Yep.

I did it. I made it to college.
After four years of continuous studying and work to try and get here, I've finally made it. Now that I think about, the thing that I've been working towards...is more work. We go through high school with the goal of being accepted to a good college, and we work hard in college so that we can get a good job. Then, we work hard at the said job so that we can be promoted and have even more work. It's in thinking about this that I've finally realized something. Most of the fun in life isn't just about the rewards we get at the end of each task, but the adventures that you have while growing and being challenged to excel.

These next 4 years are going to be challenging...but they're definitely going to be an adventure.

To be honest, the only reason I'm blogging at the moment is because I'm procrastinating all of the unpacking that I have leftover. Dislike.

An Update

I've officially been living in Texas for 53 days. However, it feels like I just got here yesterday. It's quite amazing how fast time can fly when you're busy. Trying to explain my experiences over the past month and a half is extremely difficult. Although I've been constantly doing things, when someone asks me what I've been up to, I have problems trying to find words. This isn't too surprising though. I mean, I've never been one to use words correctly anyway. Thankfully, I've been finding time to rest and just breathe. This doesn't sound like much, but considering that I hadn't had much time to myself since the beginning of junior year, I've been enjoying every second of it. It's quite amazing what a little rest can do. After being in a creative rut for over a year, I'm finally beginning to think of new ideas and I'm actually putting them to good use. Usually, when I'd get an idea in my head, I'd write it down in one of my numerous notebooks and never think of it again. Or, if I actually took the time to look through some of the said notebooks, the inspiration that went along with the idea would be gone. I guess you sometimes just have to stop waiting on inspiration to find you, and you need to get out there and find your own.

insert brilliant segway here.

Convention was last week! However, it doesn't feel like it's even begun. In past years, convention has always gone by pretty fast, but never this fast. I wish there were a way to just do this for a living. Children's ministry is quite possibly one of my favorite things. Although every single kid is different, I absolutely love seeing their love for God and their openness to learning. (Not to mention some of the awesome things they say say and do - ie. This one girl had an awesome Justin Bieber hairflip. No lie.)

As I was speed walking through the streets of Fort Worth last week during one of the super fast lunch breaks, something occurred to me. I'm happy here. Truly happy.
It's not that I've been extremely unhappy in the past. But there was always something that seemed to be nagging at me. Whether it be past insecurities or a tad bit of homesickness, I broke free of it all last week and I'm feeling fantastic.

Tomorrow, I'm moving out of this house in Saginaw and back to my old stomping grounds, North Richland Hills. For those of you who don't know, I've decided to stay here in Texas for the rest of the summer. The original plan was that I was going to fly home yesterday (right after convention). However, I'm still here in the land of no trees (which I actually say with quite a bit of joy...considering trees make me sneeze uncontrollably).

Yep. These next 3 weeks are going to be quite fantastic.
(Oh..did I forget to mention that I move to Tulsa in 24 days? Um. It's kind of crazy. The nerves are beginning to settle in. AHH!)

Sweet Home, Fort Worth.

Well, I'm here. I'm in Texas. Living on my own.

In fact, I've been here for over three weeks. Sorry for the lack of updates since arriving! Most of that is due to the complete lack of a working internet connection.

My first two weeks were pretty uneventful. I explored my old hometown and just relaxed (spending most of my time at a fantastic coffee shop that my mom told me to check out). After about four or five days of doing that, I got pretty bored. Last week, however, was anything but boring. This summer, I'm working with a children's ministry for a one week conference that I've been doing for the past 7 years. Last week was the week where the team gets together and builds sets, has band practices, works on any media projects, and so much more. So basically, I was getting up at 5:30 am every day and going to bed at about 1 am. As much as I loved it, it got quite tiring to only be getting a little less than 5 hours of sleep every day for a week.

So now I'm back at my favorite little coffee shop, enjoying some dinner and just waiting to see someone I know walk through the door (it always happens). And somehow, I've been put to work writing a skit for my old youth group (that I never even planned on attending again). However, every idea I get seems to fail miserably. I really hate working on these things by myself...it's way more fun to go back and forth with ideas. But it's all good.

I've felt like I've been creatively drained lately. Good ideas have decided to play hide and seek with me...and I'm terrible at playing hide and seek. It's not cool. At all. You would think that moving to a new state away from your parents would help with writers block, but apparently not.

If anyone happens to find the creative side of my brain, please let me know. That would be awesome.

I got to babysit some of my favorite little girls a few days after I got here.

From the first day of band practice. This year, I'm singing AND playing guitar. We'll see how this goes...

Got to hang out with my friend Katie that I haven't seen since I was about 6 or 7 :)

Got to hang out with my best friend for the first time in years.

I missed her bunches.

Okay dudes. I'm done.

-Shareese.

Today Consists Of...

• Introducing my soon-to-be-neighbor (she's in the room next to me this fall...woot!) to Chick-Fil-A. How has she survived this long without an icedream cone? Good lord.


• Another thrifting adventure (by myself this time...boo) to find the last pieces for my 80's outfit for the party on thursday.


• I'm going to make one more attempt to get through the weirdness of my old youth group. Everyone is so young.

So basically, today is going to be an interesting day...and I only have a quarter tank of gas left. I'm not seeing much air conditioning in my near future.

Thrifting Haul - 5/30/2011

Today, my friend Sarah showed me a couple of new thrift stores...here's what I found :)

Item one - red dress with black patterns

 Item two - Navy blue dress with white patterns

 

Item three - large, ugly, comfy sweater. (because everyone needs one of these handy)



Item four - oversized jacket with gold patterns and shoulder pads (a part of an outfit I'm putting together for an 80's party on thursday...holler!)

 

Grand total for the day - $3 (or, as I would like to call it, an EPIC WIN.)

Tejas.

Well, I'm finally in Texas. However, I'm quite unsure of why I'm here. The timing seems a bit weird, but I know it's where I'm supposed to be.

Let's see where this adventure takes us, shall we?

two new videos in a day? epic win.

Check them out!

1. Song of Myself.



This project is a combination of pictures and video clips from my most recent shoot. The original idea was based on a stanza taken from Walt Whitman's poem, "Song of Myself."

2. Giving Up - Ingrid Michaelson Cover



My friend Abby and I decided to do a cover of a fantastic Ingrid Michaelson song. I've let my guitar playing skills get rather rusty. Oops.

I can see!

Today, my lovely glasses finally came in the mail.
After having blurry vision for the past 4 or 5 years, I CAN FINALLY SEE!

Praise the Lawwwd.

So long, high school.

My last day of high school was yesterday and ended at approximately 2 pm. Basically, the thought that I've finished this chapter in my life hasn't actually hit me yet. Whenever I've thought of finishing high school in the past, I thought some kind of big change would happen. Honestly, it feels just the way birthdays do. People always ask if you feel any older after turning a new age, but you never really do.

However, I'm not going to lie. The thought that I'm done with any kind of exams until next fall is pretty legit.

Summer 2011, I'm happy that you're here.

Witty Title

Hello there, neglected blog! How's life? We should get coffee and catch up sometime.

insert interesting and witty segway here.

Thirty-six days until I leave! Can you believe it? I'll be moving out of my house in a little over a month. My mind is officially blown. As the moving day draws near, my stomach is beginning to get more and more butterflies. It's not so much the going to Texas part of the situation as much as it is leaving home. Home. Charlotte has officially become my home.

A few months ago, if you would have asked me where I considered my home to be, I would have told you Texas - hands down. Apparently, the tables have turned. So much that I'm actually considering coming back sooner than I had originally thought. However, I'm going to keep those plans off of my blog for now. I'll keep you updated as actual things begin to happen, but I wouldn't expect that for another few months.

Goodness gracious. This blog is such a broken record.

Thoughts from a Sunday Drive.

Right before church today, I had to make a quick run back to the house because my mom had forgotten to pack speakers (long story). On my way back, I was feeling quite stressed and rushed. And of course, because I was in a hurry (and quite frustrated at this point), the person who was driving in front of me decided to take their sweet time. They were seriously going about 30 mph when the speed limit was 45. Despite being extremely frustrated and being tempted to, for lack of a better phrase, "not share the love of Jesus" with these people, I got to thinking - you can only go as fast as the person in front of you. Although this may seem like an obvious observation, think of it in the not-so-literal terms.

Whether it be a celebrity, family member, or friend, we all have people that we look up to or follow. However, when we decide to have role models that might not necessarily be the best influence on our lives, it's like we get put on hold. Although we should be going (a hypothetical) 45 miles per hour, we get stuck inching along because we're following a slow driver.

Honestly, I'm not sure if this makes much sense. However, I thought I'd share my thoughts :)

Much love,
Charis

Travels.

Yesterday on my 45 minute drive to uptown, a thought occurred to me. How much time do we spend travelling places? Yesterday alone, I spent over three hours in the car whilst driving. Honestly, this doesn't bother me much. In fact, I love to drive (except for the fact that gas prices are quickly approaching four bucks per gallon)! However, it doesn't change the fact that we spend a lot of time in cars, on planes, and on trains. What I really want to know is how many hours the average person spends traveling places in their lifetime. It must be a good chunk of time!

This realization got me thinking - how often do we look forward to our final destination instead of enjoying the journey? Personally, I've spent way too much time thinking and planning out this summer. In fact, I've been thinking about it almost constantly for the past two years. How many more thoughts could I have been thinking if it weren't for me dreaming about the future? It's really quite mind boggling (I've always wanted to say that).
With that said, I must say that the fact this summer is quickly approaching bothers me greatly. In a mere 65 days, I'll be moving out of my parents house... permanently. Sure, I'll come back and visit - I'm even visiting for a couple of weeks in July - but as far as actually living with my parents goes, I'll be gone. This is a tough notion to accept at the moment. These past eighteen years have seemed to go by quite slowly, but now that I'm looking back on them, they've flown by. It's funny how that works.
However, just because I'm moving out of my parents house permanently, does not mean that I'm moving away from Charlotte permanently. Actually, I've come to love this city very much (I know, it's a surprise to me as well). Yes, I know a lot will happen over the next four years, but my plan as of right now is to actually move back to the Queen City. This thought may be premature, but something tells me that I won't be gone for long.
Oh! Speaking of travels, I found out the other day that my parents are flying out my best friend from Texas as my graduation present! Not only am I going to be able to show her around this beautiful city for a week, but she's going to be able to drive back to Texas with me. This means...EPIC ROAD TRIP OF EPICNESS.
Ever since we were about ten, we talked and planned out our dream road trips. Although these usually included trips to New York and Italy (though I'm not sure how we planned on getting there by car), it's still exciting to think that we'll be spending 18 hours out on the open road by ourselves. Sadly, one selling point with my parents was that we couldn't go through the mountains. So instead, we're taking the Atlanta route.

(Charlotte, NC to Fort Worth, Texas)

(Naomi and I back in 2008)

Many music playlists are already being made for this epic road trip. If you would like to contribute to this list, it would be appreciated muchly!

Anywho, that's about all of the writing I have left in me tonight. Mom just informed me that I have a 15 page paper to write between now and next week. This would already be hard to complete, but I'm also going away for the weekend....so that takes away a large chunk of study time.

This shall be an adventure.
59 days until graduation.
Praise Him.

Much love.

I'm alive!

I'm back from Tulsa! Once again, I had a lovely college weekend. However, I'm glad to be back in Charlotte and back in my own bed.

Today, I received my class schedule for fall via email.

This fall, I'll be taking Reading/ Writing Liberal Arts, Theater Seminar, Fundamentals of Acting, Theatre History, Health Fitness I, Intro to Humanities, and Mathematics & Society.

All in all, I'll be taking on 16.5 credit hours my first semester - not too shabby.

Ramblings.

Earlier today, I was sitting in the kitchen talking to my mom. Apparently, her and mi padre are going to Fort Worth in April. I'm still trying to decide if I actually want to go.

For those of you who don't know, I'm moving to Ft. Worth on my own on May 19th (however, I'm only staying out there until July 10th). So as of right now, I'm not sure if it would be worth the trip out there for a weekend.

We'll see what happens.

In other news, I'll be in Tulsa in eight days!
However, I still haven't found a ride from the airport to the ORU campus. I may have to take my first taxi ride by myself. How exciting.

"I'm on a Boat!"

Today, I was reminded of a story (or parable) that I loved when I was little.

One time, there was a man who won a month long trip on a cruise line. However, he had very little money, so he decided to bring crackers and cheese as his food. The first few days were good, but the snack began to get old quickly. As the month went on, the man tried to enjoy some of the benefits that the cruise liner had to offer. He laid out by the pool, took in the gorgeous ocean scenery, and even attended a few parties. However, all he had to eat were crackers and cheese - over and over and over. What made things worse was that there was a fantastic restaurant with all glass walls that the man would have to walk past a few times each day. The food looked absolutely delicious. By the end of the trip, the man was GLAD to reach land. As he was walking off of the boat, he struck up a quick conversation with a fellow passenger. At some point in the conversation, the man brought up that he was so happy to get away from the cruise. Puzzled, the other passenger asked him why. The man then went on to talk about the crackers and cheese and how he had been absolutely miserable. The other passenger just looked at him and said, "didn't you know all of the food on the boat was free?".

As christians, we sometimes do the same thing.

Initially, we'll accept Christ in our hearts, but we don't accept everything he has for us!

I'm not sure why this was my favorite story when I was little, or why it stuck with me this long, but I thought I'd share :)

Much love.

Falling Into Place

It's amazing to see how quickly things are beginning to fall into place. As most of you know, I'm planning on moving to Texas (on my own) for the summer. This is quite a huge step for me. However, one thing that has been a bit worrisome is that I still hadn't heard back from the children's ministry that I'm wanting to intern with, and I still hadn't found a place to stay.

These two ginormous details have been constantly nagging at my thoughts for the past few months. My dream has been to go back to Texas for quite a while now, and the thought that it may not actually happen wasn't good. A few nights ago, I was having my quiet time and I just heard God say, "let it go." So I did. Right then and there.

After waiting to hear back for about a month and a half, I finally got an email from the children's ministry - and they said they wanted me! Also, in the past two days, I've heard back from TWO people saying that they would be more than happy to let me stay with them while I'm in Texas.

Things seem to be falling into place quite nicely...I guess all I had to do was just let things go!

Anywho, prayer for the coming months would be awesome. Although two of the major things are taken care of, I'm still stuck with the fact that I need money to make it happen.

Oh! I'm headed to Tulsa in 11 days! I have a scholarship competition and then I'm staying for college weekend once again. Are you ready for this, Oklahoma? (I'll be sure to actually take my camera this time. Photos from the iPhone didn't suffice last time around!)

Much love.

I've got the Bieber Fever!

NO WORRIES. I haven't become a J-Biebz fan. However, I think you should check out this awesome parody I recorded for my youth group! Check it out!

Eighteen.

Just a short video from my eighteenth birthday :)

Preludes

Just a little video I made for British Lit. Check it out :)

Never Too Late to Dream

Due to an extreme allergy attack I had after getting home from college weekend in Tulsa, my parents decided it would be good for me to start getting allergy shots twice weekly. Obviously, I wasn't too excited about being poked with needles four times each week, but it really is starting to help me breathe again. However, a part of this experience is that I actually have to go into the doctor's office for a total of about 2 hours each week. As a child, I hardly ever got sick. So spending so much time in a doctor's office is quite a foreign thing. Especially this one certain office.

The doctor's office that I go to mostly deals with elderly people. And when I say mostly, I mean ONLY deals with elderly people. Each day that I walk in, I'm instantly greeted with the stale smell that instantly reminds me of a nursing home I used to visit. Various diabetic/ senior related magazines grace the coffee tables along with one issue of People magazine circa 2006. Strange looks and puzzled faces watch me as I walk to the receptionist (I wish I were imagining this - but I'm not). Usually, I'll say hello, check in, and take a seat. However, today, the receptionist looked at me, paused, and said, "What I would give to be your age again. There's so much I would have done differently." I stood there for a second not sure how to respond. So eventually, I smiled and took a seat (the stares from the elderly still locked on me). For the next few minutes, I thought about what the woman said. Then, a thought occurred to me - is it really ever too late to pursue a dream?

With the exception of a few choice careers (such as being a princess or a NASCAR driver), I didn't see how it would ever be too late to pursue something that you had an immense passion for.

A little while ago, I was reading Habakkuk 2:2-3. It says;

"I will give you my message in the form of a vision. Write it clearly enough to be read at a glance. At the time I have decided, my words will come true. You can trust what I say about the future. It may take a long ime, but keep on waiting -- it will happen!"

So. I'll leave you with this - keep dreaming!

PS. In other news, The Civil Wars album came out today! You can listen to the full album here: http://www.spinner.com/new-releases#/2

It's extremely fantastic and has been on repeat in my house all day. Check it.

The Civil Wars.

The Barton Hollow CD comes out at midnight...to say I'm excited would be an extreme understatement :D
I was supposed to go to their show here on the 9th...but the tickets sold out the day before I could buy mine. Boo.

Anywho - my birthday is on the 11th.
Not sure what to do to celebrate...I'm thinking Amelie's.
Suggestions?


(Sorry for the complete lameness of my blog postings recently.)

Hannah Montana - In my own special way...

Dream Searching.

Today, I was accepted to my first choice college, Oral Roberts University.
Many random happy dances have been happening since about 4 pm this afternoon :)

However, being accepted to ORU has been my number one dream for quite a while. Now that it's come true, I realize that I don't really have a dream or a plan. I'm quite content with life at the moment...but I'm finding that I need to dream some new dreams!

Let the adventures...begin. :)

Much love.

The Broken Record.

I'm pretty sure I should have named my blog "The Broken Record". Because honestly, I mostly post about how I can't believe how fast life is changing.

Although I'm excited about these changes, it hit me just a moment ago that I'm going to miss my life here.

*a silence falls over the hypothetical crowd*

Yes, I'm definitely ready to begin a new chapter, but it's hard to think that I will actually be gone in 134 days. Also, when I embark on this grand adventure, life here doesn't stop. I learned this when I visited Texas last year. Everyone back home is suddenly taller than me and has grown up so much. It was very much like visiting an alternate reality. Everything seems pretty much the same - except for little changes.

What scares me is the fact that things here will be different whenever I visit. The way that my schedule is looking at the moment, the only time I'll be coming back to North Carolina will be in December for my winter breaks. Everyone and everything I know will be one year older every time I visit. That thought is kind of hard to latch onto.

However, this whole experience will definitely be an adventure...and I'm ready for it to begin...but it may be tougher to leave than I had originally thought.