Life.

Do you ever feel like life gets the best of you. You get so wrapped up in the daily activities of life (school, work, whatever it is...) and just forget to focus on what is really important. I have discovered in past semesters it is the time when I feel like you have the littlest amount, if any at all, to devote to my quiet times, that I most need it and when God is trying to showing me something. This year, along with many other new years resolutions, I have made a mental note to self that nights that I would usually just say I am too tired or have too much work, that I am going to focus on doing my quiet time.(it is not hard for me to snuggle into bed with my Bible and do my quiet times when school is not crazy, but its a different story when school becomes a major time-hogger) I decided that I was going to redo a study I did several years ago that I did not really do completely. Last night I got in bed about midnight, which is really not that late, but I was tired and really just wanted to roll over and go to bed. Instead I grabbed my Bible, journal, and my study book off of my bedside table and started through chapter 2 of the study. An hour and 15 minutes later, I finished chapter two (it should not have taken that long, but I did get distracted by Riggs at one point and had to take him outside). I finished realizing He was telling me what I needed to hear but was too focused on the happenings of daily life to see and hear what He was telling me. I need to stop getting overly focused on the earthly things that are going on around me and open my eyes, ears, and heart to what He is telling and showing me.

Blowing Rock....

This past weekend we went to what has become one of my favorite places. We went up to our mountain house in Blowing Rock, NC. It was SO nice to get up there for the long weekend. I got up there at about 1030pm Friday night (I have class until 530 on Fridays, so I was delayed getting up there) to near-zero temperatures. Saturday morning after sleeping a bit late and relaxing around the house, we went over to Boone to run some errands. After that, We came back to the house and relaxed. My roommate joined us up there Saturday evening and we went to one of our favorite restaurants up there called Bistro Roca. We had a lovely meal and then went home and played a little Wii. Sunday we slept in and relaxed around the house. Lindsay and I went up to the parkway in attempt to show Lindsay what it looks like up there and the 100 mile views.... we had no luck. Because of the ice and snow that I had begun to fall over night, the parkway heading from Blowing Rock towards the Linn Cove Viaduct was closed. Instead we went over to the Moses Cone Manner, which is beautiful and has a nice view, but it is just not as long. Sunday evening we went over to the Lehman's house for dinner. It was great to see their new home which is absolutely beautiful! It was also fun to see Anna who is about 3 or 4 weeks from delivering their new baby!!! While we were at Jonathan and Anna's, the snow started falling. It snowed all day Sunday and Monday. We had to have someone come de-ice our driveway before we left. It was the most snow I had seen up there. It was LOTS of fun! Before we left, Lindsay and I went sledding in the front yard, which was also so much fun!!! Then, it was time to head back to Clemson.... school work was calling my name! It was a great weekend and so much fun to get out of Clemson and just relax for a few days!!! Enjoy the pictures from the weekend!

1. View from Moses Cone Manner towards downtown Blowing Rock.... it really is out there...

2. Another view towards Blowing Rock with the pond at Chetola out there.

3. Julian Price Pond from the Blue Ridge Parkway

4. The view out to Yonalossee from our porch... this is out from just under

the covered dining porch....

The New Year

So this new year started out with less than a bang.... I mean I was the only one still awake in our household. But since then, things have been pretty busy. I am excited about all this semester seems to be offering education wise as well as the growth that I am expecting personally. This semester I am taking a health care studio. We are working on specific aspects of the patient room which I find very interesting. Plus we are working with the industrial designs students at Carleton University in Ottawa Canada, which means we will do some traveling this semester- they come here, we go there... etc etc. Should be a wonderful learning experience in product design. So far studio has been busy but manageable. I think it will get kind of more crazy in the next few weeks, but for now, it has been good.

Outside of school, I am just enjoying life. I made several new years resolutions that I am working hard to keep and hold to. One of them, is getting back on track with the diet I started last year. So far, since school started that is, I have lost about 4 pounds. So I am happy with that in 2 weeks!! I hope that I can keep that up! I also made a resolution to get more exercise. So far I have done fairly good at that. I have gone to the gym several times with my roommate as well as taken Riggs for long walks, which is good for both of us! I am also working at being more social. It seems to be a resolution I always have a hard time with. I always fall into the trap that I let school get in the way of life. I am trying really hard to not have that be that way this semester. I know that there are times when I will have to let school take over, but for the moment, I am trying hard to not be that way. Finally, I really want to get back on track with my daily quiet time.

On that note, I am going to go and do some reading and then head to bed.