Linking up is fun!

Today I'm linking up with Goodnight Moon for the first time!

The 4th of July is coming up and I'm feeling patriotic!

It's got its downfalls, but I really do love our country,

and so does Rodney Atkins!

After a really sleepless night and sleeping in till 12:30, I need to get moving to get the house clean and ready for work on time. Hope ya'll are having a wonderful day!

Wednesday Wishes

It's that time again! I have a feeling that as we get deeper into Summer, Brooke's Wednesday Wishes will help me keep track of the days. Go over to her blog and say, "hi" and don't forget to link up!

W1: One word: STEAK

I wish that Hannah and I weren't so afraid to use our bbq and ruin meat (do ya'll know how expensive that stuff is??) and that we could have a nice, juicy steak.  I think my stomach just growled.

W2: Home!

I would love to be home with my momma and my family...just a few more weeks and we'll be heading off to our favorite place in the world!

I also wish that life was little bit simpler and that everyone got along most of the time.

What are you wishing for?

Ugh...

This is how I feel today.

Hope ya'll had a good, drama free Tuesday.

I really miss him tonight.

The end.

No one under 21 allowed...

Well...you're aloud to read it, just not drink it!

It's hotter than hell in our apartment tonight and Hannah and I decided to get in the kitchen and make ourselves dinner (twice baked potatoes, zucchini, and chicken...yum!).

Anyways, I was looking in the fridge and decided to make us a grown-up drink to have while we cook...

and I just want to say that with this, I'm a genius.

Recipe:

1 1/2 shots of Malibu Rum

A little bit of Sprite

A little bit of Cranberry Juice

A squeeze of lime

Now you've got yourself a really refreshing grown-up drink!

After a day on the beach this is perfect.

Hope ya'll are enjoying your Sunday!

Saturday off??

First, can we please talking about how incredibly adorable this picture is??

My sister found in on Pinterest yesterday and it literally made my night.

The idea is priceless.

Today is my first Saturday off in a while.  By off, I mean I'm in Long Beach and not at home.

I will guiltily admit that I slept in till 11, laid in bed another 30 minutes finishing "The Giver", and finally I made my way downstairs and I'm watching The OC and drinking coffee.

Man that's a little pathetic...Hannah needs to get home so we can get out and do something!

Have a wonderful weekend lovelies!

Happy List for Thursday

First Happy List of the Summer

1.  The two days of 80 degree weather LB got this week.

2.  Actually getting praised at work.

3.  That the count down on my phone keeps getting smaller.

4.  Having my sisters visit me.

5.  Watching weird movies with Hannah.

6.  Running my fingers through  my straight hair.

7.  Pinterest.

8.  The fact that July 18 is so close.

9.  Vampire Diaries reruns.

10.  Sweet Tea Vodka and Sprite.

Wish come true..sort of.

Earlier today, one of my Wednesday Wishes was to have straight hair.

I later realized that Hannah was going to be at work tonight and I was going to have a lot of free time.

So I ended up spending an hour and 20 minutes sitting on my bedroom floor doing this...

It's no where near permanent cause the second it touches water those curls will come right back,

but for at least tomorrow and maybe Friday I'll have straight hair.

It's a nice change though, that's for sure!

Wednesday Wishes

W1: I wish my headache would go away

Waking up with a headache for no reason is the worst!

Today it was so bad it woke me up.

W2: I wish my hair could look like this for a little while..

Don't get me wrong, I like my curly hair and I normally don't hate it...

but the last week or two I've been over it and I really want straight hair.

W3: I wish Hannah and I could find sparklers for 4th of July!

 I didn't realize how against fireworks Long Beach is...I need to find some of these though!

W4: I wish it was July 18 already

I need to get outta the city for awhile...NC is calling my name!

What are you wishing for?

Link up with Brooke and let her/me know what your wishes are!

"Oh, that

I could

shrink the

surface of

the world,

so that 

suddenly

I might 

find you

standing

at my side!"

(wang chien)

I'm missing my sweetheart a lot today...but the few minutes of conversation 

we got to have made me incredibly happy.

Almost to the month-and-a-half mark, but I'm ready for it to be over!

Happy Birthday/Father's Day

To the best dad ever!

Today is my dad's birthday and tomorrow as ya'll know is Father's Day.
My dad is pretty much awesome.  I love him more than anything.
Sometimes we definitely don't get along, but that's because we are way too much alike!
Wish I was there to celebrate with you tonight/tomorrow dad!
I love you.

Didn't learn that in History

Borrowed

I've been watching the TV mini series "The Kennedys"
and to be honest I'm finding it pretty interesting.
I'm no historian so I don't really know what all about JFK's presidency was publicized back then and if this show is historically failing or is pretty right on, but just as a entertainment show, I'd say they got it right.
Several times during certain episodes, I've had to pause it and look up what or who they're talking about just because I actually am interested in knowing more.  For all you history buffs out there, I'd recommend this show in a heartbeat.

"Confidence Cohen"

Borrowed

I'm not feeling very confident lately and I don't know why.

There's something going on that's making me completely uncomfortable in my own skin.

Have you ever had that feeling?

I'll be honest with you, it's really annoying me.

Today, I'm getting a hair cut (after two years of not touching it with scissors at all) which will hopefully boost the confidence factor...'cause let's be honest, who doesn't feel better after they've had a haircut?

I'm trying everything I can think of to battle this ridiculously dry skin I have that shoots my confidence down

...maybe the humidity in NC next month will be just the hydration trick I need, I may never leave!

I also have some graduation money that I need to use to get some new summer clothes, which could be a nice boost too!

I dunno, I know those things aren't the answer to confidence problems, but I'm grasping at straws here.

Have a good weekend lovelies!

Wednesday...er...I mean...Thursday wishes

I missed out on yesterday's Wednesday Wishes because I was in LA at The House of Blues watching Austin Gibbs, The Maine, and Augustana.

So here are my wishes for yesterday/today

W1: A fit body/the drive to workout

I work at a gym, you think this would be the easy part right?

Nope!

W2: For the dang weather to get warm!

This morning I walked outside and it was raining and cold...in June! 

What the heck? I want to use my pool/the beach!

W3: I wish I had a river in my back yard...

So I could do something like this with my friends!

W4: I wish I didn't have to wake up at 4:00 AM tomorrow!

I have to "open" the gym tomorrow and my shift starts at 5 AM.

It's nuts and crazy, but I hope it pays off...but  now I need to go to sleep.

What do you wish for?

Pretty much...

And yet I love it.

Lifestyle Change

Have you ever felt discontent with the way that you live your life?

I'm not talking about the choices you make or the people in it,

but the style in which you do life.

I feel like in California, especially down here in LA county, the way of life is so incredibly busy.

There's just this sense of urgency that I feel that I need to always be doing something...school, work, go out on weekends, rinse and repeat week after week.

When I don't go out and do anything often times I feel lame.

Since I graduated (the ceremony, not school...so it's been a little while), I've felt like I've wanted a lifestyle change.

I dream all the time now about living life slowly in a beach house or on a lake in the mountains with my family and a boat so we can have all the skiing and wakeboarding time we want together.

Or I want a truck and a horse and that country way of living that I used to think about all the time when I was in high school.  I'm a southern, country girl at heart and I miss riding a lot.

I dunno....just food for though.

What's your dream lifestyle?

Officially Summer

Wanna know how I know it's officially Summer?

I slept in till 1 in the afternoon today!

I know I was sleeping hard too, because I had a ton of emails and texts that I didn't hear come in on my phone...

luckily none of them were important!

From all the stress and school that I had over the last couple of weeks, my body probably needed to sleep that much.

Now if only the weather would get nice!

Check out my sister's Summer Happy list over at her blog. 

I love it.

Blogging Brother!

My brother, Nathan, is leaving tomorrow for a two month internship with Northwest Haiti Christian Mission.

Tonight I helped him start a blog so his family and friends can be kept in the loop while he's away.

I love this kid to death and I'm super stoked to here about all the amazing things I know are going to happen while he's gone!  I would highly recommend following him, so you can see how this ministry is reaching out to Haiti.

Touching Haiti

We get asked if we're brother and sister a lot...which we are, just not by blood!

But I think we look a lot a like!

A month??

Has it really almost been a month already?

Good grief!

I'm so torn between feeling like...

A. That went by fast, we can do this!

or

B. Oh my gosh, we still have such a long way to go!

Now that I stop to think about it, I probably feel an equal mixture of both.

The last few weeks have flown right on by and I've been handling this incredibly well.

I will say that if it was not for my smart phone that lets me have access to everything my computer does,

there's no way I could be this calm! You can't really do real life with your computer glued to your lap!

However, no matter how I'm feeling about this last month, I'm still always counting down to this...

Borrowed

And I feel like she does...

Because I am officially Done with college!

I heard my last lecture, took my last test, and walked out of my very last class ever (hopefully!).

There are no words to describe the relief I felt walking to my car.

I can't stop smiling.

Hello Summer!

Wednesday Wishes

W1: I would really love a boat

How fun does that look? She's so pretty!

W2: Peace about my future

Tomorrow is my last official day of college.

I had a mini freak out today in the middle of class because I don't really know where to go from here!

W3: A good camera

My little point-and-shoot digital is pretty much dead.

I think it's time to move onto bigger and better things in the camera world!

W4: A foot tattoo...

 

If I wasn't fearful of what my mother might do, I would get a foot tattoo. 

I think they're pretty.

W5: A new hairstyle

If only my curls looked like hers.

I haven't styled/cut my hair in two years...it needs to change.

W6: A letter...email...phone call...

Gonna always be wishing for one of these three things until he comes home.

What are you wishing for?

Link up and make sure to say, "hello," to Brooke over at Bright Wishes

All pictures were borrowed from http://pinterest.com/

Lord help the mister,,,

Who comes between me and my sister...

 

I love my sisters.

Sometimes it might not seem like it because we fight like crazy,

but the two of them are my best friends.

I feel like a huge ache when I think about how moving out while they're still living at home together,

made me miss out on so much.

While I was trying to stay awake last night on our six hour drive back down to Long Beach,

I started to think and get excited about the time in our lives where we're going to truly be adults,

with our husbands and eventually our kids and what it's going to be like when we all come home and visit.

I can't wait! My kids are going to have the best aunts ever.

Anyways, these are just the rambling thoughts I had while I was driving...I'm sure you know how that goes!

I love you Candace and Becca!

They did it!

 On Saturday my little sister and my two little brothers graduated from High School!

I'm so incredibly proud of them and it makes me feel really old thinking about how little they were just a few years ago!  

Just to clarify, Becca is my legit sister (ha!).  Spencer L) and Andy (R) are the sons of my parents' best friends.  Bob and Sue and Tom and Cheryl, are basically my other parents.  I love each one of them and along with my brother Matthew, they add Andy, Austin, Nathan, Spencer, and Jordan to my little brother list!

I love every single one of them.

So once again, I'm super proud of my little ones and I can't wait to see where they go and what they do over the next couple of years.

Below are the proud parents with their graduates...this picture perfectly sums up what it's like when we're all together.

Love.

Midnight Roadtrip

Tonight the roommates and I are leaving around 10 and heading home to Salinas...
which means we'll be pulling into town around 4 AM.
The reason for such a mission?

Mine and Hannah's little sisters Becca and Rachel are both graduating from HS on Saturday!

Our families have known each other forever and these two girls have been best friends for awhile.

I'm so proud of both of them and I can't wait to get home to celebrate!

 Becca and Rachel then...

Becca and Rachel now...

Love you both!

Beach Dream

While I'm on the subject of wishes, I thought I'd share one of my dreams.

For awhile now I've been dreaming of having a beach house on the East Coast

and thanks to one of my new favorite websites, I've gotten some amazing ideas for how I would decorate.

Looking at these pictures makes me want to be back in NC right now!

I guess it's a good thing I only have to wait a little over a month.

Enjoy.

 

What's your dream??