Blessed.

God has blessed me with so much!

I cannot express how thankful I am for the life I have been given.

That is all. :)

Life update.

I started talking instead of writing.

Nothing exciting, just a little life update.

Roomaversary!!!

Happy "room-aversary" Anna Parker!

We have lived together for a whole year now! I am so glad that we were roommates at CSU, that you stayed with my family this summer, and that we are all moved into our new house now!

I love you and you are one of the best and dearest friends that I have ever had.

Thank you for:

Walking through dangerous construction sites with me,

watching countless Leonardo DiCaprio movies because I have an obsession,

giving the Notebook a chance,

motivating me to start being healthy,

learning cup games with me instead of studying at 2 am,

showing me the benefits of procrastinating,

helping me through vice-president craziness,

accepting all of my weird tendencies,

listening to me rant about random annoyances in my life,

staying calm while I go insane during class,

and being a "rebellious" college student with me ;).

I'm excited to see what this year brings!

P90X Day 30

I finished phase 1 of P90X!!!

I am feeling great :)

I am already in so much better shape and am starting to see changes in my body!

I'm excited to keep going!

Day 30 Weight:

137 (+2)

Day 30 Body Fat %: 

25.86% (-.64%)

Day 30 Measurements:

neck: 13'' (-.5")

chest: 36'' (+1")

left arm:11.75'' (+.75") 

right arm: 11.75" (-.25")

waist: 29" (-1")

hips: 36'' (-1")

butt: 38'' (-.5")

left thigh: 21.5'' (-1") 

right thigh: 21.75 (-.75")

Day 30 Pictures:

Day 1 pictures here.

P90X Day 1

After a month of changing my eating habits I am ready to take on a new challenge!

I am not sure how far I will make it, but I'm starting P90X.

My goal is to gain some strength and tone up. :)

Starting Weight:
135

Starting BMI:
23.9

Starting Body Fat %:
26.5%

Starting Measurements:

neck: 13.5''

chest: 35''

arms: 11'' (L) 12'' (R)

waist: 30"

hips: 37''

butt: 38.5''

thighs: 22.5''

Starting Pictures:

Light Broccoli Quiche

Because of my recent endeavor, the 17 day diet, I am becoming quite a health freak.

AND I've been learning to cook!

My most recent recipe was light broccoli quiche that I found here.

Only 100 calories/slice and it is so yummy!

Josh the photographer

Not only does my friend Josh Wise model for me, he takes pictures of me too :)

Here were some of my favorites from this week!

And here are two awesome edits he did! They are so fun :)

Pictures of Josh Wise

I don't practice photography much, but I LOVE taking pictures of my friend Josh Wise. He is such a great model ;). I was glad to have him home for a visit and took advantage of the time for a photo shoot.

These were my favorites of him...

And here are some favorites of mine from last summer...

Thankful for my mom!

I love my mom and I have NO idea what I would do without her!

She is the most amazing person that I know.

She was tested last week for breast cancer, and was asked to come back in this week for further testing.

While I knew that it was probably just a precaution, I could not help but to worry (and worry, and worry, and worry some more).

PRAISE GOD, her tests this morning came back clear!

I cannot express how relieved and thankful I feel right now.

Shine your light, but don't live in darkness

"Do not set foot on the path of the wicked 

or walk in the way of wicked men."

Proverbs 4:14

Becoming friendly with sin is a dangerous! How can you not expect it to affect your life??

It is so easy to confuse loving others with accepting their sinfulness.
And, whether we want to admit it or not, we are influenced by those by those that surround us.
Keep shining your light in the dark, but don't use it as an excuse to live there!

"He who walks with the wise grows wise,

but a companion of fools suffers harm."

Proverbs 13:20

"seize the day"

"A couple of hundred years ago, Benjamin Franklin shared with the world the secret of his success. 'Never leave that till tomorrow,' he said, 'Which you can do today.' 

...I don’t know why we put things off, but if I had to guess, I’d say it has a lot to do with fear. Fear of failure. Fear of pain. Fear of rejection. Sometimes the fear is just of making a decision, because... what if you’re wrong? What if you make a mistake you can’t undo?  

The early bird catches the worm; a stitch in time saves nine. He who hesitates is lost. We can't pretend we haven't been told. We've all heard the proverbs, heard the philosophers, heard our grandparents warning us about wasted time, heard the damn poets urging us to ‘seize the day'. 

Still sometimes we have to see for ourselves. We have to make our own mistakes. We have to learn our own lessons. We have to sweep today's possibility under tomorrow's rug until we can't anymore, until we finally understand for ourselves like Benjamin Franklin meant. 

That knowing is better than wondering, that waking is better than sleeping. And that even the biggest failure, even the worst most intractable mistake beats the hell out of never trying."

-Meredith Grey 

Spring Break!

It's been a while...

I'm LOVING that it is spring break!!! :D

It's been great so far...

 I LOVED spending the weekend in the mountains :)

 I LOVED hiking to see these falls :)

I LOVED hanging out with awesome people :) 

I'm LOVING that my week isn't over yet :)

What are you LOVING today?

College Elective Courses

I am sitting in psychology 101.
I took this elective because I thought that it would be interesting.
It is not.
However, this is not the information's fault, it is the professor's.
Apparently a 100 level course at a university should be the equivalent of that at a middle school.

I have realized that I hate intro-courses, which is what my electives primarily consist of.
I would rather take a 300/400 level political science or history class any day.

Unfortunately, I am taking my last two of those classes this semester.
That means that my next to semesters will be filled with these pointless electives
Rather than allowing me to continue taking political science and history classes, I have to make myself a "well-rounded individual" by studying other subjects.
I thought that was the point of my core classes, which I have also already completed.

So, rather than furthering my studies in history and political science, which would make just a tiny bit of sense, I will be taking 30 hours of electives my senior year.
30 hours.


So, it would make sense to add another major or minor, right?
Apparently not, because Charleston Southern University's process in adding majors/minors is insanely ridiculous.

I am a tiny bit frustrated.