Saturday, December 29, 2012

Friendships Made to Last

This year the Sunday before Christmas my parents, brother and I drove up to Cottonwood to go to church with my Dad's family. I honestly can't remember the last time that I went to a church service in that old church...the one that I had so many memories in as a young child. Thinking about this church, in this small town, I couldn't help but think about how grateful I am for where God has brought me.
I used to envy the friends that had grown up in the same neighborhood, same church all of their lives. They didn't have to start over with friendships with every new city, every new church. When I was young I used to tell people that I loved it because it taught me to be outgoing, but longed for the life-time friendships that were not happening in each new place.
Now I am the one that has been in this city for nearly 10 years and some of my dearest friends have moved away or will soon. However this time I am not worried about losing their friendships. God is so strategic...so purposeful. Each place that I have been, the friendships that I made taught me something.And I am learning that the people God needs in my life, are here. No distance will change that. Two friends that I count very dear to my heart are the two that I have known that longest. We have not physically lived in the same city since second grade, and yet here they are. I just think that is amazing.
Proof that friendships from God are sticking around! So, as my dear friend Christina is headed out to her new adventure, I shall miss seeing your face, but am ever grateful for your friendship and can't wait to see what God does!
Here are some snaps of Christina and I at her going away party...please ignore the grossly messy hair on my part. :)

 




Love,
C

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Snow :)


"Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart" 
- Psalm 37:4

OK. So for some of you, a white Christmas really may not be a big deal at all. But for this AZ girl, snow is a big deal. I could count on one hand how many times I have been around snow. For some reason, you just don't get too much of it in Phoenix :)

So, this year, I thought it would be so amazing if we got snow for my first Dallas Christmas. I even asked God for one. Now, as I have mentioned before in previous posts, my God is a God of details. He cares about the little things. The things you may push to the back of your mind as something insignificant. He longs to be so personal with us. He knows the little things that can bring us so much joy and longs to give us that joy. How awesome is that?!

One of the ways He has always brought me joy is through nature. In AZ, it was sunsets and really beautiful, cloudy days when the sky turned different shades of purple against the mountains. I would literally be driving somewhere around town and see one of these skies and just smile because I knew God was behind it. Here in Dallas so far it has been the beautiful trees with all the fall leaves; a part of nature I had never really experienced before. He is so creative with all the different colors of leaves and trees, I love it! But SNOW is an entirely new experience to me.

 Sometime after opening gifts on Christmas morning, small snow flakes began to fall from the white sky. As soon as I saw the snow falling, I just smiled. God was behind this too!


So the snow fell...
                   
and fell a little more...


and even a little more..


until there was nothing but white :) Thank you Lord for my first white Christmas! I'm one blessed girl :)



Hope you all see the little things God has given you to smile about.

Much Love,
Shan

Monday, December 17, 2012

So this is Christmas...

So, I have to say, this Christmas is just a little bit strange.

Usually, I am beyond excited for my most favorite time of year, but with me moving across country, the excitement just hasn't quite been the same. Don't get me wrong, I have taken full advantage of many delicious gingerbread lattes, warm cozy outfits and tons of Christmas decorating. But, its just a little strange to be somewhere new for Christmas.

I am beyond blessed with amazing family and we will all get to be together this year, which is so exciting! But I think being away from my "normal" during such a favorite time of year is harder than I thought it would be.

All that to say, I have been making myself explore my new city a little bit and see what I can find that brightens the season around here in Frisco, TX. So I thought I would share :)

1st on the list! Main Street :)
This shopping center is completely lit up each Christmas. Everything! As you drive through, you tune your car radio to a certain station only to discover that the lights are synchronized to Christmas music :) Very very cool!


Another night this week, I made my way over to the Shops at Legacy. Another adorable area. For everyone in Phoenix, its very similar to Kierland Commons only they have a small lake and a ton of trees and a walking path. Very sweet :) Their street was completely laced in white lights. I can't even begin to describe how beautiful they were!


I will be posting more about my new home for Christmas very soon. This is all I have for now, though. Hope to have new outfit posts up very soon and hopefully, Court and I will do our first combined post with me in Texas and her in Arizona :)

Till next time, hope you take time to enjoy whatever brightens your town this Christmas Season :)

Much Love!

One More For The Road

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of polk-a-dots, spider-monkey jumping, red lips, big hair, tigers, elephants, rockettes, angels and baby Jesus'....so much fun!

I don't have many pictures to share, but wanted to put up a few at least so here goes!



This is the dress I wear for my 1940's scene

Oh and Sat it rained!! ALL DAY! My favorite!!
Meet Rosie!!!Always a crowd favorite!
AND she does a hand/truck stand!!

A flying Angel....PS this angel's name is Libby and she has a blog...Check it out!

source   This is a shot from practice...it took many, many hours of this to look like....



source  THIS! We look good!! :)























Tonight is our very last performance....after months of practice, 3 dress rehearsals and 16 performances...it is safe to say that I am ready for a break. This morning I tried to lock my house with my car key...and I drove right on past my work and had to go around the neighborhood to get back....I am ready to get some decent rest!!
It is always so much fun being on stage though...looking out at the crowd smiling and cheering...I love it!
Now on to all that Christmas shopping I haven't had time for!

Happy Monday everyone!


Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Stripes, Buns, and Liquid Liner

This week has been off to quite the busy start! The Christmas play at my church is in full swing and you know what that means?...the sock bun!
I thought of doing a series of posts called "A Bun A Day Keeps The Damage Away"...or the "12 Buns of Christmas"...something ridiculously cheesy like that...but I decided to spare you the awkwardness.
Instead here is one post of me and my sock bun. Although I get sick of wearing this for two weeks straight to avoid damage from a curling iron everyday, I do admit, I love how quick and easy it is to get ready in the mornings.
I brush, throw it in a pony tail, dampen and roll. Just like that I am ready to walk out the door.
This day was a particularly easy when it came to style. I found this adorable striped shirt at a thrift store last week. My first thought was to turn it into a scarf...but when I slipped it on I just couldn't cut into it! So, a shirt it shall stay!
The dress is also thrifted, originally from H&M. It is slightly longer in the back, which I love! And I threw on a black lace slip to peak out in the front.
Last but not least are my new shoes!! :)
This was a particularly fabulous little blessing from God last week. This winter when I pulled my winter boots out...nearly every pair was falling apart!  I couldn't believe that! I was a little dissapointed because, A. I love my boots and B. I cannot afford to replace all of my boots at once!
THEN I stopped by two thrift stores...and wouldn't you know, God blessed me with two pairs of beautiful new boots! One pair of chocolate brown leather boots, which I will show another day, and these beautiful black Sketchers (only $16!!)  My God takes care of me :)







Well, another bun, another day.
Happy Wednesday everyone!!


PS if you live in the area, come check out the Celebration of Christmas program and PFA! It's fabulous! Tons of amazing dancing, singing, camels, and a tiger and elephant! You definately want to see this! AND yours truly is dancing in the USO 1940's scene! Whoot!

 Here's a little promo:




Monday, December 10, 2012

Disney

This post is a little overdue....but....We went to Disneyland!!!
Be prepared for a whole lot of pictures!

Whoot whoot!!


























Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Grateful Gab

Today...
I could write about the failed moments.
The disappointment.
The sad.
The difficult.
The ugly.

Instead....
I will write about the victorious moments.
The hope-filled.
The joyous.
The inspiring.
The lovely.


I am grateful for the love of The Savior. That even on my worst day, His love for me outweighs everything.


I am grateful for the the beautiful flowers I saw as I walked into the mall yesterday. They were vibrant and glorious and brightened my day.

I am grateful for coffee. The warm cup in my hands is enough to make me smile before it even reaches my mouth. (...wow I sound like an addict...)

I am grateful for the moments when my spirit wins the battle against flesh. When I stand up to myself and am nice when I could be mean.(Even if they are not as often as I would like)

I am grateful for my family and the love we have for each other. I love the moments we share, the laughter, the tears.

I am grateful for having an hour lunch break to relax and refresh before more work.

            Yesterday for my lunch break I decided to go to the mall. Sometimes you just need to walk around the mall, with all of the Christmas music, and Christmas decorations...and coffee...It was beautiful! And just the ticket to brighten my day.

The beautiful flowers as I walked into the mall.

Santa

The beautiful necklace I wanted to buy Shan...too bad it was really expensive. :( Sorry Shan.

I guess I'll be Brittney today.

This is my new favorite way to wear scarves!
For this look: The sweater is actually a very bright orange. I love pairing one bright color with a black and white outfit. I was wearing a black maxi skirt with this look. For the scarf,  I tied two different scarves together to make it more bulky and interesting. I got so many compliments! No one knew it was two separate pieces!

That's it for today. :)




Thursday, November 29, 2012

And so it begins!


Hi Friends!
Well, as Court mentioned in the last blog, I made the move to Dallas this week! What an adventure this week has been too! 6AM Monday morning, my parents and I took off from Phoenix and headed out for the 16 some hours ahead through the beautiful landscape of Southern AZ, New Mexico and of course West Texas ( note my hint of sarcasm there). Here are a few pictures from my adventures!

Smiley pancakes at the Waffle House in Tucson.



These were some of the items that could be purchased at one of the random gas stations we stopped at once in Texas. It was pretty easy to tell we had entered the Longhorn State after this :)



 Funny Shannon story!!
I made a reservation for a storage unit last week for everything I need to store while I am living with my sister here in Dallas. My furniture that I needed to store is equivalent to about a one bedroom apartment. So I get here to Dallas, go through all the paperwork at the storage facility and follow the Storage guy out with my truck load full of stuff only to find that the unit I rented is none other than the picture to the left. FOLKS! This wasn't going to cut it! In my head, I pictured at least double this size so I just started laughing. Apparently, I wasn't paying attention when I picked the size of the storage unit. Oops! Thankfully, there was another unit that was the size I had in my head and all worked out well. I'm pretty sure, I am the only person in the world who would make this mistake though, so I had to share :)


Lastly, here is a picture of the street I live on for the time being. Being a native Arizona girl, I have never ever experienced any type of fall season, so these trees are really new to me! Our God sure is creative!

Leaving Arizona was so hard in the sense that I am so fully blessed there with amazing friends and family. But knowing that this move is something God had for me made leaving that much more sweet. To know that I have life-long friendships in Arizona and yet God still has more for me somewhere else is beyond incredible! He really longs to bless us beyond anything we could ever imagine. I am excited for what is to come and so blessed for what He has already given to me. Much more to come :)

Love,
Shan