Wonderful day!

Today is my birthday, and it's been so wonderful so far. I'm so thankful to God that I've been fortunate enough to live for 22 years on this earth, living and loving life with my amazing family and friends. I am also really thankful for the wonderful people in my life who have made today so special!

 Here are some other things that are just adding to the specialness:

My new shirt. I am IN LOVE with this shirt. I got it on sale at Belk at Crabtree Valley Mall (My birthday present to myself). If you live in the area, I highly recommend you head over there. They have some GREAT sales going on.

My new friend, Chunk. I'm petsitting him and love him so much! He has made life so great for me this week. If you know me well, you know that going outside for a run or long walk everyday is very abnormal behavior for me. But I absolutely love taking him for a walk. I look forward to it every day. Plus, he is such a fast walker that it ends up being a great workout when I try to keep up with him. Another "specialness" factor pictured below is my roomie Madison who is finally back from her summer adventures. I'm happily preparing for many great movie nights to come.

 
We had some awesome cuddle time yesterday. He's so big I don't even really need a pillow, I can just lay on him!




























My coworkers/bosses have also made the day very special! I got a $25 Starbucks gift card and we all went out to lunch at The Raleigh Times. We ordered fried pickles for an appetizer and they were awesome. For my meal, I had the Crunchy Chicken Tacos- they were delicious! I also got to have some cheesecake :) I have been craving cheesecake for weeks now and glad that I finally got my fix. The cheesecake there is homemade and so delicious.

At 7PM I'm going to see Chris Hendricks Band play in Raleigh. It's going to be a great outdoor acoustic set. I haven't been able to see them play in such a long time, and I can't wait! I'll try to take some pictures and post them here soon.

I'm signing off for now. Thanks for reading. And if you're one of those very special people who made my birthday so amazing: THANK YOU! You are awesome.

Hello :)

I've tried all kinds of blogging tools... but realized that I haven't given this one a shot yet. So here it goes.

A bit about me:

I am a complete mess, and I like it. It's who I am and will never change, so I've learned to really embrace it and just go along for the ride. I'm constantly changing my mind and I'll never stop growing, learning and evolving.

I'm always caffeinated. Trust me, you don't want to even try to talk to me when I'm not. I'm not a morning person. Working full time has helped with that (a bit), but this will probably never change.

I love to laugh. I love dogs (and animals in general, but I'm definitely a dog person). I think animals are the best example of unconditional love and have the ability to soothe and heal your soul. I love God. I love my family and friends. I'm not perfect and I will never pretend to be. But, I like to think that I am a good person and I try to make a proactive effort to actually be a good person.

I try to live by this phrase: "Live with intention." Own your choices!

My life is defined by chaotic serenity and I'm going to attempt to record the good stuff here :) See you soon.