This Weekend

Saturday, my parents went out of town so I had the place to myself for a couple days. It was my first time of being on my own, which is crazy...but true. I decided to get ready as soon as my parents left, then decided to watch One Tree Hill and Dawson's Creek. I also got some food delivered to my house. I felt like such an adult ;) 

I was going to go swimming at Viviyan's grandparents' house, but it didn't work out, so she ended up coming to my house. We decided to lay out in my backyard, because it was so warm and a perfect Summer-ish day. We took pictures, talked, and flipped through magazines. It's simple moments like that that make everything seem so much better. We didn't stay outside for too long, so we could start getting ready for Hillary's surprise birthday party. 

We stopped by the grocery store, because it was a potluck and Starbucks, then headed over. We hung out for a bit before Hillary made her entrance. It was so much fun, though. There was plenty of food, Just Dance, and good company to keep us occupied. I caught up with our friend, Alex, who we haven't seen in awhile. Later on, Makenzie kept us pretty entertained while playing with Hillary's iPhone 4s using Siri. I wonder what we did before phones.....? We ended up going on a photo scavenger hunt and having to do a few wacky things like each team member has to make their first initial out of something, something with The Hunger Games, and you had to spell something out with their bodies. After that, we were trying to decided what else to do; we ended up going to Hillary and Makenzie's friends house to watch "Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark". I'm pretty terrified of scary movies, so I was freaking out...but it ended up not being very scary at all. A little suspenseful in parts, but it wasn't anything that I couldn't handle. I actually think the trailer was creepier than the actual movie. 

Viviyan ended up staying with me that night, which was awesome! It was close to 4 a.m when we got home, so we were pretty wiped out, and fell asleep pretty quickly.

Sunday morning, we ended up waking up a bit later than we would've liked to, but it still worked out. We went to this diner close to my house, Spencer's, and had breakfast and great conversation. We talked about Catalyst and our favorite speakers and just life in general. 

We picked up her sister, then headed for church! It was about being connected in church and having "family" there that you can really count on. It reminded me of how thankful I truly am for my group of friends from church, even if we're not extremely close. They've all changed my life in some way or another. Our pastor even used my story from his Facebook page in the sermon, that made me excited :) Viviyan dropped me off after church (and it was SO hot here, btw), and not too long after, my parents got home. We had lunch at Chili's, then came home for the rest of the afternoon. I took a nap that lasted for a few hours; I haven't done that in awhile. It was SO nice! I'm surprised I was still tired that night when I got ready for bed. It was nice to be able to unwind from the crazy week, and actually start letting everything sink in. 

I don't usually change this much in a day...lol.

That's all for now, 

Shelby <3

Catalyst Convention

Last Wednesday-Friday, I went to Irvine with my church's Young Adults group to a convention called Catalyst. It's mainly for leaders and people that are looking to get involved in ministry, but it's open to anyone. It was an absolute blast! We had a lot of girl bonding time in the room, laughed until we couldn't breathe, stayed up too late, got to know some other people from our group that I've never had much of a chance to talk to, heard so many inspiring speakers, and learned more of what it truly means to be a leader. We got to see Tony Hawk and there was even a surprise visit from Mark Burnett, who has created shows like "The Voice", "Survivor", and "The Apprentice". That was really cool! I also went to a luncheon with some of the other girls in our group, and I ended up meeting a pastor's wife from Nashville. I told her I was coming back for CMA Fest, and that I love Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood. She said Taylor is one of her favorite people ever, and also added that her sons were in the "Mine" video, which I thought was so cool. She said it's their "claim to fame" and I don't blame them one bit ;) LOL.

The theme this year was "Be Present", which was something we all needed to be reminded of with this day in age of technology. It reminded me to be more aware of what's around me, to love more, to listen and to just LIVE more. Special moments with family and friends won't always be there, so soak it up while you can. It has me more aware of where I need to spend more time and what I need to do in order to live life to the fullest and do what God has called me to do while I'm on the earth.

I can't wait until next year,
Shelby <3