It's about time for some more pictures

I have definitely fallen slack with posting pictures for my #100HappyDays project. With the midst of lots of work and projects, it has been a little bit of a slower week, fortunately.


Day 44:

Pretty proud of this meal. Roasted veggies with pesto pasta!! Yum.






Day 45:

Although this picture doesn't include all six of the fabulous ladies of Trond 2, it was one of those unusual nights in the library, where five of the six of us were in the library at some point!! Yay studying.












Day 46:

House outing to the Sugar Bowl!! Now that the temperatures are increasing, it is nice to finally have the ice cream shops in town open!!!








Day 47:

Top Banana (Luther's Improv Troupe) alumni show!! So fantastic










Day 48:

A beautifully warm day in the valley.











Day 49:

Picture overload of this wonderful campus because the weather is beautiful!! (And it's starting to make doing homework difficult)








Day 50:

Congrats Ali and Caleb!!! Best SnapChat ever to receive. So excited for the both of you!
(I worked with Caleb my first summer up at camp, and he proposed in Barnes and Noble, because Ali loves books!!)











Day 51:

Sometimes the best way to cheer people up is by walking in their room with an apron on. Especially when one is about to make dinner.












Day 52:


One of my biggest challenges this year has been to make an omelet, instead of scrambled eggs. So guess what??? I finally made a really terrific omelet!!! (Almost forgot to document this, thus the picture of my half-eaten omelet!)











Day 53:


Nothing beats wonderful sunsets!!










Day 54:

Today was Dance Marathon, which I will post about later!! But a truly wonderful day full of twelve hours of dancing for the Children's Miracle Network in Des Moines. We raised over $57,000!!!











Day 55:

A random picture from the internet because the loon represents how I feel today after dancing for twelve hours. Time to relax!!







Day 56:

I got to see Nick Jonas performing at Luther today!! Although I am not the biggest Jonas fan, it was pretty cool to see!! I have also never seen so many cell phones with screaming teenage girls....











Day 57:

Collegiate Choir Concert. Actually so emotional. Grateful for these wonderful people and for the last four years at Luther.

This picture about sums up how grateful I am for this gal. Friends since Sunday School, blessed to have shared in basically every big step ever with this gal.












Day 58:



These flowers are beautiful!!! Thank you, Ryan.














Day 59:

I wish this clip would show the entire video, but it was a pretty funny moment when Jenny and Ellie were trying to figure out what songs were played in our morale dance at Dance Marathon. My expression says it all.











Day 60:

Another rainy day on campus.










Well that about sums up the pictures for now!!! Have a terrific day!!

Morning Revival

One of my favorite moments each day is to take time in the morning to listen to music, drink tea, or pray in my prayer journal. The introvert in me comes out, and I crave the time to slowly wake up, and get ready for the day.

Often I have felt that I need in the morning to take time for myself, to prepare myself for the day! With the busyness, I love being able to read or do a devo.

So I figured I would share with you my favorite Devo's and morning music!

The first is: She Reads Truth. This website sends uplifting emails and devotionals each morning to your email!

Next is K-Love's Encouraging Word of the Day. A simple bible verse that is uplifting and is also sent to your email!!

Another favorite is the Story People Story of the Day which is an adorable picture and saying each day!!

Sometimes there is nothing better than a smile in the morning! Hope these can help provide a smile and give you a "morning revival" each day, and give you something to give you hope to carry you through each day.

Have a terrific day!!!

Battery Charger

Lately, I have found myself carrying around my phone charger wherever I go. My phone seems to be eating up all of it's battery power incredibly quickly now, and instead of charging it every two days, it has been needing to be charged every 1.25 or less days. The simple act of this has been a bit of an annoyance for me, especially when I pull out my charger and I am only able to charge my phone until it is at 35.5%. I know this isn't very healthy for the battery, as I have been told that when charging something, you should keep said device charging until it is at 100%.

So while my phone rests on a constant 23% while I carry it around, I sometimes give it a break for five or so minutes to charge up to a whopping 29%.

This has gotten me thinking, what about us?? How often do we take time to re-charge ourselves??

Are you walking around ready to be re-charged, and just waiting for a few brief seconds to re-collect yourself?

As I have been learning in my sociology class, we humans, are social beings. It is in the nature of our society to be social. We have a tendency to book our schedules full, leaving little time for ourselves.
Yes, there are so many benefits of being social, and that deservedly requires another blog post, but what I'm really trying to get at is...how are you taking care of yourself??

We seem to worry so much about our electronic devices and taking care of them. I have noticed that I get a little uptight when I am not able to fully charge my phone to 100%, and I fret about when I can take the time to charge it again, and quickly.

But I rarely take the time to re-charge myself.

Since it is the beginning of April, the busyness of the year is starting to reach its climax, and in all reality, it won't begin its downward spiral until close to graduation. So, really, there are about five or six things that I could be doing instead of writing this blog post right now. But in all reality, I love to write. I love the flow of words on paper. Writing is something that I can express myself in and something that helps to re-charge me.

In a recent conversation with a friend, she gave me some insight and pointed out how important it is to take time for yourself. Otherwise burn-out is an inevitable end.

Just like it's almost pointless to charge your phone for five minutes, why should you keep working until you run yourself dry?

Although we may be social, sometimes it is a-okay to seek out times of silence and solitude to re-charge yourself. In the end, you have this one and only precious life, and it's pretty important to make sure that you keep running.

So let the phone charge, but while it's charging, take time for yourself. Read a book (an actual book), write a blog-post, or sit outside.

You have but this one and precious life, why wouldn't you take time to enjoy a little bit of solitude and appreciate times of independence?

So here is my suggestion. Take a ten minute break and listen to this calming music, that is also rather re-energizing. It's from one of my favorite soundtracks. Read a book or journal, or pray. Just a little act you'll be thanking yourself later on for. :-)

Rainy Days...and Wednesdays!

 The rain has been on and off the past few days as the school work has kicked in to high gear. On the flip side, this means that my motivation to get up and do more has stayed the same since I am not inclined to go outside in to nice weather.
Anyway, here are some more pictures for #100HappyDays!

Day 36:

This evening, we had the privilege of hearing a 91 year-old Holocaust Survivor speak, Esther Bauer. A truly dynamic, humorous woman, she captivated the audience with her amazing story of survival. She left us with the words, "You have to make sure this never happens again."








Day 37:

There were plenty of April Fools Tricks played in Trondheim 2 today!!








Day 38:

Nothing like a beautiful day for a walk to the Whippy Dip for some ice cream!












Day 39:

Today marked the first day of Easter Break! Jenny's art was in the Art Haus Art Show. Such a cool piece!! Always so impressed by this lady's talent.











Day 40:

I felt the need to post several pictures for this day.
The first is the Selfie we took upon our day of arrival in Grand Rapids, MN.
Upon me pulling out my camera, Ellie's sister, Evie, exclaimed, "Selfies?? What is this?? 2012??"

 The beautiful lake upon which Camp Hiawatha sits. Ellie works here in the summer!!

Day 41:



Happy Easter!! He is Risen!!









Day 42:

Time to drive back to school, and the scenery of the St. Paul skyline!










Day 43:

We matched today, without even planning it. You know you are friends when.....