Into Marvelous Light

I am less than two weeks away from my fall semester adventure. One of the requirements for my Spanish minor is a semester abroad in a Spanish-speaking country. I have been toying with out-of-country travel for the past two years: First I was majoring in Spanish and spending six months in Spain, starting in June. Then I changed my major, deciding instead to minor in Spanish and spend three months in Argentina starting in July 2016. Finally, after some circumstances outside of my control, I ended up deciding to spend three months in Costa Rica, from August to December. I fly out August 30 th . Let me tell you, that is approaching rather quickly, folks. A couple weeks ago I pulled out a suitcase and set it down in the corner of my room. Mission: Pack Three Months Worth of Your Life Into This Tiny Box That Will Sit Here And Give You Low-Key Anxiety Until You Are Packed Young Lady. It’s still pretty empty, save for some skirts and dresses, which really doesn’t bode we...

Brilliant question. I don’t really know. I’ve been kind of absent from the blogging world—at least on this page—because life has been a little bit crazy for the past year. The goal for this post? Summarize a year of my life and let all you neat followers know what’s up next for me. It might be long. I’m sorry. I don’t do short. In the past year, I have… ·       Been a frequent guest-poster on one of my dearest friends’ blogs, Precariosities . Check out a couple of my favorites [[ here and here ]]—and while you’re visiting, give the rest of the site some love. I’ll try to do better about linking in my posts there so the faithful few who have stuck with me here can see them. [[Have I mentioned I love you? All five of you. Seriously.]] ·       Met some life-changing people at Grace College. This is my roommate, Deborah (right). I adore her. And on the left is my RA, Katelyn. I learned so much from her. She's great. They're...

Confession, just between you and me: I have spent an embarrassing amount of time planning my wedding. My feeble excuse is that I’m a female. I feel like it’s my right. You know? Don’t all little girls grow up dreaming of a fairy tale wedding—whatever that might look like? My wedding fever comes and goes, even now—at a time in my life when I know I’m not even close to being ready to be a wife or a mom. I look at pictures on Pinterest; I tuck ideas into my memory bank when I attend a friend or family member’s wedding; I keep a note in my phone of all kinds of wedding odds and ends. Okay, in all honesty, I know it’s pathetic. But also maybe a little normal? Because I’ve grown up in this society where we put love on a pedestal. In all the TV shows, all the movies, all the books, the romance steals the show. Love gets good ratings. It just does. We’re relational human beings. We desire to connect deeply with each other, and when we find people we do connect with, we hold onto ...

This post is a PSA. With a year under my belt of this crazy thing that people call college, I have collected four of the absolute worst statements/questions that I have heard most from friends, family, strangers, what-have-you. I’m calling them hate-ments. Now, if you have said any of these “hate-ments” to me, fret not. It’s okay. I’ve said them to other people my age without thinking. We’re humans. We can’t help it. This is more of a friendly reminder that we college students are actual people, who do think of the future sometimes and maybe don’t always run on three hours of sleep and four cups of coffee like you might assume. Ready? Okay, let’s do this thing: [[Fellow college students, correct me if I’m wrong on any of these, and feel free to add your own hate-ments to this list. It is by no means exhaustive.]] Hate-ment #1: “Have you met anyone?” My gosh. I will tell you when I meet someone. If I meet someone. For real. Or I will post an Instagram because you kn...