Summer Bucket List

The lovely Grace, over at Puddle of Memories, is hosting a lovely blog party! Today's post consists of a summer bucket list, which I love! So without further ado, my list.

1. Read my Bible every day. I hate to admit this, but sometimes I get forgetful and days will go by without the covers of my Bible being cracked open. It really bothers me when this happens! So I'm resolving to read my Bible every day this summer. (Sadly, I left my favorite study Bible in Gatlinburg. So I'm patiently waiting and using the Bible on my phone in the meantime.)

2. Start cooking again! I used to love to help my mom cook. I think I hindered, more than helped, but she would always find something for me to do. When she passed away three years ago, I quit cooking altogether. It's very rare I get a home cooked meal anymore, and I'm sick of fast food. (small town = limited restaurant choices.) I'm already planning on making shrimp creole (um, yummy much?) and vegetable soup. I'm also thinking chocolate chip cookies with Nutella sound pretty great.

3. Go to Elephant Rocks. It's a super neat state park about three hours from where I live (and pretty close to where my boyfriend lives.) I have yet to go, a fact which I am quite (jokingly) bitter about.

4. Visit the Laura Ingalls Wilder Home. Rocky Ridge, where Laura wrote all the Little House books, is about twenty minutes from where I live. I haven't been since elementary school, and I would love to go back!

5. Cut all of my hair off. This is actually going to happen next week! I've had, essentially, the same hair cut in varying length and colors since my freshman year of high school. It's time for a change! I've already picked out a super cute pixie cut. I'm super excited, and a little nervous!

6. Improve my photography. I think this goes without much explanation. Who doesn't want to improve?

7. Beat this depression. I've been battling some form of depression since I was twelve. I was managing it quite well with medication, but over the past year, the medicines have stopped working. I've been on five different combinations of medicine in the past six months. I'm hoping this most current medication will work. It's designed to treat OCD, which is the cause of my depression and anxiety. I just want to feel hopeful and happy again. I want to enjoy life. I don't feel like myself, which I hate. I made few friends my first year of college because I was so overwhelmed with anxiety about everything. I couldn't really function. I had to give up a really great internship this summer because I couldn't handle life. I'm hoping this summer, with my family and friends around me, that God will help me beat this, because I can't do it myself. I've learned that the hard way. So prayers are greatly appreciated.

8. Get my lip pierced and get a tattoo. Just kidding. That's not going to happen. (although the secret, rebellious side of me wouldn't mind it. haha)

9. Get back into art. I used to draw and paint all the time. I haven't in so long, and I really, really miss it!

10. Learn a Rachmaninoff piece. I love Rachmaninoff's piano pieces. They make my heart smile! There is a certain piece that I adore. I've been attempting to play it for years, but have yet to put forth the effort to really learn it.

11. Read read read. I've already finished Burn by Ted Dekker, The Call of the Wild by Jack London, and I'll finish White Fang this week!

12. Do something good for someone else every day. Every Sunday, my dad goes through the McDonald's drive thru. He buys his breakfast, as well as the order of the person behind him. I love this concept. I'd like to do something nice for someone else every day.

There are many other things that I would like to do this summer, such as reach 50 followers with my blog, or go swimming at least once a week, but I had to stop at 12, since it's my favorite number. Let's blame the OCD.

Let's Call This An Outfit Post

It is hot, y'all! I was out taking pictures, and my camera lens literally fogged up. That's how stinking hot and humid it is here right now. Ridiculous. I love all of the things that go along with summer--swimming at the creek, popsicles, barbeques, watermelon--but I do not like the weather. Hot and sticky isn't my thing.

This has been a pretty fun week. We had my denomination's state youth competition Sunday, I got to hang out with my boyfriend on Monday ( a rare occurrence, since we live three hours apart!) and spent the rest of the week helping my father with our denomination's annual state meeting. I had to photog all the services. It was exhausting, yet rewarding. I just wish the lighting had been better!

This is my first nearly full day at home in two weeks. I leave for camp next week, so I'm going to enjoy these few days I have at home! It'll be interesting this year--I'm going as a junior counselor.  (You either have to be 20 or 21 to be a full-on counselor. So I'm just a bit shy of the official age.)

I've spent today taking pictures, drinking a sweet peach tea from sonic, and watching The Fellowship of the Ring. I'm going to finish reading White Fang tonight. I've really enjoyed it, and its nice to think of the cold, Yukon wilderness instead of this hot, southern weather.

This is my new favorite shirt!

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush?

New owl Converse!

My mama and grandma, circa 1975. I miss them both!

xo, Katy

The Smokies

I finally have time to blog about the vacation I took with my boyfriend's family last week! The first few days were spent at his house, in preparation for his graduation from high school. It's so different being on the other side of things now. I remember how bright and hopeful things seem when you graduate--like you have the whole world at your doorstep. Which, really, is true! This kid is going places.

Anyway, we left early Monday morning for Gatlinburg. It was nearly a ten hour drive there! We passed the time by playing contact, drawing, listening to music, talking, and complaining about the crazy cicada infestation. We finally arrived, and can I say, our cabin was gorgeous! Seriously legit. I really hope to go back and stay at this resort sometime. Our cabin had a hot tub, arcade games, a pool table, air hockey! It was pretty sweet.

 On Tuesday, we decided to do some hiking in the national park.

A deer jumped out across our path!

 We saw a bear and her cub.

 And finally, a waterfall!

We then roamed around downtown and finally decided to ride the sky lift!

It was absolutely gorgeous!

This was taken by my boyfriend's father. I love this picture.

Sadly, I don't have any pictures from the rest of the week. I wasn't feeling well. We did visit Cades' Cove, which was awesome! We also went ziplining, which I must do again. It seriously feels like flying!

It was a great trip, and I'm thankful that Tyler's family let me go with them!

xo,
Katy

Vacation!

I want to apologize for my extended absence! I was on vacation in Gatlinburg with my boyfriend's family, and did not have access to wifi. I'll be posting later about the trip!

It was absolutely beautiful! This was the third time I'd been to Gatlinburg. I love how majestic the mountains are!

xo,
Katy

Sunsets

Blame It On This Southern Weather

This is just a bit of a picture dump of photos I've taken over the past few days. We've had tornadoes and sunshine, cold days and hot days, wind, rain, hail. That's weather in the Ozarks for you!

I ask that you would continue to keep Joplin in your prayers, as well as Kansas City and Sedalia, MO. Missouri has just been hit hard this year, and it's only the beginning of tornado season. We had a couple of small ones come close to my town the other night, but there was no damage. I'm not sure that they made contact with the ground at all.

Regardless, its been a nice week! If only I can get over this annoying head cold! I always seem to get colds in the summer. My body has its seasons mixed up, I suppose.

Have a happy rest of the week! It's almost the weekend. Hooray!

(10 pts if you can guess what song the title of this post came from!)

Devestation

My heart feels nothing but utter devestation.

Sunday night was like any other Sunday night. I was running late for church, already starving and looking forward to the fellowship supper I knew we'd have after church. I glanced at the radar, since it was looking rather stormy outside. There was one tornado warning on the map. I shrugged. It was two hours from here, and wouldn't reach here until at least eight o' clock. Besides, we have tornado warnings around here all the time. Sometimes the storms get bad; most of the time they don't.

Half way through church, my dad got a phone call from our denomination's state missions director. Joplin was nearly flattened; one our Free Will Baptist churches was completely gone. My heart fell. What I had dismissed as just another summer storm and turned out to be the deadliest single tornado since 1953. One hundred and sixteen people have been confirmed dead, and nearly 2,000 buildings destroyed. Thankfully, my friends in Joplin are safe, but so many have lost loved ones. It's devestating.

I am so proud of how our local communities have risen to the challenge of helping Joplin. You see disasters on TV, but it really hits home when it happens two hours from where you live. So please, join with me in praying for Joplin. More storms, possibly very severe, are expected today. Pray for the volunteers who are rushing into help, especially the medical personnel. Pray for those who have donated supplies, and most of all, pray for those citizens who have lost their whole lives.