Open road and an empty itinerary.

"Hey, I have an interview in Birmingham this weekend. 

Wanna come?" - gal pal Jordan.

"My cousin will be out of town, but she said we could stay at her house." 

The view from the back yard.
 Jordan's cousin just happened to live in one of the nicest parts of town.

The inside was just as gorgeous.

"My interview is at 9:00 AM on Saturday, so I guess we can just spend the rest of the weekend exploring."

Photo cred: Jordan

Some gorgeous church downtown. 

English Village. 

Photo editing cred: Jordan.

Photo cred: Jordan. 

"I heard FLIP Burger Boutique is really good. Wanna check it out?"

Country fried beef, pimento cheese, bread and butter pickles, and SWEET TEA SAUCE.
The stuff dreams are made of. 

Our swanky view. 

"Remember that MTV show 'Two-A-Days'? That high school is only like ten minutes away."

If somebody were to stop and ask us what the heck we were doing I had
an elaborate "well, we graduated a few years back..." story all planned out. 

"WOAH, I just saw a sign for a Blockbuster close out sale!!!"

99 cent DVDs.

Just happened to find Season 1 amid the Blockbuster chaos.

And then we found Tim Tebow as a high schooler. 

"Isn't David Platt's church in Birmingham?"

The author of Radical/pastor of The Church at Brook Hills.

photo cred: Jordan.

Obviously, I had a blast this weekend. 

And obviously, my friends are awesome. 

And obviously, I'm blessed way, way, WAY than I could ever deserve.

Sooo....when can I move to Birmingham?

All smiles.

Happy Friday, folks!

 I have some really exciting news that I wanted to share with all my family, friends, and family friends that love me enough to continue to come back and look at my blog even when I promise to do a better of job of updating it but never do.

 ("Yeah, I'm going to update it every day this month!"... HAHA.)

I started the summer job search a few months ago. And by summer job search, I mean summer camps because I've spent the last two summers evolving into a Camp Counselor and it's obviously the best job ever. Seeking an upgrade to the local YMCA, I spent hours looking at dozens of Christian sleep-away camps in the Southeast. And then I applied to two. 

I entrusted my summer to the Lord, sent in my applications, interviewed, and then played the waiting game. 

And HOLY SMOKES, did He provide. 

In a little less then three months, I'll be headed up to Rome, Georgia for a week and a half of staff training for WinShape Camps for Communities. 

Click here to check out WinShape's website. 

Truett Cathy, the founder of Chick-Fil-A, also founded WinShape. Summer camp is only one of the many facets of this charitable, Christian organization. Since 1985, they have offered sleep-away camps for girls in Young Harris, GA and boys in Mount Berry, GA. In 2007, WinShape Camps added its "community" aspect. 

Basically, it is a day camp that travels to over 60 locations in the Southeast and partners with a local church to host a week long camp.

Potentially, my team of 20-25 college students could go to Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, South Carolina, North Carolina, and the list goes on. 

On March 15, I will find out who is in my team and where exactly our team will go. 

I've had a full 24 hours to process all of this, and it STILL sounds to good to be true. 

The milkshake I celebrated with yesterday after receiving the news. 

It blows me away how perfectly the Lord knows the desires of our hearts. 

And how desperately he wants to lavish His love and abundant blessings on us. 

And how neatly things fall in place when we give him the reigns. 

Tonight I'm headed up to Birmingham with a few of my gal pals to spend the weekend exploring. 

And then next weekend I get to go home to enjoy a few days of my spring break. 

And then the weekend after that I get to hang out with some family friends that will be visiting Tallahassee for a soccer tournament. 

And then two weekends after that, I'll be in Boone with some of my favorite people in the world. 

My life is way too fun. 

I don't even know what to title this post.

Welp, I guess I totally lied when I said I'd be updating my blog every day this month. 

I'm sure that all six hundred million billion of you are outraged. 

I've had my iPhone for three months-ish and didn't get the hang of Instagram until recently.

Not only are the filters and photo editing options super awesome, but the social media aspect of it is pretty sweet too. You can follow me at @amandabee13 and I'd love to follow you as well. 

 I've stuck with the "Photo of the Day" challenge. Surprising, I know. 

Check it out:

Day 5: 10 AM.
My favorite way to start the week.

Day 6: Dinner.
Crock pot chicken parmesan. I followed this recipe.

Day 7: Buttons.
I've accrued quite a collection. 

Day 8: Sun.
Love my forest view. Not so keen on my tacky vertical blinds.

Day 9: Front door.
Remember this post?

Day 10: Self portrait.
Drawn by one of my third grade friends. Apparently I need to reevaluate my use of mascara and neglect of hairspray. 

Day 11: Things that make you happy.
Dinner at Waffle House. The people watching is almost as good as the food. 

Day 12: Inside your closet.
Boots and button downs edition. 

Still not tired of my attempts at being a cool photography girl? 

Feeling SO blessed that I get to live with these girls next year.
(Left to right: Me, Paige, Tara, Kate)

The first of probably a hundred more visits to Lucy & Leo's Cupcakery. 

Glitter nails. BAM! 

The College of Education was hosting an open house at the same time I had class. Which meant I scored a free lunch and a koozie. Thanks, Bright Futures! 

THE BEST snack for laying in bed catching up on Sweet Home Alabama. Don't judge. 

It had me at the cookies and tank included in the $15 registration fee.
Next stop: 10k.

(P.S: I'm watching the Grammy's, live tweeting my roomie's hilarious commentary, and flitting around on every other social media site and therefore this post took me roughly an hour and a half to finish.) 

The Hunger Games.

((minor spoiler alert))

My weekend was consumed by finishing The Hunger Games. 

And by that I mean I read on the couch Friday night, all day Saturday, and then until 1:00 AM Saturday night.

And I'm glad to be done with them.

Because, honestly, I wasn't the biggest fan. 

The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and The Mockingjay. 

I'd heard people singing their praises for months but not one person mentioned anything about their dark, depressing, and slightly traumatizing nature. 

The series is about an oppressive government that forces the children of its starving citizens to kill each other so I probably should have seen it coming. 

Stories of heartbreak and tragedy seem to be more bearable when, in the end, good triumphs evil. 

But in The Hunger Games, the line between good and evil was blurry if apparent at all. 

The inherent flaws of humanity were magnified through instances of violence, deception, and greed in both the protagonists and antagonists.

However, there were undertones of sacrificial love. And hope. And the beauty of peace. 

To sum it up, it seemed to me that the author's main message was:

"even if you win a war, you still lose".  

Pretty powerful stuff for novels written at the fifth grade reading level. 

I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to see the movie the day it comes out. 

What did you think about the series? Are you planning on seeing the movie? 

Did you fall in love with Peeta as much as I did? 

Day Four: Strangers

Strangers "occupying Tallahassee".
Seems to me that they were just looking for an excuse to camp out in Downtown Tallahassee for a few months...

Transitioning to something also kind of political but not about strangers...

Vice President Joe Biden is coming to speak at Florida State tomorrow and one of my dear friends, Paige, just told me that she was chosen to be an usher for the event. Which means she will be sitting on stage with Biden during the speech. Which also means she's probably going to score some sweet TV time. 

Paige and I embracing our 11 inch height difference.
Embracing...
get it?

Political opinions aside, how cool is that?!

Day Three: Hands

New found love for coffee. Old love for Appalachian State.
And still not completely sure how I feel about the Hunger Games trilogy.
Riveting? Yes. Depressing and nightmare inducing? Also a yes. 

Little hands scrambling to get the perfect iron beads during arts and crafts time.

Day Two: Words.

I could probably write a book on all that I have to say about this. 
 If you were wondering why so many women of my generation (and the generations older...and the generation younger...) struggle with self worth, here is just one possible explanation.
And I'll just leave it at that for now. 

And for something a lot more lighthearted and fun...
how cute are these new prints that Sara just put in our kitchen?!

February: Photo a Day

In an effort to get in the habit of updating my blog more regularly...

That's right, folks. A new blog post everyday!

 I'll be using the Instagram for iPhone app. 

And I should warn you that I'm a total amateur.

-----------------------------

February 1: Your View Today

My view of National Signing Day. 

The boys (and some of us girls....) in my two and a half hour social science education course 

were completely consumed.

And Twitter updates just didn't cut it. 

As soon as our teacher left the room for a few minutes to make some copies, half of the class gathered around a MacBook Air to watch superstar corner back Ronald Darby pick up the Florida State hat. 

Go 'Noles!

And Go FSU College of Education! for being the coolest people ever. 

Step by step, day by day.

Big things have been happening in my life lately.

Happy things. Exciting things.

Puzzle pieces fitting together types of things.

I'm hesitant to share the details because I'm still processing a lot of it.

Processing that my life feels like it is bursting at the seams with opportunities

 that the Lord has blessed me with. 

The cool thing about handing over the reigns of your life to God, is that he knows.

He knows the desires of my heart because he put them there.

He knows the little details of life that bring me such unexplainable joy because he created me that way.

He knows the logistics of my life because he is the author of time. 

He knows exactly what the future holds for me because he already has it all planned out.

All the while I'm privileged enough to be a student at Florida State, surrounded by beautiful friends, supported by an amazing family, watching this blessed life of mine unfold day by day. 

(Psalm 139, Jeremiah 29:11, Psalm 34:7, Proverbs 16:9)