Friday Night

I just got back from one of the most amazing nights I've had in awhile. It was so simple and beautiful and wonderful, that I don't know how to quite put it into words. It was the perfect summer night! My friends are just insanely awesome, let me start off with that. We haven't been able to hang out much lately, so we got together tonight at the house my friend, Febe, is watching for the next little while. We had salad and bread sticks from Olive Garden, Lasagna that Hillary had made, and I brought some Arizona tea. We ate, we talked A LOT, and just really enjoyed ourselves. It felt like an episode of Beverly Hills Housewives that as we sat on the porch in the backyard looking out at the golf course, dishing out our lives and problems and confiding in one another.
Hillary: I feel like we should have a glass of wine or something!
Febe: I have cheesecake!
Me: And that's pretty much the same thing ....So we ate cheesecake! And it was SO good!
My heart hasn't felt so much peace and so full of life in awhile. I'm not saying that I depend on them for my happiness, but I've been in a weird funk lately just being at home and feeling like I'm in a rut, not going anywhere. Being around them, and seeing how they're getting to the places in life that they've always wanted to be in is really motivating and inspiring. I told them how I need to make a plan to find my way back to Nashville permanently. I feel like finally getting serious with it and having people that will hold me accountable to it will help me get back there. It may not be for another few years, but ultimately that is my goal. I'm still young, it can happen and I love that they really believe in me.
They are some of the best girls I know. Being around them just lifts my spirits right up; I can be real with them and they can be real with me. They're not going to judge me when I fall and I'm not going to judge them for something they've done or something they might be struggling with. I love the honesty that always been there from the start with them. Honestly, it's a lot like like therapy, but so much better! LOL. We get into some pretty heavy stuff, but I love it. We can really talk about anything and I know they'll be there for me to pray, accept me, and to just encourage me when I'm feeling down and that's the most comforting thing I've had in a long time.

And while I was there, my awesome friend Steph (my pen pal, blogging partner in crime, etc.), was sending me pictures of Chris Young from the concert she went to of his tonight. She was FRONT ROW! Not a bad Friday night, I'll say ;). I can't wait to see the videos and hear what he sang... For now, I have a few new pictures to choose from for wallpaper on my phone...hee hee.

All in all, one AMAZING Friday night. Now, it's off to bed in a few minutes because I'm heading down to the O.C area to meet up with some family friends. I can't wait! Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

~Shelby

My Week

This week has been quite interesting, that's for sure! I feel like I got quite a bit accomplished and had a lot of time to just be creative and do what I love, which is write and create art. And then there was the whole crashing of my computer. Hopefully the Geek Squad at Best Buy can figure out what's wrong and it won't cost too much money. GULP! Anyway, here are some pics from this week!

Cleaning my room! Taking care of business!

Dinner with my parents! :)

Letter from my best friend who's studying in France right now! :)

Sophia Bush bday project I want to help out with!

Top 4 Most played CD's on my ipod right now...especially that Chris Young guy

My mom and aunt are in this picture!!! I was excited :D haha

Heck yes, I earned my getglue sticker!

Tim Tebow was in town. Sadly I didn't get to go or meet him :( What is wrong with me??

California sunset :)

Love this

I've been listening to this the past few nights on Iheart radio. Makes me miss Nashville hardcore!

I WANT TO GO.

Bike riding

Dinner at Chic-Fil-A

Oh, just how I spend my usual nights....Watching videos of Chris Young on YouTube ;)

Writing

I want her sweater!

My guitar, Daisy. I really should pick up on lessons or practicing again

<3

Viddy! The coolest new invention!

More writing...It's what I do! :)

And that was my week in a nutshell!

~Shelby

My New Obsession

I've pretty much always liked Chris Young, but it wasn't until his current CD, Neon, that I really went "WOW!" Not only does he have that great country crooner voice, singing incredible lyrics that tug at your heart, but he is not bad to look at either. I can't tell you how many times I've listened to him in the past couple weeks. Needless to say, I'm pretty smitten with him LOL. In honor of this new obsession, I thought I'd do a few throwback pictures (I was in the process of finalizing a video when I did something totally dumb and my computer basically crashed....soooo, yeah) from seeing him last year at the Crystal Palace in my hometown. It was such a good concert; I had a blast! :) I seriously don't understand why he isn't up for more awards. Maybe if people would get out of the whole Blake/Jason/Luke bubble they're living in, they'd see other people who have talent too. Just saying! (And I love Jason, don't get me wrong. He's an incredible entertainer). I couldn't figure out why my pictures weren't that great because it's such a small venue...and then I remembered that I had just broken my mom's camera that day! Oops! :(

They gave him a Buck Owen's guitar! :*) such a special moment! 

This was from 2009...It had been a long day at the softball game in Nashville! Ignore my weird hair...I blame humidity. Dang it! I want to meet him again to make up for it.

A Tugging At The Heart

Have you ever felt this unexplainable ache in your heart? Now, I'm not talking about a broken heart over somebody dumping you or realizing that your "soul mate" is not, in fact, your soul mate after all. I'm talking about something much deeper than that. I'm talking about this longing and desire to a calling that you might not even understand quite yet, but you know you need to do something about...and SOON.
Every time I get home from Nashville, I feel this way. I lie awake in bed at night just knowing that I'm 1,735 miles from where I need to be. I feel homesick for a place I've never called home. All of my life, I've had this stirring in my heart and as I get older I'm starting to come into what it means. God had been putting the pieces of my life's puzzle together and I'm starting to finally make sense of it all.
I'm learning that I need to shut out the voices in my head that are doubting the decision and what I can do. I need to shut out the people that don't believe in me or think it's not realistic enough. Thanks for the vote of confidence, but my God is much bigger than those meaningless opinions. I'm trusting in Him that if He gave me this dream, He's going to see to it that I make it all the way. He won't leave me hanging, trying to hitchhike my way there.
To sum it up, if you have a crazy dream, don't give up on it. It sounds cliche, but it's true. God plants gifts and dreams in our hearts, because He has plans that only we (as individuals) can carry out. This is OUR year. The year that we want life to play by our rules and for our dreams to come true. So, I'm not backing down anymore because I'm "scared" or I might not be "good enough." God's got my back and that's really all I need. The rest doesn't matter so much.

That's all for now,
Shelby

The Weekend

This past weekend, we went to LA on Saturday for a Dodger game and hanging out with my aunt. We left in the morning and drove to Valencia, a smaller city just before getting to LA to eat lunch. We went to Rattler's, which is amazing! We were all so stuffed by the time we left, so I guess they did their job.

After we were done, we went to the mall, which was just right across the way for a couple hours. I hardly ever go to the mall unless we're out of town, because ours pretty much sucks. I found quite a bit in Charlotte Russe, so I was happy. There wasn't much else to really look at after a few stores, so we decided to go down to LA. First, we stopped at ArcLight to use the restroom...and only in Hollywood would they have display cases with props from movie that are out or coming out pretty soon. It also brought back some really great memories of being there for the Evening with One Tree Hill! I would so go back in time for that night again LOL.

We went to this record store I love on Sunset, called Amoeba Music. It's really strange looking and there are some weird people that hang around there, but you can find some really great stuff for cheap. You can also find a lot of rare, older CD's that you can't necessarily find in Target or Wal-Mart now. If you're looking for something in particular that's definitely the place to go. A lot of younger celebs go in there, like Troian Bellisario (Pretty Little Liars) and Chelsea Kane (Baby Daddy, Jonas). I even found Smallville for 5$, so I can't wait to start it. I'm a TV junkie if you haven't noticed.

We were a little pushed for time after that, so we headed to Dodger Stadium for the game. We haven't been to a game in awhile, so it was good to be back. It was the first time all season that we've been there and the Dodger's lost, but it was still a lot of fun. We ate a lot, laughed a lot and oh yeah, MATTHEW PERRY WAS THERE! I had seen him at a game before, but it was before I was a hardcore Friends fan, so I was like "oh cool" and then I was over it. This time I was so excited! He was so gracious to the fans that kept calling him over and took pictures with them. My aunt offered to go with me if I wanted to try it, but I didn't want to be rude or annoying to the other people that were around, so I decided against it. It was cool just seeing him! He's probably my favorite character or at least tied with Rachel. It definitely made my weekend!

Sunday was Father's Day, obviously! I woke up much earlier than usual and we gave my dad his gifts, which he loved...Finally, we noticed the time and had to hurry to get ready. We went to church with my grandparents, my aunt and uncle. It's weird now that holidays come around and I'm the only kid that's still here. Sure, I don't drive yet, but I still have a life and I make a point to be there with the family because it's special to them and that's important to me. It's weird as we all get older and things change, but after awhile you have to get used to it. The service was really good and then we had lunch at Elephant Bar. It was good catching up with everyone and telling them about our vacation and just being together. The topic of Carrie Underwood "supporting" gay marriage also came up. Uh, yeah....No comment.

Happy Father's Day to the most amazing dad! I love you. He always puts his family first and is the hardest worker I know. 

We came home for a bit after that to relax and I worked on math homework, which was extremely fun. NOT. I listened to a little Chris Young, and pretty soon it was off to my grandparent's to spend some time with them! It was a good evening! We ate pizza, chatted with them awhile, I helped my grandpa program some numbers into his phone and I also got a little reading done. It's always nice doing nothing as long as you have good company. Relaxed summer nights like that are the best. All in all...the perfect weekend! :)

That's all for now,
Shelby