Trust and "Living as a Temple"

Hey guys!

Well, it's about that time of the year: spring time. And it seems that when the sun comes out, love is in the air. In the past couple of weeks since I've been back from spring break, and even maybe the week before then, couples have been popping up here and there.

You probably know where I'm going with this. I'm going to be completely open and honest here about what's been going on with me and what I've been thinking lately. So, hang on tight!

Yes, I am single, and yes, it is a struggle to be single sometimes. At first, when I heard about some people I cared about getting into relationships, I was genuinely happy for them. You know, being in a relationship is a great big step in life, and it's exciting and fun and adorable. 

But you know, after a few weeks or more of hearing about a few new couples getting together, that genuine joy for them begins to fade. You smile when you hear the news, but inside, you begin to think, "Wow, everyone I know is getting in a relationship. I suddenly have this pressure that I need to be in one too."

And then after thinking those thoughts, I knew that I really didn't need to have that pressure and that being single isn't bad. I know this. In fact, a part of me really isn't ready to open myself up to that just yet. So instead of moping around because I didn't have a significant other, I began to question exactly why I didn't. I began to criticize who I was: my personality, my outer appearance, my talents, my interests, my everything. I played the "Comparison Game" once again, and most of the time, whenever you play this game, you lose. 

So yesterday after work, I was crying in my room, feeling just ugly, unlovable, not good enough. I questioned my worth and who I was and if there was something wrong with me that other people could see that I couldn't. And while I was sulking in all these feelings, my mom called unexpectedly.

And as a girl, I told my mom what I was feeling, how I really just didn't want to be on campus anymore with everyone walking around in pairs and how it was all just really hard. My mom gave me some advice, telling me not to think about it, but of course, that all is easier said than done. 

I continued to lie in bed crying, when I noticed my His Princess Warrior book sitting in the corner next to my alarm clock. Now, I know, this sounds like one of those cheesy, Christian encouragement books, but I'm not joking, almost every single time I pick that book up and read the pages where my bookmark was placed last, the topic is always something I'm struggling with and the encouragement is just what I need. That's a total God thing, and I know it. Only the Holy Spirit could move me to pick that book up and feel as if I could get some help from it.

Of course, it isn't the Bible, but the fact that they are "letters from God" (written by Sheri Rose Shepherd, of course, and based on what Scriptures say themselves) that are to strengthen me in my daily walk is such an encouragement. Anyways, it was called "The Trust Factor," and this is what it said:

My Princess Warrior,

It's time, My Warrior, to surrender your fears, your insecurities, your pain, and your loved ones completely to Me. 

I want your whole heart and mind and soul to be worry free. I want your complete trust so you can focus on your faith and be free from the spirit of fear controlling you. Give up the fight of trying to figure it all out. Don't let your circumstances hold your heart hostage or cause you to lose your confidence in Me.

I am asking you on this day to answer this one question: In whom do you place your trust?

Love,
Your trustworthy King


That right there encouraged me so so much. The peace of God just swept over me. 

The last line of the letter is in bold because that question completely struck my heart. Who was I placing my trust in? Honestly, I was placing it in other people's opinions and thoughts. I was concerned about what the world thought of me, and I placed my value in that. And that is totally not what I'm supposed to be doing!!

Even though this letter really touched my heart, that doesn't mean my struggle of being single went away automatically. But to be reminded that I can place my trust in the Lord of the universe was just too amazing for words.

And the verses that were given for this letter? Ahhh, so perfect:

"So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord Remember the great reward it brings you! Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God's will. Then you will receive all that He has promised." ~ Hebrews 10:35-36 (NLT)

"But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and no grow weary. They will walk and not faint." ~ Isaiah 40:31 (NLT)

God's truth and promises laid out in Scripture! Such a beautiful thing!!!

Now fast-forward to today...

This morning, there was a women's event called "Living as a Temple: Self-Compassion, Body Image, and Imago Dei" that all women of Covenant College and even the Lookout Mountain community were invited too. I knew this was going to be an encouraging event, but I felt that I would hear the same basic things I was always told: 

"You're fearfully and wonderfully made!" 

"God made you like no one else on this earth! You are made in His image!"

"Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, therefore we need to take care of them and respect them! Here are some tips..."

And while Kellie Currin (the speaker), did touch on these things, she focused a lot on self-compassion instead of self-esteem. Self-compassion is giving yourself grace because you know that you're not perfect and never will be. You aren't so hard on yourself for the mistakes you make, but rely on the sacrifice Jesus made to cover those sins and flaws you have. Yes, when we sin, we are to bring it before the Lord in repentance, but we don't have to punish ourselves so severely and wallow in guilt-ridden feelings all the time. We are FREE IN CHRIST! When we allow ourselves grace for being imperfect people and learn to love and respect ourselves, we can then show that same love and respect and compassion to others. 

Something that Kellie said that I loved was that when we think about all of the negative thoughts about ourselves (i.e. Your ugly. You're not worth it. You're so stupid.), we would never tell someone else we knew those things. So, if we wouldn't tell our friend or anyone else that they're ugly, not worth it, or stupid, why do we say those things about ourselves?

I wish I'd had my journal with me to take notes during the event, but alas, I didn't! But I truly got so much more from that than I thought I was going to. There was also an amazing video of a spoken word by two women listing our fears and doubts and reminding us of God's unconditional love. It was on a blog called "A Holy Experience." I encourage y'all to check it out! I think it was called something like, "This Is Us: The #EstherGeneration".

Afterwards, we all broke off into smaller groups and discussed what we learned and what struck us the most. Our group actually got past the issues of body image and touched on deeper, more vulnerable topics. But I was so at peace and amazed how a group of girls, who sort of knew each other, could just be open about what they were struggling with and ask for prayer for those things. 

It really opened my eyes to the fact that, even though some people look like they have it all together on the outside, on the inside they could be hurting so much. And now, I am so motivated to continue to pray for all the women on our campus (and even my campus as a whole!) because everyone has gone through different things and is still going through things. 

My heart right now is at peace, encouraged by the truth that was spoken to me through the event and through Scripture and my fellow sisters-in-Christ. I know this doesn't mean that I'll never have the struggle of being single again. It will come up again eventually. But I need to remember who I place my trust in. 

Not the people around me. Not this world. But my Savior, Jesus Christ, who smiles on me and sees me for who I am: His beautiful daughter. 

And seeing myself as that allows me to say that it's okay that I'm single. I can be single and still see myself as beautiful, and that doesn't necessarily mean that everyone around me thinks there's something wrong with me. I can be confident in who I am because I know Whose I am! 

I can use this time of singleness to focus more on living for God. Not saying that I can't do that when I have a relationship, but it's more difficult to focus on anything but that once I am. So, I'm praying that I see this time as a positive thing!

And I can also trust that God has a plan for my life, whether that's being single & content with that or eventually getting married, and that it will be so very good and more than I could possibly imagine! And that's EXCITING!!!!

And all of you who belong to Christ: you are all beautiful, wonderful creations of His! You are made in His image! :) Don't forget Whose you are and the freedom you have because of it!

I hope y'all's weekend is going great! I'm taking a little time to write this, but then I have to get started on this homework. I have a creative writing assignment (cause, I mean, when do I not?) and Bria and I have a Doctrine 2 test on Monday! :P If you think of us at all this weekend, please pray that that goes well for us!

And speaking of my best friend Bria, she went to the women's event this morning too and wrote a blog post about it as well! She's got such great reflections on what she got out of it, so definitely check out her post on it HERE: http://bria1320.wordpress.com/2014/03/29/finding-our-worth/

Also, I just wanted to clarify that I told y'all about my struggles, not to get sympathy from you, but to express that I'm still human and still going through this journey called life, and that while I'm writing to y'all about serving the Lord and trusting in Him, I definitely don't have it all figured out, and won't until the day I am made perfect in Him! Please just continue to pray for me as I go through my daily walk! Your prayers are so so appreciated!!! 

Love you all! Praying that your weekend is filled with fun and rest! Know that you are not alone in your struggle! The Lord stands by you! And what a comfort that is!

#luvya!
~ Mishy (^^) <3

7 Weeks...

Well. Spring break is officially OVER.

We drove back to the mountain yesterday. We all took turns driving. I got the last leg to campus. But we made a stop at Mojo Burrito for some dinner since the meal plan doesn't start until tomorrow morning's breakfast. :/

Anyways, today's been really good, but hectic. Church was amazing. It was definitely something I had to hear. Pastor Ritchie was away at a youth conference, so a children's ministry pastor named Billy Cimino preached instead. We talked about David and Bathsheba. Of course, it's one of those sermons you think to yourself, I've heard this a thousand times, I'm pretty sure I get it by now. But I learned so much still. One thing Pastor Billy said that stuck to me was, "We are always students, never scholars when it comes to the Bible."

He went on to explain that we will never be able to close the Bible and say, "I've got it all figured out and I know everything the Bible has to teach about." We're constantly learning and growing. 

God just gave me immense peace in church. I felt like I was truly able to start over, not just because we had spring break from school, but because we took communion today and we were just reminded of Jesus' sacrifice. My spiritual life has not been the best these past few weeks already, and I know that my focus has been on so many other things than God. My heart is so ready to just be dependent on God, no matter what. Yes, I have a lot of homework to do. Yes, there are extracurricular things such as interviews and conferences to attend. Yes, I'd rather it be summer time already so I can earn money and chill out and not turn in another assignment for a long time.

But I want my heart to be at peace with the fact that God is with me always. That when I cry out to Him, He hears me. I know it doesn't mean things will all of a sudden be easier, but I will have that peace as I go through my daily routine, whatever it is.

So yeah, I'm definitely going to try to remind myself of that. 

The rest of my day consisted of finishing homework, doing laundry, taking care of school business, and finding out what to eat for dinner (which turned out to be ramen. LOL, such a college student thing to eat...). I think in a little bit we're gonna make a Wendy's run, in which case, I'll be gettin' me the six piece spicy chicken nuggets & a small chocolate Frosty. #YUM! ;D

Hopefully, I'll be able to do a little reading, maybe study a little Korean. I just wanted to use a little of my time to catch y'all up on what's been happening and to say that spring break is done.

OH, BEFORE I FORGET...

Caylin posted our spring break video on her YouTube channel! If ya wanna check out how our week in Bainbridge went, click on the link below! (btw, the video is called "Meet the Crew" not "Spring Break" or anything like that!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfuJClUDV1A

Ahh, spring break was so great!

Anyways, you're probably wondering why I titled this post "7 Weeks...". Well, it's because there's 7 weeks of school left! And I am so ready for SUMMER! But I won't wish away the rest of this time. Sure, it's gonna be tough, but I'm thankful to spend this time with people I love, like Taylor, Bria, and Caylin.

So, I gotta go fold my laundry! I hope everyone has a great week! To those going to school tomorrow like me, GOD KNOWS YOUR HEART AND WHERE YOU ARE RIGHT NOW.  He knows that you're tired and frustrated. He knows that you just want to do your best, get good grades, get the job and go on summer break. He knows. Trust that He hears you, and be dependent on Him! :)

If you're on spring break right now, drink a cherry Coke in my honor! Have an amazing, relaxing week! :D

#luvya!
~ Mishy. (^^) <3

#SB2k14, Day 7: LAST FULL DAY IN BAINBRIDGE :(

Hey guys!

Well, today was our last full day in Bainbridge. :( Such sad times. Our spring break adventure is coming to a close.

Today was a super chill day, but I'm glad we got to kind of do our own thing and go slow. We've had a schedule every day this week, but today we could wake up later, wear yoga pants and giant sweaters around the house, make some coffee, snack on whatever we wanted, watch TV, finish chapel summaries, work on homework, etc. It was really nice.

I got to working on my story (still haven't finished it though. Ugh, and it's due Monday :P), and I'm starting to learn hangeul (the Korean alphabet!). I'm so excited to finish up this story for creative writing and to learn more Korean! I know I'm just a beginner, but I'm determined to learn!

Anyways, so around dinner time, we all changed clothes and rode out to Havana, Florida, to go eat at The Hobbit. It's an American grill type place with burgers, wings, and fries. Caylin, of course, ordered some wings, while Taylor, Bria, and I ordered a variety of burgers (I ordered the Blue 'Shrooms burger, Bria got the Black 'n' Blue burger, and Taylor got the Fried Egg burger). Everything was so delicious. Their fries were amazing! If my burger wasn't so big, I probably would've ordered more fries!

Well, while we were there, we noticed there was one of those crane things with the prizes inside, just like the ones yesterday at Fun Station. A couple of boys kept going back and forth to it, getting a stuffed animal every. Single. Time. Caylin kept watching them and decided she wanted to do it, since she'd won her fruit ninja banana yesterday (which, btw, it doesn't have a name. We keep asking her what she's going to name it, and she said she doesn't really name her stuffed animals. She did say, though, that she would name him "Winner" because she was a winner when she got that thing. LOL.)

So, Taylor gave Caylin a dollar, and Caylin grabbed this shiny, pink sea turtle for her. They got all excited because the crane was going to let it go, but it had grabbed it by the tag and was stuck. They both groaned in frustration and started shaking and banging on the machine. The turtle wouldn't fall.

Bria and I just sat at the table and watched this spectacle occur, laughing to ourselves and shaking our heads. Leave it to us to cause some small havoc with a game machine. Caylin asked the waitress if they had a key to open it, but she said they didn't. She did go over there and shake it real good, and poof! the turtle was released. Taylor was so happy haha.

I gave Caylin like $2 to try to get me a blue or purple die. She failed both times, but it was okay. That die was probably super cheap anyway. 

Afterwards, we went back to Caylin's house, and Bria, Taylor, and I ended up playing dominoes with Miss Carol for 2 hours straight, eating ice cream and oreos while we played. The time went by so quickly since we were having so much fun. Playing dominoes with Miss Carol was definitely one of my favorite times during this break. 

And while we were playing dominoes, Caylin was hard at work editing our spring break video (and she's still working on it!) I'm really excited for y'all to see it! Caylin's been working really hard on it.

But yeah, that was our last day in Bainbridge! Tomorrow, Miss Carol plans on making us waffles for breakfast before we leave. We may even stop by The Bean on the way back to get a couple Mona Lisas and Mocha Madnesses. :D

I should probably get to packing up my suitcase. Bria and I have completely trashed Corinne's room this week. My suitcase looks like it threw up all over the place...

It's THE WEEKEND! HOORAY! \(^^)/ To those who are just starting their spring break congratulations, you made it! I hope you enjoy every minute of it! Those whose spring break is starting to come to a close (like me and my friends), I hope you were able to get some things done that you wanted to get done or to just relax from school. 

I have only 7 weeks left of school. Crazy, right? My goal is to try my hardest and to do the best that I can these last several weeks that I have left before SUMMER, my favorite season of the year! I hope you choose to do the same! :)

#luvya!
~ Mishy. (^^) <3

#SB2k14, Day 6: Fun Station & The Silence of the Lambs

What up, everyone?!

So, today was super great! Me and my girls got up when we wanted and did our own thing until after lunch time, and then we gathered our stuff, piled into the car, and headed to Tallahassee to go to Best Buy first (so Bria could fix her headphones) and then Fun Station to play arcade games, mini golf, laser tag, and ride the go-karts. It was really FUN!

We played some arcade games while we waited for mini golf and the go-karts to open at 4pm. We played air hockey, Taylor and I rode one of those roller coaster simulator things, Caylin and Bria constantly tried the games of chance and the little machines you can get prizes from. 

4pm rolled around pretty fast, and we played some mini golf. Only, we started backwards...from the hardest course to the easiest. We didn't even finish our game really because we were so excited to ride the go-karts. Bria was gone. She got way ahead of all of us. I tried to catch up, but to no avail. Caylin and Taylor were just cruisin' along behind us, taking selfies LOL.

Eventually, Caylin and Taylor slowed down so Bria could catch up to them and they could take pictures. But Bria just kept on driving. I caught up to them eventually too, and Caylin took a couple of shots with me in the background, and then I passed them, but it was already our last lap.

We played some more arcade games before we played laser tag. It was Caylin and me (the green team) against Taylor and Bria (the red team). Not gonna lie, the area we played in was kinda sketch, and every once in a while, someone's laser gun wasn't working and we had to pause the game (and we only had 7 minutes). But those 7 minutes or less of laser tag was really fun.

We still had a little more money left on our cards...and that's when it happened.

Caylin had tried so many times to get a stuffed fruit ninja banana from one of those crane machines that we ALL KNOW don't work. BUT, I was with Caylin when she finally rescued that banana from it's plastic prison...and it was just phenomenal.

She hasn't named it yet, but she is so happy that she won it. I'm happy for her! It's pretty awesome.

I honestly cannot wait for Caylin to post our spring break video up so y'all can physically see and experience our entire week together. It's been a total blast.

We left shortly after that to have oven-fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and cabbage for dinner and for dessert peanut butter blossom cookies! (^^) Everything was SO DELICIOUS!! Then we decided we would watch The Silence of the Lambs since Taylor and I hadn't seen it before.

That movie was intense. It was really good, but gosh, that was a really good psychological thriller. Kept me on the edge of my seat with a blanket half-covering my eyes LOL. 

And now, we're all sitting on the couch chilling. Bria's watching videos, Taylor's watching Pretty Little Liars, and Caylin's working on chapel summaries. A second ago, Taylor was reading some Craigslist personal ads and making us laugh haha.

Let's have a sneak-peek, shall we?

1. CHILLIN' & GRILLIN': Yep! Tomorrow for most of the day, all of us girls are just gonna lounge around the house since it's our last full day in Bainbridge tomorrow. :( It's so sad. The time has just flown by. I know I still have some writing to do, and Caylin and Bria still have some homework to work on. Taylor will probably keep trying to catch up on PLL.
2. The Hobbit: No, not the movie. Apparently there's this restaurant on the way to Tallahassee called The Hobbit, and the SHAWTIES are going there for one last spring break dinner. Caylin's never been, so it'll be a new experience for all of us, and that's pretty exciting!

So yeah, that's pretty much all we're doing tomorrow. Our time in Bainbridge is almost up. I don't know if y'all saw my tweet earlier (if not, you can check them out on the right side of the page! :) ), but this entire week has felt like SUMMER to me and not SPRING BREAK. We have 3 days in total left, and I am just not ready to go back to the craziness of school and seeing all of those people again.

But I'll be praying that God gives me and my friends the strength and motivation to get through these last couple months of school. Cause that's all that's left: 2 months. And WE'LL BE HALFWAY DONE THROUGH COLLEGE. That just blows my mind... 

Anyways, tomorrow is FRIDAY!!! For those who are still in school or work, it's almost the weekend! Hang in there, just one more day! \(^_^) And those of us still on spring break, let's make the most of the time we have left!

Praying that y'all have a great rest of the week and an amazing weekend!

#luvya!
~ Mishy. (^^) <3

#SB2k14, Day 5: Back to The Bean, Chillin', & the Boat Basin

Greetings, everyone!

I will admit, today wasn't the most exciting day of our spring break. Don't get me wrong, I had fun today. But no, it wasn't going to the beach again, it wasn't going to Disney World or Wild Adventures or being in Panama City Beach since apparently that's what the spring break place to be is...

But I just spent it with my best friends doing chill things, like going to The Bean and working on homework (grrr...) or going back to the house and watching Bates Motel and Wife Swap and snacking on Goldfish & sipping on cherry Cokes. It was a nice, chill day.

Miss Carol ordered some pizza for us since we had leave the house when her small group came later. It was nice to talk to her about relationships and life in general. And then, we decided on what were were going to do...

There's this place called the Boat Basin that has a small lake and a little place where all these goats, emus, and a donkey & mule are penned up and people can bring chips and bread and feed them. I mean, hey, I've never seen a donkey up close, so why not?

We went there and actually had a great time feeding those animals. Then we went to a small playground and played on the swings and the really tiny playground equipment (it looked like a playground for elves or something...). But it was all really great to just joke around with each other.

Of course, once we got back, we did our own thing for a bit (read, journaled, watched Pretty Little Liars...) and then Bria, Taylor, and I came together to eat BlueBell mocha almond fudge ice cream (which is SUPER DELICIOUS btw) and played some dominoes. 

We played dominoes for another good two hours, and we all slowly but surely go ready for bed. Now, I'm blogging (obviously), Caylin's catching up on Pretty Little Liars, Bria's journaling (I think...), and Taylor went to bed. 

So yeah, chill spring break day. So, how 'bout a sneak-peek?

1. Fun Station: well, tomorrow we're just gonna kinda get up whenever we wanna get up, eat breakfast and lunch, and (hopefully by 1pm), we'll be on the road to Tallahassee to hangout at the Fun Station (which apparently has laser tag, go-karts, arcade games, etc.). I'm really excited to do that! It's been a while since I've been to place like that!
2. Oven-fried chicken: And we'll get back home from Fun Station just in time for Miss Carol's homemade oven-fried chicken (which Caylin says is sooo good & I don't doubt it!) So that's something I'm looking forward to also!

Yep! That's all I got, folks! Hope those of you on spring break enjoy the last couple of days and the weekend off of school left! Those who are still in school but spring break is next week, y'all GOT THIS! You're over halfway done with this week! \(^^)/ Praying for every single one of y'all, wherever you're at!

Come back tomorrow night for the next spring break update!

#luvya!

~ Mishy. (^^) <3

#SB2k14, Day 4: BEACH DAY!

AAAAHHHHH, GUYS...

Today was just AMAZING. I enjoyed every second of it!

Well, our original plan was to leave at 9:30am for St. George Island, but we had so much we still had to prepare for our day at the beach that we ended up leaving an hour later. But hey, that's not bad! Bria made us all a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon as Taylor and I made some sandwiches for our lunch at the beach. Caylin and Corinne were gathering towels, blankets, sunscreen, and such for the beach. By 10:30am, we were all piled into the car and heading to St. George Island state park.

It took about 2 hours for us to get there. The time passed us by as we listened to pop music - from recent artists to oldies like Hilary Duff. We made it there...and it was cloudy. Caylin said it was kind of cold, but really, it wasn't too bad. And later, the sun eventually came out.

But oh boy, did we have a rough first fifteen minutes after we found a spot on the beach...

The beach was perfect. There were barely any people so it was easy to find a spot, and the sun was actually showing itself a little bit more than when we first arrived. There was a slight breeze, but it wasn't too overpowering to make us cold. 

As soon as we set our blankets and towels down, we were all ready to eat the sandwiches and chips we'd packed. So, we all reached in the cooler, grabbed our special sandwiches and chips and a cherry Coke or some water, and started chowing down.

I got distracted with something, but was soon aware that a TON of seagulls were flying around us. 

Crap, I thought, the seagulls must've smelled our sandwiches, realized they could possibly get fed, and started swarming us.

But the flock of birds started to increase, and I asked the others why there were so many birds around us...and Taylor said she fed one of them!!!!!

These birds were getting vicious now. I mean, they were swooping down super close to us. Caylin started screaming, making me even more nervous. Corinne was just sitting toward the ocean, minding her own business and eating her sandwich, when a bird swooped down and took her sandwich out of her hands. I'm not even lying to y'all! They took her ENTIRE SANDWICH out of her hands and ATE IT.

That's when it started getting SCARY. Bria, Caylin, and I started screaming and running away from our spot and the seagulls. Heck, it was like Alfred Hitchcock's movie The Birds (I've never seen it, but I've heard enough about it to have a pretty good idea...). We kept looking back and the swarm of birds just kept chasing us farther down the beach. I was trying to eat the half of my sandwich that I had in my hand as I ran, but Caylin and Bria just held onto their sandwiches.

Finally, Caylin and Bria just threw their sandwiches to the birds, and kept on running away. I just had one bite left of my sandwich, but I figured it wasn't worth being chased around by seagulls, so I threw it to them, then ran back to our spot on the beach. Taylor and Corinne were just sitting there laughing. Easy for Taylor to laugh, since she's the one that caused that mess, LOL!

Poor Bria, Caylin, and Corinne didn't get to eat their sandwiches, but thankfully there were enough snacks to satisfy their appetites. We still had chips, cookies, yogurt, and fruit in the cooler. And the cherry Cokes had survived the bird attack. From then on, we ate with caution because even when we opened the cooler (without opening a bag of food!), the birds would come flying towards us!

Since Taylor was the one to cause the mess, we asked her to chase away the birds that had surrounded us. And she did an awesome job at it. From then on, I called her "Taylor the Gladiator." And whenever a few birds would come too close to our spot, Taylor would chase them away.

The rest of the time was super chill. We all laid out on our towels and blankets and took naps or just laid there. I read The Help while Corinne listened to music and journaled or read some things for her homework. A little later, Taylor and I kicked the soccer ball around a bit. Caylin was taking some video for the spring break video that will appear at the end of our break (keep an eye out for that!). 

Corinne took some amazing pictures of us four (SHAWTY PICS!). Y'all should definitely check them out on her Facebook photography page (and even like her page if you like the photos you see!) Here's the link: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Corinne-Marie-Photography/1422658751298765 

Like I said, the pictures were awesome! This one is personally my favorite:

Y'ALL CAN'T TELL ME THAT'S NOT A DOPE PICTURE! 

SHAWTIES FOR LIFE!!!!!!

So, after so more chilling and chasing seagulls, a bunch of clouds rolled in and we decided to leave. When we packed up all our stuff, we realized that everyone on the beach had left already. 

We drove a few minutes to a gift shop so Bria could buy a shot glass (cause she collects shot glasses) and get some ice cream. I got espresso chip, Taylor got black cherry, Bria got almond pralene, Caylin got some strawberry ice cream popsicle thing, and...I can't remember what Corinne got. Anyways, after our little stop, we drove all the way back to Bainbridge for a ziti pasta dinner that Miss Carol made for us.

After dinner, we played a few rounds of dominoes (which Bria won two of those games. Man, I can't play games with that girl! LOL, JK), and I tried to read a little more of The Help, and here I am, blogging. After this, I have a couple more important things to take care of before I can take a shower and go to bed. Apparently we have to leave the house a little "early" (meaning like 10am), so I'm going to have to go to bed soon.

But yeah! That was our beach day! :D It was so fun and so great to hang out with my closest friends. I can always be completely myself around them, and that's a freeing thing. I feel like sometimes we put up masks for other people so they don't have to know what we're truly feeling in the moment. But being with Caylin, Taylor, Bria, and Corinne, I know I never have to worry about being judged. And I feel like every person deserves to have a group like that who makes them feel completely free to be who they are.

Sneak-peek for tomorrow:

1. The Bean: yes, people, we are heading back to The Bean (since Taylor missed out the first day we were here and she wants to go), but we're not messing around this time. Sadly, some of us still have work to accomplish (I have a story I need to write for creative writing class, Bria has an article review due, ya know, the college work is never done...), and Caylin and Corinne are going to have lunch with some friends tomorrow.
2. ????: Honestly, other than The Bean, I have no clue what other plans we have. I know that Caylin's parents are having a small group in their house tomorrow night so we have to leave and go somewhere...but where, I have no idea. So! Be ready for a small surprise! Who knows where we'll go... (psh, probably Taco Bell or something haha)

Hope y'all are having a great week! Tomorrow's marks the middle of the week! ALREADY! That is so crazy to me! Part of me doesn't want to think about it because it seems like this spring break is going by way too fast. So, I won't dwell on it too much! :) Thanks for reading, I really appreciate it! I hope you've been enjoying my little spring break saga!

#luvya!

~ Mishy. (^^) <3

#SB2k14, Day 3: The Bean, Town Square, Car-Washing, & Taylor!

Whoo, it is late...

Today was the first full day in Bainbridge, and it was a pretty chill day. I woke up at 11am. Bria was still asleep, but I decided to go ahead and make myself some breakfast and get dressed.

But when I walked into the living room and the house was completely silent and empty, I felt so uncomfortable just being the only one awake that I went back to bed just lay there LOL. But then I was so hungry that I couldn't just lay there and do nothing.

So, I got dressed, ate a doughnut (the sour cream one that Pa told me I should try, and actually, it was delicious!), and made a little place on the couch to start writing my feedback Monday assignment for Intro to Creative Writing class. It was about maybe an hour before Caylin woke up and then another fifteen to twenty minutes when Bria woke up.

By this time, it's like 1pm. And we weren't ready to leave the house until 2:30pm. We decided we were going to The Bean, Bainbridge's local coffee shop that also serves "the best sandwiches in Bainbridge," and then we were just going to walk around the town square.

The Bean was pretty awesome. I liked the atmosphere, and just looking at the small menu, things were simple and yet they all sounded so good. I ended up ordering a BLT panini and a coffee drink called Mocha Madness and OHMYWORD IT WAS ALL SO GOOD!

Bria and Caylin w/ their drinks:
a Mocha Madness & the famous Mona Lisa

Me sippin' on  Mocha Madness! #yum

My BLT w/ chips & a pickle

Bria & I outside of The Bean!

After lunch at The Bean, Caylin, Bria, and I walked around the town a bit, going in and out of small little shops. I wish I could've bought something, but shoot, lunch was already expensive enough! And everything I wanted was really expensive too :P

So we drove back to Caylin's house and decided to wash Caylin's car since it really needed to be cleaned after her whole mouse incident (that's another story I'll have to tell you all about another time! LOL). Anyways, Caylin made a little soapy mix, parked her car in her driveway, I put some tunes on, and we started washing her car. Well, Bria and Caylin washed the car while I filmed a little video that will be a segment of our Spring Break 2014 video Caylin will be posting to her Youtube page. At the end of the week, I'll post the link on the blog so y'all can check it out! :)

But here are a couple pictures of them washing the car...

Washing the car was pretty fun. We just finished rinsing the outside of Caylin's car when her friend Stephanie pulled up. We met her, and she went inside with Caylin, leaving Bria and I just to chill outside in Caylin's car. It was totally cool with us though: the sun was shining, but there was still a slight breeze to make the weather outside perfect. I grabbed a couple of cherry Cokes for us and we sat in the car and relaxed as we listened to the latest pop hits.

And I also made a short video to pass the time...but...I've tried several times to upload it onto the blog, but for some reason Blogger isn't cooperating :( So, I'll try to post it on here again tomorrow, I promise!

Miss Carol (Caylin's mom) came out and talked to us for a bit before Stephanie and Caylin eventually came out after catching up inside the house. Stephanie left, and then we continued to clean the inside of Caylin's car. 

Then a couple of little girls from next door that Caylin used to babysit came out and were so excited to see Caylin that they ran over and asked her to play with them. It was so adorable. They started playing a little bit of basketball with Caylin, which got Bria into wanting to play basketball too.

So, I tried to play with Bria, but dang, she is way too competitive for my taste. I mean, dang, she was trying to block me from taking shots and it was just so intimidating! Then we decided we would just play H-O-R-S-E instead since that was a fairly safe game.

I still got "frustrated" with Bria, but it was actually really fun.

While we were playing basketball, Corinne arrived! :D It was so great to see her safe and sound in her natural habitat (LOL).

And then after playing a little more basketball, Caylin, Bria, Miss Carol, and I got ready to go pick Taylor up from the Tallahassee airport. The trip wasn't bad at all, and it was really great to see ma roomie again! :)

We spent the rest of the night watching the final episode of The Bachelor that Corinne and Caylin missed. I am not into shows like that, but I kinda got sucked into it since I was sitting with them while they were watching it and it was just so interesting to see what was happening. I don't know if you're a fan of The Bachelor or if you've heard things about Juan Pablo, but all I can say is... DANG.

And then after catching up on The Bachelor, we all just talked for a really long time about plans for tomorrow, the rest of the week, school, etc.

Speaking of plans for tomorrow, here's the sneak-peek of what's to come!:

1. BEACH DAY!: All five of us are planning to pile into Corinne's car and head to St. George's Island at 9:30am (LOL, we'll see if we can actually leave at that time!) But I am so excited to get to a beach! I'm planning on reading The Help and maybe even writing in my journal or trying to think of new story ideas. I'll be taking plenty of pictures, so don't miss out on those! :)
2. TV shows & games: for the past couple of nights, Miss Carol's been wanting to play games with us, and we just haven't had the chance to do it. So hopefully tomorrow after our day trip to the beach we'll have time! Also, I want to watch the new episode of Bates Motel that I missed tonight! I'm hoping it was good!

So, yeah those are the plans! To sign off, here are some pictures of us today in town square!

More to come tomorrow! Hope y'all had a great beginning of your week whether you're on spring break or at school or work! :)

#luvya!

~ Mishy. (^^) <3

#SB2k14, Day 2: The Road to Bainbridge

'Sup guys?!

So, we finally got on the road today! It was a little later than we originally planned (since ya know, we SPRUNG FORWARD an hour and weren't used to the loss of an hour of sleep), but we still made it here!

The trip was good. Not much traffic at all since it was Sunday. The trip was 6 hours long, but I don't know, it seemed longer to me. Maybe because I was just ready to be there. 

We didn't have an iPod connector, and Caylin didn't make any CDs for us to listen to, so we hopped back and forth from radio station to radio station. It wasn't too bad, plus we listened to Caylin's random CD (that we've listened to a billion times, but it's still great). 

We made a couple of stops, one at a Dunkin' Donuts/gas station the other at another gas station. I feel like it was a pretty chill trip. 

We rode on country roads for a little over 100 miles, which kind of blew my mind. I actually fell asleep for most of it. I had just never seen so much...empty...land...for miles. We were hitting small towns here and there, and when I checked my phone, I had no service. Meaning, we were gonna be out there. But hey, I actually like it out here. Away from all the semi-big town craziness and the college campus craziness. Nice and quaint. A little southern lovin'.

Mrs. Walsingham made spaghetti with meatballs and sausages and garlic bread for dinner, and we had homemade cupcakes for dessert (also for a post-birthday celebration for Caylin's brother, Corban). We also caught Bria and Caylin up on The Walking Dead and watched the new episode that aired tonight. The new episode was so good, and it was nice to just sit and watch TV and not think about anything else, except for maybe what our plans were going to be tomorrow.

This week is going to be a BLAST! Beautiful, solid R&R.

Well, that's all I have for today! Here's a sneak-peek of what could possibly come tomorrow:

1. Going into Bainbridge: we're possibly going to walk around the town square and go to a coffee shop called The Bean. Sounds pretty exciting to me, and the weather is supposed to be gorgeous!
2. Alone time: we all have separate things to accomplish tomorrow. Caylin's planning on cleaning the insider of her car, Bria's gonna start on some homework...I should start on some homework too, since I have one big assignment to accomplish for the Monday we get back. But I kind of just want to start learning Hangul (the Korean alphabet) or start reading The Help (for FUN). I don't know, we'll see what happens...
3. Taylor: We have to drive to the Tallahassee airport to pick up Taylor. Apparently, it takes 2 hours to get there. Looks like we'll be road-trippin' again tomorrow too! But it won't be too bad. I'm actually kind of excited for it. I like traveling! :)

Well, that is all! Hope those of you on break are making the most of it! And those who have school tomorrow, YOU CAN DO THIS! You can conquer this week!

#luvya!

~ Mishy. (^^) <3

#SB2k14, Day 1: Still on Campus

FREEDOOOOOOOM!!!!!!! \(^^)/

Y'all, I am on SPRING BREAK! And ya know what THAT means! Time for my ANNUAL SPRING BREAK SERIES! This year it will be called #SB2k14! I am so excited for this time of relaxation I get to have with my closest friends, tha SHAWTIES in Bainbridge, Georgia, Caylin's hometown!

But today was technically the first day of spring break, and we aren't in Bainbridge just yet. We had to wait for Bria to come back from her SEPA conference (it's a psychology conference). But we're packing up the car and leaving tomorrow morning! SO PUMPED. :)

So today, Caylin, Taylor, and I woke up super early (like at 5:30am) to take Taylor to the airport. She's going back home for a couple of days and then she'll fly out Tallahassee, FL, where we will pick her up and bring her to Bainbridge!

Anyways, so we drove Taylor to the airport and then Caylin and I drove back towards the mountain. Our original plan was to get Chik-fil-A for breakfast, but then we realized that we didn't know if there was a Chik-fil-A en route to campus. 

"Hey, let's eat Taco Bell! They serve breakfast," Caylin said enthusiastically.

I was skeptical, however. But I mean, could you blame me? Am I the only one who thinks that Taco Bell breakfast sounds like the sketchiest thing ever? 

Anyways, so we went to Taco Bell, and I wasn't planning on getting anything. But as soon as we arrived, I got really hungry, so I decided, eh, why not? We went inside and looked at the breakfast menu. Nothing looked really appealing to me, but Caylin said she was going to get the A.M. crunch wrap with some Cinnabon cream-filled doughnut hole-type things. I decided to hop on the A.M. crunch wrap train minus the Cinnabon things.

We sat down, opened the crunch wraps, took one bite, and was surprised to find that it was really good. I wasn't expecting something so great tasting, and Caylin was expecting maybe something average tasting, but SHOOT those A.M. crunch wraps were GOOD. So, if you ever need breakfast and there's a Taco Bell nearby, I recommend the A.M. crunch wrap. You never know until you try!

We got back to campus and went back to sleep for a few hours (it was so nice to be able to do that). I woke up at 11am to start doing laundry and getting things ready to pack for the trip to Bainbridge. Now, I don't know about any of y'all, but when I start packing for a trip, I tend to do everything else but pack. So, I folded laundry and took some clothes out of my drawers and rearranged them and swapped all my winter time sweaters for t-shirts, tanks, and dresses (I'm praying that by the time we get back to the mountain from spring break, winter will have left permanently).

I did manage to set aside all the things I wanted to pack for spring break, though, so I was still pretty productive. Caylin and I made a trip down the mountain for a Wendy's lunch and then we got some cake pops from Starbucks. Only, little did we know, that everyone on the face the of planet (***extreme exaggeration) would be at Rock City today. 

So, we ended parking in a lot farther from Starbucks. The walk wasn't too bad, but there were parking spots right next to the Starbucks. Well, either way, we got some chocolate cake pops and headed back to campus to continue packing and doing laundry.

Also, I got a call from Pa saying that he was going to come see me before I left for spring break. You have no idea how happy I was. I'd been wanting to see my parents for a while now since the past couple of weeks have been rough and, unlike some college students, I was in major need of some parental lovin'. And he was bringing a care package filled with fruit snacks, green tea, honey, Propel berry packets, and laundry detergent! Whoo-hoo!

So, he arrived while I was hand-washing some clothes and hanging them out to dry, and Bria arrived around the same time too. Pa took me out to Olive Garden for dinner and we stopped by Dunkin' Donuts to get a dozen of them for the road trip tomorrow. I had such a great time talking with him and spending time with him. I think that it was definitely something I needed before my spring break could officially begin.

After he dropped me off back on campus, I gathered the rest of my clothes, packed them all in my suitcase, took a shower, packed most of my toiletries, and here I am!

I'm so excited to share this year's spring break adventure with y'all! I'll make sure to blog every day and include pictures when we go to fun places. We plan on going to Tallahassee, Florida for a beach day trip at some point, so there'll most likely be pictures of that.

But yeah, the first day of spring break was busy, but successful! I'm ready to hit the road tomorrow!

If any of y'all are on spring break, I hope you enjoy your time off of school! I hear that a lot of people are trying to get down to Florida for the sun, sand, and surf. Wherever you're going, I hope you have an UH-MAZING time with your friends or family! 

Come back tomorrow for the second day of #SB2k14! See ya then! 

#luvya!
~ Mishy (^^) <3