Life

And life keeps going.
Fast as ever.

One of these days I’ll just stop
To feel the sunshine warm on my back.

But I have a feeling
That won’t be any time soon.

Always,
L.A.

{via}

Resolutions

It seems that this is my year for resolutions.

My year for gradually molding myself into the woman I want to be. The woman I was meant to be.

I am waking up a good two hours before I have class to go workout in the morning. I am eating well. I am striving to arrive ten minutes early for everything. I am starting a Bible study. I am currently in the midst of applying for a handful of jobs. I am befriending a ton of new faces and reaching out to many old. I am studying and staying on top of my classes. Working on a 4.0 for the year. I am going to bed at a decent time.

This is just a glimpse of the woman who I aspire to be. It’s a work in progress.

I’m a work in progress.

Always,
L.A.

Sunday Song

Today is the day my sophomore year of college begins. It’s my last year in the dorms. My family is planning to move me in sometime around four this afternoon. I have yet to start packing. Oh, and I am without a working laptop. {I’ve been using the family desktop all summer.}

I’m not too worried though. It’s just another adventure in the wonderful life I’ve been blest with. It’ll all come together just like it’s supposed to. {All in God’s timing.} Until it does, I’ll make the time go by more pleasantly with the help of a little Regina Spektor.

What new adventures have you all been up to lately?

Always,
L.A.

Ask for the insight

"It's easy to get lost in endless speculation. So today, release the need to know why things happen as they do. Instead, ask for the insight to recognize what you're meant to learn."
-Caroline Myss

Embrace the new

"It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power."
- Alan Cohen

500 days of summer & anticipation

I’m in a 500 Days of Summer mood.

This song is currently on repeat as I try to get a bit of work done before school starts this coming week. Summer has gone too quickly. I find myself crying for no reason far too often lately. The coming year is pregnant with possibility. I’m not sure if I’m quite ready for it.

Always,
L.A.

Patience is a virtue {I struggle terribly with}

I’m waiting for a sign.
I don’t need something major.
Or maybe I do.

I need a nudge in the right direction.
A little push.
Or maybe a big shove.

Always,
L.A.

If only we all came to this realization

{via}

Faith

"Faith is the power to stand up to the madness and chaos of the physical world while holding the position that nothing external has any authority over what heaven has in mind for you."
- Caroline Myss

These are the days I need to remember I can’t control everything

{via}

-Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex

Some days

Some days, no scratch that, almost every day, I wish God would just write me a letter,
a nice long letter, telling me what I’m supposed to do.

Do you ever feel like that?

Always,
L.A.

Will you fight for me?
Will you stand against the tide
and the breaking waves?

Daily Haiku on Love by Tyler Knott Gregson

The liebster

Well, I’ve never done anything like this before, but my blogging friend Samara called me to the challenge, and since I’m never one to back down from a challenge, let’s have at this.

The award is for up and coming bloggers with 200 followers or less.

11 Random facts about yours truly:

1. I am the oldest of seven {yes, SEVEN} kids
2. I am borderline-freakishly tall, 5’11” to be exact, and even grew an inch in the last school year as a freshman in college {as if finding pants wasn’t hard enough beforehand}
3. I am at least five minutes late to almost everything {it’s a terrible habit, but it’s incredibly hard to break}
4. I brush my teeth an excessive amount of times during the day {I love food, but hate when the taste of it lingers in my mouth after I’m done eating}
5. I am most definitely sticking with my English major this year {at least for now}
6. My writing often comes off as serious, but the truth is I’m usually anything but serious if you’d ever bump into me in the “real world” {& sarcasm is VERY heavy in my day to day dialogues}
7. I have the new Taylor Swift song stuck in my head {I had it on repeat at work all day yesterday; I’m sure my coworkers just love me}
8. I am a sucker for all of that happily ever after love stuff {I love love!} Yep, all of it. But especially chick flicks
9. Patience is a virtue I don’t have {but I’m working on it very hard, promise}
10. Jesus is my savior and God is my Father. {Hellooo God IS love. Remember me? Huge romantic? How could I not love Him?} I’m a Catholic born and raised and there really is nothing more spiritually satisfying than time spent in Adoration. {Don’t know what Adoration is? Ask! It’s wonderful I promise}
11. I’m a former Mountain Dew addict {trust me, it was BAD}

The lovely Miss Dane’s questions to me & my best attempt at answers:

If you could only buy clothing from one store for the rest of your life, where would it be?
  -In no way could I ever choose one store. {Sorry Samara!} But if I had to choose one, hmmm, it’d probably be the Gap? I like simple classics when it comes to clothes. Haha I really have no idea.
What's your favorite color?
  -Purple. Or blue? {I apologize, I am really indecisive}
What is your guilty pleasure?
  -Chick flicks. & lazy days spent in my pajamas watching TV or reading.
Mcflurrys or Bilzzards?
  -Blizzards hands down. {Hehe they don’t make cookie-dough Mcflurrys}
Who's your favorite artist/band?
  -One cannot simply choose a favorite. All good music has a time and a place. One moment may call for Adele or one day could call for Fleetwood Mac. I love them all.
Why do you blog?
  -Because it helps concentrate me in my crazy life. Because it gives me a place to write and at the same time holds me accountable. Because I love to. Because I need to.
What's your favorite Disney movie?
  -Childhood? Pocahontas.   Current? Lilo & Stitch. “Ohana means family.”
If you have one free hour, what's the first thing you do for you?
  -Truthfully? Ha sleep!
What's your favorite food?
  -Ice cream
If you remember, in what situation did you have your last laughing attack?
  -I can’t remember one particular right now, but I can assure you it was with my best friend Baylee.
Do you play an instrument?
  -I played the clarinet all through high school and love to sing whenever the moment calls for it.

I’ve had the pleasure of being inspired by many people through blogging,
and here are a few I’d like to nominate:
Samantha @ {today I am}
Lecinda @ Bohemian Beautiful
Rhiannon @ Chicago girl moves on

THE RULES:
Each person must list 11 things about themselves.
Answer the 11 questions that the tagger has set for you plus you MUST create 11 questions of  your own for the 11 people you will nominate with this award, which brings me to rule 3.
Choose up to 11 bloggers linking them to your post.
Go to their page and inform them of the nomination.
Absolutely NO tag backs.
Remember to ONLY tag bloggers with less than 200 followers

My questions for the lovely ladies:

1. What’s your favorite 80’s movie? // 2. What’s your favorite flavor of ice cream?
3. What is one song that you cannot get enough of as of late?
4. What’s your greatest fear? // 5. If you could have one superpower what would it be?
6. If you could only use one hair product for the rest of your life, what would it be?
7. Where is the place you feel most inspired?// 8. What is the last book you read?
9. If you could have dinner with anyone in the world, living or dead, who would it be and why?
10. What is the theme song of your life, right now? // 11. Why do you blog?

I cannot wait to hear from you all! Happy Wednesday!
Always,
L.A.

{via}

-Lemony Snicket, The Wide Window

{via}

I find you in storms,
I feel you in the lightning,
I miss you in rain.

Daily Haiku on Love by Tyler Knott Gregson

Things I’m afraid to tell you

Today as I was going around reading the different blogs I frequent I found Rhi’s post from today, Things I’m Afraid to Tell You, incredibly relatable. I don’t care what anyone else says, there’s something beautiful in finding a connection and community through revealing things we struggle with. Because of this beauty, I will tell you something despite my fear.

Things I’m afraid to tell you: I don’t always love my body.

I started crying after a failed shopping trip last week.

With all of the weddings I have coming up this fall, I am in desperate need of a dress to wear. So while I was out shopping with my mom at Target I decided I’d see if I could find something cute & affordable while I was there. I tried on probably ten dresses. Not one looked good on me.

It was awful.

They were all either too small for my boobs or fit my boobs and were too big everywhere else, made my broad shoulders look like they belonged to a linebacker, were too short for my long body, or just looked awkward on me. I kept up a brave face while we were in the store, but as soon as we were in the car I’d just had it.

I wouldn’t say it was a sad cry, if anything it was a mad cry.

I was mad at the fashion industry for not making things easily accessible for women with my body type. I was mad at my body for still not looking like it should in clothes after losing sixteen pounds over the last two months, for disappointing me after all of my effort and sacrifice. I was mad that, at the age of nineteen, I have to be so deliberate about what I eat. I was mad at the media for feeding society lie after lie that we as women need to look a certain way. I was mad at myself for caring so much that I didn’t look that certain way, even when I knew that in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter. I was mad at myself for not being a strong enough of a woman to love my body unconditionally. And most of all I was pissed off that if you really thought about it, I was crying about little more than a handful of yards of fabric.

What a waste of tears.

Always,
L.A.

Someday…

I want a love as wonderful as my parents’.

I came across hoards of pictures of them early on in their marriage the other day, and I think this is my favorite one of the two of them together, 80’s-esque style and all.

Isn’t it just magical seeing pictures of your parents when they were about your age?

Always,
L.A.

Channeling my inner Pocahontas

Something that baffles & impresses me to no end:
                          People with a spot on internal compass.

New life goal starting now:
                          Develop a semi-decent internal compass.
                          Or at least be able to tell North from South…       Someday.

I guess if I don’t end up mastering this I could always channel my inner Pocahontas and get myself a compass.

{via}

Always,
L.A.

Side note: I was completely and utterly obsessed with Pocahontas as a kid. I’m talking had the pajama obsessed. Like talked to the tree outside of my window and pretended it was Grandmother Willow obsessed. Like even-had-the-Pocahontas-jean-backpack obsessed. Yes. Jean. Backpack. What can I say? I was a 90’s child.