Hello...?

I sometimes wonder if there is truly anyone out there reading this. I also wonder why I have a blog. Then I remember that I'm doing this for myself. Just to let things out and to help me to know what I'm thinking. Last night I went and saw the movie Julie and Julia. While watching the movie I thought to myself "I wish I had a blog like Julie did. Something with meaning and purpose." Julie had a reason to blog. I on the other hand didn't. Now, I know that this is truly just me. I don't care who reads this or what they think when they read it. At least, I know that 1 person is out there caring about this. And that person is the only one that truly matters. It's me.

Now onto something else. I have recently discovered that I have a love for the fashion world. I enjoy the things that you see the celebs wearing. I have made it my personal goal this year to try and look as chic as possible. I want to see if it somehow makes me feel better about myself. I know that in days before whenever I would wear something pretty, I would feel pretty about myself. I just want to see if somehow my attitude changes or if my feelings towards clothing changes. I am not doing this because I have low self esteem or anything. I'm just doing this because I love dressing up. Let's just see where this goes shall we.

Well that's it for today.

Lynnea Grace

1 week Away

I now only have one week till I'm moving out of Illinois forever. It's kind of crazy to think about, but I'm getting more and more excited everyday. Today I went through and cleaned out my drawers of my desk, something that I rarely ever used. It was mainly stuffed full of junk that I didn't have space for anywhere else. I filled up a whole garbage bag worth of crap. Why the hell I had kept some of the stuff I have no idea, but I did. It's all in the dumpster now! It feels sort of liberating. Tomorrow I move onto my other drawers and the tops of my dressers. I have so much stuff people. My mother informed me yesterday she wants most everything out so my brother can move into my room. Great...

I also finished up my last day of work yesterday. Bittersweet because I love the people that I work with, but yet I'm still glad to just be able to get stuff done. Spend some good quality time with the family before I just up and leave them.

I was also just informed the once I turn 20, I no longer have dental insurance and have to pay for it myself. Wow, the real world is hitting me. It is very crazy how fast I seem to be growing up. Life will never be the same for me once I leave Illinois next week. I'll have my own apartment, be paying for my own dental stuff and making my own decisions for real.

It were times like these when I wish I had older siblings to help me along. I guess that's what God is for. He I know I can depend on. That's a very comforting thought.

I'm very happy that in only 8 days I'm going to be seeing all my friends again and most importantly Josh. I just can't wait to see his face again instead of just hearing his voice.

Well a lot of stuff has to get done in a short amount of time. Wish me luck!

Lynnea Grace

It's coming to an end...

So summer is slowly coming to a close. It seems like just yesterday that I was unpacking my stuff and now I'm packing it back up. Then for the last time I will be moving back up to Michigan. This is my last summer home, so I won't be moving back here. Anyways, as the summer rolled along, the better it seemed to get. I had a wonderful trip up to Michigan, some picnics, wonderful dates with my girls, movie nights, late nights and some good quality family time. There are going to be some things that I will miss, but I won't miss it enough to stay here and make me want to cry. Everyone is growing up and moving on and so am I. I was talking to someone last night and he told me that I'm probably going to end up back in a small town sometime in my life. I just don't see it right now. I love the big city of Grand Rapids and I don't ever want to leave it. I don't find myself bored there.

I have to say though that this summer has been a good one. I still wish that the summer had been spent up in G.R, but I enjoyed the time that I spend down here for the wonderful 4 months. Wow, crazy how I get 4 months off and my brother and sister only get 2! High school seems to be starting earlier and earlier these days. Krazy!

Well everyone enjoy the rest of your summer and keep having fun and living your life

Lynnea Grace

Road Trip to Michigan

Very Random

So I'm just sitting here and thought I would post a blog since I haven't for a little while. Well I was talking to some ladies at my church about different college classes because I want to explore my options before I trade my life over to one thing for the rest of my life. I thought about taking an economics class and then was told it was about math. First off I can't express to you how much I hate math!! This was a huge turn off for me and second off I felt like this kinda gave me a challenge. So then I thought about taking a political science class. A class that would help me understand how all that stuff goes down. It's nice to understand the government once in awhile and how to manipulative just like them. Political leaders have much power over people. My mom used to tell me that I was going to marry the President. I don't think I could handle all those pressures of being a First Lady. Though I won't complain about the beautiful house that I would get to live in! Last summer I did get the chance to go inside the White House. I went with some people from my high school choir. Most people sorta just walked right through it like it was just another house. I, on the other hand, walked very slowly and took everything in since we can't take pictures. It's like "hello this is the white house! Not a lot of people are priveledged enough to walk through this." It's so hard to get into the White House. I feel very happy being one of the few Americans who gets to have a tour through a very prestigious home.

So recently it's been cold here and just today it's starting to warm up and feel like summer again! It's just sad when it's the 4th of July and it doesn't feel like the 4th of July. Speaking of the 4th of July...I can't believe the summer is already half way over!!! I will be very happy to be heading back to Michigan, don't get me wrong, but I won't be looking forward to going back to classes and being poor again from paying off my school bill! I was recently looking at a calendar to see when my last day of work should be and I basically only have a month and a half of work before it's time for me to peace out of here forever! That's right FOREVER!!! It's kinda sad though that I will never call Forreston my home again. I grew up here and made a lot of memories here, but the place just isn't for me. I sure want my parents to realize it has nothing to do with the family just the fact that this place has nothing for me. Sorry if this post seems all over. I'm just writing stuff down as it comes to mind.

I wish times would jump back to the days when people didn't have to lock their doors and kids wanted to come back home. The times when you didn't worry about your kid and they always came home for dinner. I think the 60's ruined all the good things like that. Sorry I just have a little something against the 60's. It sure as hell wasn't the 50's

Well I think that's enough rambling for one post

Enjoi World!

NO place like Home

You know how sometimes you'll go somewhere for vacation and you don't want to leave? You wish you could stay there for the rest of your life. That is how I feel about Grand Rapids, Michigan. I attend school in the city and when it came time for me to leave I wanted to go home and see my family and friends. Little did I know that after a few days home I wanted to go back. I missed it like crazy! I even remember a few times I was very depressed because I missed my life so much up there. To me it's not just my home away from home, it is my home. I love the people, the views the things to do that I don't have back here in Illinois. I feel like it is a place where I can make a home for myself and eventually raise my children. A place that I can call home. A place that I want to call home. I recently came back from a trip up there and it took all that I had to keep going south and not turn around. Grand Rapids is home to me. I'm so happy to have found something like this that is going to make me happy and keep me happy. I just hope that all of you out there have found "home" or will be finding it soon. Trust me when you find it, you'll never want to leave. You'll know it's the place for you because you'll feel it in your heart. I can't wait for September when I get to see my lovely home again and stay there forever!

GLee

"Just a small town girl. Living in a lonely world.  She took the midnight train going anywhere."

These are the words most of us know oh so well, but tonight the cast of Glee made it into their own and it's a hit.  I've already listened to it a ton of times.  This show is just really amazing to me. I feel like this is how high school should be.  I mean people not caring and doing things because they enjoy doing them and not caring what other people think of them.  I fell like as teenagers, we miss out on a lot of things and a lot of great memories because we are too worried about what people think of us rather than what we want and really and truly care about.  

$ Money $

Finding a job is so hard.  I'm just a college student looking to make a lot of money and will do anything, how hard could that be.  But it's a tough world out there.  I mean I can't imagine what it's going to be like when I actually get done with college and I'll bills and loans to pay off.  I just might have to become that kid that lives with their parents because they are broke and have no where else to go.  I really don't want it to come down to that.  

It's really tough when you are from a small town and have to go to all the other small towns around you to find jobs and so you have all these kids looking for jobs and fighting.  That is what really stinks.  I think it might have been easier if I were from a bigger town or a city.  Then I feel like there would be more opportunities for me.  But no, I'm stuck in rural Illinois scrounging for anything that I can get.  Life can be so unfair.  

This will only make me stronger in the long run.  For now I have to be a fighter to make it buy and when times get tough I will know what to do since, well, I have been there before.  Let's just hope that times get better.  Which, I'm assuming, they are not.  

Shallow Depth of Field

Back @ Home

So now I am finished with my first year of college.  Life seems to fly by so fast.  It seems that the older I get the faster time goes, it's pretty crazy.  Now I have to work and work and work some more.  Once you grow up things seem to just pop up that never did before.  Like my car.  I never had to worry about my car before and now all of a sudden that I need to depend on it, it just decides that hey I'm old, I don't know if I want to travel that far.  Life can sure get frustrating.  I just wish that I could go live out in the woods somewhere and just live off the farm.  I feel like problems wouldn't find me there, but I know that they would.   

Another thing that I've noticed is that being back at home is just weird.  I mean people are used to you not being  home and then when you get back it's just different.  Even my family acts like I'm not here sometimes.  I guess I can't blame them.  I know that things wouldn't be the same.  I have been told that you're first year back from college is the worst.  I was told that I'm going to be ver bored.  Which is true.  

I really didn't want to leave Grand Rapids for the summer.  Things would've been much better if I could've stayed up there.  Next summer for sure I am not coming home.  I just don't think I'll be able to do it again.  I guess things should get better after all my friends are done with school also.  I just miss all my friends.  I miss being able to hang out with them all the time and not really having a care.  I miss my dorm room, which is something I never expected myself to be saying.  It's true though.  I do.  I just hope that this summer will be fun.  I want to at least be able to do a few good things and not just work.  I mean I do need money, but I want to at least have a little life.  

Planning 4 the Wedding

Michele Crepas and Nick Harris

In Her Wedding Dress

Nick and Michele

The End is just The Beginning

So in a few weeks I will be ending my freshman year of college.  This makes me excited and sad all at the same time.  I'm now beginning a chapter of my life and ended another.  College is just starting as is my life.  I will now be making decisions that will affect me for the rest of my life.  Not only about my career, but also relationships.  

I'm very satisfied with my first year of college.  I made some mistakes, made some great decisions and played it safe a few times.  It was a good year.  I wouldn't redo it in a million years. I made some good friends that will I will never forget.  As well as met some people that have impacted my life in more ways than they'll ever know.  Some people will stay in my lives forever.  

I don't know where the rest of my life is going to go, but I do know this.  Wherever I go some people will go with me.  Whether in my heart or by my side.  There are some in particular that I hope to have by my side for the rest of my life.  It will be the tragic the day that I have to say good bye to them.  I already did to one, but I know that she is with me wherever I go.  And I also know she is only a phone call away.  

There are some people I met that just don't understand how much they mean to me.  I think they'll figure it out eventually.  Till then I'll sit back and watch them live their lives.  And I will always be there for them when they need me.  And I know that they will do the same for me.       

Summer will be different this year.  Going back home is going to be, well, weird.  I hate to leave this beautiful city that I'm in now, but it has to be done.  Plus I'll be back next fall.  

April showers bring May flowers

Signs of spring are arriving. Tulips, located in Gaslight Village, are blooming, bringing life, and vibrant color.

Seussical the Musical

Muzic

Music...

How many times a day do we listen to music...?

For me this is all the time.  I wake up to music, fall asleep to music, I constantly have music playing in my room.  I even walk to class with my iPod.  Music is my love.  Without I would be lost.

Music does influence lives.  I think it might be the thing that influences me the most.  When I first really started getting into I wouldn't normally pay attenention to the lyrics and I saw how much I was missing out on the stories that are being told.  Some songs just don't make sense which makes them even better.  Some songs are for love, some are for hate.  Other are for just pure fun.  No matter my mood...I know that listening to my favorite artists will instantly put me in a better mood.  

I recently went to a Lupe Fiasco concert.  AMAZING! It was my first concert and it blew me away with awesomeness and excitement. I would love to go to another concert.  

I have come to appreciate the wholesomeness of music.  How so much work goes into one song. I had music theory last semester and it killed me.  I've never looked at music in the same way. Music is so complicated.  I love walking through big cities and hearing all the musicians playing their instruments on the streets.  

Music is so influencial...one thing that makes me laugh is the fact that after a person goes through a breakup they listen to music about breakups or love.  That is not the songs that you should be listening to.  You should be listening to songs about how great it is to be single or just great dancing music.  Dancing to songs always lifts up my mood.  

    

Grand Rapids Sunset

The Beginning

So this is my very first blog. I'm 19 years old and enjoying life to the fullest that I can. I love to travel and have fun. I'm enrolled in a class at Cornerstone University called Photojournalism. You'll see pictures from that class that I will be adding. I hope to keep this blog going and continue to put up pictures as my life continues on.

So for right now that's really all I have. Just live up your life and enjoy it to the fullest.

L.O.V.E.

The ring