What I'm Thankful For

I saw this on Blissfully Enamored's blog and had to play along. I think it makes the whole Thanksgiving holiday that much more meaningful. Since Thanksgiving is on the 26th I am going to write 26 things I am thankful for. Sorry if some are silly but she said there weren't any rules! Gratitude is gratitude if you ask me!

1. I am thankful that I am forgiven.

2. I am thankful that I am healthy!

3. I am thankful that I have a loving, supporting family.

4. I am thankful that I have a place to live.

5. I am thankful that my grandparents are still living and very present in my life.

6. I am thankful that I have been given the opportunity to go to college.

7. I am thankful that I always look forward to going home. (Being in college I have learned this is not the case with all people and it makes me sad when I think of what a blessing my family is and how much other people are missing out on without special people behind them.)

8. I am thankful that my mom is a really, really, really good cook!

9. I am unbelievably thankful for our troops who are fighting right now!

10. I am thankful for my DVR. (Sorry, I stole this one)

11. I am thankful for warm, cozy blankets and a good book.

12. I am thankful for the sweetest roommate anyone could ask for.


13. I am thankful for this little girl right here.

14. I am thankful for laughter.


15. I am thankful for sunny days and fresh flowers.

16. I am thankful for celebrations. (I always look for things to celebrate each day. It can be small, like just getting through one more biology lecture. Or it could be huge, like making an A in your hardest class, moving on to another chapter in your life, or watching one of your friends get engaged. Blessings multiply when you count them.)

17. I am thankful for words of encouragement.

18. I am thankful for the places and experiences I have gained from going on various mission trips. I am thankful that my parents have shown me it means more to give than to receive.

19. I am thankful for seat heaters in my car.

20. I am thankful for quality girl time.

21. I am thankful that I don't have to go through life alone.

22. I am thankful for this time in my life to be single. Or as my mom would say, "foot loose and fancy free."

23. I am thankful for snow days filled with hot chocolate, snow angels and no school.

24. I am thankful that my happy days have outnumbered my sad ones.

25. I am thankful for today and another chance to leave my mark on the world, to make it better than it was yesterday, to show someone Jesus, to make someone smile.

26. I am thankful that I can count far more than 26 things I can be thankful for on this list. (If you think that may be a slack answer, I'll say I'm thankful for dessert.)

I encourage you to do this too whether it is private, at the dinner table, or on your blog. Sometimes we don't realize how much we have been given until we take the time to stop and look around.

Have a blessed day!

Last Weekend

Well, since I never got around to it, this is last weekend when I visited my best friend.

Friday when we got there, we decided to go wander around downtown for Art Walk. This is when all the businesses open up and have free wine, art, coffee, food, etc. I loved being able to explore the city and look around in all the neat shops. We decided to go into the coolest vintage store ever. I don't typically like vintage stores because it seems like a bunch of junk but this store was so neat. The basement was nothing but old clothes. We decided to play dress up.

Saturday was full of shopping, shopping, and more shopping. But first we had to eat lunch. We went to Noodles and I had delicious Penne Rosa pasta. This restaurant was delicious and I would definitely eat their all the time if it was anywhere close to my school. The whole weekend felt like summertime so we were able to eat on the patio.

Then I stopped by my favorite store... Palm Avenue!

Of course I wanted everything, but I used some self discipline and just bought 2 new notebooks for next semester and this adorable pencil pouch.

Then it was on the the mall for the rest of the afternoon. I walked away with a pair of new pumps (who knew they were so hard to find?) but again, I fell in love with a lot, like these shoes.

But what I really wanted was these Chanel sunglasses! I think these are going at the top of my Christmas list. I love the pearl on the sides.

Saturday night was a friend's 21st birthday so we had a dance party. I used to not enjoy dancing but we just acted silly and laughed a lot.

We had plans to go to church Sunday morning, but we stayed up so late with girl talk we decided we would rather sleep in and go to brunch since we had a long drive ahead. We ate at the Flying Biscuit and it was phenomenal! Again, it felt like a beautiful summer day!

Saying goodbye was not fun! We wanted to just turn the car around and never leave but school and all our responsibilities were calling our names.

Just for laughs, this is what Sarah's room looked like at the end of the weekend after four girls spent the night.

Sarah - I love you so much! Thanks for being such a fabulous friend for all these years. I had the best weekend an appreciate you and your roommates opening up your home to us. I will certainly be back very soon! Until then, I can't wait for Thanksgiving!

Thanks Blue Eyed Belle!

I have been a very bad blogger, sorry! I've missed keeping up with you all. Thank you for all the emails and comments checking up on me. I'm doing great, I'm just incredibly busy and I'm having trouble managing my time. Unfortunately this little blog gets neglected. But I'm trying to do better.

I received a blog award from Miss Brown Eyed Belle. She is one of my new daily favorites! I wish we could be best friends. She is darling and so genuine. And southern too! Thank you BEB! I really appreciate it.

So here are the rules: all I have to do is post 10 random facts about me and pass it on to 10 bloggers. Here we go:

1. I like the toilet paper flap to go over, NOT under!

2. I'M THE NEW VICE PRESIDENT MEMBER EDUCATION!!! Y'all, I'm so excited to be pledge mom I can't even stand it. I wish I didn't have to wait 9 months to actually get the new girls but I have a lot of planning to do so maybe that's a good thing.

3. I never thought I'd say this, but I have a twitter account now and I'm hooked!

4. There's nothing like a boy in a bow tie.

5. I'm obsessed with my new onesie. I put it on the second I walk in the door. If I could wear it in public, I would, but that wouldn't be very cute.

6. It's a shame I don't sing well because singing is my favorite! I could have made millions. Oh well, I got the passion but not the talent, ha!

7. My very first concert was Reba McIntire. I went in kindergarten and sat on the third row. She mesmerized me. Maybe that's why I love red hair so much?

8. I took piano lessons for over 10 years. I miss not having a piano at school because I loved to sit down and play when I was stressed. I want to pick it up again.

9. I changed my major yesterday and I'm registering for the second semester of my junior year. Oh well, you have to follow your heart, right? I am now getting a Child Development degree with a Child Life concentration. Funny thing though. With my old major I was going to graduate at least a semester and possibly a year late but now I'll graduate on time. I've never heard of changing your major and getting ahead, but whatever! I won't complain and I'm sure my parents won't either.

10. I'm obsessed with quotes. If I see a good one I'll write it on the back of a receipt or whatever else may be with me and put it in my quote book. I just started my second book a few weeks ago. I know it's kind of silly, but my quote books mean a lot to me. Whenever I get discouraged I can always find some encouragement to get me through. I just have a lot of bible verses or words or wisdom in there. I think I'll keep these books forever.

And now I would like to pass this award onto some very special ladies. I know you will enjoy their blogs like I do. I can't narrow it down to 10, so here's 11 fabulous blogs!

Everything is Better Pink

The Wife

A Smile On Fire

Pearls, Poise and Stilletos

The Seattle Smiths

Faith Hope Love

The Whole Kristen Caboodle!

Tales From My Empty Nest

Adventures of a Southern Newlywed

Summer Wind

It's almost Friday y'all!

Diary of a Southern Belle

Lilly Sale

I was planning on going to the Lilly Warehouse Sale in just one week but unfortunately my plans fell through. I had been saving my money just for a special Lilly-fied trip to King of Prussia for a whole year. Anyways, this is not a pity party, I got my fix anyways! Here's what I got from the sale this morning.

I'm thinking that I'm going to wear this Jubilee Elias dress to formal in a few weeks. It would be great with some gold or silver heels. It is so beautiful in real life the picture doesn't do it justice.

These are Christmas presents that I got for myself...

The Lilly Lace Cuff will be the perfect accessory to all my pink and green. And for less than $30, who would pass that up?

This "Shift Gears" keychain is so cute! I wanted it since it first came out and now she's mine! I think I'll smile every time I see it.

What did you get at the sale? There were some other things I couldn't get my hands on because they ran out so fast or weren't in my size but I'm so pleased with everything I did get I can't be disappointed. I hope Lilly does this again. Except maybe not at 7 AM. That was rough.

Have a blessed day!

"I Wanna Uh-uh-uh-uh-Undo It!"

My weekend recap is coming soon but I have to finish this HUGE project first! Until then, you can listen to the song of the weekend, Miss Carrie Underwood's "Undo It." Perfect for blasting with your windows down. We probably listened to it 25 times. I guarantee it will be stuck in your head all day!

Anticipation!

(The BEST night of Summer 2009 - TAYLOR SWIFT!)

This weekend I am going to be reunited with my very best friend in the whole world. This is a huge deal for several reasons...

#1 - Let me mention that the whole 3 years I have been in college I have only gone to visit friends at other colleges ONCE! My sorority keeps me busy so I'm excited to be the one that's actually visiting now.

#2 - I have never seen Sarah's super cute house.

#3 - It's about time for me to get back to the real world. (I sort of feel like I'm disconnected from the outside world ha. For example, I'll go home for Christmas and be riding in the car with friends. They'll turn up the sound but I have never heard the song despite it being out for 4 months. We don't really get radio here among other things. Maybe we can even go to the MALL! Our mall consists of JC Penney, Rue 21, Claire's, and some candy store.)

#4 - I get to go to TARGET! Home, sweet home! (Sarah - I know we haven't talked about this, but can we please please please squeeze this in?)

#5 - GIRL TALK! It's the best. And lots of laughing.

#6 - I have to tell a story to explain this one. So, one day I was iChatting with Sarah online and her roommate was in the room. I said hi because I had heard all about her. Then, I was telling Sarah how excited I was about school and my new school supplies (we totally relate in the fact that school supplies shopping is thrilling) and Sarah's roommate was in the room and overheard what I was saying. Then, I blogged about my new Lilly school stuff. Sarah's roommate put two and two together and realized that the blog she was reading all summer and the girl she said hello to was the same person, me! Funny, huh? I can't wait to meet my first reader, ha!

#7 - Not only will I get to see Sarah but another long time friend heard that I was coming so she's going to stay at Sarah's too!

#8 - Car rides. Am I the only person who really loves riding in the car? There will be 3 of us and I just know that we'll have some great encouraging and challenging conversations. My favorite!

Before Friday I have 2 tests to study for plus packing so I probably won't be blogging but Sunday I will surely have LOTS of pictures and stories to tell! Good luck with the rest of your week and I hope you have a fabulous weekend!

Have a blessed day :)

What I'm Loving Right Now

This cd is phenomenal! I'd say it is her best album yet. OBSESSED!