New Decade, New Room

This weekend I moved into the sorority house. I get to spend the next 9ish months, waking up, eating meals, watching ridiculous TV shows, studying, praying, getting ready, sharing life, and having a blast with 40 or so of my best friends. We make fun of people overusing this hashtag but I am downright #blessed. 

This post would not be complete without a little shout-out to my new roommate! Tori says she remembers meeting me on bid day last year but I was way too overwhelmed to remember anyone's name that day. My first memory of Tori is from the first football game of the season last year. As little baby freshmen a group of Chi-Os and myself wandered around from tailgate to tailgate not really knowing how the whole thing worked. We had all thought the whole pre-game thing would be a lot more glamorous than it was, but we also hardly knew anyone at that point. Anyways, while standing around praying the minutes leading up to the game would fly by I remember Tori standing there, arms crossed, saying something along the lines of "Well I'm just annoyed there isn't something more organized for us to be doing right now. I don't want to just walk around from tailgate to tailgate." From that moment on I knew that this type A, organization craving, room cleaning, coffee drinking, Taylor Swift loving, beautiful blonde girl was going to be one of my best friends. Let's be honest, we are practically the same person.

Us at that first football game, throw whatcha know

There are so many super exciting things about being in college, but being the nerd that I am, getting to decorate my bedroom each year is one of the most exciting parts of all! If you looked at the history on my computer you would see numerous visits to Pottery Barn,  Anthropologie's home section, Ballard Designs, and of course Pinterest. I could spend hours a day scouring these websites for home decor inspiration, and I often do despite the many items on my to-do list. Here is a little tour of my new room, the product of an embarrassing amount of hours spent on Pinterest.  

Here is the before picture, so empty, white, and sad!
 (This is Tori's side, I didn't remember to take a before shot until after I had moved boxes in)

After

Here is the area above my bed. The fabric garland was so easy to make and I love that it adds more color to the wall. Tori and I have different bedding but we both made these with the same fabrics to tie everything together! I found the tutorial for it here.

Close up of my shelves. I've been collecting little knick-knacks from places like Hobby Lobby, Michaels, Joanns, Francesca's etc. all summer. I found the idea for the monogrammed wood pallet on Pinterest. All the other crafty pieces were made with love from my big, Alex :)

I bought this piece at an antique store in downtown McKinney last summer. I love that I can display my pictures and some of my jewelry. Also, check out those cute little tiny pictures. I bought them from this website that prints 3x3 Instagram pictures!

One more view of my side :)

Fun Fact: My cousin Sara was a Chi-O at Texas A&M too. The room I am living in and the bed I am sleeping in are the same room and bed she had when she lived here!

The only thing missing in my room right now are these adorable prints I ordered on Etsy from a little shop called, The Wheatfield. They are technically greeting cards but I plan on using an 8x10 frame with a 5x7 mat to display one or two of them! Aren't they so cute?

Hope you enjoyed the little tour! If you have any questions about where anything is from or how I made something, I would love to hear from you!

So I Decided to Start a Blog

I know that I don't have to justify my decision to start a blog, but I figured it would be the best way to introduce myself to the blogging world. I work better using lists so here we go:

reason.one

In a little over a month I turn 20. I will feel no different on September 11th than I did on September 10th. I won't feel older. I won't feel wiser. I won't feel more mature. I won't have my life any more figured out.  I definitely won't grow any taller. I probably won't stop eating princess shaped fruit snacks. But let's face it, I haven't had too many decades go by in my life so starting a new one is a pretty big deal! 
I used to tell myself, "I can't wait until I'm married and I have kids (or just a dog) so that I have interesting stuff to blog about." That is not the mentality I should have. Why can't I find interesting stuff to blog about where I am right now, entering this new decade? This brings me to reason two.

reason.two

I'm about as "Type A" as it gets. I find joy in writing in my agenda and making to-do lists. Don't get me started on crossing things off my to-do list...I might get worked up. Although I do believe that this mentality has gotten me far in life, well maybe not in life, just in school, I realize that God does not call us to live a life where we are constantly looking towards the next big event. Every day that we wake up is a gift certainly not promised by God. Every day is another opportunity to share Christ's love to others, a task we should be joyful about. My hope is that with this blog I can reflect more on what I'm being blessed with right now in my life, not what I am anticipating in the future. 

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." Matthew 6:33-34

reason.three

I'm the baby of the family. My sister is a 23-year-old 1st grade teacher who recently moved into her own apartment, which means when I leave again for school in a couple weeks, my parents will be first time empty-nesters! Now I know I technically still live there, it's my permanent address, but for about 8 of the 12 months of the year I will be off in College Station, leaving my parents bored and alone, wondering what to do with their life! Who are they going to take shopping? Who are they going to cook dinner for? Who is going to make them laugh? Who is going to keep them hip and cool? Who are they going to tuck in every night? Okay maybe it's been awhile since they've tucked me in, but still, this is a new stage in life for them! So this is sort of a gift for them. Phone calls between class can be pretty short and surface-level so this will be a way for them to keep up with their crazy college kid. 

Meet the Family

                 dying Easter eggs with my dad and sister       family vacation to Mexico in 2012

my mom and me in NJ last spring break on a mission trip

I hope that those reasons are good enough for me to be accepted into the world of blogging! Join me as I take on this new decade and new adventure in my life!