No Wasted Breath

Hello again and welcome back to my most anticipated post of the year! Today, I'm happily kicking off the Summer Bucket List with a hot off the press, brand spankin' new 2017 edition (*throws confetti*)!! Get ready for lots of exciting SBL-themed posts and updates coming at you each week.

If you’ve never seen one of these posts from me and don’t know how the list works, basically, the goal is to complete and blog about each of these items on the list as I check them off. Want to see how much progress I've made? Return to this post often to see what I've checked off. I also encourage you to subscribe via email on the sidebar to get updated when I post so that you’ll never miss an adventure!

To update you on life currently: I took my final final exam yesterday morning and since then have been living in summer bliss, patiently waiting for graduation to mark the official end to my high school career. Let me tell you, senior year has been crazy and as much as I’ll remember the good things that came from it, I’m more than ready to close this chapter of my life. With the festivities of graduation upon us, it'll be so great to be able to visit with family and celebrate these last 12+ years I've spent as a student.

In honor of the new beginnings, changes, and transition periods I will be opening myself up to over the next several months, I wanted to bring a theme to this year’s bucket list. This summer is all about one simple phrase. Three words, four syllables. Follow Your Fears.

The idea came from an inspired thought I've toyed with recently. Many people in this life will tell you to face your fears, but not many will tell you to drop everything and follow them. But why would I want that for you? Why would I push you to bend, break, and make yourself vulnerable to your fears? Because that, my friends, is where the change happens. That’s where mindsets are changed, lives are changed, and you find your most authentic self. Just think about the parts of you that will never be discovered if you let yourself exist only in comfort!

I feel like a lot of people today live in their own little bubbles, accepting the fears that hold them in their current situation, whether that be a toxic friendship, a bad attitude, or just a mindset that refuses to try new things. This particular phrase is timely for me in particular because these next few months in preparation for college will be spent coming to terms with the fact that my entire existence is about to flip upside down. However, this truly can be applied to any point in life. There will always be things right outside of your current reach that, because of fear or worry, become lost as dreams.

Well, this is your excuse to make them happen. Write that book, start that blog, pour yourself into a craft or hobby, reach out to old friends, go on an adventure. Whatever it is that scares you, (with obvious caution) follow it.

These annual summer bucket lists reflect that same message in my own life. They push me to take my camera new places, reach out to new people, overcome obstacles, and focus on my passions. This year's post in particular includes, along with some classic SBL items, things that scare me. Things that were hard to even write about doing, much less actually doing. However, I know that it will be the challenging items that stretch me and push me, growing me into the person I know I can become. So, without further ado, behold this year’s Summer Bucket List.

~~Have a classic picnic date~~
Set off a firework myself
~~Cook a whole meal on the grill~~
~~Watch the sunrise and sunset…on the same day~~
Go electronics-free for 3 days
Grow something new
~~Pick fruit~~
~~Go to a baseball game~~
~~Attend an outdoor concert~~
Tube down a river
Find a waterfall
Have a backyard movie night
Visit a water park
Bike the VA creeper trail
Try a DIY project
Explore a new city
~~Spend a day on the lake~~
Cross state lines
~~Try stand up paddle boarding~~
Make a fruity drink
~~Take a lighthouse tour~~
Hammock in strange places
Visit Elevation Church’s main campus
Get a henna tattoo
Try a new type of food
Make a meal from entirely from farmers market ingredients
Relocate the blog
Start a business
~~Summit a mountain~~
FREE SPACE
Cook a huge family dinner
~~Design and host an event~~
Go thrifting
Run a 5k
Practice self love
Train for a triathalon
~~Volunteer~~
Learn something new
Flip off of a rope swing
Make a Freshman Year Bucket List (!!)

Feel free to take this idea into your own life and commit to a few of your own bucket list items for the summer! It doesn’t have to be strict or formal, but it could be an exciting challenge and a push out of your comfort zone.

Wishing you all a summer full of love, happiness, and overcome fears.

Much Love,
Sydney

Many of my classmates and maybe even yourself will remember their senior year of high school as the peak of their secondary education, a year filled with crazy adventures and lasting friendships. It is an immensely exciting time in life as the pieces of the future fall a little more clearly into place and finally, instead of just imagining the next four years, you can truly anticipate it. By this point, most people have hit their stride (at least as much of a stride as you can reach in the world of public education).

Now don’t get me wrong, part of that was true for me. I have been able to be much more flexible with my time and schedule, finally having a chance to pry myself away from my AP study material and the next assignment on the syllabus. However, this year has been nowhere near smooth. I’m talking a drama infested, anxiety ridden mess of a year.

So, before “Pomp and Circumstance” rings in my final moments as a high school senior, I'd like to take a chance to reflect on some of the things I’ve learned this past year. While you peruse my post, enjoy the pictures I’ve added of the graduation photoshoot my bible study friends and I had! Grab a cup of tea, this one’s a long one...

I was first inspired to do this post while composing a reflection I turned in as my final assignment for my AP Literature class this past week. Basically, my teacher wanted each of us to reflect on at least six events in our lives which have shaped us and taught us lessons about life. Coincidentally, the first six events that popped in my mind all came from my senior year (if that doesn’t indicate how hectic life has been…). However, dwelling on these points of extreme heartbreak, loss, and pain has inspired me to take another more positive look on the past year in an effort to find both gratitude and closure.

I’m a firm believer that there is good that comes from every draining and unsuccessful experience, even if it’s just a reminder to not do it again. On that note, I want to elaborate on the 5 things which I have been most genuinely grateful for this past year.

1. Long Distance

Many of my readers may remember Preston, my boyfriend of a year and a half, who, this past August, made a huge transition to his first year of University. The transition to long distance was definitely hard on both of us. He was off in a new place with strangers and no familiarity, and I was left at home for another year, looking anxiously towards making the same transition myself in the coming year. Between the stress of separation and the difficulty of communication, this experience pushed us to find personal connection in creative ways beyond each other’s physical presence. We had to be intentional with every part of our relationship, making time for phone calls, organizing care packages, planning visits, and being openly communicative.

I am grateful for the opportunity this experience gave us to grow stronger as a couple and root ourselves in our own separate lives. It gave me a chance to make independent strides in my own personal growth and school, and it helped prove to me that our relationship, while not my identity, makes me a better person.

Bible Study

Ever since my sophomore year, one of the few constants in my life has been the Friday Girls Bible Study a few friends and I founded. We gather together on a weekly bases to share a short devotion, Panera bagels, and the current happenings of our lives. Sounds simple, and really it is, but there’s something so special about fellowship between Jesus lovers, no matter what you’re doing or discussing.

Through friendship troubles, tough classes, the stress of family issues, and whatever life throws at me, these girls and their love for God have gotten me through it all. As you can also probably tell from the pictures, they’re all adorable in their UNC gear! That’s right - all us seniors are going to the same college next year. Turns out Friday night bible study doesn’t have to end when the school year does, and that’s one heck of a blessing.

3. UNC

While we’re chatting about college, it’s definitely worth mentioning how much the college search, application, and acceptance process has blessed me. I’m beyond excited to be a brand new Tar Heel and begin my transition to life as a University student! From visiting campus to finding a roommate to becoming a National Champion, I’ve never anticipated a new chapter in my life so much. Fresh starts, while sometimes scary, are filled with gifts beyond imagination, and I’m so stoked to follow God’s calling for my own life in Chapel Hill, NC. The future is bright.

4. Bullet Journals

Another random thing I’ve been grateful for is something called a bullet journal. I won’t go into the details of its operation, but I think “brain dump meets planner” is a pretty accurate way to summarize how I’ve kept my bullet journal notebook. Basically, it’s a new method I’ve used for organization, planning, and creative expression, and it’s given me a new perspective on how necessary art, writing, and creating are to the upkeep of the soul.

Past the early primary school years, so many people give up the colored pens and pencils, markers and journals, in the pursuit of more “practical” uses of their time beyond something so elementary as drawing and creative writing. However, there is so much research and personal testimony that has been collected about the benefits of exercising creativity in whichever medium you prefer (song, dance, art, writing, etc.) as a means of personal satisfaction.

Strangely enough, this passion for living a more creative life has come full circle as my final year of high school comes to an end. Creativity has never for me been the end goal, but rather has served me to better how I see the world and live in it in my school work, personal projects (i.e. the current post you’re reading), and my own quiet time with the Lord.

5. Family

Of course, I’ve saved the best for last. My darling family who brought me into this world, raised and nurtured me, and showered me in love is at the top of my list.

I know after I move out that nothing will be the same. I will visit the same rooms and return to sleep in the same bed, but life without me will have gone on. By that same token, my life will have gone on without them. However, as I grow apart from them and the distance separates us, I know they’ll always be there to support me. They’ll be my built in friends, my encouragers, and the people I’ll always have to turn to. How could I not be grateful for such a profound and lasting connection?

I’m also thankful for you, sweet reader. However you’ve impacted my life, however you’ve supported me. It’s a joy to know you and for you to read my words.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this lengthy post and have been assured that life, no matter how sticky and messy, is blessed in abundance.

Much Love,

Sydney xx

Hi, lovely reader! You’re in for a treat today (no, its not a slice of pie…but you’re getting warmer!). Today I am sharing with you my adventures at the farmer's market along with some pictures of a peach + blueberry cobbler I made from the produce we got.

Sadly, there will be no recipe today. I was planning to use this post to check off “perfect a recipe” on my bucket list, but the recipe didn’t come out the best. However, it did make for some drool-worthy pictures.

Hopefully in the future I will be able to perfect a different recipe and share that one, but for today here’s what we’re working with… I hope you can forgive me!

This past Saturday my lovely mother and I spent the morning together around town soaking in all the local love. First, we headed to the launch of BodyFlow 73 at our YMCA. BodyFlow is a Les Mills group exercise class that combines Yoga, Tai Chi, and Pilates for a workout that's both relaxing and challenging (something I didn't know was possible until BodyFlow). I feel like a spokeswoman for this class as I've raved about it time after time to friends and family. It's totally worth a try if you enjoy group exercise or want to try out something new!

This release was full of great songs and was one of my personal favorites in the time I've been taking this class (probably a little more than a year now).

Following our workout we decided to visit some of the venders at a small local farmers market in the area. It's only a few miles from the gym, so it was a very convenient stop. I was looking for some fruit, and I found these beautiful berries. There were lots of veggies to choose from as well, but the only thing I found to put in a cobbler were these.

So it was off to another farmers market (not pictured) we went! At the second market, we got a whopping 4.5 pounds of fresh peaches. I was content.

Here they are in all their golden peachy glory. Raw. Bare. I do love a good peach.

A few days later I cut these bad boys up and prepped them to be ready to be tossed with spices and sugars galore! It was time to get the cobbler started.

I had a special guest come visit me to be my personal assistant/recipe scribe/ben & jerry's supplier (thank you preston if you read this!). Here he is being a handsome little goof helping to show off my new package of coconut sugar. Little tip for making ultra rich desserts: use coconut sugar for a caramel flavor that is even stronger than brown sugar. I'm a sucker for new ingredients and think just about any health food is exciting, but you have to give this one a try.

LOOK AT THAT. This is probably one of the best food pics I've ever taken. The lighting and editing finally does these gorgeous fruits some justice.

I know what you're thinking. Sydney... this isn't the most flattering picture. And that smile isn't exactly the most convincing. Well you'd be right. These are both very true statements and the reason I included this picture isn't either of them. This picture is actually to aid in telling the story of what happened right before this picture was taken.

So at this point in the cobbler making/photo taking process, I was very ready to just shove this thing in the oven. I'd spent too much time sprinkling cinnamon and coming up with a topping dough recipe to even care how the final product looked. I just wanted a few minutes of rest. However, Preston, as my wonderful assistant (no sarcasm there. this is in no way his fault. seriously.), decided that I needed a picture with my masterpiece. So, he snatched the camera out of my coconut oil-greased hands and told me to, you know, kneel down near the cobbler and look like I was enjoying myself. So me being the absent minded frenzied baker I am decided it would be a good idea to tilt the cobbler towards the camera (i'm talking more than 45 degrees) as one might do with a birthday cake so that the camera could pick up the cobbler's detail.

Now I'm sure you can guess where this is going. I smiled for the picture, but before it was snapped I noticed that, well, my cobbler was falling out of the dish. I don't know why I was convinced that cobbler didn't follow the same rules of gravity as every other baked good, but there I was with a quarter of my cobbler plopped ever so gracefully onto the island top. In a defeated mess, I begrudgingly picked up my cobbler and fixed my mess. I will have to give credits to Preston on this one, however. If it wasn't for him making me get over my spilt cobbler, I may very well still be a sad mess on the floor crying out that "my life is over." Yes, it was overdramatic. No, it probably won't be the last time I react that way.

After my invisible tears were wiped and my dignity strapped back on like a raggedy old apron, clinging for dear life, I took this kind of sad picture.

End of story.

*bows*

So here it is. All in one piece and shining like the big glistening cobbler it always wanted to be when it grew up.

And here is it plated. Yes, intentionally out of the glassware this time.

And here's the man who just keeps saving the day. I think I'm gonna need to keep him around.

Thank you for reading today's entry, and let me know how you enjoyed this style of blog post as well as these pictures. I really enjoyed photographing them, and was very content with the finished product. Do you feel the same? Different? Leave a comment!

Until I blog again! I hope your summer days stay fresh and fruity.

Much love,

Sydney x