liebster award :: discover new blogs

HI EVERYONE! So, I'm finally back!!! While I was gone, I'm happy to say that I was nominated by two fellow bloggers for the Liebster Award! Feel free to go check their blogs out; they're absolutely fantastic and inspiring.
[ Audrey at Whimsical Wanderings ]
[ Olivia at Life as a Young Lady ]

1. What made you decide to start blogging? Um my sister started one and I had been thinking about it for awhile. Once she started hers (which has now faded out of existence) she kind of got me to start one. After my second post, I was hooked.
2. What's your favorite article of clothing that you own? Whoa. That's a really hard one. I wear my light chambray shirt a lot. I also really like this tank top that's a gray-ish blue and says "sea to shining sea". I don't know why. Oh and this gray sweatshirt from forever 21.
3. What is your favorite book (or books, if you're like me and can't decide on just one)? I recently finished the Help, so that has got to be up there. Ugh, there are so many. The Book Thief. The Lord of the Rings. To Kill A Mockingbird. Gone With The Wind. The Great Gatsby. I honestly don't know; those are just a few.
4. If you had a superpower, what would it be? I'd have to go with the power of flight. I've always dreamed of this. Like, life goals.
5. What 3 words best describe you? prone to wander.
6. What is the best piece of advice you've ever gotten? Um. Everything in the Bible? Recently realizing the my need for the words in John 15:4, "Abide in me".
7. What is your favorite food? I like bagels and pizza a lot. I think I answered this question in my last post, heh.
8. What is a great memory from your past? This is a fairly recent memory, but it was the first to come to mind. Post baptism, I stood at the front of the auditorium [but behind the baptismal out of sight]. The amount of joy and peace and praise in my heart was overwhelming. The sound of the church singing was like the sound of a hundred waves breaking: "Be unto your name". I was dripping water and wrapped in a towel and crying because of how constant and never failing my Savior is. It never gets old.
9. Current favorite song? Okay, so, as some of you may or may not know, I just got back from my church's local mission trip, (planning on doing a post about it soon) and that trip's "song" somehow turned out to be "shut up and dance". SO, since that takes me back so vividly to the trip, I'm gonna go with that. 
10. What is the story behind your blog name? I was born in the summer of 1999. Pretty simple.
11. What is the best thing you have ever splurged on for yourself? It is actually very rare that I splurge on myself. But this year, my sister and I drove down to Florida over spring break and stayed with some friends. It took 14 hours driving down and 13 back up and gas was a pain as usual, but we made some of the best memories ever and I've never thought to regret it.

And, now, for Olivia's questions!!
1. What do you miss about your childhood? So much. Freedom, carefree-ness of it all, simplicity, living in the moment, not overthinking. I miss being little. And I miss being dirty and having fun outside all the time, and fitting in our little baby pool with all 6 cousins.
2. Lots of friends or a few good friends? A few good friends.
3. Winter evenings or Summer mornings? Summer mornings. But both are so good.
4. Coast or inland? Depends on my mood, but generally coast.
5. Where and what would your dream house be like? I see white brick and lots of windows and white sheets and lots of pillows, and an open kitchen and cozy bedrooms, and lots and lots of books.
6. Do you tend to organize or leave a mess? Organize. Always organize.
7. What sort of music do you like? There is no simple answer to this question, therefore, I'll leave it at this: I like lots of random music and I generally do not like pop music.
8. Do you have any pets? We have a dog and a cat. We used to have chickens and our goldfish recently died. 
9. Do you live in the country or city? Country.
10. Do you play an instrument? If so, what? No. I used to play the piano though.
11. Would you like to visit New Zealand someday? New Zealand is the real world's equivalent to Middle earth therefore I feel obliged give that a definite yes.

So, finally, here are the bloggers I've selected to nominate for the Liebster Award. If you decide to accept, just answer the questions below, and then nominate several other bloggers to answer some questions that you come up with on your own! Be sure to let me know in the comments if you decide to accept!

[ Phoebe from Life with Phoebs ]
[ Abby from Listless ]
[ Evelyn from The Raven + The Writer ]
[ Leah from Princess Leah ]

1. What is one, or two, things that you can never resist the urge to impulse buy?
2. Do you like hot tea? If so, what are some of your favorite kinds?
3. What is the latest book you've read?
4. If you could relive a day in your past which would it be and why?
5. What is your favorite color? [I know this is totally unoriginal but I want to know]
6. If you could go on vacation to one spot, where would it be?
7. What is the perfect weather to you?
8. What are you wearing right now?
9. What person in your life are you closest to and how did you meet?
10. What has been the highlight of your week?
11. When was the last time you laughed/cried, and what prompted it? [you can choose which you want to do, or both]

q&a

so I actually just found these questions on the Internet but I tag everyone reading this! So, if you decide to post your own, I'd love it if you could tag me in your post so I can check it out! 

side note:: this was written last night so some of the answers might sound out of place. sorry I do that all the time.

-what color is your toothbrush? blue and pink. and my other old one that i still have (for whatever reason) is pale green.
-name one person who made you smile today? kayla. we had a sleepover. i'll leave it there.
-what were you doing at 8 am this morning? waking up to the maddening sound of my alarm.
-what were you doing 45 minutes ago? making cookies.
-what is your favorite candy bar? twix probably. just plain chocolate is always good too. 
-have you ever been to a strip club? nope. not planning on it anytime soon either.
-what is the last thing you said aloud? "that's some good advice." *sarcasm dripping*
-what is your favorite ice cream flavor? coffee + cookies and cream.
-what was the last thing you had to drink? water.
-do you like your wallet? no. I've been saying I need to get a new one for years. I spilled water in my purse/on my wallet and so the colors on it are all faded and blotchy. it's weird.
-what was the last thing you ate? cookie dough. *nervous laughter*
-have you bought any new clothing items this week? yes. I bought a tanktop from old navy that says "sea to shining sea" #merica 
-the last sporting event you watched? In person? probably ncaa national championship (WHEN DUKE WON). in person, my brother's baseball game.
-what is your favorite flavor of popcorn? um. salt?
-who is the last person you sent a text message to? brianna.
-do you take vitamins daily? nope.
-do you go to church every Sunday? yes.
-do you have a tan? yes, thank God for the beach.
-do you prefer Chinese food over pizza? psh. pizza. do you think I'm American or not?
-do you drink your soda with a straw? no. I need to drink from the top where the ice is so it's cold. but lately I haven't been drinking soda.
-what did your last text message say? *kissy face emojis* enthralling- I know.
-what are you doing tomorrow? going to church. taking a nap. and going to church. this is my ideal sunday, so it's all good. 
-what sounds are you listening to now? the sounds of my parents having a serious discussion in the living room. *breaks out in nervous sweat* hahah
-look to your left, what do you see? a mason jar filled with ice water. a little artsy pail from target converted into a pen holder. all hardback harry potter books stacked up precariously. a candle. pictures from my childhood. and a mini notebook recording all the books I've read in the past year or so.
-what color is your watch? I don't actually have one.
-what do you think of when you hear Australia? kangaroos. new zealand. green. the outback. these two australian girls who stayed with us one night as their host home. vegemite.
-what is your birthstone? ruby.
-do you go in at a fast food place or just hit the drive thru? depends. usually go in.
-what is your favorite number? 30, I guess. It was always my favorite when I was younger because of a Duke player and I haven't thought about it enough to change yet. plus it's just a pretty good, solid number.
-who's the last person you talked to on the phone? my mom. typical.
-any plans today? I did but it's 11pm now so they're all over.
-biggest annoyance right now? one that I'm not sharing, but my back hurts too so I'll list that.
-last song listened to? Ummmmmmmmmm probably a country song on the radio. 
-can you say the alphabet backwards? *experiments* yes but it takes a long time.
-do you have a maid service clean your house? -_- N O .
-favorite pair of shoes you like to wear all the time? does barefoot count? I wear my sandals a lot but I don't like them very much, haha.
-are you jealous of anyone? yes, I am, after all, a human.
-is anyone jealous of you? not that I'm aware of.
-do you love anyone? YES
-do any of your friends have children? not friends my age, but yes.
-what do you usually do during the day? uhhhh I've got nothing.
-do you hate anyone that you know right now? no. I think that there could be some hatred that lurks in the shadowy places of my heart towards some, but I wouldn't say I hate anyone I know.
-do you use the word 'hello' daily? nah. more like hi or hey.
-what color is your car? unfortunately do not own one yet. hopefully in the next year.
-do you like cats? I'm allergic, so in that sense, no. but apart from that, I long to cuddle with them.
-are you thinking about someone right now? several people actually. I worry too much.
-have you ever been to Six Flags? no.
-how did you get your worst scar? riding a scooter at a friends house. he was doing something funny and I got distracted and fell and scraped my elbow *very badly. my mom was gone and I remember it bleeding a lot. but what hurt so much was taking the bandaid. the pain was unreal. that was years and years ago but there's still an odd darker/slightly bumpy spot on my elbow. I can't believe I've gotten through life so far with so little seriously scarring incidents.

title here

sorry for that title there. My brain doesn't seem to be functioning right now. I'm in a sort of post-vacation..... I can't think of the word. See what I mean? Hiatus? No that's not at all right. Sorry. Anyway. These are some pictures from my short weekend trip to the beach two weekends ago. I went on another ones this past week. Those pictures will be coming soon (I hope).

note: the sun shining on the sun also rises

The drive down was slow and quiet and pleasant. For the most part it was sunny and we ate chickfila and all was joyous- until we ran into this storm. It was weird because it was still raining and the sun was shining golden and there was a rainbow and then there were these dark looming clouds on their way in the countryside. I loved it.

We stayed on the beach nearly all day, but didn't plunge in because it was actually pretty cold. And let's face it, I couldn't leave my book for much longer than a few minutes. But we sat in our chairs and let the sun keep us warm and the ocean water at our feet keep us cool and the brilliant blue sky kept us dazzled and the wind kept us just looking salty and sandy and windswept to boot. 

Eventually we hopped back on our grandparents golf cart (the true root of our love for them. JUST KIDDING I PROMISE) and had supper on the porch. By then it was dusk and mostly gray. The golf cart took us around the campground to a little ice cream shop by the shore. There we picked up some of the best coffee ice cream in the universe with waffle cones that were totally worth the like $20 extra. Wow I'm seriously craving those right now. Like just look at that picture. Not even caring that I had chocolate ice cream earlier. Cramps make half a chocolate bar and chocolate ice cream and craving coffee ice cream okay right??? Right.
Well. My battery's dying and that's about all I've got. Sorry this is a bit dry and meh. I've been kind of meh over my blog lately. Like it's never really what I want it to be. But I'm not exactly sure how I want it to change. Is this just my moodiness or?? What do you guys do when you're getting annoyed at your blog or are looking to change things up a little bit? I'd love any ideas: to do some prompts or a guest post or anything! Thanks to all my TWELVE followers!!!! yay!

[ps I've got a bit of a thing going on with the comments on here. It's really weird so that only google plus members can comment. sorry about that, but I'm working on it and hopefully I can get it figured out soon!]

life

Currently wondering at the sheer goodness of my life. It's 11:25pm. Today I had a little sister to play with and lots of brothers to laugh with and a big sister to talk with. My selfless parents had their 21st anniversary. Rain showered down from gray fluffy things in the sky made up of water droplets [?!] and I wore my robe for half the day. I baked chocolate chip cookies and played card games in the living room. I finished The Help today. It seems more like last night but technically it was this morning. I have water colors and I have words upon words and I have bagels and Jesus and pages full of his words and paper to write on and map out my thoughts and my feelings and a comfy bed waiting for me at the end of it all. 

I cried today. I laughed today. I made another persons day better today. 

It may not have been the most profitable day or the best day but it was a good day. And with Jesus- guess what? That's every day.