get mah creativity flowin'

check out my newly added "designs" link at the top of the page!

dinner last night.

So last night my wonderful Mom cooked us an AMAZING dinner which I took pictures of so I could boast about how great her cooking is. 

Here she is with Lindy!

And my awesome Dad took care of the grilling! 

We had

HOMEMADE SALSA

 CORN ON THE COB

JUICY WATERMELON

 CHEESY SQUASH CASSEROLE

SPINACH SALAD

TWICE BAKED POTATOES

  

GRILLED FILETS

AND FRESH BLUEBERRY & BLACKBERRY CRISP WITH BUTTER PECAN ICE CREAM

HUNGRY YET?

futuristically.

Tonight was one of those nights where I started thinking about the future and started getting all worked up about it for absolutely no reason.

It's officially the first night of summer! My mind should be blank or thinking about stupid TV shows or the fact that I'm craving a cookout milkshake or some garlic knots.

But instead I'm thinking about the future. Pshhhh, the future? Whatttt?

I'm going to be starting my internship when I get back to Charlotte and I guess thoughts about that kind of triggered it. I really want to do well during my internship and continue to do well once I get back to school. I want to make really good grades and try to keep up relationships and school work while also having a job.

In my family, I wouldn't be considered a worrier. I have my sisters and my Dad to do that for me. But for some reason tonight I just started thinking about friends and jobs and money and careers and love and everything that is to come!

The future is scary because it's so unknown - the only thing you know is what you want.

If you didn't know what you wanted the future wouldn't be a big deal because anything that happened would be fine. No expectations, just appreciation for the outcome you're given.

For me though I have lots of expectations about the future. I want to graduate with a solid GPA, live at home for a few months and build up some money at my first "real job". Then I'll find an apartment, move away from home and keep working until I have enough to move to a big city like New York or Boston. But what If I don't get a job when I graduate? What if I'm stuck working at Bath and Body Works until I'm 26?

And it's not even the big things like finding a husband or a job that make the future scary.

I've been thinking about living situations - making the most of my circumstances even if they're not what I would've chosen.

Trying to keep my friendships strong even if it takes a lot of random texts, phone calls and money spent on gas driving to see each other.

Mark my words - I WILL MAKE IT BIG. Seriously, it's going to happen.

Anyway, I don't really know where this post is going. I just thought I'd rant about the future. I wish I could just glimpse into it. Not to see what happens but just to see how happy I am on a scale of one to ten. But I guess if I was a 2 or something then that'd be really depressing.

Anyway that's it for now! Maybe I'll dream of the future.

goodnight world!

(if I have typing errors it's cause I wrote this really fast - my bad)

intro to a story I'll probably never finish.

She licked the envelope quickly, trying hard not to taste the papery glue that would bind the two sides together. Folding the triangle down with precision she lined the edges and smoothed out the creases.

He would get it in a week or two, she guessed, and by then the fall winds would have swept through her front yard, bringing the colors of autumn with them.

She stood up from her chair and walked into her dining room. The mahogany table caught the glow of the 6’oclock sunshine and dust danced in its gleams. The table had been made by her Dad, a small town carpenter who had left her at the age of three. It'd been untouched since then and no matter how hard she pushed the thought away, his suitcase seemed to be a permanent fixture near her front door, though she knew it was just an image cast from the memories of him leaving.

She gathered her thoughts, tucked them neatly in the place where she never liked to go and made her way down their photo lined hallway back to her bedroom. She flopped down on her bed face first and buried her head in down feather pillows.

When she imagined summer in Vail she’d expected more excitement. She’d imagined days of bike rides and ice cream, afternoon matinees and trips to the pool where the charcoal mountains rose up on either side. She didn’t know why she had these expectations, but she had them unaware that they wouldn’t be met.

When her expectations came crashing down and turned to cool puffs of vapor rising up off the asphalt, she never thought she'd feel so lonely. And it wasn’t even a feeling really, it was a sickness that seeped into her pours and pulled down the edges of her smile.

In late April, Cody has said that they needed to end things. He handed her back the mixed CDs she’d made him and the picture of him giving her a piggyback ride through town. After grabbing back his basketball sweatshirt and his stack of horror movies, he was gone. He had said he needed space, some fresh air, but she couldn’t imagine air fresher than the Rockies that surrounded them.

She pushed herself up on her palms and turned over, looking up at the ceiling fan that rhythmically cast geometric shadows on her wall. She felt as if her room buzzed with anticipation, like it knew it’d be vacant in a matter of hours.

Well If she was going to leave, she’d have to start somewhere.

guess what!?

My page design got featured in Charlotte Style Magazine's Most Stylish Issue 2011!

I'm really excited! The process of creating this page design was different from what I was used to in lit mag because it didn't involve the same type of creativity but I had fun doing it!


I'm slowly building up a portfolio that will hopefully lead to a bright future in the magazine industry!


My name is on page 5 and then the layout is on page 46 titled Designers Style!


click here to see it!

a new book

It's a precise process, this spotting on the shelf. I have unfolded myself out of my plush striped chair to wind myself through the labyrinth of Barnes and Noble. The shelves were vibrantly lined, candy colored stripes on brown wooden shelves. 


I stroll through the new comers, and walk past the best sellers, their gold stickers boasting their achievement. I tiptoe through horror, roam threw sci-fi and make my way to my favorite section, fiction.


It's not the title that draws me in, but the cover. I run my finger along the binding of 10 then 14 then 20 until I find the perfect one.


I flip through the pages and find the writing style to fit my taste and then decide to read the back, the true test to a match made in heaven.


The plot is perfect,
the characters well named 
and it's the perfect mixture of excitement and romance to draw me in.


I grab it off the shelf, return to the comfy chair that awaits me and sink back in. I hold the book in my hands. The pages are new, no Starbucks coffee has stained them yet. They haven't yet found the days of beach trips and sand or been dog-eared during unwelcome distractions. 


I grip the new adventure, one half in each hand. I flip open the first page and feel the binding slacken, allowing me to embark on this new journey.


Another story, another voyage, another book for my shelf. 

I just finished reading the hunger games and it was SOOO GOOOD! If you like Harry Potter, Twilight or Sci-Fi stuff, you'll love it. It's also got romance in it too which is never a bad thing.

I'm gonna go buy the sequel to it today! And it's a trilogy which means I have another one to read when the 2nd one is finished! Woo hoo!

Oh new books, how I love you.

flab to fab

click for a preview...

randomossitees.

1. The past two weekends my two favorite Melissas came to visit! I love both of them so much!

Melissa Lockley goes to Elon and we've been so close since junior year of high school. She is so fun and funny and we can be goofy together which is always fun. I'm so glad she came, I love my beasty! And I love to reunite with friends!

The other Melissa is Melissa Sherrill! We have been the bestest of friends since around 4th grade. Her mom was our 3rd grade teacher and the summer after 3rd grade we moved into a house next to hers! She is one of the sweetest most beautiful inside and out people I know and I love her to death!

2. Yesterday I was SOOOO sick. It seriously hit me in like 2 seconds and I had to leave the middle of class to go home and then I spent the rest of the morning in the bathroom, it was no fun. But aside from that, having a stomach bug makes your stomach look pretty awesome (as shallow as that sounds). I know my normal stomach will return eventually but I'm enjoying the flatness for at least the 2 days that I have a smaller appetite!

3. When Lindy and I get home we are going to start doing P90x (or at least attempt to)! I'm trying to jump start my family into a biggest loser type thing so we can all get into the best shape of our lives. I think it'd be cool to all get into really good shape as a family and have each other to keep up the motivation.

4. Lindy and I went to McAlisters for dinner and I splurged and got a sweet tea. Boy was it delicious. I lost my need for McAlisters freshmen year since we had one on campus but since I didn't have a meal plan this year I can actually eat it now without feeling tired of it! It was yum yum yum!

5.We're almost done with summer classes!! I have had an AWESOME time at ECU but I am SO ready for summerrr! I have an final next friday and the wednesday after that and then we are good to go! Woohoo!

6. One of my absolute favorite things to do in the summer is ride around in the car right when its changing from day to night with the windows down blasting good music. If you haven't done it recently, you MUST do it. It's fun, relieves stress and just makes you feel good!

7. As much as it goes against my whole workout flat stomach ideas...Lindy and I are making chocolate chip cookies tonight and it's gonna be delicious.

that's it folks, happy friday!

bahahaha that song makes me want to scream. :)

so here's the thing...

I want to write a book and I can't for the life of me think of anything interesting enough to write about!

I was thinking maybe on the sci-fi side like twilightish but I want it to be original

and I want it to involve romance

but I don't really have any romantic experience...

and I want it to be about a big city

but I don't want it to become cliche like I'm copying The Devil Wears Prada and those kind of chick ficks..

and I want it to be exciting.

So I need help.

If you have an awesome idea then you should help me out.

And then when I'm rich and famous and published I will dedicate it to you in the beginning and maybe even hook you up with a couple thousand from the profit I rake in. 

lookin for love in all the wrong places

When you're less then 3 months from turning 20 and have still never had a boyfriend, it is hard not to wonder if you're not looking in the right places.

Boone has a lot of organizations on campus. Christian ones, ones for different majors and all that jazz but somehow I am not meeting any guys. And I don't have any guy friends. I know some guys at school but they're more like acquaintances. 


So I'm asking myself (and others), where should I be looking?


ECU has a lot of cute guys but I'm (stereotypically) assuming that they're not my type, I'm not their type (too pale and not wild enough) and I don't want a long distance relationship anyway.


I'm not the one to "pursue" a guy, I feel like thats their job. They should ask me out and talk to me first, not the other way around.


I may be shy and quiet when you first meet me but I'm not going to change that to draw a guy in. So they can deal with it! Or just get to know me and figure out that I'm not like that all the time.


Some people on my floor last year told me that they thought I should be a librarian. Really? Do you even know me at all?


Sorry, that's really off topic..


Anyway lately I've just been wondering...where do I look for love?

( disclosure: when I post about relationships I am not asking for pity. Seriously, I'm not depressed or lonely! I am HAPPY with my life! So you should  be happy that I'm happy. I just like to write down my thoughts and I can't help it if they're about relationships!)

what summers all about

muffins on saturdays

acting silly

road trips

family time

dancing for no reason

sleeping in late

ice cream

sand between your toes

coffee dates

flip flops

barely there clothes

fireworks

cookouts

bathing suits

the smell of sunscreen

fits of laughter

playing old board games

fresh fruit

tanned skin

farmers markets

 enjoying life