The Art of Waiting and Disappointment

Disappointment used to absolutely crush me. Obviously. But, I feel like I took it harder than the average person. I'd make plans and have things imagined in my head just a certain way, and when plans were canceled or didn't happen like I thought they would, I would get into this weird funk. I would get bitter and frustrated, probably because I wasn't in control. I'd sit there and stew, wondering what I could have changed.

Over the years, I've had to learn to not let my imagination get the best of me. It's great to have ideas and to set goals, but it can really just set you up for disappointment if you have unrealistic expectations. Always have high hopes and low expectations, as Taylor Swift's mom always tells her. It's a good way to look at things. The truth is that life happens no matter how much you plan or prepare.

As I've learned to rely on God and give everything to Him, I don't sweat the outcome as much. That's not to say I don't get disappointed or feel sad when a friend bails at the last minute or plans change, but I've learned to accept it much better than I would have been able to before. Like anything else, it's a process. I'm learning to be a little more flexible. I mean, you can sit there wondering what went wrong or be angry that you didn't get to see that movie you wanted because it sold out or there was too much traffic, so you missed the first five minutes of the concert...Or you can just pick up right where you are and change the rest of that moment for the better.

Why make things so miserable when there's no need for it?

Speaking of all of this, when I woke up this morning, I thought things were going to be very different.    Some of our plans have been delayed by a few hours, but on the plus side, I've been able to get a few things done that I wanted to. See? Not all bad.

So, don't let life's little disappointments or waiting around too long get you down. Trust God, trust His timing and reasoning, then make the best of whatever your circumstances are.

That's all for now,
Shelby :)

Favorite YouTubers

During the summer, I LOVE finding new YouTube channels and I tend to watch them all day every day! It's fun watching vlogs and seeing how other people live, what kind of adventures they go on and always inspires me to try more with my videos. So, here's a list of some of my favorites and the ones I watch religiously. 

:)

Check em out:

 Claudia has a really outgoing personality! She has videos about beauty, obviously (hence the name), some of the conferences for YouTube, hanging out with her friends, and just every day life. Plus, she goes on A LOT of vacations, so right now I am living vicariously through her.

I absolutely LOVE Maya! She's hilarious. Most of the time, she'll just have little rant videos and talk about specific things, like movies or back to school, but she just has this way of making everything so light, funny and entertaining to watch. She also has a lot of FABULOUS how to videos, as well. 

Ingrid has a lot of fun, lifestyle/beauty videos (like a lot of other people on YouTube do). She has great graphics, cool beauty routines and talks about the products she uses...Has a lot of haul videos, DIY tricks, tags, etc. She's super cute and has a darling personality, and always seems SO cheerful. 

I think Cat is one of the very first official "YouTubers" that I started watching. My friend had tweeted me a link to one of her shows where she talks about introverts, because that is SO us. She takes a closer look at bigger topics with personality, etc and on her other channel, she just vlogs. I love seeing her day to day life, hanging out with her friends and going out in LA. She's so charismatic and outgoing. She seems like a blast to hang out with. 

Veronica is actually one of my friends from jr.hi/high school, and saw that she had started YouTube videos. I was AMAZED! I'm kind of obsessed with her Instagram account, posting her artsy photos of her outfits and such, but I'm even more obsessed with videos - she posts her outfits, her shopping trips, hauls, monthly favorites and occasionally other vlogs fun places, like street fairs. She has a style all her own and has such a way of pulling it off. 

This is the most recent YouTuber I have gotten into and it happened randomly. My friend posted one of her videos on my Facebook wall of tips while you're in college. I started watching several more and I just absolutely love her now! She has this really hilarious, over the top sort of personality. She's funny, but not obnoxiously so. She has hair tutorials, hauls, reviews, favorites, tips and so much more. I'm excited to just start watching more of her videos. 

Okay, I really love Nikki's videos, because they are always SO colorful. I really started watching her videos just for the graphics and her thumbnails, because they were so cute. But, she also has a pretty exciting life with her husband and her friends and dog. She vlogs all about her vacations (on the vlogging channel) and day to day life...On her beauty channel, she has the typical hauls, reviews, rants/raves, etc. She's just very fun and always has great music to get things going. 

                          

I had to get used to her voice a bit, but Aspyn is very creative, lovely and keeps things very entertaining. Mostly, I watch her day to day vlogs because I'm fascinated by those... She gets to do a lot of cool things with YouTubers, conventions and all of that. I also like her hauls, shopping trips and everything in between. She has a fun personality and doesn't seem to hold back. Also really love her graphics and the way she places things in her videos...I don't know, I'm kind of a nerd about that.

Another one of the YouTubers that kind of got me into the whole idea of officially making videos and doing it all the time. She always has such bright and exciting graphics that draw you in right away, cool song mixes, hauls, favorite things of the month, routines for the day, and beauty tips. 

I have pretty much spent ALL day watching all kinds of different videos and catching up on some that I haven't watched in awhile. So I'd say I was super productive, right? Just kidding...haha. 

I'm sure there are several other channels that I could have included, but I'd say these are the ones that I spend the most time on. I'm constantly finding new vloggers to check out, so if you have any that I should check out, feel free to let me know!

That's all for now,
Shelby :) 

Downtown Adventures

I don't know why you don't take me downtown/

Like you've got anywhere better to be

Yesterday, Marissa (one of my very best friends) and I randomly decided to hang out...She was free and I was free, so it just worked out. Plus, it's summer, and we've been saying that we need to be a little more spontaneous and just DO things. 

We weren't totally sure of what we were going to do, but we decided to go downtown to explore. We always have the best adventures there. We might not have a lot to do in our town, but our downtown area is starting to boom. There are a lot of restaurants, live music and plenty of antique stores. It's a fun place to go and try new things. 

We had coffee at one of the most popular places in town, Dagny's. And we talked for a couple hours. It wasn't very crowded, but it busier as we stayed. It's a cute little contemporary place. I had a wild berry smoothie, and it was SO refreshing! Marissa had a white tea with pomegranate syrup. 

It was getting later in the afternoon, so we decided to check out one of our favorite stores, "In Your Wildest Dreams." We decided to park, and thought we were a bit closer, but realized we were a street up still, so we had to walk. That was kind of funny, because it was incredibly hot and we weren't totally sure of where we were going. We talked with this post office guy, but he wasn't really sure where the store was either, so we just wandered until we found it. On our way there, we decided to go into one of the music stores here that I'd never been in and we were "meowed" at while walking to the antique store. That was really weird, although I missed it. Marissa informed me...So, there's that. 

 Now, there are three sections of the store - clothes/costumes/shoes and two separate levels of furniture. We were mentally planning out our future apartment, because we think we'd be the perfect roomies... We want very eclectic, very "Monica Geller"....You know. We were freaking out about so many things, because they have a ton of great stuff and some pretty good deals. It's kind of our favorite. 

By that time, we were hot, sweaty and felt so gross. We were ready to cool down and head back to my house, but first we grabbed drinks from Sonic. They were so tasty! We came back to my house and chatted with my mom for a bit, then Marissa had to take off.

It's so good to get out of the house and spend time with good friends :) That's just one of the many good things about summer.

That's all for now,

Shelby 

Summer Inspiration

Summer Inspiration by shelbyn92 featuring a brown table

Pieces black shoes
$48 - pieces.com

Cocktail glasses
openingceremony.us

Ceramiche Pugi brown table
luisaviaroma.com

MIANSAI Leather journal
$130 - selfridges.com

Watercolour painting
etsy.com

My Mix Tape

image from spikeeskin.com

It's no secret that I set my life to music. Every season in my life has its own playlist. So, I love just finding some feel good songs during the summer that I can crank up and sing to, and just feel GREAT.

Here are a few songs that I'm just really loving right now:

• Meant To Be - Parachute
• Scarecrow - Alex and Sierra
• Best Day Of My Life - American Authors
• Take On The World (Girl Meets World theme song) - Rowan Blanchard and Sabrina Carpenter
• Love Never Felt So Good - Michael Jackson and Justin Timberlake
• Somethin' Bad - Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert
• I Really Don't Care - Demi Lovato with Cher Lloyd
• Where It's At - Dustin Lynch
• Tenerife Sea - Ed Sheeran
• Everything's Right - Matt Wertz (this has been a favorite since my junior year of high school, but I fell in love with it again)
• If It's Just Me - Hunter Hayes
• Louder - Lea Michele
• That's What I Call Crazy - Lucy Hale
• Not A Bad Thing - Justin Timberlake

So, those are just a few that I really love right now :)

That's all for now,

Shelby

What are some of your favorite songs right now?

Just go for it.

You know, I'm all about going for risks and taking big opportunities, even when I haven't necessarily planned for them. If a great opportunity comes out of the blue, but I'm still terrified, more than likely I'm still going to go for it. But, for some reason when it comes to the simple things like hanging out with friends or trying a new Bible study, I have THE hardest time venturing out. I'm a planner and I like to know a lot of details before I just jump into something a good portion of the time. And I have some theories about why that is. 

I feel like if it's something that can help me make an advance in my "career," then I'm all about it and I do it without a second thought. I'll pray about the outcome and that's that. It's pretty simple - You just go out there and do it. 

But, my friend and I were just texting and it really opened my eyes.

I've been trying to work up the nerve to go to a new Bible study that a couple of them (my friends) have been going to. Every week, I keep thinking I'm going to go, but then as the week starts going, I start rethinking it and usually come up with some excuse. It's too far, I don't drive at night, my parents probably wouldn't want to pick me up that late, I'm just feeling too tired, etc. My friend said she was going to the second Bible study on Sunday night and was asking if I wanted to go to that one instead. Suddenly, a somewhat panic rose up in me...And at the same time, I felt like it was an out. 

I told her that I was already starting to second guess going on Sunday anyway, and that I was still trying to pump myself up for it...It's just a mental thing that I really need to get over. She sent me back this message ... "It's always our minds that get the best of us! That's why many times in the Bible we are to pray for our minds...asking God to renew it because our minds tend to do and believe different things than our hearts or souls."

Ahhh, now I get it. I talk myself into feeling this way really. And the more I've started thinking about it lately, I'm okay with putting myself out there for career/job opportunities, because that really just comes down to me. If I'm rejected, it's because of business and I try not to take that too personally anymore. It is what it is. When I'm talking to people, I can ask them questions and get the information I need and then we both move on...Everyone's happy. But, with an actual relationship/friendship, things can get trickier. Those are the REAL things. Real emotions and sometimes messy situations that can grow even more complicated. 

You know too much about one another, you're together too often...Things are bound to happen. I never thought that I was one of those girls, but I have a tendency to get scared and pulled back. I can be all in at the beginning, because it's exciting getting to know new people or have conversations that you've never had before, but suddenly...It's just too much. And then, it's annoying. When I'm "working," I don't deal with that. It's all very strategic and planned out, for the most part.

I see now that I need to continue to ask God to help me have an open mind when it comes to hanging out with people I know and trust. To be more daring and willing to try new things in my everyday life, not just the things that I can be in control of, because it's not always that easy. But, I don't want to miss out on incredible moments with my friends and family, just because I get too comfortable living in my own little world, where nothing can touch me or things aren't messy. We were meant to live messy, out of the ordinary lives...So, now's my chance.

That's all for now,
Shelby 

Too much time on my hands

So, this picture pretty much describes how I feel about today. Just bleh...It's just a pretty uneventful day. Although, come to think of it...As of lately, I don't mind "uneventful" as much.

I stayed home all day. By myself. And I didn't even feel too anxious about it...You know, after the "incident" and all. It was actually nice to just kind of chill and also get over feeling so paranoid and always sitting on the edge of my seat, wondering whether something is going to happen.

I watched a lot of Sara Evans' "Simply Sara" video blogs. I ate soup. I read a few blogs and the book I'm currently reading, "Nashville Wives." I also texted my best friend for a bit and my cousin.

Then, I got an email asking if I would interview the frontrunner of ACIDIC, and I'd be able to review the show, if I'm available that weekend. It sounds really exciting! I can't wait to give the band a listen and to chat with Michael.

Now, I'm just kind of sitting here and thinking about life. Doing a whole lot of nothing. Wishing I was out there doing more....The usual.

And that's all for now,
Shelby :)