I Haven't Forgotten You, I Promise

Oh VEDA - how you take over my life. Filming, editing, watching, commenting, the cycle never seems to end. Even when I do have time to blog, my blog ideas end up going into ideas for videos. Sorry about that blog, I don't mean to neglect you. Soon, April will be over and I'll get back to writing for real.

Although, I have noticed a couple of you have hopped over to my YouTube channel to watch my daily videos. Thanks so much! If you want to catch up on what I've been doing all month, click here.

See? Even my Instagram knows VEDA has taken over my life. Even at Starbucks!
https://instagram.com/lovewokemeup/

In the meantime, here's a quick "currently" post to let you know what I'm up to and that I haven't died.

Watching: Other than all of the YouTube videos, I just finished the 7th season of Mad Men on Netflix and have moved onto The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (hilarious!) and going back to the first season of Reign which I still haven't finished. Oh the drama!

Listening:  I'm still ridiculously addicted to Tyler Oakley's podcast, Psychobabble. It's just so funny! When I'm not listening to that though, I'm jamming out to my typical showtunes, Glee covers, Ed Sheeran, and Hozier.

Wondering:  What's going to happen in the next few months. The preschool where I'm working officially announced they weren't going to be doing a summer program like we were last year. While, I'm always on the job hunt, it's a little more desperate now. If you're in the Chicago area and have any job leads, hook me up!

Eating:  Chocolate covered raisins. My family gets them from this local candy store and I'm totally addicted. On the flip side, I also have been eating a ton of salads and fruit for lunch at work. Something about spring time which makes me crave healthier foods. I'll get over soon I'm sure.

Battling:  A cough/cold/allergies. I'm in the phase where I can't go five minutes without hacking up a lung. It'll be gone after 3 or so months.

Reading: Too many books. JUST KIDDING! There's no such thing as reading too many books. Right now I'm in the middle of Reading Lolita in Tehran,  just started The Diamond Conspiracy, and just about to being Unbroken. Speaking of Unbroken, it's Bonnie's book club pick for April, and a week from tomorrow I'll be co-hosting the discussion with her! It's not too late to start reading and join us!

Drinking:  Lately my Starbucks drink of choice has been the Youthberry tea. It's sooooo good. Although, now that it's getting warmer I'm going to have to switch over to an iced drink. One of my favorites iced is a vanilla chai latte with a shot of espresso. AMAZING.

Looking Forward to:  NERDCON! What? You haven't heard of NerdCon? It's a new convention focused on the art of storytelling starting up this year and it'll be taking place in October in Minneapolis. I was somehow able to convince my friend to join me and I can't wait! I know it's 6 months away, but it'll be so awesome! You can learn more by clicking here.  They're already 1/2 sold out so you should get your tickets soon. If you're going too let me know so we can hang out!

What's going on in your lives? I'd love to hear!

Wanderlust

It's my first real day of spring break for the preschool. It's one of the perks of working at a school - you still get things like spring break. Chicago has finally decided spring really is coming and I'm sitting here at my kitchen table looking at the sun shining through the window and buds growing on the trees.

Around this time is when my wanderlust starts to kick in. Maybe because I've spent the last five months inside as winter took over the Chicagoland area. I'm ready to venture out and explore new things.

For years spring break meant traveling. In high school it was usually a big choir or band trip for a tour our directors had planned for us. In college it was going down to the Appalachian mountains to do service work. When I graduated, while I didn't have a spring break anymore, it was during this time of the year I was knee deep in preparations for all of the summer trips I would be taking the youth on. Getting ready for camp, finalizing plans for going to New Orleans or San Antonio, putting together a summer retreat, or training for a mission trip.

On occasion, I even got to go somewhere and it wasn't for work. Like, the time I went to New York. Or, a couple of years ago at this time I was still riding the high from going to Orlando and meeting some of my blog friends.

This past year I didn't have any trips planned, and I don't have any to look forward to now either.

Other than perhaps driving over to Indiana to see family - which is always nice for a little break in the routine.

I'm feeling that wanderlust pull to jump in my car and drive for hours at a time or to catch the next plane to anywhere. To try new foods and meet new people, see something I haven't before, and go on an adventure where I could look back and say "I didn't know I could do that."

Lately, I've been seeing posts from people on the Internet about their vacations and their plans to travel later this year. Friends of mine are telling me about the vacations they are planning with their loved ones. I can't help but feel a little envious.

I shouldn't have anything to be envious about. I've been able to go from coast to coast and seen beaches and forests and mountains and theme parks and Broadway shows. While I say I feel like I haven't gone anywhere, that's not true. There are just so many more places I want to go.

But for now, those ideas and places will have to stay on hold. Unless I decide to be irresponsible with my tax refund and blow it all on a trip. Which, probably won't happen, and that's okay.

Eventually, I'll get back on the open road or hop on that airplane. I'll just have to be paitent until that time comes.

10 Books for Your Summer Vacation

One of my best friends is traveling to Italy and Germany with her family at the beginning of June. (Without me! How dare she abandon me for like 10 days????) We were chatting at Starbucks last week and she asked me for some recommendations for books to read while on the plane. She wanted something fun and light to read and not wanting to be overwhelmed with sadness and thinking crazy deeply.

I completely agree with her about books to travel with. Especially when you're going to be on a busy and crazy trip like she is. Also, being on vacation you are relaxing and having fun. I feel like your reading material should be the same.

So, here are 10 books I'd recommend for while traveling. They are fun and light and wonderful in all of the best ways possible.

Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin

This is a perfect book for summer and vacations. It takes place in the summer, it's full of friends, love, and having affairs with your best friend's fiance! Also, plot points happen while on the beach in the Hamptons. If that doesn't scream summer vacation, I don't now what does!

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Or other books by Jane Austen really. They aren't exactly "light" reads - but they can be super fun, sweet, and romantic. Especially if you're already familiar with the stories.

Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences by Pip Ballentine and Tee Morris

I love this series! If you like science fiction/steampunk you will too. I love Book and Braun and their witty banter back and forth with their crazy adventures.

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

Hear me out before you judge.

Something light that you can breeze through without much thought and if you happen to lose it while gallivanting about your vacation? Um... Twilight. No, it's not quality literature. Yes, there are a lot of things wrong in the story. But it's fun. It's like cotton candy and we all know calories while on vacation don't count.

If you really can't stomach Twilight, go for The Host which is still very Stephanie Meyer but I personally think was better done.

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

This is one of my favorite books to share with people. I actually read this on the plane on my trip to Orlando last year. It was fun, cute, sweet, and full of "squee" moments. Also, it takes place in Paris. So, it's perfect for travel.

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

Mix together a quarter life crisis, geek life, coming of age, and a love story which is basically what Sleepless in Seattle tried to do but way cuter vs. creepy and you have Attachments. I read this book earlier this year and it's so adorable and wonderful. If you want a book that's more YA - go for Fangirl by the same author.

The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien

As awesome as Lord of the Rings is, it's pretty hefty for travel. The Hobbit fits the bill perfectly though! It's all about Bilbo leaving his home to go on an adventure with a bunch of dwarfs. It's cultural and classic, but a fun read too. Besides, they make pocket versions of the book which will fit wonderfully into your carry-on.

The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine

This is actually a childrens book, but it's really cute. It's about a young princess who leaves her home to find a cure for the deadly sickness her sister had gotten.

Never Have I Ever (My Life So Far Without A Date) by Katie Heaney

This one is a memoir/non-fiction book and it's fantastic! Even if you have had a million dates and relationships, you'll probably still be able to relate to Katie's lack of luck with guys. I laughed so hard while I read this because I completely understood where she was coming from and felt as though she and I were basically the same person. No matter what your relationship status, you'll love this one. Also, she's super sweet on Twitter.

Peter Pan by JM Barrie

Another children's book, but a classic. Besides, while we've all seen the many film and TV adaptations of the story, when was the last time you actually read the original?

Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning!

What are your favorite travel/vacation reads?

Linking up with The Broke and Bookish for 10 on Tuesday!

A Manifesto- Part 2: I Want To Live in a World...

Last week, I shared with you all what I believe as the first part of my manifesto. (You can read it here.) Today, I'll share with you the next part.

Finish this sentence:

I want to live in a world where...

- I can have time to keep in touch with the people I care about

- I'm busy

- I'm filled with creativity

- I'm interacting with others and meeting new people

- Bandit is there

- I'm in love

- I can travel

- Stories and books are welcome

- People are helping and caring for one another

- Grace abounds

It's a short post for today, but I honestly feel like that pretty much covers it. 

What kind of a world do you want to live in?

A Manifesto- Part 1: I Believe

All year, I have been getting Cake For Breakfast. Each Monday I receive an email with a writing prompt which is supposed to help me figure out what I want in life, how I view the world, etc. It's been pretty awesome and I've really been enjoying writing out all of my thoughts.

This week, the prompt was a bit different and it caused me to think a lot more than I have in the past. We were supposed to write a manifesto.

According to the Merriam-Webster website, a manifesto is "a written statement that describes the policies, goals, and opinions of a person or group."

Ashley, (the creator of Cake for Breakfast) had us write our manifesto in five parts.

1) I Believe

2) I Want to Live in a World...

3) Here's What I Know for Sure...

4) Your piece of advice you want to share with the world.

5) A one sentence mini-manifesto.

Usually, the writing prompts have just a couple of questions and take about ten minutes to complete. This week... I have a lot to think about and I'll probably be working on it all week. However, I did get started on the "I Believe" part, and I wanted to share it with all of you.

Although, I will admit, as I was writing this I totally felt like Elder Price and was singing the song "I Believe" in my head the entire time. Even thought I'm not a Mormon.

If you have no idea what song I'm talking about, it's from the musical The Book of Mormon and you can see the Tony performance by clicking here.

Anyways.

... Jesus gives unconditional love, grace, mercy, freedom, and new beginnings every day

... family is a gift

... family can extend beyond blood

... stories can tell the truth and expand our imagination

... the arts feed us just as much as food

... in puppy and kitty kisses

... in laughter

... in tears

...in measuring life in love

... loving God means loving others

... in snow days

... in coffee shops

... in being kind to those who serve (ex. your waiter)

... Internet friends can be just as close as "real life" friends

... in taking a day off

... in changing your life when the time comes

... in being honest

... in traveling

... in expanding your horizons and getting out of your comfort zone

... sometimes you just have to let it go

... in romance

... in learning new things

... sometimes it's okay to just stay at home and watch TV/Netflix with family and a good book

... in fairy tales, even if they look different than we first imagine

...  sometimes life is hard, but that doesn't meant it's not beautiful

... in faith and hope and trust

... we are all broken, but loved.

What do you believe?

Pack Your Bags!

Because I'm obsessed with giving you music lately, here is a song for you to listen to as you read:

I didn't link-up for Blogtember yesterday due to my Awesome Female Role Models post, and I'm stumped on what to do for today's topics, I'm going to do yesterday's!

If I could take three months off of work and do anything, I would grab some family/friends and run away to Europe. While this probably isn't very unique, I'm sure many other bloggers have said the same thing or something along those lines as well, I just know that is what I would want to do. 

Stories Come to Life

While I was in Alabama last week, part of our team took a little field trip to Monroeville. We were pretty excited for a couple of reasons. One, it was nice to get away from the tiny town we were in and go back to a place with pavement and cell phone reception. Two, it is the hometown of Harper Lee and Truman Capote, and the inspiration for the book To Kill A Mockingbird.

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Throwback Thursday: Favorite Summer Vacation

It's another edition of Throwback Thursday!!!!!! Don't you just love looking back into my childhood? Good times. 

Today's Topic: Favorite Summer Vacation

In all honesty, my family didn't go on many vacations in the summer. When I was really young we did Disney World and a few others, but I don't really remember them outside of photos. It was hard to go on vacation because my dad was a funeral director and you can't really plan when people die in advance... Then when my sister and I got older we were really busy in the summers with marching band and such, so we didn't have time for many vacations. 

27 Lessons in 27 Years

A few weeks ago, I had a birthday and turned 27.

I'm getting old you guys.

In my "old age" I felt like I should impart upon you some wisdom I've learned over the years. So listen up younguns!

Going on Adventures

Hey all! I'm Chelsea and I blog over at Lost in Travels. Long story short, just four months after my man and I got hitched, we started rethinking the whole 'settling down' in our hometown thing. We wanted adventure, we wanted something different. So what did we do? Packed up all our belongings in two 50 pound bags and jumped on a plane to South Korea. So what ever do we do in Korea? I'm glad you asked...

Go on exotic adventures while on vacation

Pray everyday that our $200 clown car doesn't break down on us

Go to way too many festivals

Try our best to try and recreate good ol' American food with the slim grocery selection that we have

 Observe a different way of living

Try to find American food in the midst of rice

Frolic through green tea fields

Go hiking (while I'm 20 feet behind my husband panting and asking him to slow the freak down)

Everyday is a new challenge, a new adventure, and a new story to be told. We can't wait to see what happens next!

Thanks so much for having me Emmy! And I hope you'll stop by my blog where I talk about our daily lives as expats in the land of kimchi, along with documenting our world travels. Be sure to say hi, I would love to hear from you!

Emmy's Note: Thank you so much Chelsea for guest blogging today! I sponsored Lost in Travels in June and it was one of the best sponsoring experiences I've had yet. I love her blog and reading about all of her adventures with her husband and it makes me want to pack a bag and get out of town! If you're wondering where I am, I actually did just that! Only it's for work and I took 19 teenagers with me on a big bus down to Texas for the week. But don't worry, the blog will still be up and going while I'm gone and this week I have a lot planned for you all. More of Find Your Voice, Awesome Female Role Models, Throwback Thursday, and one or two other surprises.

July To Be Read Pile

Hey guys, guess what?

July is in like 3 days.

When did that happen?

That means, it's time for new books to be read. Hoorray!!!!

Unfortunately, between Romeo and Juliet, Vacation Bible School, and preparing for going to Texas with 19 teenagers and summer camp... reading kind of fell to the back burner.

I'm still working on Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs, but that should be done before I leave for Texas. I also completed City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare and The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.

However, these books were totally forgotten about:

I also checked out The Time Traveler's Wife by Audry Niffinger for the Favorite Books Project, but didn't have a chance to read it and I need to return it. Sigh.

Which means they are going into my July To Be Read Pile.

I'll be adding a couple of other books to my list for the month though.

With all of my traveling, I'm going to do my best to read from my iPad as much as I can so I'm not lugging around a million hard cover books all over the place.

I'll start with The Help by Kathryn Stockett which I downloaded this week from my local library. I have it for two weeks so I want to be sure to get this one done before it's taken away.

Then I'll also work on Clockwork Angel by Cassandara Clare (The Infernal Devices #1). I'm so excited for this book! I started reading The Mortal Instruments because this trilogy looked AMAZING and I've heard a lot about the character William Harendale. So as soon as The Help is done, I'm moving onto this! It's been waiting on my iPad very patiently for a couple months now, so I feel like it deserves to be read sooner rather than later.

If I still need another book to read during my travels in July, I'll then go on to read Struck By Lightening by Chris Colfer. Being a Gleek, I love Chris Colfer. I think he's awesome and crazy talented.He's in his early 20s, stars in a hit TV show where he sings and dances, wrote and directed a movie, and then wrote a book based off of his movie. So yes... he's awesome. I haven't seen the movie yet, but you can be sure that it's on my Netflix Queue and I'll be watching it once I read the book!

But that book will be there if I have time after I read the ones I missed in June and my travel books.

I also still need to pick a book to read from my Favorite Books Project list. Any of them you want me to get my hands on right away?

As always, if you really want to follow me along in my reading adventures, see where I'm at, my reviews and such, follow me on GoodReads!

A Not So Average Weekend

I think I need to come to terms with the fact that I don't have "normal" weekends.

Either I'm hanging out with zombies or I spend it with a ton of teenagers. Although by the end of the weekend, it can be hard to tell the difference between the two. I suppose that's one of the "hazards" of working in youth ministry. But if you don't expect this to happen... maybe it's not the right job for you.

For people who are familiar with the "sterotypcial" youth ministry world, when you think of youth retreats and trips there are a few things which come to mind:

- Loud music

- Crazy games

- Hundreds of hormonal teenagers

- A big mess

- No sleep

- Making sure nothing breaks

- Poking the teenagers every few minutes to be sure they're still awake during Bible study

A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes

Believe it or not...Harry Potter wasn't the only thing I did in Orlando.

I know... I know... it's hard to believe but there are other things to enjoy in Orlando beyond Harry Potter. It was a shock to me too. ;-)

For our second full day in Florida, Lor, Kirstie, and I had no idea what we wanted to do, but decided on Downtown Disney

The day mainly consisted of us taking pictures at the Lego Store - cause these Lego sculptures are awesome.

A Lot of Lists and Fan Girling

While you are reading this, I will be:

A) Sitting at the airport waiting for my flight

B) At my friend Chelci's preparing to leave for the airport

C) Sitting on an airplane

D) Arriving in ORLANDO to see Alice, Kirstie, and Lor.

E) Sleeping

That's right friends - I'm heading to Orlando this week!

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3 Flights, 2 Bags, One Me

In two days I leave for NYC.

Manhattan.

The Big Apple.

New York, New York.

Which means...

Packing.

You Never Let Go

Last week I traveled to Joplin, MO for Camp Noah.

Whenever I come back from trips like this and people ask me about it.... I never know what to say.

Lets Go Camping!

Day 2: Your Favorite Movie

I thought I was going to say one of two movies - but when I really thought about it, I surprised myself. My favorite Harry Potter movie was actually...

Times When I Want to Visit California and Europe

Day 4: Favorite Book of Your Favorite Series

I couldn't choose just one. Sorry.

Leavin' On a Jet Plane

For the second time within the last few weeks Lauren Lankford has inspired me. (The other time it was the whole Human Branding thing.) So in case you haven't noticed . . . SHES REALLY GOOD.  This morning one of her posts was featured on a blog. I had read this post before, and I remember it hit me really hard. Then when I read it for a second time this morning, it hit me hard once again. She asks the questions:


"What would you still have if you woke up tomorrow morning with all your possessions gone? What would you do if you were given one suitcase to fill in 10 minutes before you moved 3000 miles away? How would you deal with the material faux-foundation being stripped out from under your feet?"


I'm one of those people who complains about having too much stuff. This was particularly evident the tree times I've moved while living in Missouri. I remember lamenting to a friend of mine, who was also in the process of moving, about how I had too much stuff.