Weeds

I found something I dislike more than cutting grass, and that my friends, would be pulling weeds. I think I loaned the weedEater to my brother, which didn't matter anyways because it was never used. They say you'll only let the weedEater wires hit your ankles once & you won't do it again. I don't want to do it ever, like its a true fear of mine...girl loses her ankles due to a weedEater mishap. It could happen, right? That would end up on the front page of the Birmingham News. I avoid it at all costs. So the other day I just started pulling weeds. I'm pretty sure my skin was on fire because I was itching like a mad woman, the sweat was pouring, and the areas that needed a good weed pulling weren't getting smaller--then a breeze came and hushed up my downer of an attitude. It caught me off guard but it was most welcome in my bout of weed frustration. I let them get that bad and I always find a reason to put it off, like always. I take full blame. Obviously I can compare pulling weeds to this life I live. I put off the important things, dance around the small things & just hope everything either works out or disappears without putting a little elbow grease into it. Although I might be pulling weeds or making these life choices on my own, I'm not really by myself. That breeze was sent to remind me to just soak it in, step back, because it's not as tough as I may make it out to be. Even if it is, God will quickly remind us that He is right there every single step of the way. Whether He is guiding our hearts, minds, or hands,  His love never fails us. I do not like pulling the weeds from my yard or from life, the normalcy is far easier than the unexpected. It's just not as bad as I originally thought. The actual doing the task, yes it was bad...but the end was so worth it. My yard looks worlds better & I'm sure the neighbors appreciate it as well. Now to pull the weeds from this life that keep poking their heads back into my future God and I are so excited about. Stay tuned, life is getting grander by the day. 

Day 21.

So, my 21 days are over (It ended Tuesday May 12) I loved life without social media if I haven't said that enough, and I really haven't decided if I want to reincorporate those things back into my life. So easily, Facebook and Instagram create these personas for people as they seem and not as they really are. That's frustrating coming from an almost 30 year old still trying to track through this big bad world. My house isn't up to date with the newest Pinterest creation, it's not always clean, I'm not always happy, and my dogs haven't seen a bath in weeks. We're okay though and we are taking everyday as it comes because I know that this year holds endless possibilities that I cannot wait to share. It'll be messy, I'm sure, but worth every. single. minute.

10 things I learned in 21 days

1. No social media is way easier than originally thought. After a week or so, it rarely even crossed my mind.

2. Finding out news by word of mouth has its pros and cons. It was exciting when the news was positive, but frustrating when you're the last to know about something that happened a week prior...Maybe that was all for the best.

3. My anxiety decreased a WHOLE lot without social media. I have enough going on without trying to keep up with everyone else as well.

4. More than likely, what happened in our childhood affects how we are today. We can let that control us, or we can turn down the notch a little and be a better person because of it.

5. You can accomplish so much if you just put the phone down.

6. My world will still go round without the daily doings of Facebook and Instagram, and because most people aren't as obsessed as I was, they don't even realize I've been missing for 3 whole weeks. 

7. Blogging is way more fun anyways!

8. Working out before work did not actually kill me as one would think. Getting out of bed isn't that hard but not taking in enough calories will leave you exhausted. EAT. 

9. Memories made without posting them on social media as soon as they happen are just as fun. In fact, it may just be more fun because you're experiencing them with those you love the most anyways. 

10. Stress takes away all of the fun that life can give. Sometimes or most times, snapping ourselves back into a normalcy is needed and welcomed. Life is as we make it... so make it a good one without all the likes and comments from social media. In the end, it's about making yourself happy first and foremost. 

 Try going without social media for a day or so and just spend time with those you love, phone-less. You don't have to chat the whole time or even agree, but I guarantee you will laugh until you almost pee your pants and you will be reminded why you chose your journey to begin with. 

Days 18-20

I say it every year so I'll just keep it going... I can't believe my little bug is SEVEN. I'm just thankful she's still okay with holding hands, sweet kisses, and telling me we're best friends. As each year passes, I love her more. This year she chose to skip a party and go to the American Girl store. My mom, sister and I loaded up her and ReeceAnne and headed to Alpharetta for the night. I'm not sure where that store was when we were growing up, but I know we would've been in heaven just like they were. I can't remember the last time just us girls did any sort of road trip, but we all had a great time. Each day we're reminded that life really is a precious gift and these memories are priceless. Ryleigh's birthday was on Mother's Day this year with my sister's being that Monday. It was a weekend full of celebrations!

Here are a few snaps from our American Girl Store experience.

After the American Girl store, we headed to Atlanta for the Lennox square mall. The day wasn't complete until we tried Sprinkles cupcakes for the first time. They didn't disappoint! 

And on Mother's day we did church and a little lunch, thankful to call her Mom. 

13 days and a craft project

And thirteen days later a chalkboard door was born. For under $22.00, this was a super easy craft project. I've always wanted a chalkboard area and when my roommate and I couldn't keep each other's schedules straight, we decided on this. The paint was from Wal-Mart and just a little over $10.00. It said to apply two coats and to wait 4 hours in between each one. Since this was such a small area, I only waited about an hour. It does say to wait 7 days before we can write on it and although that's a bummer (we were so excited) we can't wait to use it! Without social media, I have been able to really do a few things around the house that the Internet usually distracts me from.

Real Time Post

The wedding vows say it best, speak now or forever hold your peace.

Would you be able to live with holding that peace for forever, or would you constantly live in the what ifs of what you should've said? That should've, would've, could've gets us every time. As we get older, the days, months and years fly by. Everything goes by so fast that I often live in the what ifs of the past. Do you? It's so easy to get stuck there and rehash those memories, leaving us unable to live in the moment. We can't enjoy the now because there's so much we wish would've done then. Let's be real...how many people have to be diagnosed with cancer, how many people do we have to lose, and how many opportunities do we let slip through our fingers before we finally speak up? I don't think it is ever too late to take action.

Some things should live in our past. God took those out for a reason, and those things are better left unsaid. If they weren't good enough to make it to our present, then those what ifs are better left as Thank you Lord for removing those situations. I know that I was too weak to do that one on my own and I'm so grateful He shut that door for me. Everyday that I still relive those memories though, I question His choices and plans, and let's be honest... His plans are so much better. Distinguishing between the two might be a little tricky, but maybe that's where faith comes in.

How many opportunities have you given up for one reason or another only to be wishing a year down the road you know you should've gone through with it? How many people have you let walk out of your life because you made some lame excuse as to why things were better off unsaid? How many people have you lost over the years and you wish you had one more minute to tell them one more thing? I think it's one too many. Today is what God gave me. He literally gave me one more day. Everyday that I wake up I'm more thankful than the day before, because in this world, not everyone has that. So often, we take it all for granted, myself included. Instead of making the why not turn into what ifs, we should just jump...take the leap of faith that scares us to death and speak up. 

Seven days

It has been one whole week since I purged out all social media. I really feel like my anxiety and stress have decreased a ton. A few times this past week I've had to hear by word of mouth updates on friends and family and it's been so exciting. I might be the last to know but it's been fun to hear the old fashion way. I think so many people live this life on Facebook that might not necessarily be who or what they are. I always felt that it added so much pressure to my daily living and trying to live up to what everyone else expected. That was tough and frustrating and most days, unrealistic. I can post my pictures here without Instagram making them prettier and I can update my statuses here whenever and however I feel. I'm not competing with anyone because my blog is just for me. My life is far from perfect and I've blogged about it for years now. I try to show every side of me because there's a lot. 

And today I woke up and did a beach body work out prior to work for the first time ever. Not just this workout, but any in general. I love my sleep, it's the first thing I think of when I wake up in the morning... Man, I can't wait to come back here. So, this morning I woke up and worked out. Sore is an understatement but it made the rest of the day so much better. I'm not sure it'll be a habit but maybe I can incorporate it in here and there. 

5

Painting happened on day FIVE. I've been wanting to paint since I moved in a year ago and someone usually talked me out of it. I've never painted more than a wall but I figured with a few friends we could knock it out. I'm going gray, but just one room at a time to keep it from getting too overwhelming. I used Gray Screen by Sherman Williams and I love the way it turned out. Since my house is small I'm going to paint every room the same color (to make it look bigger) and I'm excited to see how each room looks.

Day 5 night was the dreaded 10 year reunion. I'll start off by saying I don't even feel like I've been out of high school long enough to be going to one. The time has flown by and it really makes you reflect how far you've come and how much further you get to go. It was surprisingly so much fun to see everyone again. We had it at rooftop bar/restaurant downtown and the weather was great. Everyone has changed so much but we picked up right where we left off.

Orlando was my football player in HS during homecoming week. (I decorated his locker, all the fun things you do during homecoming week) Anna & Alex have been together since junior year, and are still as cute as ever. The bottom picture is some of the girls I cheered with throughout HS, although we were missing a few, and sweet little Austen is a future cheerleader.