Missionary Letters.

Do I really need to explain this one?

Received a letter from my best friend. Made my entire week.

So grateful to have friends like him on missions. They make the world go round.

'Nuff said.

Being Creative

I absolutely love being in crafty moods. It just makes me happy. We were assigned to make portfolios for digital photography last week and I made mine today. You may laugh when I tell you how long it took me to make mine (a little under 2 hours) just because I put so much time and thought into it, and it has to be just right, ya know? I mean, it had to look professional and everything had to coordinate. Trust me... it coordinates. I will honestly confess that I am one of very few people in this world that can pull of putting stars and polka dots together. I just love it :) I LOVE having fun homework that I actually enjoy doing. It's a wonderful thing.

Awesome huh? :)
Sorry I don't have a picture of the inside. It coordinates as well!
It's not that fancy though, so no problem.

High heels

This past weekend, I walked into Famous Footwear with the intention of buying sneakers.........and walked out with sneakers and these babies thanks to their buy one get one 1/2 off dealio:

I'm in love. So in love.

There's nothing like a good pair of high heels to make you feel girly, confident, and just unstoppable.

If you need a pick me up, I highly recommend this form :)

Tomorrows

 

Now, calm yourselves.

“Why would you say happiness is tomorrows Chelsea?! Why! Why!

It’s quite simple. Happiness is knowing that there is going to be a tomorrow. Sure, we don’t know if we’ll exactly make it to tomorrow, but it will always be there.

When you’re going through a hardship. you think your life is over, do you not? You think that nothing is going to beat the craptastic day that you find yourself having. Right?

Wrong.

Something that helps me through these situations is the thought that I can go to sleep, and wake up to tomorrow, starting out fresh. The world has another day to make my crappy day from before turn into something else.

The world, and myself.

Happiness is tomorrows because it allows us to make mistakes and fix them.

Leave old friends, and make new ones.

Leave the old days, and accept new ones.

Is this starting to make sense now? Who is just becoming all tingly inside knowing that tomorrow is going to be a new day for you, and that you’re starting off with a clean slate?

That thought alone allows happiness to seep through my soul. Knowing that even though a lot of things haven’t gone my way today, I get to change that tomorrow.

 

As if I was finishing a chapter of a book tonight and waking up in the morning to begin the next new chapter.

I always knew writing at 3 am helped me create brilliant ideas.

(p.s. who knows where that stack of books is from? It’s from a popular book series turned into a movie ;])

She’s the Man

This post is kind of all over the place, however, I promise it’s worth a read :)

We all have those moments where we’re struggling with something significant. It usually fits into one of three categories. Our social lives, our education life, or our work lives.Have you ever noticed that when you’re struggling, you are looking for comfort in something that will bring you.. Happiness?

Enter, my common cure.

“ And when I close my eyes, I see you for who you truly are, which is UGGGGLAY!"

I can’t even begin to explain all the lessons you can learn from this movie. All I want to explain to you though, is how it brings me much happiness to my soul (And yes, I have one).

Quick overview of the movie: It’s a modernization of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night, or What You Will." Viola’s soccer team is canceled, so she goes to a rival school disguised as her twin brother to play, where she meets Duke, who likes a girl named Olivia, who likes Viola’s twin brother Sebastian, who is really Viola. A movie full of hilarity ensues. Lost yet? Good.

The tagline to this movie can really sum up what I’m thinking every time I watch this movie. "If you wanna chase your dreams, sometimes you gotta break the rules."

Now, take that line and switch a word or two and you get.... "If you wanna achieve happiness, sometimes you gotta break the rules."

But Chelsea, what does that even mean?!?!

Simple.

We all know what makes us happy. The only thing that prevents us from achieving our own happiness is ourselves. We put other people before ourselves, or we just don’t feel like we deserve it. Here’s the deal, be selfish. If you happen to make other people happy in the process, brownie points to you, but your main focus should be yourself.

Don’t know how you achieve your own happiness yet? You can either follow along with us on this awesome blog, and get ideas, but let’s just be honest. You know what makes you happy, you just have to decide if it’s worth breaking some rules over. (The answer is always yes.. Unless it’s Illegal.. Then the answer is No.)

Try it. The next time you feel the weight of the world on your shoulders, go rent She’s the Man. You’re Welcome in advance.

My nephew

When I'm up at college, my little nephew, Jonas, is the person I miss the most. Without fail, I always get a smile on my face whenever I see this little guy. He has the cutest laugh ever and is always doing cute little things like pulling my brother's hair, chasing my cat around, waving at random objects, and dancing when someone starts playing the piano.

He just turned one in June but already can run and say quite a few words. Since I'll be leaving soon, I grabbed my laptop and recorded him saying all the words he knows after dinner today. Hopefully he leaves you with a big smile as well :)

A Brand New Backyard

Never, and I mean NEVER, take your luscious, green, lovely backyard for granted. EVER. I'm serious. After having a weedy, African jungle in my backyard for the better part of my life, grass is a beautiful thing. My dad swears that he will never let it get that bad again. Especially after all of the money that we've poured into that backyard this summer. Four years ago, we switched out an old wooden fence for a new chain link fence with privacy slats after a wind storm knocked down the rest of the already weather-worn fence. Dad ripped it down and put up the fence. Still then, our sprinkler system was broken and needed to be replaced. Yellow, yucky weeds occupied the yard for a long while. Then we had the lovely happening of our yard starting on fire at the end of July (read about it here) and ever since then, Dad has been out in the yard every single night (except Sundays) working on getting the yard fixed up. I would go into detail about all that he's about to do, but I don't think that there's any need for that. My friend Alex came over last night after they had finished laying sod and he couldn't believe that this was our backyard. He totally didn't believe it when I showed him a picture. He had to see it for himself. he also couldn't believe how big our backyard was either. Grass is a beautiful thing :)

BEFORE:

AFTER:

We've gotten a lot more done than we had originally planned, but hey, we're not complaining. There's still a ton to do and as you can see in the AFTER picture, the tiers still need to be grassed and everything and that's Dad's job for the next couple of weeks. They even got the side yard (which isn't even that big) done yesterday as well in the rain and stuff. Lots of stuff left to do, but we're grateful for the nice, green lawn. The fire from the aerial firework was a blessing in disguise!

Star Gazing

Tonight I took the opportunity to go outside, lay down a blanket on the grass (cause we can do that now!), curl up in it and just gaze at the stars. There really isn't anything that relaxes me more, especially after having a few frustrations in life recently. It's just a good place to lie down, relax and clear my head. That's one way for me to calm down when my brain is going emotionally crazy. It's a good time to sort out my thoughts and find the silver lining. So, next time you're feeling frustrated, go outside, lay down on a blanket and just gaze at the stars; alone and without anyone else. Think about anything and everything and then just clear your mind. And if you're up to it, find the big dipper! :)

This is me enjoying myself while lying on a blanket in my backyard.
Which is currently half-filled with grass.
The rest shall be put in tomorrow.
It's truly beautiful :)
Don't take your grass for granted.

And remember that happiness is all around you. You just have to be willing to look for it.