Tuesday, September 9, 2014

life update: this post will have many pictures. //summer 2014//

i live in a very beautiful place. 

and here we are again. more than a month has passed since my last blog post and another school year has approached. summer is basically over, minus the weather...but even the weather has shown itself to be changing earlier than normal. i'm not sad about that by any means.

(when i first started this post a couple weeks ago, 
the weather was showing some glorious signs of fall, 
but really it was just teasing us. we are back to hot. blech.)



this summer has been the best summer. as my friend, Cara, and i were reflecting, we classified this summer as being the one that most people hope to have while in high school. i am so very thankful to have had this summer during this time in my life, but also i now understand how great summer actually is- and i'm not talking about the weather, or the beach or ombre'd hair.



i'm talking about Jesus and friendships and the occasional caffeinated beverage.. that's ultimately what makes a good summer in my opinion.

so here's a recap/ life update for your reading pleasure:

the Lord has taught me so much this summer. I was given the opportunity to lead a bible study for some middle and high school girls, and in the midst of going through almost all of the book of Ruth with them, God taught me much about patience and waiting, and what do do while i'm waiting. He is also still working on me, as i am a continuous work in progress. i want to know so very much about what is going to happen, and where my life is going to go, but, as the saying goes, "patience is a virtue", and one that i am learning to use.






Ecclesiastes 3:11 has been my life verse.

this is how people usually remember this verse, but i love how the NASB puts it-
"He has made everything APPROPRIATE in its time."
emphasis added.
i was able to spend time with some stinking spectacular people. i have never been so happy, so pleased, and so very blessed with friendships as i have been this summer and this past year. but i know that these friendships are all from God, not of my own doing. i have these people in my life for a reason and i am so thankful. i have never had more fulfilling friendships. watch me say "friendships" one more time. i'm so happy to do life with these people!
reunited with our dear friends after almost a month of them being out of the country serving the Lord!





this isn't technically a summer picture, but these are three of my dearest friends and i love this picture so stinkin much.

God also called me in a slightly different direction (yet again) with my schooling. as you may remember if you have followed me long enough, last summer i jumped the gun, transferred schools, and changed my major. well, while i am still at the same school, i changed my major ONE MORE TIME.
psychology was NOT working at all. after three or four classes in my program, i saw that there was no growth, and i could not wrap my brain around concepts and theories from an area of study created by man.

 (please know that i am not dogging you should you choose to study/ are currently studying psychology. if you can understand it, more power to ya! you have a mental capacity that i lack. press on!)

i was frustrated. so very frustrated. i wanted very much to do well in school, but i didn't see it happening and, after a very bad semester, i basically went back to the drawing board in regards to where i wanted to put my focus. i knew that youth ministry was still a thing that was on my heart, but i knew the psychology route was not the way i needed to go.

back to youth camp i went (i still have yet to write a post for this year's flow, but it will happen eventually) to spend some hardcore, one-on-one time with the Lord.

back to the Lord i went, and shared my concerns and desires.

back to my people i went to get their opinion/ affirmation/ confirmation.

back to researching i went to read up on different options that still suited the area i was entering.

after much prayer and counsel, i went and changed my major. while i still have my focus/minor in christian counseling, i now am a student of religion! so far it has been very interesting and rewarding!




the youth group has started back full swing. i turned 22 a few days ago. life is good.

and now for a picture overload.









my dog ended up in the "cone of shame". even though it was pitiful, it was also kinda funny.
i decided that i would cut my hair some. so far it's been interesting.




















so. . . how was your summer?




Wednesday, July 23, 2014

mary.

this girl's birthday was the same day that fireworks go off EVERYWHERE. 

lucky her.



mary is a new friend, but one whom you feel as if you have known for a life time. 
immediate kindred spirits. 
i had the privilege to meet this pretty lady about two months ago, through Cara, and it has been such a joy to to know her.

mary,
 bless your sweet, sweet soul. i love you so very much and am so happy to call you one of my dearest friends after only a short time. you have been such an encouragement to me. i am thankful for you!

Monday, July 21, 2014

cara.

this lady's birthday was almost a month ago and i have yet to write anything about it. 



so here we are. 




cara is one of my very very very best friends. she is one whom i go to to vent about things, she always has good advice, and she just generally understands me. we share a love of all things the office and parks and rec, oldies music, and having weird dance parties after 10pm. also, and something SO IMPORTANT in friendships: SHE LAUGHS AT MY JOKES. 
she thinks i'm funny, i think she's funny, it's a win-win.

Cara, you're so wonderful. thank you for being one of my oldest and dearest friends. i know we have talked about how blessed, grateful, and how much we love the friendships God has given us recently, but i have to say it again: I AM SO VERY THANKFUL FOR YOU. 

also i'm sorry your birthday post is so dang late. 
my bad.

luh you girl.




Sunday, July 20, 2014

july.

it's july.
it's the middle of july. 
this month is already almost over.
this year is already over halfway over.
what.

it's also been over two months since my last blog post. but this is not a new thing, nor something to raise any concern. i've been seeing weird patterns in my blogging, despite the fact that even when i "regularly post" (regular for me is still sporadic, let's be honest.), it's not consistent.

here's confession time:

i'll probably never be as consistent as i want to be. 
i'm not the most consistent person in real life, 
so why be so on the inter-webs.

there. i said it.

FREEEEEEDDDDDDOOOOMMM.

i think i allowed myself to worry that i had to fit in a certain "blogging mold" for this whole thing to work. but if you have followed me long enough, you know good and well that isn't a thing here...but blogging is a form of expression. so it really shouldn't matter how one goes about it, regular or scattered. keep in mind that if you have the dream to blog as a part of your livelihood, inconsistency is not going to work.

but that is not a thing here at Everybody Behave Naturally. that wouldn't be natural behavior for me. inconsistency here is a thing and it's something that we will have to deal with.

so now that that's out there.......

nice weather we've been having, no?






Thursday, May 1, 2014

danielle.




today is a special day. 

one of my very best best BEST FRIENDS enters her 20's. and i am so excited for her.
this best friend, is the da best. she is loving, caring, loyal, and quite funny. she get's in a momma bear mode if necessary,  and tolerates my rambles. she is one of the few that gets me. even if i'm being the weirdest form of weird, she still loves me.

 and she's marrying the one of the nicest guy's.

 casey, you're a lucky man.

danielle, you da best girl. 
you da, you da best.
 love you and hope you have the happiest day of birth ever. 
EVER.



i want to do this thing where i blog more often and blog about the people i love on their birthdays.
 if your one of those said loved ones and didn't get a blog post....ooops.
 i wish this idea popped into my head earlier.
 but you'll get your chance next year. 
love you!



Tuesday, April 29, 2014

i'm still alive. just foggy brained.


hey there.







just wanted you to know that i'm still alive in the blog land.


i'm still alive. just foggy brained.

it's a problem.

i have wanted to blog for weeks but have had nothing to blog about.....writer's block man. it's the worst.

oh well. i'm going to try to ease back in to this section of the world as best i can while i finish up these last few weeks of school.

so, in the meantime.....

how are you?
































Thursday, April 3, 2014

the awkward moment when...




when your mother forgets the name of one of your friends. and i'm not talking about random friend that i only see once a week. i'm talking in my inner circle. and she it's not like she doesn't know this friend. smh.

when you're in walmart at an ungodly hour and your buggy is one of those buggies that doesn't ride smoothly, or even straight for that matter. it was more like my buggy was drunk, it couldn't keep a straight line! *ba dum tsh* but seriously it couldn't. i wasn't weaving back in forth in the aisle for my own amusement.

when you're so sore after work, the only way for you to get around is to come across as if you're re-learning to walk. and nearly bent in half. i have never been in so much soreness.

when shopping in the local walgreens, you see a young girls jumping up and down while walking, saying "I'M A SUCKER FOR SUCKERS." and not 30 seconds later her brother, as if on queue, (because he probably has heard this since his sister thought of this five hours ago) nonchalantly tells her to "shut up." i have no idea why that is awkward and/or funny, but it is.

when you show off your intensely white-girl dance moves in your workplace, while other people are trying to enjoy a leisurely lunch. #unashamed. queue the shopping cart, the sprinkler, the crossing guard, and my personal favorite:

specifically the girl in the purple dress.
when you dropped your phone in water back in JANUARY, and it still basically works. except for when it doesn't. don't play me phone. either freaking DIE so i can get another phone or don't. I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS FOOLISHNESS. (update: i have since gotten a new phone, thank Jesus)

when you color your hair, only to find, a week later, that you missed some spots. awesome.

when you've dyed your hair, you go to rinse it out and it looks as if a massacre has taken place in your shower. jaws part whatever.....blech.

when it's been raining and you practically slip right out of your shoes in the middle of the wal-mart parking lot. then, if you're like me, you need to stand still for a minute, breath, and regain some sort of composure.

when in the bathroom at work and you go to take your apron off in the stall and in the process you fling the door open. good thing it was just the apron and an empty bathroom.


Wednesday, March 19, 2014

taking stock.

howdy friends! 
if you're wondering why i haven't posted in a while, it's because of writer's block. lots and lot's of writer's block. it's supah helpful when one has a blog. i had completely intnended on posting last week when i actually had time (spring break) but that obviously didn't happen.

i'm cool.

anyway, my lovely bloggy friend Kate of Odd One Out invited me to her blog to guest post for the first time in the history of ever (i think.) i am so honored that she asked me to be her first guest poster!
so head on over and check it out!

in the mean time, and since i haven't posted in such a long while, i though i would ease back into it by trying out something: i saw this post on this blog, and thought i would partake in the fun of taking stock of my life currently!



making- nothing. i lack so much creativity and it makes me sad.
cooking- fried eggs. i have learned the art of the fried egg and may never go back to scrambled.
drinking- lots of water, lots of coffee, lots of chai tea. it's a problem. a wonderful problem.
wanting- to something creative, like learn to knit, or paint or SOMETHING.
looking- around. people watching. ya know.
playing- my guitar and singing with my pals. it's a lovely thing to have musically minded pals in your life.
wasting- my time on a regular basis. i need to work on this.
sewing- nothing. i wish i was sewing something. i need to relearn.
wishing- to go on a hike. WILL SOMEONE GO HIKING WITH ME.
enjoying- rewatching some of my favorite tv shows on netflix. i haven't yet learned to move on and try something else. i am forever reverting back to the familiar. so sue me.
waiting- on the caffeine to kick in constantly. it's a problem.
liking- my friends. i like them alot. i like the poo outta them. that sounds way weirder than i intended it too. just trying to express how much i like my people ok?
wondering- about this coming week.
loving- jesus and learning to love like he does.
hoping- to pass my classes because these suckers are HARRRRRRRD.
marveling- at the blessing's God has given me, and realizing that i don't deserve them.
smelling- smells. all of the smells.
needing- a tissue. the yellow snow is coming out and it's not even march. 
side note: there are two types of yellow snow, in case you're confused. there is northern yellow snow- the kind animals pittle in (and maybe even people....i don't know you nor do i live up north. though, if you relieve your self in the snow, i'm judging you harshly right now.) and then there is southern yellow snow- pollen. glad we have clarified.
wearing- clothes and i hope you are too. if not, again i judge you.
following- jesus the best i can.
noticing-  and learning how the simple act of being nice is overrated and down right not a good thing. i'm talking about niceness as opposed to kindness or loving-ness.
knowing- that i can make people laugh sometimes, even if i am embarrassing myself in the process. i don't really care, because i love laughter.
thinking- about a lot of things actually. one of those things being the fact that i need a good haircut, but also may cry if it's too short.....i know i know. IT'S JUST HAIR. leave me alone.
bookmarking- a book that i have actually attempted to start reading for the HUNDREDTH time. Christy by Catherine Marshall. i'm so excited. i've watched the series a million times but it ended and left you hanging. and then no one liked it enough to make more seasons so i have no idea who Christy ends up with. so, i am reading the book. and i am pumped. if you've read it, DON'T RUIN IT FOR ME.
opening- a can of worms. always.
giggling- constantly. i love giggling, it's my favorite. and a good giggle is always necessary. ALWAYS.
feeling- thankful.

have you taken stock of your life recently?


Thursday, February 20, 2014

the awkward moment when.

ok. ok. 
it's baaaccck!!!! 
i'm pumped.
 i'm super pumped. 
i'm super pumped to embarrass myself to ya'll again!
 i'm bringing back the weekly awkward moments. 
every thursday (maybe friday depending on my mood or my life), come head over here and here about my awkward life. 
you'll have a whole new perspective of me (that is of course, if you didn't read my awkward posts before.)


i really need to make a new pciture for this post.
IT'S TIME FOR NEW THINGS.
NEW THINGS I TELL YA.


 when you decide to start up something you stopped a long time ago. Example, this post. i think i stopped because i wasn't seeing anything awkward, but in reality that's a lie. i see and experience awkward ALL. THE. TIME.

when after deciding to start this up again, you realize that most of the awkward your readers will be reading about the awkward that happens to a waitress. i hope you're prepared for the awkward that comes with working in the food and beverage industry.

when, after the millions of times that you (jokingly, yet slightly serious for various reasons) threatened to kick people in the shins, you kick your own self in the shins by pulling a glass rack off of a shelf and slam down into your legs. IT'S CALLED KARMA.

when taking people's order you LIT'rally (think parks and rec's Chris Traeger played by the handsome Rob Lowe.) do not remember how to speak. happens to me often, so i have to completely start over and get weird and/or ugly looks while telling my guest that they can help themselves to the garden bar whenever they are ready. and to think i was an English Major, ruler of the good grammar fellows. have mercy.

when your math skill suuuuuuuccck. and this is really bad because you are constantly counting out change, but thank goodness for the computers who do the math for you, unless you put in the wrong total and then have to take ten-fifteen minutes to remember how to subtract. so you pull out your phone, which is forbidden on the floor. and then you do the walk of shame back to the table with the correct change while guest give you dirty looks for taking waaaaaayyy to long to get ehir change. NO, I SWEAR I WASN'T TRYING TO STEAL MONEY FROM YOU. MY MATHS AREN'T WORKING TODAY.

when you ask someone, whom you don't know well (as in only met them once but for some creepy reason they remember you and you don't quite remember them) how they are. TWICE. WITHIN ONE MINUTE OF THE PREVIOUS. because you don't know what else to say to this stranger. and when they ask you how you are a second time, you answer differently than the first time. not a full minute ago.

alrighty folks that's it for this week! anything awkward happen to you recently?

Monday, February 10, 2014

the grammy's salute to the beatles.

 normally, as much i would love to watch things like this, i don't because i don't have the means to do so.
i don't have access to television, haven't for a while. so let me say that i am thankful for a best friend who let's me come to her house all the time, because in doing so, i got to see most of this program. 

and let me tell you. i had a party. 

it was just the best to see ringo starr and paul mccartney in the same room fifty years after the first time the beloved british boy band (try saying that one five times fast) appeared in America. 

in my head i'm thinking 
"oh this is so great. this is so great seeing these old chums back together with their families." 
and i'm thinking this in an English accent.

i know. 
it's weird.
but i'm weird, and i'm pretty sure everyone here knows that and have come to terms with the fact that it's a normal thing.

i really don't know how to continue this post in a logical and understandable fashion. i just have a lot of feels about it. 
let's also keep in mind that there were still pieces i missed of this program, so really i'm just talking about what i saw, what i liked the best, and what i don't understand.

first off, i saw one of my favorite bands, Maroon 5, singing a Beatles song i did not recognize, but i didn't care. actually this is when we walked in to see this program had started. my exact words were "oh look! the beatles! no wait. adam levine!"
i'm kinda dumb. ha.


next, stevie wonder performed "we can work it out" with his sassy little twist that he gives everything. and i loved it.


danny harrison, son of george harrison, appeared next with a band i did not recognize, and yet another beatles song i did not know, but that's ok because i got chill bumps seeing the son of a beatle singing a song his dad helped make popular.


the next people i saw where these two gents. both decent guitar players (i'm one to talk. they can play light years around me.), but i was very confused about John Mayor's pant selection. he had some sort of hangy-down thing that was like a butt flap. i came to the conclusion that it was a pocket for his ipad or laptop. 

logical.


katy perry was next (or she was right before, i don't actually remember), and sang a beautiful rendition of "yesterday." i was was also lead to confusion by her outfit choice, but now that i have thought about it, she was probably trying to channel her inner sixties self.


then ed sheeran came on the screen. 
let me tell you....his performance was awesome.
just the best.
i have no idea what he sang. 
but it was nice.



then last and never least, the finale.
ringo starr and paul mccartney together again singing the songs that made them famous.
needless to say i was mentally freaking out. 
it was a party.


during the entire program, the camera hits a number of people in the front row. recognize any of these faces?


my favorite part of the evening (besides ringo and paul's performance):
tom hanks and rita wilson. the camera panned on then every so often and they were just having the best. time. ever. 
and it was the cutest thing.
 i love them.


can just say, too that, johnny depp's segway into the next act during the program, was rather awkward? or was that just me?

and even though no one is thrilled with her, seeing yoko ono and her and john's son (who looked just like lennon) at the performance was interesting to me as well. 

yoko had some moves. it was weird. 
but whatever.



overall it was wonderful to see the grammy's salute to the beatles.
like i said, it was a party.