justin bieber

remember that time i entered a contest to meet justin bieber? remember that other time that my sister tried calling in to KIIS fm to win tickets to justin's concert and she was caller 103 and she had to be caller 102?... darn you justin! one day i will meet you. i also plan on meeting louis from one direction. it's a love hate relationship with those two.

things i did in december!

here is a recap of some of the things that i did in december... man, i'm really good at posting things in a timely matter. you must love that! oh well. sorry!! :)

*i put lights up in my room. which i have been meaning to do for forever. i was so happy when i set it all up! technically, they're seasonal lights and they were considered christmas items when i bought them at ikea. but they will be staying up all year long and they are still in my room. YES :)

*we went to souplantation many times in december. i blame siaira and her love for the souplantation salads. i refer to them as "mountains" instead of salads. because, let's be honest. the girl eats about ten pounds of lettuce & pasta at the beginning of her souplantation meals.

*we had a gift-wrapping event for the accounting club at my school that we all got to volunteer at. it was really fun and a few days later we got to hand out the presents to a couple of hundred families. i wish i could have told them all about jesus, but i wasn't in charge and it wasn't a faith-based event. but still, it was a wonderful few days!

*we went to the mall quite a few times and we made sure to park by the food court to get these sandwich samples. they're so addicting. we get one sample on the way in, and another sample on the way out. ignore my weird face in this photo. i was just too excited to eat the sample. maybe one day i'll actually buy a whole sandwich instead of just eating all the samples... maybe.

*siaira's family made us cookies + cake bites and i wore my favorite new dress a lot. 

*natalie, becca, siaira, and i had quite an adventure one evening. we drove around a few christmas-light-looking-neighborhoods and blasted luke bryan and other ridiculous songs while singing them at the top of our lungs. we also snuck into our old church's christmas party (at an old friend's house) without being noticed and used the restroom... we were successful at the sneaky part until natalie and becca ratted us out accidentally. but it was still really funny! (if anyone of the church people ever asks though, i'm denying that i ever was there. to my death)

*natalie, heather, cathee, jessica, and i had a lunch date at lazy dog cafe to plan out our upcoming trip to canada + washington! jessica made little signs that said "aye" on one side and "nay" on the other so we could vote on things. pinterest has done her well and has turned her into a crafty lady! good job jessica!

funeral.

this is from a month ago, but whatever. at least i'm sharing some of the photos! my grandma's brother passed away last month and we attended his funeral out in riverside. it was really unexpected when he passed and my grandma was pretty upset about it. just makes me realize how quickly life passes and how fast it goes by. it was really sweet seeing my grandma and all her sisters there together. it was also nice seeing my mom's side of the family since that doesn't happen ever. 

my grandpa, great-grandpa, and great-grandma are all buried at the funeral site. so we got to visit their graves while we were there. i had never been before, and it was really nice to be able to see what was written about them. and i absolutely love the photos i got of my family while there.

afterwards, we went to downtown riverside and walked around looking at the christmas lights. we were going to have dinner at a mexican restaurant there, but the wait was four hours. hah! so, we opted out of waiting. i did manage to grab some chips that we're sitting there waiting to be brought out to all of the tables... i know, that's bad but whatever i was hungry and natalie did it too. we also got the most amazing hot apple cider donuts. oh my gosh they were so good! i could eat them everyday!

submission.

via

happy new year! i am so happy it is 2013. 2012 was not a fun year for me. don't get me wrong, there were some very fun times with friends and i did get to go back to Hungary (my favorite place!), but more than anything it was an extremely trying year. i'm not sure how much i shared on here on how my trip to romania actually went, but it left me feeling very bitter and angry. and that bitterness and resentment rolled over into my walk with God. and there is no excuse to blame God or be disappointed in Him for what people do. but i let it go there. so as i was driving home the other day and reflecting back on 2012, i was so disappointed in myself. 2012 was all about me, and not about God. it was about what i wanted to do, not what God wanted me to do. and as i kept driving and had the radio on, a message on kwave mentioned the word "submission". and i knew it was my word. and that's scary, coming from someone who struggles with allowing God to rule over my whole life. it's going to be a challenge, but my main goal or resolution for 2013 is to daily submit to God. i don't want to waste anymore time being consumed with myself and not with God. i know i'll fail at this, because hello i'm a sinner (the worst) and there will be those times where i don't want to submit. but i'm praying that my heart will be changed and i'll allow God to go there and to really have His will be done in my life. i'm glad that once the new year rolls around it feels like it's a fresh start. and 2013 really will be a year of starts for me. i'll be done with college in march, starting my career in july, and hopefully moving out on my own for the first time in the fall. i'm pretty sure this new year will be a lot better than 2012, and i am excited to see what God has in store.