ordinarily extraordinary

Today marks the very first Woman Crush Wednesday post! Similarly to my other posts, I will keep to a general template for the Wednesday blogs. They will open with a little information about my woman of the week and will follow with 5 questions that I will answer pertaining to our friendship. Since this is my first WCW, I figured that the best way to start it off was with my best friend... Kristin and I have been friends since 2002. That's 15 years of friendship, and we've spent most of that time apart. We text almost every day and we FaceTime as often as we can. Currently, she is living in Connecticut and working for ESPN; she does graphics for the morning shows! We don't get to see each other as much as we'd like, but when we are together, it's as if nothing has changed. We never run out of things to talk about but when we're quiet, it is just as nice. Here's a little more about Kristin: 1. How did we meet? It was the middle of the school yea...

I've previously posted about how I love the warm and sunny weather that comes with spring. But isn't the saying "April showers bring May flowers"? Spring is a time for growth, and growth comes from the rain. I love keeping the windows down while it rains. I will lay in bed with a good cup of tea and I'll listen to the rain for hours. I love the aesthetic of a rainy day and music softly playing from a record player. There is certain music that just sounds right in the rain; vintage records and raspy voices. Until I can get my own Crosley player and an extensive 50s record collection, I guess these songs will have to do: La Vie en Rose - Louis Armstrong Moon River - Audrey Hepburn (Andy William's version is also beautiful) Sway - Rosemary Clooney with Perez Prado Singing in the Rain - Gene Kelley Almost Like Being in Love - Nat "King" Cole What do you like to do on a rainy day?

Fun fact of the day: It's still Easter! Easter isn't just one day full of sunrise services and chocolate and bunnies and every other commercialized piece of nonsense, it is a season of celebrations! Christos anesti; Christ is risen! It is a season of hope and new beginnings, of knowing that not even death can overcome us. Jesus endured the most painful acts of torture and death that a person can experience. And He overcame! He rose, and so will we.

It's Friday everybody! GET PUMPED! For those of you who read my blog regularly, thanks a bunch! For those of you who don't... well, I am silently judging you... I have been wanting to make some more changes to my blog lately to make it prettier and more "me". I have also been wanting to make some changes to my posts. Every day, I have trying to post with the daily theme, but I have felt something has been... off with the themes. So I will be changing a few things: 1) Wonderful Wednesday is now... Woman Crush Wednesdays! I will still be doing Wonderful Wednesday on my Snapchat  but I thought it was kind of weird doing the same thing on 2 different platforms. Woman Crush Wednesday's are going to be posts about the wonderful women who have influence my life, whether they be my friends, family, authors, singers, and actresses. 2) Treat Yo-self Thursday is now... Throwback Thursday! Apparently, I don't do enough to treat myself to make this a weekly thing. ...

Happy Wonderful Wednesday, everybody! Wonderful Wednesday is a thing that I do on Snapchat every week where I talk about 3 wonderful things going on in my life. I then ask for people to share their 3 wonderful things in order to spread joy and positivity! Here are my 3 wonderful things: 1. I cut my hair! 7 inches of hair was cut from my head and I feel so free! A new haircut gives a renewed sense of confidence and it is such a wonderful feeling. 2. It is finally warm outside! Yesterday, I posted about music I like to listen to in the car when I roll my windows down. The weather has been so perfect lately that I have been able to drive with my windows down, wear sandals and dresses, and even sleep with my windows oopen and wake up listening to birds sing! 3. For the first time, possibly, in my whole life, I have not been freaking out about my future this week! I have been doing the Mary, Undoer of Knots novena this week and I've felt so calm about my future. I...

It is 75 degrees outside right now, there's a light breeze blowing my fresh haircut, and all feels right in the world! I LOVE when Spring weather finally hits Northern Virginia. It's always a guessing game as to when it will happen (I mean, my campus closed for a snow day over Spring Break...) but when it does, I am a happy camper. I love rolling my windows down and taking the long way home so that I can jam to my favorite songs. I love turning the music all the way up to educate my fellow drivers in good music taste... Here is my current "Now Playing" playlist: Shout Out to My Ex- Little Mix "Shout out to my ex, you were really quite the man! You made my heart break and that made me who I am! Here's to my ex! Hey, look at me now! I'm all the way up and you'll never bring me down!" That's What I Like- Bruno Mars "Take a look in the mirror, now tell me who's the fairest. Is it you? Is it me? Say it's us and I'll...

I get the feeling... Garfield the cat is credited with the quote, "I hate Mondays." Mondays are known to bring stress and funny Facebook memes. I mean, I get it, you have 2 days off to sleep and have fun only to go back to work Monday morning and daydream about that clock striking the end of your shift on Friday afternoon. But I actually really like Mondays. Monday means a brand new week, a whole week of being on your grind and crushing the term #GirlBoss. Monday means motivation, finding inspiration to get through another week. Monday means early mornings and late nights, getting work done and preparing for every possible outcome. Monday means change, trying to find what is making things feel slow and taking charge. This Monday was for change. I changed my calendars. I changed out my closet. I changed the layout of my bedroom. I changed my mindset from wanting a nap to working on applications. I changed my hair. I changed my mindset, so I'm going to ...