Friday, September 28, 2012

Katy

Now my last two posts have been about celebrities, but I'm not apologizing for it. These are real people, and these are my real feelings that I need to share...so heres to my love of Katy. Katy Perry that is.

I recently watched the Katy Perry with one of my dear friends Jacqueline. We ended up falling even more in love with this genius of a person and shed a few tears along the way. I've always loved her voice and her songs are ALWAYS the go to songs in my car with the windows down when I'm driving with or without people. She's always seemed a bit odd to me, but now I know why. Her parents were a little coo-coo.

Katy didn't just come up out of nowhere with a one hit wonder, she started from the ground up. One label Katy was at didn't believe in her originality, and so they let her go. One lady that worked for this label stole the files to Katy Perry and took them to Capitol Records which is where she is now signed to making the big bucks. Sucks for Columbia records.

I mean who looks good in blue hair?

Katy does.
Who looks good with pink hair?
Katy does
I will say she is a little strange at times, but I just think she is adorable.


She not only can pull off anything, she also is extremely talented as an artist. Katy Perry was the FIRST female with FIVE number 1 U.S singles from one album (second in history). I'm pretty sure the first person ever to do this was Michael Jackson. I'm impressed. Are you impressed now?


love.love.love
Meredith


Friday, September 21, 2012

Obsession

Okay. I am a BIG fan of celebrity news and reading alll about the celebrity lifestyle, and one of my favorite things to do is watch Enews with Giulianna Rancic when I get the chance to. I will admit...sometimes it seems like it would be a really fun thing to live like certain celebs just for one day. ONE DAY. Being a celebrity isn't something I'm striving to be in life...I mean it's whatever....but one time or another I dream. My guilty pleasure is watching interviews of my favorite stars and feeling as if they are really talking to me.

The past couple weeks, my friend & I have grown a slight obsession with the new shocking news of Blake Lively & Ryan Reynolds having a secret wedding. Ever since she was in this movie...
and he was in this movie....
I have come to love these two hot people separately.
Ryan, is the greatest looking man in hollywood. Ryan also has the greatest sarcasm. Ever since Ryan starred in THIS movie....
SWOON
I bought this movie, and now, in my apartment we have not one, but TWO copies.
I can't get enough. Just LOOK at these two.
Flawless. And to top it off they got married in Charleston, SC where the notebook was filmed!? I mean seriously, this is just too much for me.

okayyyyy one more.
im done.

ITS THE WEEKEND!!!!!!!!!
xoxo


Tuesday, September 18, 2012

school

The past two months of my life have probably been the busiest, craziest, stressful, exciting months in my whole life. I started student teaching 4th grade for seven weeks with a full 18 hr course load!!!! ahhh all I can think about right now is sleep. Someone please give me sleep!!!! here are some pics to summarize some of the craziness while I work on a lesson plan......
Reunited with my sweet friends
My big & my saving grace
drove to athens with these fools to see sean play
my sweet luc came with us to athens too!
never ending dates with my adorable friend kelsey
Lucy turns 20!!!!!!!!!
Forever roomie. Forever besties. Forever blake reynolds fans.
went to younglife beach retreat in ocean isle, north carolina!!!
THIS GIRL (left) came into town for a short and sweet visit!!!! COME BACK!! and beautiful tiana on the right :)
Always & forever with my little tatum.
Happy tuesday!!! XX

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

What makes me feel alive



A couple months ago when I was in Colorado, the first day, we were given a task to write 20 things on a notecard that makes us feel alive. My first thought was, well crap, I don't think I can come up with THAT many things. Right now, all I can focus on is how awkward I feel because I don't know anyone so I'm trying to think of things to say to the person next to me. "Alright, go", I hear from my coordinator.  I look up and everyone starts writing like they can't make their hand move fast enough. and then there's me. staring. at people. I started to think...what makes me feel alive? what does that even mean? And then I just started writing the things that the came to mind that made me feel peaceful, excited, exhilarated, relaxed, warm, and joyful.

These are 20 things that make me feel alive...

  1. Mountains
  2. Alone time with Jesus
  3. Journaling
  4. soothing music & fun music
  5. Beach time (hilton head)
  6. my crazy loving Family
  7. my absolutely incredible crazy sweet friends
  8. Playing with elementary age kids (early ed. major)
  9. being with my sweet boyfriend
  10. a good cry
  11. Coffee
  12. watching any type of movie with popcorn
  13. thunderstorms that last all day
  14. a captivating book
  15. driving with the windows down
  16. doing people’s hair
  17. canoeing
  18. hiking
  19. watching the sunrise & sunset
  20. fall weather

What makes YOU feel alive?!

Friday, August 3, 2012

Crooked Creek Ranch

I'm not sure how this post is going to go, but I am going to write my heart away. here goes...
The last post was how I was about to leave the comfort of friends & family and travel across the country to the breathtaking (literally and figuratively) state of Colorado. 
Now, I am back in Milledgeville, where everything seems like a blur, and I am left to think about where the past month and a half went.
Four weeks of adventure. Four weeks of meeting sweet friends. Four weeks of learning so much about myself that I would have never learned had I not took this time to see how my life was intended to grow.
 If you could understand the way my heart felt the second week of camp compared to how it felt the week after I was settled back at home, you would be amazed. You would also see how dearly I loved Crooked Creek, and you would feel the tug of your heart eagerly missing the things that I could never fully explain.
 

 
 
 
I would love to tell you each and every story that I can think of, but I don't think you want to read for that long. Buttttt, I will tell you guys that I did have two pretty epic falls. And I will add, that they were consecutively on the first two days of camp. And one more thing, I will add that it involves my backpack being on, falling backwards off a log, and rolling down a hill in front of a large group of people. I'll leave the rest up to your imaginations.

I can now pretty much make any coffee drink, now that I am a trained, official barista. I was given the best job for how I needed to grow at camp and I loved it so much. I learned a lot about things back at home & school that I grew to really understand & appreciate from an outside perspective. I learned from a book called, Bittersweet, that, "A full life isn't a full calendar". I found comfort in God this past month. This was a huge part of my journey & I found that the only way you are truly going to be okay in the long run by comfort is not being satisfied in the short-term comfort. Being filled with the comfort of God is like no other. I also learned that I am loved. Sometimes it is hard for me to accept. The overwhelming amount of letters & care packages I received was heart-warming. I truly believe my heart warmed every letter I received.

As I anxiously traveled back home to my beloved peach state; worn out with barely any sleep (but maybe 3 hours on my backpack from the night before), I rode the escalator up to the meet n greet section. To what seemed like an eternity, I made it to the top with an area filled with people; including my mom, little brother, and handsome boyfriend. This poster was the first thing I saw...thank you James. You know just how to win me over...
1. That date is wrong in the bottom right corner, so disregard. 2. Yes. That is me. I have no words for my 6th-grade self. No words. But. I missed you, James.

Friday, June 15, 2012

a month away

It is 11:11 at this exact moment as I'm writing this, and I'm feeling a little sentimental.  Tomorrow morning, I will be journeying to a YoungLife camp called, Crooked Creek Ranch in Colorado to serve on summer staff as a barista. I have all types of emotions right now, and I don't know what to expect or want to think about how it will go because I always just end up becoming more anxious & even more nervous than I was before. Someone once told me it's like the start of college, where you go in not knowing anyone and knowing that eventually, you gotta have friends... sooo you start with a simple maybe awkward conversation.  In all reality though, I mean look at this place!!! How can you not find joy in the month ahead? I am so excited to just walk outside and see the beauty, that I will be without a doubt, in awe of.

So, if you're reading this and care to pray for my journey through this month, here's a few things that would help me out through the power of prayer. For the friendships I will hopefully make, for my heart that will be missing so many people dear to my heart, & for a time of growth by allowing myself to step out and push myself to new limits physically & spiritually.  And OF COURSE while you're at it, pray for these high schoolers that are coming to camp and are maybe even about to experience Jesus for the first time and have their eyes opened to what really life can be about. These high schoolers are the real reason why I will be there and I wouldn't want it any other way.


Until mid-July.

xoxo meredith

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

YoungLife camp take1

For the past 8 days I was in Weaverville, NC being a part of a YoungLife camp called Windy Gap.
For the past 8 days I formed deeper friendships & had hard conversations.
For the past 8 days I was given the opportunity to love on my beautiful high school friends.
It was one of the most draining weeks of my life, but also one of the best weeks of my life.
The week was jam packed with the craziest/most fun things you could think of.
From western night to banquet night. Being pied in the face to being pelted by cold water going down a zipline. From fighting my fear of horses to singing Celine Dion at the top of my lungs.
Windy Gap was an experience to be a part of.
Themed volleyball tournament. If you couldn't tell we were african cats. some thought we were mice, others went as far as myans? whatever. we went with it.
These girls were my saving grace while living in a cabin with 17 girls.
All of the Baldwin/Putnam leaders.
Probably my favorite night: western night.

Yes, that's right. Those last two pictures were an ice cream eating contest. It was called a T-Ralph (no one actually knew why) with 10 scoops of ice cream, 3 toppings of choice, along with whipped cream & chocolate syrup? Is your mouth watering yet? mine isn't. Several boys did it first, so a few girls thought we could beat there time in finishing faster. Let me just tell you, girls get aggressive when they want to beat boys. This led to scary faces & ice cream everywhere. Yes, even in hair. I know you're hoping I am going to say that we won, but we didn't. sorry. But we do now have a story of eating the biggest ice cream batch we've ever eatin in under 5 minutes!

How beautiful are these girls?!

If you've never been to a YoungLife camp, I highly recommend it. It's something everyone should experience, whether it's being a leader, being on work crew, or taking your family to one of the family camps. God is so good and He revealed so much in such a short period of time. As hard as this week was, it has never felt so worth it to go home with these girls and walk through life with them.
In just two short weeks, I will be venturing out to Colorado to be on summer staff at another YoungLife camp called Crooked Creek for an entire month! I will be making people their yummy coffee drinks, and I couldn't be more excited about it. Can't wait to fill ya'll in soon!!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful, relaxing start to June,
 from all of my friends!!