Haven't posted in a while...

Cooler weather has inspired me to post a few things I love real quick...

A brisk, cold, day,
Autumn,
Beautiful make-up,
A good book,
Children,
Christmas lights,
Pumpkin Spice Lattes
and most of all...

Love.

Thanks God :)

And don't be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else. Where you are right now is God's place for you. Live and obey and love and believe right there. God, not your marital status, defines your life. Don't think I'm being harder on you than on the others. I give this same counsel in all the churches. - 1 Corinthians 7:17

Just what I needed to read right now.

If you need a lover and a friend, baby I'm in.

Long time no post. Mostly due to lack of consistent internet, but partially to my lack of "loving simple things." Somehow, the loving of simple things gets more difficult when more complicated things such as monthly bills, medical bills, and work woes make life interesting. In any case, more of an update coming soon.
Summer-y things I love:

Keith Urban (LOVED his concert in Columbia!)
Baseball games
More daylight
Tourists in Charleston (This is kind of a love/hate thing... I love Charleston being busy and people being excited to be here. I could definitely do without the sock/sandal/fanny-pack combo though.)
The Beach!
Weddings

Until next time!

Sunshine and Summertime!

On Saturday, I graduated with an Artium Baccalaureas degree in Psychology from the beautiful College of Charleston, and I couldn't have asked for a better graduation day. The weather started out overcast, but the sun began to shine as we took the stage, and continued for the rest of the day. I didn't trip, my hair stayed pretty, and my mom, brothers and Ryan all were there to share it with me :) Good times.

Now, what to do now that I am all moved in at the BCM house? Well, mostly I've been bored, which is a nice change instead of really, really busy. That will change as I prepare bible studies for the 11th and 12th grade youth at Fort Johnson on Sunday mornings, and prepare some lessons for the youth mission trip I'm going on in June, along with settling down with a more consistent work schedule. But so far, I'm just enjoying the sunshine and the summertime :)

Things making me happy right now:

Beautiful weather.
New promotion at Ann Taylor.
Wonderful friends.
25 days until Graduation.
Blogs. I LOVE READING BLOGS.

Thank you Lord, for such blessings!

“I will never be the woman with the perfect hair...

...who can wear white and not spill on it.” - Sex and the City

There is some sort of freedom in realizing you don't have to be perfect. Of course, I love fashion and primp as much as the next girl, but perfect? It's unrealistic and impossible. I think I've finally come to terms with the idea that my body may not be fat free, my "baby" hairs may always stick straight up, I almost always spill something on myself, and I almost always will have a pimple or two on my chin.

While it's taken 22 years to learn this, I have also learned tricks to get around these faux pas (spelling...?) Pimples can be covered with concealer and a little bit of powder. Stains can be covered with a strategically placed belt or cardigan. ANY body shape can look good in conjunction with properly fitting clothes (they ARE out there somewhere) and a bit of personality. I still haven't figured out a good and lasting remedy for the baby hairs, but I'm working on it.

And if I don't find the perfect solution to fix my hair or come to terms with my body fat? It doesn't really make a difference. I'm still the same person, and THAT is something to love.

Just remember, "The most exciting, challenging and significant relationship of all is the one you have with yourself. And if you can find someone to love the you you love, well, that's just fabulous.” - Sex and the City

Simple Love #1: Youtube

So, as my blog title is about "Loving the Simple Things," I decided to post a simple thing that I love immensely: Youtube videos. How can you watch a video like this: Twin Baby Boys Have In-Depth Discussion and not smile?

Look for more videos soon, and I'll end with a quick quote about happiness, another favorite topic of mine, besides love.

"Ask most people what they want out of life and the answer is simple - to be happy. Maybe it's this expectation though of wanting to be happy that just keeps us from ever getting there. Maybe the more we try to will ourselves to states of bliss, the more confused we get - to the point where we don't recognize ourselves. Instead we just keep smiling - trying to be the happy people we wish we were. Until it eventually hits us, it's been there all along. Not in our dreams or our hopes but in the known, the comfortable, the familiar." Meredith Grey from Grey's Anatomy

Typical Kind of Day

So, if I was interested in posting on the My Life is Average website, this would most likely go on it. But, I'd probably go over the character limit, and I'd like to write a blog instead :)

Today, I was in the mood to read some articles for my 15 page paper due in Ancient Medcine at the end of the semester. (In case you're interested, it is on the ancient texts of the Hippocratic Oath and Preface to Conpositiones by Scribonius Largus and morals of doctors in the ancient world - fascinating stuff ;)) I have a lovely porch approximately 5 footsteps away from my doorway and since it is a gorgeous day in Charleston, I decided to read on the porch. I set my papers down and a gust of wind blew 3 of my articles over the porch railings.

Womp Womp.

I carefully secured the rest of my papers under the numerous books I had also brought outside along with my keys and cell phone and ran downstairs to get my papers from blowing across the parking lot and street. I thought I had learned my lesson, so I placed all the articles I wasn't working on under the books for safekeeping. I was in the middle of reading a super important article (pretty much the basis of my paper) when I decided to go instide to get a highlighter. Unfortunately, I walked outside to find my paper on the roof of the building connected to my house. I proceeded to go downstairs because I assumed it would blow down. I met a friend downstairs and he offered to help. We watched the paper roll across the roof multiple ways for approximately 15 minutes before it blew over the roof... into a puddle.

Just kidding about the puddle... but with my life I wouldn't be surprised ;)

I love that my life is never boring, and beautiful days in Charleston where the sunshine warms my shoulders and I can enjoy having a porch <3

Love. Is. Unstoppable.

"You find your faith has been lost and shaken,
You take back what's been taken,
Get on your knees and dig down deep,
You can do what you think is impossible.
Keep on believing, don't give in,
It'll come and make you whole again,
It always will, it always does,
Love is unstoppable."
"Unstoppable" by Rascal Flatts

I am blessed. Thank you God, for being unwavering, forgiving and loving. All of the time. <3

What is Love? Baby, don't hurt me...

This should have probably been the first entry, but I never really do things in the order that makes sense, and since I read an excerpt from my textbook ("Human Sexuality in a World of Diversity") I wanted to write about, I thought it would be appropriate to define love.

According to http://dictionary.reference.com/, Love has 22 (my favorite number!) definitions. My favorite include:

–verb (used with object)

16. to have a profoundly tender, passionate affection for (another person).

18. to need or require; benefit greatly from

 

I like that love is a need. Not a want. A NEED. It is necessary for survival the world. This is specifically proven in a scientific experiment by Harry Harlow with baby monkeys and the use of "wire" mothers or "cloth" mothers mothers. At first, both of the wire monkey and cloth monkey were given a face and a "breast" (ie. - hole for a bottle to stick through) but the cloth monkey was warmed and designed for comfort. The wire monkey was not looked at as anything but a source for food for the baby monkeys, but the cloth monkeys became an emotional attachment (ie. - love) for the baby monkeys. The cloth monkey babies grew more psychologically stable than the monkeys either without a wire monkey or with one demonstrated through toy robots "taking over the cage." This shows that the basic feeling of attachment and love are equated and necessary for sound psychological health. Check out this link if you'd like the full synopsis. It has also been scientifically proven that babies in orphanages that may not receive enough attention and physical touch can ultimately die from lack of love.

 

Anyways, all of this background information leads me to the excerpt from my Human Sexuality book that I read today. The excerpt is called "Watching New Love as it Sears the Brain" and the first sentence drew me in "New love can look for all the world like mental illness - a blend of mania, dementia, and obsession..." The article speaks about using fMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) brain scans to locate the different areas of the brain that light up (when blood flows through them) when a college student is newly in love. It was proven that the area of the brain that lights up is the same area that fills with blood and the neurotransmitter dopamine when people (cocaine users, gamblers, or people playing computer games for small amounts of money) score or win a contest (I guess cocaine counts as a score rather than a win...?)

 

Love is completely irrational and it is not a simple reward, so luckily there is a lot more scientific stuff involved. Also interesting to note, the brain shifts as the relationship progresses. Couples that had been together longer had a more developed area of the brain focused in long-term committment - Definitely good news! But, these areas of the brain also causes certain effects when a break-up occurs. One patient who went through a break up described her body as suffereing from "withdrawal" symptoms - similar to those of breaking an addiction.

 

I find it absolutely fascinating that all of these effects come from a simple 4 letter word. It goes to show, those 22+ definitions of love are definitely necessary since love is the sum of a whole lot of parts - emotional, physical and mental.

Where there is Love, there is Life.

"Love never claims, it ever gives; love never suffers, never resents, never revenges itself. Where there is love there is life; hatred leads to destruction."
Mahatma Gandhi

"They will know you're Christian by your love"

As you may have noticed from my blog title or my first post, I'm a little obsessed with love. I'm not necessarily obsessed with love in the romantic way, although I am thankful and blessed to be in love with someone today, but I'm obsessed with learning about it and how to share it to everyone I meet. I'm reading "The 5 Love Languages" by Gary Chapman (Of course I picked up the copy for married couples - oops!) but I have become a little preoccupied with learning people's love languages and learning how to speak their languages and "dialect." My top love languages are tied with words of affirmation and physical touch, but I have learned that my friends all have different love languages, and somehow, I am able to love them all :)

Anyways, I went to WinterJam today, a Christian tour with bands I wasn't really familiar. While the lead singer of Newsboys was talking, he stated that his father taught him a lesson when he was little. He said that his Dad told him that people won't know you're Christian by the money in your wallet or the type of house you have, but by your love. For some reason this really resonated with me. To put it lightly, I've kind of had a bad year. As it entered it's last painful turn before some healing began but emotionally and spiritually, I think it would have been very difficult to tell I was Christian. Now, I feel a strong calling to love the loved and unloved, the Christian and the lost, the poor and the rich, etc. and feel that desire can be felt by others when they're around me (partially because that's what I've been told, ha!) While I didn't have a father around to teach me such an important lesson, I have an Almighty Father who brought me to WinterJam to hear that message.

And, I leave you with a quote about love from an awesome show:
"I even love you more than Turk." -JD to Elliott on "Scrubs"

First of Many (I hope!)

So, I'm new at this blogging thing, but here goes!

I love simple things. I love the color pink. I love puppies. I love fashion and finding my own unique style of doing things. I love having a twin brother and older brother to protect me. I love God with all of my heart. I love finding out new things about people and I LOVE reading blogs. Seriously, I have about a ton that I look at regularly and I am always mesmerized about how well written my friends (and sometimes complete strangers) are. Anyways, since I am always following them and learning new things about people, I thought maybe once in a while something I say will be worth reading and remembering like I remember blog posts from others.

In general, I am a college senior, about to step out in the "real world." I will be graduating with an Artium Baccalaureautus degree in Psychology and working at Ann Taylor. I will be living at the Baptist Collegiate Ministry house and trying to help minister to people every chance I get. I have an amazing boyfriend. That's all I know, and I kind of like it that way.

That's all about me so far! I guess you will learn the rest along the way <3