New Blog!!!

So.

Tomorrow my new blog domain is launching! I am super excited to get over there. It already looks sooooo much better and I have way more control.

What to expect on my new blog (stay tuned for the link coming tomorrow!):

• Daily posts. Just like on this blog, I will be posting every day!
• Daily themes. I’ll keep the same themes for each day of the week! In case you don’t remember, those are: Sunday: Philosophical musings > Monday: Motivational > Tuesday: Outside Content > Wednesday: Beauty/Fashion > Thursday: Education/Learning > Friday: TGIF > Saturday: Miscellaneous
• Hopefully more inspired blogging. Already, I’m having way better ideas and my blog is going further in my head. It’s crazy how much a good-looking blog can help with inspiration and motivation!
• The same me. Hopefully you weren’t worried about that. I’m still the crazy-ass lady I’ll always be.

Do you have a blog? Leave the link in the comments below!

See you tomorrow!

Street Art

I’m flipping excited for my new blog domain that will be launched on Thursday (in honor of my 100th post, actually). I’ve just put a couple of hours into it and it’s coming together. So stay tuned for that!

A few weeks ago, I came across this compilation of street art. Street art is some of the most inspirational stuff to me. Number one, it was done by anyone, you just don’t know really. Number two, it was done for the love of the thing, not because anyone external was pushing it. Catch my drift? Well these stunning pictures I found are super awesome! I don’t think I was even able to get through the whole thing, actually. It’s definitely something I’ll be going back to for inspiration whenever I need it!

So here are a few of my favorites:

This one reminds me of my brother doing his hair. It made me laugh:)

 

 

To see the rest of them (and there are a lot!), click here.

LOVE;

{/\ubry}

It’s About Time

I’m burned out, you guys. Today, as I was looking through my scheduled posts for the next month and a half, my entire being stopped wanting to do anything. Having a million other things to do doesn’t help the situation, and all I want to do ever is scroll through Facebook even though it makes me feel more like crap (my inner Marketing nerd cringes at the thought of Facebook, yet I’m addicted). I blame everything on the emotional things that have been going on in my life, because it’s easy, because I don’t want to get bitter and shove it down, because it’s at the forefront of my mind every single day. I will be the first to tell you that I love everything that I’m doing. Actually all last year, I dreamed that this year would be exactly how it is turning out. But I didn’t factor in two things: Number one, that I would be bogged down in so much STUFF, and number two, that my heart would feel this rachet.

I don’t want to complain. I feel like I complain too often on this blog. The reality is though, there are probably a butt load of people who feel the same way, and maybe it would help to know that I feel like crap too.

What am I going to do about it? There has been more than one time in the past two weeks that I have either watched a video or read a blog post that have encouraged people who are sad to get busy. Does this really work? Is it a short-term fix? Maybe it is. But I’m more than ready for something to change in my life. I’m done with expecting my life to get perfect any time soon. NEWS FLASH: My life will never be perfect (until I die and go to Heaven) so I better get used to it.

On the flipside, I have a whole dang lot of dreams going on right now. It is time for me to stop focusing on the one thing in my life that absolutely SUCKS and start focusing on the dozens of things in my life that absolutely DON’T SUCK. (And by “don’t suck”, I mean are completely fantastic.)

What would happen if I listed all of those things? Even just listing ten would help me understand the reality of my situation right now. I’ve never really thought about this before (because of the cliche factor and everything), but I think I’m going to do it. And on top of that, I’m going to make sure I remember all of those things and possibly even act on each of them every single day.

Why would I do this? I’m not doing it to hide the sadness, I’m not one for that. I’m not doing it to make myself feel better. I’m not doing it to make myself appear to be happier than I really am. I’m doing it because God has blessed me and I’m just not seeing it these days. One thing God has taken away from me. Just one. And He’s given me so much more. So why the heck am I not seeing it?

That’s why I want to make this list. As soon as possible actually. To thank God for everything He’s given me because it’s about time.

P.S. I’m switching my blog to a domain on Wednesday so stay tuned for that! I’m super excited to get over to that, it will be a blast! And I half-promise not to switch the design every third day, hold me to it, okay?

LOVE;

{/\ubry}

Spending Time on Yourself

You know how I said I’d be journaling all last week? Yeah, well that didn’t happen.

Here’s how last week went.

On Monday, my super awesome friends Ali, Christiana, and Jessica came to my house to sleep over. The next morning, we woke up at 3:30 to get to LAX. Our flight left at 6:25.

We got into Denver that afternoon and took a bus to Estes Park (why the heck am I giving you all these details???). ANYWAYS, we went on a Capstone trip for our leadership classes we’ve been taking that was in beautiful Estes Park. (P.S. Our friend Joseph from Oregon also came and he’s super awesome too.)

These classes are designed to be intense and this one is no exception. Almost all day for three days we were in sessions either listening to a lecture or collaborating with other students. On top of that, I was also trying to get registration up, attending meetings, and writing content for the CPE3 (the CollegePlus event I’m planning for September). And half forgetting that I have a blog and I’ve promised to post every day. I think I got no more than 5 hours of sleep every night (which I did that last semester and my body all but refuses to cooperate when the same need arises, HA!).

So there are the excuses for why I didn’t journal at all.

Okay. So my goal is to journal this week. My plate is still as full as it ever was, but I need to have times when I can just disconnect from the world and reflect on it. However, that takes discipline, something I’m really lacking right now.

Do you feel the need to disconnect like this and concentrate on yourself? One thing that kept coming up in sessions was the fact that I need time to recharge. Journaling provides a unique and purposeful way to spend time with God and to give myself time to relax and rebuild my energy.

If you are struggling in the same way, hopefully this post encourages you to do what you can to fix it! Comment below!

LOVE;

{/\ubry}

Estes Park, Colorado

I got back from Estes Park, Colorado today! It was an amazing, amazing trip with some of my closest and coolest friends. I met some new people, got to hear from some of the people I most admire, and even lost my glasses. Being the third trip of its kind that I’ve taken (where I get to meet new CollegePlus students and staff), I’m already feeling my excitement for life increase. It’s amazing what just hanging and being weird with people who make you laugh can do, you know?

To keep up on my life, make sure you follow me on Instagram!

LOVE;

{/\ubry}

 

TGIF

Focusing While Traveling

I have been traveling a lot lately (and will be traveling even more in the months to come) and always have a tough time studying when I’m gone. I almost never have breaks from school (go me) so if I have time to study on a trip, I study. This week, I’m in Colorado (woot!). It’s a school trip, to be fair, so I’m actually technically doing school right now, but I also have a couple other classes I need to keep up with. Okay, so fun fact about me, I actually like studying in airports (only in airports, not in planes). I don’t know what it is, I guess I just study better when there’s noise. However, once I get to my destination all motivation that I had during my layover is now gone. I feel awful because of flying; I want to eat but I can’t. I’m sleepy and I pretty much don’t want to do anything the rest of the day (unless it’s a late night flight, in which case the morning before the flight is exactly the same). When I’m on a trip, usually I can still study at night (I’m going to be on social media for a couple hours anyways), but a lot of times I don’t (hence the social media). If you’re like me and you find it difficult to study during a trip, or even a hectic time of life, then this post is for you! What do I do to make studying on trips actually happen?

one. First of all, make sure you plan ahead. Usually, we have a vague idea of what is going to happen during a trip. Think through the rough schedule and highlight times in your mind when you’ll be able to study. For me, it usually lands on evenings. If I plan a few days ahead of time, then when the time actually comes, I have not only motivation to make it happen, but direction. The next morning won’t find me remorseful because I forgot about a project I could have done in the two hour slot everyone around me was doing nothing. You can also tell someone about your plan. Tell your mom, or your friend, or your teacher. Or better yet, someone on the trip. Even if they don’t keep you accountable, you’ve audibly promised yourself you’d study. But first and foremost, and I can’t emphasize this enough, plan. Plan plan plan.

two. Second, make it easy on yourself, dude. Do the hard stuff before you leave. Prepare. For instance, I find it so much easier to sit down and write a paper if I wrote the outline the day before (instead of right before). If it’s easier to study, you’re more likely to do it. And if you have assignments you’re going to actually enjoy, leave those for your trip!

three. I ran into this one just the other night. I’m getting ready to go on a trip so this is kind of in my brain (how am I going to get Statistics done???). I really didn’t want to study, and it was only like 10. All I wanted to do was hit the sack. Well, I had the thought, “If I can’t work right now, how am I going to work when I’m traveling?” So I decided to push a little longer and get some more done. (P.S. I stayed on social media for a little bit longer and then went to bed. Do as I say, not as I do.)

These tips really can help at any point in life, especially if life is insane. All of these take discipline, but think about how awesome you feel after you’ve accomplished something!

Do you have any other tips for staying focused while traveling? I’d LOVE to hear them! Comment below!

LOVE;

{/\ubry}

#Capstone2k14

 

I’m writing this late on Tuesday night, and didn’t have time to edit any of the photos, so just beware. I’m in Colorado right now (which you probably know if you follow me on Instagram) for my Leadership Capstone for the Dr. Jeff Myers Signature Leadership Courses. I’m hoping against hope that I’ll actually be able to enjoy this thing. I’ll be honest with you and say that today was one of the more stressful days I’ve encountered, I’m hoping tomorrow is much better. Crossing my fingers. Still have a couple things I need to do tonight before I go to bed and get four hours of sleep, so I’ll leave it here. Today was a traveling day, with a little bit of session at the end of the night. I’ll be posting pictures from the whole trip on Saturday, so stay tuned for that! I don’t even remember what else I have planned for the week. This should be interesting.

I literally felt like I was in the fifties with that flight attendant.

Waiting in the airport.

Ali got bored.

Coolest ever instagram photo by Christiana. Go like it! Her instagram is @christialiceana.

Then we ate food.

Oh yeah. Meet Joseph. He’s our fifth person. I won’t go into all the scenarios we’ve thought up.

It’s supposed to snow on Thursday, which is only exciting to me because of the pictures I’ll get to take. But the snow-dusted mountains are still gorgeous!

LOVE;

{/\ubry}

My Favorite Blogs Lately

I don’t know if you guys know, but I tried my hand at blogging a couple of years ago when I blogged with my sister and friend about life issues (mostly abortion). If I had the urge to start a controversial blog again, there are about a million things I would do differently. Through that year or so of blogging sporadically, I discovered a world unknown to me, the blog world. I guess I didn’t really know what to think, but I still follow a couple of the blogs I found years ago. As Pinterest became apart of my life and then some of the bloggers I followed got on Instagram, I was blog-aware. But it wasn’t something I was like super into, it was more based on the person actually blogging (which that’s what it’s supposed to be anyway, but that’s another post for another time).

Then I started this blog.

And next week I’m launching a much better blog. Blogging is suddenly worth an investment to me.

Obviously, I decided to start this blog and get back into the blogging world, but I didn’t exactly expect I would jump in as far as I have. I got back into Bloglovin and now I’m smitten. My eventual goal was to start a YouTube channel, but I didn’t have the time, and I knew I needed to start building my audience as a Marketing major. I don’t know if I’ll even do that. I’m stuck on blogging for now.

All that to say, even though I wasn’t expecting this to happen, I absolutely LOVE looking at blogs! I could probably do it all day actually. So for my content-sharing day, I wanted to share a few of my favorite posts from the last week. Ready?

Playing with Phone Lenses // A Beautiful Mess

This post is from A Beautiful Mess. Now I’m ready to buy phone lenses! I’m also getting way into Instagram, and I would LOVE to have the variety a phone lense would offer. We’ll see.

Full-Page Photo Scrapbooking Ideas // A Beautiful Mess

Okay so this one is from A Beautiful Mess too. But it’s just so perfect!!! Obviously, I don’t have a family, and I’m totally not even thinking about having one right now, but this would be AMAZING for documenting trips or something, right??? I might just have to do this with pictures from Colorado after this week! I’ve never been into scrapbooking, my scrapbooking talent is very limited in the range of tacky to extremely tacky; but I feel like I could totally rock this idea.

Hirashima // Miss Moss

My jaw dropped when I saw the rest of the pictures of this amazing couch. Some of this Hirashima furniture was featured on Miss Moss. My love for saving space is both a strength and a weakness. This couch tops everything and if I ever happen upon a small apartment and a lot of money (har har), this couch is happening. Plus, I LOVE how it looks!

An Astrology Reading // A Cup of Jo

This post was too cute not to share. Okay, I know Astrology Reading sounds so New Age of me or something, and I don’t really know if I exactly believe them, but this date idea was adorable! Check it out on A Cup of Jo.

Resident Tourist Link Up // Quaintrelle

I actually just found Quaintrelle today and I’m hooked! I wanted to share this idea with you. This is a monthly Link Up so I might participate next month! If you have a blog, definitely look into doing this! Such an awesome idea!