shanksgivin

Since I happen to be one of the most unoriginal bloggers on the internet I decided to live up to that standard and name the top 50 things I'm most thankful in the spirit of (belated) shanksgivin' (in the most absolutely random order):

1. crafting
2. chai tea latte with caramel
3. black friday shopping
4. christmas lights
5. wifi
6. KAPPA KAPPA GAMMA
7. christmas pageants
8. My mom: best friend and role model
9. My dad: my biggest supporter and teddy bear
10. cheer bows
11. my dog's barking collar (only when its working)
12. comfy couches
13. my macbook
14. Louie: a boyfriend who is a true leader in Christ/ his dedication is inspiring
15. pictures and memories
16. birthdays
17. kick butt nephrologists and urologists ;)
18. my hair (I was never guaranteed to have it right now)
19. sunflowers
20. my home
21. Megan: my (other) best friend and funniest person I know
22. that fresh laundry smell
23. hot glue guns
24. the PUSH girls
25. Kanakuk Kamps
26. cashmere
27. Dalton: big protective brother... don't know what i'd do w/o ya
28. Kansas City
29. acrylic paint
30. dance
31. QuickTrip
32. my dr. pepper with a shot of vanilla
33. those moments when you laugh so hard you can't breath
34. my digital watch
35. yoga pants
36. photography
37. my TOMS
38. Scripture
39. disney princesses
40. movie trailers
41. cookie dough
42. my education (even though im REALLY dreading writing this 5 pg research paper tomorrow. bleh)
43. Italy
44. culinary arts
45. a healthy (but lonely) kidney
46. my bike
47. Pandora
48. hammocks
49. discipleship
50. My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who lived the life should have lived and died the death I should have died.

THE weekend

This last weekend I could easily say was the highlight of my semester. For those of you who remember, I said I'd explain "the boy" further once November 11th came. Well this last weekend a certain boy flew from Tucson, Arizona to KC to see me. His name is Louie Christensen (yes feel free to fb stalk haha). We met working at Kanakuk this summer. I was working in the kitchen and he was a councelor. He tried to get me to come on a night off with him but I kept saying no because, of course, I was too oblivious to figure out he was trying to ask me on a date. haha typical. We've been talking/skyping ever since. He quickly asked if he could come see me in KC. So sure enough he bought a plane ticket and we've had a countdown going for about two months. I was in such disbelief that this weekend had finally come. We had the most amazing time together.... went on our "first date" (haha only took 5 months to finally go on our official first date)... went horseback riding and 4-wheeling at the Trott's ranch... got to meet all my family and friends... got to go to church together. I wish you could all meet him. He's pretty much a one-of-a-kind guy. He waited 5 months to officially ask me to be his girlfriend just so he could ask my dad's permission to date me (which i would NEVER ask him to do but he wanted to). He's an amazing leader and is such a light for Christ at the University of Arizona. He's starting BYX (a christian fraternity) at his school and works with International Justice Missions. It's not really hard to brag about him. Long distance relationships are so different. Your time together is so much shorter but so much sweeter. For the first time, a boy in my life has been such a blessing in my walk with the Lord (not a distraction). I find myself even more dependent on Him. It's such a blessing to be dating a true leader who loves the Lord. I'm gonna be honest, it's a little weird for me to be blogging about a boy. Haha but if I'm going to be honest about how God is blessing me and working in my life right now then I have to share about Louie. My poor kidney's relationship status is still single but as for the rest of me..... IM TAKEN! haha.

My blog layout has been lookin' a little lame-o if ya ask me. I love all the layouts on shabbyblogs.com but I'm having trouble figuring out how to apply them to my blog so if there are any blog fanatics out there, give me a shout! I'm slightly incompetent when it comes to these things. ha! I think I'm going to turn this post into a buffet of random goodies going on in my life right now... I just started this book called Authentic Beauty by Leslie Ludy. I've only dug into the beginning of it but it is REALLY good so far. One of my best friends loaned it to me and she said it was amazing! Im excited to get deeper in it. Work in the studio has been cut back a lot this week after that insane photorealistic project, which has been so refreshing and much needed! This week I have two tests and a 6 page paper due so I'm feelin' a little anxious over that! EEK! I went to the Ben Rector concert this week and it was INCREDIBLE!!! The openers were phenominal too... check out Goose and Drew Holcomb on iTunes... They'll melt your face! Hmm what else?... OH, haha, funny story... last night I was in my dorm working on homework (like any other cool kid does on a saturday night). Everything on campus was closed and I don't have a car so I cant drive anywhere and I was STARVING!! I was skyping with Louie (ok I suck at keeping secrets... yes Louie is "the boy"... there, its out now... ya happy?! haha) and whining about how hungry I was. NO idea how he thought of this, but he decides to get on Dominos Pizza's website and order me a pizza from the comfort of his own home in TUCSON ARIZONA!!! haha sure enough, twenty minutes later a hot delicious pizza is delivered to my dorm! Oh my word it was sooo gooood! I don't think pizza has ever been so satisfying! haha! Seriously.... WHO DOES THIS!?!? Raise your hand if you think I should keep this boy around............. yeah I think so too! haha! Well I definitely need to get better at updating the blog more often but I feel like I say that in every post! Hope yall have a fantastic week :) peace, love, and pumpkin spice lattes!

this post needed a little color... eh here's a random pic from a pep rally for your viewing pleasure :)

the beast

This past weekend I finished the papa daddy of all projects! I had to blog about it because it consumed a whole week of my life that I will never get back! haha. I tallied how many hours I spent in the studio that week..... take a good guess.... nope higher.... even higher..... I tallied SEVENTY HOURS in the studio! Yep! Its the truth! The project was a montage of 5 photo realistic sketches of parts architectural structures around campus! Each sketch took me approx. 12 hours! Most nights I was in there till 3, 4, or 5 am! The last night i was working on it till 5:45am and had to BE at class at 8:30am! I was slightly delirious the next day, to say the least! Working in the studio that much makes you wonder if you're wasting your life away in this little cave. This got me to thinking about why all this work is worth it (besides that puny piece of paper I get in 4 yrs... by the way I want a friggin gold trophy when i get done with this program... just sayin). But in all seriousness, my motives need to be working as if I were working for the Lord and not for men (Col. 3:23). This is what will make my time have eternal value. I've also been trying to be intentional with my time in the studio with other interior design girls. I already got to share my testimony with some girls and how Christ has transformed my life. I know that I might be labeled as the "religious girl" but be praying that the news of the gospel might plant seeds. I desire to be a light in the place God puts me. Nevertheless, I WILL say that I was really proud of my work! I think they were pretty good replications of the photos I took. I took pictures of the sketches so I hope you like them :) Let me know what you think!!!

the big ONE NINE

Let me begin by apologizing for being the worst blogger EVER lately! Can't believe how long it's been since my last post! I am ashamed! School has been nuts! BLEH! But I am NOT gonna talk about school right now because... GUESS WHAT..... its ma birfday! hip hip hooray! The big ONE NINE baby! What a crazy nineteen years it's been... but really! This past year has made me realize that not everyday is guaranteed. You hear that everyday is a blessing... but it truly is. We are never entitled to tomorrow. I am so so blessed to have a nineteenth birthday! I really do love those American Cancer Society commercials about celebrating more birthdays! mmm gets me every time! haha! Ok ok enough with the sappy stuff... wanna hear what I got for my birthday?????
My mom came down to Fayetteville on a whim to hang out with me on my birthday which was SUCH a blast. We had a spa day together and got to get a little spoiled and pampered! It was HEAVEN!!!! I went home last weekend to celebrate my birthday with my family and got a bunch of fall clothes! Then when my mom came up she brought me probably one of the best birthday presents I've ever gotten!!! Oh my word... STILL slightly freaking out about it. How do I explain this??.... Well at the beginning of December we have our winter formal called Kappa Kissmas and my present is that my parents are flying "the boy" down to Arkansas for the formal! I know I know.... who's "the boy"??? I think I wanna keep it TBA for right now! I don't know why.... partly because that is a WHOLE other blog post and also because I get awkward and flustered explaining it (but you will hear about it soon... lets say november 11ish). Can't believe I'm putting this on my blog! oh my word MOVING ON!!!!! So yeah a pretty darn good birthday! I'm trying not to think about being in my twenties next year because that totally freaks me out! EEK!

a shout out to ma girls in yearbook!

So it has come to my attention that I have not been doing the best job keeping up with the blog! Sorry guys :/ I've actually been waiting to get these pictures of my latest interior design project from a fellow id girl but I just can't wait any longer!!!! I was trying to think of what to blog about and I have gotten a couple comments from my kc girlfriends and I thought I would dedicate this blog post to them!!!
MEGAN: I met a kappa tonight that loves The Grinch just as much as we dooo!!!! grinch lovers UNITE! YAY
EMILIE: Get back into my life please!!!! Guh i miss your stinkin beautiful faaace!
ALLIE: Thank you for initiating the yearbook comments! Can't wait for you to come visit! Keep seeing your twin on campus and its starting to freak me out! ha. miss your goofy self!!!
MO MO: DOWN A SIZE AND A HALF.... and this time i'll keep it off! haha. do yourself a favor and get to know haley holmgren (kappa grinch fanatic)
COURT: There is a picture in my room of us in our tacky xmas sweaters in the yearbook room! miss your sassiness!
ALLYSON: I miss your crazy driving and your hispanic influence in my life!
STEPH: I miss my twin :(
KRISTEN: one word... HOSPITALITY!!!! i miss the lindquist fam jam! i wanna see the jr baby bump!

I could prolly go on and on listing all the people i miss right now! Meeting all these new people in college is great but it doesn't replace all the precious people in my life that are too far away right now!!!! LOVE YALL!

week #1 COMPLETE

Well my first week of college is under my belt! Phew! It was exhausting having to pretend I knew what I was doing all the time (I was clueless 24/7)! ha. The older Kappa girls have been so helpful with giving me rides, directing me to the right buildings, etc. I'm really loving my classes. My major (Interior Design) is a little intense. I've already spent about 20 hrs in the studio this week working on projects... sometime during those 20hrs I considered switching majors once or twice! But it really is growing on me... just a little overwhelming at times. On the social side of my college life I have been spending pretty much every extra minute with the KKG girls. We had an awesome full out dance party at the house last night.... this is what I live for people!!! haha. Oh there was also a football pep rally this week which was a blast. The Kappas got all painted up in our blue and blue! Ally and I clearly could not pass up the XXL cookie monster shirts in Walmart! haha LOVE IT! Keep praying for me this week :) Everything is super fun but super overwhelming right now! Well... bring it on week #2!!!