I made a decision a week ago that I wasn’t expecting to make.  No worries… everything is okay!  I am trying to be patient and grow closer to God during this time so I know the outcome will be the best thing for me.  Accepting that His will is far better than my own gave me the strength for what I did. 

I am spending this time to study Proverbs.  What an incredible book, it’s precisely what I need to read right now. 

A few things that I have realized the past couple of days… 

1.   Fear the Lord to have TRUE knowledge. {1:7}

2.   Tune your ears to WISDOM, search for them like silver. {2:2-4}

3.   You will have WISE choices and UNDERSTANDING. {2:11}

4.   TRUST in the Lord and depend on Him. {3:5-6}

In all those verses that stand out to me the words that I love are so beautiful. 

TRUE.  WISDOM/WISE.  UNDERSTANDING.  TRUST.

The only way we can reach those things are by God’s love and following Him completely.  Even if that means doing something that you don’t want to do.  Not knowing what the outcome will be but praying for God’s WILL and not your own.  Having complete faith and peace with everything because you know you aren’t in control… HE is in control.  Learning to say…

 “GOD, I give you EVERYTHING!  

All of my life is YOURS 

and you can control it!!”

That is something I have never done until a week ago.  I’ve said that’s what I was doing but I was only being deceitful… trying to believe that’s what I was doing but knowing all along that it was a complete lie. 

I’m so glad I finally made a decision.  I have complete peace in everything now, and that is a great feeling. 

Ummm.... No, thanks!

As I mentioned yesterday, I was planning on giving you an update on the “detox”

………well, it didn’t happen! 

I woke up this morning feeling a little achy for some reason but didn’t really think anything of it.  I drank the first detox drink which consists of:

1 cup of water
1 Tsp Psyllium Husk powder
1 Tsp Bentonite Clay

Psyllium and Bentonite clay don't mix well with water, so shake up the mixture for a few seconds then quickly drink it before it settles.

Drink another extra large glass of water immediately after.

Both these ingredients are great for detox. The Bentonite clay soaks up toxins, and the Psyllium pushes waste matter out through your colon.

(From thecandidadiet.com)

I knew it was going to be tough, especially since I would have to drink THAT 3 times a day for 7 days but I thought I could do it.  I guess all the achy feelings I had this morning was due to my sore throat that started around 11. 

By that time I had already taken one detox drink and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be but I guess it didn’t help with the aches.  It only took 20 minutes after the drink to start having the chills, which is common.  By 12 my throat felt like I was swallowing knives and I had two blisters on my bottom lip… which ALWAYS happens when I get sick!  Apparently my body doesn’t react to sickness with a fever… just a few fever blisters.  Tons of fun, I know.  (Sidenote: One time in middle school I had 8 blisters on my lips and 9 in my mouth all from strep throat… it was torture!)

So, for right now I am going to give the detox a break and try it again in the future when I’m not coming down with some kind of funk.  I’m sure its only allergies so taking all my vitamins and drinking plenty of water as usual with hopefully help.  I also think that a less intense detox would be better so I will do some research on that.  If anyone has any advice I would definitely appreciate it!  

I guess I will spend the rest of tonight sitting on the couch, cuddled up with the pup and blanket while I sip on some hot tea while reading Something Borrowed.  Sounds perfect to me!!!

A woman's worth

For those of you who haven't heard of Postsecret you are definitely missing out.  

There's the website and then the books too.  About 4 years ago Jocie took me to a Postsecret Event at The Orange Peel in Asheville and I absolutely fell in love.  The stories that people share by sending an anonymous post card is overwhelming and so beautiful to me.  

I saw this Postsecret today and it made me smile.  It's always been one of my favorites. 

I just love that.  I think every woman should feel that way... we all deserve to have someone completely appreciate us.  

If you've never heard of Postsecret you should check it out!  I've been known to spend a few hours at Barnes&Noble flipping through the amazing books while sipping on a hot coffee... maybe you should try it too!  You won't be disappointed.  

The website is updated every Sunday so you can start your week with some new secrets.  Some are so sad you might cry, then some are so beautiful you might cry.  

Hope everyone had a nice Monday, not too painful or hectic.  Tomorrow starts my "detox" so feel free to say a few prayers for me.  I will have all the details about my first day of nastiness tomorrow! 

FAVORITE!!!

Yes...... Easter is my MOST favorite Holiday!!!

Not because of the pretty eggs.  Not because of the Easter Bunny and sweet surprises in an Easter basket.  Not because of the new pretty dress you buy every year.  Not because of the TONS of food you eat without any second thought.  

I love Easter because it’s about Jesus Christ and His victory over death.  His resurrection proving that everything He taught and preached was the truth.  Easter is about hope, love and faith. 

Today's service at church was wonderful!!  The message was perfect and there was also 10 baptisms during the service.  I love how Grace does baptisms because they show a little video of each person explaining what baptism means to them.  I always have some tears because it's such a sweet moment.  

I wasn't expecting the baptisms today but I thought it was the PERFECT way to celebrate Easter.  At the end of the service the following bible verse was said and I think it's the best way to explain the meaning of Easter...

^{Romans 6:23} For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. 

When Jesus died on that cross he didn't die for HIS sins... he died for OUR sins.  That's why I love Easter so much.  I know I don't deserve an everlasting life but all because of His undying love I can have one.  Now that is something worth celebrating & I hope everyone else enjoyed their beautiful Easter Sunday!!   

kill to breathe

Don't you love it when you hear a song that just HITS you?


I was supposed to go to the Sara Bareilles show in Asheville on Tuesday night.  That didn't happen... I was bummed.  Tears were involved.  For some horrible reason I had the dates confused in my head.  When I realized that all 3 of my calendars (yes... three) had the CORRECT date I was even more angry.  I guess I wasn't meant to be at that show... it still makes me sad though.  


Moving on... 
this song is so beautiful.  Raw.  Sad.  Truthful.  Perfect.  I love it.  


...& if I was at the show it would be one of those songs that brought tears to my eyes.  One of those songs that whenever you hear it live you have the goosebumps on your arms and you eyes become all blurry and you just soak it in.  


Enjoy.  Take in every word.  
Oh, and ignore the creepy chick...? Not sure what that's about?

Car is parked, bags are packed, but what kind of heart doesn't look back

At the comfortable glow from the porch, the one I will still call yours

All those words came undone and now I'm not the only one

Facing the ghosts that decide if the fire inside still burns

All I have, all I need, he's the air I would kill to breathe

Holds my love in his hands, still I'm searching for something

Out of breath, I am left hoping someday I'll breathe again

I'll breathe again

Open up next to you and my secrets become your truth

And the distance between that was sheltering me comes in full view

Hang my head, break my heart built from all I have torn apart

And my burden to bear is a love I can't carry anymore

All I have, all I need, he's the air I would kill to breathe

Holds my love in his hands, still I'm searching for something

Out of breath, I am left hoping someday I'll breathe again

It hurts to be here

I only wanted love from you

It hurts to be here

What am I gonna do?

All I have, all I need, he's the air I would kill to breathe

Holds my love in his hands, still I'm searching

All I have, all I need, he's the air I would kill to breathe

Holds my love in his hands, still I'm searching for something

Out of breath, I am left hoping someday I'll breathe again

I'll breathe again 

Prayers Needed

Today one of my closest friends and her fiancé, Cody left for the Philippines. 

They are both going for a Mission Trip with the church Cody grew up going to, Pendleton Street Baptist Church.  I’m sharing this exciting news so those of you that read this will know to pray for my sweet friends. 

They left early this morning and will return on the 23^rd.  I can’t wait to hear how they shared God’s love with all the people they met during this trip.  I’m so proud to call them my friends.  I appreciate all the prayers and support and I know they will as well. 

Here are a few bible verses that Katie shared before leaving.  I know she will keep these in mind while she is working for God’s Kingdom.  I will also keep these in mind while she and Cody are gone and I pray for them daily.

Ephesians 2:10

“We are His creation– created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.”

Psalm 19:14

“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to You, Lord, my rock and Redeemer.”

I love you both and I know you are following God’s path he has made for you while on this trip.  Can’t wait to hear all about it when you get home!!!

football and my trip to Cancun... well sort of.

I’m so happy that everything is back to normal.  My manager is back.  Today was a nice Monday.  Gym was definitely needed.  AND Peter is home!!!

I had a great start to my week yesterday.  Got some much needed sleep and slept in a bit.  I had some delicious lunch with Peter and his mom.  Then after lunch Peter & I went downtown since I was seriously craving a Bloody Mary.  It had been a while.  One day last week I was looking at pictures on Facebook and I saw this one below…

When I saw it I seriously thought I was going to have a tear slide down my cheek… I miss football.  NEVER thought I would say that but I absolutely loved Sunday’s this past football season.  It was so wonderful to spend the day with Peter and watch football while sipping on a refreshing beverage.  I really do miss it.  So yesterday while watching the Master’s I was pretending I had on my Jets jersey! 

We also had a nice stroll down Main Street in the PERFECT weather for some Gelato!  Pistachio and Blackberry!!!  YUM, it was so good.  

Yesterday made me realize just how lucky I am.  I’m truly so blessed to have the gift to be “comfortable”… content, happy & calm.  It really is a gift and I think God for it everyday.  So happy you are home, Peter!!!!  And very happy I have you to miss! ....and apparently he missed me too!!

Guess I got to go to Cancun after all.... ;) 

 Hope everyone else had a comfortable, relaxing, happy weekend!

Laughter and Joy

I got this awesome book from my Mom for Christmas………

And when I was trying to think of a Christmas gift for my 2 best friends, Jocie & Katie (we had a slightly late Christmas) I couldn’t think of anything.  At the same time I wanted to do this little daily devotional but of course with all the many things that add up in my day, sadly I never made time.  So, I came to a splendid resolution that I would buy the same book for Joc and Katie so we could all do it together.  Accountability always helps and we can grow together.

Yea, pretty awesome… right?

Well, tonight I’m finally giving Jocie her book so we can all start our daily time with God tomorrow!  I also got them a little notebook to go along with the book so we can journal daily as well and then meet for coffee every few weeks and talk about what we are learning and share how the book is touching us.  Can’t wait to meet my wonderful friends tonight so we can catch up and have some yummy coffee (and maybe some cake) at Coffee Underground!  Last time we were all together was our Wilmington Girls Weekend and that was almost TEN days ago!  Haha, I miss them!!!

I’m going to leave you all with a bible verse I ran across last night during my quiet time and it was the PERFECT thing to read.  Yesterday was a hard day at work.  I came home moody.  And honestly, went to bed still feeling a bit crabby from my crazy, hectic day.  But when I read this verse I felt this overwhelming happiness inside!  It was just what I needed to hear.  Hope you enjoy it as well!  

Job 8:21 "He will once again fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy."

Even right now it still makes me smile!  Hope everyone has had a marvelous week!!!  Get excited, tomorrow is FRIDAY!!!

it's April?

I can’t believe that we are already in the 4^th month of this year!!!  It just baffles me at how FAST time has gone by.  My mom always told me…

 “Just wait till you are older, time will go by so fast you won’t even realize it”

…and I never believed her until the past couple of years. 

I mean, I’m TWENTY FOUR… when did that happen? 

Its 2011… what the heck!?! 

I’ve been dating Peter for 3 YEARS this July… HOLY COW! 

Its just insane how fast time flies by! 

BUT, I do love change.  I totally embrace it!! 

It makes me think of this quote from Dawson’s Creek:

“I used to be afraid of so many things, that I'd never grow up, that I'd be trapped in the same place for all eternity… that my dreams would forever be shy of my reach.  It’s true what they say, time plays tricks on you.  One day you’re dreaming the next your dream has become your reality and now that the scared little girl no longer follows me wherever I go, I miss her.  I do, because there are things that I want to tell her… to relax, to lighten up, that it is all going to be okay.  I want her to know that meeting people who like you, who understand you, who actually except you for who you are will become an increasingly rare occurrence Jen, Jack, Audrey, Andie, Pacey and Dawson, these people who contributed to who I am.  They are with me where ever I go and as history gets rewritten in small ways with each passing day my love for them only grows, because the truth is it was the best of times.  Mistakes were made, hearts were broken, harsh lessons learned, but all that has receded into fond memory now.  How does it happen?  Why are we so quick to forget the bad and romanticize the good?  Maybe it's because we need to believe that the time we spent together actually meant something.  That we were there for each other in a time in our lives that defined us all.  That time in our lives that we will never forget. I can't swear that's exactly how it happened, but this is how it felt.”

GOSH, I miss that show.  It was so good.  Of course the people that were there for me aren’t named Jen, Jack, Audrey, Andie, Pacey, and Dawson but you get the idea. 

Life sneaks up on you and I’m thankful for those who helped me through it!  You know who you are… and you know I love you!

Sunshine and Music :)

Today was beautiful.  Today made me very happy.  The weather was PERFECT and I had the joy of riding in the car with the windows down and my hair flying around like crazy while I listened to Dave Matthews Band BLARING in my car!  It was definitely one of those days where you enjoy riding alone and signing at the top of your lungs!!  I hope all of you had a wonderful, beautiful day too and maybe you enjoyed your own little moment in the car with your windows down!!  Here's a little sneak into one of the many songs that made my day!!!  

((The video is pretty awesome too!))

"You And Me"

Wanna pack your bags, Something small

Take what you need and we disappear

Without a trace we'll be gone, gone

The moon and the stars can follow the car

and then when we get to the ocean

We gonna take a boat to the end of the world

All the way to the end of the world

Oh, and when the kids are old enough

We're gonna teach them to fly

You and me together, we could do anything, Baby

You and me together yes, yes 

You and I, we're not tied to the ground

Not falling but rising like rolling around

Eyes closed above the rooftops

Eyes closed, we're gonna spin through the stars

Our arms wide as the sky

We gonna ride the blue all the way to the end of the world

To the end of the world

Oh, and when the kids are old enough

We're gonna teach them to fly

You and me together, we could do anything, Baby

You and me together yes, yes

We can always look back at what we did

Always remembering of you and me baby

But right now it's you and me forever girl

And you know we could do better than anything that we did

You know that you and me, we could do anything

You and me together, we could do anything, Baby

You and me together yeah, yeah

Two of us together, we could do anything, baby

Dog Days...

"Dog Days" are the hottest, most sultry days of summer. says Wikipedia.....

The weather was perfect this weekend, not hot but just enough warmth from the sun with a cool breeze to keep the temperature perfect.  Dog days for me means that most of my weekend consisted of sitting on the couch with my lovable pup.  

Isn't she adorable???  I absolutely love all 6 pounds of her!  She kept me company since Peter is in Cancun and my Mom is in Charleston.  

Why did I not go to Cancun you ask....?  Well, I only have 3 weeks of vacation including sick time so I didn't think it was a wise decision to use a full weeks vacation this early in the year.  I always try and save a week for the day after Christmas so I can visit Peter and his whole family in NJ.  I didn't have the chance to do that this past Christmas and I said I wouldn't let that happen again.  I missed it very much!  

Also, the sun in Cancun is very intense and the last time I went to Cancun I was completely murdered by the sun the first day which meant I had to spend the rest of the vacation sitting in the room covered in aloe.  With my delicate fair skin and my history with Cancun I didn't think it was the best option for me to go.  So, of course I will be missing him till Saturday when he comes home! 

My mom went to Charleston to support a friend that ran the Cooper River Run so she won't be home till after the weekend.  I miss her too since usually whenever Peter is gone somewhere we always use that time for some Mom/Daughter fun.  I'm happy she had a girls weekend away though, she deserves some fun!! 

Anyways... thats why I spent a Saturday night at home, watching a movie and sipping on some hot tea with my sweet Bella.  She is a wonderful lap dog, especially when I'm a little down.  She can sense it.  It also didn't help that I left my phone in my office at work.  I couldn't have picked a worse weekend to do that since I don't have ANY way of contacting people except for Facebook.  The last time I left my phone at work it wasn't a huge deal since I had my mom's phone or Peter's phone if I needed to talk to someone.  Thank God for Facebook or else I would have been completely cut off.  

Thanks to some messaging back and forth with my wonderful friend Madison we made plans to go downtown at Mary's Cottage for brunch today.  It was so wonderful to spend some time with her and catch up on all the fun in our lives.  Her sweet friend Laura came to meet us as well.  Unfortunately we weren't able to sit outside to eat but our quiet table upstairs was acceptable.  The food was amazing, conversation was great and the coffee was very much needed after a night of tossing and turning.  Now I'm back home with the pup again, planning on spending tonight the same why I spent last night.  

Relaxing.  Cuddled up with a blanket and Bella.  Sipping on some tea.  Watching TV.  Painting my nails.  Reading my Bible.  All the wonderful things you can do when you have a night alone. 

& because I love my mother I'm going to straighten the house up tonight so her arrival home tomorrow will be welcoming!  

Hope everyone had a relaxing, calm weekend as well.... just with your phone by your side.  ;)