my brother visited!

Hunter got to visit me on my birthday! He flew here on Thursday and went home on Saturday. I loved having him here and although we didn't do a whole lot, he said he had fun too :)

Hunter and I went hiking...we were both really sore the next day.

My wonderful friends painted the rock for my birthday! 

I felt so special :)

I had a fabulous 'golden birthday' and I am glad I got to celebrate it with the people I love!

my. life. is. sad.

Well, not really sad. But extremely stressful. Which is why I haven't updated my blog...but I will this weekend when this INSANE week is over. Next week will be insane too, but a little easier because I will just be studying rather than writing papers.

I am aware that I am an English major and I should enjoy writing. And I do, honestly. But there are so many papers I need to write and they need to be amazing in order for me to do well in my classes so I am really stressed out right now.

My life recently:

stress --> overwhelmed feeling --> minor freakouts --> panic attacks --> procrastination --> laughing hysterically with my roommate --> reminding myself it is almost over --> trying to enjoy the time I have left with my friends while managing my homework --> being productive and crossing things off my 'to-do list' --> repeat in random order :)

HAVING A POSITIVE ATTITUDE IS HARD SOMETIMES.

limo? yes!

So, no. It is not my birthday yet. BUT, I celebrated it last night with another girl in my unit, Bria, whose birthday was yesterday!

I got the BEST surprise EVER!! I was sitting in my room, doing my homework, when Madison tells me to look out the window. I gave her a weird look; it was raining, I didn't know why she wanted me to look outside. I was also kind of scared for what I would see when I did look outside. But I did look outside...

AND THERE WAS A LIMO! FOR ME AND MY FRIENDS!

Years ago, I casually mentioned to my parents that I wanted a limo for my golden birthday (which is this year, obviously). My mom said something along the lines of "that probably won't happen, hon." So I forgot about it! But my parents didn't! I love them so much...they are so wonderfully fantastic :)

We got the limo for 2 hours so we went to The Greene (a nice outdoor mall type thing close to us) and went to Coldstone for ice cream. 

Then we went to Walmart and Bria and I each had $5 and 5 minutes to spend on anything that was our favorite color! 

While in the limo we danced (kind of), blew bubbles, drank sparkling grape juice (yeah, we know how to get crazy), and laughed at people's reactions when we drove by in the limo. 

 McKinley and I

 the birthday girls :)

 Roomie

The whole gang!

When the limo ride was over, we went to Olive Garden for a late dinner! (yay, pasta!!)

It was such a fabulous night, I couldn't have asked for a better way to celebrate my birthday :) I loved sharing it with Bria and I love all the girls I got to spend the night with!

Thank you Mom and Dad!

Easter Break with Sarah :)

 For Easter I didn't go home...instead I went to Sarah's house in PA!! We headed to her house on Thursday and got back on Monday. I had such a fun time with her and her family :) they were all so welcoming and made me feel like I was right at home.

We attempted to make a recipe off of Pinterest and it didn't work so well. The brownie part of the recipe didn't cook all the way through.

Sarah and I went running and I realized how easy it is to run in Ohio where it is flat everywhere! PA was a little hilly :)

We went for a hike since where Sarah lives is surrounded by beautiful mountains!

Sarah and I had fun spending time on making Shutterfly photobooks from our freshman year at Cedarville :)

I love this picture and I love her :)

We were all ready for the Easter egg hunt!

 Some eggs were hidden very well...pretty sure we didn't find all of them

We stole Dan's candy :)

I loved spending Easter with Sarah! 

Easter break was filled with sleepovers, laughter, relaxing, beautiful scenery, snakes, and fun :)

Amber is 19 today!

Yes, another birthday :) I have been so blessed with amazing friends and a few of them just happen to have birthdays all around the same time.

Amber Marie has been my best friend since 3rd grade and I have been through so much with her! She is practically my sister. We have even been asked if we were twins!

We rode horses together, played tennis together, went to California, and basically did everything else in between. There was hardly ever a weekend where we didn't have a sleepover :) We spent many hours dreaming up what our future barn would look like when we were older (given that we were both millionaires, of course) and we planned to be neighbors...hey, it could happen!

We were basically inseparable during high school; people found it weird when they saw just one of us without the other.

God definitely placed her in my life because He knew how much I would need her as I got older. She has had such an impact on my walk with Christ and I don't know where I would be today if I didn't have her.

Amber and I can talk for hours and hours and hours and still have things to say to each other. I have SO many inside jokes with her that no one else understands that it just makes them even more hilarious :)

I can't wait to see what God has planned for her future; I know He has amazing things planned for her!

To sum Amber up: she is just freakin' fantastic :)

Happy 19th Birthday, Amber!! You know I love you :)