FINALS!!

Ahhh!!!! It’s that time of year again…

FINALS WEEK!!!!!!

 

The time of year that I dread because it means that sleep is a thing of the past, but if I can just make it through these next few days, I’ll get to go home to my family for CHRISTMAS!!!! My finals week is going to be hard this year. I’ve taken one final already, and four more stand between me and the end of my semester. Also, because I’m an RA, I’m required to do “white glove” checks for all the girls on my hall. Basically, I have to make sure their rooms are super clean. It’s not too bad, but between me and my RA partner, we have to do 56!! The only thing that keeps me going is knowing that by Friday at noon, I CAN GO HOME!!! Yayyy!!!!

If you see me this week, I’ll look like one of these two photos…

 

In case you were wondering, that book does say “Terrorism”

It’s one of my classes!! I love it!

ENCOURAGEMENT FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS!!!!!

1. You can do it!!!

2. Just a few more days, and sleepless nights, and you will be all finished with this semester!!

3. Make the most of these last few days of the school year, don’t wish them away, even though they may be difficult.

4. Study Hard!

5. Have Fun!

6. Drink LOTS of Coffee!!!

7. Spend time with the LORD!

8. Repeat #6 as many times as needed!

Well…my French book, cup of coffee and John Mayer are calling!!

I’m alive!!

Hello,

 

My name is Chelsea. I’m the author of this blog. It may seem as if I’ve fallen off the planet…alas!! I am still alive!! I do apologize for neglecting this blog for so long…life has happened. I plan on writing a nice long post in the next day or so filling you in  on everything that has happened in my life lately, but for now, I’m going to give you a picture journal of my last few months!!

Enjoyyy….

Pumpkin carving for the first time!!

My sister came to visit!!

Military Appreciation Formal

with my brother!

My brother took me flying a dawn!

Brother

 

Ohhh Monday!!

Today was Monday…

 People tend to abhor Monday’s like nobody’s business, but I’ve decided not to be one of those people!

 It’s a conscious decision, but I don’t want to follow the crowd and just complain all the time. Sure, I’m not jumping up and down on Monday morning when my alarm goes off at 7:00 am, and I’m exhausted and have a full day ahead, but it’s an attitude I choose to adopt. I can either be moody and unhappy and complain all day long, and be that girl. The one that no one wants to be around because all she does is bring others down.

Instead, when I woke up this morning, I purposed in my heart to have a good attitude…

I know that might sound a bit cheesy, but think about it. How many people do you come into contact with on a Monday and when asked how they are doing, all they do is look at you, sigh and say, “Well…(insert another long, heavy sigh here)…it’s Monday!” I challenge you to change your attitude through out the day. Instead of complaining because of a Monday, choose to be thankful that God woke you up another day. You were given a gift!! Don’t loose sight of that!!!!

So here’s my challenge to you:

• Don’t complain over things that you shouldn’t be wasting your breath on.
• Look for joy in each day, it’s there!!
• Be a ray of sunshine to someone who needs it. (Hint hint, show Christ’s love!!!)
• Sing…singing helps a lot of things!!!

Help!!!

Attention attention…Chelsea Patterson is hereby the worst blogger on the face of this earth!

! I apologize for being so inconsistent, I hope you will forgive me!! How about a little life update?? 🙂

I am pleased to announce that I am back fully into the swing of things here at Liberty! I’ve been back for a month, and classes have been going for 2 weeks. I feel like my summer absolutely flew by, and I’m still trying to talk myself into getting back into study my tail off mode!

Here’s some exciting news in my life!! I’m an RA this year…

I absolutely adore being an RA. It honestly surprised me how much I enjoy it, because my natural personality is not the most administrative (to be completely honest, I’m having to work overtime at making sure I stay on top of all the paperwork, emails, phone calls, etc that I have) and I’m not naturally the most confrontational person either. Even though I’ve been an RA for less than a month, I can already feel myself growing in so many areas. The girls on my hall are the sweetest things ever, and I already have so much love for them. I almost feel like their mother, enforcing certain rules, making sure they are save, etc. I’m not here to be their best friend, but to watch out for their best interests. So far, I’ve gotten to meet some amazing people, and had some incredible opportunities. I’ll definitely keep you updated on this aspect of my life!

On another note,

I am thoroughly enjoying my classes this year! (Yes, I am a nerd!!) Since I’m a junior this year, the majority of my classes are my major classes. It’s so nice to actually look forward to going to your classes, doing the reading, studying, etc. My brain is happy that I don’t have to study math and science anymore, and I can focus all my attention on classes I enjoy!

I have a question, and I need your help!!!

I am always looking to increase my organization skills and work on my time management. If you have any tips or things that have helped you out, PLEASE share them with me. I feel like I need to become wiser in how I manage my time, and I want to honor the Lord in all areas of my life, so I’m currently working on getting a hold of my time!! Thank you in advance for your advice!!

2 things!

I woke up this morning and…

CUT my hair short impulsively!!!!!!!!

This…

is where I’ll be in less than 24 hours!!!!

Announcement and a miracle!!

Hello 🙂

Thank you all for asking to make sure I was alright after my accident!! Thank God I am fine! I was a little sore for a few days, but nothing a few advil and rest couldn’t fix! The insurance people are being extremely helpful, and hopefully my dear sweet car will be as good as new soon!! I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July!! Mine was great! I was a able to snap a few pictures with the family…enjoyy! 🙂

Me and my brothers!!

My best friend and brother!

My sister! 🙂

I have an announcement to make!! Lord willing, I am going to be running a half marathon in October!! I’ve never done anything like this before, but I’m so excited about it!! This is coming from the girl that feels like she’s dying after running 2 miles on the treadmill at the gym! But, I feel strongly about accomplishing this! So, I’ve downloaded myself a training plan and I’ve already started. Tuesday I ran 3 miles straight!! (Quite a big accomplishment for little ‘ole me!!) I warmed up and cooled down walking a quarter of a mile, so my work out looked like this…

I was pretty happy with the result! Yesterday, I ran 3 miles again, and surprisingly I found it less painful. After running, I headed into Bodypump. It had been awhile since I had lifted weights, and definitely had some sore muscles this morning. This afternoon, I took a spinning class with my friend Katelyn. OUCH!!! It’s safe to say that every part of my body is currently in pain!! (Nothing a little ice cream can’t fix!) I’ll definitely keep you posted on the training for my half marathon! If you’ve ever run anything like this, or have any advice…I’d LOVE to hear! Thanks!! 🙂

On a completely unrelated note, I woke up this morning, made my coffee and headed outside on the deck to spend time with my Savior. I absolutely adore spending time with God outside! It’s great! As I sat down and took the first sip of my coffee, I realized something….I woke up this morning!! I know what you’re thinking…duhh Chelsea, you wake up every morning! But for some reason, it struck me that God sustains me all the time! Not just when the tears are falling, and my heart is breaking! He cares for me and watches over me all the time! Even something as simple as waking me up in the morning! I praised God for the miracle of another day of life as I sat on the deck spending time with Him! I encourage you not to miss out on the seemingly “common” miracles that happen all the time! Thank God for the things you normally don’t think to thank Him for!

Question: What are some “common” miracles that you can praise God for?

Any advice for me as I train for my half marathon?

Accident!

I was in an accident today!

It’s been one of those days. You know, the kind of days where nothing seems to go right. Yeah, today was that day for me! It all started when I woke up at 9:54 am. I had set my alarm clock for 8:00 so I would have plenty of time to drink my coffee, read God’s word and get my day started off right. That didn’t happen! I rushed around like a fool, making coffee, and jumping into my work uniform. As I went to pour my coffee, I realized that someone had broken my travel coffee mug. So no coffee for Chelsea. I hopped into the car and was on my way to work when some stop and go traffic slowed me down. I was stopped on the interstate, when someone going 55-60 miles an hour hit me. It was crazy, because I saw them in my rear-view mirror, and thought to myself, “They aren’t slowing down, I bet they are going to hit me!” But I had no where to go, and everything happened so fast. They hit me, and my first reaction was to start crying! As soon as I realized that the accident wasn’t my fault, my tears dried up quickly. The person behind me came up to my window to make sure I was alright, then he helped me get over to the side of the road. There was a tractor trailer in front of me, and the driver got out and made sure I wasn’t hurt. Everyone was so nice to me! I was still in a daze, and wasn’t 100% sure what to do, so I called 911 to report the accident. Then I called my parents. The person that hit me came over to speak with me, and said that he had looked down for just a few seconds and then when he looked up, he didn’t have enough time to stop.

You should have seen the skid marks he made…they were pretty intense! The cop arrived and got everything taken care of. While we were waiting on him to finish the report, there was a second accident!!

Talk about an eventful morning! My dad drove up to make sure everything was being taken care of and to speak with the officer. He said that I was very lucky, and if the driver had hit me square in the back, the car would have been totaled. All the damage that was done amounted to, a crunched in side, a missing tail light, a missing gas tank cover,  some scratches on my bumper, and one very shaken up Chelsea. After I left, I drove to work. I had called them to let them know I was in an accident, but ended up staying and working my shift. About an hour into my shift, my arm, shoulder, and neck started hurting really bad. I took some pain meds, but the pain continued to get worse. When I got home, I put ice on my shoulder, and took some more pain killers! The rest of my day has been spent around the house.

Praise GOD that I wasn’t injured. If you don’t mind, please pray that I’m not really sore. Right now, the upper half of my body is hurting.

Good times!

I’m writing this post while dying my hair…multi-tasking at its best here!! 🙂 I’m home alone (which rarely happens!) and decided to spruce up my hair a little bit!

This past week has been really good! I’ve gotten to spend a lot of quality time with people, which is so important to me! My dear sweet grandma has never been downtown, and wanted to explore a little bit. So recently, she and I decided to have dinner together downtown. We decided on a restaurant called “Sweet Potatoes”. She and I were escorted to a table in the middle of the restaurant and greeted by a sweet waitress. We ordered our drinks and got an appetizer of fried okra and fried green tomatoes. Welcome to southern comfort food at its BEST!!

I ate plenty of the appetizer, but was sure to save room for my amazing salad!! After dinner, we walked around downtown, got some ice cream and sat and listened to a jazz band play. It was a wonderful evening, and I’m  extremely blessed to have such an incredible grandma!

 

Today I ate lunch with my friend Katelyn. You can check out her blog here! She picked me up and we decided to eat lunch at The Loop. It was an excellent choice! We both got Greek salads with grilled chicken. (It was her original idea and I was a copy cat!) I very happily ate all of the olives and feta cheese first! Yum!! After lunch we ran some errands, one of which included buying a new planner! I have a confession. I am very ocd about my planners. Make fun all you want, but I enjoy organizing my schedule and enjoy making my planner pretty! So on my to do list for the rest of the day is begin decorating my planner! If anyone has any cute ideas they’d like to share, they are more than welcome! 🙂

Daddy Date and costly grace!

It was absolutely gorgeous this morning.

My Daddy and I met for coffee this morning before I had to go to work! It was wonderful! I’ve been a Daddy’s girl my whole life, and I love it when he and I get to spend time together! We both got a piping hot cup of coffee and sat down at a table by the window where we proceeded to talk for the next 45 minutes. He had to go to a meeting, and I had to get home for work, but it was great getting to have a coffee date with my Pops!! He’s the best Daddy I could ever ask for!

 

Work today was slow…but I didn’t care one bit! Why?! Because the building that the restaurant is located in provided everyone with FREE ICE CREAM!!! Waaa hooo!!! It’s safe to say that I was one happy girl. I made my back for seconds and thoroughly enjoyed every single bite! After I got work, I decided that I should eat some real food, so I headed to Panera to eat a sandwich and read. I used to hate being alone, but now I don’t mind too much…that is, if I have a good book as my company! I’m currently reading “The Cost of Discipleship” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

I haven’t read very far, but what I’ve read has been great so far. Bonhoeffer is a deep thinker and an excellent writer. In the first chapter, he’s talking about Luther and the reformation. He spends a great deal of time discussing cheap grace vs. costly grace. Here are a few quotes…

~ “Costly grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ.

~ “It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.”

~ “It is costly because it cost God the life of his Son. It is grace because god did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life.

I hope that gives you something to chew on!! I’ll do a full book review when I’m finished! Well…I’m off to enjoy my evening!! Ta ta for now 🙂

 

Challenge and a chocolate chip cookie recipe!

Hello all 🙂

I’m sorry I haven’t written in a while…I’ve been insanely busy working! But thankfully I love my job, so that’s a very good thing!! Well, I’m sure you’ll be pleased to know that my week without sweets was quite successful! Honestly, it was a very good thing for me to abstain from something I enjoy. Practicing a little self-control here 😉 But…

I did do a little baking this weekend! No worries, I took the majority of the cookies to my coworkers. (I’m also practicing generosity…ha ha!!) Out of the goodness of my heart, I’m going to share my all time favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe with you!! I’ve tried loads of chocolate chip cookie recipes and this one trumps them all. These cookies come out so moist and chewy…just the way cookies should be! 🙂

So, I wanted to share something that’s been on my heart this week! On three different occasions, I’ve cried this week. Now, for those of you that don’t know me very well, I’m a fairly sensitive person, but crying three times in one week is a lot, even for me! Without going into extreme detail, this past week was rough emotionally. I’ll be alright, but I want to encourage you with how you’re using your words this upcoming week! You never know when what you say could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back and makes someone cry (or at least feel like crying). I charge you to be careful with the words you use! Even if it’s just harmless teasing, read a person and know how much they can take. It’s been said that most of all communication is nonverbal, so watch a person. If they are more quiet than normal, distant or distracted, ask how they are doing and really care about their answer. On the other hand, you never know when an uplifting word could be all someone needs to make it through the day. Words are powerful, and I encourage you to use them wisely!

CHALLENGE:

I’m doing this challenge this week, and I invite you to join me!

• Be intentional with your words!
• Speak LIFE into other people, realizing that you don’t fully understand what they may be going through.
• Encourage others with your words.
•  Give a sincere complement.
• Ask how someone’s day is and wait to hear the answer.
• Chose to keep your mouth closed if you’re not going to say something good.

I hope you’ll join me this week as I seek to be more intentional with my words, and realize their power! Let me know how it goes. Also, let me know what you think of the chocolate chip cookie recipe!! 🙂

Chocolate chip cookies

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1/2 cup butter, soft
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 2 cups semisweet chocolate (I usually add around a cup and a half)

Directions:

• Beat together shortening and butter for 30 seconds.
• Add brown sugar, granulated sugar, and baking soda. Beat until combined!
• Beat in eggs and vanilla.
• Beat in as much flour as you can with the mixer, using a wooden spoor, stir in any remaining flour.
• Stir in chocolate. (If a few pieces end up in your mouth, don’t worry!)
• Place on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes in a 375 degree oven!
• ENJOY!!