photography

It’s been a long time

Heeey there! It’s been about two weeks since I last blogged… weird! It’s also been about two weeks since I deactivated my Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts. During my little hiatus I learned a lot about what’s important to me in life and how I feel about blogging and social media in general.

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Why I took a break from blogging and social media:
-I wanted to strengthen my relationship with God.
-I wanted to truly focus more on important relationships in my life.
-I felt like my blog was becoming too “me” focused and selfish.

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How I felt:
-At first I felt almost panicked, like I was missing everything going on in the world.
-After a few days, I felt very free because I wasn’t “available” 24/7.
-It was amazing to spend less time staring at my computer and phone.
-It was also great not to read blogs and compare myself to others (I know I have the choice not to compare myself to others, but I often feel like it happens almost automatically for me).
-I felt out of sorts at times because I was so disconnected from people that I regularly talk to via blogging and social media.

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Other thoughts:
-Spending less time blogging and using social media helped me become a better listener and gave me more free time to do things for others.
-I’ve learned that social media/blogging can be great, but can also take my attention away from more important things in my life if I allow them to.
-I’m struggling with feeling like I must have a blog or Facebook account in order to connect with people and learn about what’s going on in my friend’s lives. Ugh.
-I’m likely going to be reading blogs and blogging a lot less. I want to blog on my own terms–for the enjoyment of it instead of feeling like I have to document every aspect of my life and keep up with every blog out there.

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Whew, it felt good to get that off of my chest!

So, what have I been up to for the past two weeks?

VBS
Vacation Bible School at my church was great! I worked in the kitchen and Hannah and I were puppeteers.

triathlon
I competed in a sprint triathlon and placed third in the 19-29 age group.

zucchini
I harvested zucchini from my garden, Jimmy and I made chocolate chip and raisin zucchini bread, and I began working for my parent’s real estate brokerage (more on that in another post).

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I bonded with Hannah and Felix and went swimming at a local lake.

And last but not least…

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I had my wisdom teeth removed on Friday morning.

My dentist told me to have them removed a few years ago but I kept putting it off. They started hurting me earlier this week, so I went to the oral surgeon on Thursday and less than 24 hours later I was in surgery. The doctor said my something was wrong with my heart during the surgery, so I have to see my regular physician on Tuesday to figure out what’s up with my ticker.

I’ve been laying around on the couch eating soup and jello and popping lots of Advil. It’s nice being babied by Jimmy, too. We rented Despicable Me last night and it was such a cute movie! Here’s to hoping I can heal up quickly with no dry sockets!

What’s going on in your life?!

Some Favorites

I was looking through my blog archives recently, and I thought it would be cool to share funny pictures from old posts.

Without further ado, here are some funny and seriously random pictures from my older blog posts!

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Hannah had a birthday party for her hamster. Yes, she bought him a leash and made him a sweater out of a sock.

Merry Christmas 2011

Hannah, Lola, and I posed for a festive Christmas photo. Poor Lola.

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I can lick my elbow. It’s a great skill to “break the ice” or make people think you’re incredibly weird.

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Lily = spider kitty. I miss her being that tiny!

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I was drugged out after an endoscopy. I couldn’t stop laughing after I threw a cup at my mom. Sorry mom!

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I watched a guy go through a McDonald’s drive-thru with his dog. Who needs a car anyways?!

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A horse bit me. True life. I need to actually tell that story because it’s funny and embarrassing.

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Jimmy and I played Mary and Joseph in our church’s Christmas play. Nick was played a wise man.

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I sat in traffic near a truck with a tail. Super random… but not really because Western Pennsylvania can be “redneck-ish” at times.

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I blogged from Hannah’s computer and looked through all of her goofy pictures. I’m so mean.

I could probably find 1,000 more silly photos, but that would prevent me from taking more right now. I should go do that.

Hope you enjoyed these as much as I did! 🙂