Is It Really Almost 2012?

I can't even begin to imagine how fast this year has gone by! I have never felt so rushed before either. I kinda feel robbed of 2011! So much has happened this year, some good and some bad. A lot of the bad happened when I started junior year, but that is too personal to post on the web. A lot of good has happened too! A lot of new babies, relationships, friends, experiences, and more. I would normally say all the big things that have happened this year right about now, but it has all been over exposed. Life right now? Is ok, I haven't been myself since August 19th. Again, too personal to talk about. It's not anything life threatening though!

Current news: Exams are over, and I am so grateful! I am just so burned out on school right now, I really needed this break! Not just for sleep, but for reconnecting with some friends and easing up on myself. I have been so incredibly stressed out about school and college and lots of other stuff. Money is a big issue as well. I have no clue how I am going to get a car, go to college, live on my own, or pay for my own stuff(which I do a lot of now, but it's definitely different once you turn 18). I hope to relax a little bit and let God take over when he decides to or when the time is right! I have been reading Jeremiah 29 a lot lately, because it has been redefining how I see things. It helps me remember that I am not in charge of my life, God is. I really wish I remember that more often and not just not now.

Nicaragua? I am going back as of now, I have roughly $200 saved up. So, I have a pretty good head start! I just need to send letters out!

Everything else is good; family is good, friends are good, and I am pretty good too. I just felt the need to document this crazy time of year!

Merry Christmas!

~m

What I'm Thankful For...

I'm thankful for wonderful friends, family, and church. I'm thankful for waking up each morning, starbucks catch up sessions with good friends, and warm beds. I'm thankful for a good education, a loving home, and good books to read. I'm thankful for technology, God, and Nicaragua. I'm thankful for cry sessions with best friends and make up sessions. I'm thankful for good guy friends, amazing best friends, and my dgroup. I'm thankful for being provided for, having loving parents, and a honest relationship with my parents. I'm thankful for good weather, a safe neighborhood, and reliable friends. I'm thankful for safe water, good food, and clothes.

Needless to say, I'm thankful for lots of things, even though I don't always acknowledge it. I love my life, and everyone in it! I'm so thankful to even be breathing as I write this. I'm so fortunate for everything that I have. Including the laptop I'm typing on, and the phone that I communicate with. Not everything in life is a right, a lot of it is a privilege. I'm trying to remember that each day, that I'm incredibly lucky to live this way and have all that I have!

I thank my God every time I remember you- Philippians 1:3

~m

It's Been Awhile...

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1861668942850.251959.1274733448&type=1&l=7d0267c4d7


There is a link to almost all the pictures i took in Nicaragua in July! A week ago today, I receive some amazing news! Our church senior high group is going BACK TO NICARAGUA NEXT SUMMER!!! I am so excited to be going back to a place that struck me so much as beautiful and joyous. Nicaragua is a place that will always hold a special part of my heart. I could easily give up all the luxuries of America and live there, and no...I'm not just saying that! If I could, I would move to El Ayudante and live there for a year and continue what we all started there this summer. I want to build another house, if not two! I am so glad that God put it upon my youth leaders hearts to return to Nicaragua. I am beyond excited to be going back, and I hope that next summer will be even better than this year!!


In school related news, I had to drop Chemistry Honors because I was failing. Lucky for me though, I brought my grade from a 58 to a 78 in a few weeks! I'm just grateful to have passed! That grade brought my GPA down really far, I went from a 3.8 to a 3.3, I'm very disappointed with that. Otherwise, everything else has been great! I have a high B in Algebra, which I am very proud of! 


Family news? Not much new stuff, I got my license on August 26 though! I have been driving everywhere since then, only driving moms car though! I can't drive dad's considering he has a stick shift. I'm learning though! Axel is a year old now, and weighs about 55 pounds. He's still a wimp haha! 


College stuff has been kinda overwhelming. I haven't really sat down and down much research on anything really. I just want a good college, low tuition, a good biology program, and I'd rather it be in state! I'm not very picky.


Well, That's a pretty good update over the past few months. I'll try to update more often, I have had bloggers block! I don't really have much to blog about. Everything has been kinda boring and not special? I guess you could think of it as that. Enjoy this beautiful weather while it lasts! Every day is a gift from God!


~m

Nicaragua!

This Saturday, I am going to be getting on a plane. I am going with my church, on a mission trip to Nicaragua. We leave Saturday at 6am! This next week is going to be so physically and emotionally demanding. Am I ok to say that I am scared out of my mind?? I have NO idea what God has in store for me and my life this next week. I so hope that I can impact someone's life down there like I did to Jaylen in St. Louis last summer; here's his picture if you don't remember what he looks like:

I miss him like crazy. I certainly hope to see him again!!

Anywho, I'm almost packed for the trip. I think i'm most nervous to be flying on a plane, I haven't been on one for almost 3 years. The regulations have really changed since then. I hope I won't need to get a 'full body pat down' ha!

Well, for those of you who read this; I could really use some prayers for this next week! Specifically that I will adjust really well, I will be able to connect with the kids, and that I can stay really healthy considering how underdeveloped the country of Nicaragua is.

With saying that, I really need to finish packing!!

I'll post again when I get back! It'll be after July 30th, most likely.

~m

Yet Another Hiatus

After a short summer bloggy 'vacation', I've decided to post again. I've just been enjoying summer and hanging out with friends. I've even considered completely stopping posting on here, seeing as though not many people even read this. I think I'm just doing this for my sake, to document a day in age of the technology generation.

As that was said, here's a quick update: I'm 16, I turned 16 on the 10th. I had my sweet 16 on the 15th. It was pretty awesome! Axel is 50 pounds now, and almost 10 months old, he's still a cutie! I'm leaving the country on Saturday morning to go on a mission trip to Nicaragua-yes I'm scared out of my mind! School starts back on August 11th-EW. No, I haven't gotten my license yet-yes, I REALLY REALLY want it! Mom is just standing in the way!

Well, that seems to be about it for updates. It kinda stinks being 16 without a license and a car!

~m

Crazy-ness

This past month has been absolutely insane. Just because I've been so busy with friends and taking care of animals and babysitting and so on.

I went to Florida about a week ago, it was really relaxing!

I've been hanging out with friends all summer so far, and going to the pool.

well, this post was meant to be short and here is the end of it! Until next post!

~m

Today is a Special Day!

After crafting this blog exactly a year ago today, I'm proud to say that my blog's birthday is today! I would post a link to my first post, but it is slightly pointless and silly! So, I am not stopping you from looking at it yourself! A lot has been going on lately...track has taken up all my life, then homework comes next, and then after that might be a social life? I'm not sure where that went! Haha!

Well, this blog has been my way of communicating with my family and dgroup. I love this, because everything gets easier! This is obviously the technology generation! I'm quite proud to be growing up in it!

This blog has also been my way of expressing my creativity, I have several things that I have written. Some include, short stories and poems. I love being able to be creative and not feel ashamed!

Overall, I am very proud my blog has made it this far! I am sad to say that this is not something I update everyday, but that might not be all that bad! Well, there is homework calling my name! Luckily I don't have track today, otherwise, I would be quite behind with that...

~m

More Snowdays?!

We have officially used up all our snow days...There better not be anymore snow, or we'll have to go into our summer! We got like...2 inches of snow yesterday, so we're good on all of our snow cravings. Total...we've gotten almost 10 inches. Now, I am SICK of snow. Who's with  me?

There hasn't been many updates, Axel has tripeled in size. He is so big! He is extra cute though(:
I have a strained tendon in my foot from running, so I have to take it easy now...(even though I'm still running a mile a day on the treadmill...shh don't tell my coach!). We have been writing this 5-6 page paper for Meet The Press. It is pretty important considering it is for half my grade! I'm going to be a junior next year, so I have all my classes to sign up for. So far, I have English III Honors, Chemistry Honors, US History Honors, French III Honors, and Forensic Science. I hope I'm making good decisions!

Well, that's about it for the snow day update. Until next time, go sledding!

~m

Thoughts on an Average Runner

Here's another creative post. I've been so busy, it's bizarre for me to be so busy. So, enjoy this! I'll post again when I can!


I bound across the rubber race track, feeling light as a feather and invincible. Exhaustion crawls up from the pit of my stomach, it slowly inches up until I couldn't breath. The breaths just kept coming slower and slower, more painful than the last. I reassure myself that I have done this millions of times before, but is that enough this time? I keep bounding around the track, just one more lap...or is it two? Everything around me gets darker the edges first, slowly creeping to the center of my vision. Panic sets in, a million scenarios play in my head about how this race could end. I try to shake this feeling but it clenches it's claws deeper with every stride. I want to win this, but do I have what it takes? Do I have the strength to carry myself over the finish line? What more do I need to push myself? Then I remember what I haven't done for the past 5 seconds. Breath. In and out. It's a fluid motion, in and out, in and out. Everything becomes normal again, my vision is better, the panic is gone. With the next blink, I see the finish line and in deed, I do have what it takes.

~m

Track!

So, today was the first day of track conditioning. It was much easier than I thought. Maybe, that's because it's only the first day....idk. We did like a 7 minute mile, sprints, high kicks, high jumps, butt kicks(i'll definitely have a bruise later), karokes, wallsits for a total of 5 minutes, and hard core workouts...it HURT!

But I discovered, that I'm in much better shape than I imagined! Next practice is on Thursday. I have practices on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays until 4:30!

~m

Tumblr...sigh

I have had a Tumblr for almost a year. I decided then that I didn't think I needed it. Anyways, I've started getting interested in it again about a month ago when I looked at my friends tumblr and really liked it. Well, now I started over with the same one and I am officially addicted. I have about 20 followers as of now, and just starting about a day ago? That's pretty bleh, haha. I'm following like...35 people.

For those of you who read this and would like to check it out, here's the url:
Complexity at it's Finest (and the name of it haha. the url is cooler!)

www.canvasesoftheimagination.com
^^there ya go!

~m

The 5 Love Languages

I remember back about a year ago, when Ashley talked about the 5 love languages. I have been thinking a lot about that lately. The 5 love languages are: Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service and Physical Touch. I remember knowing that gifts don't really mean that much to me, and I wanted to take an online quiz or something to find out what my main love language is.

Let me clarify that a love language doesn't necessarily mean a husband/wive, boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. It also includes friends, and family members. A love language is just the way you feel most loved by someone. Or the way you tend to feel more loved.

I took the quiz online, and I scored highest in Quality Time. Which technically means that I like spending time with friends, family or special people. That is when I feel most loved. Which is accurate, because when I an spending time with friends, is when I feel most comfortable.

My second highest was Words of Affirmation, which is when people praise you or compliment you. It is a way to feel loved by what people say. I also believe that is accurate, because I am always self conscious and when I get a compliment, I always hold my head up higher.

My lowest score was Receiving Gifts. I know that is accurate too, because I don't feel that gifts mean that someone cares about you. They could just be getting you a gift because they feel they have to. Gifts are just an object, a material thing. Spending time with someone or compliments are there forever. You can't take them back.

I feel that knowing your love language(s) is a good thing, so you can use that to the best of your ability. Whether it is physical touch or acts of service, knowing the way you feel most loved can come in handy.

This is the website I went to, and took the quiz. It is fairly accurate and doesn't really require any personal information. Take the quiz! Find out what you're love language is!

~m

Back to the Regular Schedule I Guess!

After having all week without school, we are finally going back tomorrow.
As most people are blaming this on Carol Birdsong, it really is up to Dr. Looney. Carol is just the head of communications! We are idolizing her too much!
The snow and frigid temperatures were nice for now, but I really just want it to be May again and it to be nice weather and pretty out! I hate this cold...I'm indoors, under a heated blanket and sweats and i'm shivering! Now that's a bit extreme!
I must get to memorizing french now!

~m

Let it Snow...

As most of who like in Tennessee already know, half the state is out for a snow day tomorrow. It already began to snow, and it looks amazing outside! They said it could be close to 6 inches!! That's a lot for Tennessee! We all thought it would pass right over! Lucky us (:

As of right now, my street, sidewalk/driveway and lawn are covered with snow all within the last 20 or so minutes! That's a lot of snow!

Keep praying for more and more!!

~m

Happy 2011!

It's what...day 2 of the new year? I'm kinda loving it!

Today is my close friend Ashton's birthday. She had her sweet 16 at the skate center and then we all went to Moe's for dinner, YUM! Happy Birthday Chica! Love You!

I can't wait to see what God has in store for me this year in 2011, I hope it's full of health and good friendships and NO DRAMA! Drama followed me around all last year, and I want to drop it at the door of 2010! I can't wait to be a junior, I can't wait to drive, I just can't wait! I'm SO excited!((I'm sure my parents aren't...oh well!)

Well, I'm going to be posting some old posts that I wrote last year(That's so weird to say! It really was only 4 months ago!). A friend told me to post them on here, so I will. I'll get around to that later in the week. School is going to get in the way of that! Ew...School.

~m

2010 Recap

Well, this year has been very eventful and quite stress free. I'm sad to see this year go but I am welcoming this new year, 2011, warmly.

To recap this year in a few paragraphs would be hard, but I'm going to do it anyways!

-January: I got Pneumonia for the first time and it prevented me from starting track conditioning and I also missed a week of school. We had 7 snow days that month and February. We were all very sick of snow to say the least! The swine flu frenzy finally started slowing down and everything returned to normal!

-February: We had more snow days. My best friend turned 15 and we had a huge surprise party for her. The Disney store closed down in the mall and was replaced with Coach.

-March: My sister turned 12. One of my friends found out she tore her ACL. I had to deal with a horrible teacher who gave me a bad grade for a really good research paper! My best friend got really sick for a month with THREE different things! It took her forever to recover.

-April: I joined Blogger. A friend of mine committed suicide( Skylar's Tribute) and her funeral was so moving, I still grieve about her.

-May: We had our final month of Freshman year, we had our end of the year exams. We had a devastating flood. It was called the flood of the century. The levels reached higher than they had in about 500 years. The damage was extensive!(Flood)

-June: I went on a mission trip to St. Louis and I met Jaylen, who changed my life forever(see here, here, and here.) I went to the Eclipse premiere with three friends(see here).

-July: My birthday month, I turned 15! Our family took a trip to Atlanta(see here) I had a really good birthday weekend, right after we got back from Atlanta(see here). I also said goodbye to a good friend from my dgroup. She moved to China with her family(see here).

-August: We started school back again, I began Sophomore year. I'm loving it so far!(see here and here.)

-September: I got my permit!(see here) Football season started(just look through all of September, there're too many posts to link!) EOE was amazing this year!(see here)

-October: Homecoming(see here) and two of my friends got married!(see here) and good old Halloween!

-November: We got to District one finals, it was a good game!(see here). The 7th Harry Potter came out, it was a HUGE thing!(see here). Thanksgiving this year came really fast and I totally didn't expect it to come so fast!(see here).

-December: We added to our family, we got a puppy!(see here) I got sick with strep and it was not fun at all! We had a white Christmas this year!(see here) We also got a Forever 21 in our mall, now that was exciting(:


Well, there's my year in a nut shell. That's not even half of it! I'm so excited to see what God has in store for me and my family and friends in 2011! I'm trying to figure out how they are going to design the new year's glasses...

~m

Forever 21 in Franklin?!

As most of you know, the mall in Franklin, Cool Springs Galleria, just received a revolutionary store. Forever 21, came about two weeks ago and has been a huge hit in Franklin and the whole county! Everyone has been here since the Oprymills location was forced to close due to the flood in May (See Here about third paragraph down).

This store is a gold mine for our mall! It has slowly been turning into an amazing place to shop, they have Coach, Nine West, Forever 21, James Avery, and tons more! Now, they just need to get rid of Belk and put a H&M in there!!!(Never going to happen...shoot).

Anyways, ever since they opened, I have been there about 5 times! I have bought at least one thing every time! I'm becoming super obsessed with rings, and they have a nice selection of them! They're clothes are super affordable and even cuter! I mean, who would pass up a nice dress for 15$ and jeans for 14$?

There are little off stores, they have: Love 21, 21Men, Forever 21+ and Heritage1981 at our mall. The only one they don't have(that I've noticed) is Twelve by Twelve. It's a Los Angeles brand, and It's even more amazing! Too bad they don't have it!:(

I've been taking care of this Rotteweiler and I was feeding her tonight and my mom was walking around and she screams all of a sudden and I look up and see her upstairs and a bird flying around!! A BIRD! So we get it downstairs and trap it in the pantry and we devise a plan to get it outside by leaving the back door open and hoping for the best. Thankfully it worked and we didn't have to deal with it! It was obvious that the bird had been there awhile, I didn't notice for some reason, but after we got the bird out, I saw tons of bird crap on the floor and the cabinets that wasn't there this morning...

Well, that's it for tonight...another update on Axel will come by the end of the week!

~m

Oakland Vs. FHS

WE WON! against Oakland, who's really good by the way. We weren't supposed to win either! Which made it even better! Everyone was so into the game, including this woman behind us who had two cowbells...one broke halfway through the game, if that says anything.

Me and Hannah went and it was just...fantastic! I can't believe we won! That means we're probably going to play against Symrna...Uh oh! That game, we might not win.

~m

Homecoming!

Homecoming was amazing! I'm legit still recovering from it...(:
For the football game, we won. We played Memphis Farley, we won 39-6. It was a good...boring game.          
                                                                                                                                                                         For the dance part, we all met downtown(Hannah, Charity, Mary, Ashton, Amy, Jessica, Katy, Erin, and Taylor) and ate at Merridee's. We took pictures down the block, at the big Presbyterian church. Then we went to the dance and partied until we could party no more!
Well, I'll post pictures later. Considering how late it is, and I have school tomoro and I need a shower!                   ~m  

Dedicated to Carrie Codington!

Carrie,

You are so sweet! I love you to death! I'm so stinking depressed about you moving to China this summer...and not being able to come to St. Louis...but, God has the best and most amazing plan over there for and your family to serve him! I can't wait to see what you accomplish in the next few years! You will have a blast over there and we will Skype at least once a week! I'm still working on getting that set up...haha.

Meeting you a few years ago, was a blessing. I don't even want to imagine what my life would be like if I hadn't have met you! You are super sweet and have a passion to serve! Your readiness to serve and pray are so overwhelming. You have not only changed me, but you have changed the lives of everyone around you!

You have made me a better person and that's definitely a good thing! You have a kindness that not everyone had. I look up to you a lot! I'm so glad that I met you, and I'm glad that we are best friends, sisters and daughters of God! I hope you have an amazing time in China and fulfill the plan that God has for you!

I love you oh so much!
(Me and Carrie at Sopapilla's onWednesday!)

-maggie