channing and rachel

i'll be seeing this tonight!!

will you??

channing makes my heart flutter. 

tears are gonna happen, it's inevitable. 

just watching this trailer gets me all choked up.

i'm such a sucker for love.

10 things i learned this weekend

weheartit.com

1. shopping is fun and extremely addicting
2. i have the greatest besties ever
3. lucky charms at midnight taste so much better than in the mornings
4. blue valentine....again you are depressing! BUT i love you so much!
5. life is really happening right now. scary? yes! exciting? omgeee yes! 
6. sometimes relying on people is okay
7. breaking in shoes is the worst...the absolute worst!
8. singing really loud in the car, man i love that!
9. sometimes doing homework...isn't so bad. 
10. drinking coffee out of mug is always so much more fun!!

a bit of lovely to start your week...

shame on me...i've been a bad blogger.
i could sit here and give you excuse after excuse of why i haven't blogged OR i could just show you this and this my friends will make you weak at the knees, make your heart flutter and have you smiling ear to ear.
i saw it saturday and let me just say if i could sit and re-watch it over and over again
i WOULD.
i cried...
i cried a lot but the good cry...the relatable cry....
the i love love type of cry.
it's beautiful. it's wonderful. it's heart hurting perfection.
so without further a do here you go. and your welcome.

Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween!!

I hope that you are all having a goolish and creepy filled Monday. 

 i sure am.

i've already had three pieces of candy and looking forward to much more through out the day.

and i don't even feel bad about it...later maybe, but as of right now naaaah. 

this morning around campus has been nothing but spooky!

costumes gallor it's pretty fabulous!! 

gosh, i just love Halloween!!

it was a great weekend; such a treat
 i loveeeee getting dressed up and going to BOO Bash's!!

This year i was a cat...i know, i know not the coolest or unique costume. 

see, i wasn't planning on dressing up this year at all...

 but thank goodness last minute costumes are my specialty

and this little costume took just minutes to create!

i was invited to seriously the best.party.ever. this weekend. 

there were massive amounts of brains, eye's, guts, fingers, potions, pumpkins, goo

all of the essentials that make up a boo bash.  

i ate way to much and drank apple cider like there was no tomorrow. 

it was the best night ever.

 i got to hang with some of my favorite people in the whole wide world. 

just a few pictures from the phone...more to come soon!! =) 

SO looking forward to passing out candy tonight to all of the little ones in the neighborhood! <3 

Let's hear it for the boy!!

 1st things first.
cut loose, footlosose kick off your sunday shoes
hahaha...that song is seriously stuck i mean stuck in my head i can't stop singing it.
i don't even care because i'm obsessed!!
Sunday night me and a fellow wolf pack member (yes girls can have wolf packs) i have one with three other members. and they are pretty awesome!
well we planned to all go see FOOTLOOSE together..sadly one had a midterm to study for and the other decided she wouldn't text back...i'll i have to say is she better have a good excuse this morning when we see her...ha.
so it was just me and Mel which was totally fine!! she's pretty fabulous and such a darling friend. love her. i also invited the cousin aka dia :) to come along too because she was just as anxious to see it as we were.
SO basically the movie was A-MAZ-ING!
was it as good as the original?
well obviously kevin bacon was great in the original and it's a classic 80s film.
but let me just tell ya this remake held it's own.
it was different of course, i mean it was a remake for goodness sakes.
but it followed the story line pretty well and at the end when the new guy showed up in his maroon tux...sigh lets just say it was close to perfect.
i <3 Ren.
i <3 Ren.
the best part of the entire night was at the end when our entire theater jumped from their seats at the ending scene and started dancing in unison to "footloose" and confetti shot from out of the ceiling it was EPIC!!......okay, okay, so maybe that didn't happen, but how cool would that have been if it really did??! gosh, sometimes i wish life was like a musical singing and dancing through out the entire day...that would be ideal!!

P.S.
Breaking Dawn trailer AHHHH!! it going to be SO good!!

weekend.

lemon and chocolate vanilla in thurrr. 

Delicious la grande orange pizza

baby sis

Mmm....vanilla latte <3 

my weekend started thursday night. 

after a long long week of classes, lesson prep, presentations, papers etc...

it was time for some much needed hangout, let my hair down, relaxation time!!

sister, cousin and i headed over to one of our favorite pizza places

La Grande Orange. 

amazing pizza, amazing coffee, amazing cookies.

we then ventured to 

sprinkles. <3 

need i say more. they are delish so delish. 

friday my darling friend sandy turned 24! 

the girls and i spent the entire day 

@LUX coffee shop which is my new fav as of late. 

then headed to sandy's birthday dinner which was filled with laughs and lots of yummy food and cheesecake. 

saturday was spent sleeping in, reading, hanging out in the pj's 

watching cruel intentions and the notebook, eating way too much kettle corn and drinking cherry pepsi.
i seriously ate so many bad things this weekend...green tea detox def needs to be going down this week for sure.
it was all worth it though...hehe :) 

sunday is by far one of my favorite days of the week!

its the time i get to spend with my sweet family who i adore SO much

church aka second family (yesterday's message was AMAZING) travis clark def brought it!
hanging out with fusion some of the coolest young adults i know. also some of the craziest
gosh i love my junior high & high school students so much!!

last night i also went and saw FOOTLOOSE  i've been waiting to see it!
i was soooo excited i went with two of my fabulous friends dia & Mel. 

more on that later... but let's just say it was fabulous!! <3 

friday: birthday celebration!!

these are the girls! not all, but some and they are great.
i'm pretty blessed to have some amazing friends in my life.
friday night my darling friend sandy turned 24!! yay, for adding another one to the rad group of 24!!
I'm so thankful for this girl's friendship, in the last year she truly has become one of my dearest and closest friends in the world. i love her with all my heart!! <3
it was a great night of celebrating; good food, good company, lots of laughs, cheesecake of course and did i mention lots of laughs?! its what we do, we are that type of group! love these ladies SO much.
there were boys....but i didn't capture any pictures of them that night due to them jumping over poles, climbing walls, and acting crazy. boys will be boys and when you are waiting to eat for an hour and half...well, you get a little stir crazy...restless would be an understatement. ha. 

Weekend.

i know i'm a few days late...but
Ahh! it was such a lovely weekend.
a full "Homework Day"...filled with lots of productivity.
New coffee shops with fantastic peanut butter kiss cookies!! Mmm...
day spent with the best frannn
La Blanco panini's
lightrail adventures.
Redbox two nights in a row!!
Jane Eyre i HIGLY recommend
sleeping in...lots and lots of sleeping in.
it was such a wonderful weekend...

weekend.

This weekend was non stop. I can't even pin point a moment when it wasn't moving in full speed. i love weekends like that though. the only downfall is lack of sleep and having to pay the consequences monday morning. hello vente americano!! 

Thursday afternoon my darling dad and I had lunch at one of our favorite burger joints on campus called 

SMASHBURGER!! Okay so I'm not a huge burger person, i'm more of a chicken sandwich type of gal. But smash burger is one burger that i don't turn down. i have no idea what they put in their meat but it's delish and the fries are even better. sauteed in herbs and olive oil. they are life changing. lunch dates with dad are the best! i love talking life with this man and taking in all of his wisdom. he truly is one of my best friends and i'm so blessed to have the relationship that i do with him.  After lunch we headed over to Barnes and Noble he read the paper and i enjoyed an iced coffee and did a little blogging. perfect ending to a wonderful afternoon with dad.

friday night was "prep night" for fusion's fundraiser to raise money for Project Belwop! 

just a few of the hard workers that night <3 

What's Fusion? It's the community group i lead for young adults that our in junior high and high school that attend the young adults ministry at my church called "the well" check it out here. what is Project Belwop? the same young adults ministry at my church is raising money to build an Orphanage in Nyeri, Kenya for 100 orphans who right now are being housed by an amazing woman named veronica mumbi who has opened the doors to her home and has taken these children in from off the streets. we our raising money to build a home for these children; a place to call their own and to also be educated.

So my community group brainstormed together and decided they would put on a "yard sale" to raise money. friday night we set up all of our items that they had brought from home to sell and made posters. I was so proud of these young adults, they worked incredibly hard to set up that night. saturday morning we started at 6am and ended at 1pm and their dedication and hard work was amazing! i couldn't of been more proud! Not once did they complain about the heat or being on their feet for hours they just smiled and worked until the last customer got into their car. we expected to raise maybe $150 to $200 dollars that day if we were lucky. We never imagined to raise what we did and honestly all i can say is God is SO good!! our total funds raised saturday was $762.00!! Can you believe that?! in all honestly we didn't have that much stuff...but god definitely multiplied and somehow we ended close to $800 dollars that day!! I'm still in aw and SO proud of fusion!! Such rockstars!! Our goal for project belwop is $15,000 and we're only $2,000 away from making that goal!! This saturday definitely brought us that much closer! <3  

the birthday girl is the cutie in the grey! <3 

Saturday afternoon was my little cousin's 3rd birthday!! It's crazy to me how fast these little cuties grow up. I remember her 2nd birthday where she was saying adorable mumbles and now at age 3 she is speaking full length sentences. it's amazing to me how a year can make such a difference in any age . her mother made a yellow cake with coconut frosting and it was scrumptious!! it took all my strength not to snag a second slice. that little doll sucking her fingers to the left is kiera and i'm pretty much head over heels in love with her. She is the best baby girl ever! always smiling, never crying (at least not when around me ;) ), who loves to cuddle and is the most energetic little love bug you will ever meet.

this weekend in one word: wonderful. 

weekend.

the majority of my weekend was spent doing homework...i did venture out Friday evening though, for 1st Friday's;  an art walk that expands over three streets downtown. where local artists come out and perform, promote, and sell pieces of their art. i was introduced to a band called "peach cake" who were pretty legit and entertaining...at first i wasn't too sure about them but after listening to a few songs i started to really dig their lyrics. they were retro and a bit humorous and that made me like them even more. In case you weren't aware of it yet PUMPKIN SPICE yeah its back! Officially today, but this weekend it was served upon request! I have to admit I loved drinking it secretly knowing only I and a few other fans new of it's return. The weather is starting to get cooler here which means Fall has finally arrived!! it's still too warm to wear hats and scarves but that wont stop me from pulling the boxes out from under the bed and closet...even if i can only stare at them still for at least a month or so more. Having them out of hibernation is all that really matters.

Dad's Birthday!

it was this guy's birthday saturday, and boy did we celebrate!
we started the afternoon off with some incredible indian food at our favorite little spot. the one where everyone knows us by name the second we walk in.
i love that, i love that my family bonds instantly with the people that work at our favorite restaurants, bookstores, coffeehouses, boutiques, random places we visit. my dad has this personality that people just latch onto and i admire it so much.
walking into a familiar place and having people greet you with huge smiles, and are excited to see you back again, that never gets old.
we ate ourselves into a food coma and then we ate some more after that.
the manager brought over birthday sorbet for my dad at the end of our meal which was the sweetest thing in the world.
then after hours of conversation about the old days, and the upcoming future plans, and lots of loud laughter we hurried into the car and zoomed to the movies. it was such a special day, which also meant we were on a tight schedule. my dad decided on his birthday he wanted to see not one but THREE movies! Yeah...THREE. Have you have ever seen THREE movies in a row?! Well let me tell ya spending the entire day at the movies is a rush and it's exciting!!
But by the end of the night...you are tired, your behind hurts, you're all sugared out and your eyes...uh yeah they are all types of crazy after staring at a overly large screen for so many hours. it was worth it though...so worth it. and if my dad asked me to do it again i wouldn't even hesitate.
our three movies were "winnie the pooh" which got incredible reviews on rotten tomato! it was adorable and sweet. it brought me back to my childhood; snuggled on the couch with my brother wishing all of our stuffed animals would come alive just like christopher robin's. "captain america" was next and it was AMAZING even more amazing than the 1st time, because this time around you catch all of the little things you miss. My dad is a huge comic book nerd so watching him gaze at the screen like a little kid for two hours, it made my night! Our last movie was "rise of the planet of the apes" it was better than i thought it would be. it was sad at times, creepy at times, funny, interesting and overall it was really cool! james franco was gorgeous too! so that made it even better.
i'm really blessed to have such an incredible father. one that inspires me, encourages me to chase after dreams, one that's funny and outgoing, who has a huge heart and is one of the most selfless people i know, he's my hero...and i'm pretty lucky to call him my dad and even more lucky to have him as a friend.  <3

weekend + bachelorette finale

i really adore this photo...

Spoiler Alert: bachelorette
last night was the bachelorette finale and JP WON!!!!Ahhhhhhh, how happy are you? I'm pretty darn happy! they are so in love and i think it's the sweetest thing ever! #jpandashleyforever! i was jp's biggest fan from the start! he's adorable, he's sweet, he's romantic, he's from nyc, what more could you ask for?!  i have to admit though, i felt soooo terrible for ben...completely and utterly terrible for him. he walked into that last rose ceremony so confident and in love...it was devastating seeing him leave.  i will never understand why or how ashley could let him get down on one knee and propose. i'm so glad he was mad and showed real emotion. "you're interesting...and smart" what? ash, come on he does not want to hear how interesting he is. are you serious? just let him go! poor guy. and please don't get me started on her sister...yeah she was honest but really did she have to go about it the way she did..ugh.
i can't believe it's really over...what will i do with my monday nights now? Oooh that's right Bachelor pad starts next week! Oooh reality tv...just can't get enough of you lately...ha.
i really love monday nights, i love that the girls and i come together and laugh at all of the drama, feel bad for the poor guys that don't see their departures coming, and all of the crazy things ashley does...and having the best conversations afterwards discussing what we would do in her shoes. incase i haven't emphasized this enough  i love love love monday nights...i'm really going to miss spending each week with these girls. but it wont be for long the bachelor will start soon enough and then our drama filled monday nights will resume! yay!
Who do you think the new bachelor is going to be?! i hope someone new! but if they choose one of the guys i think ryan would be wonderful! i don't care what the other guys say i thought he was sweet, and charming! And i liked that he was happy ALL the time...haha.
this weekend my best fran and i went to see "Crazy Stupid Love" and it was good, so good! it was funny and heart warming, and ryan gosling was beautiful. yes i said beautiful, because certain men can be beautiful and he is one of those men. i loved the ending it was a great ending...i had no idea what was coming and i love ending like that when you are so surprised to me thats great writing. if you haven't seen it yet you should, you will not be disappointed at all.
P.S.
My birthday is in exactly 11days!!! Yeee!

weekend + monday's in the summer

this weekend was lovely.
you know why? because i spent time with the people i love and that my blogger friends makes this girl happy, and makes weekends wonderful.
i laughed to the point where i could hardly breath
weekends like these are my favorite, when laughing is constant the entire time.
Yesterday was pretty grand too, i had an iced coffee date with a couple of best frann's.
there's nothing like iced coffee with your favorite girls on a hot day in the summer!
Can i hear an amen?!
 it was pretty close to perfect.
Monday's are so much better during the summer, wouldn't you agree?!
i love deciding when to wake up or when not too.
debating if i want to get ready or if it's better to lounge in my pj's all day watching netflix.
netflix usually wins...not gonna lie here.
it's amazing not to do anything some days and have a full schedule with friends on others.
i love summer
i love my darling friends
i love the happy feeling i get on days like this one.
oooh and on a random note:
I'm a little obsessed with HIMYM! have you watched it?
Oooh gosh if not, you don't know what you're missing it's hilarious and is my new favorite show!

sunday's are my fav...and i adore a little "high low" too!

Via: Le Love

On sunday's I'm pretty darn lucky, i lead this incredible community group for young adults at my church every sunday night and it's seriously one of the best parts of my week. from 530-7pm i hangout with some pretty rad junior high and high school students!! They seriously are the bomb diggity! We grow, share life, eat lots of junk and talk about jesus with another and laugh on a constant basis. it's the best. My darling little sister who is growing up to be an amazing young adult helps me lead each week, she's my right hand gal. i couldn't do it without her, she has no idea how fabulous she really is and how grateful i am for her! Every week we incorporate a team builder activity. this purpose is to push and encourage everyone to grow on a deeper level with each other and to also get out of their comfort zones a little. these builders have them rely on each other and strengthens their bond with one another, my goal is for them to become as close as family because that's what fusion is all about. Fusion is the name of our group, you can read about it's significance here. this week's team builder was one of my favorites; i broke everyone up into pairs and had them answer four simple questions:

1. One dream they have for their life and why? 
2. All time favorite movie?
3. Favorite vacation spot and why it's special to them?
4. If your house was burning down and all of your family, animals...and plants yes one of the students asked me this ha! :) got out alive and you only had time to grab one possession what would it be and why?  

once every pair was finished answering the questions we gathered back together and shared what we learned about our partners. i loved hearing their answers, listening to their dreams made me so happy! To see that they have hopes and wants for their future it was heartwarming and i realized i have dreamers in my group big dreamers and it makes me love them even more than i already do because i dream big too.

I'd love to hear your answers to these four questions!!!

"High Low"

High of the week:

Hands down community groups tonight! we had a couple of weeks of hiatus and then a luau last weekend but tonight we were back at our normal spot and got to reconnect, eat, laugh and have fun with one another. i then got a chance to journey over to a college age community for fireworks and s'mores and mingled with some of my darling friends. it was such a great night, i love sunday's, i love my friends who are like family, and i love twirling around sparklers for 4th of july. it's truly the little things that put a smile on my face. <3 

Low of the week: 

for those of you who have experienced a power outage....I'm soooo sorry and i now know how you feel and would never want anyone to experience its horridness...ever!! On thursday around noon the entire city that i live in lost power there was apparently a fire and 80,000 people's homes and businesses were no longer in service for an entire 10hours...yup you heard me right! Crazy right?! Now where i live the temperature can reach 117 degrees and on this particular day it was 114 and without air conditioning or electricity... for 10 hours is unbearable and should be illegal...seriously. it was painful...not kidding. thank goodness for friends who lived in the next city which isn't too far of a drive...I'm still shocked the power could go out for that long...it was unreal. thankful for good friends who have homes with air conditioning and for the srp guys working hard to get it back up and running before the night was over. i now appreciate air conditioning more than i ever have before...

What about you what's your "High Low" of the week?!...

her soulmate...

On june 11th one of my best friends said "i do" to her soulmate she was the one person who thought she would never say "i do" for years down the road.  funny how fate works...huh?! it wasn't that she was against marriage, she just always thought she would accomplish the world first. she had no idea G would be conquering it with her...i knew one day she would meet someone that would change her from the inside out. when she ran into G a few years back on a not so important day, her entire life turned upside down. she realized he was the one instantly i could see it in her eyes. she tried denying it for months saying "they were just friends, he wasn't anything special" but i knew better. i saw the way she looked at him and the way he would make her laugh and stumble on her words. how her face would melt whenever he walked into the room. he was different, he was more special than she ever knew, he made her weak at the knees and he loved her like no one ever possibly could. their love;  it's beautiful, it's sweet, it's passionate, and it's strong. it lights up a room as soon as you walk through, he knows just how to calm her and she makes his life a bit spontaneous. no relationship is perfect...but their's comes pretty close...one day i hope to find a love that's even half of what their's is...

Something Borrowed

This weekend I went with a few of my girlfriends to see this. Yes it was cheesy, yes it was corny, yes it had predictable parts through out the entire two hours, yes the ending was a little over the top but i dont care i loved it and would see it again. i will probably even own it one day. yup its true. i would really like to find myself a Dex or even an Ethan...i would be happy with either and fall madly in love with them and we would live happily ever after. it was an adorable chick flick and if you haven't seen it yet i suggest that you do with some of your hopeless romantic girlfriends like i did. it seriously makes it that much more better and fun to sit through.

Rachel & Dex <3

friday you were great...

It was a wonderful friday.i love fridays that are just wonderful. Most of the morning was spent at home in my pj's,  of course i watched some Regis which brought tears to my eyes they gave away a free home to a family in need and it was really beautiful. then my cousin dia and i headed out to get coffee and meet with some of our darling married friends and then did a little shopping and ate yummy pasta for dinner at a fabulous little restaurant called Sauce. At 7 we headed to the theater to see "Something borrowed" with some amazing friends. dex & rachel forever <3 the weather was gorgeous.
"High Low"
"High of the week"
Attempting to climb camelback mountain and trying to make it to the top. i realized very fast Oatmeal not the best breakfast item before attempting a huge mountain on a warm morning. Three of my lovely friends and I tackled it as best we could and next week is round two I am determined to make it to the top! I'm so thankful for my girls i def was the weak link this round but they were amazingly awesome love them so much.
"Low of the week"
carrying a lot of emotions and hurt on my shoulders this week some that are my very own and some that are others...i wish sometimes i had the power to change and fix things...every burdened heart and every broken one as well. i wish i really wish...

skyping with the best frannn...

this would be Andy...that would be a piece of ribbon on his head haha...and he's one of my best frannnns. he no longer lives in my area code...and its really sad and sometimes it makes me wanna cry. He's in the AF now and was just transferred to North Dakota eeeek! you have read about him here before...and here.  The selfish part of me wishes he could move back but i know he's in the AF for a reason..but i really do miss my friend a whole lot. Last weekend dia and i got a chance to skype with him and it made sunday the best.day.ever. i love talking to this kid. he's pretty incredible and we seriously can sit and laugh hysterically over the dumbest things that no one else finds funny, one of the many reasons why he's our best frannn. did i mention he just got married?? yes he did and she is adorable and fabulous. we have grown to really love her. =) She's pretty lucky too, andy is definitely a keeper! it's really hard not having him around anymore...i miss our random lunches at olive garden and costa vida or late night cravings at ocean blue, (froyo) spur of the moment road trips, adventure daaaays, it's tough when your bezzie isn't around it's like a piece of you is missing. :( thank goodness for skype other wise life would be 10 times harder. talking to him was the perfect ending to a long weekend it was wonderful getting to laugh and act crazy for an evening like old times. Oooh, old times, i miss them like no other, sometimes i wish we could re-live the past...but i know the future only holds new and exciting times so for now skype is okay...

10 things I learned this weekend...

1. Peeps are the best Easter candy ever, I could seriously eat them all year lonnnng.
2. I'm exhausted from writing papers...
3. Emma Stone is hilarious and i love her!
4. It shouldn't surprise us when God answers prayers it should surprise us when he doesn't...
5. Apparently they are making an IPhone 5 and of course i want it soooo bad!
6. i have the most adorable baby cousins <3 
7. peas are and always will be disgusting...just saying 
8. i lead the BEST community group a girl could ask for! 
9. i absolutely whole heartily love my family SO incredibly blessed. 
10.  Really, really, really wants a Rav4 like a lot. 

Via

A Saturday adventure.

The weather is warm and I like it. 
Saturday everything started off wrong...but then all of sudden it became good again. 
My funny, corky fabulous cousin Dia and I journeyed downtown Saturday afternoon to try a new coffee shop that was recommended to us called Cartel. We have been dying to try this place because we have heard only marvelous things about how incredible it is. We then planned to visit the art museum in town because of their lovely new exhibit we have heard about. So we ventured off on our journey only to find out the Cartel is only opened Mon-Fri??...which to me is a little strange. Secondly the art exhibit we were so anxious to see was no longer there...and third we literally parked in a parking garage for less than five minutes and they still charged us...by this time I was hungry, hot, annoyed, and was ready to give up on this day. But then are luck changed...we remembered a darling little restaurant that Dia's sister had taken her to once. We have been trying to get me to try this place for the last I don't know four years. And we were finally in the neighborhood and starving so we figured it must be fate.
"La Grande Orange" known for their amazing secret recipe pizza. As soon as we walked in I was smitten with its ambiance. Not only was it a restaurant but was connected to the cutest little bakery on one side and the sweetest little independent coffee stan/organic shop on the other. We literally were there the entire afternoon. We ate pizza, sipped on coffee, had homemade lemonade and iced tea. We chatted, laughed, people watched for hours and just enjoyed the beautiful day. So we didn't get to try Cartel...hopefully soon though...and we didn't get a chance to see an exhibit...but we did get to spend the day at "La Grande Orange" and it was wonderful.