Focus

Despite the good or bad in your day, may your focus stay strong today my loves.

Updates

So I've done a lot of in-depth posts on feelings and Godly material lately and Im feelin an update blog how bout y'all?

As February is almost ending, I can't help but realize all that has happened in two months! 2015 has not held back to be a crazy yet superb year so far.

I started a new hair care routine in Janurary and the results have been excellent! I started using all organic shampoo and conditioner that was free of sulfate and alcohol. Also I have been introduced to the ever-amazing "dry shampoo", made out of corn starch, cinnamon and essential oil. Every two weeks I do a coconut oil treatment to my hair and let me tell you... my hair feels so great! Softer, stronger and thicker than before. I will never go back to my old hair care routine, that's for sure!

School is still as boring as ever but gotta get through it! I have some pretty generic freshman classes so it's not all that interesting yet. However, my educational psychology is extremely interesting and I love it. My professor is hilarious and makes me love the material even more. Still debating a double major in psychology and education. We shall see I guess!

Apartment hunting has taken up a huge portion of my time last month and into February. Changing from 2 to 3 bedrooms or finding a decent price is harder than you'd think. Especially when you want to live in a good area. Buuut, my best friend and I put in an application for a three bedroom townhome at the beginning of this month. We will be living with our other best friend who will return home from tech school in early March. We are all super excited to get it. The inside is so chic and beautiful! The interior decorator inside of me has so many ideas on how to decorate. So we should know by next month if we have it or not.

All exciting things happening this year so far! Our God is too good!!

Xoxo,
Shayyy

Insert Heart Emoji Here

Gosh this boy... he is too good to me ❤

No Longer Single

What? Shannon has a boyfriend? That's unheard of...

Its funny how things work. The day I got rejected was the day I fell for my boyfriend. I called him crying about how everything that i had been feeling for this other guy had been wrong and it wasn't gonna work out like I planned. He asked if I wanted to go get ice cream later and I said yes please. I never really call guys for a advice but I felt so open talking to him that it didn't matter. He made such an effort to make me feel better and by the end of the night, I already knew that God had bigger and better plans for me. I started texting him daily and it started to feel weird when I didnt talk to him for at least a portion of the day. It became obvious to me that I liked him. The fireworks burst inside my head every time he walked into work and gave me that adorable smile. As the days went on, my feelings only became more and more obvious and I could only hope he felt the same. We picked up on each others flirty behavior and it was unsaid but we knew we were gonna be a couple, it was plain as day. He took me out to dinner and was all excited to take me there. His excitement was just the cutest thing ever and I saw how he was trying so hard for little old me. Later that night we were cuddling and I knew I never wanted to leave his arms so I asked nervously the unsaid question: so, are we together? His smile said enough and by his scruntched up blue eyes I knew. Turns out he was gonna ask later and i ruined it lol, but hey I'm impatient. I am just so amazed at how truly awesome our God is, how could he give me someone who I feel so undeserving of. A guy who treats me with respect and has the sole purpose of making me happy. I can just here him saying "shannon's mine omg!" He kept tossing his head back saying this is unreal and too good to be true. I just laugh because I can't believe hes mine, like omg I just can't get over it.The mutual excitement of our feelings is so unlike anything I have felt before and if I had to wait forever for this feeling, it doesn't matter to me in the slightest because holy cow its worth it. Just when you think you know what you want, the best curve ball of all hits ya! Finally it felt like something was going my way. No other guy could compare to him and the last piece of my puzzle was in place. My endless prayers had been answered and my tears had purpose. Oh that crazy adorable blonde. Ahhhhhh , he's mine!!! Gosh  we have an amazing God who works in such mysterious ways.

Sorry for the lovey dovey post y'all but I can't believe this is all real.
Xoxo,
Shayyy

P.s. he drives a jeep😉😍

Positive Psychology

Hello my loves! Last semester in my Intro to Education class, we started each class with "success stories." It could be something small like "I cleaned my house" or something big like "I got a job." Whatever it was, we all had to start the class with something positive. Even now that I'm out of that class, I try to wake up and be positive. I say a quick morning prayer and think about the positive things in my life. It's easy to wake up and want to feel like crap {especially in this cold weather} and drag yourself down, but forcing yourself to be positive has provided me with nothing but great results. I wouldn't call myself a morning person, but I enjoy waking up and having time to reflect on myself. Last night I stayed up late talking to a friend on the phone and woke up super tired this morning. I could have woken up grumpy about my five hours of sleep, but instead I woke up super happy. I thought about how my friend called me, how they wanted to talk to me and that made me feel so good. We had a great conversation and if I lost a little sleep over it, so what!

So I encourage y'all to start each day with a success story whether it be large or small because it really has provided me with happier days.

Xoxo,
Shayyy

Cabin Seclusion

What a darling weekend! Me and my best friend and her family went to Hocking Hills to stay in a cabin in the woods. The seclusion was so neat and  the utter silence was amazing. As we hiked through various places from Old Man's Cave, to the forrest to an open field, I couldn't help but think: what an awesome God we have! Take away distractions like cell phone service and it forces you to realize how important little things are. Even though we froze our butts off (8°) we still had ann incredible time

God Bless,
Shayyy

"Let it Go"

Gotta love good friends who buy you junk food and do a photoshoot to make you feel better ❤ here's a few of my favorite shots

Would People Know

If you saw me, would my actions display my Christianity? I'd like to think that they do. However, I have caught myself lately when I am about to say something that isn't right. I think a big thing I struggle with is judgment. When was the last time you gossiped about somebody? When was the last time you didn't judge someone for their own decisions? Its a tough topic and I realize that. It's silly because a lot of girls "bond" over talking poorly about other people. Who's to say another group of girls aren't talking about you too? It's naïve to think that nobody has ever talked about you. What if you could turn the gossip into a good conversation. I would love it if people would say something like "wow, that Shannon girl is super strong in her faith." or "she's like super Christian." Even if it is people who disagree with me, I would love for people to see me and see how I live for something other than myself. I would think it was the coolest thing ever if you could tell I was a Christian the instant you met me.

I was talking to my best friend about judgment and it's very apparent in our society. When we see someone who's overweight we talk about it and say "wow, they're huge" and think it's funny. But we don't even see past that one element of the person. The person is not just their silly label, they are a human with feelings just like us. And who knows, maybe they are trying to lose weight and it's judgmental people who are preventing them from moving forward. That's just one example, but judgment is very prevalent in anything we do. I, of course, judge people just like everybody else; but it is something I am trying to get better at.

Lately I have been trying to get better at vocalizing my judgment. If I vocalize what my poor judgment is on someone, it is only giving the other person the obligation to agree or have something stupid to talk about. By keeping my mouth shut, I am forcing myself not to get confirmation that judgment is okay because it is not.

I want everyone to see the kind of love that Jesus has. Jesus doesn't judge anyone for anything. Even though we are sinners, trying to love people like Jesus did can really change a person. If people can realize that that kind of love exists, think about all the people you could change. We may think that we are only one person and we can't have much of an impact on people but that just isn't true. Changing even one person could lead to a chain reaction. Maybe that person has decided now to be there for someone who was in their position.

It's not an easy thing to do, but I am praying and trying to become more cautious of when I am being judgmental.

love y'all

Shayyy