Paris, not in words.

and

Alrighty friends, its time for another round of hashtag ootd. I realize how cheesy these are, and yes, I am well aware of the fact that I will regret this when I am older (or next week, whichever comes first.) But for now, here's a little outfit magic, or lack thereof.

CALI BREEZE

I swear you guys, California is where its at. No matter where you go it's so gorgeous! For this little excursion we walked around our hotel which had a great ocean view and unreal foliage. Please excuse the awkward senior portrait poste #5 (casually grabbing the hat, anyone?) but it was necessary.

Can someone take me back to California? Because I had forgotten about my love affair with that state and the love was instantly rekindled. Mwuah to you, Cali!

Greetings friends! Are you ready for more fall photos? Because, I'm sure you have forgotten what they look like....HA! Anyone who has an instagram knows that 94.9 percent of ones feed is all FALL. But whatever, I like to think I'm fall's biggest fan, so I'm cool with it. I thought you'd like to know.

And these photos, and well, that awkward blog title. I debated with my conscience about using it but this is my blog and i do what i want! um....actually, I just thought that since this is my way of remembering trips and such that I might as well give it to you real, and the whole time I was talking about my scab. At the end of our tour, I thew my scab onto the ground at Appamadox Court house (Apple Maddox is my lovingly given nickname!) and felt a little distraught. So I decided the only way to fix the situation was to insist my ashes be thrown at Appamadox. And then my scab and ashes can reunite under the ground where Robert E. Lee walked and then all will be right in the world! Just think, I'm part of history now!

Anyway....

▲▲ My dad has a knack of taking my photo when I look REEEEELLLY unattractive. Which is basically all the time so on second thought, he's not that talented.

MID SUMMER STATE OF THE UNION

I haven't blogged in so long.

Correction, I haven't blogged HERE in so long.

I've been writing on my new website, as well as literally writing 10 million blog posts for other companies during my summer internship. But this little space? It's fallen to the wayside

(along with my motivation to finish college, be healthy and eat anything other than ice cream.)

It's always so refreshing to come back to this space though. I've grown up on this little blog. Nearly 10 years of trials, joys, and teenage confusion are stored safely in these pages. While I imagine that the frequency of posts here will only continue to decrease, the value of these memories will never change.

This summer, I stumbled into copy-writing. I didn't even know what it was 2 months ago, and yet today I finished my first round of freelancing work. People have asked me how I learned to write. "You're a biology major!" (no I'm actually speech pathology now, but thanks.) "You've never done marketing?!"

No.

But I've written over 798 posts on this little blog called The Garden of Happiness. And though I never thought it would, it really counts for something.

God uses twisting paths and winding words to shape us. When I started this blog so many years ago, I never dreamed that it would be the pathway to so much joy. I had no idea that God would use my blog as a way for me to develop the skills and talents He has given me.

For so many years I agonized over what my giftings were. I thought God had forgotten about me. Every day felt like Christmas morning...except I always had black coal in my stocking.

Now, I realize that I was just ignoring what was already there. While I was searching so desperately to figure out what it was He wanted me to do...I was already doing it. I just didn't know it yet.

If you're in a season of feeling like life makes no sense....well that's all of life so get used to it. But more than just getting used to it, embrace it. Hug it like you would an old friend, welcome in the uncertainty and offer it something to drink.

And then sit back and watch what God's plan begin to unfold.

MY PAL MAL

Talking to strangers isn't always socially acceptable. But sometimes you offer to go to church with a total stranger and that stranger ends up becoming your best friend.

Try this one at home, kids! (In the safest way possible, please and thanks.)

A mutual friend introduced us at a crappy country concert (so, a country concert?) the Saturday before school began. Standing in line waiting for wild boar tacos, Mallory mentioned that she didn't have anyone to go to church with. Despite the fact that I had just met her five minutes ago, didn't want to go to the church she was talking about, and already had plans to go with someone else, I offered to go with her. 

 The next morning I got into the car with a stranger but came home with one of the truest friends I've ever known.

I love how God works.

Coming to Texas was like starting from scratch. I didn't have a friend come with me, or even a friend-of-a-friend to latch onto for the initial immersion period. I literally didn't know a single soul. Many prayers were said over me for the Lord to bring someone into my life and though I prayed for that too, I set my expectations very low. I expected it to be painful and awful and lonely and hard.

And it was! But I didn't have to go through all of it alone. 

Because before school even started, God answered that prayer and gave me Mal.

From day one Mal has encouraged me, challenged me, laughed with me (also at me), not judged me for how much salt I put on my food and fully embraced my weird gum addiction. We've been to concerts, coffee shops, and Chipolte countless times together. She's heard my story, listens when I'm stressed and NEVER makes fun of me for taking 1720900 photos of everything I see.

Someone recently told me that they admired our friendship because they saw how well we love one another. And although I know I definitely miss the mark a lot, the friendship Mallory and I have is so special because it is so real. We've prayed together, cried together, been stressed together. Sometimes we've been angry, upset and hurt. But at the end of the day, we know that God is using our friendship to strengthen us, encourage one another and show people the love of Christ. 

Mallory has taught me that friendship isn't only about what you give and get. Friendship is about living out the love of Christ and giving God all the glory along the way.

Our friendship has taught me so much. First of all, I now know a lot about true Texas Tacos (Torchys forever!!) And secondly, through Mallory's example, I am learning what it's like to truly love someone as Christ does. I'm not perfect by any means, and I make a lot of mistakes but wow. Some days I can't get over how blessed I am to have a pal like Mal in my life.

And by some days, I mean every single day.

I sneeze, you sneeze!

Driving three hours to go to a museum about a food you don't even like may seem extra to you...but that was just another Tuesday for me.

I was sitting in English Class in October when Regan texted me in all caps with an extensive amount of exclamation points, telling me that the famous Museum of Ice Cream was coming to Miami over winter break. And since caps and exclamation marks are literally my love language, I was 100% on board. Also the entire museum is pink. Even if I was allergic to Ice Cream, I'd probably still go.

Regan and I actually both had the flu when the much anticipated day came, but that didn't stop us from having an amazing time and also taking eighteen thousand photos (Give or take. I'm bad at math.)

Hopefully this semester in English,  I'll get a text from her saying the Museum of Cake is coming to town! Because if there's one thing I love more than exclamation marks, pink and all caps conversations, it's probably a big slice of cake. 

Even though it was more of an "I sneeze, you sneeze" situation, our time at the Museum of Ice Cream was filled with sugar, tissues, and a whole lot of sprinkles.