Crash. Boom. Bang.

My computer has died. Or, at least the hard drive has decided that it doesn't want to work anymore. Joy. While that could be an excellent excuse for my lack of writing lately... It isn't.

Honestly, I haven't felt the need to put energy into my blog. I am graduating in December, I'm getting married in March and I am attempting to strive at my career without failing. And more often than not, I feel like this blog is something I do for myself that gets lost in a cyberland where no one cares. But, that's no excuse.

When you approach someone or something and you begin to feel defeated does that make you give up? Hopefully not. In our walk with Christ we often engage ourselves in relationships or experiences that are way over our head sometimes, but with the unimaginable help from our Savior, we always seem to get through it. Everyday. Day by day. Minute by minute. Step by step. We make it.

"Your Father knows that you need these things. His Kingdom, and these things will be added to you. Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom." Luke 12:30-32

So, I will chose not to give up. I chose not to die out like my MacBook did. Instead, I will drive my blog - full force - and experience life with you (let's pretend I have readers.)

So, I encourage you to stay posted. I just got engaged, you know :) and I have stories to tell, oh boy, do I have stories to tell!



Ps: thanks to my encouraging commenter who reminded me of what I started here.

I haven't lived

Clearly.

Look how incredibly fantastic Karolina these Kate Spade shoes are. Ohh, if only I were rich and frivolous. These shoes would never leave my feet.

Smitten

I am engaged!! My weekend was exciting, memorable and love-filled. Stay updated with the blog to soft through my wedding planning experiences.

We are thrilled and I will post details soon!

The Greatest Adventure

This is something I made for our Children's Ministry at church. While intended for children, I don't think it is limited to them. Live life with God - live life with adventure.

Yeehaw

Cowboy Church.

Have you ever heard of it? It's a celebration of Jesus while being surrounded by God's incredible creatures: horses.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of dress shopping for the perfect attire to go with my worn-down cowboy boots. Yes, that's right... My handsome boyfriend took me on a date to cowboy church.

To start our blazin' hot evening (I mean that in the sense of mother nature, of course - 100 degrees) we drove approximately 55 miles outside of town to a small barn in the middle of no where. We were greeted by stables of friendly horses and cheerful people. We ate salsa, mingled and made good friends with a freakishly tall horse named Domingo. I've decided horses are like big dogs, they all have personalities and crave attention.

After about an hour of snacking, befriending, and sweating the sermon finally began. We listened as flies swarmed the barn and were taught on scripture about prosperity, and - of course - horses.

Following our service the church put on a hoedown. It was such a delight! An old lady taught everyone to square dance, and giggled and boogied till it was past my bedtime!

I highly encourage everyone to be adventurous. What a blessing it is to be able to cherish such memorable and magical moments. Plus, it doesn't hurt I have a stud of a boyfriend to share my life with. 

And most of all: Let your Light shine☀

Excuses, excuses.

I have been busy, and distracted and completely procrastinating about posting on here. But, as my grandma says: Enough is enough. (Ok, I lied, my grandma doesn't really say that..)

With summer school well on its way to becoming overwhelming, I am still making time to enjoy my summer. The sunshine is brighter than before, the sweating more intense, but what goodness it is to be able to enjoy late nights, friends coming home, and eating veggie burgers on the grill.

I haven't taken the time to mention details of my INCREDIBLE trip to Africa, but one of the many things that changed me when I returned home was my eating habit. I no longer am eating meat! Surprisingly it is actually going quite well, and as I explore the ins and outs of this lifestyle I will share some recipes that have worked well for me. Starting with my veggie burger dish from last night!

Dillon and I headed to our local Whole Foods market, bought eggplant and black bean packaged burgers, tomatoes, avocados, buns, brown eggs, and onions. We fried the eggs, cheesed and grilled the burgers, sautéed the onions, spread the toasted buns with avocado, layered the tomatoes.

Best. Burger. Ever.

I highly recommend substituting your meat one day this week with one of these. Yum!

The patty I ate was made from gardenburger, black bean chipotle flavor.

Have you had a veggie burger? If so, what was your thought? If not, try it and please tell me how you liked it in comparison!

Let your light shine.

Africa

I am home from Zimbabwe! What a beautiful experience it was - here are a few captured moments :)

Also, never forget how enormously magnificent our God is. We are beyond blessed.

in case you get confused.

She is.

And that about covers it.

This is the start of something new...

So, for about a year now I have had a desire to begin a collection. This thought has pondered my mind continually. It wasn't until I was shopping for work in Atlanta last January that what i would begin collecting finally hit me.

I had thought about collecting everything from aprons to teapots, and broaches to coffee mugs. I knew that whatever I decided to acquire I wanted it to resemble me in some way. I wanted it to reflect my passions and relate to my personality. I wanted my combination of goodies to be original as well as easy and trendy to display.

After much thought, like I said, I dedicated my collection to the finding of retro cameras. The rules of this process are simple: 1) only add to your collection through gifts and 2) tangible purchases. The reason I limited my collection to these two rules is because I want to eliminate the ease of purchasing online. I feel like a collection is divine through one's accumulation process. I want my collection to take time and be priceless to me individually.

For this reason my accumulation of treasures has been minimal. Spring of 2010 I received an older film camera from my uncle and that was the only piece to my wishful display. But yesterday, in the midst of scrummaging through used clothing for my Zimbabwe mission... I found it.

This old Kodak camera is the coolest. I found it - disclaimer: my roommate actually showed it to me - and I knew it had to make it to my shelves. It has a little case and strap to go with it and it just looks so nifty!

Here's a snapshot of it sitting on my desk's bookshelf. Let me know what you think.

What is it that you collect? Or what do you dream of collecting?