HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME :)

Hello Folks!

SUMMER HAS FINALLY ARRIVED!

Such a relief! Sunshine sunshine sunshine starting this week. Tuesday to be exact, my birthday, was the first day of 20-something weather to hit of summer. So what did I do, obviously grab one of my best friends and go to the beach :)

It was grand! Got up nice and early put on my new little white lace dress and my hat and headed out the door with TWO sandals on. Yes you heard me, two sandals. NO CAST! Woot...well to be cautious i brought it in my bag and used it a little bit. But hey it's a start. It was my birthday i wasn't gonna let that thing slow me down. And I felt so loved with the numerous text messages and personalized Happy Birthday wall posts.

We tanned, strolled, had lunch beach front, relaxed and played in the shoreline. 

They say a picture is worth a thousand words so here's a few thousand for you to catch a glimpse into my birthday day. Man my city is beautiful!

I don't think I could have asked for anything better.

Well maybe not the really nasty sunburn I got when I was down there. And I could have done without dropping my iphone in the ocean. Yeah...in the ocean. I know stupid to bring my phone in the ocean right? But we were just walking in the shallows and i wanted to take pictures.

BUT GOD IS GOOD!

 And so is Apple! Since it was in the first year of it's warrenty they gave me a brand new phone, NO questions asked! God definitely delivers because I could not afford to buy myself a new iphone!

This months Yellow Brick Road

Almost two weeks since I have broken my foot. It has been interesting to say the least, and its DEFINITELY had its ups and downs.

Most of the time I'm super bored. The first week of relaxing was nice. Now I don't feel relaxed. I feel like a cooped up chicken. The first three days I just wanted to throw my crutches, now I'm getting pretty good at them. I've crossed pretty much everything off my list besides some books i wanna finish reading. I actually just wanna run. And this is going to be THE first thing I'm going to do. Maybe go for a walk. Frolic in a field. Do summersaults. I don't know just get out of this house. I really think this is the only reason I'm still working. Is to get out of the house. And I cannot wait for Sunday's a lot more than usual.

On the other hand...

I am SO thankful for everyone in my life being so supportive and visiting me and such. I especially like treats, until my mom started getting mad at my brother bringing me ice cream. But hey, I wanted ice cream and he wanted a reason to drive. It WAS the perfect solution at the time.

I am SO thankful I really am not in any pain other than discomfort. I really haven't even taken any medication or Tylenol since it happened. Actually even on the day it happened I didn't take anything. So blessed, I could be in a ton of pain.

It also could have been way worse. I could have fallen and broken more, had surgery, be in one of those permanent casts instead of my removable air cast (although i kinda wanted one of those so people could sign it), or had a permanent injury of some sort for it. 

And I'm BEYOND thankful that this isn't permanent. Some people have to live on crutches, in wheelchairs, in hospitals, and at a young age too. Yeah right now this sucks for me. But I think about all the people who live like this day to day. The people that have cancer and ARE stuck at home everyday like my friend Sam was. I'm always reminded that someone else ALWAYS has it worse. And God loves that person no more and no less than myself.

What I find the craziest is the God is performing a miracle on my right now. He is moving and healing the bone right inside me. I find this the craziest thing. I cannot hear, feel, see, know this is going on. Two days after I went back to the doctors he told me the bone moved by itself back into place. God made our bodies this awesome. Think about all the functions your body has. It does so many things just to keep itself healthy that you're not even aware of, it just does them by itself. I think that's pretty miraculous. Something like that HAD to be made by something. And I love my creator so much for designing and caring for my body. When we break ourselves, literally, we're not just broke like when you break a twig of a tree. I think that's something to be more than thankful for.

I really am the kind of person that's ALWAYS on the go, never home. So this is weird and frustrating for me. I've already learnt so much about God and myself and its only the first little while. Well not like this is actually going to be a long period of time. I have chosen that this is a positive, and yes I have moment's where I get frustrated and think 'this is such an inconvenience.' It's in the time of inconvenience and fear that you have the most opportunity to grow.

Proverbs 17:17

Where ever we are: I'll love you guys to pieces.

I feel like I take the fact that I have the two of you (Gabbi and Paula) here with me right now for granted. The fact that I can talk to you face to face, or even simply give you a hug..or a nose massage means so much. So just so you know I love you two and I don't know what I would do without you. Leanna and Meaghan too! God put all 4...well 6 of you in my life for a specific reason. And each of you have a different reason. I'm so blessed to have you all and I'm always thankful. I just wanted you to know.

(PS a found a good friend picture with 5 girls; woot)

PROVERBS 17:17

Friends love through all kinds of weather, and families stick together through all kinds of trouble.

Never ending night of thoughts

I've come to the conclusion I love when seasons change. The excitement of a new seasons is enchanting. Then I remebered a lesson I taught at lifegroup a few months ago about how your life has seasons and every season is differnt some might suck and some might be fantastic, but God is there, (in this instance God was the sun), even in the winter just like he is the summer. I also just realised another way our life is like the seasons of the year. Obviously everyone has their favorite, I myself have reasons to love every season. When a season is about to change i get super pumped for the next season of the year. I can always find a wonderful part of a crappy season of the year.

I think its important to do this in life too; i've realised i always do. I get super pumped for the next season yet sad. Right now i'm gonna miss winter like mad because its one of my favorite seasons, and yeah the constant rain of spring sucks but you get to go puddle jumping and fall asleep to the sound of rain. When a season of your life is about to pass there's obviously parts of it you want to keep but its important to embrace the next season of life. Every season needs the others to be able to function. And there is ALWAYS something to look forward to in every season.

Anyways that was a random thought. And there's so much more I wanna blog about but it must wait for tomorrow I guess because its definitely bed time!

HEY NICOLE, i'm talking to you.

NOTE TO SELF:

When feeling low or unispired this summer

READ THIS

and your bible

I wanna live this summer to it's fullest. Seize the moment cause if the last year has taught me anything you have to treasure the time you have on this planet and definitely the time you have with people You're only at this stage of your life for so long.

Me and Gab's were talking the other day about how sometimes she gets frustrated and just wants to be done with all the in between and just wants to be where she wants to be already. And thats exactly how i've been feeling the last year. I just wanna own my design firm and have a family. Maybe I wouldn't go as far as to say frustrated, theres just some days where I just wanna be there, you know. Yes, sometimes the getting there sucks but today I realised I have to much to do in this time right now. Heck i'm not even 20 yet.

I think dreaming does that to you, you get so excited for the future and you start to dream bigger and God shows you what he wants for your future and its so awesome you just want it now. If there wasn't a reason for the road to getting there God would just give it to you.

Today, in particular, was a day full of inspiration and good news. It definitely showed me how much I do love learning and dreaming. I realised that right now to get where I want to be I need to be learning and dreaming. I wanna learn something new everyday and live everyday more inspired than I ever have. Live my summer with a purpose, hence the list. To take time to be my age, and act like a fool with my friends.

SUMMER GOAL:

Live life to the fullest

God died to give you life

Chasing Rainbows

If you have not noticed, I love coziness. Blankets, fires(camp or fireplaces), Pajama's, Sweaters, Mittens, slippers, knits, cozying up with a good book and a tea, etc. Today was my only day of reading break, I used this day to make a wicked awesome fort with Best Friend. It was by far the best fort I have ever built. Maybe not the best i have ever seen, especially after looking for pictures for this entry. There are definitely some awesome ones out there. I'm now totally stoked to make an even bigger and better fort. Maybe thats what i'll do for my birthday, a HUGE fort-out. With pretty lights, full of pillows and maybe some air fresheners if Gabbi's gonna come. Definitely NO DORITOS. Ahem. Here is a phone picture of our lovely creation.

So I spent majority of my wholed up in a wonderful little paradise with best friend sister and second mother watching Community. Which is a new favorite you must check it out. Sorry Paul for say I did not like this show before. My bad that I definitely thought it was another show, Parks and Recreation I think. We had tons of pillows and Alex brought in the christmas lights to line the place and bring in some light. It was indeed our own little hideaway.

It also got me thinking about how our life is like a fort. Sometimes you keep yourself comfortable within your own little walls and never step out of the "fort". You get lazy and distracted and put aside the stuff that God is asking you to do and you start to procrastinate because you don't wanna leave your little bubble of coziness where you're comfortable with everyone inside your walls. You spend so much time building your little fort and when its done its your own little paradise too afriad to leave or let anyone foreign in your fort. However nice your fort is you can never grow or learn within your fort, of course you could have your laptop and learn things on there maybe stay in your fort forever and take online courses. But what would you do with that information, you would have no hands on experience with it. You couldn't take a bunch of business courses and go out and actually have the skills to open and run a business. Or you could sit and read your bible all day every day. Sure the bible is AWESOMELY WICKED. I mean its the word of God, which basically means its fantastic and you can't do life without it. But what would you do with the life God has spoken into you within the walls of your fort. You need to step out and be uncomfortable to grow, you NEED to step out and be uncomfortable to shows God's grace and love. You get it?

So my goal is to create the most awesome fort ever. Another thought, Letitia this is for you. My dear friend Letitia told me about how in England for Christmas they have what you call a 'lockdown' with all your family for like a week and just watch movies, be lazy, eat, and catch up with one another. When she comes back she wants to do this with all of us. I am so totally excited for that.

And I have a new proposition: This should happen in an extreme FORT!

I Give You My All

I think this whole semester in a nut shell is ridiculously insane because this last week in a nut shell = projects, mid term tomorrow, paper due next week, work, lifegroup, church, a bit of rev conference, got really sick, hung with a few world changers, sleep...a lot or not at all. It's been crazy i've either slept a alot in or not at all. One things for sure, when I got to sit down tonight after lifegroup I realised man, God has done SO much in the last few months. I've been way to busy to hardly even notice. I feel like when i'm busier God moves so much more. And I guess it makes sense cause when your sitting at home doing nothing what's God gonna do, you know? Instead i've been a busy beaver not letting me have a chance to worry about my circumstances. I've had no choice to just fully hand over everything to God and just hope and pray and keep doing my best. I wanna post my most recent drawing for ya'all, but i forgot to take a picture of it. I'll post  about that next. But yeah, thats where i've been and what i've realised.

Overall God has proven he's BIGGER than ANY circumstance.

That includes in your life too.

Trust, prayer, and patience is key.

God is good

This is how i've been feeling lately. I don't know if you translate the same thing I do from this picture. Heck I don't even know what I'm translating from the picture sometimes you just can't put words to feelings. I'm feeling so inspired but there's so much going on around me at this moment my life feels cluttered. But honestly, I don't like it any other way. Sometime i'm like i'm doing to much and I sit down and try to sort out what it is I am able to drop. My answer every time = nothing. Every Sunday night i look over my last week and organize my next week. Many a times I end up puzzled at how I got through my last week and then think how the heck am I gonna do the next week. It is so evident God is good, and miraculously I had an essay pushed back a week and no homework assigned for painting next week. On top of that I didn't get scheduled for work on Monday which has its pro's and con's cause I need the money. I think I need the time to put my artisitic inspiration to hard work.

Children do the Darndest things

On the subject of feeling childlike and being nostalgic and such about my childhood, I was reminded of what my toddlers class did this morning that was ever so cute. Whilst I was trying to tidy the classroom so it didn't look like a tornado hit it when the parents came, and also cut down on my work afterward the children decided to do something so cute. Well first off I have to say EVERY toy was on the ground to the little plastic bins in the shelf where empty. I took them all out and started to fill one, as i was doing this i turned around to find all of them sitting individually in a different plastic bucket littered all over the room. They were then completely amused for the next 20 minutes being pushed around in the bins then putting them on their heads running around the room making zooming noises. It was the cutest encounter I have ever had.

It definitely makes me so excited for the future and to have my own kids one day. This last few weeks I have been thinking about it more prominently. With Generations weekend last weekend at church it made me think, wow, I cannot wait to raise my one day family here and all week I have had more than normal 'I love my church' moments and those moments turning into "My God is so great" moments. 

This week was a struggle, and these types of weeks always remind me of what God has done in my life and how i used to how you would say 'handle' situations or react to certain circumstances. Like Pastor John said this morning "Sometimes you have to look back to move forward" and its so true. And I'm ever so excited for what ever comes next and my future.

Puppetteer of the Universe

In the words of Ashley Mandanici (or close to her words)
God created the universe, he is in charge. You may think your in charge, but you don't have a universe.

The greatness of love

(Psalm 139)

Right now there are 6,768,181,146 people in the world. Think about all the people that have walked this earth before this statistic was made, its probably in the billions but i'm bad at estimating. God created each one of those people individually. He was not just like "meh heres a person theres a person." No he carefully sculpted each and every person, including you to whomever is reading this. Every freckle, every hair, all the colors in your eyes. He made every individual unique. He decided your life long before you even came into existance. Your dreams, your triumphs and even your failures he set in place. Sometimes i think i've grasped how much God loves every single person, then I realise how much more he loves us. And I know i will never fully understand how much he loves us, because even the greatest capacity I have for love does not even come close to his love for me. All I know is, God I love you to my fullest capacity.

Examine What you Tolerate

Something I'm challenging myself with this month.

Philippians 4:13

Next two months of my life = crazy

I need to start actually saving again since my savings account seems to be dwindling and the not working for a month left zero dollars in my bank account. So i've been promised 3 eight hours shifts a week. Which is awesome. School 3 days a week. Church all day sunday. A day off? I don't think so, I don't think I even have 4 hours off. Two months isn't that long. Which probably means i'll be blogging less, but its okay thats what my 5 hour break is for. yeahh.

Its okay no stress, this will be my anthem for the semester. As i'm kinda intimidated in my art courses, i know i don't give myself enough credit for my abilities.

FOR I CAN DO EVERYTHING THROUGH CHRIST, WHO GIVES ME STRENGTH

PHILIPPIANS 4:13

"Sweet Gabriela, BA-BA-BA"

gabbi is my bestest friend in the entire planet
she is like a fierce wolf singing to the moon under a sheet of twinkling stars that dance as they light the darkness.
she is a white unicorn graceful, strong, and untameable.
when i do something idotic, moronic, retarded (which often happens) her eyes pierce my soul as if she were medusa and i realise my wrong and apologise- she is a saint.
she will take over the world with her steel punches and swift karate moves. im honured to be a follower of this divine being.
i'm also gonna keep her allllllll to myself (with the exception of her family, and paul squared)cause i love her that much.

she is a genius, an advocate of peace, and the epitome of greatness.

she is the essence of legitness.

Sentimental Heart

I watched Ramona and Beezus last night. I was not really expecting to like it, but really wanted to see it since I read the book maybe 5 times between the ages of 7-9. I loved it, but not for the reasons I thought I would.

Actually it made me cry. Don't laugh.

But it also made me excited. Excited to one day get married and have my own family. A Family is perfectly unperfect as this one. You will understand when you watch it. A husband who loves his children relentlessly, and his wife. Children whom will be crazy if their anything like me. But they will be mine and I will love them.

Even for the brief few moments my brother watched it he mumbled 'why can't our parents be like that'

I don't care if we have rough time, my children drive me nuts, and everything isn't 'prefect'

Lately God has me super excited for this in the future, almost giddy actually.

Anyway watch the movie, cause i know many of you reading this will feel the same as me.

One strike of the clock, brings a New year.

The last few days i've been super inspired. Probably has alot to do with these two books i've been huddled up in a corner reading. Those being The Bible and The Architecture of Happiness. I took time to reflect on what has happened this year. I didn't really feel like alot has happened but in reality way to much has happened. I look back a year ago from today, its amazing really.

So here's a recap of 2010 events and such:

Became part of the most amazing family made of some pretty amazing girls
Finished my first Semester in University with an a, b, and c.
Discovered so many more of my dreams, but I know that isn't even part of them.
Experienced the olympics, which was one of the most patriotic things i think that can ever be experienced
Reached my savings goal of $10 000
Seen two amazing people leave the country to pursue greater things than most people can imagine.
Made a difference in someones life

And there's so much else I know I did. A year is such a short but long time.

And this is some of what I hope to accomplish in 2011;

Grow more in God, but clearly that is a given

Have my lifegroup grow by 5 girls regularly coming out

Have Maygan and Breanna Regularly come to wildifre

See my Lifegroup girl start to give back. And be their generations leaders.

Finish my next semester with nothing lower than a B

Start my Autocad certificate

Finish my portfolio

Go out and talk to several local Interior designers

Go to another country. England?

Take a road trip

Get my N

Save 2000+ more dollars

Learn something new (piano, surf)

Finish an entire sketchbook

Spend more time reading less time on the computer\

Get my first tattoo or two.

It all starts with God and then me. I know I won't get any of this done unless I commit to it. I often write down what I want to change or do, or set goals for myself. I end up getting dissapointed becuase half of them never happen. Sometimes life gets in the way, and I have to make the effort to not let the less important tedious things stop this list from getting accomplished. Maybe not all this year but in the next few.

The story of my life, and the most amazing people in it.

 Love you guys.

100th post

When my soul is weak

I sing God strengthen me

When I find myself in need

I sing God rescue me

When my troubles overwhelm

I sing God bring your peace

Lord your one and only Son

Is all I ever need

I am free, free

All my chains are broken

Sometime this is all I really need to hear. Man Parachute Band is so good, just put them on random and I hear exactly what I need to hear ALL the time...well i know that has alot to do with God. Man sometime I really don't realise how much he's needed in my life. From where I am just over a year ago to now like i know i've said this a few posts earlier but man i can't even believe it. Like I love my family but I have a whole new one that god has given me that makes up for all the crap at home. Always supportive never judgemental and I have the best friend you could ever ask for man their halfway around the world because god brought them their. Amazing.



This is my one hundreth post by the way, yay. So my day was super boring but I know Chanel and Letitia wanna hear it all sooo. Woke up so late and went to the mall cause i'm in desperate need of jeans because i have NONE, litteraly no jeans. So i got jeans and pj bottoms. then got two shirts and a purse for super super cheap cause Off the Wall is shutting down and everythings on sale plus 40 percent off the lowest ticketed price. Nuts. So i think my fall/winter/spring wardrobe is complete can't spend anymore money haha. I have to work at 5 am tomorrow but...i woke up at 1pm today so theres no way i'm sleeping now i've attempted.

OOOH and starbucks drinks are out. MY FAVOURITE. Had a Eggnog Latte today and can't wait to make a chai eggnog latte sunday at church!

Free To Dream

"The longer i keep putting it off the longer it can stay a dream and i can't screw it up" Ted Mosby

So much on my mind over the last week I don't know how many thoughts have been ricocheting around my head. And every day over the last week whether it be on the bus walking across campus God has strategically put little things in my place to stop me from thinking or the opposite make me think about something.

 This evening I read my message thread and just sat there and though how this sucks half of my best friends are one the other side of the world and how much I just wish we could all be together because we're so strong when we're together. I went down stairs and my mom was watching How I Met your Mother so I sat down and watched for a few minutes then Ted Mosby said that quote...or something along the lines. I realised this doesn't suck, this is amazing. Their living these huge dreams god has put before them and one by one all of us are gonna take flight on ours. Paula going to Bible school then/or Spain and I don't want Gabs to go but maybe Italy for her? Who knows maybe I'll end up in Ireland or Scotland or maybe just here. Everything has always pointed to Interior Design and I know that isn't the big picture. When your little you think your career is the big picture but what you do with your life and "what you become" isn't necessarily your career. I think Interior Design is just a start to what I really wanna do. Flip house and help families who don't have a home that adequates them. Like those who are special needs and need specialized homes, or people that have been devastated and need their home fixed; Something like Extreme Home Makeover without the show. I just need to keep praying and wait God will reveal things in his time I feel like what I'm doing right now is just right.

Anyways that's been my thoughts this last week. And how I need to study more instead of just two days before things.

180 Degrees

I keep thinking of things to post then forget because the last few days have been quite busy. I'm not a big Halloween person, but this year was pretty good.

But was I really just wanna say about today is....
On the bus I was taking home from school today there was a small one child family a few seats ahead of me. They weren't well off but were so happy. It was the type of family you could generally tell was pretty awesome. The mom typically made her son embarassed by lovingly teasing him and attempting to kiss him on the cheak while he played the pull away but you could tell he really liked it. They all seemed so incredibly happy and nothing in the world could get between the three of them. It made me start thinking about family. Mine now and my own in the future. Over the last two years my outlook on life has probably turned about 150 degrees and within the last 4 probably a full 180.

Its so true that God will transform your heart and you'll start to dream of what you never imagined and see everything in a different perspective. I think anyday whether i'm stuggling, or in the worst storm of my life, I can honestly say I love my life and every single thing in it.



Jesus, I am so in love with you.