Pinnable Me: Fall Snacks

Happy Fall Ya'll!

I LOVE fall! I LOVE snacks! Todays Pinterest post is some of my favorite things!

How cute is this?

The yummiest fall snack known!

What a fun way to serve chips!

Beautiful and fallish!

I LOVE chips and salsa!

Fall Classic!

Some snacks can be healthy right? :-)

Pigs in a Blanket

Halloween Style!

Last but not least, my personal favorite!

Chocolate-covered pretzels! mmm

Happy Monday,

Love,

Sunday Randoms!

~Ladies and Gentleman! Drumroll please...... I have a graduation date!!!!! I could not be more excited! Details SOON :) lots and lots of details soon!

~My friend, Emily, had her wisdom teeth taken out this week. :( this obviously called for multiple trips to Starbucks and McDonalds for shakes and frappes! I of course, shared in the splurging.

~My friends left for Israel on Friday. I am SO excited for them! They get back next Sunday. Can't wait to hear the reports and stories.

~Friday night, I spent the night with Caitlyn! I carved pumpkins for the 1st time. I made an absolute mess. My pumpkin fell apart, literally in pieces. But hey, it was fun!

~Saturday I worked with at the Ziplines all day with Caitlyn! It was gorgeous weather, and perfect lighting!

~Today I'm enjoying my family, catching up, napping, cleaning, and good music!

~Speaking of good music, Justin Biebers new Christmas album comes out on Tuesday!!! Yea, I have the "fever"!

~I had my 1st Cold Stone in over a month yesterday. Cake Batter, my favorite kind!

~All of the leaves are changing in my backyard and in Branson! Beautiful!! I really love Fall.

~This morning, at our church is Mission&Me Sunday. We have various ministries, and pastors from our area, our state, nation etc come and represent and speak. I was able to talk to Pastor Prowell and Julius from 15th Street Baptist Church in E. St. Louis. Made my morning!! Mission Trip is a highlight of my year. I LOVE those kids SO much! I don't know if I can wait 200+ days to see them again!

Summer 2011

~ Remember to enter my giveaway!

Happy Sunday!

Love,

HE will fight for you!

Great Reminder:

One of the hardest things I'm learning. To be still, and let the Lord do the fighting.

On a total side note, I had this saved as a draft for yesterday. Last night, something happened, and it was a perfect reminder to me to be STILL, and let the Lord do the fighting!

Have u entered my Starbucks giveaway yet? :)

Giveaway Time!

It's giveaway time!!!

In honor of my new blog design, and the 1000 hits on my blog, I'm doing a giveaway!!

Here is what's up for grabs....

~A Starbucks Gift Card~

Entries valid through October 25th-November 5th, 2011

How to Enter:

~Mandatory Entry: Follow my Blog, and leave me comment saying so.

~Follow me on Twitter and Tweet about the giveaway, make sure to mention me.

~Follow me on Pinterest.

~Blog about this giveaway and leave me a link to your blog post.

~Become a Blog Sponsor (email me for details: abeautifulbeginningblog@gmail.com)

No duplicate comments.

I will contact the winner within 3 days of the giveaway ending (November 8th), and give you further instructions :)

PS: If I get to 100 followers, I will giveaway a second Starbucks Gift Card! Tell your friends!!

Good Luck!!

Wallet: Lost and Found

I mentioned yesterday that I had lost my wallet on Friday night at Starbucks. I realized it later that night, about 15 minutes after Starbucks/Target had closed :(. I was at church and needed something out of it, went to grab it, and it was gone! It was too dark to go back and look, and Target was closed.

Saturday morning, I wake up extra early, and called them 1st thing. The lady was very sweet but explained that they had found nothing at either place, but I was welcome to come by and look for myself.

Meanwhile, I called the bank and canceled my cards, and stopped by to order new ones. Kind of a hassle to be totally honest. I showed up and retraced my steps. I checked the parking lot, the lobby, Starbucks seating area, everywhere!! It was nowhere to be found. :( *Insert whining here*

But, before I had left the house that morning, my dad offered to pray with me. We prayed that I would be able to find it, and that nothing had gotten stolen. So, I thought of course we will find it. We prayed, and I thought it'll happen right away......wrong.

My dad reminded me of two stories from his past. The 1st one, was when he was a little boy. He and his father had lost an expensive tool in the woods (sledgehammer I think). They looked everywhere and couldn't find it. They didn't have the money to replace it either. They prayed that night that God would help them find it. The next morning, they went back out, and lone and behold, it was sitting up next to a tree, in plain sight, right by where they had looked before. Pretty cool huh?

The second story was similar. My brother had lost his knife when he was little. Obviously it was small, and it was fall-time, which meant finding a knife in our backyard would be next to impossible. It was small, dark, and the ground was covered in leaves. They searched everywhere that night, and nothing. They prayed hard that night, and the next morning after some searching they found it! Crazy!

So, Saturday morning, after all of my searching, and not finding, I was upset. I had canceled my cards, looked everywhere, and prayed alot. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

After searching at Target, I had a crew meeting at Cold Stone from 10-12. I came home to do some chores, and had to run out to my car to grab my keys. THERE.IT.WAS.

Tucked away, between my seat, and the car door. It wasn't there when I checked before. Now it was! Crazy? Cool? Both I think!

Happy Monday,

Love,

Starbucks Giveaway on Fit, Fierce, and Fabulous!

My friend Cait, is doing a Starbucks giveaway! It ends tomorrow! Be sure to enter!

There are 5 different ways to win!

~Following her blog,

~Following her on Twitter and Pinterest

~Blogging about the Giveaway

~Tweeting about the Giveaway

Good Luck!

Sunday Randoms

~Monday night, Aaron brought down a group of kids from Evangel. We had a blast! too fun! games, stories, youtube videos, laughing, and a big dinner!

~This week, the weather has been miserable! Upper 30's was the high on Tuesday/Wednesday. We finally got some pretty weather the past 3 days! 70's and sunny. More like how fall should be :)

~We had a Cold Stone crew meeting yesterday morning. I made $10 for answering Cold Stone trivia questions :) score!!

~I lost my wallet Friday night. Loooong story short, I found it Saturday afternoon, after I had canceled my cards, and check Target, Starbucks, and the parking lots for it. I will be writing about that tomorrow! Cool Story.

~I've had 3 Starbucks coffee's this week. Good therapy right? :)

~I worked at the Ziplines yesterday night. About 8pm, I got to ride with a tour for the last 5 lines. It was dark, windy, and a BLAST!!! Seriously love the people I work with. It would be safe to say they are like big brothers!

~I've sold over $100 worth of stuff on Ebay this week! I'm cleaning out my closest and making money! Win Win!!

~Because I sold so much, I treated myself to a little shopping spree yesterday :)

~Today, I'm working on cleaning and washing my car! Much needed!

I'm off to enjoy this beautiful weather with my family!

Happy Sunday!

Love,

Almost time for a Giveaway!

PS: I had my blog redesigned by Jenn, a couple of weeks ago! Since then, I've had almost 500+ hits on my blog! I thought to celebrate the 1000 hits total, I would do a giveaway!

I'm thinking Starbucks would be perfect!

Stay tuned for details!

Love,

Thankful Thursday!

Yesterday, was not a good day! Cold, rainy, and miserable. You could probably tell in my blog rant, yesterday. But today, I thought I would make a list of things I'm thankful for to cheer me up, and for a great reminder. :)

* Sunshine! It's 50 degrees right now! Must better than the 30 degree weather yesterday

* Heat! We turned the heat on last night to break the chill. I'm thankful that it works!

* My car with heat! double blessing

* Hot Chocolate. Daily.

* I'm healthy. Not battling the flu, a cold/cough, at the moment. *knock on wood*

* Making almost $100 on Ebay last night! Win!!

* New Music that came out. Perfect for fall relaxation.

* Starbucks Mochas and Lattes. I wish these were daily. But alas, I have a budget.

* My jobs (Cold Stone and the Ziplines). Thankful for the hours I get.

* Time with Kyle today. Just the two of us, hanging out! :)

Thankful for this day,

E

Today, well it's cold!

Today: *Excuse my Rant*

It's freezing cold. It was 29 degrees when I woke up this morning. It was 79 on Sunday. I feel like we skipped fall and went straight to winter. Hello, Missouri weather. I'm in 5 different layers, socks, boots, and a pea-coat, and still cold. I've been drinking coffee, tea, hot chocolate, anything that will warm me up! Did i mention wearing a scarf?

Winter seems to put me in a sad mood. It's cold, school started, my seasonal jobs ended, (or severely slowed down), and I just don't like it!!

Trying

to

think

happy

thoughts....

64 days till my #18th birthday

66 days till Christmas

140 days till S-P-R-I-N-G break!!

205 till graduation.

You will be seeing these numbers often!

Happy Wednesday,

Love,

NailStah Giveaway

NailStah is doing a giveaway!! Head on over to her website and make sure you enter by November 12th. There are SO many fun polishes she is giving away! There are multiple ways to enter :)

Happy Tuesday!

Love,

Music: Some of my favorites!

New Release Tuesday

I LOVE music! I love 80's, alternative, country, christian, the list could go on. You name it, I probably like it.

November is a big month for me. Several of my favorite artists are coming out with a new CD!

One of my favorite websites, New Release Tuesday, has all the upcoming scoop on new music, songs, and artists; hence the blog title :)

#1- Justin Bieber's Christmas Album.

Album Name: Under the Mistletoe

Release: November 1st.

Single out now: Mistletoe! LOVE :)

#2 Kari Jobe

New Single: We Are

Release Date: Today!

#3 Florence and the Machine

Album Name: Ceremonials

Release Date: November 1st

Single Out Now: Shake it Out

Here is the Top Part

#4 Cold Play

Album Name: Milo Moto

Release Date: October 24th

Single Out Now: Paradise! SO good!

#5 Ben Rector

Album Name: Something Like This

Released: September 13th

Favorite Song: She Is

#6 Family Force Five

Album Name: III

Release Date: TODAY! October 18th

Favorite Song: Still deciding!

No picture on this one :(

FFF is awesome. Pure Dance Music.

Sunday Randoms... on Monday

~ My friend, Emily, came from Delaware this week. We had a b-l-a-s-t- catching up, going on walks, laughing, eating, and staying up late! I love her. I'm really going to miss her!!

~When Emily was here, we watched To Save a Life! If you haven't seen it yet, you need to. It will open up your eyes.

~I had a movie night at CofO with my friend Becca! We watched chick-flicks and ate double stuff OREO's!! My kind of night!

~I worked at the ziplines for the morning shift on Saturday! It was our busiest day for reservations yet! Almost 300!! It almost feels like summer. *sigh*

~ My friends leave for a 10 day trip to Israel in 16 days! SO excited for them!!

~New LOVE = Ebay. Addicted!

~Fall Nail Polish! Love it!! Here is a fun little quiz on your polish style :)

~Yesterday, we had a Photoclub! This assignment was to take pictures of maps! (I'll try to post pictures soon). We spend half our time at the Rec-Plex, and the other time at Stockstill Park!

~Last night was an amazing concert!! Kutless, Newsong, Anthem Lights, and Dara McClean. SO, SO good! My favorite was Kutless though! They sang alot of my favorite songs too! I couldn't hear, and couldn't speak ;)

~ The weather has been beautiful. Perfect for long walks, and talks.

~ 68 days till Christmas. Justin Biebs comes out with his Christmas Album! I'm excited, not going to lie ;)

~ 207 days till graduation. Almost there, well not really!

Happy Monday,

Love,

Evangel Homecoming 2011

This past weekend Evangel had their Homecoming! It is our family tradition to go to Springfield every year for the friday night festivities, and then the big game on Saturday. Friday night, my dad took me on a private "campus tour" of the Admin buildings and the Business department. EU is his Alma Mater, and he graduated with a Business degree. It would be safe to say that he LOVES EU!! This year, my brother was on the Homecoming Court. He was so handsome :) He escorted Randal, an Evangel RA. It was gorgeous weather outside! Perfect football weather, and EU won the game :) I'll let the pictures do the talking!

Whole Fam :)Aaron and Celia :)

:)

The Boys!

Marching Band at Halftime!

Aaron and Randal

Happy Thursday Ya'll!

Love,

Brandon Goodman Scholarship

Brandon Goodman Scholarship:

Write an essay 250 words or less on

what you have done for your community

and why you should win this scholarship.

http://bgscholarship.com/scholarship.html

Change: seasons for everything

Fall reminds me alot of change. Change of grades, or high school to college, change in temperatures, schedule changes, leaves changing colors, the list goes on. You get the picture.

Is change good or bad? Is it necessary? Change is not always fun, sometimes it can be, but usually it is not. It means that one season in life is coming to a close, and the start of something new is coming.

I've had much change in my life the past 6 months. I can either roll with it, or stick my feet in the ground and refuse to accept the unchangeable. I've responded in both ways, and usually the latter ends up leaving me negative, unhappy, and living in the past. I've had close friends move away, and my youth pastor left to be a Senior Pastor in February. I was upset, I didn't want to see them go. I missed them, and I loved them dearly. But their times with me, had ended and I needed to move on. I started a new job in May, and worked different schedules, at two jobs, all summer long. I enjoyed it, but it was still change. I entered my final year of high school in August. I'm a Senior now. I'm applying to colleges, and doing campus visits. The more of this I do, the more I realize that change is coming for me next year, and it will be here soon.

So how will I take it? How will I accept it? Will I be okay with where God has placed me for the time being, or will I fight it, and refuse to listen? Can I learn to trust Him and know that He knows best? Will I choose to obey? This in fact, is one of my biggest battles.

There is a verse in Ecclesiastes that I love. It talks about a time, a place, and a season for everything. I'm learning to trust the Lord and be thankful in all things.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:

² a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³ a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴ a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵ a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶ a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷ a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸ a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

Tonight friends, I'm leaving you with that!

I bit the Blogging Bullet

Well, I did it! I finally paid to have somebody re-do my blog. Jenn over at In Munchkin Land did a wonderful job!! I absolutely LOVE it!!

I started blogging last winter/spring, and designed what I could by myself. I used free templates, designs, and post "pretties". (I used Shabby Blogs) It was a great way for me to write, and journal my life on the web for family and friends. It was cold and icy outside, so it seemed like a perfect way to spend my time. Then summer came, I worked 50-60 hours a week, at two jobs, and free time was little to none. If there was any it was catching up on sleep, not blogging! :) The summer came to an end, and I started my senior year of high school! I worked about 10 hours a week, and my schedule really slowed down, well sorta! All that to say, I've picked back up blogging, and I love it! But, what I didn't love was the plain-ness of my blog. I wanted something new and fresh, cute and girly! I think Jenn did a wonderful job!

To back it up, I heard about Jenn through Callie. Callie had just redone her blog with Jenn. I found Jenn's website and I began to email her, and she had tons of ideas! We emailed back and forth about 30 different times. She helped me come up with a Title and Tag Line. Then we started working on colors, patterns, etc. I chose the Basic package for now. :) I added the $5 Post divider too. We got the basics figured out. I paid Jenn half of the total. She designed it, and put it up on a "test site". I looked over it, critiqued it, and let her know what I wanted to change. She did everything exactly how I wanted. I could not have been more happy! I paid the final half, and she implemented it onto my blog today! I'm in love. I smile everytime I look at it! I really, really love it! If you ever decide to use Jenn, let her know I sent you :) You will not be disappointed!

Happy Monday!

Love,

College Prowler

One more :)

$2000 every month from College Prowler

no essay, just enter!

one winner every month.

Scholarships

I've been compiling a list of all of the scholarships I have applied for and I can apply for!

Easy $1500 Scholarship for writing down what you will do with the money in 140 characters or less.

http://www.scholarshipdetective.com/scholarship/index.cfm

Here is another list of scholarships from Scholarship Detective

A blogging scholarship from Vacancy . No essay, just a blog post!

Super College $1500 Scholarship. No essay required

The Super College Website . Similar to Fastweb.

MoolahSPOT - Again, similar to Fastweb

Gen and Kelly Tanabe Scholarship

250 word Essay

Keep checking back.

I will keep adding to the list.

Happy Monday,

E

Pinnable Me: Scarves

Pinterest: Scarves!

I LOVE scarves! I really do. I mean, i used to not like them because i couldn't figure out how to wrap them, or wear them. I could see really cute way to wear them on other people, but could never figure it out myself! Then, i found this "how-to" on Pinterest! It is SO helpful! Love it!

I love this DIY t-shirt scarf! Super fun and super easy!

Sunday Randoms

~ I'm SO excited that Jenn is almost done my blog design! I got a little sneak peak and i LOVE it! She does amazing work!

~ Yesterday Evangel had their homecoming. Actually it's been going on for the past 3 days. I went up with my Dad on Friday night. He gave me an excluesive tour of the Buisiness Department, and the new Academic Buildings. It is a gorgeous campus! I went to Gab-Fest with him and met alot of his alumni friends, and ate way too much good food :)

~Speaking of Evangel, my brother was on the homecoming court! He looked so handsome! I'll be doing an entire post on that this week! Evangel played a great football game. The Final Score was 23 to 17! GO EU!!

~College Football!! My Sooners beat Texas, or should i say CREAMED Texas! Great game! Boomer!!

~ I worked at Adventure Ziplines last night! It was so pretty outside. The perfect picture taking weather :) I also worked today! The guides affectionately call me picture/camera girl! Love them :)

~I sent my test scores into CofO and Evangel this week! I'm praying and crossing my fingers.

~I ate a pickle last night. A whole dill pickle, and it was wonderful! :)

~My friend Emily is coming in town this week! I'm SO excited to see her! She moved away this spring and I miss her alot!! We both started blogging at the same time. I've loved having someone to blog with and throw around ideas!

~I'm considering deactivating facebook for a little while! I'm addicted to it and spend way to much time on it. still throwing around the idea! I will miss it ;)

~ Our new youth pastors are doing great! I've said this before, but I really do love them! Our youth attendance is now 70-80+ on wednesday nights. Woo-hoo!! We broke off into 5 different teams. I'm on the Student Serve Team. We brainstormed tonight and got to know everybody!

~Today at church, we had a reception for Mark and Erin to welcome them! They had the best chocolate chip cookies. I ate w-a-y- t-o-o- many ;)

Almost to the Weekend!

We are almost to the weekend! Woo-hooo!!!

On a sad note, Steve Jobs, founder of Apple INC, passed away yesterday :( Such an incredible man!

On happier thought,

This weekend will be very busy for our family. Evangel is having their homecoming festivities the next 4 days! EU's got Talent tomorrow, silent auction, football game on Saturday and the Homecoming King/Queen crowning too! and my very handsome brother happens to be one of the five guys chosen to be on the court! too fun!!!

Also today is my friend Caitlyn's Birthday! She is one of my closest friends. I brought her a special order Starbucks Frappe and L-O-T-S of chocolate :) Symphony Bars are boss! and so is gut laughing! :)

Summer 2011 TARGET!

HappyThursday!

Love,

E

Pinterest: Pretzel Bites

Pinnable Me: Parmesan Pretzel Bites

I found these on Pinterest! Don't they look amazing?! Super easy, pretty, and yummy! Can't wait to make them this weekend!!

Here is the link: http://www.justgetoffyourbuttandbake.com/?p=932

Happy Wednesday,

Love,

E

Sunday Randoms

My Weekend Randoms

~ I worked 15 hours yesterday at Adventure Ziplines

~ My big brother is on the homecoming court for Evangel

~ Our family went to see Courageous on Friday night! You must go see it.

~ I've realized that I'm blessed with some really, really awesome friends.

~ I love the weather outside. It's beautiful. I've been wearing scarves, and cardigans alot :)

~ I love boots! I really do. I have a pair of Uggs, some tall suede boots, and a new pair of leather boots!

~ I'm getting my blog re-done this week by Jenn! I can't wait to see it!

~I just love our new youth pastors! They are awesome!

~I can't believe October is here!

~ I graduate in 223 days.

That about wraps it up!

Happy Sunday!

Love,

E