Five On Friday

One -- Thank you guys so much for your love and support on yesterday's announcement. I am constantly blessed by this community, both online and real life community (though they kind of both become real life at some point, huh?)

Two -- I went to a wedding last weekend! {Shocked? Yeah, I know.}

My guy's best friend got married, and let me tell you, nothing tells you more about a man than the friends beside him. Good, quality friends usually stand beside a good, quality man. And both Kris and Stephanie? They are top notch people, and I was honored to be a part of their wedding. 

Not to mention, I thoroughly enjoyed this wedding because a) Frozen was played multiple times. and hand gestures were welcomed/encouraged. and b) there was not a dry eye in the house from the father of the bride speech. and I'm a sap who loves a good cry at a wedding, so there ya go. 

Three -- I signed up for my seminary class! I am so excited to kick that off on September 29th. And guess what I'm studying? The most exciting interesting captivating thrilling cant put it down book of the Bible!!

Try to contain your jealousy. 

But really, I'm thrilled. If I'm going to start studying the Bible, I may as well start with the rich, old testament stuff! Leviticus, bring it on. 

Four -- Speaking of studying the Bible, we're kicking off this Bible study on Monday night. 

Has anyone done it? This will be my third Beth Moore study, and I can't say enough good things about them. My first two were Revelation and Breaking Free, so tooootallly different, but both amazing. Really amazing. 

Can't wait to kick this one off!

Five -- I'm updating to ios8 as we speak. Therefore, I am staring at a screen like this:

I'm really looking forward to sending everyone I know audio text messages. 

And you thought snap chat was good. 

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Happy Friday, loves! Hope you have a spectacular weekend. 

Friday Facts!

Haven't seen this type of post in a while, huh? 

It's a random type of Friday, so bringing back the Friday Facts. Not quite sure if I'll be able to pop out 10 of these babies, but I'll see what I can do. 

1. The baseball game was perfect. Minus the fact that the Red Sox sucked... badly. I got to spend some amazing quality time with one of my best friends on her birthday. Ate some delicious food, had some bomb seats (field level baby!), and had some of the best conversations on the way to and from the game. 

Oh, and I have the pictures to prove it. 

Oh, how I love this girl!

2. Last night, had the definition of a girls' night in. What exactly makes for a "girls' night in" you ask? 

Wine. 

Cheese. 

Crackers.

Fruit (you know, to be healthy). 

And a classic chick flick. 

Our chick flick of choice? The Notebook. 

3. I could not be more excited for this weekend, because this girl is visiting:

I don't think it's even set in that she will be here tonight!!! Life just makes more sense with this girl around.

4. This isn't going to be the first time that I call my baby brother a stud on the blog (that would have been this post). 

But he kind of is one. 

Don't believe me? Check it out.

Mike, you're in New York right now for your first college soccer tournament, so you're probably not reading this. But, I just want to say that I am so so so proud of you. I'm proud to call you my brother. I'm proud to see that all of the effort, energy and dedication that you put into your sports over the years paid off with a college scholarship. 

You deserve it, Mike. You really, really do. 

5. I have a company softball tournament tonight. I guess I could have mentioned this in my If You Really Knew Me post, but I played softball for 8 years growing up. Stopped playing in high school to become more hard core and took up cheerleading instead. 

I'm pretty excited to go back to my softball roots tonight. 

6. Speaking of my If You Really Knew Me post, a lot of you guys asked for more details on how I burned my house down. 

Yes, I'm thinking I will have a post on that coming soon. Get excited. 

7. If you saw my New Year's Resolutions post, then you saw that I'm trying to read the entire Bible in one year. I'm fairly close to being caught up (seriously, an act of God. I've tried to keep up with reading challenges before and always failed) and this week I'm in Job. Here's one of my favorite verses:

But if you pray to God and seek the favor of the Almighty, 

if you are pure and live with complete integrity, 

He will rise up and restore your happy home. 

And though you started with little,

you will end with much. 

Job 8: 5-7

So thankful that our God is so, so good. 

8. The weather here has been H-O-T lately. For California, okay? A beach bbq is definitely on the agenda for this weekend. 

9. I'm in 2 places at once today! Check out my guest post on the lovely Kerrie's blog here.

10. Happy Friday and Happy 3 day weekend!!!

Got any exciting plans??

Friday Facts!

1. This week was looong. So let's take a deep breath, let it out, and say it all together folks. TGI Friday. We made it. 


2. Got any good weekend plans? We're having a roommate night tonight since all five of us will be here in town and free for the night. Kim is making dinner (we got the closest we've ever gotten to a full week of our dinners! 4 nights this week, not too shabby) and then we're heading downtown for what I'm sure will include some drinks and a lot of dancing. Saturday I'll be spending the day with Kristen and Kelly, and Sunday is the Superbowl of course! 

Go Patriots!!

Why yes, I did take this picture in a bathroom. Classy, I know. I had to take a picture to send back home to Dad who raised me to be the good Boston fan that I am today.


3. Backtrack back to those roommate dinners that I mentioned. I talked about our dinner rotation that we started here. I was never a cook before we started this weekly routine, and I'm now surprising myself with consistently successful meals each week! Who knew following a recipe could be so easy? I already blogged about what I made this week, but I couldn't help but take a picture of Kristi's creation to share here in blog land:

Fuego Chicken Tostada Bowl

Homemade Tortilla Chips

I would have documented Carly's nachos to share, but I finished those before I could even think about taking a decent picture. Mah bad. Can you tell that I have a minor obsession with food? No big deal.


4. Speaking of obsessions, I've got a new hobby that I picked up recently. I'm not entirely sure if you could call this a "hobby," but when you spend as much time as I have on it, I think it's warranted. I seriously can't put my cookbooks down. My Cooking Light one (that I've mentioned about 100 times), the new one that I got from the 2012 Blogging Party and this one that I got for Christmas:

Right after I finished my dinner, I started looking at recipes for next week. I've got post it notes alll over these babies. Thanks for letting me use all of your post its, Carly! I've looked through them countless times already, but for some reason I just love looking again and again. I'm thinking when it's my turn to pick out a book for our book club, I'll just pick a cook book. 


5. Guess what guy's going to Winter Formal this weekend.

I'm so excited for pictures. Maybe I'll go crazy and do a blast from the past post with pics from my high school dancing days. Just maybe.


6. Speaking of the fam, I'm driving home to San Diego next weekend. I can't wait to see them and hopefully celebrate the Pats win with Dad!. Haven't been home since Christmas, and I try getting down there once a month so it's been a while. 


7. It's officially over a month into the new year, and my gym resolution isn't the only one I've kept up with! I'm still on schedule for reading the Bible in one year along with my church. Here's one of my favorite verses from this week's reading:

Say this to the entire community of Isreal: 'Come into the Lord's presence, and hear his reply to your complaints.' And as Aaron spoke to the people, they looked out toward the desert. Within the guiding cloud, they could see the awesome glory of the Lord

Exodus 16: 9-10

This verse really resonated with me because it addresses the fact that it's okay to complain to God. Faith, to me, is not about having all of the answers. It's realizing that there are so many things here on Earth that we don't know. Things that we have no control over. Sometimes as often as daily, we can be faced with uncomfortable situations. Things that bring us stress, frustration, disappointment and sadness. Having faith does not get rid of these things; it doesn't take away our problems. But it does give us an outlet. When things are not going your way, complain to God. If you have questions, ask Him. It's okay to have doubts. Bringing my frustrations, worries and fears to God has given me a sense of peace and comfort that I've never felt before. Like the verse says, I'm able to see the awesome glory of the Lord. And Amen to that!

8. Speaking of resolutions and church, another goal for this year was to travel more. Last Sunday, they announced that our church will be doing a trip to Boston in May. Reality is planting a new church there, and will be sending a group of people for a Prayer Tour. I've decided I'm going! Not only will this be an amazing experience for me to grow in my faith and hopefully help others do the same, but I'll be getting to travel to one of my favorite cities! I'll say it one more time, big Patriots fan over here. 

9. So I mentioned this week that I take pictures when I'm in traffic (what, that's not safe?), so you better believe that when I saw my name on a license plate I snapped a shot:

Coolest thing ever. I know.

10. Bam. Finished another 10 facts. Happy Friday, folks! Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Friday Facts!

Happy Friday!! It's Friday Facts time, and not gonna lie, I'm a little nervous about how I'm gonna come up with 10 interesting things right now. We'll see how it goes...


1. Bible verse of the week:

Lord, you have brought light to my life;

my God, you light up my darkness

Psalm 18: 28

So simple, and yet so true. I have been so thankful for my faith these last few weeks, it seems to make every day better. 

2. This week has been gorgeous! It rained Monday, but every day after that has just been beautiful. I guess winter doesn't exist in Santa Barbara? Hey, I'm not complaining. I went to the beach during my lunch break on Tuesday, and just had to take some pictures:

That would be my college, love it.

I feel sooo lucky to call this place home. 

3. After watching this video on Kristie Was Here (if you haven't read her blog, do yourself a favor and visit her!) I fell in love with this song:

Like Ob. Sessed. I've given disclaimers to my roommates that I'll be playing the same song over and over for a while.

Favorite Line: I lose track of time so I might be past my prime but I'm feeling oh so good.

4. Gotta love camera phones:

5. On that note, I am albino. It needs to be fixed. A sap.

6. I'm officially able to cook off book now. I made these zucchini-cheese stuffed shells last night:

And I made them with no recipe! Woo! Go me.

7. Alright blog land, you're not allowed to judge me. I don't know how you spent your Wednesday night, but this is how we spent ours:

No make up

Stuffing our faces with cookie dough

And drinking wine

That cookie dough that we're devouring? It makes the best. peanut butter cookies. ever. I might just have to share the recipe sometime. 

8. This is the best game ever:

Play it. It's awesome.

9. I love wine. That's all.

10. Happy Friday! We made it to another weekend. Hopefully I don't spend as much this weekend as I did last weekend. I'm sure my bank account would appreciate that. 

The end.

Friday Facts!

1. Big news:

See that guy right there? He got his first 3 college acceptances this week. 3 for 3 baby. I'm so happy for my little brother, and I know he'll have a blast in college just like I did. 


2. I had way too much fun with this girl this week:

Tuesday, we went out to a Mexican restaurant where her friend works for some drinks. And Wednesday, we went back to Creekside for some more line dancing. Adding fun into the work week makes it wayy better. 

I had my first ever jello shot in a shot

3. You know what else makes the work week better?

For the last two Thursdays, Kristi and I have met downtown to get frozen yogurt on our lunch break. This week Carly joined us, and I think this is going to become a "yay, it's almost Friday!" tradition.

4. And on the topic of food, Monday's fit club post will include a recipe for these amazing and healthy parmesan crusted chicken tenders:

They were really good, and three tenders are less than 300 calories! Score.


5. And for the Bible verse of the week:

I am praying to you because I know you will answer, O God.

Bend down and listen as I pray.

Show me your unfailing love in wonderful ways.

Psalm 17: 6-7

I love starting and ending my day with prayer. I used to stress a lot when laying in bed, because my mind would just wander. Now, it's become a habit to pray first thing when I wake up and right before I go to sleep. I love it. 

6. I already have my next plan trip planned since San Francisco was such a blast. Sometime either next month or in March, I'll be flying to Sacramento to visit these two:

Amanda, Heather and I

Amanda just had herself a beautiful baby girl, and I cannot wait to meet her. It's already been 8 weeks, so I gotta get my butt up there. 

7. Goal: get my passport sometime this month. I really need to get that thing so I can take my travelling to the next level. Ireland, Italy, Spain, here I come!

8. In about 10 days, I will officially have been working full time for 10 months. 10 months! That's crazy. Maybe sometime I'll get around to doing a post about what I've learned in those ten months (Like don't wear the same skirt that you would wear downtown to your workplace. What? Is that common knowledge?).

9. Carly just posted pictures from like the last 4 months on Facebook, so I had to steal and share this picture of the gorgeous bride from the wedding we went to back in November:

It was her birthday yesterday (actually today, cause I'm totally being a good blogger and planning ahead). Happy Birthday, Justine!!

10. Whew, made it through another 10 facts. They really are hard to come up with! I just can't bring myself to shorten the list. But anyway, I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! And Go Patriots!!

Friday Facts!

Yess made it to Friday! Is it just me, or is time flying by? Nearly half way through January, what now? Well this week was a pretty awesome week, and it'll be an equally if not more awesome weekend because: 

1. I will be here:

With these people:

I could not be more excited!

2. You know when you wake up to your alarm, but you're still basically sleeping and kind of delirious? Pretty sure I'm not the only one that this happens too, but who knows. Well yesterday morning, this happened to me. I guess right before I woke up, I was randomly dreaming of these people: 

Don't even ask, because I have no idea why this happened. But I do know that I felt extremely compelled to pray for them. Because their lives are so hard, right? So sure enough, feeling like this was entirely normal, I said a little prayer for good old Sandra and Ryan. Don't worry guys, I got your back. 


It wasn't until I really woke and was like "wait who was it that I prayed for?" that I got a good laugh out of this whole thing. Am I the only one who wakes up partially delirious sometimes? Oh well, it sure is entertaining when I remember it later. 


3. Keeping up with my resolution to read the Bible in one year? You bet I am. Here's my favorite verse from this week:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart;

do not depend on your own understanding.

Seek His will in all you do,

and He will direct your paths.

Proverbs 3: 5-6

This basically sums up how I'm living my life these days. And so far, it's been amazing.

4. Speaking of reading, Kelly had the great idea to start a book club. I love reading, but I only seem to do it on family vacations. I always end up going through multiple books in the span of a week, because I will literally not be able to put the book down. Then I get back to the real world and stop making it a priority to get my hands on some good books. Joining a book club should change this, don't ya think? Here's our first book:

I just got it in the mail, so when I finish it I'll let you guys know what I think. 

5. Thank you Victoria's Secret customer service. I splurged and got a whole new outfit for new year's this year, including this bra:

And yes, that is exactly how it looks on me. Duh. Anywho I wore it as a strapless, and ladies this was the best strapless bra I have ever worn. It's the BioFit bra, and it is so comfortable! And I really struggle with finding good strapless bras (or any bras for that matter) because of the two massive lady lumps that my momma gave me. 

So I fell in love with the bra on new year's, and when I go to add straps and wear it a second time, the bra completely rips down the center. I was so. bummed. Mainly because I went against my gut instinct and threw out the receipt having all faith in a Victoria's Secret bra (those are the best, right?).

Well turns out good customer service came to the rescue and I was able to get a brand new bra yesterday. So stoked! Maybe it's my karma from working at the customer service desk of Kmart for over a year (yeah I rocked that job). 

6. Have I mentioned on this here blog that I love my roommates?

Well I do.

7. I'm participating in my first blogging gift exchange! The 2012 New Year Blogging Party hosted by the lovely Alycia from Crowley Party. Did you know that I actually know Alycia in real life? I know, I know, I'm just that lucky. And yes, she's as gorgeous, funny and basically overall amazing in real life as she is on her blog. 

8. Random fact time, what game do we play all the time at our house? This one:

We played this game a ton at our apartment downtown, and it's been just as entertaining in our new house. We may or may not have incorporated drinking rules. 

9. The new tv show obsession at our house? Well that would be Dance Moms. 

I never watched the show before this week, but now I'm kind of hooked. These girls can seriously dance.

10. Hopefully everyone has a three day weekend like I do, and if you do, I hope you enjoy it! I most definitely will, so come back to see lots of pictures next week!

As always, Happy Friday!