Me, Myself, & I

Today's post is just going to be some random/quirky things about me! I love it when bloggers write a post so you can get to know them better, so that's what I'm doing today.

1. I like spending time alone. Not that I'm totally anti-social, but I'm not one of those people who feels like I always need to be doing something with someone else. In fact, I love just going to Target, Hobby Lobby, or some other store all by myself. I like being able to look at whatever I want and take my time :)

2. I used to be terrified of dogs. I absolutely hated them. My next door neighbor used to have a small poodle, and I can remember one day when he was out, and my friend and I ran and locked ourselves in my fenced in backyard so the dog wouldn't get us. And now I have a dog that I love so much!

3. I have always liked sweets, but lately my sweet tooth has gone off the charts. I seriously can't go an entire day without some kind of chocolate or sweet. Lately I've resorted to our stash of baking chocolate chips to satisfy the craving - ha!

4. I very rarely watch TV, especially shows during the week. If I have time on a weeknight, I'd much rather watch a movie than a TV show.

5. I don't like super greasy fast food. McDonald's grosses me out so much. I love Chick-fil-A and Subway, but that's about it. My family never just decides to go to Wendy's, Burger King, or McDonald's for dinner unless we have 5 minutes to eat and it's the only thing there!

6. I don't like to speed. I'm one of those people who almost always drives the speed limit. I'm just so nervous about being pulled over and ticketed, so I'd rather just not take the risk!

7. Going along with #6, I'm a rule follower. I don't like breaking rules or laws. I'm definitely not one to take crazy risks. I have that mindset that I don't want to do anything stupid that could jeopardize something in my future, so I'd much rather play it safe.

8. I am always extremely aware of my surroundings. I realize that's definitely a good thing, but I often freak myself out over nothing. For example, one day I was walking to pick up the kids I babysit from school. One of the streets I have to walk down is just a small street with some older homes on it. I don't see a lot of people out around there. Well, I was walking and I heard someone behind me. I glanced over my shoulder, and I noticed there was a man running towards me. I got so freaked out as a million different scenarios flashed through my mind, and my first though was that I had no way to defend myself if this guy came up to me. Well, it turns out that the guy just ran right past me, and as he did so he just turned and smiled at me. Not a creepy I'm-going-to-attack-you kind of smile, but just a nice hello kind of smile. Then I felt stupid since he was probably running late to pick his own kids up or something. But I seriously do things like that all the time.

9. I am not a procrastinator. At all. I have a big research paper due Tuesday that a lot of people haven't even started yet, but I have it all written. Sydney, the girl I babysit, never wants to do her homework right when she comes home from school, and I don't understand it. I will die if I have kids one day that are procrastinators. So. not. me.

10. I have a Type A personality, and at times I will admit I can be a bit of a perfectionist. Especially when it comes to cake pops. They always have to be perfect, or it bothers me. I try not to be so hardcore about my cake pops, but I just can't help it.

Have a great weekend! I'm looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow.

Planning Ahead

**Before I go into this post, let me first say that this post is 100% my thoughts and feelings right now. I am in NO WAY trying to sound like I'm complaining, because I'm not complaining. At all. I may be busy over the next month or so, but I'm grateful for all the fun things coming up. I don't want this post to come off the wrong way.**

I have a lot going on the next month. Let's take this coming up week for example. I have to babysit after school on Friday, then go straight from there to babysit again. I have to make cake pops for my cousin who's going to a gender reveal party on Sunday. I have a research paper due on Tuesday and a literary essay due Wednesday. I'm making fall cake pops for my friend's sister's birthday next week. Thanksgiving is Thursday. Black Friday shopping on Friday, a baby shower next Saturday, and a birthday party next Sunday. For that birthday party I'm making 35 cupcakes, 24 cake pops, and 1 smash cake.

And that's just over the next week.

In December I've got Senior Project assignments, 3 Christmas plays, a graduation party, cookie baking with my family, exams, Christmas Dance, and Christmas itself. My family also decided (last night!) to go to Chicago over Christmas break. I'm SO excited for that. It's been YEARS since I've been to Chicago, and it's one of my favorite cities.

I totally understand that I got myself into ALL of these events. I could have said no to some things (well maybe not the school assignments!), but I'm choosing to do all of these things and go to all of this stuff because I want to.

So although the next month is going to be busy, I wouldn't change a thing (especially all the baking!). All of these activities (besides the school stuff) are fun. They're time spent with family, and I'm so excited for all these Christmas festivities to begin :)

Honestly, I wouldn't be able to keep track of all this stuff without my planner. I think I mentioned over the summer that I bought an Erin Condren Life Planner. I am obsessed with it and thought I'd pass on the information because I think everyone should get one!

They are a little more expensive, but I think they are well worth the money! The company was started by a Erin Condren out of her house I think, and it has grown to a pretty big company. They sell a bunch of personalized items, and pretty much everything you buy from the site can be personalized. It's an American company that makes everything here! I think those things are worth the extra cost.

The cover of the Life Planner can be personalized....

It has the cutest quotes throughout the planner....

Pages for birthdays and anniversaries

Each month has a monthly calendar spread. Can you tell how busy December is? :)

This is the spread for each week. Every column is a different day, and there is a section for goals and to-do lists on the side.

There are a bunch of cute blank pages in the back too!

It comes with a couple pages of stickers to use too - how fun!

A pocket to keep papers in...

And there's a zip pocket in the back too that came with a few personalized gift tags.

So the moral of this post? Enjoy the busy seasons of life, and plan ahead to avoid losing your sanity!

"Blessed is the person who is too busy to worry in the daytime and too sleepy to worry at night."

What I'm Loving Wednesday

I'm linking up again today for What I'm Loving Wednesday! Here's what I'm loving this week.....

I'm loving that this year there is the most amount of days between Thanksgiving and Christmas that there could ever be. Yay for the longest Christmas season possible!

I'm loving that I got a picture of a lot of grade school friends together on Monday night at our Honor Society induction. It's not often that we're all together like that for a picture!

I'm loving the app Bokehful (which is what I used on the above picture). It's well worth the 99 cents!

I'm loving that I get out of school early and only have 30 minute classes :)

I'm loving God's timing. A few things have been timed perfectly recently, and I'm so excited about it! I'll share more details about it later.

I'm loving this picture I pinned the other day. Can you say beautiful?!

via

I'm loving that Thanksgiving is next week - it's creeping up!

I'm loving Snapchat. I downloaded it on Monday, and at first I totally didn't understand what the hype was about. I mean, you can only view the picture for a few seconds! But then I realized that it was so stupid it's funny. My mom and I were cracking up hysterically because we kept sending random pictures of each other back and forth. So random, but so entertaining!

I'm loving that I came home yesterday to find this pup passed out on "her pillows"

I'm loving that I got to leave babysitting early yesterday, so I came home and worked on homework under the covers and with Coco laying by my side. Best way to do homework in my opinion.

I'm loving that I watched Elf last night - one of my favorite Christmas movies ever!

And that's it for this week - have a great Wednesday and rest of the week.

A Million Little Things

This has been a really good weekend. I didn't do anything super fun like go out of town or go to a really fun concert. It was just a million little things that made this weekend so enjoyable.

Friday night I went out to ice cream with my friend Danielle. We sat and talked for probably over an hour, and it was so fun! I hadn't done anything with my friends on the weekend in a long time because I've been busy, so it was nice to finally get to this weekend :)

Saturday afternoon my cousin Maddie had an indoor soccer game, so my mom and I went to watch. I got to hold Savannah too, although she doesn't seem as thrilled about it as I was - ha!

We've had such gorgeous weather this weekend that I even took Coco for a walk on Saturday! This picture just looks like my definition of fall.

I picked up Chick-fil-A for dinner - my favorite!

That night I was supposed to babysit my parent's friends's kids because my parents and their friends were going to go out, but we ended up just going to their house for a bonfire instead. I sat around the fire for a little bit, and then ended up heading inside with the kids to play some games and color. It was fun acting like a kid again :)

This morning I woke up to a sleepy dog that took over my spot as soon as I got out of bed.....

The temperature was in the 70s today (wahooo!), so I busted my flip-flops back out. Not too often you get to wear sandals in the middle of November, so I jumped at the chance.

After church today my mom and I headed out to Rookwood. We ate at Qdoba....

.....shopped around......

.....ate Yagoot......

.....and got carry-out from PF Changs for dinner!

Then later on we headed to Target and I got a cute little Christmas tree for my room. I think it's very festive.

So of course I had to break out my Believe banner I made last year too.

Now I'm all ready for Christmas. And on that note, I'm off to watch another Christmas movie!

Merry Christmas to All......

......and to all a goodnight!

via

Before you read this post - I suggest stopping right now, making yourself a nice cup of hot chocolate, hitting play on this video, and then starting to read :)

So I'm pretty much in the full blown Christmas spirit already. I actually started listening to some Christmas music before Halloween (gasp!). I seem to start earlier and earlier each year. I was thinking that by the time I'm 50 I'll just be listening to it all year....

via

via

I watched my first Christmas movie of the season last night too - Four Christmases. Such a good and funny movie! I actually pulled up all of our Christmas movies, and I've got a lot of movie watching to do over the next month and a half.

Elf is one of my all time favorite Christmas movies!

via

I'm so excited to see A Christmas Carol, go Christmas shopping, bake Christmas cookies, see The Nutcracker (for the first time!), spend lots of time with my family, go to my senior Christmas Dance, look at Christmas lights, decorate my tree, and make lots of Christmas cake pops!

At first it seemed backwards to me that the older I get the more excited I am for Christmas. I can honestly say I'm more excited about Christmas now than I was 10 years ago when I was 7. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it makes a lot of sense. When I was young, of course I knew that Christmas was the celebration of Jesus' birth. I "knew" that, but I didn't truly understand it.

I think that when you're little you're really focused on yourself. It's hard to think abstractly and really try to wrap your mind around what Jesus' birth actually means. I know that when I was little, I was much more excited to see what Santa brought me than to think about Jesus' birth. I knew he was born and that it was a good thing, but I didn't understand the weight of that.

Every year, I mature and deepen my understand of life, and therefore, now I can understand how Jesus' birth actually affects me. I couldn't see that years ago. And I'm sure in another 10 years I'll be able to understand that even more than I do today. But I think that's why I get so excited about Christmas. My excitement is no longer the superficial kind that comes from opening presents on Christmas morning. My excitement is now the very real kind that comes only from God. From knowing that He sent His son just for me and for you. That's why I love the Christmas season so much, and that's why I start celebrating it sooner every year.

via

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."

~ Luke 2:11

My Favorite Chick Flicks

Once again, I have several post ideas swirling around in my head, but I haven't had the time to transfer them to a post. I hate that! So since it's been awhile since I last posted, I went into my drafts again and just randomly picked one to publish today.

So today's post is all about chick flicks - my favorite movies! I have SO many chick flicks that I love, but here's just a few of them.......

The Notebook - Makes me cry every single time I see it, but it's just the sweetest love story ever!

via

Father of the Bride - Wedding chick flicks are my absolute favorite!

via

The Last Song - I absolutely love Liam Hemsworth :)

via

27 Dresses - Told you I had a thing with weddings!

via

But my #1 favorite chick flick is......

Titanic!

Actually I think I'd say it's my favorite movie ever, hands down. I just love this movie!

via

What's your favorite chick flick?

Halloween 2012

I'm just now getting around to my Halloween post. But late than never, right? :)

This year Halloween was cold and wet. Not a very fun combination! I was done with babysitting early, so that gave me some time to head home, work on homework, and eat a pumpkin cookie before the craziness (and coldness!) began.

I didn't have a costume this year, but Coco did! I thought she was the cutest dog around.

Every Halloween I go over my aunt's house and walk around with my cousin's as they go trick-or-treating. This year I got over there a little early to eat some chili before heading out. So good on a chilly day.

Savannah was the cutest little zebra this year for her first Halloween!

Sydney was a ladybug and Maddie was a fairy!

My cousin Melissa and I walked around with Maddie and Sydney as they trick-or-treated. To me, Halloween isn't as fun unless you have kids to experience it with!

We went back to my aunt's house after walking her whole street and warmed up. I was seriously wearing my winter coat - it was that cold!

Savannah was loving Coco.....

I headed home a little after 7, passed out candy to literally one person and headed inside because it was too cold, and I still had homework to work on.

Hopefully next year the weather will be better! I still had fun this year though. After Halloween it always seems like Thanksgiving and Christmas come so quick!