Thursday, December 27, 2012

Chick Flick Moments.

Let me start this blog post with a disclaimer: I love chick flicks just as much as the next girl. I love girls night & curling up on the couch snuggled in with blankets and pillows to spend the next hour and a halfish watching someone else's relationships work out better than you and your friends currently are.I love the things that accompany chick flick nights (normally): good friends, single jokes, and the looks that cross faces for a split second when the credits start rolling that says 'man, I hope that's me one day.'

That beings said...chick flicks make me laugh. For a VARIETY of reasons.

The whole reason that they're such a hit is because someone, somewhere discovered the formula to make all women, everywhere return to the theater over & over again, and sometimes drag their brothers, boyfriends, and fathers along too. It's in every typical chick flick. Ever.

Boy meets girl. In this first meeting you have a variety of options, but typically it goes one of two ways: either they hit it off immediately and fall madly for each other, or they tick each other off to no end and swear they'll never see each other again, EVER. What happens? They realize they have mutual friends. They realize they live in the same apartment building. Somehow, SOMEWAY they discover that their lives are magically intertwined in a way that keeps them continuously running into each other over and over again, that they've also somehow missed up until this moment. For the next hour or so, we watch their relationship unfold, until the next MAJOR roadblock in the movie occurs.

The betrayal. Someone makes a mistake. They break up. There's heartbreak, tears (from the characters AND the audience) moody music, and probably rain. Then, somehow within the last 10 minutes of the movie the man (or woman) realizes they can't live without the other person. All conflict is reconciled, happy music plays, they kiss, walk off into the sunset, and we live the theater feeling preeeeeeetty good a bout life in general :D

Which is why it makes me laugh. Because relationships don't work that way. But I think the REAL reason it makes me laugh is because we, as girls (and some guys...no shame!) walk out of the theater, and start looking for our "cute meet." And ALL of a sudden everyone from the person taking your order at McDonalds to the boy you trip over in the coffee shop could be your ONE. I'm not dogging that. He could be! God works in mysterious ways, and believe me I've seen it. And I'm DEFINITELY guilty of this too. But it just makes me laugh how when me and my friends walk out of the coffee shop, and she bumps into some cute college boy walking in the door, after they exchange apologies the "AHA" look appears....and she turns and through narrowed eyes asks the question ".....did I just miss him?"

NO. You probably didn't. But goodness, it's funny anyways :D

Monday, December 17, 2012

1 down, 6 to go....

Even though it hasn't sunk in yet, allow me to announce very loudly and very excitedly that I AM DONE WITH MY FRESHMAN YEAR OF COLLEGE. Yup. 3 years from now I'll be walking down the aisle, dreading having to finally grow up a little bit and face the real world. Or graduate school. Either really. But that being said...

How do you sum up a semester of lessons, laughter, tears, pain, roommates, hallmates, South Carolina and GOD in a blog post? It's hard for me to write about, because no matter how many words I use or how grandiose my language becomes, it STILL won't be enough to adequately communicate the overwhelming emotion and living of life that God has walked me through this semester.

I have been reminded time and time again that this earth is not our home, and that no one we meet on earth can fulfill the void that God reserved in our hearts specifically for Himself. I've learned it's hard to grasp concepts like mercy, faith, love (the overwhelming, unconditional, allow me die for you kind), and forgiveness because we human beings are so unbelievably BAD at it. I've learned that any semblance of these qualities in our lives is only because we have a Savior who IS all of these things, and when I am loved and cared for by my closest friends it is when I see Jesus the most.

I've learned that love means patience, selflessness, trust, and putting one foot in front of the other one day at a time. I've learned that love is also not butterflies in the stomach, heart skips a beat, hands get clammy and I can't breath....even though those things are awesome. I've learned the Christian walk is hard, and surrendering to Christ can be painful, even though I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that surrendering all these things is worth it in the face of an all-fulfilling Savior. I've learned I have a long way to go before I'm ready for marriage, parenting and a family, and if God ever chooses to bring those things into His plan for my life it will be in His time and not mine. Even though a lot of the time I prefer my timing to His...until I sit back and realize how much trouble I would get into if God let me run my life even for a week :P

On a less serious note .... I've taken out small parts of the bucket list :D I've been to Savannah multiple times. I've survived the CIU cafeteria, found a life-long best friend in my beautiful roommate, and discovered that I'm actually kind of bad at decorating. I've discovered watching a movie when I should be doing homework does NOT mean that I will somehow magically have an overabundance of time on my hands in which to do the homework later. I have discovered 35 is a magical age, and have already started plans to move into a cat lady home with Stephanie and Melissa ;) I've bought my ticket for Passion 2013 (AHHH!), visited Impact 360, adopted a little sister, missed my puppies, had NO time for reading, completely failed at waffle making, washed my shirt in the sink (then dried it with a hair dryer), chased down a candy nommer, ATTEMPTED to learn how to play Halo (it didn't work), found the best smelling young man in the world, and learned that right about 2 AM my brain shuts down and nothing I say makes sense anymore :D

Oh. And run the Color Run :D And made a gingerbread house. Kind of. And watched the Shining. And scary movie upon scary movie which instantly led to extreme regret for THOSE decisions. And saw my first shooting star! And been read aloud too. And redid my room. And taken NUMEROUS road trips :)

I am thankful for everything God has put in my path this semester...even the lessons that were hard and the doors He chose to shut, and the times He told me "wait" and "I've got this." NOW I'm home for Christmas break with lots of free time and no schoolwork to do. Look out world :D