hello friday.

in honor of the last friday of 2011. 

thank goodness. 

hello 2011.

with 2012 coming up, it brought me back to reflect upon the last year.. let's take a look

January

i blew out my 19 candles in hawaii with my roommates and celebrated turning another year older. 

i also met my new roommate, rachel. who has become my best friend.

February

spent my valentines day with 20 of my girl friends, our tv, and the bachelor. 

evacuated for a tsunami warning and i about had a heart attack.

partied with neelam for a week when she came out to visit.

March

enjoyed the adventures of hawaii and meeting new friends. 

and seeing mike, the situation, from jersey shore.

April

i said goodbye to my first year of college, amazing new friends, and hawaii.

i said hello to summer, amazing old friends, and georgia.

May

spent party hopping around to younger friends graduation parties, job searching, and the start of braves games.

June

enjoyed a matt & kim concert, began my job at a daycare center,
and created an epic tradition of monday night dessert and game night with my friends.
oh.. and more braves games.

July

i got my heart broken in the most awful way any person could. 

August

my sister and hayden came to georgia for a few weeks.

i said goodbye to my friends as they headed back for college.

i also said goodbye to my wonderful job at the daycare center, and the wonderful kids that saved my life this summer.

September

said goodbye to georgia and alohaaa to hawaii.

October

filled with halloween festivities and dressing up as a dog, biker chick, and a greek goddess.

November

donated blood for the first time, helped with the hunger banquet and invisible children, and fed the homeless.
rooted for edward in breaking dawn and put my gratitude forward on thanksgiving. 

December

spent my time at several surf competitions... when i should have been studying for finals. 

said goodbye to hawaii, spent time in idaho, then utah, and finally home to georgia.

it's been quite the year. unfortunately 2011 will not go down as the best year ever for me.
but at least it gives me hope for 2012 to be so much better.
i am praying that this next year is the best one yet. 

new year. new chances. new people. new hope. 

hello one day.

tonight i stayed in with my sweet parents.

we snuggled up on the couch and turned on a movie.

drank some hot chocolate and called it a

good time. the movie we watched? 

life in a day.

super great and i highly recommend it. it's all about

video submissions from different people around the world,

all filming their daily life on one day. july 24th, 2010.

and so this movie got me thinking. . .
i think everyone is guilty of lacking an understanding for

other cultures. and once we can understand it, there will

be peace. i honestly believe that. but people don't care

to understand and learn. and that's why there is so much

conflict in our world. 

i want to understand. i want to learn. i want to travel and

explore. gain the knowledge. i want to live deep. 

i want to help. i want to serve. i want to be at peace

with myself. and help others too find peace. 

xoxo

L

hello christmas lights.

hope everyone had a very merry christmas.
i'm already sad that it's over.
if i had it my way, i would hang christmas lights up year round.
i probably will when i get my own home.
why not, right?

xoxo

L

hello lilac peace.

hello tucker baby.

1 year ago i said goodbye.

and i've missed you every day since.

this last year would have been so much better and easier if you could have been around.

i love you and miss you always.

hello warm winter.

hello heroes.

i just want to write a small post about some great people. 

as we all know, the last soldiers left iraq earlier this week. 

what a relief. 

there are many people that i respect, but the men and women of the armed forces definitely make the top of the list. the fact that complete strangers are out, fighting, serving, and protecting me... that's just the greatest act of love and service i can ever imagine. they deserve more credit than they get. i can't imagine leaving my loved ones, knowing very well that i might not come back. when i arrived in the airport it was so wonderful being able to see soldiers reunited with their families. 

i had a cousin that passed away fighting this war in iraq. so the concept is real to me. and i think these heroes go unnoticed far too often. so today i just want to say thank you. thank you for sacrificing so much to protect myself, and others in this country. 

thank you. thank you. thank you.

i am so grateful for every single one of you.

xoxo

L

hello auntie lo.

just needed to take a minute and share with you all some of my adorable nephews. missing my sweet hayden, but here are my brother's kids. :) 

can't wait for my first niece to come in february! 

xoxo

L

hello the present.

so where am i now you ask?

home.

im finally back in the wonderful south, good ol' georgia. 

and what does home consist of?

wonderful best friends. 

steak n' shake.

and my big comfy bed.

although it's 2am and i am wide awake, i need to try and get some sleep. thank you time change.

xoxo

L

hello monday fun day.

monday was spent trying to jam in as much as possible. 

began the morning driving to provo where i toured byu-provo. wow. that school is hugeee. i couldn't even get over it. it's definitely a great school, but touring it just confirmed for me that byu-hawaii is where i'm supposed to be. i'm so grateful to attend a school that i really truly love. 

yes. i am still in shock over the snow. so grand.

after provo, i headed up to salt lake city and met up with one of my wonderful roommates natalia. she took me up to the mountains to snowbird so i could see more snow. absolutely beautiful. i was in awe. we went to the famous cafe rio. i feel like all my friends in hawaii are obsessed with this place, so i had to check it out. 

then... the highlight of my year. we went to east high!! as in the east high in high school musical. for those of you that knew me back in middle school when the first movie came out.. you know how obsessed i was. i still have plans to marry zac efron, he just doesn't know it yet... and luckily, one of the doors was unlocked so we snuck on in and snapped a few pictures. ahhhh so amazing. the day ended with some wonderful in-n-out. another first time eating experience. 

happy, happy.

safe to say, i'm a fan of cafe rio, in-n-out, high school musical, and the snow.

but not the cold.

xoxo

L

hello temple square.

sunday night, my parents and i drove down to salt lake city where we went to the famous temple square. temple square is beautiful! pictures don't do it justice. there are so many lights and it's just gorgeous. people from all over the world come to look at the pretty lights. i probably walked a little faster around the square though... it was cold!

hello, it's been awhile.

so sorry i've disappeared for awhile there. finals were crazy. but after loads of energy drinks and all-nighters, i successfully finished! another semester done. saying goodbye to my friends was surprisingly hard. i know i'll see them in a few weeks, but i'm moving houses so it's tough to know i wont live with all of them this next semester.

luckily though, i was fortunate enough to get permission from the dean of my school to take some of my finals early so that i could fly to idaho and surprise my sister for her graduation from byu-idaho! my parents first arrived at her house as i hid in the car. my sister then went to give my dad a tour of the house and my mom ran out and grabbed me. i sat on the couch and waited for my sister to come down the stairs. as she walked into the living room she had her back turned to me and was looking up something on the computer. everyone was sitting and waiting for her to turn around and notice that i was there. finally, after a few minutes she turned around and the rest went something like this... "AHHHHHHHHH! OH MY GOSH!!!" (runs over and gives me a huge hug--screams again--hits me--screams again--hugs me--hits me) we have an abusive relationship... haha. needless to say, she was totally shocked! it was perfect. 

while our visit was short it was definitely worth it. my brother was there too which was the first time our whole family has been together in 3 years. it was grand :) 

i was somewhat in shock the entire trip because of the weather change. i literally went from lying on the beach thursday, in 80 degree weather. to walking in snow in 20 degree weather. the biggest shock was probably when i woke up sunday morning to 9 degree weather... 9?! crazy. it was so freezy outside. everyone in the airport just gave me the look as if i was an alien as i walked in with my flipflops and capris sweatpants. sorry people, i do not have any winter clothes in hawaii. 

i need to take a minute and just boast about my amazing sister. i am seriously so proud of her for graduating college! it took her almost 9 years to do it.. but she did it! my sister is the most amazing person i know. she is so strong and she's my best friend. the person that keeps me going. she gives me strength. i'm so blessed to have her. and to have my little monster hayden as well. i know jacom was smiling down on us this weekend, and i know he is so proud of beka for all her amazing accomplishments :)

there are so many stories i could tell but i'll just leave it at this. it was wonderful. i love my family so much. if there's anything i've realized this last year, it's just how important family is. 

i have lots of updating to do, but here are some pictures from my time in idaho. i must say, although the beach in hawaii is beyond beautiful, idaho is gorgeous in it's own way as well. enjoy :)

buhh-byee idaho.

L