I am admittedly a Taylor Swift superfan. Anyone who has ever been my roommate when a new T-Swift album comes out can tell you that I play those songs until I have every single lyric memorized. When Taylor talks about her last album, "Speak Now," she always says that at that point in her life, she was all about saying the things that needed to be said, never holding anything back, and never thinking "what if" about a situation in her life. She wanted to be so invested and have such a role in her own life that "speaking now" and having intentional conversations with people was important to her.
I feel like that is an area that's become more important to me in my life. I've never been one to share anything that happens in my life, and don't like to bother other people with my life or my problems. However, it surprises me every time how much I can learn about a person after sitting down with them. I've realized and come to appreciate the value that comes from having genuine conversation with people. "Speaking now" and opening up my heart to someone or telling them my story gives them an insight to the person I am.
Being able to talk to people like Sam, Veronica, Vettie, Jordan, Mark, Grace, Kaelin, Bennett, and Josie this semester has resulted in some of the greatest and most rewarding conversations that I have ever been a part of. Finding out how much people care about me and genuinely desire to be a part of my life, I realize how blessed and thankful I am for the life I'm lucky enough to live.
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Monday, November 5, 2012
I dare ya.
"So wake up and get motivated;
not everybody made it to today.
Don’t take your time for granted.
Don’t waste time thinking back to what you could have done differently yesterday.
Keep your eyes on the road ahead and do it differently today.
Wherever the road takes you, bring your passion.
Whatever you do along the way, do it with all your heart."
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
"If this isn't nice, I don't know what is"
Fall break is one of the greatest things that Drake does for its students. We get the Monday and Tuesday off of school following midterms week, and it is the perfect break that you didn't even know you needed. I decided to make the most of it, and went to visit a bunch of my friends who live and go to school in Indiana. I always say and wish that I could see them more often, so I decided to make the most of my time off.
After my last midterm on Friday, I jumped into my pre-packed car and drove home to Peoria and went to tennis sectionals. I got a great big welcome home hug from Michelle as she was walking of the courts which was exactly what I needed. I just love the girl and miss the days when we were both at home after school and would hang out and procrastinate and eat nachos together. I got to see Coach Shaw and Tiffany and Claire and all the RHS tennis girls. It reminded me how much I miss being on a team like that, spending all of your time together for an entire season.
After sectionals were over, we went out to dinner as a family. It's rare and precious time when the four of us are all together these days, but I'm trying to treasure the moments. It was good to just sit together and talk and eat and share stories and laugh and smile. I love my family so much and have become even more grateful for them as I've grown older.
Saturday morning, I woke up to pumpkin muffins for breakfast, the epitome of fall, and then headed to Purdue to visit Kellie and camp friends. Through all the craziness of homecoming and rain and road trip problems, I made it to AXO and got to meet Megan and Katie and Hillary and then go visit Maureen, my high school tennis doubles partner. I love Indiana and it was great to just hang out and be real life friends with Kel for a while. We're pretty good at maintaining our long-distance friendship, but it's just more fun to hang out together.
Sunday morning Kellie and I went to church together with her friends and then got to meet up with Jamie and Abby for lunch. I miss my camp friends so much and all three of these girls have been such big parts of the past two summers for me. It's crazy that we don't see each other for the majority of the year, but they're still so important to me.
Then I drove off towards Indianapolis, with a detour to Edinburgh Outlet Mall. My mom and I met up to do some shopping and spend time together since she was on her way to Kentucky for work for the week. It was great to be together just the two of us for a few more hours while I was back from Iowa.
In Indy, I got to eat Monical's pizza with Sarah and Julia and loved this mini camp reunion. I loved hearing about Julia's freshman year in high school and being with Sar is always great. We talked and told stories and quizzed Julia on Tecumseh counselors and then sang new Taylor Swift at the tops of our lungs in the car. Nothing could have been better.
Since Sar had school on Monday, I got to hang out and have Indy adventures on my own. I went for an awesome morning run on the Monon, which I am officially obsessed with, did homework at Starbucks, took an afternoon nap, and drove around Indy. Then I met Sarah at the new HSE junior high building to see her classroom and where she loves spending so much of her time. She's so good at making it a fun and inspiring environment for learning and writing and creating.
Next on our agenda was HSE Young Life leadership and dinner. I loved meeting Abby and Ryan and Molly and @kcraiginthehouse and everyone else. They're such a fun and hilarious group of leaders who are really figuring out what HSE YL is going to be. Going to club and seeing everyone pumped to be hanging out together is so much of what Young Life is about. Being there really made me miss it, but also remember how great and impacting this community is. Seeing camp girls like Maddy and Hannah and Ellie was a great surprise. I love that they're still walking with God and that it's a priority in their lives, not just a camp thing.
Sarah is such a great friend to be with and I loved that we could hang out in person for a few days. I'm thankful that she's someone who I can be crazy with, have real talk about life, will encourage me and challenge me, and is constantly a great example of friendship in my life. So glad that we got to live life together for a while. We keep dreaming and talking about the day when we will be friends and Young Life leaders together.
On my way back to Peoria, I stopped at Illinois State for lunch with Alyssa. Neither of us could remember the last time we saw each other, so needless to say, it was overdue. I love talking to this girl and even though we had so much to catch up on, she just gets me and knows me and my heart and who I am. I'm so glad that she's so happy at ISU and in AGD and loves life like she's so good at doing.
When I rolled back into Peoria, Michelle had just arrived home and we spontaneously decided to drop by the new Sletten residence for a visit. They were heading off to gymnastics class, but I loved surprising Lyza and Lucy, seeing Alice and how much she's grown, and just catching up with Summer. Thankfully, Lyza hasn't forgotten me and we're still best friends, Lucy is obviously as cute as can be, Alice is the cutest toddler, and Summer still loves me like I'm still her high school senior Campaigners girl.
I found this quote on Pinterest and it totally describes this Fall Break for me. I loved that it was all about seeing friends and catching up and loving them in real life. It's complicated to have friends all over and so far away sometimes, but it was so "nice" that I had the opportunity to see so many of my favorite people and be reminded of how great my friends are.
After my last midterm on Friday, I jumped into my pre-packed car and drove home to Peoria and went to tennis sectionals. I got a great big welcome home hug from Michelle as she was walking of the courts which was exactly what I needed. I just love the girl and miss the days when we were both at home after school and would hang out and procrastinate and eat nachos together. I got to see Coach Shaw and Tiffany and Claire and all the RHS tennis girls. It reminded me how much I miss being on a team like that, spending all of your time together for an entire season.
After sectionals were over, we went out to dinner as a family. It's rare and precious time when the four of us are all together these days, but I'm trying to treasure the moments. It was good to just sit together and talk and eat and share stories and laugh and smile. I love my family so much and have become even more grateful for them as I've grown older.
Saturday morning, I woke up to pumpkin muffins for breakfast, the epitome of fall, and then headed to Purdue to visit Kellie and camp friends. Through all the craziness of homecoming and rain and road trip problems, I made it to AXO and got to meet Megan and Katie and Hillary and then go visit Maureen, my high school tennis doubles partner. I love Indiana and it was great to just hang out and be real life friends with Kel for a while. We're pretty good at maintaining our long-distance friendship, but it's just more fun to hang out together.
Sunday morning Kellie and I went to church together with her friends and then got to meet up with Jamie and Abby for lunch. I miss my camp friends so much and all three of these girls have been such big parts of the past two summers for me. It's crazy that we don't see each other for the majority of the year, but they're still so important to me.
Then I drove off towards Indianapolis, with a detour to Edinburgh Outlet Mall. My mom and I met up to do some shopping and spend time together since she was on her way to Kentucky for work for the week. It was great to be together just the two of us for a few more hours while I was back from Iowa.
In Indy, I got to eat Monical's pizza with Sarah and Julia and loved this mini camp reunion. I loved hearing about Julia's freshman year in high school and being with Sar is always great. We talked and told stories and quizzed Julia on Tecumseh counselors and then sang new Taylor Swift at the tops of our lungs in the car. Nothing could have been better.
Since Sar had school on Monday, I got to hang out and have Indy adventures on my own. I went for an awesome morning run on the Monon, which I am officially obsessed with, did homework at Starbucks, took an afternoon nap, and drove around Indy. Then I met Sarah at the new HSE junior high building to see her classroom and where she loves spending so much of her time. She's so good at making it a fun and inspiring environment for learning and writing and creating.
Next on our agenda was HSE Young Life leadership and dinner. I loved meeting Abby and Ryan and Molly and @kcraiginthehouse and everyone else. They're such a fun and hilarious group of leaders who are really figuring out what HSE YL is going to be. Going to club and seeing everyone pumped to be hanging out together is so much of what Young Life is about. Being there really made me miss it, but also remember how great and impacting this community is. Seeing camp girls like Maddy and Hannah and Ellie was a great surprise. I love that they're still walking with God and that it's a priority in their lives, not just a camp thing.
Sarah is such a great friend to be with and I loved that we could hang out in person for a few days. I'm thankful that she's someone who I can be crazy with, have real talk about life, will encourage me and challenge me, and is constantly a great example of friendship in my life. So glad that we got to live life together for a while. We keep dreaming and talking about the day when we will be friends and Young Life leaders together.
On my way back to Peoria, I stopped at Illinois State for lunch with Alyssa. Neither of us could remember the last time we saw each other, so needless to say, it was overdue. I love talking to this girl and even though we had so much to catch up on, she just gets me and knows me and my heart and who I am. I'm so glad that she's so happy at ISU and in AGD and loves life like she's so good at doing.
When I rolled back into Peoria, Michelle had just arrived home and we spontaneously decided to drop by the new Sletten residence for a visit. They were heading off to gymnastics class, but I loved surprising Lyza and Lucy, seeing Alice and how much she's grown, and just catching up with Summer. Thankfully, Lyza hasn't forgotten me and we're still best friends, Lucy is obviously as cute as can be, Alice is the cutest toddler, and Summer still loves me like I'm still her high school senior Campaigners girl.
I found this quote on Pinterest and it totally describes this Fall Break for me. I loved that it was all about seeing friends and catching up and loving them in real life. It's complicated to have friends all over and so far away sometimes, but it was so "nice" that I had the opportunity to see so many of my favorite people and be reminded of how great my friends are.
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