WEDDING UPDATE!

I'm so excited to announce that we found our wedding venue! 

Our original date of July 27th, 2013 was already taken, so we moved our's week to August 3rd, 2013. 

We will be married at the Chapel Ridge Banquet Center in Lee's Summit.

I can't wait!

MCKAYLA.

First off... I hope you're having a great time overseas! 

I don't know if you even check my blog anymore.... but I have to change my wedding date to August 3rd and wanted to see if you can still make it! I hope you can :) 

If you read this... comment and let me know.

When Bad Things Happen to Good People.

Right now, for my religion class, we are reading this book. (the title of this post) its written by Harold Kushner who is a rabbi.

I have to say that I actually don't like this book. He contradicts himself, and basically says that he believes in some parts of the Bible and not others.

Thompson Sales!

I forgot to mention - I got the receptionist job that I interviewed for on Wednesday! I'm getting great hours, and I don't have to quit SGA. 

I think this is going to be really great for me & Matthew. Now we just gotta find someone to hire him and we will be set!

Things are starting to look up, and I'm very blessed with the opportunities that God has presented me. 

Cancun

I figured I could post a little something-something about my trip to Cancun. I must say, the view from my window was AMAZING.

The water was so BLUE. Well, I suppose turquoise is a more appropriate adjective. Whatever the color name, it was the prettiest water I've ever seen in my life. It made Florida beaches look gross.

The sand was cool & soft, rather than hot and horrible. This beach made me love beaches. Before I went, I hated beaches. 

It was a wonderfully relaxing trip, I can definitely say that. & the people I went with were pretty awesome too. Here's me & my dad:

I haven't really spent much time with my dad since coming to MoState, and so it was really great to spend four days with him. It was some much needed bonding time. I really enjoyed it. This next picture is of me & Jake (my dad's girlfriend's son):

We have never really talked or hung out, and so it was great to get to know him really well over the trip. I found out a lot about him that I didn't know. I guess I can now say that I truly do consider him my brother. It was great bonding time with him. Our late night conversations were great, and I won't forget them. 

That picture was taken from the top floor of my dad and Sondra's building. I think it's pretty obvious that the view was absolutely breathtaking. Probably one of the prettiest things I've ever seen. Well, besides Europe that is. 

I've now been to 8 countries outside of the US! Not many 19 year olds can say that!

All in all, it was a great trip. but I'm glad to be back in Springfield with Matthew. It's nice to be home.

Been a while.

So, it's been a while since I've posted anything. Let's just say that life got a little crazy in the last week or so.

Last Wednesday, I went to a lunch with Matthew, my mom, and her co-workers who are basically family to me. We went to Salty Iguana and it was totally awesome.

Then, verrrry early Thursday morning, I flew off to Cancun! I've never been to Mexico, and I was super excited that I got to add another country to my growing list. (I've been to 8 countries outside of the United States now - Mexico, England, Germany, Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland.) 

The experience was phenomenal. I won't bore you with the endless details, but I will tell you this - the water was pure turquoise, the sand was soft and cool, and it was 85 and sunny. (while it snowed and iced up here in good 'ol Missouri.) I definitely want to go back some day. I just loved it. Our trip was all inclusive, and so we got as much food and booze as we wanted.  Although, I didn't drink. I had a third of a beer, and a sip or two of a tequila sunrise. I just personally don't care for alcohol.

THEN, after getting back Sunday evening, I came back down to Springfield (FINALLY) and started classes on Monday. I'm taking 18 credit hours, doing SGA, and hopefully working. Speaking of, I totally had an interview today, and I think it went really well. I should know by tomorrow if I got it. I'll be sure to let you know.

I'm actually going to try to keep this (somewhat) up to date with everything. I think it's good to get everything out in the open sometimes. Anyway, Kristen and I are going to start looking at Hobby Lobby & other such places to start getting ideas for all of the various invitations I'm going to need! There's so many - save the dates, wedding shower, actual invitations, etc. & I really wanna hand make them. Because I think it is so much cuter  than something that is just printed on card stock or whatever. I'm excited to be getting started!

Safe Haven.

I just re-watched the trailer, and I'm not sure how I'm going to feel about the movie. I can already see more than a couple discrepancies. It seems to match the book maybe half the time. 

I do enjoy the fact that Colbie Smulders (Robin from HIMYM) will be playing Jo. I think that's a good choice. As long as they play her part right, anyway.

Beautiful Creatures.

I just finished the book, and it was amazing. Seriously, I read the whole thing today (which is nothing new), and it kept me so interested the whole time. 

I really can't wait for the movie now! February 13th!

We all know I love books.

And yesterday I got an AWESOME book. It was only $7.98 at Barnes & Noble! 

It has literally every fairy tale, some I know very well, and some I don't. I can't wait to read through it! And I can't wait to read it to my children some day.

Footprints In The Sand.

This is probably my most favorite poem of all time. Every time I get down about something, I read this poem and remember that I'll always have God to lean on. I may be a new Christian, but my love for God is great. Even when times get hard, I know that I have Him to trust and believe in, and I know that He believes in me. 

Some too look out for.

In the next month and a half, there are three movies that are coming out that look realllllly good.

The first one is Gangster Squad.

I just got done watching the trailer for this, and it looks GREAT. I'm not normally a fan of gangster movies, but I believe this one will be fantastic! I think it will beat out Silver Linings Playbook, but that's just me. It looks like it will have a lot of great action, as well as a love story. Looks like a perfect movie for the boys and the girls. This comes out sometime in January. 

The second one is Beautiful Creatures.

I just saw the preview for this one again tonight. It seems more like a girl film, but it still looks good. It's about a girl who is a "caster" (I think that's what they called it), and she must choose between good and evil. The preview makes it obvious that she has more darkness in her than light, but she is also in love with a normal human, so that makes everything more complicated. It definitely will be a hit. At least, I sure hope so. This comes out on February 13th. 

The third one is Safe Haven.

I've read this book by Nicholas Sparks, and I loved it. Probably one of my favorite books by him. Although I've already noticed some distinct differences between the book and the movie, I'm still hoping it will turn out alright. If not, well, at least I still have the book. I would suggest that if you haven't read the book yet, and you plan on seeing the movie, I would wait until after you've seen the movie to read the book. This comes out on Valentine's day.

Silver Linings Playbook.

Sammie, Matthew, and I went and saw Silver Linings Playbook tonight.

I saw the preview for it a while back, and I couldn't wait for it to come out. After it did, I had numerous people tell me that it was amazing and that I'd love it. Well, they were right. This movie was phenomenal. Of course, it has Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence in it, so it has to be, right? Let me tell you, they play crazy people a little too well. Bradley Cooper plays a bi-polar man and Jennifer Lawrence, well.... I'm not sure what she had, but she was definitely crazy. But it's such an adorable movie. Not what I was expecting at all, but I really did love it. Probably one of my most favorite movies I've seen in a while. It's a drama/love story, but it's just genuinely good. Even Matthew loved it. It's not a complete chick flick like I thought it would be. Overall, I think everyone should go see this.

Surprise!

I forgot to mention that my mom totally surprised me this morning! She bought me & Matthew a vacuum for our apartment :)

Sunday Funday Plans.

Today is going to be a busy Sunday! 

At noon, I'm meeting Miss Nicole at Panera for a catch-up lunch. I can't wait to see her; it's been a realllllly long time since I've seen her last. I've really missed her, and I can't wait to hear how her first semester of college went. 

Then, after eating a delicious lunch with her, I'll be going to pick up Matthew to go to a family dinner at Golden Corral! It'll be me, him, my mom, Tim, my grandma & grandpa, and possibly my uncle and his girlfriend. We're going to the new-ish one in Independence. I'm pretty sure it's been there for a while, but it's my first time going to this one. I hope they have the chocolate fountain running! Yum!

AND THEN... Matthew & I may be joining Miss Sammie for a movie! I believe we might see Silver Linings Playbook. I watched the preview forever ago, and I can't wait to see it. Taylor saw it and he said I'd love it! 

So here's to a busy, but fun day! I am so blessed to be surrounded by people that love me so much. Today, I am definitely thanking God more than usual!

A way to remember the good times.

I forgot to mention this before! Matthew & I are doing a fun thing this year to help us remember all the great things that happen. I bought a big jar (kind of like a cookie jar of sorts) and we are going to put moments in them. As in, we'll take scraps of paper and write something good that happened on it and then fold it and put it in the jar. On December 31, 2013, we'll sit down and read all of our 2013 memories. 

I saw this idea somewhere on the internet, and I loved it! Y'all should think about trying it. I think it's a great way to remember the little things that happen. 

End of At First Sight.

This will be a short post, as its from my phone. But I just finished the book. And I must say, I was pretty upset at the ending. Definitely bittersweet. But it was about 2/3 bitter and 1/3 sweet. Dang Nicholas Sparks. I was expecting a happy ending. I'm so upset with this!

Been awhile.

It's been a few days since I've really posted anything. The past few days have been a little crazy. 

My phone went wacko again on Thursday, and I had to go into the Sprint store to get it fixed. Apparently, I had too many text messages on my phone and it took up all of the operating memory. I had about 7,000 texts on there. Oops. But all is well again, minus the fact that I lost all of my apps and contacts. I've now put a cap on the number of messages allowed in my threads.

I've read a couple books in the past few days. I read Dreamland (by Sarah Dessen), and True Believer (Nicholas Sparks). I think I've described Dreamland in a previous post. True Believer is one of my favorite Nicholas Sparks books. It's about a reporter from New York who goes down to a small, little nothing town in South Carolina to figure out a mystery. There are lights that appear in an old, sinking cemetery, and the town has a legend that explains it. But this reporter loves to debunk the scientific. But he ends up falling in love. The ending is fantastic. (& now that I think about it, I think I've already described this book, too.)

Now, I'm reading At First Sight, which is a sequel to True Believer. I just started it, and I actually haven't read this one yet. So it shall be interesting!

The other super awesome thing that has happened was that my Kindle finally came back in! I originally got it on December 6th, but somehow the screen went wonky. So Matthew sent it back in for me and got it switched out. He got it Wednesday and he gave it to me yesterday! I finally got it all registered and bought my first book. I bought Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks because I know that I've read it already and they've made a movie about it, so I want to read it again!

Jobs, jobs, jobs.

I've spent all night applying for jobs down in Springtown. I've filled out so many applications and combed through so many sites; written so many cover letters. My mind is so exhausted right now. And what sucks is that I'm not even sure if I will get any calls or emails back. Man, finding a job is tough these days. If any of you work around that area, and know of openings, please let me know! :)

I re-activated my Facebook.....for now. We will see how it goes. I may end up deactivating it again. Like I said, I was really enjoying it. 

To those who actually read my blog: thank you! I seriously appreciate it. 

Nobody puts Baby in a corner.

I turned on ABC Family just in time to see the final scene of Dirty Dancing! This movie is probably one of my favorites. I could watch is all day, every day. The end scene and this scene: 

are totally my favorites! This movie is just so cute. I wish I could dance like them. But sadly, I can't even keep a beat. Every time I watch this movie though, it makes me sad that Patrick Swayze is dead. Man, only the good die young. He was only 34! Lame.

But on a happier note, Burlesque is about to start! 

Storage Wars.

My mom, Tim, & I all watched this as we ate dinner tonight. I found out that Dave Hester was fired from the show! It sucks he lost his part in the show, but damn, I sure didn't like the guy. He was rude, stuck up, and plain obnoxious. No one really liked him. He was a complete ass. 

I was curious to know why he was fired, and so I did some research. Supposedly, he was fired because he went to the network to raise concerns that the show was rigged. (Of course it is - it's TV). He made accusations that the producers planted the valuable items in the lockers (which is illegal) and stated that the network paid for one of the female's plastic surgery to up her sex appeal. The rumor mill is stating that he is filing a lawsuit worth over &750,000 for being unjustly fired, but the network denies any knowledge of such a suit. 

Whatever the cause, this may make the show more enjoyable to watch. Well, at least for me, anyway. Although, I did just watch an episode with Hester's replacement, and he was kind of annoying too. But whatever. The "YUUUUUUUP" is finally gone! Woohoo!

Okay, one last note about this show.... they are expanding too much. With a Storage Wars: Texas and now a Storage Wars: New York, it's just getting obnoxious. Nothing will ever be better than the original. Just sayin'. 

1,000 ways to die.

My mom & I are watching a marathon of 1000 Ways to Die. I think it's pretty fitting for New Year's. I mean, yesterday for New Year's Eve we watched the world's dumbest party goers. And now on the first day of the new year (a day for "new beginnings") we are watching different ways to die. There are some CRAZY ways, let me tell ya. Sometimes this show can make me weak to my stomach though. It can be so graphic! 

Tonight, on Spike, Shawshank Redemption is playing. it's going to be hard to choose between that and Burlesque. Of course, I may not get a choice, because I'm pretty sure my mom is going to say she controls the remote. Whatever! 

New Year's Day is definitely one of those days where you lay around and do absolutely nothing. Matthew & I didn't get out of bed until noon today, and by two, I was totally ready to take a nap. Why am I so tired? I didn't even go out last night. Everything must be catching up to me. Especially work. I'm not used to working 8:30-5 every day. 

So, today is day #2 without social media (with an exception to this), and surprisingly, I really enjoy it. I have random urges to check Facebook, but that only reinforces that I was too attached. But that's not the main reason I'm staying away from it. I'm doing it to stay away from the general public, in a way. I've talked to most of the most important people who have noticed.