Lather, rinse, repeat.

I've developed a new morning routine.....

Repeat these three phrases to yourself:

God is faithful.

God is good.

God loves me.

Because whether or not you feel it,

God is faithful.

God is good.

And God does love you, more than you know.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Groupie

I got to play groupie last night to none other than this hottie: 

 He was asked to play with a few people at our church at the cutest little coffee shop here in Tulsa called Agorra. I've heard that they make a mean cup of coffee! I have yet to report on that due to the fact that any time I drink coffee past noon there's no sleeping for me that night. Anyway, isn't he cute?!

Speaking of cute, my fall wardrobe has finally expanded and embraced a red pair of jeans!! I've been saving up my birthday money until I found the perfect pair.....and here they are!

{source}

I just got them in the mail yesterday and I'm eagerly awaiting an excuse to wear them! :)

Fall Trips

Matt was given the awesome opportunity at the beginning of October to go to California and attend Kip Barber's Driving School where he got to learn how to drive Formula 1 race cars! He was only one of two people that were chosen by his work to go on the trip.  It was all-inclusive and he had so much fun!!  I, on the other hand, was so excited for him, but was going to miss him for the four days that he was gone! However, my parents had something up their sleeve and surprised me with a buddy pass to travel back home while Matt was in California! Needless to say, I was MORE than excited!!!!! Especially considering I would make it home in time for my favorite season and be able to see all the trees change! 

It was the most refreshing trip, like a breath of fresh air for my soul! Not only was I able to soak up some much needed mom and sister time, but was able to ride my sweet horse, Cuddles {who I miss so much}, go trail-running with my best-friend and drink up wayyyyy too much Beans and Brew coffee! Ahhh....I can almost taste it right now! I must tell you though, my favorite part of the trip was a day when we went driving up to the mountains to see all the colors and exercise a few of my photography muscles! There is nothing more refreshing than taking a deep breath of mountain air in the autumn! I wish I could bottle it up and use it as an

A hobby of compromise

Next thing on the update list...Matt and I were going through a list of items, trying to figure out a hobby that we would both enjoy. My list involved all things "North Face" {or so he calls them}, the usual rock climbing, kayaking and biking. His involved pretty much everything opposite of that, but both our eyes lit up when we ran across the word "Photography."  I had taken a class in high school and a college course, but hadn't really used my camera for a couple years. We found him a camera online that needed a few repairs, but luckily he is the fix-all handy-man that isn't even intimidated by SLR digital cameras and was able to fix it!  This equaled two things for us: a major steal of a deal and an opportunity for us to enjoy each other's company while flexing a little bit of our creativity muscles!! We had so much fun and I will admit, it was fun being able to "model" for my hubs! Haha! Here's a few of our combined favorites! :)

Oh time, how you elude me!

Sometimes I find it frustrating when so much of life happens that it won't all fit into one blog post! I guess that's a good thing for me, but not for the post or for the ones reading it. In essence, this will be my attempt to catch-up on all the missed details of the last month and a half while not boring you, the reader. And just a word of caution, this probably could be considered an Olympic event, so I may only share a couple with you on this post.

We'll start first by tracking back all the way to the beginning of September when two significant events took place. Number one: A girl's only trip to Galveston, Texas and Number two: MY 24th BIRTHDAY!!!!!

A group of seven of us moms and daughters all piled into a tahoe {can you even believe all of our luggage fit into one vehicle?! Now THAT was an Olympic event!) and headed out to Galveston for some good ol' fashion girl time! Needless to say, in between all the make-up and haze of hairspray, there was plenty of laughter, tears and tears caused by laughter! Haha! So. Much. Fun!!!!!!! We even had time to sneak in about eight minutes of beach time, lots of pool time and a quick streak around the condo {say what?!} Haha!! Kidding. Well, maybe. We happened to be down in Galveston about the same time a hurricane was stirring in the gulf so there was a bounty of waves and we {actually me} were sporting hurricane inspired hair-dos brought to you by the oh-so-wonderful gusting winds! Haha! You'll see what I mean in the pictures that follow.  It was one of those refreshing trips that, as one of our moms would say, "puts the love-tank on full." I'm so blessed to have so many wonderful, inspiring women in my life!

Now on to the big 2-4!! That's right, I'm officially 24 and for some reason, saying I'm 24 sounds so much more dignified and mature than 23! Haha! I have no idea why and it's probably all in my head, but I only have hopes that God has bigger and better adventures in store for me this year! While we were in Galveston, we had a mini birthday celebration for me and a couple of the other ladies who also had birthdays around the same time. When I returned home, Matt surprised me with a Kindle! After reading The Help, I feel like I've been in a reading frenzy! I'm rediscovering my love of books, so if you have any suggestions of any good novels, I'm all open!
As a personal gift to myself, I've decided to treat myself to the healthiest body that I've had yet! Which translated into buying myself a gym membership and trying to clean up my food intake to be the healthiest me I can be! Once again, any suggestions are appreciated! :)

Finally, one last thing about turning 24.....when you google "what happens when you turn 24," all you get are a bunch of online dating ads and something about urban dictionary making fun of 24-year-old virgins....in a nut shell, nothing worth reading. However, when you google "things to do when you turn 24", you get much more interesting suggestions. Nothing specifically pertaining to the 24th year, but I did find a list of 25 things to do before you turn 25! Much more interesting. I'll post my favorites and leave out the ones involving one night stands, doing illegal drugs and getting drunk. No thanks, Pablo, not interested!  The ones with a strike through I've already done! Kaykay, here we go!!!

-Live in another country

-Travel on the cheap: That means backpacking, hostels and unidentifiable food.

- Confront a fear. Moving to Oklahoma pretty much forced me into that one! I HATE bugs and spiders, but living here has forced me to confront my fear and kill them all! Now, I'm a spider killing machine! {Unless they're really big, then I leave those ones for Matt!}

- Splurge on an awesome pair of jeans....let's just say I've done that wayyyyy too many times!

- Make a real guy friend who really is just a friend. I'm blessed with lots of those!!

- Get a job working with food or clothes. Thanks, Buckle, for that one! Refer back to "splurging on awesome pairs of jeans!

- Figure out what kind of wine you actually like

- Take a roadtrip with your friends. I've done that many times over! San Diego, Moab, Galveston, etc...

- Try an exotic food you can't pronounce. Happened on the honeymoon and I'm pretty sure it ended up being octopus brain. Ewww!!!


- Go to a college football game and go all out. This one is half-way done....just need to do the face or body painting to complete the "all-out" part!

- See a broadway show


- Go 24 hours media free. I must say, I quite enjoyed it!!


- Skinny dip. Maybe it's an obsession


- Give back to the community. I can thank 4-H for lots of years doing that one!


- Learn how to do your own taxes and manage your own money. I've got the money management part down, the taxes seem a little scary though!


- Start a blog about your life and update it regularly. I've been really bad about the updating regularly part!


- Learn to drive a manual car. My very first car taught me that! I won't even get in to how many wrecks I caused!!! Haha!!


- Donate blood. I have a severe needle phobia...to the point that I pass-out when they draw my blood! Think I'll pass on this one.