Pumpkin Land

My cute family has had a tradition every fall where we go to Pumpkin Land. We walk through the corn mazes and we pick out pumpkins. You wouldn't think it would be as fun for the older kids as it is for the little ones, but it's always a fun experience for all of us. This is only the second thing I've done that has anything to do with Halloween or Fall this season. I need to become more festive!
Here are some pictures from our fun day:

The girls in the 'shadow screen'

My Calm Songs

As I've said in the last few posts I've written, these past few weeks have been a little rough and stressful for me. I'm one of those people who has something go wrong and all the sudden a million other things are too (at least, that's how it feels). Not to mention my super annoying anxiety. Those two things together make me a bit of a crazy person lately.

I've ALWAYS loved Michael Buble's version of the song 'Home' and I recently found his song 'Lost' and I fell in love with that song as well. Those are the two songs that I refer to as my 'calm songs' haha. I listen to those when I start to get really stressed out and for some reason they tend to calm me down.

I started listening to the Michael Buble station on Pandora, and realized I'm kind of an old person. I have never, ever, ever wanted to listen to old music by artists like: Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Ray Charles, or Jackie Wilson.. in fact I had never even heard of most of them. But listening to this station lately has introduced me to several songs by those artists that I actually love! It's a bit weird. haha.

Here are the 'calm songs' I was talking about:

Breaking 'Plans'

I think FINALLY, after 22 years of life, I realized that life won't always follow the plan that you had made for it. I've been getting really, really frustrated with a lot of things lately, not working out according to my plan. But I'm finally starting to realize & accept that God often has a different plan for us than we decide to have for ourselves. I don't know why I let it get to me so much, but nothing frustrates me more than life not cooperating with what I expect it to do. Some of the best advice I've ever receieved was that "You can't control what other people do or how they feel." That is something I have to remind myself quite often, as stupid as that sounds. For some reason that brings me comfort when I get frustrated about other people's decisions getting in the way of my 'plan'.

That said, it is true that sitting and hoping life will turn out the way you want it will do nothing for you. But, you have to take chances, make changes, and often make a new plan.

I know this post is all over the place, and jumbled. I'm sorry! But here's a cute little quote I found:

Motivation

Tonight I got to go watch Aron Ralston speak about his incredible journey that inspired the movie, '127 Hours'. He was truly inspirational and such an amazing speaker, this couldn't have come at a better time for me. Since lately I have been kind of a crazy lady, dealing with a lot of tears and little sleep, it was kind-of perfect and funny for me when he said, "You haven't had a bad day until you've had to drink your own urine." haha. I wrote down few sentences that he said tonight that made me tear up a little bit. I'll share a couple of them in here:
When he was talking about when he realized his two options were to either give up and let himself die, or cut off his own arm and walk miles and miles to reach his car he said, "You have to keep going. It's that simple, right? How can you fail if you don't quit?"
When he was talking about praying to know which option to choose and what his next move should be he said, "We are not in charge. We have to do a lot of the work, but we are not in charge." And also, "None of us are in this alone."

Those quotes might not be exact, but it's as close as I can remember to what he said. He is truly inspirational and what an amazing speaker! If anyone ever has the opportunity to listen to him speak I strongly recommend that you take it!

My cute dates for the night.

Aron speaking.

Ticket!

Fall Time

Fall is finally here! My absolute favorite time of the year is fall. I've always wanted a beautiful, slightly cold, fall wedding. I love the fall fashions, as anyone who knows me would agree.. Boots, Scarves & Cardigans are my best friends. I cannot explain how excited I get to be able to put on my boots every year!

Favorite outfit I've ever seen.

More cute fall outfits.

 

Plus, the weather is so nice. Not too cold but not unbearably hot. The leaves start changing colors and it is so pretty.

I don't know why, but I think this picture of the leaves is so pretty.

Birthday Celebrations

I just had my 22nd birthday.. I cannot believe how old I am! To be honest, ever since I turned 18, birthdays become so stressful to me. Not the birthday itself, but knowing how old I am getting is what scares me. And I know everyone who I've said this to thinks I'm insane because "22 is so young". And it is, but it still stressed me out.. haha. But that is why I am SO thankful for the amazing people in my life. It's always so nice to know how much people are willing to go out of their way to make sure you have a good day. So to all of my family & friends. THANK YOU! You are all amazing.

I had such a fun birthday weekend. I woke up on Friday (my birthday) and went to school, then I went to work and my desk was decorated with Balloons and little notes that said 'Happy Birthday Amanda' and treats all over. It was so nice! Then Trevor brought me flowers & a cake that said "Sweet 16 Amanda!" (real funny) to my work. And some of my wonderful work friends took me to get a cupcake and lunch at Cafe Rio! YUM! After work, I went to my parent's house to visit my cute family and they let me open some presents and hang out with them for a while! That night, Trevor took me to Tucano's and to a corn maze.. it was so much fun. Our dates are always really fun when it's just the two of us.

On Saturday my lovely sisters & mom took me to lunch at Olive Garden! Then, my friends had a dinner for me at Texas Roadhouse that night. It was all soo fun! Then today, Sunday, my mom made me a delcious dinner and cake, my brother showed up from Ephraim to surprise me, my wonderful family talked and laughed with me and gave me some awesome presents.. It was so fun! Needless to say, this was an amazing weekend and I have every reason in the world to be thankful for the people in my life.. I love all of you!

Sorry this post is so long, here are some pictures!

Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend

I'm in love with the look of pearls & diamonds together on a piece of jewelry. I don't have any jewelry that is made of REAL diamonds and pearls. But I do have the fake copy cats! I think that diamonds & pearls are the most elegant looking and pretty pair. 

What is even prettier (to me) is the black pearl & diamond duo. I'm a HUGE fan of black pearls and I have plenty of fake versions of the black pearl earrings!

Usually I prefer to wear stud earrings, depending on the occasion. But I think with earrings as pretty as this, they need to be shown off.