ups & downs

Life is crazy. That's just how it works sometimes. There's things you can't control but there's also things you can. The hardest thing for me to deal with in life is change. Change is inevitable, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse, but it's always something we have to deal with.

Over the past few weeks my life's had a lot of big changes. Some really tough ones, and some that have made life happier. I dated a boy for about three and a half years sincem y sophomore year of high school, and I basically let the amount of time we'd been together dictate how I was living my life, which isn't how I wanted it to be. So I decided to end things, and it's been a tough couple weeks, but I know that it's what God wanted for me. And I believe that it's for the better, no matter how hard things are right now. My best friends have been so great through all of it, and i'm so blessed by that.

One of my best friends, Annie, has been my rock through all of this hard times. She's the person I call as soon as I feel hurt or sad about something. She always has the perfect most encouraging words to say, and she always has. I'm so so so lucky to have someone like her to rely on when I need someone there for me. During my first year of college, we were both really struggling with long distance relationships as well as time away from our families, and just the change of being thrown into a new life so much different than high school. But we made it through it together, and we've made it through all the hardships this past year together, and i've been so blessed by her because through all the bad times our friendship has just grown stronger.

At the beginning of my freshmen year of college my best friend Ashley was talking to me about how I needed to go into my freshmen year and not be held back by my relationship, and of course I chose to ignore her because i'm too stubborn to take her advice. But, I should've listened. When all this change of life was thrown at me I just wanted the comfort of my old relationship, when I just should've been excited about a new life. Well, Ashley was right, it's hard to be held to a relationship when your not in the same place as that person, especially when your trying to go out and meet people and you feel yourself saying no just because you don't think you should.

Ashley was right, and i'm so excited about the next few years of my life without restriction. I'm ready to live life to the fullest and make the best out of everything that's thrown my way.

This past weekend my friend Abby came down to visit me for a few days. I really needed some time to forget about the hard parts of life and just have fun with her. I met Abby at school this past year, she played basketball with me. Well she actually played, while I sat on the bench and cheered. But I really struggled to find my place at college, knowing nobody I was really lonely. And Abby really helped shape the person I am, and she gave me the friendship I needed to make all the chaos of my life a lot easier. This last year wouldn't have gone near as well without her around, and I owe a lot of my happiness to her. She's one of the most genuinely kind and caring people i've met in my entire life, and I hope she finds happiness wherever she chooses to go in these next few years of her life after college. 

As you can see, I've really been blessed by all the wonderful people God has put in my life, and I just wanted to give him a big shoutout, because without him all of the things that are hard in life would tear me down. But with him, he raises me up and makes every moment happier.

p.s. you may say where are the good things that have happened in the past few weeks, because all I talked about were the bad ones, but that's just the thing. The bad things were the good things because of the people in my life that I love and that love me, and make me see all the positive sides of the hard situations.

:)

YAYYYY!!!

When I was in Utah last summer I become slightly obsessed with something called frozen yogurt (froyo if your cool).. and when I was forced to come home from Utah I went through extreme withdrawals from it
What you do is pick what size you want, then pick what flavor of the frozen yogurt you want. After you pick your flavor you get to pick what kind of candy and fruits and stuff you want to put in it :) so basically you make the whole thing yourself and it tastes FANTASTIC, and it tastes better and is healthier for you than regular ice cream is..

Well all of my excitment behind this post is due to the fact that Sioux Falls now has TWO frozen yogurt places, yes I said two. And i'm sooooo stoked about it. Cherry Berry is my favorite of the two

and it's right next to panera bread, which is just as superb and they didn't have one where I went to college so it's like a two-for-one afternoon of tastiness and i'm so so so excited about it, just a little reminder of a week in Utah i'll never forget :)

good tunes

So, music rocks. It pretty much dictates my mood, but just because something sounds cool doesn't mean i'm gonna be a big fan of it, it's got to have good lyrics.

My current obsession, as seen above, is PARACHUTE.. their new album just came out this week and it's basically all I listen to, it's fantastic. They are one of the few bands that actually put feelings into their lyrics instead of singing about nonsense like the stuff on the radio half the time.

They pretty much ROCK my world.

So if you're looking for something to put you in a good mood, or just something to listen to in your free time, give these guys a shot :) I hope you enjoy!

p.s. if you happen to be an oth fan, kate voegele's new album is also pretty super :) just an fyi

the inspiration behind this whole thing..

Well, since this is my first blog post I thougth I should explain myself a little. This (above) is my best friend ashley, she's pretty super, and facebook brought us together.. or maybe it was fate, but i like the facebook story better. She's going to school all the way out in basically the sweetest place ever, Utah. So because we dont' get to talk much and never see each other basically the only way I keep up on her crazy chaotic life is through her blog.

Today she texted me and told me that I needed to have one, not that my life is anywhere near as cool as hers, but hopefully I can find something to talk about occassionally. I'm not promising anything super exciting or cool, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

So, here you go ash.. missssss youuuuu :)