The End of My Bloggin' New Year Challenge!

I Did It! 

I can't believe I made it to the end of this challenge! At first it was really easy to post everyday and I had tons of ideas of posts to write, but then I hit quite the roadblock and didn't really feel like I was producing quality posts. It started feeling so forced and tedious to write a post every day, especially since they don't really revolve around a specific theme. Most bloggers have a very specific type of posts that they write and they stick with that, such as fashion bloggers, food bloggers, travel bloggers, etc. The main purpose for my blog is to keep my friends and family updated on my life. The problem with those types of blog posts is that they aren't something that have to be written daily or even weekly honestly. I do like to post more than once a week, so I have to come up with stories to tell or talk about things that are only really like one time posts. I love that you guys got to learn more about me from my posts over the last month and that I got to share my stories with you. As for the future of my blog, I am 100% NOT going to be posting every single day. Like I said earlier, it feels too forced and that is not what I want from my blog. I want to post quality material and have my readers look forward to my posts. I'm going to shoot for posting two to three times a week, depending on how busy I am for each particular week. My posts will go back to mostly life update posts, but I will definitely continue writing story posts and themed posts from the Pinterest blog topics list I found and the little book of topics my mom got me. I am going to challenge myself for the month of February with a different type of challenge. I am challenging myself to dress well/cute every day because I just feel more confident and ready to take on each day. I'm going to have someone take a picture of my outfit every day and then at the end of the week, I will post a sort of look book of my outfits for the week. This is mainly for my week-day outfits so I can feel on top of the game and ready to take on the world. So, be looking forward to Saturdays in February when I post my outfits of the week. If any of you have suggestions of posts that you want me to write about, things you want to know about me, or any types of stories you want me to tell, please let me know! I love to have suggestions because it lets me know what you guys will be interested in reading! Thank you all so much for your support. I truly love writing these blog posts and it makes my heart so full that I have people who continue to read my posts every time I write them. You guys are the best and I love you all! ~Em 

The Hairs On My Head

Hair Problems

Hey everyone! Tonight I wanted to write about my hair. Most of you know that my hair is extremely precious to me. After a horrible haircut in 5th grade, I am incredibly possessive of my hair and only let two people in the whole wide world cut it now. Post-bad haircut, I grew my hair out for seven years and it was so long, thick, and beautiful. It went down to my butt crack and it was incredible.  When I graduated from high school I decided it was time for a change and I cut my hair to above my boobs. It was what I called my "big girl" haircut. I really liked it because it was healthy and easier to manage. Then when it grew back several inches, I decided to go for an even more drastic haircut last March and I cut it to my collar bones. It was an incredibly different look and I didn't really like it. It was just too different from my usual and much more difficult to style and fix. I have been growing my hair back out for almost a year now. It's almost back to the length that it was when I cut it at the end of high school. However, for the last two months or so, I have been losing a lot of hair. It has really been freaking me out. My hair has gotten much thinner, but there are no bald spots or anything like that, and it makes me really nervous since I am so protective of my hair. It scared me enough that I switched to a nourishing and strengthening shampoo and conditioner. My roommate also challenged me to stop using heat for a little while. I am really self-conscious about how my natural hair looks because it is curly underneath and straight/wavy on top. It has a mind of its own and I really don't like how it doesn't do one thing or the other. Regardless, tomorrow it will have been two weeks since I have put any heat on my hair! I can't tell much of a difference, but I am going to continue not putting as much heat on it. Although I already take a multi-vitamin, I might start taking some hair, skin, and nails vitamins as well. I know that the hair goes through natural phases, so it may just be going through one of those times, but it just freaks me out and I am doing the best I can to make it healthy again. Hopefully as my hair continues to grow longer, it will get stronger and thicker too. ~Em 

Right after cutting my hair March 2016

"Big Girl" Hair Cut 

May 2015 Before Graduation

Awards for Mundane Activities

I Deserve Some Mundane Awards

I saw this blog topic in the little book of topics that my mom got me for Christmas this year and I think that it is pretty hilarious. Though my day today was actually more productive than my usual Sunday, it was still really lazy and relaxed. So with that being said, I wanted to make a small list for the awards I should earn for the mundane things I did today. 

1.  Good Try: For only resetting my alarm one time this morning. 
2.  Success!: For not getting makeup on my church clothes this morning
3. Awesome Job!: For actually going to the caf for lunch... WITH FRIENDS! 
4. You Rock: For doing most of my homework before tonight's SAI meeting
5. #1 Athlete: For moving the three feet from my bed to the bean bag when my back got tired from sitting on the bed. 
6. Well Done!: For doing my dishes whilst procrastinating homework.
7. Superb: For actually writing a blog post before 10:30pm
8. Hooray!: Because I haven't gotten the flu like so many other people on campus! 

Those are pretty much all of the awards that I deserve for today! On a different note, I went to church today with a couple of my friends! I know that doesn't sound like anything unusual but I have really been debating which church I felt was right for me and where I felt most comfortable and I just got tired of waiting around to decide so I just went! I think my weeks are going to start off better with being back in church because it makes me feel so humble and so warm when I have a message and worship service to base my week off of. I'm really excited about having friends to go with because that was definitely another reason I hadn't been going, I didn't want to go somewhere by myself. But anyway, that's all for this post! Bloggin' New Year is almost over and I'm kind of sad about it but also kind of excited to not have to post every single day after this, but that's something I will post about tomorrow or the last day of the month! Love you guys! ~Em

Dream House

The House of My Dreams

I've said a million times before and I'll say it again. I watch WAY too much HGTV. I have spent many hours criticizing people's choices of interior design, floor plans, and exterior paint colors. My absolute favorite HGTV show is Property Brothers because of their ability to transform any house into the most amazing home! I have always had a knack for decorating, when it comes to matching patterns, finding art that fits the room, or even just cute throw pillows to make a bed the perfect picture. My obsession with organizing also pushes my drive for perfection in a home. You'd probably be able to guess it, but Pinterest is definitely one of my sanctuaries for home inspiration. My Pinterest board, Mi Casa Futuro, houses all of my home inspiration that I have found pictures of. Of course, my shows on HGTV give me inspiration as well, and some inspiration just comes from roaming Michael's, Hobby Lobby, TJ Maxx, and other home goods stores. One time I even drew up a floor plan for what would be my ideal house! So anyway, I thought I would let you guys know some of my plans for my dream home. 

Starting with the exterior and style of house, I really love one-story, traditional style homes. I would want the exterior paint to be a light gray with white shutters. This picture is a pretty good example of the general structure style that I like from the exterior. I will definitely have pretty bushes and flowers, likely hydrangeas, zinnia, and purple fountain grass, plus lots of other beautiful flowers and bushes I can find. I will definitely have a porch swing or rocking chairs or both on my porch as well. As for the backyard, I will need a lot of space for my dogs and kiddos to play. I would love to have a garden, since my mom's garden has brought us so much joy. I would also really love to have a patio with a fun hangout space to set up for friends to come over and grill outside and have nice lighting and music. 

Now comes the fun part for me. The interior! 

You will likely see a pattern throughout my dream home which will be the color gray. I pretty much want every room in my house to be varying shades of gray and have accent colors in them so that I can change out the accent colors when I get bored with them or need a change. So I guess I will start off with describing my living room.

The pictures that I have here aren't perfect examples of what I want in my living room, but they kind of give you an idea. I absolutely love the darker almost gray wood floors (go figure.) The second picture though definitely describes my style better. I love the shade of gray on the wall and the big lounge-y couch. I also really love the blue accent colors in the pillows and art on the wall. I definitely wouldn't have a white rug though because of pets and kiddos. I want a lot of space for relaxing and plenty of room for my family to come hang out because I have quite the large family! I think the accents in the main rooms of the house will be earth tones like greens and blues. Those are just the colors that make me feel happiest and most like I'm in a home. There will be lots of comfy seating in the living space with tons of throw pillows and blankets because I am cold 90% of the time and love to snuggle up on the couch. I really love the pallet board wall in the bottom picture and how whole room itself has a more cozy and cuddly vibe rather than a crisp, clean one. 

Next room to talk about is the kitchen! The kitchen is probably the room that I will be the most specific about because of one of my biggest pet peeves in life. On my HGTV shows, it drives me absolutely insane that almost everyone wants to have all white kitchen cabinets and white granite or marble counter tops. It makes me crazy! I get like war flashbacks of small children running grimy hands across the cabinets or spaghetti sauce splashing all over them and it makes me cringe! If you haven't guessed it already then you don't know me that well, but my kitchen cabinets and island will 100% be gray. I am okay with having white counter tops, just because I know that they will be easily cleanable, but NO WHITE CABINETS! I do really love stainless steel appliances and I will need to have lots of storage space and preparing surfaces. I love everything about the kitchen in this picture except the color of the walls and the backsplash behind the stove. I'm not a huge fan of the subway tiles pattern so I would have something a little more unique. I will also want to have a pantry, just so there is even more food storage. Gas range or electric is fine, that doesn't really matter to me although I have used gas range my whole life. I do really like a lot of natural light coming into the kitchen so I would like to have big windows in there. As for concept, I am kind of torn on whether I want the kitchen to be open or closed to the living room. I can see the appeal of being able to watch your kids or guests in the living room while you cook but at the same time I kind of like the cooking aspect to be separate from your living area.

Now for the master bedroom. For my master, it will have to be big enough to have a big comfy bed, but I honestly don't think it has to be that incredibly huge. The master will have an en suite with lots of counter space so that I can spread my stuff out as I get ready in the mornings and it will probably be a dual vanity just so my hubby doesn't have to wait on me to finish getting ready. I want a ton of storage in my bathroom for all of my makeup, skin care products, etc. There has to be awesome lighting so that when I go outside in the natural light I don't look like a clown. As most of you know, I absolutely hate baths, so my bathroom doesn't necessarily have to have a tub, and if it doesn't, that could leave room for a really incredible shower and more room for the most important thing in the en suite, a walk-in closet. For the last two years and probably for the next several in my life, I have had to put up with tiny closets and they just don't fit all of my stuff well, so when I get the opportunity I am going to take full advantage of it and spread my clothes out like they should be and fill that closet up with wonderful items! The toilet isn't that big of a deal to me, as long as I can use it, then great, I'm happy. You expect more gray in my bedroom like in this picture below. I'm not a fan of white sheets and white accents, so I won't have those features like in this picture, but it's a pretty good idea of a start to my bedroom. On one wall of my bedroom, I would really love to have these triangle built-ins. I think it's a really unique feature and it allows for the display of cute trinkets, books, knick knacks, and other decorative pieces. I wouldn't have the gold hardware on them because since I am allergic to gold jewelry it does make me biased and not like the color in general. I also probably wouldn't have them be white either but, you could probably guess that from my repeated dislike of white features.

The kids bedrooms will obviously change as they go from nursery to kid room. The guest bedroom will probably be pretty neutral and interchangeable for when I get bored with it. However, I do want to have a really unique chill space for watching tv, hanging out, playing board games, etc. I saw this picture on Pinterest and nearly died. It is so aesthetically pleasing for me and I know that if it was a room in my house I would never leave it. I know that it is totally different from the other vibes of my dream home, but this would be just such a fun space to hang out in and I absolutely love that art on the wall with the contrasting green couch.

In my ultimate dream house, the most important room in the whole entire house would be a library. I love reading, I love being surrounded by books, I love the smell of books, and I love the feeling that I get when I'm in a room with so many stories all around me. Libraries and books stores are some of my happy places so I know that I would seriously be the happiest woman alive if I had a library in my house. I may not be able to one room entirely dedicated to floor to ceiling bookshelves, but something like this library loft and reading nook would suffice. I think the loft is such a cool idea and the wrap around couch makes it perfect for snuggling up with a great book. 

I know there are a lot of rooms in the house that I haven't really talked about like the dining room, laundry room, guest bathroom, garage, etc. but those rooms aren't as super important to me as the ones I have listed and truly thought a lot about the details of. The last couple of pictures that I wanted to show were some cool decorative features that I want to incorporate into my dream home. Like I said earlier I love the earth tones and I will probably do a lot of nature-y art, decorations, etc. I also really love nautical stuff, so there will probably some nautical decor in a room or two. I love this little mountain shelf because it reminds me of my tattoo and I love mountains in general and this octopus door handle is to die for. I love how nontraditional this is and it matches my style really well. 

Well guys, there you have my dream home. I will honestly probably have to have it built from the ground up to get exactly what I want, or find a home with really good bones and do a fixer upper and truly make it my own. Writing this post made me really want to go buy a house, which I definitely don't have the money for, so thanks a lot brain for getting really excited about this. ~Em 

P.S. We are allowed to use our sink again!!! 

Another Post About Makeup

Y'all 😅

I chose the wrong time in my life to become obsessed with makeup. Not because it is not a great time for me to get better at doing my makeup, because it definitely was time, but because I am trying to save money for the sociology conference trip and research trip that I am going on in a few months. When watching makeup videos on YouTube became super popular like three or four years ago I was not into makeup. I had a routine and I did the exact same thing every day and that was all that I felt like I needed to know. My sisters A and T were really into watching videos and trying out makeup strategies and they were getting really good at doing their makeup, which in turn made them know a lot more about makeup than me and always tell me how terrible my makeup looked. I was usually pretty flippant about it and was just like I don't even care, it's just makeup. However, it started to get to me and I was always checking with them to make sure I wasn't going out looking like a crazy, hot mess. I was still using my same everyday products but I wasn't as afraid to try out new products. I honestly don't even know what triggered this recent obsession though. Last year (I don't remember what month it was) I got a VoxBox from Influenster with samples of e.l.f. products and I actually think all of them were full sized products. For those of you who don't know what Influenster is I need to post about that in itself soon because it is wonderful and you can get free stuff and seriously who doesn't want free stuff? Anyway! The e.l.f. VoxBox came with a primer, a matte lipstick, a highlighter and bronzer duo, a lip exfoliator, and a foaming face wash mask thing. I had never owned/used a face primer or highlighter and I was so excited to test them out and learn how to use them! That was probably the initial spark for my recent makeup obsession. Then for some reason I started watching YouTube videos of makeup tutorials and just girls talking about their favorite makeup products and I just got hit with the makeup bug. I already talked about this a little bit, but for Christmas my stepmom always uses that as a time for us to stock up on our makeup things from Sephora. This year I got another Tattoo Liner from Kat Von D because mine dried out and I also got the Sephora Favorites Give Me Lip & Liner with a ton of new lip products. I was in serious need of new lip products because being me and not really caring about makeup that much, I didn't find out until earlier last year that makeup has expiration dates and that you can get sick from the bacteria that grows on makeup and I had to throw out TWENTY SOMETHING of my lipsticks. The new lip products made me want to wear beautiful makeup every day and so then I started watching even more YouTube videos. As I watched more videos I realized that I was in desperate need of a new eye shadow palette because I had been using the same two for FOREVER. I started doing some research about what kind I should get. I ended up with the Modern Renaissance palette from Anastasia Beverly Hills and I am FLOORED by how much I love it. It is so pigmented and so blendable (look at me using makeup terms 😊) and it is just incredible! I have been practicing a ton with it and trying out different looks with it every day since I have had it. Today I even did a cut crease look which seems like one of those Instagram pro looks and I was pleasantly surprised by how well I did! This back story was definitely not the point of this blog post, I wanted to tell you about the new products I have purchased since my last makeup post, which I know wasn't that long ago but I have gotten some amazing new things and that inspired my post because I need to be stopped from purchasing new makeup products lol. I also want to talk about some skin care products that I have gotten recently because I have been trying to take better care of my skin. I haven't ever really had a skin routine and so now I've created one and my skin is doing wonderful! 

Starting with my skin care items, about a month ago I got a blackhead exfoliating scrub from St. Ives. I have struggled with my blackheads and pores for years. I have tried so many products and nothing has really worked for me. I have really deep pores and blackheads that I haven't been able to get rid of. However, this blackhead scrub is awesome! My favorite thing is that it is a green tea scrub so it smells awesome! I have dry to normal skin and so I can only use the scrub 2 or 3 times a week or it dries my skin out pretty bad. I also got some new pore strips from Biore and I am super surprised that they work. The regular pore strips from Biore don't work for me at all. I really do not like them at all. But! The Biore charcoal pore strips are amazing for me! They really removed a ton of junk from my pores and are a new blessing in my life. Like I said earlier, I have tried a bazillion and one face washes and nothing has worked out incredibly well for me, until now! I got the Neutrogena Deep Clean facial cleanser for normal to oily skin and let me just tell you. This face wash is impeccable. I have to be more careful with using this too much because it is for normal to oily skin and can dry my face out if I use it every day. It seriously cleans my face so well and it leaves my face feeling so smooth to the touch. To combat the dryness that I tend to get from washing my face, I got a moisturizer from St. Ives. The lotion I used to use for my face was just incredibly sticky and I didn't like how it left my skin feeling, but this moisturizer is awesome. It feels really thick to the touch but it smooths out really well. It has collagen in it but I can't really tell if it's making my skin lift or smooth out fine lines but it definitely makes my dryness go away. I also picked up some under-eye pads on a spontaneous buy at TJ Maxx. They definitely are not what I thought they were but I really liked the results that I got from the one pair I have tried. I thought they were going to be gel pads, but they are more cotton-y with retinol serum in them. You just leave them under your eyes for fifteen minutes and it will relieve your under-eye bags and reduce creases. 

Now for the new makeup products! Some of this stuff I am in love with and a couple things I am slightly disappointed by. The first things I got were two new foundations. I used to be VERY afraid to try new foundations and I have definitely had some awful foundation mishaps with too dark of a shade or bad coverage. I have been branching out though and I have found several different foundations that I'm comfortable with. As most of you know, my biggest makeup obsession is Kat Von D and my favorite full coverage foundation is the Lockit Tattoo Foundation by her. Since it is kind of pricey though, I don't use it very often, it is pretty much my special occasion foundation and right now the shade that I have is much too dark for me. The same goes for my every day foundation that I have, it has gotten too dark for me at the moment and so I decided that since I needed to buy a lighter shade, why not buy a new kind? I took the suggestions of some of my new favorite beauty YouTubers, Bella Fiori, KathleenLights, and Tati, and I got the L'Oreal Infallible Pro Matte foundation in the shade 102 Shell Biege and Rimmel Lasting Finish foundation in the shade 100 Ivory. To be honest, I am pretty disappointed with the Pro Matte foundation. I heard so many people raving about it and I was incredibly excited to try it out because of the matte finish. I tried it out on a day that I went to lunch with one of my friends and I was mortified to see how it turned out. As I was about to leave the house, I noticed that it looked pretty streaky and if you can tell that your foundation is streaky in my bathroom with the lights that we have in there, you know it's bad. So I was running late anyway and I just had to go with it, but it was even more terrifying outside in the natural light. There was such a harsh line under my chin and so many streaks my my jaw line and below cheekbones. I was really disappointed and as soon as I got home I took it off and tried it again, just to make sure I hadn't done something wrong. I think part of the reason it went on so patchily was because my blending sponge got too dry and it is also a medium coverage foundation, where I like a full coverage foundation. It looked a little better after I fixed it, but I need to keep playing with it before I give up on it. On the other hand, the Rimmel Lasting Finish foundation is BEAUTIFUL! I have been wearing it everyday and I am in love. I honestly like it better than my Rimmel Match Perfection foundation I was wearing every day when my skin was darker. This is a full coverage foundation and it it truly does cover everything well and it stays in place once it gets where you want it to be. Another added bonus of it is that it smells incredible, just like the Match Perfection one. The only small thing that I don't like about this is that it does crease in my under eye, but that definitely isn't too much of a problem for me. 

The next makeup product I got that I am not really in love with is the Rimmel Match Perfection concealer in the shade 230 Fair/Light. I was really wanting a concealer for my under eyes to help hide my bags and to cover my under eye creases. The brush applicator on it does nothing for me, which isn't that big of a problem but I feel like it does waste a lot of product. I have been squeezing some on my hand and using a brush to apply the concealer. Sadly, it did not work under my eyes. It still creased and left weird marks after a very short time. But! I did find a good use for it! I have been waning to try a cut crease look since I got my Modern Renaissance palette. Some videos that I have watched on how to do a cut crease have suggested to put your crease shadows on and then use a concealer to cover the lid and then pat on the lid shade on top of it. This concealer is awesome for the lid! The only problem with that I have experienced is that if I don't wait long enough for it to dry it does transfer up onto the other part of my crease and kind of messes up the crease makeup, so I will have to be careful about that! 

The next thing that I am really loving is the Hard Candy Sheer Envy Primer. I did not love my e.l.f. primer very much because I feel like it made my face feel oily. When I apply my makeup, I want it to last all day long and this Hard Candy primer truly does the job. A little goes a long way with this stuff and honestly I was a little skeptical because I feel like Hard Candy used to be a brand that was not well-renowned. I had been hearing some really great things about some Hard Candy products though and I did some research on it and a lot of sources said that this is one of the best drugstore primers out there. They were right! It doesn't make my face look oily and my makeup goes on so well on top of it! PSA though with this product: you HAVE to shake up the bottle because some liquid stuff will come out if you don't!

The reason that I bought this next product was also for trying cut crease eye shadow looks, but that is not what I have been using it for at all. This is the e.l.f. Eye Shadow Primer in the shade Sheer. The only other eye shadow primer I have ever used is the Urban Decay Primer Potion in Original. After I used up my last potion I just stopped using eye shadow primer and I was using my foundation on my lids, but the e.l.f. primer was $2!!!! I couldn't pass up on that! It is too sheer to use for doing a cut crease so I have just been this as a eye primer and it works really well! It prevents my eye shadow looks from creasing and it is just awesome! 

Next to last, I got a new blush brush from ecotools. I'm pretty sure that the blush brush I used to use was from a kit on Amazon and I used it for YEARS! The problem with it is that it sheds pretty bad, so I threw it out. The new brush I got is the ecotools Precision Blush brush. It's pretty thick and has a boxy shape. I'm still playing with how best to use it. I could also use it for contour or bronzer but I don't really contour or bronze so I haven't played with that yet. 

And last but not least, I got Rimmel Scandaleyes Retro Glam mascara. My go-to, ride or die mascara is Maybelline The Colossal Volume Express, but I have been using it for a while and it was time to get a new mascara so this is the one I chose. I saw a ton of great reviews for this mascara. I'm such a drugstore mascara girl. I have only ever had one or two mascaras that were from Sephora and I just prefer the cheaper drugstore options. This mascara is a perfect black and makes my eyelashes humongous! The only thing I don't like about this mascara is how big the wand is. I have definitely jabbed myself in the eye a couple times, no big deal. When I get used to the wand it will be just plain amazing. I really like how thin the formula feels on my eyes. I don't feel like they are clumpy or heavy which is the best! 

Well there you have it guys! I told you that I am getting obsessed and this is so dangerous for me, but now that I am aware of all of these great products out there in the makeup world and skincare world I want EVERYTHING 😢 If anyone wants to donate to my makeup obsession fund, please feel free I will love you so much 💚💚💚 I hope you can find product inspiration from this post and let me know if you have tried any of these products and what you think of them! ~Em

Quick Update Post

Hey everybody! Sorry it's late again! AA and I started watching some episodes of The 100 tonight and it got super dramatic and we were crying a lot and it was just awful. So I just wanted to super quickly write about some things that are going on in my life.

1. We are still forbidden from using our sink. It has been six days now since we have been allowed to use it. AA and I are getting frustrated that it has not been fixed yet and that we still can't use the drain in our sink. We've still been cooking foods that don't make a ton of waste or that require us to dump water down the drain which is a bummer. We haven't been updated on when it's supposed to be fixed at this point so now it has become a waiting game I suppose.

2. There is a flu epidemic going around here at OBU. As of yesterday, there were 83 confirmed cases. I even have a class cancelled tomorrow because my professor doesn't want our germs and such (which I totally understand and agree with!) They are trying to get us to get away from campus this weekend to get away from the flu germs and I don't blame them. There are a ton of other students who are getting bronchitis and strep throat and various colds and respiratory illnesses. I am definitely doing my best to stay away from all of the germs and I plan on keeping myself isolated this weekend.

3. Timmy, AA and I's orchid is blooming for his second season and we feel like really proud plant parents and he is so beautiful! Three of his seven buds of bloomed and we are excitedly waiting for the others to pop open! When he has completely bloomed I will definitely share pictures!

That's all that I can think of for right now. Just wanted to fill everyone in on these mundane aspects of my life! I hope you are all looking forward to a great weekend because I know I am looking forward to sleeping in and getting ahead on homework! ~Em

Happy Birthday To My Baby Sister!

It's A's 18th Birthday!

I know the name of this post could be seen as deceiving because my younger sister is definitely not a baby anymore, but she will always be my baby sister! But anyway, I just wanted to dedicate this post to A on her special day. As most of you know, A is my only biological sister and so our relationship is much different than the ones I have with my step-siblings. I'm pretty certain that I was born to be a big sister, because when God graced us with A, we were in a run for our money. A has severe allergies to many many things, but when she was younger, the list was even greater. I was always having to help make sure that A was staying away from the things she's allergic to and make sure that no one was giving her anything that could harm her, before she was really able to check ingredients in foods and things like that. I grew up as one of her greatest protectors because I was always so worried for my little sister. As we grew up, we were always pretty close, partly because we went through a lot of things within our family that we could only go to each other to talk about, but also partly because we just have a really strong bond. We butted heads quite a bit in A's last year of junior high and first year of high school, but what brought us closer than ever was when I left for college. The summer before I left, we both kind of realized that we had been neglecting each other's company and we realized just how much we were truly going to miss each other. I remember a couple of nights before I left for school, A and I were talking about me leaving and things and we just kind of looked at each other and grabbed hands and we both just started sobbing. It was a really special moment that I will cherish forever because I realized just how much my sister means to me and how weird it would be not to see her every day. Now, we pretty much do everything together. We have been to three concerts together in the last year and are going to another one in a couple of months, we go run errands together when I'm home, and sometimes we just lay around each other's rooms not talking about much but just appreciating the company. A and I have such different personalities, but we have so much that we are able to click together with that in the last several years she has truly become one of the few people that I trust to talk about everything to and one of the people who I can have insane amounts of fun with, or cry to, or pretty much anything honestly and she loves me unconditionally. I never thought it would happen, but A has decided to go to school here at Ouachita and so we will get to attend the same college for a year! I am so excited to see her here for her first year and hopefully she will fall in love with OBU like I have. 

A, I know I just called you to wish you happy birthday and I tweeted you earlier, but I just wanted to do something even more special so here's a big big big HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I love you so much and I am SO proud to be your big sister! Next time I come home we're going to win the lottery together and it's gonna be awesome! ~Em

Show Review

The 100

So this isn't something I would normally do, but I am having serious writer's block. I am only one week away from finishing my Bloggin' New Year challenge and I am struggling to have inspiration to write at this point. With that being said, I decided to rave about one my my new(ish) favorite shows. 

The 100 is an incredible post-apocalyptic series. It came out a few years ago but I didn't learn about it until the middle of last semester when a friend introduced it to AA and I. The story is based after a nuclear war causes Earth to become unlivable, or so they think. A large group of people go to space in a giant ship called The Ark. As time goes on, the ship begins to run low on its supply of oxyen. The chancellor of the ship decides to send 100 of the ship's prisoners to Earth to see if it is sustainable. The main character, Clarke, quickly becomes a leader down on Earth. She and the 99 others find that they can live on Earth, but not without many consequences. It soon becomes obvious that they are not the only ones who have managed to make it back to Earth or who survived the nuclear war. The majority of the rest of the show revolves around the battle to figure out how to live amongst the other groups of people who inhabit the Earth. 

It's so hard to say much more about the show without giving away any spoilers but it is such a game changer. It is truly unlike other shows I watch. There are so many plot twists that grab you by the seat of your pants. Also, BONUS there are really cute boys in this show. Emotions run so high and you just get so sucked in and I love it! If you love action, intensity, drama, and a little bit of romance, you should definitely check out this show. AA and I are almost finished with the seasons that are on Netflix and I don't know if there are anymore out there, but I will definitely be bummed when its over. If you want to know more about it please feel free to ask me or look more into it, I promise it's worth it! ~Em 

Dear Future Husband

A Letter to my Future Husband

Dear Future Husband,

At this point in my life, it's kind of hard to imagine having a husband and at the same time, it's not hard at all. Being a 19 year old Junior at a private Christian university truly shows me the eagerness of people to get married at a young age. So many people that I graduated high school with and that I have become friends with here at Ouachita or just am acquaintances with here at Ouachita are getting engaged, married, and starting families. I often find myself feeling jealous that so many people are able to find their person so early in life and are able to start early on families and such. Some days I wish that I could find you (future husband) tomorrow and we could begin our relationship so that we can get married soon, but I stop and remind myself that that is not what God has planned for us. My more reasonable and logical side knows that getting married at this age is not ideal. After my parent's young marriage fell apart, they have both encouraged me not to try to grow up so fast, but the problem with that, my dear, is that I was basically born as an old woman. I have always been more mature than expected to be and at this point am practically the embodiment of "19 going on 90." With being on the path to graduating from college a year early, I am burdened by the idea that I will be done with college and forced into the real world to scramble about for a job before I turn 21. At this point in most people's lives they would still be grasping on to the ends of their college careers so that they can continue to be a child for a little while longer and staying out too late because they can legally drink, though they have probably been drinking casually for their entire college experience. Though graduating early is certainly a path I have chosen for myself, it is still intimidating to know that I will be so young starting out in my career. Granted, I know that God is in control and His plan for me is what I put my faith in. I know that though the pressures of society around me encourage me to get married young and the thought of that excites me, that may not be in God's plan. God has picked us out for each other and He knows the exact time to bring each other into the other's life. Until them, I will continue to pray for you and about you because though I don't know you now, you are going to be one of the absolute most important people in my life, and I will pray for you then, so why not now? 

Some studies say that it's likely that you will meet the person you are going to marry by the time you turn 21, so I guess that it's possible that we have already met, but just in case we haven't yet, or we don't really know each other that well, I wanted to let you in on some things about me that could potentially be bothersome, depending on your personality I suppose. I guess you could call them tics or quirks, but they're definitely there and you should know about them. I generally can't sleep unless both of my feet are out from under the covers so sharing a blanket with you could potentially be hard. I have an obsession with things being organized, so there's a good chance that our movies will be in alphabetical order and also probably separated into genres, our bathroom counter will have to be very precisely organized, depending on if we share a closet, I will probably either color code your clothes or organize them into types of clothing, and honestly probably a lot of other organizing tics. I make lists... A lot. I honestly can't get anything accomplished unless I have it written down on a to-do list and I more than likely don't go to the grocery store without a list. I'm a bit of a germaphobe so I don't like other people to wear my hats, use my toiletries or shower stuff, etc. I HATE doing the dishes, so if there is one thing we need to bargain on, I would much rather wash toilets or something of that sort than do the dishes. I am a "what if" worrier, so I think up bizarre assumptions about situations and let them bother me and prevent me from doing things in life. I am petrified of people popping their necks so please, if you need to do that, warn me so that I can plug my ears and make a bunch of noise so I don't hear it. My socks must be matching, I cannot do mismatch. Truthfully, I dislike mismatched anything, I get anxiety just thinking about it. I itch my noise in a very strange way that often weirds people out. There are probably other quirks that I have that you won't like and that's okay. You can't like every single thing about a person and if you pretend to then that just isn't healthy for your relationship. I'm weird and I know that and I accept that. 

As for my hopes for our family, I already know that I will have a German Shepherd because that is my dream dog and I have been promised one when I graduate, and I hope that you love animals as much as I do because I will likely be the type of wife that will bring home three new puppies on some random Tuesday because I was weak and they were so precious. I also would really like to have an American Shorthair cat because they are great family cats. As for kiddos, I would love to have one baby of our own, so we can enjoy a beautiful masterpiece of our creation, but also, I am incredibly interested in adoption. I believe that everyone deserves a chance at a happy life and I would absolutely love to be able to provide that for a child who has been stripped of that privilege. As I said earlier, I promise that if you do the dishes, I will wash all of the toilets in our house AND do your laundry if that's what it takes. Speaking of houses, that's a whole different post on its own, not that you are necessarily reading my blog at this point in time, future husband, but I could write for hours about my dreamhouse. (I watch too much HGTV.) Overall, the single most important aspect of our relationship is that we put our relationship with God before our relationship with each other. We cannot have a healthy relationship without God's influence and impact on our lives and we need Him to guide us through life and through our marriage. 

I love you. You are incredible and I absolutely can't wait to meet you. 

Your truly, 

Your Future Wife, ~Em  

Ugh.

It's Late and I'm Sorry!

I do not know why I keep posting so late and I feel really bad about it! Plus, I also think that it keep me from getting as many readers when I post so late! I literally have no excuse as for why I didn't post earlier in the day today because for the most part I just sat in my living room watching Property Brothers today. Of course I did do some homework and I made a run to WalMart and had an SAI meeting tonight but still, I wasted a lot of time today that I could have been writing a quality post. But that's not what I did and so here I am. Two minutes ago I said to my roommate, "Quick! Give me a topic I can blog about in five minutes!" and she told me to write about our kitchen sink not working and so that's what I'm going to do!

Yesterday as AA and I were on our way to Hot Springs, we got a text from our Resident Director saying that we aren't allowed to use our kitchen sink until Monday. We were kind of concerned and replied by asking if we weren't allowed to use the water or just the drain or what was up. Apparently the dorm has been having problems with the rooms that end in "23" which happens to include ours. She told us not to use the drain at all because it has been backing up and causing the sink below ours to overflow. So we have been forced not to use the drain in our sink, meaning that we couldn't cook anything that we would require us to use the drain and we haven't been able to wash our dishes. We have been thinking of innovative foods to cook so that we don't have any remains and so for lunch I toasted a bagel and put pb&j on it and had some of my new vegan chips and AA made some vegan chicken strips in our toaster oven and all was well. Later it came time for dinner and we decided to make chicken noodle soup (nothing fancy, just from a package) and it was super quick and made no mess so we are pretty proud of ourselves! We don't know exactly when we will be allowed to use our sink again tomorrow, but we're pretty certain that the maintenance men will be in our room at some point so I guess we will just have to wait on them. So that is the tale of being forbidden to use our sink until some time tomorrow and I will update you when I know that we can use it again. ~Em 

Vegan Snacks

Amazing Vegan Snacks!

I know what you are thinking, "you're vegan now?" No no no my friends. As you know, I don't eat dairy anymore. It is incredibly difficult to find snacky foods that don't have some kind of cheese, butter, or milk in it. Recently though, I have found that TJ Maxx has awesome vegan snacks! AA and I took a trip there today and I loaded up on lots of yummy snacks. I got lentil chips in Himalayan Sea Salt flavor and Tomato Basil flavor, bean chips in chili flavor, vegan chocolate chip cookies and vegan lemon cookies, a trail mix, vegan dark chocolate covered pecans, and some vegan zesty nacho flavor chips. I'm so excited to try out all of these snacks and to have some savory stuff in the room. It gets old just having fruits and veggies even though I enjoy them very much! I'm afraid the snacks won't last very long, but since TJ Maxx snacks are so affordable I will hopefully be able to stock up after I get paid each month. That's all my news for today guys, just wanted to let you know about my new snacks 😁 ~Em 

History of an Uncommon Cheerleader

My History of Cheerleading

If you would have asked me 10 years ago if I would ever be a cheerleader, there is a solid chance that I would laugh in your face and quickly say no. I was a major tomboy from 3rd grade to probably the end of 6th grade. I had far more friends that were boys and I was always wanting to play football and roughhouse with the boys. I played softball in my preteen years and was just far more interested in being a jock. The only impression of cheerleaders that I had was what I had seen on tv. I only knew the stereotypes and I was not about to give myself that rep. I had done gymnastics before but didn't ever go very far with that. One day, at my grandma's house I was doing cartwheels and handstands in the back yard when my dad offhandedly said that I could never be a cheerleader. I don't think he meant it seriously, but it lit a fire inside me and made me want to prove him wrong. I just kind of snarkily told him to watch me and at the end of 7th grade there I was trying out to be a cheerleader. I had gone to tumbling for a few months before tryouts and taken some private lessons because I was really serious about proving my dad wrong. I remember that my first year of tryouts, it was still set up to where the dance team and the cheer squad tried out on the same day, and you could try out for both with a preference of one or the other. There were so many 7th and 8th grade girls there and I was extremely intimidated. The 8th graders that were trying out for the second time were really good at what they did and I was so nervous. The song that our tryout dance was to was One, Two Step by Ciara and I still remember most of the dance we learned to it! I worked SO hard that week to make a strong impression and learn the cheer, chant, and dance. I think the highest tumbling skill that I had at the time was a front walkover maybe not even that yet. I don't remember much about my actual tryout but I remember waiting so anxiously for the results to be posted. After a few hours, we all went back to the school when the list was posted and I couldn't believe it. I made the cheerleading squad! I was so shocked but I had actually done it! I was a junior high cheerleader. Our squad was so talented and we always got the crowd pumped up with our pep rally performances. It was such a flip in my life. I understood then that all the stereotypes about cheerleading were not true. I was more active than I had ever been in my life, I was making more girl friends than I had ever had, and I felt more like I was involved in my school than ever before. I realized that you have to be VERY strong to be a cheerleader, both physically and emotionally, because practices are exhausting, stunting is extremely hard, and being around 15 other teenage girls is emotionally tiring. 

I quickly fell in love with cheering. My favorite thing to do was to perform at pep rallies, especially the dance sections of our routines. My body definitely wasn't used to this kind of activity and I had to start wearing knee braces on both knees and started experiencing some back pain. When the time came around for me to tryout again for 9th grade, I was so pumped and ready to start a new year with new girls. Tryouts went really well except I made a goofy mistake in my tumbling sequence. I still wasn't confident enough to throw a back handspring so I just did some random combination of a cart wheel, round off, front walkover and felt silly doing it. Prior to that, I had been working with my best friend to help her get confident in her tryout. When we saw the results, we were ecstatic! All of our hard work paid off and my best friend and I made the squad together! I was also announced as the captain of the squad! Shortly after that though, we found out that our coach was leaving and we would be getting a new one. That made me incredibly nervous but I knew that we would still have a great team. That year I got to make up the routines and mix the music which was very stressful but also so rewarding to see how much the crowd enjoyed my routines.

Tenth grade was a time for a big change in my cheerleading world. Tenth grade is the first year of high school where I'm from and high school cheer is a very different world than junior high cheer. the first thing that is different is the tryout. Dance and Cheer tried out on different days and it felt like the tryout itself was just harder in general. Being with juniors and seniors was an intimidating thought but I knew that I could rock the tryout after having been captain my ninth grade year. Our tryout dance was incredibly hard, because the choreographer made it somewhere between 32 and 40 eight-counts and the song was just a crazy mashup of things. We also had to create our own two eight-count part at the end of our dance routine. I don't remember the cheer or chant being especially difficult. I think I threw my standing back handspring during the cheer portion, which was such a big thing for me because I was so afraid to throw it for nearly 3 years. We went to cheer camp in Hot Springs to learn better skills and I had another new cheer coach. High school cheer was just a different world for me. My best friend and I were the only two sophomores on the squad and we were pretty nervous about this bigger squad. I think cheer in high school definitely helped me become more confident in myself because I had a whole squad of girls who I was close with and had those connections. My sophomore year I became much more confident in my tumbling with doing standing back handsprings and roundoff back handsprings, but tumbling lead to my back becoming very weak. It felt like I kept injuring it and eventually I was in so much pain that I thought I would have to quit cheer. I saw a doctor about it and he basically told me that I would not find relief until I stopped cheering. I absolutely did not want to quit and give up on my sport that I had become so passionate about. I just had to keep pushing forward for my team. At the end of my sophomore year when basketball season was over, we started doing the workout program Insanity. At first, it was truly insane and I had trouble walking down stairs for a few days after we started, but over time, Insanity seriously helped me get into the best shape of my life. I think it also helped me better prepare for tryouts my junior year.

Junior year brought another huge change for my cheer world. We had another change in coaches (yes that is a different coach for every year that I cheered, so far) AND we were transitioning into a competitive squad. We had to work EXTREMELY hard at cheer camp, which was a competition style camp, teaching us how to become a competitive squad from nothing. We spent long hours in the summer practicing and we were required to attend tumbling class to try to better our skills. By this point my tumbling was getting better and I had a series of standing back handsprings and my most advanced running tumbling pass was a front walkover roundoff back handspring series. My back was still causing my a lot of problems and with learning more advanced stunts for competition my wrists were getting weaker.  We did fairly well for our first year competing! We got first place in a couple comps and we ended up placing 3rd at State. Some of the girls who I had cheered with my whole career were graduating that year and it was pretty emotional. On Senior Week, we got to pick one of our seniors who we would be giving gifts to throughout the week. I got to pick one of my best friends and I was so ecstatic to be able to give her the themed gifts during the week and provide her with some of her favorite things. The other two juniors, who had become my absolute best friends, and I got to pick out outfits for cheer camp the next year which was so exciting because we were going to be seniors!

Then it was there, my senior year and last year as a cheerleader. So many thoughts, feelings, and emotions were flowing through my head and heart. I was chosen to be captain of the squad and I was ready to take our team to the next level. Finally, we had the same coach as the year before and she was ready to make our team the best it could possibly be. This team was so determined to be successful and we were looking forward to come out on top. We went to a competitive cheer camp again in the summer and I made the All-American Cheerleading Squad and we placed 2nd in the competition at the end of the camp. It was such a fun year from the get-go. Our goal as a team was to be able to go to Nationals in DisneyWorld. We did a ton of fundraising and continued to work our butts off to be able to get to Nationals. We were still required to go to tumbling and I didn't feel like I was benefiting from the local gym so I decided to go to Conway to a better gym. I immediately started seeing results. The coaches there were pushing me harder than ever to get my skills and it was happening! I never thought I would see the day that I did more than a back handspring, but a few months into tumbling I got my roundoff tuck. I was kind of in shock and didn't believe that I was really doing more advanced tumbling than a back handspring. I had to wear a stiff brace for a month because I got a severe wrist sprain. There were a lot of pulled muscles and tendons in my wrist (I don't really remember how I hurt it.) That put a road block in my tumbling for a while but then the day I went back to tumbling from my wrist injury, I got a roundoff back handspring tuck! I couldn't believe it and I was so ecstatic. I had overcome my biggest roadblock in cheer and I had achieved my goals that my coach had assigned me. We did fairly well in our competition season, with only one bad performance, but it just lit a fire under our butts and made us work harder. We went to State and we felt really confident. Our performance was killer, with only a few mistakes, but we got 6th place. We were so confused as to why it happened, but we figured out that it was because of the company that was running the competition. The company switched from our first competitive year, where the first year we were judged on cleanliness, so that is what we prepared for, but the second year, the judges were judging more on difficulty, which we didn't really have. We didn't score high enough to get a bid for Nationals, but the director of cheer for our state didn't believe that we should have scored the way we did and told us that we deserved to go to Nationals anyway, so he arranged for that to be possible. We were so pumped! We wanted so badly to redeem ourselves and so we worked as hard as possible for the next two months until it was time for Nationals. It finally came time for us to go to Nationals and we were ready! Not only were we excited to be missing school for the sport that we loved and for being in Disney, but we were making history for our school! No other team had ever been to Nationals and we were there to prove ourselves. Our first round of performance went so well and we scored so high, that we advanced straight to finals and got to skip the semi-final round. We could not believe the results! We got to enjoy ourselves in Disney after that round and then when it came to the finals round we felt really prepared. We ended up placing 4TH IN THE NATION!!! I was so proud of my team and it is still one of my favorite stories to tell. Our team got to be on our local news and it was just an all around incredible experience. Outside of competition we had some really fun routines that I got to put together and I have so many cherished memories from that season. My secret gift givers for Senior Week did such a wonderful job and one of my very best friends was one of my secret people! As part of the Senior Week tradition, on the last day we got scrapbooks with pictures from the season, pictures with our other teammates, and letters from each one of the underclassmen. It was such a special gift to receive and I look through it and read the letters a lot when I want to reminisce. At our end of the year cheer banquet, I was selected to be part of the All-State athletes for Cheer. We had a beautiful slideshow that our coach put together of pictures from the year and it was such a special way to end my time as a high school cheerleader. My senior year of cheer was absolutely phenomenal and when it came time for the season to end I was truly sad.

Me, flying? I couldn't believe it either.

Had to do a Lib for Senior Night 

 I definitely don't regret retiring from cheer because my body is so relieved from the pain, but I definitely miss getting to go cheer at football and basketball games and making hilarious memories with my teammates. I am so beyond grateful for cheer because it brought me some of the best friends I will ever have, it shaped me into the young woman I am, and it gave me some of the best memories I have ever had in my whole life. Cheerleading, I am so appreciative of the impact you had on my life. Though I didn't think I would ever say this earlier in my life, I love you cheer and you are so special to me. I will forever be proud to be an RHS Cheer Alum. ~Em