Seventeen

About two years ago, I turned 17. That both feels like an eternity ago and just yesterday. 

In honor of being halfway through college, I thought I'd write a little post about the ten things I would tell seventeen year old, senior in high school Amanda. 

1) Things will go in no way like you planned for the next two years. Some of it good, some not. Either way, accept it. I know you're need for having everything planned out will make you want to panic but don't. Things will fall into place how they are supposed to be.

2) Relationships are hard. Both romantic and otherwise. Harder than you thought. You'd probably laugh at that considering how hard they already have been but trust me, that's only the tip of the iceberg. Don't let it discourage you. Let go of the ones that want to leave and thank God for the ones that never leave your side.

3) Your hair is really long. Stop thinking it isn't. You're being silly.

4) I know you like to give trust out like pieces of gum but be a little more careful.

5) Soak up every minute of high school because before you know it, you'll be missing it.

6) Don't eat everything in sight because you're bored/sad/stressed. It ends up catching up with you, unfortunately.

7) Just trust God. It may seem like the hardest thing to do at times but it will always always always work out for the best with Him.

8) Live in the moment you are. The future will come eventually so don't let the present pass you by.

9) Love yourself. I can't stress it enough.

10) Listen to what you know it's right. It will pay off in the long run.

What do you wish you could tell yourself when you were in senior year of high school?

On Being Happy

"There is nothing wrong with loving the crap out of everything. Negative people find their walls. So never apologize for your enthusiasm. Never. Ever. Never."

-Ryan Adams

Society has almost conditioned us to feel guilty or unsteady if we begin to feel good and happy about our lives. Through one of the hardest times in my life, I remember people would ask me how I could be so happy, as if it were something bad. That's when you start to wonder if it's too good to be true and you begin to look for the little flaws in things. But you know what, screw what people say sometimes. 

I found out a few years ago that the trick to being happy was simply to choose to be happy. It sounded too simple to be true but I realized that when I began to set my mind to being happy, there was nothing that could stop me from it. After that, I became that person that loved the crap out of everything. My life is not perfect. It is far from it. I face many of the same problems and bumps in the road that any other person faces but I've found that there is so much more good than bad in my life and in this world. I find myself wanting to just go around telling every person I meet how much beauty is around them. Because everyone seems to go on about their lives and rarely is anyone stopping to appreciate those little details that could make their days so much brighter if they only stopped and took a moment to look. I, like any human being, have my rough days where I put my grumpy pants on and am determined to keep them on but most days I can't help but wonder how I got to be here. How I got to be in this very spot I'm in, where I'm surrounded by the most incredible people and spend most of my days laughing and smiling. 

I am happy. I am truly, truly happy. And this is what life is all about. 

According To My Phone

 Wedding Errands

In the bridal suite before the ceremony

Photo booth with my handsome fellow

The father's day present I made for my golf loving dad

JLO's booty has apparently got nothing on mine

Outfit post via my phone. I got this shirt while thrifting the other day and I'm obsessed. 

Where my mattress ended up during the last of our floor renovations

Finally got some summer clothes

Researching graduate schools makes me feel old

What growing out your bangs looks like

I moved that sucker in from the garage. Alone. Wearing a dress. I am woman, here me rawr.

Outfit posts have officially been down graded to simply phone pictures and this blog is slowly shifting to a blog about my life rather than just my outfits. 

I'm not sure what to blog about recently which is why I've been a bit MIA. I've got a lot going on but still too much time on my hands somehow. It's a strange combination. School schedule, work schedule, relationship talks, body image issues, messy house, packing, being in love with life and the people in it, appreciating the little things. That's been my life these past few weeks and although I feel somewhat in a daze thinking that summer is half over, I'm really enjoying it as it comes. I'm going to try to make this blog more personal and start writing more but for now, I'm going to go get some exercise in and then go enjoy the company of some good people.

Summer Musts

Although summer has already taken over Arizona for the past month, being that today is the official start of summer, I thought I'd share some of my summer musts.

(Pictures from past summers)

Everyday summer musts:

-Homemade pizza making

-Indoor picnics

-Treat making

-Frozen yogurt dates

-Dress and skirt wearing

-Stargazing

-Eat all the fruit

Summer 2012 must do's:

-Blow bubbles in the backyard

-Introduce my mister to the lovely people I am blessed to call my family

-Go for a night swim

-Visit a beach

-Spend a day with my mom

-Visit a new thrift store

-Try Boba tea

What are your summer musts?

Love Is All You Need

Where do I even begin. This weekend has been exhausting but absolutely wonderful and full of so much love.

Friday started out with a trip to pick up table linens for the reception and then heading to Sedona to help make flower arrangements at the florists'. After finishing up there, we all headed to a quick lunch before  going to our nail appointment. The nail appointment was then followed by driving back home to finish working out the kinks on the photo booth with Laurel and picking up the mister. Then we were off to Sedona again for the rehearsal dinner and decorating the reception space until almost 11pm. After barely getting a moment to relax all day, we were all more than ready to get into our beds. 

Saturday morning, I ended up having to finish up the details on the cake and cupcakes, drop it off (which involved sprinting back and forth from the car), heading over to the bridal suite to curl one of the bridesmaid's hair last minute, and filling in as the music person for the ceremony. 

After the reception, we all cleaned up and headed home. Jacob's other sister came over to their house and we spent the rest of the afternoon just laying around because we had no energy to do much more. We both agreed being a part of a wedding was far more exhausting than we had originally thought. 

I feel as if all I have to say about those two days could do it no justice. I have said it before and I'll probably say it another hundred times but I am always completely in awe of how much Jake's family means to me and how much they love and accept me. From the very beginning, they treated me as a part of the family. So this weekend, seeing Kaycee so happy to be marrying someone who treats her so well and whom she is so happy with, made me so overwhelmingly happy for her. She's such a sweet soul and a strong lady that deserves this so much. 

One of my favorite moments during the ceremony was the vows that Jeremy, the groom, wrote for Jayden, the bride's son. Jeremy has treated Jayden as his own from early on and the vows he wrote for him along with the gift of a pocket watch, was an absolutely precious moment. 

My favorite moment from the reception was when Jake surprised us all and got up to make a toast. You see, Jake is known for not being much of a talker so needless to say, we were all a bit shocked. His toast was short and too the point but one of the sweetest and most heartfelt. 

Overall, it was a beautiful day and I'm so blessed to have been able to be a part of it. 

Flower Power

(Dress worn as a shirt: F21, Vest: JcPenney, Shoes: Maurices, Jeans: Old Navy)

I've been thinking a lot about what's important in life and what's not so important. That may sound like a simple question but when you try to think, you realize a lot of things you think of as "important" aren't really that important. 

As Joy the Baker once said, "What's important? Make a list. Honor it."

The not so important:

Not being able to find an outfit to wear

The number on the scale

Traffic

The little flaws on the cake you make

A bad hair day

The important: 

Health

Family

Love

Faith

Learning

The content of your character

Compassion

Giving

Traveling

I'll probably be absent for the rest of the weekend enjoying the important and celebrating with my second family. 

Take the time and make your own list, let go of the not so important, and enjoy your beautiful life!

Tuesday Love

“Love is a temporary madness; you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of eternal passion. That is just being in love, which any fool can do. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Those that truly love have roots that grow towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossoms have fallen from their branches, they find that they are one tree and not two.”

-Louis de Bernieres

As this weekend of celebrating love in the form of a wedding gets closer, I can't help but be so grateful for the love I receive from this guy and the love I give in return. For three years now, I've had the honor of falling more and more in love with my best friend with every passing day. If that's not something to be grateful for, I don't know what is. 

The Calm Before the Storm

Finally got officially accepted into my university so I can finally register

Trying to get over my fear of shorts and bare arms all in one outfit. I was feeling ambitious.

Our living room currently. Cement floors and all.

Dove chocolate giving me quality advice

My silly tan line situation

If you haven't tried these, drop everything and go buy some. You won't be sorry.

Homemade chocolate pie and homemade granola bars for Jake. Housewife practice over here.

This.

Tanning this morning with my future sister in law/best friend to even out our crazy tan lines for her sister's wedding this weekend

Coffee after the heat

This week is going to be a crazy one with Jacob's sister's wedding and rehearsal plus the fact that I'm making her cake and cupcakes. I will probably be running around like a headless chicken from Thursday through to the end of the wedding but I am so very excited for my second family and this wonderful event. 

Hope your weekend was great!

America

(Shirt and skirt: F21, Headband: DIY, Sandals: Old Navy)

The Awkward:

• "But why would you want to get married so young?! You're supposed to be having fun!" Enough said.
• Accidentally looking like America.
• How many hours I've spent inside this summer. Let's not even talk about it any further.
• The fact that our new floors won't be installed until the Monday after next so we're left with concrete floors and all our furniture squished into the carpeted rooms. Right now I'm sitting on a tiny corner of our sectional my brother helped me bring out and using the stack of boxes with the new floors in them as a table.
• Dad- "You've lost weight. You look skinnier. Good." ....thanks, dad....
• "It's mostly just hard to suck on. You have to just squeeze it out and I don't like that." Those words I said yesterday were much too awkward not to share. (I was referring to a water bottle)

The Awesome:

• Wedding cake making starts in a week! 
• Setting up a day in two weeks to go on a little shopping trip with one of my best friends.
• How well my wedding board on Pinterest is developing. The plus side to spending so much time indoors.
• Wedding videos. I've been obsessed for the past year and the obsession only grows. This is one of my all time favorites. Let's not even mention the weird coincidence of the names...
• The homemade chocolate pie and homemade granola bars I've made this week for Jake. I say it all the time but I'm pretty much a housewife extraordinaire without the wife part. Ha!
• Reaching 50 followers! Thanks to Amanda at Little Tranquility for being my 50th follower!

Thighs for Days

(Shirt: Maurices, Shorts: Thrifted, Shoes: F21, Flower crown: DIY)

Today's outfit post is brought to you by only one picture because there were only two of this outfit and well, the other one had some crazy thunder thighs situation going on so naturally, I deleted it. But really, one picture is enough. 

So, it's summer. Summer means time to pull out the shorts. I love shorts. I think they're adorable. But as I mentioned in a previous outfit post, I am just not for them on my body. You see, I have thighs for days. That's fine. I understand. My body is just made like that. I know this because at my lowest weight  a few years ago (20 pounds down from where I am now), my thighs were still big. They just like it that way. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is, how do you make shorts work for you? (that is if you've got a good pair of thighs like me)

Moving on. I made this flower crown today and I kind of adore it. There's just something about wearing flowers on your head during the hot summer days. It makes me feel so feminine and flower child like. You should get on with making yourself one. Trust me, you'll love it.

I'll leave you with this:

via

Weekend Recap

Thursday night temporary tattooing.

J's sister taking candids.

Anniversary sushi date.

The beautiful flowers and card J got me

The modern mixed tape J got me. Ended up being one of the sweetest gifts

Sushi!

What J did after I left him in my room alone for a little bit

Meow

The curent mess I've been living in while they destroy our floors

Cupcake ingredients for J's sister's cupcake tasting for her wedding

I've discovered my new favorite way of wearing my hair

New shirt that's actually a dress #tallgirlproblems

Things are currently a little crazy due to the construction situation in our house but I do have some new pieces in my wardrobe that I can't wait to show you! 

Hope you had a great weekend!