A life worth living.

Brazil 2

Tue, 21 May 2013 20:57:29 -0500

I’m basically falling asleep while writing this. Exhaustion has been hitting like a ton of bricks the last two days. The biggest drainer is the language barrier. Conversations that should take two minutes take about fifteen minutes here due to working through the language. My body’s also being a jerk by making me crave all of the things I can’t have here. I can’t remember the last time I was craving fried cornbread but man has my mouth been watering for it since last night. Also, if anyone could mail me some Hook’s BBQ or some Chick-Fil-A that would be great.

Still loving it, though. One thing we’ve learned is that Brazilians really put an emphasis on shared experiences. Even if you aren’t really saying much because you don’t speak the same language they still feel a connection with you because you were there with them.

One of the girls I have gotten closest to is Stacey. She couldn’t speak a word of English when we met her but she’s been learning so much. Saturday night after hanging out with us she went home and studied English all night. Tonight a bunch of people came over for dinner. We have a schedule for dish washing and tonight was my night but Stacey was determined to help. In exaggerated motions, broken English, and broken Portuguese I was telling her to get out of the kitchen and go enjoy herself with everyone. She would not have it. She stayed beside me the whole time and washed dishes. Later on she was braiding some of the girls hair. After she braided mine I had someone translate that she was going to be a good mom. That pleased her so much I thought she would cry. Here it is the respectful thing to live with their families until they marry but Stacey is the only student I have met that doesn’t live at home.

Hope everyone is doing good. Seriously send some Hook’s BBQ.

Brazil 1

Thu, 16 May 2013 20:18:29 -0500

We have been in Brazil for three days now and this is the first chance I have gotten to listen to music (that Brazilians weren’t playing for us) or log onto a computer. At this point I have a deep gratitude that Ryan Adam’s full Ashes & Fire album can be found on YouTube because, guess what, Pandora is not available outside of United States, New Zealand, and Australia.

It’s difficult to sum up what we have experienced so far. The plane ride was LONG and nonstop turbulence. It’s winter here but you probably wouldn’t think so. Imagine those few perfect days that towns down South get when we’re transitioning to summer but not quite there. That’s how every day has been here so far BUT NO HUMIDITY.

We’ve made so many friends already. They always want to hang out. It’s been so fun learning Portuguese and helping them learn English. I think my favorite is when I meet someone who knows as little English as I know Portuguese and we just struggle through it together.

The food is so good and all organic. Seriously nothing is processed.

Tomorrow I will go with my new friends to their English class and play sports with them. The school we spend time at is all sports and physical education so a lot of time spent together is bonding with sports. On that note, I played soccer last night. In Brazil. I feel like that’s something to mark off a bucket list. Oh also have you ever heard of a capybara? If not then look it up. They’re these huge rodent things that wander around near this water area and I got introduced to them today.

Thank you all for your prayers and good thoughts.

"In a month she would not mourn, because in that season it had never seemed to her that they were..."

Wed, 08 May 2013 16:07:16 -0500

““In a month she would not mourn, because in that season it had never seemed to her that they were married, she and the silent Methodist Edmund who wore a necktie and suspenders even to hunt wildflowers, and who remembered just where they grew from year to year, and who dipped his handkerchief in a puddle to wrap the stems, and who put out his elbow to help her over the steep and stony places, with a wordless and impersonal courtesy she did not resent because she had never really wished to be married to anyone.””

- Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson

I don’t know about you but a certain new trend has caught my eye something...

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 00:15:00 -0600

I don’t know about you but a certain new trend has caught my eye something fierce…

The way these shirts cinch in and then flare out is incredibly flattering on almost everyone I’ve seen so far. It creates the illusion of a great waist and hips.

I’m on the hunt for a shirt just like one of these.

The credit for these shirts goes to Urban Outfitters and ModCloth

Oh boy

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 00:02:43 -0600

Oh boy

This is pretty late but just to make it blog official…I will be interning with Judith March...

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 21:35:10 -0600

This is pretty late but just to make it blog official…I will be interning with Judith March this summer! I’m so incredibly excited. I really want my life to head into a fashion career and I’ve been at a loss of how to even get started and then God practically placed this internship in my lap. Judith March is a fashion line that leans mostly to a cute bohemian style. They’re based in Santa Rosa, Florida which is about ten minutes down the road from my most favorite place on earth: Seaside.

The first half of my summer will be spent in Brazil with Campus Outreach. We’ll be there to spread the gospel and see God in a bigger light and I can’t wait. I’m nervous and will be out of my element though.

How could this summer get anymore perfect?

Sometimes the best kind of fashion is the comfortable kind....

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 15:47:56 -0600

Sometimes the best kind of fashion is the comfortable kind. Merry Christmas to me

A couple of years ago I was leaving a Kings of Leon/The Black...

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 00:38:58 -0600

A couple of years ago I was leaving a Kings of Leon/The Black Keys/The Whigs concert and in the parking lot a group of guys were handing out a cd they had made. It was a blank cd with their name and album title written on it in orange sharpie. My friend and I had a bit of a drive home so we ended up putting this cd in and instantly loved it. The band was The Vegabonds.

I came across this cd again the other day and haven’t stopped listening to it. There isn’t much that can be found on YouTube but what can be found promises another album is coming soon. Check them out:http://www.facebook.com/thevegabonds

Oh Steve Madden

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 01:26:27 -0600

Swoon….

Last week one of my most favorite events of the year took place:...

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 00:13:00 -0600

Last week one of my most favorite events of the year took place: The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.

Everything about this runway show is fierce. The music, the designs, the makeup, the girls. I never miss it.

I’ve accepted the fact that I will never be a Victoria’s Secret Angel seeing as I don’t stand above 5’3 but during the hour the show airs I can pretend I’m there along with the girls.

My favorite performance during this year’s runway show was Locked Out of Heaven by Bruno Mars (shown above.)

I pinned some Victoria’s Secret workouts that the models do on Pinterest and now that finals are over I intend on getting right on them.

bergdorfgoodman: Glamour girl, @badgleymischka girl. #nyfw...

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 21:03:01 -0600

bergdorfgoodman:

Glamour girl, @badgleymischka girl. #nyfw (Taken with Instagram)

I’m so obsessed.

"I won’t kiss you. It might get to be a habit and I can’t get rid of habits."

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 16:37:30 -0600

“I won’t kiss you. It might get to be a habit and I can’t get rid of habits.”

- F. Scott Fitzgerald, Flappers and Philosophers (via victoriaelyse)

The Avett Brothers - Pretty Girl From Cedar Lane

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 00:27:32 -0500

The Avett Brothers - Pretty Girl From Cedar Lane

I long for another adventure like the one that found me in the mountains of Tennessee last weekend....

Sun, 30 Sep 2012 13:29:59 -0500

I long for another adventure like the one that found me in the mountains of Tennessee last weekend. I was on a retreat with Campus Outreach and while there were some amazing talks and some wonderful worship I found God the most there while we were white water rafting the Ocoee River.

I was scared before we even set foot in the water. I didn’t think I would be able to keep up and I was convinced I was going to fall out of the raft but thanks to a great raft guide neither were true. At first I was so nervous that I wouldn’t let my focus shift from how I held my paddle and just how sharp the rocks around us looked but as I became more comfortable and sure of myself and our guide, I took a moment to look around and what I found was breath-taking.

Trees rose up on either side of the river and created a shield around us, the freezing cold water seemed to rush straight on to the mountain that towered almost in front of us, and the moving water created a calming mountain symphony. God was and is in all of it. The water would splash up and cover the right side of my body and before the cold of it could really set in the sun would warm and dry me.

When we returned to dry land and went back to our cabin we all changed into dry clothes and then, exhausted, everyone laid on the ground in the sun and just soaked it in. I could easily spend every day like that.

Knocked Up/Kings Of Leon There’s just something about...

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 23:18:00 -0500

Knocked Up/Kings Of Leon

There’s just something about listening to absolutely anything that Kings of Leon does. Almost every song takes me to a night in a downtown where the sound of bands and people in bars can be heard by pedestrians. And in this daydream I am obviously married to any of the Kings of Leon.

I want this to be the first song I dance to with my husband at...

Sun, 16 Sep 2012 22:50:00 -0500

I want this to be the first song I dance to with my husband at our wedding. Girls will be girls…

"He knew why he wanted to kiss her. Because she was beautiful. And before that, because she was kind...."

Sun, 16 Sep 2012 18:04:43 -0500

“He knew why he wanted to kiss her. Because she was beautiful. And before that, because she was kind. And before that, because she was smart and funny. Because she was exactly the right kind of smart and funny. Because he could imagine taking a long trip with her without ever getting bored. Because whenever he saw something new and interesting, or new and ridiculous, he always wondered what she’d have to say about it—how many stars she’d give it and why.”

- Rainbow Rowell, Attachments

(via victoriaelyse)

When I was in the 9th grade, I was given a book entitled The...

Sat, 08 Sep 2012 11:54:38 -0500

When I was in the 9th grade, I was given a book entitled The Perks of Being a Wallflower. One of the best friends I’ve ever had, Clark Davis, gave it to me. I remember going into the coffee shop he worked at and him handing me this book and a cd to go along with it. It was an early birthday present. I opened the book and found a note from Clark. He wrote about how much this particular book had helped him through a hard time and he hoped it would mean as much to me as it had to him.

Clark is still one of my best friends. This book had a big part in my life and I hope the movie can live up to it. I know Clark will be by my side on opening night.

Never love anybody who treats you like you’re ordinary. -Oscar Wilde

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 23:48:57 -0500

Never love anybody who treats you like you’re ordinary.

-Oscar Wilde

Finding the line between being obsessed with fashion and not being materialistic is such a struggle....

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 20:14:27 -0500

Finding the line between being obsessed with fashion and not being materialistic is such a struggle. For me, at least. I spend time searching through ebay for the best deals on clothes and such that I love and I don’t even have a job or money to pay for anything. So then I’m snapped back to the life that I long for where I live with only the necessities. It’s a balancing act.

But if anyone wants to contribute to my fashion/tattoos/concerts fund then I won’t fight you