June has arrived, and so have small victories!

Well, looks like June showed up while I wasn't looking. Where does the time go? My summer classes started today (History and Lifetime Wellness), and from looking at the syllabus for each class, it seems like Lifetime Wellness won't be bad, while History is going to be a bear. Good news is, my wonderful boyfriend is good at history and has already agreed to help me study. Hopefully that will make it less of a chore.

So far, my summer has been filled with running, sun, and buying smaller clothes. I feel so limited right now, because I have two pairs of shorts that fit me. I've been trying to pad my wardrobe by wearing any and all sundresses I have, but that isn't working out so well. This morning, I went to put on my favorite sundress only to find that it is now much too big for me. I told myself that it was no big deal, that I'd just wear a dress from last summer. I put it on and realized that I was drowning in the fabric. So here I am, wearing my third choice of sundresses and wondering what to do about clothes for the rest of the summer. Hopefully I have some friends that are the same size as me and would be willing to loan me clothes. If not, I'll start looking for a good thrift store around here or just ride it out until I visit Springfield or until August when I'll be sure to buy clothes that fit. Even though this is increasingly annoying, it's got to be a good thing, right?

I had a non-scale-victory this morning, too. Since it was already 85 degrees when i was ready to go running at 7:30, I stayed inside and ran on the treadmill instead. I'm really glad that I did, because I got to see how far I've already come. Just a month ago, I could barely run a quarter of a mile. Today, I ran a full mile without stopping, and I want to see if I can do better the next time I use the treadmill. Normally, I do all of my running and walking outside. My street is 2.4 miles from my house to the end, back to the other end, and then back to my house again. There are several large hills in there, so I get a pretty good workout. When I started doing this route a month ago, it took me 45 minutes to finish it. Now, I'm doing the same route in just a little under 30. I am very excited about this progress, and it just goes to show that success in weight loss doesn't necessarily have to come from the scale.

I am so excited about all of this. My friend and I might be going swimsuit shopping this week, so we'll see how that turns out!

Any tips for making the most of my weight loss or new-found fitness?

May so far...

Well, there have been good things, bad things, and  realizations. Here's a quick summary:

Good

• I'm home.
• I finally get a chance to relax.
• My boyfriend is fantastic. I am SO incredibly blessed to have him in my life.
• I've lost 15 lbs since April 16!

Bad

• Stress.
• Bad hair days. (I know, that one is stupid.)

Realizations

• When you're growing your hair out, good hair days are very few and very far in between.
• I will never complete my daily to-do list. I just put too much stuff on it.
• This summer will either make me or break me.

It just seems like there has been so much going on in the past month, but I just can't manage to think of anything! Still looking for a Zumba class for while I'm at home, hopefully I find one soon. I am absolutely loving this sunny weather, and I hope it's here to stay! :)

Making Some Changes!

Well, there is some stuff going on in my life! The first thing is that I've started Zumba. I love it! My church started offering a class, and I'm definitely going to enroll in another one when I get back home. It's so much fun, and you don't even notice that you're working out until your sides start hurting haha.

Also, I'm starting Weight Watchers this Saturday. I'm nervous. I mean, I'm 19 and I'm starting Weight Watchers? That just doesn't sound right. I'm also really intimidated, because I've been crunching some numbers lately. In order to get to a healthy BMI, I need to lose about 25% of my current body weight. That seems huge. And scary. And very hard. But I really want to do this. I want to look good, and more importantly, I want to feel good and treat my body well.

I've also started reading a really good book. It's called "Captivating." I can't remember who it's by, though...Ask me if you're interested and I'll get the author's names to you! It's really been wrecking me (don't worry, that's a good thing) and giving me a new perspective on things. Loving it!

I am SO Blessed.

Let me repeat that... I am so incredibly blessed beyond belief. Just during this past week, I've been reminded of the awesome Christian women in my life. I have such great role models and people to guide me when I don't know where to turn or how to ask for help.

I have Marcia, who writes me letters every week. I look up to her a lot. Since she's my boyfriend's mom, she's sort of the closest thing I have to a Christian mother.

And I have Sara, who has just been so sweet to me. She's brought me into her home for dinner, and has always made herself available to me whether I need a shoulder to cry on or someone to encourage me.

There's Kara, who has been in my life since June 2008. I never realized how blessed I was to have her until just recently. How could I have been so blind?

Then of course, there are the girls who are my peers. Even though we're around the same age, I know I can still go to them for guidance and they'll do their best to guide me from where we're all at.

I don't know why I am blessed with so many encouragers, but please, just don't let me take them for granted!

Where has the time gone?

Second semester is almost over? Really? It seems like time has just flown. This semester has brought both trials and rejoicing. We'll start with the bad news just to get it over with quickly. Like a Band-Aid.

My back is still giving me trouble in regards to playing violin. So, I've resumed the search for a neurologist on my insurance who can hopefully tell me what is going on (and fix the problem). It's been hard, because it seems like nobody in Springfield accepts my health insurance! So now I need to start looking for one back home, I guess. It's really frustrating.

Along the same lines, this summer is going to have to be the summer that I get answers. This summer, I need to find out if playing the violin will continue to be painful for the rest of my life. I'm really afraid that I'll have to give up violin...but at the same time, I sort of want to give up now just so that I can get out ahead. It would hurt so much to have a doctor tell me that I need to give up violin...I almost feel like it wouldn't hurt as bad if it were completely my choice.

I'm really afraid that I don't have the kind of "Sun Stand Still" faith that I need to get through this. I'm so scared that God won't keep me holding on. I'm absolutely terrified that He'll let the sun go down on my music. Did I mention that I'm scared?


On a more positive note, I think I'm finally building some great friendships! I'm really getting involved in my church, and I love it. Especially volunteering at the elementary school! :) I miss my home church, though. But I am really thankful for the college ministry here, it's really fantastic, and I couldn't have asked for a better one.

I'll try to be better about posting on here in the future!


Additional thoughts: I've been doing a lot of reading on forgiveness and God's love lately. Really excited to see what He shows me.

Fantastic Weekend-to-Be

So, this is going to be a great weekend. Correction: this is going to be an EPIC weekend. My boyfriend and my cousin are here to see me, and I am still so excited. They're taking a nap right now (it really is a long drive), so I'm just doing some "internet-ing". Tomorrow, we're going shooting, going to dinner with some of our friends, and possibly hitting up the Landing. Once again, I am SO stinkin' excited!

Snowmegeddon!

Sorry it's been so long since my last post, I'm definitely not the most consistent blogger. Well, I'm not a very good blogger. Not a very regular one, anyway. This semester feels like it's been extremely long already. So far I've rushed Sigma Kappa (didn't get the bid-trying again in the fall), started teaching for String Project again, rearranged my dorm room, reconnected with some people, went to the MMEA conference at Tan-Tar-A, and now I have two snow days in a row!

It kind of feels like I don't even have time to breathe, but I'm getting used to it. I am pretty excited for a few things that are happening this semester, though. Some of the girls from High Street are doing a freshman girls Bible study, and I'm pretty excited about that. I'm also looking forward to hopefully getting a full semester of violin in. And even better, Mitch and I have worked something out to where we see each other twice a month. I'll be coming home once a month, and he'll be coming down here once a month. He came down to the lake this past weekend so we could see each other, and then he'll be coming down for Valentine's weekend (aka the weekend before. Who's idea was is to put it on a Monday?). I'm really excited to be seeing him more often. Here's a picture from when I was home last month: 

We went ice skating, had a fun dinner at a Hibachi restaurant in St. Peters, and just had a good time overall. Did I mention that we went ice skating? (It's one of my favorite winter-time activities.)

I'm also excited for the next time I'll be home, because that's the Daytona party! It'll be my second one, and I'm definitely looking forward to it. Watching the race, spending time with the Satterfields, just hanging out-what could be better than that?

I'm also pretty happy, because I got to Skype with one of my best friends (Kaitlyn) two weeks ago. Definitely a high point for me. She is so beautiful, and I miss her oh-so-much.

I know this is full of random stuff, but my music box collection is growing! Kaylee and I went to the flea market last week, and I found a bunch of them! Don't worry though, I only bought one. It's so nifty, though! Kind of related to this, I am so thankful for Kaylee. It's nice having someone I know that I can try to do fun stuff with whenever she's in town.

Well, I have a snowball fight to get ready for, but I'll update this again soon!