Summer Bucket List

5 / 15 / 195 / 14 / 19

It’s officially summer! I just took my last AP exam- ever- on Monday and I’m out for break! Three months of no school and sunny weather, I’m so excited. I have such a fun summer planned with a few trips at the beginning of June, but other than that, I’ll be working a lot and spending lots of time in Oxford. I really want to make the most of my last summer before college and do as many fun things as possible. I feel like last year I really took summer for granted and wasted so much time inside or on my phone, and I’m not making the same mistake this time! I browsed Pinterest and came up with a big list of everything I want to do this summer- let’s see how many I can check off!

A few random ones that didn’t make the list but I just thought of:

get my third piercing
get a hair wrap/hair tinsel
watch all the avengers movies

I have such a good feeling about this summer, I’m seriously so excited. Late nights watching movies, countless hours tanning and reading by the pool, watermelon every single day, shorts and birkenstocks are the daily uniform, trips to the lake with my brothers, I could go on and on. Let’s hope summer 2019 is the best one yet!

Habits I Want to Add to My Daily Routine

5 / 10 / 195 / 9 / 19

I don’t know why, but something about the warm weather and the thought of summer always puts me in such a motivated, energetic mood. Recently I’ve just been feeling so inspired to better myself and make tiny changes to my routine. I’ve been reading lots of blog posts, watching youtube videos, and browsing Pinterest and have just gotten inspired to work hard and stay consistent with my goals. I think it’s all about making small changes but not backing down on them and giving up after a few days (which is what I usually do, ha). I’ve heard that 21 days makes a habit, so I’m going to try and do these every day of May and see if they become a habitual routine. It’s also nice that I get out of school soon so I’ll have no excuse that I “didn’t have time” to finish this list of habits.

April Recap

5 / 3 / 195 / 2 / 19

How the heck is it May? April went by so fast, it was a blur. I graduate this month…what? I really tried to make the most of April and make memories because it was my last full month of high school before exams and AP tests and the busyness of graduation. Even though April went by fast for me, SO much happened, probably more than any other month so far. There were lots of track meets, sunny weather, yummy recipes, and fun days, but I also had a couple of really hard weeks in the middle of April that I grew a lot through. I got really sick the night of my senior prom and ended up having to stay at the hospital for two nights. It really taught me to prioritize my health and nutrition and to make the most of every day. Ever since I started recovering and feeling better, I’ve had such a better outlook on life. I feel so much happier and I couldn’t have asked for a better ending to the month.

Daily Workouts + Summer Health Goals

5 / 1 / 194 / 30 / 19

Ever since this past fall during cross country season, I have gotten suuuuper into running. I’ve always run cross country and enjoyed it, but I’ve almost always had bad shin problems so it was super painful to run. This season I was able to run almost pain free, so I ran so much more than my other seasons and really fell in love with it. While I ran a lot, I didn’t actually do many other workouts/strength training. We did some in cross country season, but I realized that October was the last time I did regular plyometrics! A few days ago I got a sudden burst of motivation to start doing daily workouts and get into a regular workout routine. Hopefully I can keep up the motivation and stick with my health goals, especially with summer fast approaching!

Photo Diary No. 1

4 / 24 / 194 / 23 / 19

As I was looking through some of my old posts the other day, I realize that while I do share a lot of life updates and personal posts, I don’t share that many of my own photos. I used to take pictures all the time of my outfits specifically for the blog, but I haven’t really found time to do that in forever, and I never really had any other pictures that I thought were cute enough to add to posts. I really want to start adding more of my own photos, even if they are just random snapshots. So I went back through my camera roll over the past month or so and collected a bunch of pictures I thought I’d share + explain. It’s kind of a life update and photo dump all in one!

Summer Style Inspo

4 / 22 / 194 / 22 / 19

I know we still have a couple of months until summer, but the warmer the weather gets, the more I start to look forward to summer fashion. I’m so ready to put away all my sweaters and bring out the shorts and tank tops. I feel like I say it every year, but this summer I’m really going to try to step out with my style. It’s so easy to reach for the nike shorts and t-shirts every time I’m going somewhere, but I really want to wear cuter clothes and put more effort into my looks. Pinterest is my biggest source of inspo for outfit ideas, but it can be dangerous because I immediately want to buy any of the clothes I come across. 😉

My Recent Everyday Essentials

4 / 19 / 19

Happy Friday everyone! It’s an early weekend for me because of the Good Friday holiday, and it was nice to finish school yesterday and remember that I didn’t have school the next day. Then I found out we don’t have school Monday either, which was definitely a nice surprise! I’m super excited about this Easter weekend. Tonight my family is driving up to Clinton, where we used to live, to spend the night and visit some old friends, and hopefully Saturday we can do a little shopping. Oxford doesn’t have a Target, so any trip to a bigger town means a Target run is inevitable :). Then later on Saturday afternoon we’re going to visit family on my dad’s mom’s side for Easter, and the next day is one of my favorite holidays! I’ve always loved Easter and the traditions behind it. We do easter baskets and the morning church service, and then around lunch I think we are going to our other grandparent’s house for the annual egg hunt. You’re never too old for Easter egg hunts, right?

Hello April + Spring Bucket List

4 / 9 / 194 / 8 / 19

Spring is finally here! After a long, dreary winter, it makes me so happy to see the sun shining and flowers blooming when I step outside. The temperatures have been slowly but surely rising, and when I checked the weather for this week, it’s supposed to be high 70s every day! I’m really looking forward to April. I plan to spend as much time outside as I can and take full advantage of the sun. It’s also my last full month of school left before graduation, so I’m going to try and do as many fun things with my friends as possible before we all go our separate ways.

March Recap

3 / 31 / 193 / 31 / 19

I cannot believe how fast March went by. It both amazes me and scares me how fast time is flying these days. One half of me can’t wait for summer and for school to be out, but the other half of me wants time to slow down because that means it’s time for graduation, and high school will be over forever… March was a great month for me though, it’s probably been the best month of 2019 so far. We had our first few track meets, I went to Europe for the first time over spring break, and it’s finally starting to warm up here! The past two weeks have been warm and sunny- the perfect spring weather. After such a long, cold winter, I’m almost afraid to wake up one day and it be back to 40s, but the temps have been consistently in the 60s and 70s- literally perfect.

Italy Photo Diary

3 / 27 / 193 / 31 / 19

It’s been a little over a week since I got back from Italy, and I think I’m finally fully recovered from jetlag! The only other country I’d ever been to was Honduras, which was only an hour ahead, so this was my first real experience with it. Italy was six hours ahead, so coming back home and trying to get on a regular sleep schedule was rough for the first few days. Italy was such a crazy experience. I touched on it a bit in my last post, but it was nothing like I thought it would be. It was a lot of talking and meeting new Italians and forming relationships with them. The main portion of the week was spent on campus, but we had three days of free time, one in Amalfi and two in Rome! Needless to say, I got some great pictures that I’ve finally taken the time to sit down and edit. Half of these are the different pasta dishes I ate, ha! Enjoy!

My Favorite Oatmeal Recipe Ever

3 / 23 / 193 / 26 / 19

Does anyone else find one recipe they like and just make it over and over until they get tired of it? That’s me with this oatmeal, but I hope I never get tired of eating it; it’s just so good. I’ve always been an oatmeal fan, but my usual recipe would be peanut butter-chocolate oats. I made this over and over and never really branched out. One day, I noticed we had a bunch of frozen berries that needed to be used up, and I decided to branch out and experiment with a new flavor of oatmeal bowl. That’s when my famous “berry vanilla oatmeal” recipe was born, and I haven’t stopped eating it since. I make it allll the time. A few weeks ago I had it for breakfast Friday, dinner Saturday, and breakfast and dinner Sunday! It’s the perfect blend of sweet with some savory flavors and crunches, and it’s super healthy for you!

the good life.

3 / 21 / 193 / 20 / 19

I wrote this in the notes app on my phone on the plane home from Italy. It’s really ramble-y and personal and kind of all over the place, but it’s one of my favorite things I’ve written. Italy was such an eye opening experience. I learned so much and really grew in my faith over the week, but it wasn’t all sunshine and happy times. Italy was an experience I’ll never forget, and it made me appreciate the little things in life. Enjoy.

Italy Packing List

3 / 6 / 193 / 5 / 19

Spring break is almost here! I officially leave for Italy in two days…what? Time went by so fast, I didn’t realize how quickly the trip was approaching until Sunday when one of my friends who is also going asked me if I was excited for this weekend. I honestly hadn’t even thought about how soon it was, which was both a fun surprise but also an added stress. I had so much to do to prepare in just a few days! I’m a very list-oriented person, so I knew I would feel better after making a packing list. After looking through my closet, browsing pinterest tips, and getting advice from people who’ve gone in the past, I’ve finally compiled a complete list of everything I’m going to be taking.

February Recap

3 / 1 / 193 / 3 / 19

It literally felt like I was just sitting down to write my January Recap, and here we are almost a month later with February under our belts! It’s crazy, those two extra days February is missing makes it seem like it goes by so much faster. February summed up in one word would probably be: chill. It was a really relaxed month- not a huge load of schoolwork, slow shifts at work, and lots of cozy nights at home. I didn’t get as many of my February Goals done as I’d hoped, but it just makes me more motivated for next month!