Gray to May

Almost May anyway...

I LOVE spring! Spring means summer is coming and that is my FAV season! We go from gray of winter to bright and fun! 


This is what I've loved about April! 


*The weather. It has been mostly gorgeous with some rain and cold nights in classic Branson fashion


*Nail polish shades for spring are so fun! Robin's egg blue and coral kiss are my favs!


*Jewelry in coral and anything white make me so happy!


*Easter! I found the perfect dress from Apricot Lane and I'm so in love! 


*Starbucks! I went from ordering white chocolate mochas or carmel macchiatos to caramel frappachinos and passionfruit sweet tea lemonade! 


*I can still wear scarves, just light airy ones instead of thick warm ones.


*It's the perfect weather for shorts and long sleeves or jeans and a tank!


*I can wear my chacos again!! Anybody else a chaco lover?


*April was the last full month of school for me. Speaking of which, graduation is in 5.days. 


Happy Monday!


Love,


E

Monday Randoms

~On Friday morning, I headed up to Evangel for EU-24 (a glorified campus visit). It was better than I was expecting. It was non-stop and so much fun. I sat in on 2 classes, met several professors, ate in the cafeteria (ewws), tailgate party and football game, bonfire, taco bell at midnight and met TONS of people. I'm beginning to get a little excited! 


~I need to balance my checkbook. It hasn't been done in 2 months. Fail


~I ordered my silver glitter TOMS last week. They are supposed to be here by Wednesday and I am SO excited! 

~I'm obsessed with Instagram. I love that droid users can use it now too. I'm not a professional by any means, so I enjoy putting fun filters on my pictures and sharing them. If you are on IG, look me up (emilyduncan) and I'll follow you back!


~Branson's weather has been weird here. It is colder in April than it was in March. It was 80+ degrees then and now it's in the 50's. I'm ready for warmer weather, but not too hot because my AC still isn't fixed!


~Neely is hosting another giveaway!  There are 18 ways to enter! 

 

~I'm thinking about getting a blog re-design this summer, before I go to college. Maybe something a little more modern and changing my name to The Fate from Five 8. Who knows....


~Yesterday Briggs had his birthday party. He turned 5. I've mentioned him and his older brother before. I've known them since they were babies. In fact, their mom was our babysitter when we moved to Branson 10 years ago! He had a beach themed party and it was too fun! He requested cookies and red velvet cake! He is such a hoot! 


~Graduation is in 11 days. Weeee!


I've got to go work on ACT prep, grad slideshows, party arrangements.......


If you don't hear from me in a while....send help!

Spring Favorites

Today, I'm linking up with Neely and Amber to show my favorite things about Spring! Spring is by far my FAVORITE season! 


My color crush this spring is: Coral!

I love my Chacos. I'm heading to the park today with a friend and I can't wait to do some hiking and wading in the creek. Chacos are perfect for that!

I love weather that looks like this!

I love spring scarves. Remember my post here? If you need some handy dandy ways to tie scarves this is your post!!

I love this tweet from my friend Addie last night! I know it has nothing to do with spring but i thought I would share.

I'm so excited to be buying a hammock soon! Spring is the perfect weather for that!

I love these Tory Burch shoes for spring! Coral again...

I love spring drinks from Starbucks! I especially love passionfruit sweet tea lemonade. 

I love spring because it means graduation in 38 days!!! I'm so excited!!! I will NEVER have to be in high school again. 

Spring is a great reminder to get into shape for summer!! Speaking of which, I need to get back into running. I slipped a little bit while I was out of town!

I love spring nailpolish! There are so many bright, fun colors! I'm obsessed with the Essie spring2012 collection. 

      What about you? What are your spring favs! Is is weather, food, friends, clothes? Make sure to go link-up with Neely or Amber!

Sunday Randoms

This week has been crazy. It was not normal at all. I like normal. I like routines. In honor of the craziness, I'm brain dumping tonight. 


*The biggest random of the week was the Tornado. Branson has NEVER had a tornado that I can remember. I've lived here 9 years. Floods yes. Tornados no. It was freaky. I posted some pictures here. 


*Branson had National Guard here over the weekend. It was SO weird to see "army men" directing traffic and helping out around town. On a total side note, if Westboro would have come to protest Branson, like they did in Joplin, I would have given them a piece of my mind. Seriously. 


*Today was a crazy busy day. Church, friends over for dinner, 15 min snooze, cleaning, VBS meeting, youth, and mission trip training. go go go!


*Church this morning was incredible. I love my church. The power came back on on Friday (i think) but there were pews missing and carpet torn up everywhere. My pastor did an awesome job of tying in the tornado/tornado damage to our church in his sermon. I'm so blessed to worship there each week. (ps- can't believe i'll be worshipping in Jerusalem next sunday! 

*Pure Joy was Friday night. It was incredible. 3+ hours of worship, skits, testimonies, laughter, tears, and well over 1000 women. I've gone the past 2 years and I've left every year being filled and encouraged. I wish everybody could have attended. 

Photo Credit: Tonya Self 

*I went to wedding yesterday. It was wedding #2 (of 8) of 2012! It was the first wedding of one of my friends. That was weird. Molly, is 19 and she married Leeland Kimmel. I've known Molly since Jr. High. I didn't take 1 picture of the couple because they went off location to shoot pictures immediately following the ceremony :( I did manage to snap a couple of me and my broske, my date. haha


*After the wedding, Kyle and I got a movie, some Starbucks and chilled at home. We watched Water for Elephants. Overall, it was a pretty good movie. There were definitely some sad parts tho! oh and Reese Witherspoon is gorgeous! 


*I leave for Israel in 5 days! Holy cow. I still have so much to do. I haven't even started packing. I'm overwhelmed with so many emotions; excitement, nervousness, adrenaline rushes! It's insane.

*I've realized how white I really am. haha I was thinking about wearing a tank and a high waisted skirt to the wedding until Kyle said, you look like a white attorney. umm thanks?! #broskelove 

*I have yet another speech to prepare for this week. sweet.

*I had dinner with Addie on Tuesday at Olive Garden. I love, love, love her. Then doughnuts at Krispy Kreme. obsessed with her. 


*I bought this shirt from Target yesterday. I love it. 

I have alot more I could brain dump about. Random shopping trips, the cat vomiting on my bed, work, how much i want it to be summer, the music i love....i could write on and on, but I've hardly gotten any sleep all week. I'm about to have a hot date with my eyelids.


Happy almost Monday!


Emily! OXOX

It's OK Thursday

It's OK that:
*I'm still scared by the fact my town got hit by a tornado Tuesday pm.
*I freaked and sent out "are you ok" text to about 20 people.
*I cried when I found out everyone was safe and accounted for
*My house was filled with people w/o electricity and water! party central last night :)
*I'm a little weirded out by the fact that Tay Swift and Tim Tebow might be an item 
*I just made my packing list for Israel. I leave in 1 week! 1 week!
*My toenails and fingernails never match
*I can't wait for The Voice to begin competitions next Monday! whoop!!
*I can't wait for a wedding of a childhood friend on Saturday! 
*I want spring to come right now! I'm ready for shorts and flip-flops!! 

Tornado in B-town, my town.

     Y'all have probably already heard the news about the tornados that rolled through the midwest and Branson last night. My family is ok. Thanking the Lord for his mercy this morning. 


     For information on Branson, here is the facebook page set up. There is also a page set up called Branson, MO recovery. 

     I've contacted all of my friends and they are all physically ok. It literally puts  knots in my stomach to have to text friends saying are you ok? Something I never though i would have to do.  Some have damage done to their homes. Please keep praying. I will try to post a full update later. I'll leave you with some pictures from my facebook feed. This is so surreal. 

The Hilton 

Friend's house

My church

Please keep praying. 

Meet Me

I'm SO excited to be linking up with Neely from A Complete Waste of Makeup today! I've linked up with Neely before because she co-hosts the fun It's OK Thursday link-up! I thought I would share a little bit about me and hopefully get to meet some new bloggy friends in the process!

1. Tell us why you blog

I started blogging right around a year ago. I wanted my family and friends to be able to read about my life (if they wanted to of course). I took a big blogging break over the summer, but started back again full swing in the Fall. Most importantly, I've loved meeting blog friends and finding out that we all have alot in common. I've loved the support system I've gotten, most recently for my efforts in running a 5K! I've loved all the fun link-ups I've participated in and the giveaways I've won too! :)

2. Tell us about your blog

My blog is called a Beautiful Beginning. (I'm guessing you saw that already tho). My blog designer, Jenn, helped me pick this out and I love it! I'm about to graduate high school and go to college. I'm on the beginning of becoming my own person and branching out. I'm in the middle of figuring out who I really am. I love what we came up with!

My blog is a little big of everything. I blogged about Pinterest, friends, music, coffee (hello Starbucks), running, and everything in between. I don't have just one "type" of thing that I talk about. Queen of random! :)

3. Tell us about you

I'm 18 years old and I'm a Senior in High School!!! whoop whoop! I'm almost done! Graduation is on May 5th! My family is very close. I'm a daddy's girl through and through! I have 3 siblings. I love to have fun and be crazy! I'm not a morning person. I love staying up late with a cup of coffee or tea and watching TV, blogging, or reading a book! I dream of being a big name blogger. A girl can dream right??!

* I LOVE Target. and i can spend alot of money there in a short amount of time. It's a weakness. I walk in to buy 1 thing and walk out with $116 worth of stuff. True story.

* I love random. I am random.

* I use exclamation points and capitals for no special reason at all.

* I love coffee, especially if it's Starbucks! * I love all things Vera Bradley. I especially love Hope Garden.

* I love spring. fresh starts, warm weathers, shorts, work, flowers!

* I love loud. I shout almost everything I say. I have no shame. I love to be fun and I love to be loud!

* I try to be real, especially on my blog.

* I love shoes

* I could eat blackolives by the can. Oh wait! I already do that! I think I'm secretly Italian!

4. Tell us about your job

I have two jobs actually. Because I'm still in high school, I do most of my work in the summer/fall. I work about 50 hours a week in the summer! I've worked at Cold Stone Creamery for 2 years! World's best ice cream not that I'm biased! Last May, I started a job for Adventure Ziplines. I'm a photog, front-desk girl, ATV driver, you name it I've probably done it (besides being an actual guide because you have to be a guy and you have to be strong. two things I am not :) I love it there! I've said it before but they are def my 2nd fam!

5. Tell us about your city

I live in Branson, Missouri! The "show-capital" of the world! I LOVE it here. Summer is my favorite season, probably because "the strip" (Hwy 76) is packed full of tourists. Cold Stone is out the door with customers and the ziplines take full tours every 15 minutes. I work all day and then hang out with friends/co-workers until 2am at McDonalds after we close! Branson's weather is SO weird. It snowed last night but it was 65 deg. the entire month of January! It's so unpredictable but i LOVE it! There is so many fun things to do here too! I've lived here for 8 years now, the longest I've ever lived anywhere! It really is a great little town!

6. Tell us about your favorite activities/hobbies/things to do.

I love hanging out with friends. I love cooking/baking. I have a HUGE sweet-tooth! I love taking pictures and posting them all over facebook :) social media queen right here! Recently, I've loved running, especially outside! I love my church and my smallgroup I'm in. I love blogging: reading and finding blogs, as well as writing my own.

I just started a new link-up on Tuesdays called Top 10 Tuesday! We've done food, music, and tomorrow with be the Top 10 things on your bucket list!

I can't wait to meet some new bloggers in Neely's link-up today! Thanks for letting me share a little about me!

Happy Monday!

Monday Randoms

*big brain dump ahead*

~I'm back from Kansas City! Our varsity team from church went up to KC to complete in "olympics". We left Friday afternoon and got back late last night. My weekend was filled with lots of pictures, tons of snacks and eating out, uncontrollable gut laughter, and taking 4th place. Not too shabby :)

~Friday morning, my dad completed my FAFSA and set it off to CofO and Evangel. I didn't think all the necessary paperwork would be received/done it time, but we got all of it and it's DONE! Such a relief! Now I wait and see what happens! CofO's priority deadline is February 15th. That is where I really want to go to college. Waiting is the hardest part.

~I officially completed week 4 of C25K last week! I'm half way there. Crazy. I'm finally getting my endurance up and will begin longer runs this week. I think I can. I think I can. I'm actually starting to enjoy running, something I NEVER thought I'd say.

~The high today is 65 degrees. Branson has had one of the mildest winter's I can remember. I think this calls for a run outside this afternoon :)

~I haven't worked since Black Friday weekend at the ziplines. I miss it like terrible. I miss my 2nd family. I miss my big brothers. I miss taking pictures of crazy tourists. I miss answering the phone a thousand times a day. I miss driving the ATVs. I miss eating Jimmy Johns 6 days a week. I miss watching the sunset over the zipline towers. March come quickly!!

~I have been doing a ton of homework for my Israel trip. I've been researching major cities, religions, and other important information. It's coming up so fast. In 39 days I'll be boarding a plane and flying halfway across the world. It's still so surreal to me.

~One of my childhood friends, had a sweet baby boy last week. I've known her since I was 4 years old. I'm 18 and she's 21 now. I can't believe that she is married and starting a family. After 30+ hours of labor, Winston Daniel made his arrival. I'm so happy for her!

~Speaking of marriage and children, I've had several friends get engaged recently. I have 7 weddings on the calendar and I'm sure there will be more. I on the other hand, am happily enjoying my singleness. That will be another post soon.

~On a more serious note, I've really been realizing how fragile life is; how special and priceless it is and how much I really take it for granted. One of my friend's cousin passed away last night in NY. It happened so fast and it is heartbreaking for me to watch her grieve like this. If you think of her, please pray for K today. Then yesterday, one of my guy friends was in a car accident with his mom. They are ok, but the car is totaled. I saw both of them yesterday morning and hugged them goodbye, not having a clue what events would happen later in the day. I hugged my family a little bit tighter last night.

~I'm so excited for my new link-up tomorrow! Top 10 Tuesday! First off, will be Top 10 Foods we love. Easy and fun! Be sure to link-up!

~Saw this quote and loved it: once you realize your mess can become your ministry, you actively look for ways to provide security and protection for others with that struggle.

~Cait has an awesome giveaway this week! make sure to go check it out!

Happy Monday Lovelies!

Wordless Wednesdays: Hiking at Busiek

Sunday Randoms

~I did watch the Miss America Pageant last night! It was the first time I had ever watched. I LOVED it! There were so many good stories, talents, and pretty girls for lack of a better term! ha! I loved Miss SC's suit. She rocked the white and the bikini and looked fab! I loved Miss Oklahoma's Irish Dance. I'm really not a big fan of Opera tho (Miss NY). Miss Iowa did an amazing job singing You Raise Me Up! It was so pretty! I really wanted Miss OK to win! But, congrats to Miss Wisconsin for winning Miss America!

~On a side note, I watched the MAP in sweats, ponytail, no makeup, and stuffing my face full of food!

~Yesterday, I did a mini-road trip to Springfield with some girls from church. We're having a pillowcase party on Monday night for our upcoming trip to KC! We bought fabric and had lunch together at Chick-fil-a! Branson doesn't have a Chick-fil-a :( There are rumors that Branson might be getting one in the near future! SO excited if that actually happened! haha

~Our family finally took down the Christmas tree today. It's been long overdue! This is the new record for how long our family has keep it up. January 15th.

~Speaking of overdue, I know y'all are dying to know my countdowns: 111 days till graduation and 54 days to Israel! I can't wait. They are both sneaking up SO fast! I'm glad time is flying!

~I had to give a speech in my public speaking class on Friday. Scared.out.of.my.mind. I hate public speaking, but I made it! We had to speak for 3 minutes so it wasn't too bad! I spoke on my mission trip to E. St. Louis. I've gone every year since 8th grade and it's something I'm passionate about, but still.

~I finished week 2 of C25K! Enough said. Tomorrow is a new day, a new week, with more running. baby steps.

~I'm reading Kisses from Katie right now. Incredible book. You might also fall in love with her blog! She is so inspiring and I can't wait to do a book review post on her book soon!

~Tonight, I met with our Lead team from youth group. I'm excited to see everything that God is doing and what He will continue to do through us in 2012.

I've got a crazy, full week ahead!

Happy Sunday!

Emily

It's Ok Thursday

It's OK:

* There is snow on the ground. Branson is finally in for some winter weather

* That today is a sweatpants day *see above statement*

* That I've gotten 13 more followers on Twitter this month

* That I want to graduate SO bad. Senioritus much? 114 days

* That I LOVE painting my nails, but don't always make time for it

* That I'm tired, but I'm finished the first 5 days of C25K

* I've had Coffee or Hot Chocolate every day this week

* I've had multiple Starbucks dates this week too.

Target Tuesday #1

Linking up with Tara today for Target Tuesday. I stumbled upon her blog last week and I love it! I'm literally obsessed with Target too. I thought this would be the perfect link-up for me :)

What I'm loving from Target this week: Umbrellas! Branson's weather is so unpredictable. It was 60 and sunny on Saturday. This morning it was cloudy and in the 40's. Rain is happening right now. Our weather is so unpredictable. Most of the time I love it :)

Missoni for Target:

Calore

Futai Smart Brelli Auto-Open

Totes Stick Umbrella

LOVE plaid :)

Futai Smart Brelli Auto-Open

in Cheetah :)

What about you? What are you loving from Target this week?