650 sq. feet of JOY

I'm moved in and I LOVE it! Saturday, my mom, brothers, and future sister-in-law helped load up the trucks and trailer and unload it into my apartment (if ya'll read this, thank you so much for  your help!!!!!) After the unloading, mom and I stayed to unpack and organize. My co-worker and friend, Allie stopped by to see the place, helped make my bed, and helped in some decorating choices. After 11 hours of packing, loading, moving, unpacking, and organizing, we came back home to LR for dinner and bedtime! Sunday night, I took some more stuff up and I spent my first night in my new home. I love everything about  my apartment: my walk-in closet, my ceiling fans in every room, my bedding, my living room decor, my plates, everything! This morning was a glorious morning with God as I thanked Him for his provisions and offered my apartment to Him as a place for ministry. I'm excited to see how He will use me and this place for His glory!

Tonight is my first grocery store run. As I've started making my list, I've kind of been overwhelmed by all that I need to get. I know I'm going to forget something basic but I can always go back to the store! I plan on making fajitas and spinach manicotti this week, so look for posts on those dishes :) This weekend, mom and I are going to hang the pictures and make a huge wal-mart run for more necessities to finish up the decor. I'm ready to get it completely decked out and finished. I'm excited to have a place to call my own! This week will be the first week of adventure, discipline, and domesticity in my new place. In the posts to come, I hope to have pictures of my place and meal updates. Here's to becoming a well-rounded woman!

Crafty

Most of the time, I'm a logical, organized, facts type person. But, sometimes, the creative side comes out and I have the tendency to come up with some creative things. My newest bout of creativity comes in the form of crafts. I have come up with some lofty craft goals that I want to accomplish during my journey to becoming a well-rounded, disciplined, domestic woman.
Goal #1: My apartment. I want to decorate my apartment and make it cute. I don't mean to be vain about it, but I want people to think my apartment is cute (isn't this the desire of every female who gets to decorate their own place?!).
Goal #2: T-Shirt Quilt. I've wanted to do this for a while but I've never had time or a strong enough desire. However, now that I'm venturing out on my own and will (hopefully) have more free time, I want to make this happen! I have so many t-shirts from high school cheerleading days (football, cheer camp, homecoming, basketball, etc) that I want to make them into a quilt for memory sake!! (No, I'm not living in the days of high school, I'm simply making a blanket from my fond memories.) I'm also obsessed with blankets, so this will allow me to add another one to my collection! Here are some examples I've found so far that I'm going to choose from. Which one do you like best? Better yet, have you made one before? If so, leave a comment with some advice!!

This one has the fabric in between each shirt.

This one has no fabric between but it does have a fun border.

I think this one would be way too hard but it's really cute!

Goal  #3: A map to put into my office. I want to emphasize the 10/40 window on this map and have Revelation 7:9 on it. This will be a great daily reminder in my office of why I do my job and why I'm working in the states, instead of overseas, right now.
Goal #4: Art projects. I have a decided that I would like to try my hand at painting. After I decorate my apartment and see what type of wall space I have left, I might be painting some canvases to add to the space.
I know all of these are extremely lofty craft goals for a logical person, but I'm excited to try them! To me, being crafty is a skill of the well-rounded woman I want to become through my disciplines this year.

2 Months in Bullet Points

I'm sorry that it's been so long since I've last blogged. It's been a busy 2 months and it's staying busy! A lot has happened in the last 2 months so this will be a long post! Hope you enjoy hearing what's been going on :)

November:

• We had Thanksgiving at my grandparent's house. I helped my grandmother cook all the sides and desserts. I don't remember everything we had...I just remember it was so good and we had tons of it! The Saturday after Thanksgiving, Cameron proposed to Andi!! Chandler and I got to go to the location early to hide and take pictures. It was a fun day for our family and I'm excited to be getting a sister-in-law! :)

December: Christmas month!!! For some reason, I was majorly in the Christmas spirit this year and loved everything about December! I watched every Christmas movie I own over and over again and listened to Christmas music all day, everyday!

• On December 6th, we had a Office Christmas party. Everyone brought a side dish and a white elephant gift to the party. I made corn souffle (and I got a million compliments on it! domesticity...check). I also walked away from the party with huge ornaments! I know they were a gag gift, but I loved them!
• The next day, I made my way to Kansas City, KS for December Staff Training. I stopped in Fayetteville on my way up (to cut my drive in half) and had tons of fun hanging out with friends! Once in KC, I went to lunch with fellow Conway-staffer, Allie! DST was great. All meals went smoothly and as planned (I was pumped about this because this was my first event to plan for!). Friday night the 10th, the guys took us girls out on a date in KC! They did such a great job planning and making us feel special. It was wonderful!
• When I got home from DST, I had the Conference housing list in front of me. This took days and days and days to get worked out, but it finally got turned into the hotel.
• Then, it was time for Christmas! We celebrated Christmas on the 23rd at my grandparent's house. I love spending time with my family!! I got lots of great gifts for my apartment and for my goals of being domestic! We stayed in Hot Springs until the night of the 25th just eating and spending time together. It was the perfect level of laziness to relax before the next few weeks of work.
• On December 28th, I headed up to OKC, OK to prepare for the Conference. We had over 1300 students signed up this year so I knew it was going to be huge! On the 28th, we had a meeting with the hotel execs to go over last minute info. The 29th-31st, I worked in the Region 2 Norman office to prepare for Conference Bonnie and I finished work around 7 on New Year's Eve so that we could go out for New Year's and have fun! We went over to another staff girl's house for dinner and then over to the Points' house for New Year's festivities! I loved bringing in 2011 with so many friends! Looks like 2011 is going to be a great year! (If I can judge it by New Year's eve:) 

January:

• The first few days were consumed by the Conference. We started setting up on the 1st and stayed until the 7th. Overall, it went well with very few glitches (after registration). I never felt stressed and I really enjoyed the time I got to spend with other staff.
• I get home from the Conference to a huge chance of snow! I didn't believe it would happen at all because, let's face it, it rarely does. However, I was hugely surprised and it snowed 4-6" in LR! I was off on Monday and Tuesday, which was a great time for me to relax and catch up on sleep from the Conference.
• When the snow melted, I came back to work and started on everything for the spring semester.
• Saturday the 15th, my mom and I came to Conway to go apartment hunting. Great news - I FOUND AN APARTMENT! It is so cute! This apartment community has just been built in the last year or two and it's tucked away from major traffic. The apartment has everything I wanted (including ceiling fans in every room, a walk-in closet, and a huge workout facility! bonus - FREE tanning!!!)
• Today, I signed the lease! This is a huge new step in my life but I'm excited to take it and excited to grow during this semester of adventure. I start moving in this weekend and will finish next weekend and will post pics asap!

I will try to do a better job of blogging :) Once I get moved in, I will be cooking and practicing more discipline. I'm not getting cable which will give me more time for reading, personal development, cooking, working out, and updating this blog. Stay tuned for pics and updates of moving in!