2014.

Tonight at midnight, 2013 will be over.

And with it, so many memories.

Did the year fly by for anyone else? I feel like I was just ringing in 2013.

2013 was a good year for me. It started out a bit rough coming in from 2012, but in every way I am glad that 2013 happened.

Here's why:

1. I went on a cruise.

 

2. I swam with dolphins! 

3. I was forced to come out of my shell and sing in front of my entire music class.

4. I made an A on my 42-page Capstone project.

5. I turned into a rainbow at the Color Me Rad 5k.

6. I realized exactly why I want to be a teacher.

7. I started working on my teacher's certification and got a job substituting at my old school.

8. I discovered Veronica Mars (and bought the DVDs).

9. I graduated from college. 

10. I turned 20!

11. I took a cake decorating class. 

12. I had the best Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I also got to cross numbers 13, 31, and 56 off my bucket list, and I'm well on my way to crossing off number 11.

Some not so fun things that happened this year that turned out to be okay anyway:

• I almost died.
• I almost died again.
• My TV made life difficult.
• I was trapped in my house for 4 days.

That's pretty much it. The good definitely out-weighed the bad this year.

So, what does 2014 have in store? SO much and I'm so excited.

First and foremost, I will be completing the first part of my teacher's certification and will be able to start teaching full-time by the fall semester (!!!), Lord-willing.

I also have the opportunity to be a first grade assistant teacher for four weeks in January/February while the current assistant is out on maternity leave.

The Veronica Mars movie comes out on March 14th. I might have it written in really big capital letters in my planner. Maybe.

There may be a possibility for a family vacation in the spring, but I'm not getting my hopes up. More on that later.

I'll also be attending at least 6 weddings, give or take a few.

As far as resolutions go, I don't usually have any, but there are a few things this year I'd like to work on.

1. Having days off from work really throws off my routine because I think I can sleep in for as long as I want and then do nothing all day. This year, I am going to focus on getting into an everyday routine -- even on my days off -- and making the most of my free time. 
2. I would like to pay more attention to my finances and budget my spending more. I have been using Mint.com for awhile, but have more been adjusting my budgets according to my spending instead of the other way around. I currently don't have a lot of expenses to pay, so I think that's a good habit to go ahead and get into before it's too late and I'm broke.
3. Spend more time with God daily (this is pretty much going to be on my list every year).
4. Invest in others more. This is something I have been working a lot this year, and I want to continue to do this even more. I really am happier when I am focusing on others instead of myself.

I am also going to really focus on expanding my blog and readership this year, which I am excited about. It will be a lot of work but it is something I've been wanting to do for awhile (I even posted about it several months ago and then proceeded to do nothing about it, haha).  Feel free to spread the word if you know someone who might enjoy reading. :-)

I hope everyone has a fun and safe New Year's Eve tonight! What are your plans? I will be starting out the evening at a big party, and ending at a smaller get-together at my friend's new apartment. Looking forward to bringing in 2014 with all of my friends.

Happy New Year!

P.S. If it weren't for this post, I would have had 34 posts for the third year in a row. Seriously, I'm not trying to do this.

The Third Decade.

I just entered my third decade of life.

Wednesday was my 20th birthday!

To celebrate, I:

Went to work, and was given this fabulous birthday tiara by two of my coworkers.

Please excuse how awful I look. It was early. 

 Was gifted the complete series of Friends on DVD (finally!), a cake decorating set & cake decorating lessons, and a few other small things.

 Presents!!

Went to the Cheesecake Factory with my parents and grandparents, and ate this delicious caramel apple streussel cheesecake.

That's right. Be jealous.

Spent some of my birthday money on a third ear piercing, because apparently I was lying when I got my double and said that I was done with piercings forever.

 I think it's really cute. Don't you?

Also, my growth group started on Wednesday which is always super fun! But I don't have a picture of that. Just know it was awesome.

I always get really sad when my birthday is over. I think the day after your birthday is one of the most depressing days there is. But if this year goes by as fast as last year did, I'll be 21 in no time.

Until then, I'll be looking forward to Christmas. Just 88 more days -- better start shopping!

I Think I Need an Intervention.

So last night/this morning at approximately 1:48am, I deliriously posted this status on facebook:

 

Now I know that sometimes when I talk, I throw in the occasional hyperbole. This is not one of those times.

Tears actually happened. Freaking out actually happened. And the only reason I'm not ashamed to tell the world this is because it was 2am. Nobody should be expected to control their emotions between the hours of 1 and 5 am. 

But seriously. It was bad, y'all.

The show is SO GOOD. Like, SO GOOD. I got home at 9ish last night and had 5 episodes left in the season to watch. I knew it would be a late night if I wanted to finish, and honestly wasn't planning on it. "Just two or three..." I told myself. HA.

*Caution: Very vague spoilers ahead*

Every episode ended on a cliffhanger. Even worse, they ended on a cliffhanger involving my favorite character...so like, I had to watch the next one to make sure that everything was going to work out okay for him.

Well guess what? In the season 1 finale...EVERYTHING DOESN'T WORK OKAY FOR HIM. We don't even see him for the last 15 minutes of the show and the last time we did see him, he looked like he was in mortal danger. So the season ends with the main character hearing a knock on the door and opening it and I'm like...

"WHAT ABOUT LOGAN? IS LOGAN OKAY? WHAT'S GOING ON? IS LOGAN AT THE DOOR? PLEASE BE LOGAN AT THE DOOR! LOGAN I LOVE YOU! LOGAN!! LOOOOGGGAANNN!!!"

And I was SO CONCERNED ABOUT LOGAN that I started crying. Because I wanted to start the next season. But it was almost 2am. And I was really tired. And the fact that I was crying over a character in a TV show made me realize that I desperately needed sleep. Which made me cry harder, because I wanted to start the next season.

But ultimately, I decided to be strong and just go to bed. Once I fell asleep it would practically be morning anyway, so it's not like it would be very long before I could start the next episode.

Actually, it wasn't long at all, since at 7:30 this morning my brain was all like "Hey! It's morning!! Time to watch Veronica Mars!" and woke me up with NO regard to the fact that it's Saturday and I JUST went to bed 5 hours earlier. Thanks, Brain. You're a real pal.

But for real...I may or may not have a serious problem.

Oh, and I'm watching season 2 as we speak (well, waiting for it to load), and I am pleased to report that Logan is still alive. Which I knew anyway, because like, IMDB has him listed in all 64 episodes...and the movie that's coming out next year...but still. He could have been like, a ghost or something.

Where Have I Been?

...All your liiiiyyyyiiiifffeee?!?!?!

(That's a song, guys. Kind of.)

So I just *happened* to be looking through my blog feed on blogger and then my eyes jumped up and noticed that I haven't posted in over a month.

Oops.

I actually think that's wrong. I don't feel like it's been that long. Really, I don't. I blame Netflix. I got a Netflix account, and because I'm not a big fan of movies but I L-O-V-E getting hooked on a good TV show, I've been watching approximately 4 seasons of various shows per week.

Don't worry, I actually only did that for two weeks in a row. But watching that much TV seriously makes the days go by, like, super fast.

Actually, the main* reason I've been gone is because I'm working on finalizing my Capstone project which is due two weeks from tomorrow! What a relief it will be when it's over; this project is SO HUGE.

*Main meaning I work on it for the two whole days before each assignment is due. And assignments are due every two weeks. So however much of a main reason that can be. That's my reason. Netflix is the other main reason.

So basically what I'm trying to say here is...I'll be back in two weeks, haha. BECAUSE the FINAL project is due in TWO WEEKS...and I can't just wait until the day before to start working on that one. No more procrastinating for this girl.*

*HA. Heard that before.

I'm actually supposed to be working on that right now...so I'm gonna go get back to that. Basically the purpose of this post is so that it doesn't say my last post was March 7th, because that really bothered me. So, the cobwebs have been dusted off of this blog, and I will be back to dust them off again in two weeks!

It's a Brand New Year.

Happy January 1st, everybody!

Another year has gone by. And if you've been reading my posts all year, you know that I had some major disappointments earlier in 2012, but at the same time, so many great things happened in the year as well. To recap:

I participated in a mud run,

I went to prom,

I graduated from high school as valedictorian (also, here),

I went to San Antonio on a senior trip with my good friends,

I participated in a 3 week long training program with some girls in my youth group,

I started college,

I turned 19,

I saw Les Miserables TWICE (at the Bass Hall and at the movie theater),

I went Black Friday shopping for the first time,

I had a merry Christmas,

And a happy New Year (to be blogged at a later time).

2012 stretched me, challenged me, humbled me, encouraged me, made me cry, and made me smile in so many different ways. I crossed three things off my bucket list, I made some new friends, I joined the "adult world" for the first time. And I missed a lot of things about high school, but I still enjoyed my new stage of life.

This year, I earned about 70 college credits, putting me at a total of 84. (If I pass my test this Thursday, I'll have 90 and officially be a college senior). And I survived the end of the world.

I'm definitely going to miss parts of 2012, and I'm definitely NOT going to miss other parts. But I'm definitely excited to see what 2013 has in store for me. Some things I know will be happening:

• I'm going on a cruise next week!
• I'll be finishing college in May and graduating in September.
• I'll be starting and hopefully finishing getting my teacher's certification.
• I'm entering a new decade this year! 20 years!
• And then of course Christmas and New Year's are always something to look forward to.

I rung in the New Year by throwing the first party I've ever thrown in my 19 years of life...and I do believe it was a success. I will post about that tomorrow or another time this week.

But until then...I wish everybody the best in 2013. I hope everybody had a great New Year's Eve, and here's to a brand new year.

P.S. I had the exact numbers of posts in 2012 as I did in 2011. I am way too consistent.

This is Not the Post You've Been Waiting For.

This is not a post about the training I went to last month.

I actually have that one written, but have not posted it yet because I was trying to obtain a video and have not yet been successful in that venture.

But honestly, a big part of that is because it hasn't been on my mind the past several days. I will preface with an analogy that I made up all by myself (please hold the applause):

For the past, oh...yearish, I've been on a crazy roller coaster. A crazy roller coaster with sky-scraping highs and rock bottom lows. I was on the highest peak of that roller coaster when the car came off the track, and fell to the lowest low that there ever was. And let me tell y'all, I hit the bottom HARD.

It was like the car, everyone in the car, and the entire structure of this year-long roller coaster came crashing down on top of me. 

Y'all. I just came out of what was probably the hardest weekend of my life.

The hardest thing I've ever gone through.

And it's going to take awhile to recover.

I'm doing better. And I will continue to do better. And eventually it'll be like nothing was ever wrong. Time heals all wounds, but this wound's gonna need a lot of time.

I don't know what God has in store for me now. I thought I did but now I'm back to square one and I know nothing. And that's hard, because I like to know things.

I don't like surprises. I don't like change. This happens to be a surprise AND a change. Oh yay.

But regardless, I'm going to press on. I'm going to keep on living my life. No matter what happens, I'm going to keep trusting God. That He has a plan. That His plan is better than my plan.

Clearly, because God just basically took the schematics for my roller coaster and threw them in the trash. He showed me why my roller coaster would never work, and He had to tear it down so we could build a new one. A better one. Together.

These verses have kept me going the past couple days. If you're going through anything difficult right now--or even if you're not--I would encourage you to read them. They're good reminders for us all.

"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, who have been called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." Proverbs 19:21

"Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed." 1 Peter 4:12-13

I put these verses up on my desk at work to keep me going. Cuz honestly, guys, work is hard right now. I can't focus because I have so much on my mind. I don't want to be there. But I'm trying. I'm really trying.

I long for normalcy. I long for simplicity. But my life isn't normal or simple. There's a good chance it will never be. But Jesus's life wasn't normal or simple either. I mean, His life was WAY less normal than mine...he was immortal for crying out loud. If that doesn't scream complicated I don't know what does.

He was crucified.

And then He came back to life.

Y'all. It doesn't get weirder than that.

Of course, that was Jesus and He can handle WAY more than a helpless human like myself can. But, I'm also dealing with way less than Him, AND I have Him to help me.

There's no reason I can't do this. None at all.

That's not to say I couldn't use prayer. If you think about it, include me. Include my family and my friends, too. And if you have anything you need prayer for right now, please let me know so I can return the favor.

At the beginning of the year, my best friend and I made a deal to make this year better than last year. Last year is gonna be really hard to top...but I'm still gonna try, despite all this. 

I will have the summer training post up at some point. I'm not going to say when because I know it will probably happen sooner if I don't. :)

Oh, and as a random post script, one of the keys just fell off my keyboard. Awesome. I need a new laptop.

I Don't Know What to Title This.

It's a sad day when you have so much going on that you forget to make time for the things you love doing. Or when you don't have time to think of a clever and catchy title.

It feels like AGES since I've been here. And I'm sorry I haven't been reading many blogs, either. But it kind of just recently hit me that I'm graduating in 2 months and I have no less than a trillion things to do before that day.

Okay, maybe a little less...but check out my to-do list:

• Finish online computer course so I CAN graduate
• Write an essay for character distinction
• Get 4 references from teachers for character distinction
• Get in another hour of community service with the school
• Write a valedictorian speech
• Take my senior pictures
• Figure out what pictures/song to put in the slideshow
• Create a photo/achievement display for graduation
• Write two essays and have a meeting for Accelerate University
• Figure out my degree plan
• Possibly take another CLEP (or two) before college registration next month (which I was NOT planning on doing), and
• Figure out what classes to enroll in at UTA (I have to go full-time due to a scholarship) that will allow me to use my time most wisely (i.e. classes I need to take but can't CLEP out of, that don't have a ton of homework so I can still work on AU at the same time)

All while still going to school, doing homework, taking tests, going to church, growth groups, and meetings, working 12 hours a week, AND we're about to start working on our big spring play at school....which means countless hours of rehearsals added in there too.

Not to mention, I have recently been diagnosed with a severe case of senioritis. It's bad, y'all. And it makes me not want to do ANY of the things mentioned above.

It's going to be crazy. If you think about it, I would really appreciate prayers as I try to balance all of this and still do it all with excellence.

Two months. TWO MONTHS. Three months ago, I thought that day would never come. Now I wish I had more time.

But, there are some things I'm looking forward to. Like PROM! I've wanted to go my whole life, and I started collecting prom dresses in eighth grade. (It was kind of an accidental collection. No one needs four prom dresses). That's in a month and I can't wait!

So anyway, the point of this post was basically just to blog, because I've missed it greatly. And to let anyone who was wondering know that I'm still alive.

But just barely.

Tick Tock, On the Clock...

(Don't worry, this is not a post about Ke$ha. I just stole her lyrics.)

I LOVED my pastor's sermon today. It was everything I needed to hear.

The lesson today was on time management. "When you run out of time, you die," my pastor said. (On a side note, it made me think of that new movie coming out, In Time.)

Anyway, one of the points he made, and the one that stuck out to me the most, was that we have time--we just waste it early on. Then, when it comes time to get the really important things done, we have only a small amount of time left...and feel rushed and stressed.

Our problem isn't that we don't have enough time. We waste it. That's all there is to it.

I definitely have a problem with wasting time. I always feel like I don't have enough time to get things done. It's true, I really don't have a lot of free time....but it's also true that I don't exactly spend every spare second I have getting things done. I definitely waste time. I would guess I waste at least a couple hours in every day.

Can you imagine all the things you could get done if you were given all the time you've wasted in your life back? Let's see...we'll say I've wasted about 3 hours every day for the past 18 years. Obviously this is an inaccurate figure, but it's an estimated average, so bear with me.

People, that 19,710 hours I have wasted in my life. More if you take leap years into consideration, which I totally didn't because that math was too complicated for me. 19,710!! That's crazy! I could get SO MUCH DONE in that amount of time.

I could write a book...

I could make a movie...

I could spend a week in every country in the world...

I could build a time machine...
I could come up with the cure for cancer.

Okay, maybe not all that. But 19,710 hours is over 800 days. I could get a lot of things accomplished in 800 days.

800 days of my life...wasted. That's about 2 and a half years.

Wow. That's incredible.

This has definitely opened my eyes to how I spend my time, and from now on I am definitely going to try to get the important things done first, and then "waste" the leftover time. The sermon this morning was exactly what I needed, because my life has been CRAZY busy lately.

It's not that we don't have time...it's that we waste it early on. Those words have been ringing in my head all day. Truly a great reminder.

P.S. I hope I didn't hurt your head with all the math. Because I definitely hurt mine.