Showing posts with label memories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label memories. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Hidden Away in Possum Kingdom : Spring Break 2012

Look at me blogging away two days in a row! Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but in the midst of college this is such a bigger deal than I'm writing it like. I'm actually doing a small happy dance. Inside that is :D 

Today is another Blogtember prompt [which I have been AWFUL about keeping up with] and it's incredibly simple: a memory you would love to relive

This took me no time at all to think about, and it's pretty much my go to answer for this question. Friends, I introduce you to Spring Break 2012: Possum Kingdom Version


December 2011, I was getting ready to head home for Christmas break from Impact 360. Right before we jumped onto planes and into vans Colton, my fellow Texan, mentioned how fantastic it would be if we spent Spring Break roadtripping down to Texas for the week and then back up to Georgia. We mostly laughed, until London [Texan #2] mentioned that he just happened to have a lake house down on Possum Kingdom Lake. The laughter quieted down a little bit as people stopped imagining and started glancing at each other, and 4 months later March ended, April dawned, and 24ish Impacters were loading up 3 cars and Dallas bound. 


We spent a couple of days in Dallas, and then headed out to the lake. The drive was beautiful and nothing but backroad interstate...and finally we ended up HERE




We stayed at London's.....just enough space to be cozy & seperate all at the same time. Mornings dawned late and nights ended later. We spent hours lounging in the hot tub, before finally spreading and settling down for the night. We went cliff jumping and jet skiing and even went on a late afternoon sunset adventure hike, and I got to know my friends on a deeper level than ever before.


This was our fuzzy caterpillar. Me & the best friend found this little guy one afternoon when he was using the pool and I was sleeping on the side. We took about a billion pictures, and named him Wilbur....and then the best friend creeped pictures of me curled up in the sun. 


The sunsets were beautiful, the conversations were priceless, and of all the moments that hold my heart this week contained most. One last memory (and a few more pictures) and you're free to escape ;) 



Our second day there, the morning started w/ rain. The wind whistled across the porch and brought with it the last chilly morning of spring. Best friend and I curled up on the porch outside, pulled out the old school Nintendo 64, wrapped blankets around our shoulders, tucked freezing toes under warmer legs, and played James Bond until the rain stopped. I say "played"....he played, I embarrassed myself, then died alot, then lost :D We played until the rain stopped, slid down the stair case, laughed at how wet we got landing in the grass, and tucked up in the garage in the golf cart to talk. And then we talked for hours.  


Rainclouds broke into a beautiful sunset, and I laid on the grass to snap a picture of the sun rising out of the earth. We trotted to the gazebo in the background, me giggling because I couldn't find words for how content I was. He danced me around, made fun of me, and laid out exactly how he would use this gazebo in a scene from a movie - IF he could shoot one ;) 
I smiled on the outside. Inside was all happy dance. 


While the rest of the world rolled by [and we forgot it existed] the sun slipped into the lake, no ripples, all reflection. 
We walked back to the house, watched the world fall asleep, sat on the couch, and talked till the sun came up. 
He remembered stories and I laughed at the good parts and when the bad came around I cried for someone else for the first time. 
It was the perfect week. 

And there ladies and gentlemen, you have the description of my perfect day & my most treasured memory :) 
All rolled into one! 




Thursday, September 5, 2013

Little Nuggets of Wisdom.

Day 3: Pass on some useful advice or information you learned and always remembered. 

Welcome back for Day 3! Here I am. I made it back.

I think the single most incredible piece of advice I've ever been given came from my big "sister":

"just remember bethany that any kind of comparison is an indication of pride" 

If you're talking about something I've never been able to forget OR get out of my head, that's it. BUT it also requires so much more explanation and unpacking than I'm doing in Blogtember....plus, I already kind of blogged about it here ;) So feel free to hop on over! 

Otherwise, I'm gonna claim the one below, because it's definitely one of my favorites! And it calls me to look for the deeper good within days that on the surface seem pretty meh :) 


Welcome to the Blogtember Family! 


Saturday, August 31, 2013

"Pull the lever, Kronk!"

Guys, guys, guys, I'M ALIVE! 
Settling into college has been crazy, and the amount of time I've had to do things other than homework, sleep, make necessary Walmart runs and drink coffee has been veeeeeery tiny. 
But I'm back. Kind of. 
And I'm participating in one of my very favorite linkups: Some Things I'm Loving with Katie!
Here are some things that have brought a smile to my face this past week :) 


Movie: Without fail, this movie has made it into 95% of my conversations this week.....I've quoted it, laughed at it, talked about wanting to watch it and compared my friends to it over & over & over again. Hey, I'm not complaining.
The Other Juliette

Blog: I recently discovered Juliette from the sidebar of another blogger (whose blog it was, I can't remember. Sorry anonymous writer that I will always be indebted to) and I LITERALLY haven't stopped reading since! This girl is hilarious, and I've literally laughed out loud (yes. lol'ed.) while reading some of her posts...and that normally doesn't happen :D


Music: If you haven't discovered Bethel Worship yet, DO IT NOW. I've had them on repeat since Lauren at Marked by Grace put it on her blog at the beginning of the week. STUCK. IN. MY. HEAD. But given the fact that it's not only a worship song, but one of the most beautiful I've heard in a while, I'm A-Okay with that!


Bloggy-Event-Challengy-Thing: THANK YOU STORY OF MY LIFE! There are not words to describe how excited I am for this upcoming challenge. I watched from a distance as Blog Everyday In May happened way back when, and did my own lovely little version back in June (hereherehere, and here ... alright shameless plug done) so this Blogtember challenge I am beyond thrilled about. Plus, I've been struggling with posting non-serious, non-heavy posts recently because my mind is going a million miles an hour, so prompts are THE BEST THING EVER. 

Drink: Come to me Chai Tea Latte. I think I love you. But really. It reminds me of Christmas & Fall and with those two things coming up, it's time to love on this drink even MORE! 

Randomsh: Phone calls & morning voices. Those are my two current most favorite things. Phone calls because my friends are currently/going to be for a while, few and far apart and phone calls are the only way I hear their voices! And morning voices because I think they're precious and adorable and they make me smile :) 

Come link-up with Katie because she's one of my favorites! 
Also because who DOESN'T want new bloggy friends? 


Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Roadtrips, Volcanoes, Freakouts and More!

Today's post is gonna be a little bit different because I'm linking up with Sarah over at A Girl Smitten for her I Am Grateful Linkup! You can click on those lovely links OR go to the link at the bottom page. So! Without further ado :)

I am grateful for.... 



 The ocean: I adore the water. I love the beach, the feeling, that atmosphere, and the way your body feels after coming in after a long day in the sun. Being in Hawaii where the beach is everywhere is basically a dream come true!

Inside jokes: Because after 6 months and one weekend, we're finally friends ;)


DannyBug: My little brother is hilarious. He's an absolute dork, but he's growing up & despite the rough edges, God is turning him into a pretty great man :) 
But regardless however, he ruined my panoramic shot with his ridiculous face, so please enjoy this picture ;) 

Yesterday we went on a roadtrip. Yep, a roadtrip. We trekked up to see the Volcanic National Park and after Danny saw the steam ocming out of the ground he assumed we were just putting along on top of a huge lava reservoir, so he freaked out a little bit ;) I wish I could put the video up here! 

Up in the mountains, it's about 65 degrees, and although that's not COLD per say, it's a pretty big leap from 80+ degrees and sunshine on the beach. Never have I been so sure I'm from Texas than when I'm shivering in 60 degree weather & everyone's looking at me like I'm crazy ;) 

So there's the catchup! It's been a wonderful trip so far, and I already don't want to leave :) 

Here's the linkup! Come check it out :) 

The Weekly I AM GRATEFUL Link Up with A Girl Smitten

Monday, August 5, 2013

Aloha!

We're in Hawaii!!!! 

I warned ya'll that these crazy blog posts were coming. My weekend started fantastic with Impact360 Alumni Reunion [which so completely deserves it's own blog post that it will get it] and some of my best friends, continued with me in an airport for several consecutive hours [saved only by several phone calls from some special people] and ended with me arriving in Hawaii to spend a week with my family!!! Hawaii has always been on our 'we must go here before we die' family vacation list...and we're finally checking it off!!! So yes, there will be a lot of these crazy blog posts. There are too many memories happening to skip this part :) So Day 1....go! 


Firstly, jet lag stinks. My day started at 4:50 because my body convinced my brain it was actually 10:50. I finally gave up trying to force myself back to sleep around 5:45 and dragged myself out of bed to the back porch. Although I sulked about it, this actually ended up being a huge blessing in disguise. I got to do my quiet time to the sound of the ocean as the sun came up over Hawaii. I'd say that's a definite win ;) 


We ended up walking to breakfast [since it was right across the road] and I got to barely explore a few pieces of the beautiful place that's going to be home for the next 6ish days. Needless to say, it's unlike much else I've ever seen before. 


The colors here are vibrant and living, and it's impossible to turn anywhere without feeling like God was probably showing off a little bit when He created this island. 


Hawaii is well known for it's white & black sand beaches, so we spent the rest of our afternoon beach hunting! I think the original plan was to visit as many of the white sand beaches as we could before we headed to black sands, but we walked down our very first beach and decided not to leave. Ironically, the one we chose used to be an old military training ground...so they warned us explicitly that we were not to touch any left over weaponry that might be lying around! The boys were only slightly disappointed ;) 


The highlight of our day was not only the beach...but the animals it included. And by animals I mean sea turtles. I got to swim with a real life, wild, it was trying to swim away from me, sea turtle!! I even got to pet it...although after I tried it turned around and kind of gave me a 'girl, back off' look. After that I left well enough alone. But this was definitely the highlight of my day :) 


After we absorbed as much sand at the beach as we possibly could, we headed back to the hotel & jumped straight in the pool. With this event comes a confession: I'm probably the most sunburned I've been in a VERY long time as a result of these decisions. I refuse to post a picture, because I'm hoping it will turn into a tan before anyone realizes it's happened :D 


 Now we're fixing frozen pizzas for dinner [which honestly are just about my most favorite things ever] and settling in for a night of family movies. I'm sitting out on our balcony typing this blog post, which is quickly becoming my favorite place in the hotel. It's quiet and peaceful and you can barely hear the ocean in the background...the perfect environment for writing & praying & journaling in the morning :) The time change is a little crazy...starting your evening right around the same time your best friends are ending theirs' gives you a very small conversation window. But I am thankful for friendships that continue, even over long distances! :)

Day 1: complete!!! Tomorrow we're planning on doing a LOT of driving, so here's to long hours in the car and lots of roadtripping music :) Aloha! 
In matters of housekeeping, I'm linking up with the following lovely ladies today!! Click, follow, and make some new friends!! :) 

Sami's Shenanigans


lowercase letters

My Beautiful Crazy Life

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

a few so whats, and a few apologies

One of the wonderful bloggers that I follow, the lovely Chrissi over at Home Is Where The Heart Is, does this quirky little thing called 'So What Wednesday'. First of all, everyone should go click on that link and check out her blog because it's fantastic! And secondly, this post is going to be a little bit of a copy [or the idea anyways] of her lovely idea :) So all credit goes to her!

I realized as I was looking forward to my upcoming weekend and week that there's a couple of things going to be occurring that I should probably apologize in advance for. I was going to wait and write this out tomorrow afternoon right before I left, but I realized if I waited (with the minimal amounts of sleep I've gotten PLUS early mornings get ups) 'So What Wednesday' would probably turn into 'Take THAT Life! Thursday'. So. In order to avoid mindless ranting Bethany...we're doing this tonight ;) Here we go!

I apologize in advance for:

  1. The massive amounts of Instagram pictures that will be taken on my way to Georgia, at Alumni Reunion, of my best friends, of my bored face on the plane to Hawaii, in Hawaii with my family, and all the way back. We're talking MULTIPLE pictures a day people. Handfuls & handfuls. We've discussed my phototaking problem before. Hashtag: InstaAddict. 
  2. The equal [and probably much greater] amounts of tweets that will be tweeted, consisting of absolutely NOTHING serious and all ridiculous. My family is quite honestly just hilarious when we get together...and SOMETIMES I feel the need to share that with the world...
  3. Any and all Facebook status that consist of me going "AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" in ways that translate to "I'M AT ALUMNI REUNION!!" and "WE JUST LANDED IN HAWAII!!!!" Sorry about that. Really. Especially is you're one of those people who translates all caps to mean the voice in your head that's reading needs to scream at you too. 
  4. The possibility of multiple blog posts reading "We did this today. It was awesome. Followed by this. Also awesome." But at least there will be lots of pictures! 
I say I'm sorry for these things jokingly, because the truth is I'm really not ;) I'm beyond excited to think that in less than 2 days I'm going to be reunited with some of my favorite people in the world, and then getting to travel with my family. And, if I didn't scare you away and you want to come along, you can follow me on Twitter here and on Instagram here! And just to end on a fantastically hilarious note...happy Wednesday everybody! [Hump DAY!] 


Sunday, July 28, 2013

Lakefront Brand of Lazy.

The family has been out on the lake for the past 4 days, and it was lovely. I love the lake. I always claimed the right to be a beach girl, and I still hold to that definitely, but I will openly admit the lake is growing on me :) We kind of follow our own schedule, which I guess can really only be expected when you put the weekend, sun rays, boating and beautiful sunsets all in the same place! Weirdly enough, I actually missed blogging :) So here is the typical, catch up, let me put my pictures in a blog post, post!


Israel: For those who don't know, my family spent 5 years of our life living in a neighborhood called Kfar Shmaryahu in the country of Israel. I really should blog more about it. Surprisingly, since we've moved back to the states there hasn't been very much slowing down long enough to actually miss living there, at least on my part. But I actually took the time to sit down and sift through some old pictures the other day, and I officially MISS IT. Big time.


Heart Cities: I think I jokingly told somebody once that while my heart would always be in Texas with my family, I'd lost it completely as soon as I stepped into the Savannah city limits. I've recently discovered that I might not have been joking at all. Savannah held the title as favorite city of all time up until last April, where it now has to share (probably forever) with the beauty that is Charleston, South Carolina. In the middle of the upcoming realization that school is about to start and I'm about to move away from my family, it makes me smile to think that I'll be moving back to two of the most peaceful places I've ever been privileged to be.


Trucks: I very seriously told a friend of mine once that Hummer Trucks were perhaps one of the ugliest cars I've ever seen. Maybe it's the fact that I've seen a bajillion & one of them over the course of this summer, but I take it back. They're kinda growing on me.


Luxury: The lakehouse finally has furniture!!! "Bethany, it took you this long?" Yes. Yes it did. But after a weekend of sifting through Mamaw's old barn, various antique stores and a couple of flea markets, we've found the beginnings of our vintage home away from home!


 Hobbitses: We finally introduced Baby Brother to the Hobbit on Friday night. I know. I was shocked and appalled that he had yet to see it too. BUT he loved it, and on the drive home today he picked up the book and decided he just might read that too. Needless to say, I was impressed :)

#InstaAddict: I might have a problem. Let's just go ahead and admit it.

Last Minute Memories: It's beginning to finally sink in that "3 months at home" doesn't feel like 3 months at home, and is in fact almost at an end. Which is very, very, very, very sad, no matter how much I miss my roommates and CIU friends. However, in an effort to round summer off with a bang, I fly out Friday to reunite with my Impact 360 family, just before flying out to meet my family family in Hawaii. That'll do it ;) There really aren't words to describe how excited I am to get to the end of this week!!!!!!


BucketList: I CAUGHT A LIZARD! This was an item rather hastily placed on the summer bucket list, that got checked off right before we pulled out from the lake this evening. Needless to say, I was pretty excited. It's the little things. We named him Jaws the 5th (even though there was never a 2nd, 3rd or 4th) and he was pretty dang threatening.


Inspiration: I'm pretty picky about the classic Christian novel series...only because I've picked up so many that start off well and just end cheesy. Like...cheesy in an unexplainable, holes in the storyline, made Christ & the Gospel seem incredibly cliche & bedtime story-like, cheesy. But, at the suggestion of the SisterFriend, I picked up A Voice in the Wind and was hooked by chapter 5. Lovely, well written, and she doesn't make the Christian life seem easy....one of those books that made me turn around and take a look at how I was living, and what it said about Christ :) 



Music: I leave you with The Stella Sisters. You're welcome. again, this is the SisterFriend's doing...and these incredibly talented girls (The oldest is TWELVE ya'll) have been the soundtrack to my week :)

August is around the corner, Poptart is almost  17, school is almost here, my friends are back in my life, God remains faithful and crazy good, and I am beyond excited to see what the next few weeks has in store :) Let's go!! 






Sunday, June 30, 2013

day 30: the end.

It's June 30th. Which means the end of Blog-a-Day in June. Which means the end of June. Which BLOWS MY MIND. Where is my summer going?! 

I kind of scrolled through my list of words still left, scratching my head & looking for one to do. I have five or six words still left that I could do, but to be honest most of them are incredibly thought provoking and I wanted to hang on to them so I could have some more time to think about it. So if you gave me a prompt, and I missed it, that's why :P. So, instead of picking a word to do in specific, I thought I might just go back over my month. So here we go! 

I started blogging at the beginning of June because I thought it would be a fun little thing to get me thinking...and surprise, surprise God has used it over & over again to get me thinking, remind me of His faithfulness, and start conversations with friends that I didn't think I would ever have. It was hard and wonderful and ridiculously fun all in one, and I'm actually really going to miss it! 


Highlight of the month: the sister friend turned 20. 
At first this was an exciting new development, but now that it's actually set in she's starting to freak out a baby bit. 


I include this picture because it is one of my favorite ones. Ever.
Because she is a precious little dumpling. 
And because when I think 'summer' this picture continually comes to mind! :) 


Father's day came & went & I just really love & appreciate my family a whole bunch. 
Even if Daniel is making a chipmunk face.

To finish, Daddy and I went sunset chasing tonight with Matti in tow. He tried to surf in the back of the truck the whole way, but once Daddy actually got out on open highway he panicked a little and sat back down ;)






Yeah. I think this might quickly have to become an actual summer tradition. Not only was it beautiful, but it was some wonderful time spent with my Daddy :)

To everyone who started reading and didn't stop, thanks for sticking around :) The conversations & thoughts I've had because of it made this whole thing worth it, and stuck a few memories alongside just to make it even better.

June, it's been fun and I will miss you.

But since July & August hold just as many if not MORE exciting things, it makes saying goodbye just a little bit easier!!! 

Monday, June 24, 2013

day 24: juice.

This is gonna be a shoutout to the Petty 2 men. Aka, that sentence was a little disclaimer that if this blog post doesn't make much sense to everyone reading, it's because MOST of it's in direct reference to jokes, ridiculousness and overall hilariousness......but for most of it I guess you had to be there :P

The Core Five (minus Landon) 

I say Core 5 not because they're the 5 most important guys on the hall, OR because they're the 5 coolest guys on the hall, although I think they're all of those things but I have to because I'm related to most of them through the weird Petty2East family tree that formed halfway through the year. These 5 men (plus Landon) are the reason that the roommates caw when they enter rooms (or anywhere actually) talk in  weird accents (that sound Italian coming from Kayla) and get really, REALLY freaky looks from strangers because we forget that not EVERYONE knows that when you make a fist you've now made it possible for people to steal the fistbump from you. I'd say they're the reason we're weird, but honestly we were weird before we met them. They just kinda claimed us and made it a lil' more culturally acceptable :) 

On a MUCH more serious note, these 5 guys (plus Landon) are some of the most Christ-centered, Gospel driven men that I know...even more so because they somehow manage to be wise, funny, ridiculous, encouraging, including, and big brother-esque all in one. They set an example not only in the way the treat those around them, but specifically in the way they treat those closest to their heart....a couple of them are dating my best friends ;) I am thankful I have them in my life to listen to, look up to, respect, and occasionally, occasionally laugh at. 

Thank you roommate for the prompt for today. 

.juice.