it's a girl thing // vintage and denim

 cool people take the bouquet they made the other day off the dining-room and pose with them in the backyard. ;) 

Details: 

Dress: Goodwill {9.99}

Belt: Fred Myer {??}

Sneakers: Payless {19.99}

Nails: Wet 'n' Wild red. ;)

 Make-up Details: 

BB Cream: E.L.F fair

Foundation: Covergirl fair

Blush: Dream Bouncy Blush pink plum

Eyeshadow: E.L.F. gel toast

Mascera: Cover Girl lashblast fusion

Eyeliner: Sheer Cover Classic black brown

Lips: Burt's Bee's rhubarb

I realized that I haven't done a fashion outfit post in over two months. o.O  I have been wearing cute clothes, but just haven't gotten around to taking pictures of outfits and uploading them. :)

Life has been interesting. I've been reading a ton, (no shocker there, right?) and doing the usual, school, laundry, lots of reading, writing a bit, and bible study stuff. (plus the 90 days though the bible for my personal devos.) I'm loving the challenge and really recommend looking into doing it if you haven't before. I'm looking forward to summer and a {hopefully} more busy schedule. I think I'm going to go to the beach for the day with my sister-in-law in the next couple weeks, and I'm really excited. I love the beach. And it's almost warm enough to go hang out at the river, and I think we should plan lots of time there. :) Right now, I'm off to make tea and curl up with a book for awhile before it's time to make dinner. ;)

what's going on in your life? :)

10 Facts You Probably Don't Know About Me

1. I'm a biker-girl at heart. I would ride a bike in a heartbeat if 1. I could afford a motorcycle and the necessary licences, etc. and 2. I could find a cute brown leather jacket and boots, and an adorable helmet. ;)

I think this is the first picture I got of Lydia... gosh, she had a lot of hair!! :) (she's lost most of it now.) 

2. I am shy. So groups are hard for me, and I tend to be that person that follows their one friend around because I'm terrified. ;)

3. I love to swing dance. I feel like, when compared to other styles, it's less romantic and more about just having a blast, and getting exercise. ;) The music is amazingly fun and you can wear amazing twirly dresses. win-win

I want to hug this calf and then feed it a bottle. ;)

4. My personality type is INTJ

5. I love to sing. And someday when I have a real job and a car that doesn't have a head-gasket blown out, I will take voice lessons again. ;)

6. I journal obsessively. Currently I have 5 going: One for everyday ramblings, one for sermon notes and personal devos, one for bible study notes, one for random writings and scribbles, and one is a gratitude journal. :)

7. I love to make people laugh, and I am very, very, very sarcastic. It's dangerous sometimes. I need someone to follow me around and tell people, (after I offend them,) that whatever awful thing I said was actually a joke.  (It's an area I'm working on. ;)

8. I hold conversations with myself, and sometimes it's outloud. Which can be embarrassing in the grocery store when you accidently talk out loud as someone is passing you...

9. I'm a very vocal driver, and I talk to the other cars rather than the idiots people driving them. I comment on bumper stickers, pretty colors, ugly cars, people who cut me off, speeding cars, cars that zoom around you and then get stuck at the same light, weird paint jobs, adorable little cars and 1949 ford trucks, (my favorite vehicle in the entire world, btw.). I also comment on everything else when I'm driving too. Like houses, people walking/biking, trees, clouds, everything. (I guess I get easily bored so I start randomly talking about everything. lol)

10. I love horseback riding. It's been forever since I got to ride last, but it's one of my favorite things ever. I can't even explain mounting a horse and feeling the emotional and mental connection and then flying across the earth in perfect rhythm. It's a stress reliever for me, (I used to go riding when I was feeling sad or depressed, and feel light as a feather when I got back.), and it makes me insanely happy to ride.

i'm a small-town kinda girl // missing my hometown

     Last weekend I was able to go home to Goldendale for a very quick and spontaneous trip to see my bestie. The weather for my drive was amazing and that made me incredibly happy, because I was able to see The Gorge in it's entirety, and soak in lovely views of my mountain and the river. I had the window down the entire way up the Maryhill Grade, and was thrilled that it was windy! I guess it would seem strange to people who didn't grow up there that I love blustery, hard, strong winds. It's always windy back home and I grew up loving it.

    
      When I finally rolled into town I couldn't keep a silly, huge grin off my face.  It was thrilling and wonderful to drive past all my memories. Places I've visited a million times, to see the truck that's been parked in that same spot for over 5 years, the three blinking-red stop lights in town...  My dad's old store, and the sign that just says, "Hey Blue Eyes, who's your daddy?" The Christian Book store and the tiny grocery store we shopped at all the time. My "favorite" coffee shop that served ah-mazing hot chocolates for only 1.50. Flying past the adorable fabric store on the highway towards Hannah's. 

     I still haven't driven past our farm though. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to do that without being absolutely forced.  I miss everything about it, and my horse is buried there...

    I was so happy to be back. It sounds silly, but I really just wanted to drive all over town and soak in just being there. I love the slow, happy pace of the small farming town. The people waving at each other, and no rush and bustle. No traffic, or stoplights. No people honking or flipping you off. 
     Leaving again, after barely 24 hours was oh so hard. I was close to tears, (rare for me!) and about to have an emotional breakdown. I decided to run though the drive-thru to grab something to drink on my way out, and recognized one of my best-friends truck right in front of me. So I texted "I'm currently right behind you!!" and totally surprised my freind. The text I got back read only "WHAT?!?!" :) We parked and visited for awhile, and by the time I left I was feeling much better and cheered up. ;) That is one of my favoritest things about small towns; you run into people you know everywhere. And then I drove home and it was raining...

     Reading through what I wrote above, it kind of sounds like I'm complaining and whining, but I'm not really. It's just that sometimes you don't realize how much it hurts or how much you miss something/someone/somewhere until you see it/them again, and then it washes over you in a moment until you're drowning.

     I know my hometown isn't perfect. I mean, seriously, we had/have druggies everywhere, in fact several times in the last couple years we had a ton of SWAT teams making drug raids up in the hills. There aren't very many jobs, especially for younger people... Shopping is super limited... Gas is always more expensive... you can't hang out anywhere except the grocery store past about 6 o'clock in the evening. (I'm serious. Nothing's open.) Sometimes you got stuck behind a mini cattle herd... But despite all the flaws, I'm a small-town girl who misses her farming community. Even though it hurts like crazy, it's so good to go home once in awhile. 

these are a few of my favorite things // 1

+ doing morning devo's with the window open and the birds chirping and singing
+ hot, hot, coffee as soon as I wake up
+ this post by an amazing girl I grew up with that feels like she wrote down exactly what I was thinking.
+ 90 Days though the Bible (it's been amazing, and I feel like i've been discovering new concepts and things in all the familiar accounts.)
+ Rereading The Mitford Series (So adorable and sweet and chock full of God and truths in every page.)
+ A flying visit back home to see my bestie and her family last weekend. 
+ new friends over the internet
+ hilarious quotes by little brothers
+ getting to spend time with my oldest brother
+ driving on the highway with all my windows down and my hair tangling
+ my puppy who is always overjoyed to see and interact with me
+ finding $16 unexpectedly, in the back pocket of a skirt I hardly ever wear, this morning
+ Lydia's infrequent giggles
+ watching people interact
+ running into one of my best friends completely randomly
+ stupid pixar movies that make me laugh and rewatching the last season of one of my favorite tv shows in anticipation of another season coming out soon!!
+ enough flowers blooming in the yard to make bouquets
+ anticipating a coffee date with a friend
+ the vitamin string quartet (weirdest name ever, but I love their covers!)
+ being able to smile again without pain (!!! the blisters are finally gone, and I'm thrilled. ;)

This list was inspired by Dani, at A Vapor in the Wind

skydiving

This post is at the request of my friend, Rachel. :) We had so much fun, you'll have to come with us next time! 

Yesterday I got to cross the second number off my bucket list. #2 Skydive!! It was terrifying and intoxicating, and I'm already planning a second trip. ;)

 This is me. Way up there, having the time of my life! :)

I knew, based on previous experiences, that the plane ride was going to be super hard for me. I always have panic attacks, (where it's literally hard for me to breath, and I get jittery, shaky, and feel sick.), so I was expecting it. About a week before I asked informed my big brother that I needed him to hold my hand. Luckily, he was seated right across the aisle from me as was more than happy to try to calm me down. Looking back, it totally cracks me up because at one point I had him holding my hand and telling me that it was gonna be okay, my instructor talking me through it, and Andrew's instructor trying to calm me down as well. But I survived the plane ride, didn't hyperventilate, or faint, so we're good!

It took about ten minutes to gain 13,000 feet in elevation. Everyone is seated on benches, squished together like sardines, attached to their various tandem instructors. Once the plane reaches the correct elevation, the door is opened, (everyone's heart stops temporarily,) and one by one, extremely rapidly though, each "group" scooches forward until they reach the door. The instructors don't really give you time to think about it. Basically the moment you reach the door, they push you out, and suddenly I am free-falling, plummeting 13,000 feet towards the earth. I think I held my breath in extreme terror for about 20 seconds, and then I realized that I was I fine, I was strapped to a trained professional, and this was the coolest thing ever!!!!!!!! Free-falling was exhilarating, and I totally understand why those guys decided to become instructors, and get paid to do it 30+ times a day. I cannot even explain how amazing it was. There was a lot of wind pressure, but I was having too much fun to even notice, really. I was little disappointed when he pulled the chute. ;) But the  panoramic views from up there were stunning! We could see about 5 different mountains, and so far it was amazing. The instructor steered us in a lot of twirly loops, which was soo much fun. I expected to get dizzy, but was pleasantly surprised that I didn't. :) I decided not to steer the chute because of my shoulder injuries, (dislocated it when I was three weeks old, and it's been totally messed up ever since,) and I felt that the steering would be painful.  

The only unpleasant part about this, (besides the panic attack in the plane, of course.) was that I'm having a weird breakout of blisters on my lips. Mom thinks it has to do with the high fever I had earlier in the week, but whatever the case, my lips are/were covered in blisters, and are super, super painful, and the free-falling made it even worse. Hopefully next time I won't be dealing with that! haha

I was going to apologize for the way our hair looks. But you know what. We just fell out of an airplane from 13,000 feet. I could care less about my hair at this point. ;) L to R, Cindy, Andrew (my big brother,) me, Rachel, (a bestie whom I grew up with. :)

Rachel and I tried to take a selfie, (turns out it was only the second one she's ever done.) but we were way too psyched up, so they all turned out strange, and we're laughing in most of them. :)

The landing was super easy. Basically he just told me to keep my feet up until he said to stand up. So I did, and it worked perfectly. No falling on my face, or tripping over anything. Being the klutz that I am it was great! I was a little oblivious of everything after we landed, because I was so stoked, but I do know we took some pictures, and took off all the gear. (and a word about the jump-suits. Seriously, guys. They were like a cross between pant-suits, (which are coming back, btw) and sleepers. A bad cross. Basically, they were completely unattractive. Okay. I'm done. ;)

So, I heartily recommend that you make some reservations to go skydiving as soon as possible. It was breathtaking, amazing, inspiring and so cool! I cannot wait to go again!

xx,