2013 Goals Recap

Wow!

Where has the time gone?!

Can't believe the last time I check in was October. 

Well grab your favorite mug with some hot chocolate while we catch up. :) 

While the new year is less than a week away I thought I'd revisit my 2013 goals as I prepare my goals for 2014. And I'm very happy to say I accomplished all of these.

1. More pictures. 

This was definitely accomplished and I love looking back over the year through my pictures. I'm at the point now where my phone is completely full of storage and this has never happened to me before. I'm a very storage conscious person so the fact my phone is full blows my mind. 

Feel free to check out my instagram @k_cru to see what I've been up to!

2. More time with friends.

This summer and fall I moved into a house of 8 girls. We are constantly having people over and off to some adventure so there has been way more time with friends. This makes my heart so happy, and I've been able to add more friends to my circle. 

3. Beach Trip.

After classes finished up in May a group of us packed up and headed to South Carolina. We had such a great time being on the beach and hanging out with one another, especially with no school work in sight. I love the summertime. 

4. Celebrating.

Oh the parties we have thrown this year. Endless amounts of parties, to celebrate everything! Birthdays, jobs, or the change of season. We love a good party. 

pumpkin carving party

Memorial Day Cookout

Tacky Christmas Sweater Party

5. Working hard toward my dream career.

Well my friends I'm on the grad school road. This break has been spent writing grad school letters. What, you didn't spend Christmas Eve essay writing? I'm so in love with the field of nutrition and can not wait to spend more time developing my knowledge.

I can't believe 2014 is really next week. I'm so thrilled I was able to accomplish all my goals and hope the same happens for next year!

With love from Rocky Top,

Kelly

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!!

Last night we finally got to make our way out to a haunted corn maze. And wow did we have fun! Between chain saws and some scary masks I will say we did get a bit scared, but probably laughed more. We drove out towards the mountains for about 45 minutes before arriving at this beautiful corn maze. The night had to be the most perfect night. We're talking low 70s here, which makes this summer girl really happy. I love warm weather!

Before the corn maze we managed to snap a few pictures!

 

This is what was the beginning of our group. Until one fell down and the others were chased away with a chainsaw. Yes, I was part of the being chased by a chainsaw. Thank goodness for sweet guy friends that lend an arm. After a bit of jogging and corn jumping we made it out, and as the first group out too! Pretty proud of ourselves. 

My sweet roommate and I also had to snap a picture of our coordinating Hunter boots. Love those boots. And who knew you could run pretty fast in those things!?

Such a fun night!! 

Hope you have a great Halloween. We are actually having our costume party tomorrow night, and creating our costumes tonight. So it'll be a fun night of shopping, popcorn making, and watching Charlie Brown's Great Pumpkin.

xx

Fall Happenings

Happy Fall Break!

I finally made it to fall break, and oh boy is it needed. 

But heres a little photo dump of what I've been up to inbetween cramming as much nutrition information in my head that I can possibly stand.

On Friday we hosted a pumpkin carving party at our sweet little home. We made some chili, potato soup, and had a plethora of pumpkin goodies. Oh my and were they good! May or may not have still been nibbling on them this pass week.

ignore Trevor in the back who likes to be creepy

my sweet roommate and a best friend

my pumpkin!

On Saturday, since we had a bi-week we took to the mountains. We loaded up bright and early and cranked up some tunes for our little drive we had to the mountains. This trip was so much fun and I'm so glad we got to go. It involved riding in the back of truck, some great quotes, and playing in the sand..yeah that happens in the mountians. ha. 

may or may not have crossed this..

the most incredible view and three states!
Tennessee. Virigina. Kentucky.

I love my housemates.

Silly boy. 

Giant sand cave. So cool 

Well thats a little bit of what I've been up to. Expect a roomies birthday recap soon!!

Mid Week Discoveries

Hello friends!

Just wanted to pop in with quick hello & a happy hump day!

Hope everyone is making it through this week a-ok. Has this fall weather not been amazing?! Personally I'm loving the fact I can wear my boots with a dress and have no need for jacket. 

Love. It.

Okay, here's what I really want to share with you. 

Last night during my dreaded night class, sorry I'm not sorry I wasn't paying attention, I stumbled upon the greatest online magazine. EVER. 

Darling Magazine

But in all reality go check this out. 

I've never read something so encouraging and motivational. Of course I spent the rest of my class and most of the night reading all of the amazing articles.

And I probably bookmarked, or pinned several things too.

Cheers to a great rest of the week!!

Hive Five Friday

Woohoo!!

It's Friday and I'm #happyhappyhappy.

This week was one for the books. So lets catch up, shall we?

{1} My BEST FRIEND IS ENGAGED!!

Yeah, kinda the coolest thing EVER! I'm so excited for her. We may have been talking about this day since we became friends back in 2010. I love her & her now fiance to the moon and back. God has really done something special there. 

{2} I'm finally staring to get a handle on this crazy busy life of mine. Shew, only took two months into the school year but I'm making it work. Something about a good ole list just helps sort everything out.

{3} Pumpkin White Chocolate Iced Coffee.

Oh boy, Dunkin gets it people.  A medium deliciously flavored iced coffee for only 170 calories?! 

Starbucks, why is your small PSL 300+  calories?! Get. It. Together. 

But seriously, go try this coffee, today.

#TreatYoSelfFriday

{4} Puppy Zone

This sweet sweet boy treated my roommate and I to a visit at puppy zone last night. In his super swanky brand spankin new camaro. Definitely a highlight of the week. May or may not have been counting down our visit all week long. We got to spend some time cuddling with cute little pups, play with them, and then enjoy some awesome tunes while cruising around town. 

Yep, solid night if you ask me. 

{5} SQUARE DANCE

O.M.G Tonight is our annual square dance and I can't wait. So much plaid, boots, and pumpkins. Who knew square dancing was so much fun. I'll have to post pictures later.

So glad we got to catch up friends. I'm off to enjoy my iced coffee and #hustle through work today so I can enjoy not only the square dance to night, but my besties engagement party too!! Eep!

Happy weekend!

Friday Five

Hello!

Life has been insane these past two weeks! I think my schedule is finally getting into its groove and I'm adjusting to waking up before dawn now. So heres a quick Friday five. 

{1} Labor day fun

On monday some sweet friends and I traveled to Rock Island for a day hike. The park was so beautiful. It's basically a rock island close to a dam with plenty of swimming areas and some rock climbing. We hiked not on paths so it was quite the workout for us. The memories we made I'll cherish forever.

 God's beauty is so wonderful. 

{2} We had our first home game last saturday. It was so fun to be back in the stadium and cheering on our beloved vols. It also helped that we completely dominated. Go Vols. #GBO #VFL

{3} New job. I started a new office assistant position this week. I'm really enjoying it. I've never done office work before so it's fun for me to learn this side of the dietitian business.

{4} Duck Dynasty night. Every wednesday night all of our friends come over after church and we watch duck dynasty together. I love this time we spend together just hanging out in our living room. These people have become such a family to me.

{5} Retreat.

I'm leaving for retreat this weekend with my church. We're headed up to the mountains for some fun. Lots of food, worship, and silly games are coming our way. 

Hope you have a great weekend!!

Last First Day

So..

tomorrow is my last first day of undergrad.

EEEEEK!!!

I may or may not have meticulously planned my outfit.

I may have already listened to Rocky Top in five different versions.

And I possibly have freaked out about driving through the traffic.

I am oh so excited! 

I absolutely love my major, adore my professors, and can not wait to see my sweet friends.

Tomorrow is going to be awesome.

Bittersweet yes, but I'm so excited to have made it to this point. 

Mid Week Randoms

Hi friends!

I do love a good link up, so I thought I'd join in on this one today.

{1} Swim lessons this week have been a blast! I've been teaching these brothers and they are such a joy. One of them is working on making his strokes stronger so he can possibly join a swim team, and I've looooved sharing all the tips & tricks I learned during my competition years.

{2} My 101 in 1001 list is looking pretty good. This past Sunday I got to mark another thing off, ziplining! Oh it was so much fun. By the end of the day I got brave and was going upside down, doing flips, & going backwards. If you haven't done something like this I highly encourage it!

{3} The Lord's blessings have literally showered me this week. Just when I think I'm about to stumble the Lord lifts me higher and life couldn't be any sweeter.

{4} This morning I'm spending time with a sweet friend preparing for the school year over coffee. I love spending our time together, even if it is over school.

{5} How in the world is it August tomorrow?! Like wait, what happened to summer?? Time to squeeze in a few more adventures before the school year starts.

Friday Five

Hello Friday!!

Wow this week has absolutely flown by!

I finished up my internship last week and silly me thought this week would be nice and slow. Who am I kidding, I love being busy and fast paced.

1. I loooved getting to see Hunter Hayes last Friday night. Oh boy can he sing and entertain a crowd. Plus it doesn't hurt that he is super cute. It was so fun to go along with two great girl friends to my hometown and just enjoy the sights of being home. 

2. Poolside. Oh yes, I've finally gotten to lay by the pool some this week. The sun popped its sweet rays out and I've been soaking them up. Not having to work all day rocks! I take a good book, some sunscreen, and there I am for several hours.

3. Swim lessons. I had the pleasure of teaching the sweetest 8 year old boy to swim this past week. On Monday he couldn't do any strokes, by yesterday we were swimming laps, treading water, and going down the water slide. Amazing I tell ya!

4. Volleyball. I will never sick of playing volleyball. We had an exceptional group play the other night and it was fantastic! Afterwards we all walked down campus and jumped in the fountains. Something I've been wanting to do since arriving at UT. Wish I would've taken pictures but it was so dark out.

5. LAKE. Oh yes, today is beautiful, no rain in sight, and we are headed to the lake today! Can't wait to get out on the water with my friends, enjoy some sun, and have a fun night together.

Hope you had a great week!

New Running Shoes

Okay darlin's,

I'm in a shoe dilemma, so I need your vote!

Which pair should I get?!

{1}

or

{2}

A good gift gone bad

As I said yesterday we had the opportunity to attend church at Buckhead Church on Sunday morning. They've been doing a series My Bad Church Experience and if you haven't gotten a chance to listen to any of it yet I recommend you go do so now! It's been great. I've been listening along in the car every time I find myself driving for 45 minutes or more at a time.

This pass Sunday was title A good Gift Gone bad. We studied in Matthew 23:1-7 and it was truly eye opening. Here are some of my notes.

• People from church, keep people from church

Where am I judging outside of the church? What standards am I creating for others?
 This definitely struck a note with me. It is so easy to judge others based on their actions, what they say, and not know where they are coming from. And I find myself all too often setting others up to my standards which may not be realistic for them. This in turn is setting them up to fail, hurting them and me. I need to spend less time judging others based on what they can't do, but praise for what they are capable of, because we are all different.

Where am I saying on thing and living another? 
 Hipocrisy. Oooh everyone hates this. But we find it to be so true in churches today. Everyone has fallen short of the glory of God and we can all be guilty of this. I know many times my actions and attitudes are one thing, while I say another. I'm striving to have my actions and even more my attitude reflect what I am called to be.

Where am I portraying I'm better because I'm a Christian?

Ouch. This one hurt. I work with urban youth, and sometimes its easy to fall into the trap because I had super involved parents and a safe home to believe I'm better, but I'm not. God created us all in his perfect image, and I am not better than anyone else. I know others are more educated on the Word than me, and others have been on more mission trips than me, but that does not make me any less either. We are all here to serve and glorify our God, in our own specially designed way. 

And lastly, we are called to be the givers of the gift. We are not to wrap up the most precious gift in garbage, but to present it as the most wonderfully packaged gift. 

Here is the link for the message, I really hope you get a chance to listen to it.

Happy Thursday my friends!

It feels like a perfect night

Hi sweet ladies!!

Wow. What a weekend!

I can not begin to tell you how loved I felt over my birthday weekend. I was showered with such great love all weekend long and flat out spoiled silly. I tell you, my sweet friends and family sure do know how to do birthdays.

Friday started with my barre class, and it was incredible! My instructor was super welcoming and made sure I felt comfortable since I was new. I'm absolutely hooked on barre now. It was such an incredible workout and really worked my muscles deep. I can not wait to sign up for my next class!

The drive to Georgia Friday was just beautiful.

Upon arriving Friday we did some light shopping before having dinner then heading into the city for a Braves game. 

I haven't been to a game since I was 4 so I really enjoyed the experience. The Braves didn't pull out a win, but the crowd and the fireworks were pretty great. Oh and I got to meet Leslie and Jessica!

It was so great to finally meet these sweet sweet girls in person!

 

 

my sweet hostess for the weekend

 After the game we were welcomed with dessert when we got back home.

 

 

Saturday we slept in and enjoyed a quiet morning. After having a large breakfast we set off for some shopping in downtown Atlanta. We had such fun just browsing all the stores and chatting it up all afternoon.

afternoon pick me up

Saturday evening was spent relaxing, walking around the neighborhood, and watching The Help. We were wiped needless to say. 

Sunday we headed to Andy Stanley's church, Buckhead Church. Here I finally got to see my old roommate and dearest friend Elaine. It was so great to be in church together again. The message was amazing and truly convicting. I'll have to do a recap on that some other time because it's definitely worth listening to twice.

 

Elaine & I

 After church we rested up before getting ready for the concert!

just playing with the pet turtle

Then it was finally concert time!

Let me just say Luke Bryan is WAY better in person than on the radio. The best concert I've ever been to. We arrived, got some souvenir shirts, a drink and made our way to our seats just as FlGa line was performing cruise. Perfection. However ever after that it began to rain. At first it was just a sprinkle and then the heavens opened up. Well turns out rain is a good thing, because after that the party really got started. Everyone was carefree and just having a great time. The rain did end, and Luke came out and we belted our hearts out! You better believe I danced and sang to every song. We had a blast and I can't wait to go to another show of his!

And it wouldn't be a proper birthday without ringing it in with Taylor Swift's 22 & waffle house. It was a perfect night for breakfast at midnight after all!

I hope you had a great weekend! :)

The Big Deuces!

Happy Monday friends!! 

Today is my birthday and I can't begin to tell you the love I've already felt from friends and family. I'm beyond blessed & couldn't be any happier. Today I'm off to spend one last Monday with the kiddos and then onto some birthday celebrating tonight. 

It was a perfect night, for breakfast at midnight. 

Be back tomorrow with a full recap of my completely spoiled weekend. 

Birthday weekend begins!

Happy Friday!

Did you hear that? It's Friday! And it also happens to be my birthday weekend, double hoorays!

I've been anticipating this weekend for quite a while and I'm just so excited that it's finally here. This weekend I'm off to see my boy, Luke Bryan!

Oooh how I can not wait to sing my little heart out!!

 But first I'm headed to a pure barre class this morning. Have you ever done one? I'm really excited to experience it, and hopefully it won't leave me to sore for the weekend. I plan on spending some serious girl time with some of my favorite sisters in Atlanta. 

10 on 10

Today's post is about finding the ordinary things in life beautiful.

Take a photo every hour for ten consecutive hours on the tenth of each month. Document a day of your life and find beauty among the ordinary moments.

I came across this idea while reading Bloom the other day and though this was a great idea!

 

1. My morning started out with bird house and model car painting. The simplicity of helping small hands nail together some wheels and create the perfect paint color brought me such simple joy. 

 2. I got some time spent in NoNo's beauty salon. Is that not the sweetest little face?!

 

3. Lunch time. First time trying quinoa, and not sure if I love it yet. 

 4. Silly mustaches with food coloring gel.

 

5. Cheesecake and fellowship with some super sweet ladies that refresh my soul. 

 6. Catching up on one of my favorite new blogs and planning out the rest of the month.

7. A learning lesson that I needed to read.

Unfortunately after church I wasn't feeling so well, so I didn't get the last three pictures. But I can tell you what it looked like. 

8. Bible. Helped with the youth group tonight loving and praying for those teenagers.

9. Dear John. Some much need rest so as ward off this cold.

10. My favorite beverage, diet coke with lime.

I really enjoyed taking the time to capture some of the simple moments throughout my day. 

I challenge you to try sometime! :)