Seasons of Change

Get ready, this is one of those bearing your soul types of posts.

As the sun is finally beginning to shine and winter fades, I have been extremely contemplative of seasons. However, not just seasons, but seasons of life.

The amount of seasons a person goes through in life is mind blowing. Truly, I look at my life as a 20 something and have been blown away by the waves of my life.

The coming of spring is slowly but surely revealing itself to be an overarching metaphor of my current life. Coming out of a huge season of trial filled with heartbreak, defeat and anger, I am finally feeling the hope Christ has gave us. For so long I was so angry. So burdened by this weight of anger towards everything. It clearly directly affected my relationship with friends, my happiness and my relationship with Christ. 

I just came off my yearly missions trip to Tucson, Arizona and cannot explain how hopeful I am. I am not sure if it is the people there or the way the sun shined, but God so clearly worked in giving me a wake up call.

I need to get myself together.

There is a season for trial and a season for pain, but that season is not life defining. It is now time to seek joy. Wholeheartedly seek the peace of Christ that I have been praying for this whole semester. 

One of my biggest struggles throughout this whole period of trial is my confusion with God's plan and the direction he has for me. Not just my future life, but my immediate life. For weeks I just cried at the series of changes thrown into my life.

Do I know what I am doing with my life? No.

Do I know what I am doing with my summer? No.

Do I know what I am doing with my major? No.

Do I know who will be my community once I graduate? No.

Do I even know what I am doing tomorrow? No.

But guess what. 

THAT IS OK.

Our society tells us we have to have everything figured out. We so often think that if we cannot control our life, then we fail. Yet, God is the one who is ultimately in control. He has an overarching plan that if I try to control, I mess up. 

I am now seeking joy over anger. Seeking peace of worry. Seeking Christ over this world.

I am pretty pumped I am on to a new season. It feels good.

Weekly Wishes #1: The New Year

The reality that 2013 is coming to a close astounds me. I am actually in denial that this year is over. Through the good and the bad, I can honestly say I have grown abundantly this year in more ways than I could have ever expected. I found rekindled loves of so many things (Ceramics, Communications, knitting and design just to name a few). My friends shifted and changed, and hey I got the most incredible boyfriend in the process. I went to Nepal and came back completely changed. I felt so busy this semester that I broke down crying and turned to God once again for support. 2013 has been a semester of ups and down. Yet through it all, I am so confident God was at the center of it all.

Now to focus on 2014. Let the fun begin!

Weekly Yearly Wishes 2014:

1. Enjoy the simple things
I am feeling this is turning into my motto for the year. Stay tuned into how that turns out.

2. Exercise more
Yeah yeah yeah I know that this is on everyone in the nation's New Years resolution's list. Here is the thing, I worked out pretty consistently for a while and then just let life get in the way. I just love the way it makes me feel. I feel energized, powerful, confident and just strong. I want to go into 2014 not exercising to lose weight or alter my body, but to feel strong.

3. Blog regularly
I am so excited I have caught the blogging bug once again! I want to create a regular schedule. Put my DSLR to work.

4. Open an Etsy shop
I have wanted to open an Etsy shop for the longest time. My Mom and I are both crafty and I would be so content creating products and working on that. Here is the thing: I am a perfectionist in the sense I feel like I have to have everything in perfect order to launch the shop. I need the confidence to just launch it and see where it goes!

5. Work on my anxiety
For those of you who do not know, I have some pretty bad anxiety. I am type A through and through. Often I will feel anxious in stressful situations (hello college), when driving in the dark, if a plan suddenly changes or when I begin to think about the future. Now do not be alarmed. This anxiety I promise is not as awful as I make it sound. I am often easygoing when plans change, but every once in a while something will trigger anxiety Alyssa. My goal is for the anxiety to be lessened. To not overwhelm myself and learn to take a couple deep breaths and persevere.

6. Kill School
Academics are not always my strong suit. Most days, I would rather blog or be doing something for my major then worrying about studying for a Chemistry test the next day. However, I want to strive for greatness in every single one of my classes. Honor God with hard work.

6. Take trips (and document them all!)
Now that I have a DSLR, I have no excuse but to document all of my adventures. I plan on having plenty of them.

Well there you have it folks. New Years Resolutions all documented for the world to see. Let us just see if I can carry them out into 2015.

Have a blessed New Year.

Alyssa

Declutter for 2014

Image via, Editing done by me

I was reading The Nectar Collective's post on 8 Natural Ways to Boost Your Happiness and found myself so drawn to #5: De-clutter. The new year is coming. Yet I look around and often feel so burdened by stuff.

I had this same feeling when I came back from my missions trip in Nepal. De-cluttering was how I dealt with the reverse culture shock of being back in the US. I came back to a house full of beautiful expensive things, yet I just left a village where the Pastor's family gave up their own food, beds and were willing to buy a goat for us. Those small gestures seem like nothing, but to them it meant everything. 

I came back from my trip as well as my conference and felt so burdened. So heartbroken for the Nepali people and their country. The hopelessness that so many people deal with. The lack of Christ in so many of those people. So to cope with my new found heart break, I cleaned.

I went through possibly every valuable I owned, packed up 5 huge boxes for Goodwill and felt a huge burden lifted. 

I felt rejuvenated. Renewed. A sense of peace overcame me. 

De-cluttering is good. 

It creates a sense of peace. It eases the mind. It makes you feel productive. It is like a cleanse of your belongings. It helps you live simply. 

With the new year quickly approaching, I encourage you to look around. Get rid of a few things. Clean through those computer files. Organize your bookshelf. Just purge yourself of all the extra stuff, hence purging your mind.

My Tips:

1. Start off small.
Even a 15 minute cleaning project is better than no project

2. Ladies, work on that closet.
That is where I find the majority of my extra stuff accumulating. No one needs 5 pairs of black flats or 4 white T-Shirts. Work on finding your key staple pieces and going from there. Realize you have very few key staples? Get rid of 5 useless items and I believe you have just given yourself the excuse to invest in one of those staple items.

3. Go through one cabinet in your Kitchen.
Trust me, there are some gadgets that could use a better home there. For me it is mugs. I have piles of mugs that could use a better home on a goodwill shelf.

4. Go in with an open heart.
Be willing to realistically look at the things you own and say "do I use this? Will I use this?" Sometimes de-cluttering is hard. We are all burdened with materialism. It is ok to find it hard to let go of your stuff. Just remind yourself your identity is not in that pile of National Geographic's you cannot bring yourself to scrap.

5. You cannot give up everything.
There are some things you just cannot give up quite yet. For me its my endless amount of scrap booking supplies. Just organize it and accept that you will hold on to it for while.

6. Make Goals
You cannot go into any task without goals. Strive to pack up at least 1 box for Goodwill this weekend. Get rid of the first 10 things you see that you do not need. Be realistic with your goals, but do create them.

Use this time as a chance to start out fresh. Allow yourself to feel renewed. Take the time to purge.

Strive to live simply in 2014.

"Live simply so others may simply live" - Gandhi

Alyssa

A New Love: Ceramics Edition

As most of you know, I love art. Crafts, Painting, Ceramics, basically I love it all. Well in the midst of projects and sorority events this semester, I have found a new love.

Ceramics.

Pottery, pueblo art, mugs, pots, abstract clay pieces. Literally anything that you can make with clay I have fallen in love with. I took a few pottery classes in high school and had the chance to take ceramics again this semester. A few of my pots are pictured below. More to come!

In my class we had three hand building projects as well as some time to learn the wheel. Lucky for me, since I knew a great deal of the intro stuff already I was ready to go. I found myself going into the studio everyday just wanting to be surrounded by the walls of pots. I loved looking at past students projects, pieces in the development stage and just being able to get my own frustrations out on the wheel.

To say ceramics is an obsession is now an understatement. I have legitimately looked into ceramics studios in Pittsburgh for the summer. I now only search ceramic artists on my pinterest. I even have dreams about ceramics (pretty embarrassing but true). My goal within the next year is to open my own etsy shop selling beautiful ceramics creations.

Have you ever gotten so hooked onto something that your obsession never fades?

Year in Reflection

This is a long and overdue post - but with all good things comes an end and definitely a new beginning. As I have had plenty of time to reflect on the 2012 year, I am completely astounded with how I have grown. As a person, friend, christian, student and being on this earth. It is incredible seeing how simply one year can completely shape you, build you up, tear you down and overall bring things into perspective.

January/February:
2nd semester freshman year, became a member of Gamma Sigma Phi and WSAJ, Applied to work at Summers Best 2 Weeks - did not get a contract but it was all part of Gods overlying plan

 

March:

Realized how blessed I am by my friends at college, one of my best friends/roomie visited me in the Burgh, Traveled to Tuscon, Arizona for missions trip, Fell in love with Arizona...

April:

Got a job nannying for the summer, Sorority Formal and Spring Party, realized I wanted to minor in studio art

May/June:

Goodbye freshman year of college, began to journey in the life of a Nanny, reunited with some high school and hometown friends, became obsessed with scrap booking, ate far too much Chipotle

July:

New Wilmington Missions Conference - was a high school counselor, applied for their summer service program, visited a close friend in Central PA (first time ever being there!)

August/September:

Said goodbye to the craziest yet best two kids I have ever babysat for, started Sophomore year, went to sheetz a record of 8 times in 1 week, celebrated my 19th birthday with Mexican and great friends

October:

Dressed up like a bro with my favorite ladies, then dressed up as a homeless girl for a $2 Chipotle burrito, enjoyed fall bike rides complete with local coffee, began the crazy journey called Rushing freshman, found out I got summer service and am going to Nepal!

November:

A new freshman friend stayed at my house during Thanksgiving break, Realized how busy I was, Realized how I do not think I can be that busy ever again

 

December: 

FINALS, cherished what I have in my life, came to so many realizations about my faith and my life, did not see one person from high school when I was home for Christmas, Traveled to Atlanta for New Years

Cheers to the year I have had, the struggles I have faces and the joys I have experienced. Let 2013 commence...

Chemistry Overload

Chemistry final tomorrow the the semester begins. Oh man I cannot even handle it. I cannot even explain how excited I am to be done with this class. Through my school I took this class as a two week "intersession" class where we have 4 hour classes (and 2 hour labs) where you get pounded with information and simply hash it out on a midterm and final. To put it plainly, it has been quite the marathon. However the fact I am done with the class tomorrow brings me so much joy. Being on campus with so little people has actually been kind of incredible. It is awesome just being able to hang out in a more relaxed environment, develop so many new friendships and get close to a small group of people that are here. The term "blessings in disguise" accurately sums it up.

I cannot even believe second semester starts Monday. The way time passes and life changes astounds me.

Things I am looking forward to in the this semester:

• ICO Arizona trip (round 2!)
• 2 Comm classes - one of them being all about visual design!
• Sculpture - be prepared for a picture of a bust on the blog in May
• Pledge and the new additions to the Sorority
• Seeing how God continually works in my life and shapes me
• NEPAL (for those of you confused, I am posting on this soon)
• Being Program Director for the radio station and really building the program up
• Figuring out more of what exactly I want to do with my life
• All of the photos that will be taken this semester

I am off to cram 2 weeks of Chemistry content for a two hour exam. Here we go...

New Direction

Hey ya'll! The hiatus I recently posted about basically continued throughout summer. Frankly, I was frustrated with the whole blogging sphere. There are just so many directions I can take and so many things I can do, I was just beyond overwhelmed with what I actually wanted for my blog. So with that, and a definite lack of time, I dropped the whole idea of blogging.

However, after a recent chat with my sorority big (who just did some incredible mission work in the Balkans! Check it out here) and talk of all the crafts I have been making from pinterest, so inspired me. Make a blog on reviews of crafts!

So I am taking my love of crafting and now incorporating it into my love of writing. We all see so many awesome crafts from pinterest, but either a)don't have the initiative to try them or b)try them and they do not turn out as well as we would have liked. I want to tell you all my favorite crafts, the trials and errors and mistakes I make in order to just help you all out!

Don't worry, I will still be posting random posts on my life, food, travels, etc. But I am really feeling the whole pinterest review idea. So get ready ya'll!

A Bit of Reflection

When I created this blog, I never imagined I would have so much self discovery. For instance, blogging is something I have grown to love. It eases my mind and helps me relax. Yet I have learned how truly indecisive I am. I go back and forth every day on my blog layout, picture size, and the direction I should take my blog. Should I make it more of a fashion blog? Or just continue on my lifestyle track?

See? I am so indecisive its unreal. But it is amazing seeing the transformation.

Thats all for my little rant. I am off to watch Mona Lisa Smile...again. Such a good movie. I cannot believe I just watched it for the first time the other day.

photo credit