time to [[ breathe ]]

Okay, so i haven't posted in a few weeks, because life has been c r a z y! But now that I am officially done with school I can post lots of recipes I've been waiting to share :)

Here is an overview of whats been going on since I last posted;

My prayer group had our first meeting. I am so blessed by these girls, and thankful the Lord has sovereignly brought us together :) 

Farewell Holland Family!

Rick Holland is the [now] former pastor of the collegiate group at my church. He was there for 14 years and was such an incredible teacher, pastor and shepherd. Its a weird change, because all my life he was the only college pastor I ever thought I would have. But I am so excited to now be under Austin Duncan!

.All.grown.uP.

my friend Katherine threw this awesome costume even where we could relive our childhood dreams. 

Love these sweet girls. [and boy!]

My sweet friend Katrina Herrera came HOME for summer leave.

I hadn't seen her since Christmas, and wont see her again until next Christmas, but i am so thankful that shes home. I went to pick her and her family up at the fly away :))

She introduced me to El Charros. It was pretty amazing.

My friend Emily graduated high school! I've known her since 3rd grade, so it was pretty sweet to see her cross the stage. //congrats Em.//

Katrina turned 19. were all grown up now!

Katrina, Natalie and I took some sweet convertible rides

A group of us went to Ojai for the day. 

The adventure included: fruit stands//art shows//pizza//daisy chains// and good conversations.

and we stayed for sunset!! It was absolutelt beautiful

(Pictures courtesy of Natalie Valdez and Franzine Elaine DeGuzman)

Last but not least [[Lizzie]] graduated high school last night!!!

Congrats friend :)

I love you!

So that is a bit of what has been going on the past few weeks, plus lots more sleepovers and coffee//lunch//dinner dates.

Here is a taste of whats to come ;)

Salted. Caramel. Cupcakes. 

XO

B

Lizzie's { Homecoming }

This past Saturday was my best friend, Lizzie's, senior Homecoming dance! So about three hours before she had to leave, I drove over to do her hair and makeup!! With our lives being so busy the last couple weeks, we haven't gotten to spend much time together just talking and doing "girl stuff," so this was our catch up time. I can honestly say it was a much needed refreshment to my life! I love this girl so much! So we chatted, ate candy, and listened to Taylor Swift's new Album "Speak Now." If you don't have it already...buy it. I ADORE it. 

Well, Lizzie had a purple dress and wanted her makeup to be purple. I own quite a bit of professional grade makeup and brushes, and have developed a love for doing makeup and experimenting with it. So i decided to do Lizzie's makeup as a purple smokey eye. She seriously has the most amazing eyes, and those eyelashes aren't fake either. WOW!

She was a knockout!!! Seriously, so beautiful!!! 

Then Lizzie's Friends came to pick her up, and they were off to the dance!!! Pretty girls!! :)

"As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father’s house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt."

1 Samuel 18: 1-4

XO.

B

the emily monster!!!!!

About two years ago, my close friends Emily and Elyse moved up to Castaic because their dad got a job as an associate pastor up there!!! Although it was very hard to see them move so far away, it's been a blessing to see how their new life has brought them closer to the Lord!  Last Wednesday Emily came down to spend three days with me!!! Our activities included movies, shopping at the AMERICANA,  a photoshoot, and lots of girl talk; of COURSE! Here are the pictures from our very small photoshoot we did around my house and neighborhood! After three hours of editing, the pictures were done. We loved the way they turned out!!! I Love you Emily!!!! <3 

isnt she hot??

my dad owns a '66 mustang. boy did we have fun with that ;)

Emily is such a great encouragement to me in my daily walk with the Lord. She truly lives out the verse Proberbs 27:6 "faithful are the wounds of a friend..."

love you em!!!!!

a Fireworks and Food Filled Fourth of July!

My family doesn't have very many holiday traditions. I guess we just kind of do whatever the moment calls for at holidays.  However the fourth of July is an exception to this unspoken rule.  For the past 19 years we've gone to our friends, The Crumb's, independence day party. They live in an enormous five-story house right on the marina of Marina del Rey. Its so absolutely relaxing and beautiful! You can sit on one of their four decks and look out into the sunset, and see the glassy water down below. I guess the only way to describe it is serene. So this year, in keeping with 'tradition' we all got dressed and headed on down to their house. I brought my sweet friend KAT with me this year. It was SO fun. 

we got ready for the night (:

leaving!!! (:

on the way!! (: 

After we got there we had an amazing dinner. All the food is put out buffet style. The menu included: homemade crab cakes, ribs, tacos, shrimp, smoked salmon, Caesar salad, apple pie, and fresh fruit. And thats to name half of it. Bliss, right?? 

Then we put our legs in the heated pool....

then we gave in, put our suits on, and hopped in! There was about 9 little girls in the pool with us. It was so fun to talk to them and play around with them. Although we tried to avoid the splashing, we got nailed a couple times... (: We also watched the spectacular fireworks show from the pool. 

 

on our way home! (:

It was such a fun night. One of the most interesting things was seeing how much everyone had changed over the past two years. Last year the family that hosts the party went to Hawaii so there was no party. But their grandson was about 5'9" the last time i saw him. And when he walked in yesterday....he was 6'4". CRAZINESS!!!! 

But as the rest of the country celebrates Americas freedom from England, we can not help but remember OUR freedom from sin, provided in salvation through Christ's death and resurrection! 

"We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin." 

Romans 6:6-7

total ECLIPSE of the heart.

There are very few things that i would wait 7 hours for, but the premiere of the new movie Eclipse, from the Twilight Saga, is one of them.  At 5:00 p.m. my adorable friend, Bianka, and I got to the Burbank AMC  to get our spot in line for the midnight showing of Eclipse. When the movie ended at about 2:30am I would have gladly bought a ticket for the 3a.m. showing without a second thought, but it was sold out :( If you've never been to any midnight showing of a movie, i would HIGHLY recommend that you try it out. Theres just something so fun about waiting in line for half a day with people, seeing their excitement, and being the first person to see a movie.

I've read all the books, and i love the movies.  This one was no exception. I absolutely LOVED it. And just when you thought Taylor Lautner couldn't have any more abs!!! Everything about it was perfect, with the exception of Rosalie's makeup (if you've seen the movie, you'll know what I'm talking about ;) But really, who cares?  The night was to say the least, amazing. We met some VERY memorable people, and laughed a lot. Oh i love twilight (: Here are some pictures from the night ((((:

 

One of the funniest things was we saw SO many of our friends walking around, and they stopped and hung with us for a while (: 

First we saw Taylor !!! 

Then Becca....

Corey and Alex, who ended up selling me headphones haha! 

Isaac (: 

these are the headphones i bought!

isn't she just the cutest? 

so we went to get Starbucks about 20 minutes before they were going to let us in, and when we were coming out we saw everyone stand up and get ready to go in so we had to SPRINT back to our spot in line, but we made it ;)

So when we were inside the theater waiting, these three guys got up and started dancing and trying to make everyone do the wave. It was pretty entertaining! haha (: 

Such a blissful night!!! i can NOT wait to see the movie again!!!! (((: Happy Twilighting! (: