With a NEW YEAR comes change!

Christmas Break: December 14, 2010- January 10, 2011.

Alot of changes have happened over this Christmas break...changes I know will impact my life forever!

Firstly, I have begun to realize the meaning of true friendship. As lame and cliche as that sounds...its something I have never really realized to be very important until now. Sure, I have always had friends! Good Friends! But, I have always had REAL friends as well...BUT, I have just begun to realize who those real friends are. As well as who I have been a real friend to.

I have had many friends who have been in and out of my life. Some stay a while and some are just momentary friends, and I know that everyone comes in and out of our lives for a reason. But, what I have realized is, that there have ALWAYS been those certain people that have stuck with me no matter what! It has taken me this long to realize this, but now that I have...it has changed everything!

More importantly, I have realized that I have been taking these real friendships and I have been abusing them. I have taken so many real friendships for grated, JUST so I can have a good time with other people that I cant even call my real friends. I have been putting alot thought into this lately, and the only reasons I have come up with are: a. I have been so selfish, and I have let the devil take control over my life, and I have been doing the things I have wanted to do and not the things God has wanted me to do. And, b. I have abused these relationships because I have known deep down that my true friends will always be there for me in the end, no matter what!

I have finally realized that all this time I have been wrong! And I have been selfish! And I have been a horrible friend! In the end, I have realized that I have had good times with friends. BUT, I have also had GREAT times with GREAT friends! And those are the memories I will cherish forever. And those are the friends I will have for the rest of my life! I have learned from my mistakes and I am starting over. I am done taking my true friends who care about me, and who have always been there for me for grated. I am asking God to give me the strength and the courage to succeed in this.

A Bible verse that has helped me and will continue to be a great influence is:
"She is clothed with strength and dignity; She can laugh at the days to come." -Proverbs 31:25

Secondly, I have really been praying about what I am suppose to do with my life. Because, honestly I have no idea. I am a Sophomore in college at UT Chattanooga, I am a Communications major, but what do I really want to do...That is the question! And frankly I have not been able to come up with an answer. So, I have decided to leave that up to God. Although, it can be frustrating at times not knowing what I want to do with my life, while most of my friends have their lives planned out. It is also kind of fun having no idea what I am even going to do a week from now.

But during Christmas break God have placed something on my heart and that is; YWAM- Youth With A Mission. Sure, I have thought about doing YWAM before. My Best friend went to YWAM right after she graduated and I loved hearing all of her stories, but at the same time I just wanted to go straight to college after graduating high school. Can you blame me? HA, well...the more I think about it...the more I realize, I am still young, and I don't know what I want to do with my life. Soooo....Why not take a break and travel, and serve the Lord in different Countries. Its like a dream come true right!? Absolutely! I have been praying about it. As well as talking to my friends and family about the whole idea and EVERYONE has been so encouraging and supportive. Now, I just have to continue to pray, choose a base--That's the fun part!!! Hawaii? Australia? Switzerland? London? Oh My Goodness there are so many options! Anyways, If this is what I am supposed to do, then God will provide a way and He will choose where I am suppose to go! As for now I am leaving it all in Gods hands and just waiting for all the right answers!

I am so excited for all of these great new changes in my life! And I am so thankful for having such a wonderful family and such amazing friends! I have been so encouraged over this break and I am beyond blessed and excited!!!! I hope everyone is already having as good of a New Year as I am.

xoxo,
Han

Glitter Galore!

I absolutely Love Glitter...just thought I would share my love and obsession with everyone!

xoxo,
Han

MOVIES, MOVIES and more MOVIES

I think I am in the minority when I say I don't really enjoy movies very much...strange and unusual? Indeed!

BUT,

I have learned to enjoy them a little more over the past month or so. I have attempted to watch 7 movies in the past month and succeeded to completely finish 4 of those.

The 7 attempted Movies:
1. Stranger Than Fiction
2. Elizabethtown
3. Due Date
4. The Wizard Of Oz
5. Braveheart
6. Edward Scissorhands
7. Catch Me If You Can

The 4 Successfully Finished Movies:
1. Elizabethtown
2. Due Date
3. Edward Scissorhands
4. Catch Me If You Can


REASONS why I cant finish movies...sure! Number 1 reason, I cannot for the life of me stay awake! No matter what time of day or night it is, I just cant stay awake! Sounds like a personal problem eh? ohhh forsure! maybe one day this will become less of a problem....but for now, Im working on it!!!


Hope you watch a great movie today! Happy snow!

The Avett Brothers! The Avett Brother! Ohh, I LOVE the Avett Brothers. Boy oh boyyy do they hold a special place in my heart! I was listening to this song the other day and it hit me...this is exactly what I wish could happen right now...

Load the car and write the note.
Grab your bag and grab your coat.
Tell the ones that need to know.
We are headed north.
One foot in and one foot back.
But it don’t pay to live like that.
So I cut the ties and I jumped the track.
For never to return.

Although I do wish I could just drop everything and run...
I have realized that that is just very unrealistic and that God has something better in store for me. Of course, I don't understand God and his timing for everything very well. But what I have learned over time is that His timing is always perfect! So, I have made a choice to walk with Him until the day I die because HE is worthy!


So How could I expect to walk without You
When every move that Jesus made was in surrender
I will not begin to live without You
For You alone are worthy and You are always good

Where You go I go
What You say I say God
And what You pray I pray
And what You pray I pray

-Brian and Jenn Johnson

God is much more than worthy of our praise. He is our all in all...He is my everything!

You are the strength, that keeps me walking.
You are the hope, that keeps me trusting.
You are the light to my soul.
You are my purpose...you're everything.

How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?
-Lifehouse

It is hard for me to not fear for the future...especially since I think far too much about the future! But God says that we shall not fear for HE has redeemed us and that HE is the Lord our God.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you
And the waves, will not overcome you
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you
I have called you by name, you are Mine

For I am the Lord your God
I am the Lord your God
(I am) the Holy One of Israel, your Savior

I am the Lord
Do not fear
-Isaiah 43

Instead of doing what I want to do, and what I think is best...I know that God is in control of my life and I know HE will lead me and I have decided to follow!

God is so good!

WHAT A LOVELY SURPRISE!

Exactly a week ago, I thought moving back to Chattanooga was going be close to…if not THE end of the world! Little did I know, it was completely the opposite! Yeahh, Summer is all fun and games (with a little…okay, alot of work involved!) and by no means was I ready for summer to be over…not to mention for school to start! But, I truly do believe with all of my heart that there is a time and a place for everything! And timing could not have been any better for me to move back to Chattanooga. My classes are all fabulous, I love all of my teachers, my friends are amazing, I love my apartment and all of my neighbors! But beyond all of that, God has blessed me in so many ways I cannot even begin to describe! I have learned more this week being back in Chattanooga than I have in a long time. I have learned stuff about myself that I never knew, and stuff that I never believed to be true. There is something about living on your own that really does make you snap out of wonderland and back to reality!

I believe this past week has been just a small glimpse of what is to come this year! And I can say whole heartedly that I am honestly excited about this year and I am ready for whatever comes my way. I am readier than ever, God! I am ready for everything you have in store for me, I am ready for all of the wonderful things and all of the not so wonderful things! I am ready for a great year! So, BRING IT! Because I’M READY!

BONNA WHO? BONNAROO.

So this past SUMMER I decided to fulfill a dream of mine. I decided to go to BONNAROO!

The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival is an annual, four to five-day music festival, created and produced by Superfly Productions and AC Entertainment. The festival is held at Great Stage Park on a 700 acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee.



I MUST say this was one of the greatest experiences of my LIFE. First of all...I did things a little differently than most people. One of my good friends is in charge of running the TOLL booth. So I did what I thought would be the BEST thing and work the TOLL booth at BONNAROO! So me and some friends [and some not so friends] signed up, and packed our stuff. We drove up a day early to get our stuff all set up AND get right to work. After getting our tents set up and getting situated [as BEST you can in a field filled with millions of other people] we went to an HOUR of training. The training consisted of learning the WAYS...the BONNA WAYS as we like to call them! WE learned how to greet the cars that drive up...ask them for their tickets...scan the tickets, then give them back the ticket stubs & PLACE a green and purple cloth bracelet with the words BONNAROO stitched on. THEN last but not least get handed them a booklet with a schedule of all of the EVENTS and concerts. THE shifts were 12 hours long...6 PM to 6 AM! longggggg shift but well worth a free ticket to the best SHOWS and what we were unaware to become some of the BEST days of our lives.

So after MEETING thousands of very interesting people driving through the TOLL booth, it was time to get the real BONNAROO experience. I remember the first time walking through the BONNAROO arch and into CENTEROO [where all the bands perform] it was like entering a whole new world! THOUSANDS upon thousands of people everywhere...wearing anything from big bird costumes to nothing at all. ANYTHING and I mean anything goes at BONNAROO!


I am STILL in shock of how many GREAT bands that I saw. ALL within 4 days of being there. 2009 LINEUP included: Animal Collective. Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Bon Iver. Ben Harper. Citizen Cope. SNOOP DOGG. Grizzly Bear. Pheonix. Passion Pitt. Phish. The Beastie Boys. MGMT. Crystal Castles. Girl Talk. Pretty Lights. The Mars Volta. Santigold. Of Montreal. Wilco. Cage the Elephant. and many many MORE.

ALSO, I cannot believe that I used a porta potty for 4 whole days straight [blows my mind] but hey I did it & that's all that matters right? SO OVERALL the experience was incredible. I will definitely be making an appearance to at least the next couple BONNAROOS. If I work the TOLL booth again or NOT...that is the question of the year!..and you BETTER believe I ponder that thought EVERY single day of my LIFE.

LONDON its all about LONDON.

I should be going in CHRONOLOGICAL order with the events that have happened in my life. But I couldn’t wait to write about LONDON any longer! In May of 2009 My SENIOR class went on our senior trip to LONDON! That’s riiight, London ENGLAND! From the minute I landed in the magnificent city of LONDON, I knew… I knew I was quickly going to fall in love! And sure enough, I was completely & UTTERLY in love!! From the ADORABLE London boys [lets not forget the way they dress] to the totally crowded but yet completely enjoyable tube stations, to the delicious variety of foods [and drinks] It’s true…the drinking age is 18 there, and that was a definite plus as well! We stayed in a 5 star hotel, with excellent continental breakfast. ALTHOUGH I did see the strangest little Asian man slurp a half-cooked fried egg one morning at breakfast & COULDN’T control my laughter! On a side note...EVERY morning we had to have a wake up call- which consisted of someone at the front desk calling the phone in our rooms at the appropriate time. WELL, the very last morning we had to wake up extra early… its 4:45 am and we hear a KNOCK on the door to our bedroom... yes a knock! My roommate quietly said “come in!” but apparently they did not hear. So a few minute later [we are dead asleep] and we hear the door open…creepy, at the least bit! There HE is… the OWNER of the Hotel [little Asian man] as he walked closer to us, his voice gets louder & more CLEAR… “THIS is your wake up call… THIS is your wake up call!” After 4 or 5 times of him saying this…my roommate FINALLY replies with, “OKAY!! Thank you. BYE!” We are still to this day convinced that if she hadn’t replied when she did, he would have crawled in bed with us still saying “THIS is your wake up call!” over and over again. As CREEPY as it was, we got a good laugh out of it for pretty much the whole flight home.

ENOUGH with the funny stories and on with the amazing adventures! We went everywhere including West Minister. The Tower of LONDON. Ely Castle. CAMBRIDGE [most lovely place I have EVER been]. St. Paul’s Cathedral. The LONDON eye [in which in did ride…yippie!] and much much more! During this trip I learned a lot about the culture AND a lot about myself.

[AND here are some pictures that I TOOK on the trip...]

I know what you're thinking...ALL of the true natives in LONDON absolutely despise the London EYE. But like any good AMERICAN would...i took that baby for a little ride. IT took a little over 30 minutes to go all the way around. BUT the view was unlike anything i have and probably WILL ever see!

THIS picture was taken at the most amazing
place i have EVER been... right by the ELY Castle. i am completely obsessed with how green the grass was & HOW beautiful the flowers were. [the closest to in love i have ever been].

One day we were there, the Premiere of Night at the Museum 2 was going on... in which we were able to get pretty close to Ben Stiller.

WAGAMAMA--a real RAMEN noodle bar! I got the CHILE chicken ramen! SO spicy I felt like FIRE was coming out of my ears but it was absolutely delightful in EVERY way.

The AMAZING view from the TOP of St. Paul's Cathedral.--The CLIMB was awful but well worth it in the end!

OVERALL the trip was amazing & I got to see some of the MOST amazing sights I have ever seen. I found a love and BURNING passion for traveling. I hope to travel much MORE from now on.

THAT'S ALL FOR NOW...