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.