It’s been relatively quiet on the blog for a while now, but not because I haven’t had things going on. Quite the opposite really–I’ve been super busy! I’m excited to update you guys on what’s been happening and share some stories with you. Without further ado, here’s what’s been going on in my life since April.

1. I learned how to embroider! I realized that I legitimately have no hobbies. I guess this blog could be considered a hobby, but clearly I haven’t been updating it enough for that. Anyway, most of what I enjoyed doing during my free time in high school has become my course of study in college. While I still have fun reading and writing, they’re my livelihood now, not my hobbies. So I decided to learn a new skill, and I took a class on embroidery from Christy Hill Embroidery. She’s phenomenal at what she does, so you should check out her shop. This is the first hoop I completed with the pattern from her class. I got to learn five different stitches. Since then, I’ve completed a few other projects, mainly on clothing. It’s super fun, and I love the results.

2. I won an award! Over my Christmas break I worked pretty hard to write an essay over a lesson plan I created for my Shakespeare class. It was an honor’s contract project (which just means I did it as an extra thing for honor’s credit), and my professor really liked it. With the essay and the lesson plan, I ended up submitting my material to the Undergraduate Research Conference at SFA, and I won Top Scholar for my college. It was so humbling since I’ve only been at school for two years, but it was such a blessing to get to present my work to professors and students. God was surely at work there. Here’s what my plaque looks like; it’s probably nicer than my diploma will be.

3. I started a new job! I recently started working as a youth intern for the church I attend in Nac. It’s so sweet getting to see the Lord work in the lives of our students, and it’s a good experience for me to get to be around this age group. They can certainly be a handful at times, but I love them all dearly!

4. Nacogdoches blueberry festival! I’m not the biggest fan of blueberries, but our town has an annual blueberry festival every summer, and apparently it’s a pretty big deal. Since I’m in town year-round now, I actually got to go this year. It was really fun just getting to see people celebrating, eating blueberries, and playing music. I tried something called the Texas Twister drink, which was basically just a ton of citrus juice (delicious and refreshing; it was so hot outside). We also got to listen to some bluegrass and country music from different bands, and I got to try a blueberry lavender macaron. Yum!

5. Six flags! Part of being a youth intern means going to all the summer events, and that included Six Flags this year. Now, I used to be afraid of rollercoasters because my first one was the Texas Giant when it was still completely wood (eek!). Since then, I’ve gotten much better about rollercoasters (thanks Disney), and I enjoy them more now. Still, I was slightly nervous about Six Flags because of my track record with the coasters there. Turns out, there was nothing to be nervous about. I loved all the rides we went on! We rode the Batman, the Riddler, the Runaway Mine Train, the Texas Giant, the Titan, the River Rapids, the Justice League, and the Sombrero. We started out with the Batman, which does corkscrews upside down, and I was kind of scared that my glasses would fall off. They didn’t though, and I had a lot of fun. I’d never been upside down on a coaster before, but it wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be. As for the other rides, they were a blast, even though I almost blacked out on the Titan. What can I say, the pressure on those turns is intense!

6. Camp! Another event we had for our youth was a weeklong trip to North Carolina for a four day camp experience. Ridgecrest is absolutely beautiful, and being in the mountains for a few days made that eleven hour bus ride worth it. My job was mostly to take pictures of the kids as they did their different rec activities, but I did get to hike a mountain with an amazing view! 

7. I made a spontaneous trip to Hot Springs, Arkansas! I might end up making a full post about this, but I went with two friends to Hot Springs National Park on a whim, and it was so much fun. I got to bond with those friends as we made the drive, and we got to see the hot springs. They lived up to their name and were really hot. I couldn’t submerge more than my hand! We also climbed to the top of that mountain and were rewarded with a great view. 

8. We had a cookie decorating contest! My summer really has been full. We hosted a cookie decorating competition for our youth one night, and they really brought their A game. We were expecting them to just make normal Christmas cookie type things, but they went all out! We had some pretty creative entries including Barney with balloons (the winner) and cookies of our entire youth staff (including my boss’ infant son). I made some pretty good pink fire trucks, but they paled in comparison to what everyone else put forth.

9. My brother got married! I’ll definitely have to make a separate post about this once the pictures come in, but my family flew out to Virginia to watch my brother finally tie the knot with his fiance. It was so special and fun, and the cake was really good too. Plus, I found Blacksburg to be an inspiring setting. Maybe you’ll hear more about that later, but for now you can enjoy this picture of me with a slice of pizza.

That mostly brings you up to date on what’s been going on. Again, there might be room for expansion on some things, but if you’ve been wondering where I’ve been, here’s your answer. 

Keep rockin’ and rollin’!