Happy New Year!!

Obviously I'm going to do a stereotypical new years blog post. Who doesn't love those, right?

Well in the year 2011, I graduated from high school, started attending my dream college, started living on my own (ah!), got involved with campus ministries, made so many new friends, and discovered more about myself and what I want for my future.

Going off to college made me become more independent. I also learned that I don't need to constantly be surrounded by people. Being with friends is nice, but so is having alone time to focus and think. I've also discovered that church in college is way different than church in high school. In high school, kids go to church because their parents want them to and you can't really determine who is there for the right reason. In college, if you don't want to go to church, you don't go. Everyone is so much more genuine and I LOVE it.

I also discovered that I want to eventually teach children with learning disabilities (aka special education). I've had opportunities this year that were totally God given that showed me that he can really use me in ways that are out of my control.

I have made new friends that influence me in a positive way and we all have a love for God. It has been so amazing to go from my high school friends which included a couple of Christians, to my college friends who I met from church related events and activities. I love love love it :)

So honestly, 2011 rocked. I know that 2012 will be even better, because I'll make it that way. Nothing is great unless you are determined it will be great. Will I keep my resolutions? We'll see. I'm more focused on how well I let God be in control of my life. So far he's doing an amazing job.

Happy New Year, guys! I hope 2012 is as amazing for you as 2011 was for me!

Music

Obviously I'm pretty obsessed with music. Next year I think I'm going to start making playlists every year. I'll put in awesome music that has memories attached to them. They don't necessarily have to be from that year, though. I'm super excited! Also today I've been listening to some chill hipster music. I'm pretty sure I've said this before, but 8tracks.com is the greatest place in the world to find new music. I.love.it.
http://8tracks.com/marinn-young/everyday-i-m-studying
^^ This happens to be the playlist I'm listening to atm. It's pretty great. Check it out :)

Just an update for ya

Exams are over. Somehow I managed to get decent grades. Well, except for Calculus. Math has never been my friend. So right now I'm home with absolutely no agenda. So I'm reading. GASP! What is the reading? For fun? People do that? Yes. They do. When they have time of course. I've been reading the Hunger Games trilogy and right now I'm in the final book Mockingjay. It's soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good! Like, for real. But Peeta needs to be himself again. I am in LOVE with him I swear. He's just... for no better way to say it... supermegafoxyawesomehot. Yep. I said it. So needless to say he needs to get better. Because I miss him :( in other news: you see that boy in my profile picture? yeah the derpy blonde one who doesn't wear his glasses ironically? well, HE'S COMING HOME SOON! I miss his face. I also miss Worthy, of course, but I've seen her quite recently so it's not as intense of missing. but oh my goodness he needs to come home like... now. right now. so I can attack him with a hug and not let go until like... 5 minutes pass by! Yep. That's really all I have to say right now. must go back to reading! AHHHHH PEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Expensive Friendships?

oh.my.goodness. Let me tell yall a story. So I have this friend who I never really hang out anymore. why? because I introduced him to another friend of mine maybe 2 months into the semester and he decides that I'm no longer worth his time. So obviously this is annoying already. THEN, they create this group of friends and name their group and never hang out with anyone outside the group.

So #1 problem: This is a clique. in college. really?

ANYWAY, so they have started talking about their group like it's a fraternity and finally my friend tells me that they are trying to actually make it a fraternity. Then the boy proceeds to ask me if I want to rush next semester. I told him that I would love to, but I'm not going to pay money. and then with a disappointed look on his face he says, "oh okay." He seriously thought I would PAY to be his friend? Who does that???

Seriously, who does he think he is? If you want me to pay for your friendship, you are not worth being my friend. It's as simple as that. So go ahead and have your little clique. I thought we were over that by high school. The fact that you completely forget my existence after creating this inclusive group of friends hurts. So good luck with your "fraternity". I hope that works out for you and you get a lot of people who want to pay for your friendship.

PS. SERIOUSLY????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Curse of the Squawk

This weekend I went with some awesome people from my church college ministry to Tennessee for a retreat. It was great and fun and I learned lots of stuff and whatnot BUT that's not the point of this blog. I have another story for you. My friend, Turtlepants**, and I were talking on the bus ride back. Since she was sitting in front of me she turned around so we could talk more easily. Eventually we made a really sharp turn, and I hope you see where this is going. As these things tend to happen, her body wanted to stay in the same position it was in despite the movement of the bus, resulting in Turtlepants hanging onto the chair for dear life. Usually in these circumstances, "dear life" is about a five seconds, but Turtlepants just hung there for a good minute! Finally she fell down and we all laughed about it, because it was just ridiculous.

I tell you this story because as lovely as Turtlepants is she has this curse. Whenever there is a boy who's even semi-attractive or shows some interest she has this problem of embarrassing herself in some way, shape, or form. It's quite hilarious, really. She'll disagree, but it's definitely one of the funniest phenomenons ever. Of course there will be that special boy one day who things all of the things she does is incredible, but until that day comes, it's funny to see how she embarrasses herself. So this shall be a new series. The Chronicles of Turlepants.

**name has been changed to protect privacy AND add hilarity

Halloween

Why is October 31st a holiday? I mean, candy's cool, but why is there a holiday about it? Obviously, I don't care too much for Halloween. I wasn't allowed to trick or treat until 7th grade, and then I was a little old to be doing that. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE fall! I love carving pumpkins and going on hay rides and the smell of Bath and Body Works' Fresh Market Apple hand sanitizer! The problem arises when scary movies, slutty costumes, and alcohol are thrown into the mix. To quote one of the best movies of all time, "Halloween is the one night a year when girls can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it". Degrading much? Those girls who go dress like that and then get upset when a boy doesn't treat them with respect need a good slap in the head to get back to their senses. As for what I'm doing this Halloween, I will be studying for an exam I have in the morning and then go to praise band practice. I might even slurge and get some Reeces Cups. ohhhhh man. I'm gonna party hard tonight.

So... Happy Halloween :)

Giving God the Pen

I tend to have this habit of having crushes on boys and then having my heart broken before a relationship even starts. I try to go out and pursue these possible relationships and boyfriends that only end in disappointment.

Well, while talking to my Bible study leader tonight I decided that I'm going to give God the pen. What does that mean? Well hang on a sec and I'll tell you :) Instead of me writing my love story and trying to be in control, I'm letting God have full control over it. I hear all the time people talking about surrendering your life to God, and I've done that for sure. It's definitely a constant thing, though, and one thing I think I try to hold on to is my love life. In the world we live in everyone thinks that having a boyfriend/girlfriend is what we need to focus our thoughts on. I didn't even realize this until recently, but this coming Christmas is going to be the first Christmas in a VERY long time where I don't have a boyfriend. Honestly, I'm super excited about it! I don't have to worry about what to get him and if he'll like it and who's family I'm spending time with on Christmas day. I'm so excited to have a relaxing day with my family and remembering what a great gift God gave us!

What I'm trying to say, and don't know if I'm actually getting this through, is that I need to guard my heart. I can't just allow any guy to build up my hopes. When the right guy comes along, he'll come after me. I won't need to chase him or try to impress him, because... it'll just be right. I'm so excited for that day to come, but for now, I'm giving God the pen. He's going to write something far more beautiful than I could ever hope to imagine. :)

Goodnight internet world <3

STORY TIME!

So I'm actually going to make a vlog about this, too, but... yeah.

Well when my ex-boyfriend Chris and I were dating pretty much all we did was walk downtown. So this one time we're walking around and we pass this man sitting on a bench and he looked like he had been crying. I was saying "Oh my gosh. I hope he's ok. I wonder what's wrong!" and Chris says, "Maybe he got stung by a bee in the face..."

All I could think of was how insensitive he was being and said, "OR maybe he just lost his job or his wife filed for divorce or he found out that a family member died!"

And what does he say? "or... maybe... he got stung by a bee... in the face..."

So the other day I was telling my roommate this story because it was somehow relevant to what we were talking about, and she just could NOT stop laughing. So we've decided to try and make it a meme. Example:

Picture of a little girl crying with an ice cream cone on the ground next to her

Y U Crying?

Bee Sting to da face??

Personally, I think it could be a hit. lol. :)

Youtube

So... I'm back on my Youtube addiction. I think this is what happens every summer. I have nothing to do and so I find things to watch. At least I've found awesome things to watch!!!! like...
1. Vlogbrothers
2. Fiveawesomegirls
3. italktosnakes (Kristina Horner)
4. hayleyghoover
5. Mike Lombardo <3

yeah... nuff said yo.

So last Friday night (we didn't dance on table tops). Actually Hampton, Caroline, Amit, and I went to see AVPM @ Furman and it was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! The cast was so talented and it blew my mind! It was so surreal. I need to see more shows live... but anyway! We got there like.. 2 hours early and waited so we could get awesome seats, saw the show, then went to Krispy Kreme and ate 2 dozen doughuts. yeah. we've got issues.

Today I got 3 of my textbooks for school and it made me super duper excited!!! Tonight, however, was my last choir rehearsal at church and it was sad :( I cried a bit. I swear, on Saturday I'm going to be a WRECK!

In other news, I've started making Youtube videos. They aren't very good and only one is actually posted, because I keep procrastinating my editing. So when I get awesome at this, I'll link it so whoever wants to can watch them. So... later gators!!!!

i.love.being.a.nerd.

I'm not entirely certain what defines you as a "nerdfighter", but whatever it is... I want in! lol. I already watch anything/everything Harry Potter. I'm starting to do Youtube... well... kinda. We'll see how it goes. So I discovered Mike Lombardo yesterday, and well... I love him so freakin much. "Hey, Molly" is so so so so so so sweet. If a guy sang that to me, well first I'd have to make sure they knew my name is NOT Molly, and then I would love them forever and ever. To add to his amazingness he wrote a song called "Caroline". It's super upbeat and fun :) I love it. A lot. And I love hayleyghoover. A lot. And I love italktosnakes (Kristina Horner). A lot. I love me some ALLCAPS and MoM. I enjoyed my summer reading assignment about being eco-friendly. I'm just a nerd. and that's really all there is to it. I really need to go to sleep, but just in case any of you want to join the awesomness that is being a nerd... have fun :)

Baltimore, laptop and packing

So I don't know if yall know this or not, but last week I went with my church on a mission trip to Baltimore, Maryland. Let me tell you now that it was one of the most amazing experiences ever. First of all, I was able to step outside of my comfort zone and in doing so, got outside of the Bible Belt. I'm used to dealing with people who didn't have my belief system because of the high school I went to, but I was still surrounded by these big churches on every corner who's congregation is growing. I went up to Baltimore and some of these people had never even been introduced to the Gospel before. The church we were serving had a congregation no more than 30 people. It blew my mind! Although what we were doing was a "sports camp", I was given the opprotunity to talk to this one girl, Peyton. On Thursday she accepted Christ! How amazing is that?! Now, last year in John's Island, obviously we were excited about every salvation, but we expected more than one. In this case, I was leaping for joy that we had a part in someone's salvation! In such a desolate place, and out of a small team from South Carolina putting on a sports camp, a child accepted the word of Christ. Seriously, I think I need to get out of the Bible belt or move to a bigger city when I'm older. Not that I don't love Greenville, because I do, but I feel like a bigger place is where I need to be. I don't know. We'll see what happens.
In other news, I got a laptop recently :) I have skype now so I can communicate with my lovely friends going halfway across the country. It's hard though, because sometimes things pop up while I'm typing because I apparently hit something somehow. It's kind of weird... oh well. I love having my own computer. And you know what having my own computer means..... COLLEGE!!!! It's only a few weeks away. My mom is making me start packing, and in doing so I realize that packing things up is a lot more difficult than I thought. My little sister is moving into my room once I move out, so all of my stuff needs to be boxed up whether it's going with me or not. So complicated I'm telling you! Well, happy trails. It's time for me to play some Plants v. Zombies. :) Catcha later.

In Christ Alone...

My hope is found. This is SO true! Nothing in this world gives me hope or a purpose, but God... he gives us so much joy and peace and yes, hope! I love when I grow closer in my relationship with Him. I feel so much happier about life and everything included in it. I am so excited about this mission trip to Maryland next week! I can't wait to see how God uses me and our entire team! To some of these kids, we could be the first person ever telling them about Jesus and the Salvation he promises! How incredible is that? I've been given the opportunity to go and receive another brother or sister in Christ that I've never met before! It's just amazing. God's going to be doing some awesome things up there. We leave (ridiculously) early Saturday morning (5 am) and come back the following Saturday. If any of you could pray for us not only while we're up there, but before we even go, that God would prepare the hearts and minds of the children we'll be working with and their parents. Also pray that our team would have one focus and mindset and that we would truly represent what the Body of Christ is all about. :)

SO EXCITED!

College

Guess who's excited for college!!!! oh you give up? Fine fine! Stop begging I'll tell you! ME! You know what else I'm excited about? This post not derping and ending up in some crazy foreign language. Seriously I don't know what happened with that mess. But I'm also excited about my youth group's mission trip to Baltimore. I'm excited to see what God's going to do up there. I'm excited to go for a walk this morning with my beloved friend. I'm excited about going to sleep whenever I'm able to do that. I'm excited about babysitting some fantastic kids next week. I'm excited about getting paid. I'm excited for getting college stuff for my dorm room. I'm excited that my roommate and I don't have suitemates. I'm excited about painting my nails tomorrow. I'm excited about the coffee that will be waiting for me when I wake up later this morning. I'm excited about cleaning out my clothes. I'm excited for spending the money I make babysitting next week on cute clothes for college. I'm excited to meet a million (exaggeration) of people when I head to USC. I'm excited for the second part of the 7th Harry Potter movie to come out. I'm excited to see where God leads me in this life.

Next time you're feeling down about something, try doing this. It's helping me a bit. :)

दर्प दर्प हेर्प

इ ऍम कांफुसेद वही माय ब्लॉग इस व्रितिंग इन सम उन्क्नोव्न एशियन (इ'म अस्सुमिंग, सॉरी इफ इ'म वरोंग) लन्गुअगे। इ वास प्लानिंग ओं तल्किंग अबाउट अवेसोमे थिंग्स ठाट हप्पेनेद टुडे, बुत नो इ'म जुस्त कांफुसेद अस तो वही थिस इस हप्पेनिंग... अह ब्लॉगर। यू थिंक यू अरे सो कलेवर। बुत बेलिएवे में व्हेन इ से ठाट थिस इस नोट थे लास्ट ऑफ़ में!!! यू'ल सी१

Things I happen to be loving in life

1. Strawberries
2. flowers
3. water
4. baseball games (but I hate baseball)
5. nail polish
6. The color coral
7. dresses
8. sandals
9. sunblock :)
10. Bath and Body Works scents
11. Aeropostale perfume
12. pearl stud earrings
13. GRADUATION MONEY!!!
14. blogs
15. smoothies
16. Curling my hair
17. green tea
18. air conditioning
19. stumbleupon
20. Downtown Greenville :)

yay summertime!!!!!!!! Graduation is Wednesday which BLOWS MY MIND!!! So... later :)

howdy

So I told Worthy that I'd mention her in this blog so.... hey Caroline!!! lol. Well lets have a short update:

Prom was AWESOME!!!
I've recently been loving nail polish
Graduation is in 3 weeks
I have 3 day of school left :D

That's it on the updating ness....

So. big question of the day/week/recent times is should I really get braces? Is it really that important? Will I lose my uniqueness? Will I still have friends? Will people respect me? Will I ever consider my smile beautiful if I don't? Random people have been telling me not to conform and to be my own person and that God obviously made me this way for a reason. but what that reason is I'm not sure. How can God be glorified by me having ridiculously crooked teeth? I'm pretty sure people aren't going to walk up to me, comment on my teeth and then ask how they can become a Christian. yeah... that doesn't sound to possible. eh, I don't know. It's pretty trivial I suppose, considering that in the grand scheme of things I won't have this earthy body for a very long time. And when I'm in Heaven everything will be perfect and I'll think I'm so silly for putting so much thought into something so stupid, but right now I'm just conflicted.

Opinions? anyone? ok... not anyone. well... yeah anyone.

Sorry for the seriousness. I'll make it up by another food blog :) Thanks guys

L

is for the way you LOOK at me...
O is for the ONLY ONE I see...
V is VERY VERY extraordinary...
E is even more than anyone that you adore can LOVE.

Yeah... that just happened. I happen to like that song... and it kinda got stuck in my head. So... I decided to share it with you!!!!

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE WEEK!

Okay. So I've been trying to eat healthy, cut out soda, exercise... all that jazz. but this week is celebrating one of the best desserts ever created!!!!!!!! (aka... the chocolate chip cookie) How can I pass this opportunity to eat delicious warm soft goodness?! exactly. so I'm looking on Yahoo. and they have a bunch of different kinds of cookies. I shall introduce them to you:

1. Chocolate Chip Crust Ice Cream Sandwich Cake.
What is this gem? oh.. let me tell you, my friend. You've got yourself a cookie cake on the bottom. and then there's a HUGE amount of chocolate ice cream. and then on top... ANOTHER COOKIE CAKE! yum

2. Chocolate Chip Cricket Cookies.... ew.
Well I guess it works for some people.... weird people. oh! Funny story. So when my little sister and I were little...er, my dad took us to Discovery Place in Charlotte, NC. (Pretty awesome, I must say) and there was this booth you see. And my dad knew what they were giving out and decided to give it to my sister. All she saw was something covered in chocolate... wanna know what that something was? a mealworm. GROSS! I mean, I've spent a little time with mealworms in 3rd...maybe 4th grade. We fed them grapes and made them houses. We were cool. but ANYWAY, that just made the whole thing a lot more gross than necessary. anyway...

3. *drumroll please* Bacon.Chocolate.Chip.Cookies.
YUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. The best of both worlds. Yummy delicious smokey salty pork fattiness, along with yummy delicious scrumption chocolatey goodness. :) om nom nom

4. Deep Fried Chocolate Chip Cookie Burger
ok so check this out. There's a bun smothered in buttery awesomesauce, then you pile on some vanilla ice cream, chocolate sprinkles, strawberry syrup, whipped cream, and the most important of all: deep fried chocolate chip cookies. yes please :)

5. Oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookies.
Oh yes, my friends. Two of the most iconic and delicious cookies... in one. It's almost as good as deep fried oreos... well.... almost.

Well, those are the things that made my mouth water a little bit :D Wanna see more?
http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/food/10-extreme-chocolate-chip-cookies-2462241/#photoViewer=1

Happy Chocolate Chip Cookie Week!

Grease: The Musical

"We'll alwaaaaays be mythology!!!!!!!" oops. wrong Greece.
so ANYWAY. My school's production of Grease was this weekend. Guess who I was? ..... I'll give you a minute..... ok fine I'll tell you! I was Sandy Dumbrowski. Come on... you know! Sandra Dee? <-- that was a quote btws. but yeah. So it was such an amazing time. I got closer to a lot of the cast members... even though I was friends with most of them already. Our first performance.... kinda sucked. Second time it was a lot better. but last night's performance was so fantastic! I'm so proud of everyone!!!!!!! But now I'm at a loss of how to spend my time. Forensics is over now... the play is over now.... I've already been accepted to my college of choice... what to do.what to do. oh i know. FROOOOYYYYYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Cookies

Uses:
eating
making a mess
eating your feelings
making you fat
making your kitchen smell om nom nommy
being made into houses for Christmas
tricking little chillens to go inside a cannibal witch's house
making some hyper
making milk taste a little bit better
easy gift from the heart


Favorite Types:
snickerdoodles
chocolate chip
triple chocolate chip
pecan chocolate chunk
nilla wafers
Bi-lo sugar
no bake
large ones
thin mints
Girl Scout Cookies in general


How can the simple mixture of flour, eggs, and sugar be so freaking amazing?


I don't know. but it is :)

Busy?

So I've been kinda busy lately. Well, let me rephrase myself. I SHOULD be busy. I'm just too lazy to do anything necessary. That's right. I've got senioritis... BAD! At least there's only... wait for it... 110 days until Graduation!!!!!!!! Who's excited? I'm excited! So I don't really have much to talk about... but Hampton made me feel guilty about not posting and being creative.... gr. Curse his creativity!!!

yes... I'm cool

So there's snow outside. and you know what I'm doing? well... You see... I'm sick. like sneezing, coughing, nasty to be around... sick. so going out in the cold... not really the best idea. So what have I been doing you ask? oh! I'll tell you what I've been doing.... YOUTUBE!!!!!!!!!!! Yes. I have yet again fallen subject to the black hole that is Youtube. I'm not complaining... oh no! I love youtube. watching A Very Potter Sequel is always a fun way to go. I've also been listening to people do covers of music! It's quite lovely. Want to share my experience? k.

Kara Palso (knew her in 7th grade, but then our school zones got switched around, and she's one of my best friend's best friend. so she's awesome. check her out)
^^ xkaraxmusicx

David Bohnenberger (sp?) - also one of my best friend's friends. I heard him sing when I voted for him while he was trying out for Glee. He's quite rockin I must say. So check him out too.
^^dojoboy226

Subscribe, favorite, comment, like... or just watch! They're both awesome and so very nice.

This is all assuming that people actually read this blog. Which may or not be accurate, but I really don't care.

SO ANYWAY! In all this craziness of being stuck inside my house, I should really study for my midterms. I'm not of course. because that's what I do. I'm lazy. but hopefully I can pull myself together tomorrow and study so I don't fail German. So wish me luck!!!