ties my room together so nicely! There is a lot of dark wood and things, so a lighter mirror that still brings in the dark was just what I needed! I debated it for weeks because it was a little out of my budgest, but in the end I knew I had to have it. Now hanging it could be a little more of a task, since it weighs 20+ lbs, but it will be worth it!
A closer look at the trim...




#6. pup


Here she is! All grown up, well, mostly. Lyla weighs 30 lbs now and she just loves our apartment. Mostly because every time we go outside there is a new dog to play with. Hopefully, they will have a good influence on her because she can be quite the rambunctious little one. All in all, though, she's really been pretty great so far at adjusting to a new place, and dare I say she has yet to have her first accident here (Knock on wood!). The blue/green thing in the corner of the pic is her carpet. She drags it around and lays on it all the time. She refuses to just lay down on hardwood. Apparently she is a texture freak, but a really stinkin cute texture freak!


#7. my roommate's awesome dvd collection


I couldn't even fit all her seasons in one picture! It would take me ten years to watch all the seasons of all the shows Kmac has brought to our apartment. I'm starting with Dawson's Creek because I love love love that show, and then I plan to conquer Gilmore Girls, then Everwood, and finally One Tree Hill. If ya'll don't see me out for a while, please call me and make me stop watching tv.


#8. spice rack


Cooking is next on my domestic agenda. I'm going to have to take classes or something because I have no clue where to even start. But! I have a spice rack, a really cool one that spins, and I plan to use it!


#9. trunk


So instead of spending my extra money on jeans or shoes or something, I now spend it on trunks. With this particular trunk, it was pretty much love at first sight. The picture doesn't do it justice, but it will be something I plan on keeping forever and ever. It has such character, and I really just enjoy looking at it.


#10. lamp


Thanks to an extraordinarily nice graduation gift from the bf's family, I was able to buy this lamp that is really more like a sculpture. Again, the picture doesn't make it look near as good as it does in real life. It is my favorite thing in our den at the moment, well it and the trunk!



Overall, I feel incredibly blessed to be living in this wonderful, cozy little apartment with a great roommate/bff. Thanks for letting me photograph a few of your things Kmac!

Hope you enjoyed the sneak peak! (Anna, yours better follow. BRING BACK THE BLERG!)

My pretend grown-up life.

Since I no longer have assignments and studies for school, I now have "grown-up" things to do with my life.

Observe the items atop my desk at the moment:

coupons


paint samples, preference anyone?


and my new bedtime story,

my planner.

Note, I have never ever had a planner. I detest all that they represent. I have also never taken the trouble to actually make use of a coupon. How embarrassing is that? And how lazy am I? Also, the idea of painting and distressing a piece of furniture I just spent far too much money on terrifies me. Yet somehow, here I am.

Funnily enough, I'm kind of liking this new place. Growth and change are things I tend to shy away from, but these days I almost embrace it, almost.

And I'm sorry for the lack of updates! The big move is in 2 weeks, hooray!! But as a result I'm extra busy. Bargain shopping may be my backup profession if nursing doesn't work out. If you need any suggestions, I'm happy to help! The deals are out there, you just have to be sweetly demanding and maybe a tad bit aggressive. I learned this from David. People will sell him anything at the exact price he wants. It is unreal. Anyway, until all this DIY-ing stops, posts may be a little sporadic, but I'll do my best to keep this thing updated. My task for the weekend is distressing a chest of drawers I just bought that is currently bright blue. I might have bitten off more than I can chew...More on that as the process gets started on Wednesday. Stay tuned!



P.S. Coupons are my most favorite things. Anyone know websites or anything where I can find more? They are my new collectibles. Who am I?!