The Blogtember Challenge: Day 9- World Travel

Yay, it's Friday!! We've finally made it through our short week.

Friday, September 9th- If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be?

This is a tough one! There are so many places I want to visit in the world, both in the U.S. and International. I think for this post though I am going to share some places I really want to travel to in the U.S. One of my goals is to travel to all 50 states and I also want to visit a lot of the National Parks. They're so beautiful, and so worth seeing! Some of these places I don't necessarily have a reason for wanting to visit... I just want to. Lol

one // two

One. Acadia National Park in Maine - I found this National Park when looking up all of the different parks in the US. I also have always heard about a certain place in the US where you could see the sunset for the first time, and that is at Cadillac Mountain. Definitely look up this Park if you're into hiking and the outdoors! Hoping that we're able to go to this place in the near future.

Two. San Francisco - Who doesn't want to go to San Fran?! Reese was able to go recently for work, and I am just dying to get out there! I love traveling around new cities, seeing the touristy places and the local spots. 

three // four 

Three. Grand Canyon - Because its just plain breath taking and leaves you speechless. Praise Him for this amazing place that He has given us to enjoy in His presence!

Four. Seattle - I know that its supposed to be a super rainy place, but I kind of think that this place is just a place I would enjoy. 

What places should I put on my Must Travel To List, especially in the United States, so that it is easier to travel to?!

Wednesday Rambles- Vol. 3

Sorry for not doing a post last week. I was truly going to but then I had no access to wifi once I got to Colorado. So I just decided to enjoy my time there rather trying to blog. Anyways... time for Wednesday Rambles #3!

// One

Today I had my last first day of college. This is my last semester of classes since I will be student teaching next semester and won't have any. Guys... I'm a SENIOR IN COLLEGE! Like what the heck?! Where did college and life in general go to?? I really have been waiting for this day (no I haven't been wishing it away, but excitedly awaiting) since the first day of college.. and it finally came! My dream is not to be in school my whole life rather be the teacher in front of elementary students, so every year I could say I am one step closer to that dream. And y'all this year is going to fly by and before I know it I'll have my own classroom with my own students! This is all so crazy and surreal and I am so excited to share this adventure with you all! In the picture above is a girl who has been by my side through (almost) every class since the first day of freshman year in at UK. Man I wouldn't have made it this far without her and cant wait to experience this year with her!

// Two

The kids this week at work have completely worn me out. We are trying to figure out exactly where each of us are going to work (which grade/area/time) and it has been straight chaos... at least in my mind! Four of us on staff are in the same semester/year so we will be going for 5 weeks during October/November and also next semester for student teacher. In return this leaves our boss with 4 empty slots to fill. She still wants to give us as much time/money as we can get before we aren't able to work consistently if at all, but I sure do miss having my same class everyday! Guess I will have that to look forward to with being a teacher.

// Three

Kentucky is HOT! And I hate it... :( All summer long it has been the perfect temperature and weather and now I get back to Kentucky from Colorado and have to walk on campus, and its hot! I am not a hot, humid summer weather type of gal. 

// Four

I miss Colorado and the beautiful mountains. They are so different from Kentucky's hills of horse farm (and don't get me wrong, I still love my old Kentucky home... but there is just something about the west!)

Hope everyone has had a great week so far! End it with some love on someone who needs it! :)

My Heart is Craving...

My heart is craving something new. Somewhere new. Yet at the same time I love my home. Kentucky exemplifies Jesus. I could not imagine living somewhere else, yet I long for the adventure of another place to set roots in. Being in Colorado this past weekend made me want to explore another city, and make it my home, but that is out of my "comfort box." I've also thought of moving to Haiti because I loved it so much, but never in my wildest dreams would I do that... right?! And to think in less than 11 months I will have graduated from college. Then there will be plenty of new things. I could be in charge of 20+ students, I could have my own classroom, I could have a home that I get to decorate. I long and crave for all of this... but this is always what I have wanted, I long for something different than I ever have before. I've always been excited to graduate from college and be done with school (sort of, silly masters...) but school is all I have known my entire life, what's next? I know what I want to happen next because that is what I have been preparing for my entire life, but say it does, am I just done with any adventures?!

I feel my heart (aka GOD) tugging me in a direction that I haven't seemed to figured out yet. He is funny in that way. He loves to put just a hint of something into your heart, but He wants you to draw near to Him to figure out the rest. He wants you to put your whole faith and trust into Him and then He will do the impossible with your life. I also crave to know Him more. I crave for Him to be the one I go to in all my worries and all my praises. I have so far to go in my faith, yet I feel like I've already come so far. Could I be craving Him more because He is preparing me for something? An adventure? A new life? A new direction? I know that it will all eventually come out into clear view for me to see, but I pray that I keep my eyes, ears, and heart open for what The Lord may be calling me to. I pray that I don't live this life comfortably and that I preach His word to those who may not know it and live in a community who encourages me to become closer to God. Y'all, I feel change coming, and I am excited to see where God may be leading my life once I am done with this thing called school.

Where has the Lord called you to lately? What have you experienced?

68. Go to Nashville

On Saturday Reese and I headed down to Nashville for the day. Our main reason was to go to the Packers vs Titans pre-season football game, but we used that as an excuse to spend the day touring Nashville. We had already planned out our day. Farmers Market, bicentennial mall, walking around downtown, dinner, then the game!

We ate lunch at an amazing restaurant called Whiskey Kitchen, which is in The Gulch area of Nashville. We got appetizers because we were planning on eating dinner (that didn't happen). The whiskey kitchen bourbon poppers and the jalapeno fried pickles were literally to die for! I kept saying for the rest of the day how good that food was!

The entire day I carried around my raincoat just in case it rained... put it back in the car before the game, and to say that it rained would be an understatement. It downpoured the entire game! The pack lost by 4 points too, but it was still an enjoyable day.

It was a great day that I got to spend with my handsome man! So grateful for all of the memories that we get to make together and can't wait for many many more!

A Beach Hello!

Hello friends!

I am just stopping in to give a quick update. I am currently at the beach with my mom. We got here Thursday and were unable to layout yesterday (Friday) due to rain... which might I add is in the forecast for everyday. 

I have traveled so much this year and am so grateful to be able to, but let me tell you I am ready to be home! I am definitely a homebody. 

But since I still have five more days I am going to try to enjoy it the best I can. And relax before I have to go back to nannying. And when I get back we will have a little over a month left until school... Crazy! 

Have a great weekend everyone! 

63. Take a spontaneous girls trip.

Among my goals in my 101 in 1001 list was to go on a spontaneous girls trip. Now I am not a spontaneous person, but I want to become someone who does do some things (reasonable things) on a whim without time to back out (because I am someone who backs out if I freak myself out or think about something too much). In February two of my friends and I found a GroupOn for a great deal at a hotel in Myrtle Beach. We all wanted to go to the beach together, so we booked it for 3 nights within an hour of finding it! Now that's spontaneous if I do say so myself.

Anyways.. here is how the trip went! :)
p.s. this will be long with a lot of pictures

Day 1- We left at 11 pm on Saturday night and ended up getting to the beach around 8:30 am Sunday. Here are some snapchats that I sent to people, and also my first pictures I took at the beach. It was cloudy on Sunday so we couldn't lay out (even though we still did). We went to dinner at Margaritaville, then we came back to our hotel, passed out at 9:30 and slept for 12 straight hours.

Day 2- We had thought about going parasailing and so we called on Monday morning when we woke up to schedule it for Tuesday. The guy told us that we could come right then and there if we wanted to, so a spur of the moment decision we were on the road to go parasailing! I am not a very spontaneous person, and I am not adventurous when it comes to this type of stuff either, so needless to say I was very nervous at first... but I really had no time to be nervous or think too much about what I was about to do! It was definitely a peaceful experience, and I can say that I am proud of myself for accomplishing this new adventure and overcoming my fears. We laid on the beach the rest of the night and then went to the Boardwalk to eat dinner and walk around. The boardwalk we were by cost $1 to walk on the pier... how crazy is that?! We got back just in time to watch the season premiere of The Bachelorette.

Day 3- One of my friends and I decided to wake up Tuesday morning to go see the sunset. It surprisingly was not that hard for me to wake up at 5:55 to go down to see it. We had a bit of a setback when our hotels pool gates were locked so we had to run through the hotel to the front door and then back around the outside of the hotel to get to the beach, but we still made it in time. Couldn't be more blessed to live in a world where there are sunrises and sunsets, and God sure does make them beautiful. His sunsets are such a great reminder of this beautiful world we live in and this beautiful life we have been given. Praise Him! We laid on the beach again that day and then went out for our last night to another shopping area/walking around and to a restaurant where they harass you (Dick's Last Resort) and needless to say one of my friends was not about that place! Sometimes though it is good to have a nice laugh. 

Day 4- I didn't get any pictures on this day. But all we did was check out of our hotel in the morning and then spend the afternoon shopping at the outlet mall before heading back home.

This was such a great trip with my friends and a much needed short little getaway to the beach. I thought I would share with you all a few thoughts from this trip...

   1. I accomplish driving on the interstate longer than 1 hour. I never had to drive on the interstate and to be honest it made me so nervous, so I can officially say at 21 that I can drive on it and am not scared! 

   2. I overcame my fear of parasailing. It is so high up and you are not strapped in all that much. I am the type of person who needs to know and feel that I am safe, I like my comfort box. Did I mention it was really high? Because it was...

   3. I am turning into a beach person. I never really had patience for laying out on the beach for hours at a time, nor did I like the ocean or the sand. But I can say that I am coming around to all of those.

   4. I feel like an adult. I don't think anything makes you (at least me) feel more like an adult than taking your first road trip without parents to a hotel and checking in yourself. Then going through the week without your parents/family. Then checking out and coming back home. I truly believe I have matured and accomplished so much lately!

Well.. I think that is about all that I can think of to share with you guys! It was a great trip and I cannot wait to go on another getaway with my friends soon. Hope that some of you get to go on a trip this summer and relax. If you made it to the end of this post, bless you. Thanks for reading!

New York Trip

For spring break this year  went back to the big apple with CSF! Last year the trip was split in half, a few days in Washington DC and a few days in New York City, so we weren't able to cross everything off our to-do list!

This years trip was a lot more relaxed and we actually had time to do the things we wanted. Throughout the week we did a lot of shopping/window shopping... surprisingly I didn't buy much while I was there, definitely a good thing!! 

I got my fill of Pinkberry in, even though I still crave it everyday. We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge at night... Still not sure how I feel about that. We went to the stop of Rockefeller Center. We even decided to be crazy and wake up at 4:30 in the morning to go to The Today Show! Definitely one of the best moments of the trip! I'm not much on a museum person, so if you all are looking for what museums I went to and what I saw, you won't find that here! We did go to Central Park Zoo though. It was small, but I really enjoyed it! I also got to visit the Freedom Tower and the memorial site for the Twin Towers.

Needless to say it was a really good trip with lots of site seeing and adventuring. I am so blessed to have been able to go to New York twice, and with all of my best friends. Definitely memories that I will cherish and have for a lifetime! Here are some of the pictures from the trip... Enjoy!