Life – A Pocketful of Faith

My First Week-ish at Baylor

I’m about two weeks into my freshman year at Baylor and to say I’m loving every minute of it would be an understatement. I’ve been overwhelmed by the kindness of my peers and professors and I’ve fallen in love with the access to Christian ministries I have here. Don’t even get me started on how beautiful the campus is — it’s hard to be mad about the Texas heat when my walks to class are so pretty! Today I’m sharing a little about what my time here has looked like thus far, from move-in to classes to football games. I’m only really going to be covering the highlights, but of course I have plenty of pictures. I hope you enjoy this little peek into my college life so far!

Move-In Day

As I anticipated, move-in day was overwhelming and stressful and fun all at once. Volunteer students carry all of your belongings from your car to your room while you pick up all of your Welcome Week materials and get your ID set up to unlock your room so the physical labor of bringing everything in was pretty much nonexistent and I’m so grateful for that. Once I actually got in the room, my roommate Perri and I began settling in with our families’ help. Both being pretty far out of state, our families left early in the afternoon to prepare for flights home from other cities the next day. I won’t be going home until Christmas, so saying goodbye to my dad and sister was bittersweet. Once our families were gone, we put the finishing touches on our dorm and got things organized before heading to dinner with a bunch of our friends! I’m so proud of how our dorm turned out (we added a little more to the space after the photos below were taken) and I’m actually so excited to be sharing this room with my roommate who is now one of my best friends! Our residence hall is home to nearly 600 freshman girls and while that sounds super crowded, it’s so cool to be this close to so many sweet girls.

Club Collins

I’m going to be honest, my friend group didn’t go to a ton of the Welcome Week activities, but one event we were sure to attend on Friday night was called Club Collins. This little dance party mixer was held in the gathering space of the first floor of our dorm and was super hot (temperature-wise…the room was warm before it was completely packed with sweaty college students) but super fun! Our CLs (Community Leaders – essentially RAs at Baylor) set up a photo booth and other activities for the event. My friends and I got a little bored (and sweaty) about an hour in so we ended up leaving before the event was over to shower and head to HEB for a late-night grocery run.

Saturday and the Big Event(s)

Saturday was slow but eventful, including the farmers’ market, two trips to Common Grounds (best coffee shop ever and way too close to my dorm), meeting Brooklyn and Bailey at the church fair, Chick-fil-A for dinner, the Big Event, and the Bigger Event. Baylor New Student Programs held “the Big Event” in the SUB (Student Union Building), which included food, karaoke, games, and bear building. After the Big Event in the SUB, we headed to “the Bigger Event,” which was held off-campus by an organization called Zeta Zigga Zamma (ZZZ). ZZZ calls themselves a Christian fraternity and it’s essentially a God-loving group of guys that hosts substance-free parties that typically include Kool-Aid, prayer, a little bit of worship music, and a whole lot of dancing. The party was so fun and I’m so grateful to be at a school with organizations like this one!

Sunday Before the First Day of Classes

Sunday morning was my first opportunity to try out a church in Waco. My friend group attended a contemporary service at Harris Creek Baptist Church and we loved it. There are more than enough churches in Waco to go to a new church every week of freshman year and never repeat, so there are still a few more on our list to try before finding permanent church homes! Right after church, we went to Rosa’s, my friend Lauren’s favorite restaurant ever. That evening, the candlelight service was the final event of Welcome Week. I went to the service with my friends Lexi and Parker and there we prayed for the school year, sang worship songs, and heard from a speaker. It was such a neat way to start the school year and totally unlike anything my high school ever offered.

First Day of Classes

My first day of classes began with a big breakfast surrounded by lots of friends and wrapped up with my last class ending at 4:25pm. Something I really love about Baylor is the abundance of ministry available every night, and the night of the first day of class was no exception! Baylor has this super cool worship service called Vertical, which takes place most every Monday night, and our first time at the event was such a neat experience. Vertical reminded me a lot of YoungLife club back home, except all the music was worship instead of fun pop songs that often precede club and the talk was a little longer. Vertical was the perfect end to the first day of classes and I’m so excited to continue going (especially because Passion Band is coming on September 9th)!

Breakfast at Magnolia Table and College Ministry at Antioch

My good friend Lexi and I had what will likely become a weekly (and expensive) tradition of Magnolia Table for breakfast on Wednesday. The meal was such a nice break from dining hall food and it was a fun use of our extra morning time given that our first classes were at 10:10am! After classes that night I went with a group of friends to Antioch’s college ministry service and it was so good! I loved every worship song we sang and the message about finding yourself was incredible. I’m hoping to try out one of Antioch’s Sunday services soon!

First Football Game

Saturday marked not only our first game as Baylor students, but also our first time running the Baylor Line (refer to my post about Line Camp here if you don’t know what the Baylor Line is)! Running the Line was such a fun experience and was even worth the hour-ish wait in the hot sun beforehand. We were pleasantly surprised that no one in our friend group fell or lost a shoe/phone in the chaos of running the Line (trust me, there are horror stories of torn ACLs and broken jaws). Baylor beat Stephen F. Austin 56 to 10 and we celebrated the victory with another trip to Rosa’s (Lauren’s request again)!

Labor Day Weekend in Lake Travis

One of my best friends here at Baylor, Abby, was super generous to invite a small group of friends to come home with her Sunday through Monday and spend time out on Lake Travis on her boat! We had a blast wake-boarding and meeting Abby’s dogs, but man did we enjoy her mom’s homecooked dinner on Sunday night! After dinner, we got dessert at an awesome donut place in Austin called Gourdough’s. We enjoyed the luxury of sleeping on beds that weren’t twin-sized then headed back to Waco after breakfast Monday morning!

I’m so thankful for what Baylor already is to me and I’m so excited for what’s to come. This place and these people are such a gift from God and I’m so confident that I’m exactly where I belong. I hope you enjoyed this post — sic ’em!

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September Playlist 2019

Since arriving at Baylor, one of the many things that have been super fun has been hearing my new friends’ favorite songs. Being out of state and about a 13 hour car ride away from home, I don’t have my own car here, which means if I’m in a car I’m riding with my friends and one of them is always on the aux. I’ve also been going to a ton of worship services and college ministries, so I’ve found and rediscovered a lot of beautiful worship music as well. And don’t even get me started on the new Taylor Swift album – SO GOOD! So there’s the explanation for today’s post, my September playlist! You can follow me on Spotify here for access to the playlists that I’ve made for many moods and time periods in my life. All of my playlists posted on the blog since July have corresponding playlists on my Spotify! I will be adding more songs to the playlist as the month goes on (I’ve actually added a few more since I wrote this post), so if you follow the playlist you can stay up to date on what I’m listening to. Enjoy!

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Listen to the playlist here!

Thanks for reading!

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Five Favorites; June 2018

Happy (almost) July! I’ve been up to so much over the month of June, including leading at WyldLife summer camp, going on a trip to San Diego (with a stop in Texas), and serving on Work Crew at YoungLife’s Saranac Village in NY (where I am still serving as you’re reading this!). A few material items (and albums) have been key to thriving in this fun month, so today I’m sharing my third “Five Favorites” post, which rounds up my favorite things in the month of June! This is my fifth “Five Favorites” post, so if you’re interested in reading my favorites of January, February, March, and May you can check them out here, here, here, and here! Enjoy!

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SheIn Ruched Bandeau Bikini Set – After seeing a colorful smocked bikini in Instagram spring break posts all through the month of April, I began searching for this trendy set. For the longest time the only suit I could find that fit the pictures was a pricy Tory Burch set (I’m talking $118 for the top alone), but while browsing SheIn’s website one day I finally found this coveted set under $20 total! I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of this bikini and I’m so excited to continue wearing it all summer!
Freestyle Shark Classic Clip Watch in Taupe/Neon – I’ve been wanting one of these fun sports watches for a year now and I’m so happy I received one for my birthday before leaving for Work Crew! I personally think this watch is much cuter than most sports watches, plus it reminds me of something from the 80s! This hot pink, neon orange, and taupey grey color combo is hands down my favorite, but I also like this white, purple, orange, and mint combo!
don’t smile at me EP by Billie Eilish – I have no idea how many hours I’ve spent listening to this EP (especially while traveling) in the month of June but if I knew it’d probably be some crazy and embarrassing number. Billie’s music is just so beautiful and relatable while simultaneously being violent and exaggerated. Her voice is absolutely stunning and I will never be over the fact that she is actually younger than me. My favorite songs from the EP are currently “Watch” and “COPYCAT.”
Target SUGARFIX by BaubleBar Gold Hoop Studs with Crystal Earrings in Gold – I bought these earrings from the Target x BaubleBar SUGARFIX collection a few months ago and I’ve loved wearing them! The simple gold and crystal combination makes them super versatile and the trendy shape spices up any outfit!
invisibobble Original Traceless Hair Ring in Royal Pearl – I know these hair ties have been trendy for a couple years now, but I honestly thought they were so ugly until a month or so ago. My little sister bought a set of these while we were in San Diego and she let me have one (shout out to her!) and I’ve kept it on my wrist ever since. I do think they seriously make a difference in regard to dents in your hair post-ponytail plus they’re just way cuter on your wrist than any other hair tie!

Thanks for reading!

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May Playlist 2018

If you ask me, music is seasonal. I don’t just mean Christmas music and songs that literally talk about summer, I mean the sound. Y’all know I love electronic and alternative music, but I often lean towards more electronic and pop during the spring and summer, as the upbeat sounds set the tone for the exciting activities of spring and warm summer days. As we make the transition into spring (I know it’s already mid-spring but the weather here’s just now starting to feel like we’re exiting winter!), I think this playlist reflects that mood change pretty well! Slower alternative numbers like “White Lie” and “Gale Song” by The Lumineers reflect the darkness and long days of winter and recent upbeat favorites of mine like “Boy” by ODESZA (by the way it doesn’t have words but I swear the sounds are just so pretty!) and “Say My Name” by Tove Styrke excite me for the warm months ahead! Other than those that I already mentioned, “One Day At A Time” and “Ultralife” are standout songs on my personal charts for this month. Enjoy!

Tap on the name of a song below to listen to it on YouTube!

Say My Name // Ultralife // Boy // White Lie // MICHUUL. // Everybody Hurts // One Day At A Time // For You (Fifty Shades Freed) // Gale Song // The Other (Ryan Riback Remix) // Talk Too Much // Falls // Koto // Capital Letters // Throwback

Thanks for reading!

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Fill In on Faith Vol. 1; April 2018

Dear friends, I cannot explain how sorry I am for my month long absence! Today I’m doing the first of what will likely become a sporadic series of life updates, something I’ve decided to call “Fill In on Faith.” This post is going to tell y’all about what I’ve been up to recently and how my life is going, as well as spill a few pieces of exciting news! Enjoy!

To start, the main source of my busyness this semester was lacrosse season. For those of you who don’t know, I play on my high school’s varsity girls lacrosse team. While I’m definitely not the best player on the team and honestly don’t get played a ton in actual games, the sport is still a huge time commitment considering I attended daily practices from 3:45 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. and typically had one or two games per week. My team had an amazing season, only losing two official games in all! We had a lot of impressive and unexpected wins and despite my only minor contribution, I’m really proud to be part of something so big. Girls lacrosse has never been a particularly successful sport at my school and we’re genuinely shocking our classmates with our accomplishments. We ended our season with a loss at the state semi-finals, and while we were disappointed that we didn’t make it to state this year we’re still proud because that is the farthest our school’s girls lacrosse team has ever made it in the playoffs! We celebrated an amazing season with a dinner at a player’s house on April 29th and, like any other time that our team is together, it was a blast filled with countless laughs.

Continuing on the topic of extracurricular obligations, while it might not sound like anything special, yearbook distribution day was quite possibly my favorite day of the school year. Getting out of class all day to hand out the book I’ve poured my heart and soul into in seventh period every day this year while wearing matching tee shirts was so much fun and receiving compliments on the book made all of those long Saga Days (our yearbook is called Saga and “Saga Days” are the Wednesdays we stayed after school until 5:30 p.m. from October to January to do some extra work on the spreads and eat pizza) so incredibly worth it. In other yearbook news, I’m going to be a co-editor-in-chief next year! I’m so honored and ecstatic that my yearbook advisor asked me to work with one of my best friends, Evan, as co-editors of the entire yearbook and I’ll also be the section editor of clubademics (school club and class spreads)! We commemorated a successful year with a staff feast at one of this year’s co-editor-in-chief’s houses, where we shared lots of delicious snacks and funny memories.

Next, let’s talk prom. My school’s prom was April 21st and I had a great time with my best friends and date! My date “promposed” by surprising me with a poster and roses one Saturday in March while I was at work. We went as friends and part of a group of four total couples (including my best friends Cammie, Evan, and Sarah Grace) and while I’ll be the first to admit prom definitely isn’t the “night of nights” that High School Musical and my older peers hyped it up to be, it was still a lot of fun!

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It’s no secret that I’m super involved in YoungLife, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I recently completed Work Crew training and applied for a spot on Work Crew at Saranac Village, a YoungLife camp in New York. I couldn’t be more thrilled to announce that I will be on Work Crew at Saranac Village for second session (June 23rd through July 21st)! I just found out last week that I will be a tawashie, which means I’ll be on the housekeeping team all month! Going to a YoungLife camp for Work Crew is completely voluntary, so I won’t get paid and I don’t have to pay to be there. If you’re going to Saranac Village during second session for Work Crew or as a camper let me know, I’d love to meet you!

(This photo belongs to YoungLife’s Saranac Village website but please look how pretty it is!)

Speaking of YoungLife, I spent the weekend of April 27th through 29th serving at YoungLife’s camp in Brevard, NC, Carolina Point, for Family Camp Weekend. This was my second time participating in my area’s Work Crew Weekend at Carolina Point (read my post about last year’s here) and the trip was just as fun as last year. Even though the work is exhausting it’s so worth it. Serving for the weekend made me so excited to serve at Saranac for a whole month!

Last, and probably least interestingly, I’m finally through with my AP course load! Yesterday I took my last AP exam and I could not be more relieved that they’re all over with. In case you’re curious, I took AP English III (Lang), AP Environmental Science, and AP U.S. History this year. Junior year has been a tough one for sure but the end is near! Since my schedule includes three AP classes and a study hall, the only exams I’ll have to take during my school’s actual exam week are Spanish III (my last high school Spanish!), Pre-Calculus, and Yearbook (which is really just a grade we receive for spending the long period actually working ahead on next year’s book). I’m relieved that now I can channel all of my energy into Pre-Cal because our current content needs all the focus I can give it!

Thanks for reading! Consider yourself filled in on my life.

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