Blogging deprivation.

In case you haven't noticed, I haven't been blogging lately. I've been really stressed and I've had to make a lot of big decisions lately, so I have sort of put blogging on the back burner.

I just wanted to share some info with you all!

First of all, as much as I love the memories I have at Spring Arbor, I will not be coming back next year. A lot went into this decision and it's just best for me at this point.

Which brings me to my next thing: I will be doing online schooling through SNHU next year, going into social media marketing rather than youth ministry like I was at Spring Arbor.

And lastly, I will be moving back home!! This is my favorite one. Anyways, I'll be moving back in with my mom when school ends in May. I'll be living with her at least for the summer and possibly the first half of next year, and then I'll be getting an apartment with one of my best friends.

I'm really excited to start this new adventure for my life. I can't wait to share all of this with you when it gets closer!

My {fave} Ladies of Pinterest!

I love Pinterest, just as I'm sure most of you do. My only problem seems to be finding the best pinners that I want to follow.

I thought I'd help you all out with finding your favorite pinners by sharing some of mine! Introducing...

Some are geared toward college students, or family-oriented, but I'm sure there will be at least a couple that you will love.

Here they are:

Studentrate Trends: {not necessarily a girl, but the page is mostly for girls} This is by far my favorite Pinterest page. It's geared toward college students, though everyone can benefit from them. They have the best boards and they have boards for everything! One board, College Trends, they are also asking for people who would like to be pinners and it's my favorite board! It's super cool.

Casandra Linden: She has boards for everything, and as you can see, she likes glitter. and pink. and food. She has several food boards that she pins to the most often of all of her boards. It's the best. I even made a Facebook status about this {I love when I get on Pinterest and see that Cassie has been on because that means my entire homepage will be covered in food.}

Deb Clem-Buckert: she has a lot of great resources for bloggers like boards for different social networks, she has tons of food boards- my fave, and she has just about every other type of board you could want!

Paige Nicole: she organizes her boards really well by naming them things like RECIPES: Slow Cooker, RECIPES: Lunch & Dinner, and things like that. It makes everything easier to find if you're looking for something specific.

Melanie Eccles: I love her Pinterest. She bakes, so there are always lots of awesome-looking desserts popping up. I love how she names her boards too {runner of miles, maker of meals, etc.} and I personally know her, so it makes it all the much better.

Her Campus: This is another board geared toward college girls. They have a lot of really fun boards and they coordinate all of them {every board cover is pink in some way!} very well. I love their Pinterest.

Bailey Marie: Bailey's Pinterest is largely family-oriented. She has a lot of wedding boards {my fave, I love planning my future wedding on Pinterest}, food boards, home-type boards, and kid-centered boards!

Things about Home.

Being at college can be the best time of your life. Many people call their college their home.
I'm not one of those people. My hometown will always be Home to me.
Therefore:

ten favorite things: the place I call home.

1. My family is there. 

My family are some of the best people in the world & I'd die without my mom. 

2. My kittens

CrayPrin & Bazinga {Crazy Princess, for those of you that were curious where the name CrayPrin came from & Big Bang Theory is responsible for Bazinga} are the cutest little kittens ever. I love them to death. 

3. The amazing people I call my best friends.

I love the friends I have at college, but once again, home trumps college. My friends at home are my rocks. I don't know where I'd be without these people. They know me better than anyone else. 

4. My wonderful bed.

Let's be honest, a bed with a pillow top >>> dorm beds.

5. There are actually good food places.

I love food. A lot. And food I don't have to make is better.

6. I can actually go do things.

Being stuck on a college campus makes you appreciate simple things like being able to go out and do something.

7. I know my way around.

I actually like driving, but only if I know where I'm going, so home is a nice place for that.

8. I have an insane amounts of memories at home. 

Good friends make good memories. Great friends make amazing memories.

9. I have a room to myself and can be alone when I want.

I love, love, love being around people, but let's be honest, sometimes you just need alone time. 

10. I'm not in the middle of nowhere in a town that's biggest "store" is Dollar General and has a grand total of about five places to eat. 

I miss good food that isn't McDonald's or a 15-minute walk away. 

{this is part of a link-up at Endlessly Beloved}

Depression.

Being that I've been through it, I thought I'd share this blog post I happened to find with all of you.
For anyone who doesn't know what depression is like, just read this post. The post is funny, unlike depression, but it's still extremely applicable.
If you have struggled before, read this and try to appreciate that someone actually made me {and hopefully you} laugh while explaining the complete emptiness of depression.

Click here.

Opportunities in life are rare.

Opportunities in life aren't rare per say, but good ones are.

I just so happen to be super lucky, because I have recently gotten two wonderful opportunities.
\
Have you heard of Studentrate? If not, you totally should have!
Studentrate is a great website that provides deals to college students!
They also have a website called Studentrate Trends, which is really cool opportunities, stories, etc. from Studentrate. Currently, they have an opportunity for girls that love fashion! Go check out the article over at this link!

My second opportunity is that I am now a Her Campus Blogger Network blogger!
Her Campus is an awesome website with tons of articles for college girls and it's super cool. They have "chapters" at tons of different universities (see if your school has one!) and each chapter puts out stories every week. It's super cool! But they also have a Blogger network, where any girls with a blog can join & become part of an awesome, supportive community of bloggers!

I'm already loving these opportunities (and the perks that come along with them!) and I can't wait to see what more happens with them!

Daily Planner printable!

Hey everyone! I've been working a lot this semester on making a list of the things I need to get done so I don't have a repeat of last semester, but I just couldn't find a planner printable that I really liked, so I decided to make my own and share it with you!

My favorite daily planner page was found here, so my design is based on this one, but I had to make the to-do list longer, because I like adding lots of things and whatever doesn't get done, goes to the next day!

To download this as a PDF, click here!

Let me know if you like this design!

The college diaries {the eighth}

My birthday was Friday!!

I turned 18 on Friday!

It feels crazy that I'm already 18. 

This is like "the" age. 

In honor of my birthday, I decided to make a list!

The Top 18 Most Impactful Memories of My Life!

 Just to clarify, these are not in order of importance -- they're in chronological order.

1. Dad & Tracie's Wedding: this changed my life dramatically, for obvious reasons.

2. Sims: when I started playing the Sims, I was much younger and it's been one of my favorite things to do since then.

3. My first concert: my first concert was Kelly Clarkson at DTE Music Theatre and that started my deep love for concerts of any type.

4. My sister was born: I was nine and not expecting it at all. I was a happy child. & let's be honest, she's cute.

5. Getting a cell phone: ever since then, I've been glued to my phone(s) because I love talking to my friends and I rarely saw them outside of school.

6. 7th grade drama: I was a very different person in seventh grade and not one that I ever want to be against. I was horrible. Our friend group had daily fights, we were in the counselor's office daily, the counselor and school police officer knew our names; it was bad.

7. First time at youth group: from the moment I met that youth group, my life wasn't the same. I would give any to have that youth group back and those people all in my life again, rather than spread out in several different places.

8. Papa dying: this was world-shattering for me. I had never dealt with death so close before and it happening my freshman year certainly did not help. It was a rough time in my family and I think our family has drifted apart since then.

9. My first party: I have parties all the time now. My house is known for people always being there and Just Dance competitions and we just love having people over.

10. San Diego: this isn't really impactful, but it was my first vacation anywhere and this trip is the reason I'm planning on moving out west after I graduate (not to Cali though-- Phoeniz, AZ area).

11. Family camp: this was the first time I had done any serious volunteering and we fell in love with the kids at VBS that week. I hate when I've had to miss family camp and it's always the highlight of my summer. I love it so much. I might even being working at this campground this summer!

12. Making my Twitter: this sounds dumb, but it's true. I'm always on some kind of social media and Twitter tends to be the most. I have over 24k tweets. I'm addicted.

13. Steven asking me out: January 23, 2011. I came home from church & he had messaged me asking. Three years later (with a few breakups), I love him more than anything. He's my best friend.

14. 16th birthday party: there was a limo, my best friends, and a scavenger hunt throughout my city. It was amazing and I will never forget this.

15. Forming the bestfriendship: Alisha, Abby, Ashleigh and I have always worked well as friends and they've been the most constant people in my life {besides family and Steven} and I would be nowhere without these girls. They're the best.

16. Move-in day: I never would have guessed college would be like this. My life has been a roller coaster since September 2nd. It's crazy.

17. Failing last semester: finding out I was on academic probation really freaked me out and I've just sort of been in shock since then. College is difficult, but I've been working a lot harder this semester on everything college-related.

18. Joining HCBN: truthfully, this is probably the least impactful on this list, but it has helped my blog tremendously and I love HC. The Blogger Network is a great community to be involved in.

Thanks for sharing in these past couple of years of my 18 years with me!

The Liebster Award!!

Look what I got:

The Liebster Award!

The requirements:

• List 11 random facts about yourself
• Answer the 11 questions that the awarding blogger has posted for you
• Nominate 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers
• Let the bloggers you chose know that you have nominated them!
• No tag backs!

11 facts about me:

1. You will very rarely catch me wearing matching socks.
2. I currently don't have my phone {I lost my charger- go me!} and I'm slowly dying on the inside.
3. I'm a tiny bit terrible at talking to new person-- pretty much only in person though.
4. If you give me pizza, Mountain Dew, or Ben and Jerry's, I will love you forever and we can be BFF's.
5. My favorite Ben and Jerry's flavors and the fro-yo Half Baked and Late Night Snack.
6. I hate mint anything. Toothpaste, gum, actual mints, anything.
7. I also hate coffee anything. Coffee, ice capps, etc.
8. I spend just as much time away from campus as I do on campus {okay, maybe a little less away, but I'm gone every weekend}.
9. I would love to be able to work at my home church's youth group after I graduate. It would be the best {especially since my mom is running it right now}.
10. For the first semester of sophomore year, based on credits, I will still be a "freshman" technically.
11. I have song ADD- I rarely will listen to an entire song and not change it until I love it.

the questions from Tales of a Fluorescent Adolescent

1. Who is your style icon?

• I really don't have one. I wear jeans, a t-shirt, my north face, and moccasins basically 24/7.

2. Favorite band/artist that no one listens to.

• Anthem Lights! They cover awesome songs and they have a few CD's of their own!

3. What is your dream travel destination? What do you want to do there?

• I love, love, love San Diego and I'd love to go back. I want to stay on the ocean like last time!

4. What's your favorite mode of transportation?

• Cars. I'm actually a really lazy person {regardless of what everyone thinks when they see my appearance} and I just...no.

5. Favorite piece of clothing in your closet.

• My scarf. It's grey and I literally wear it with everything. I love it.

6. Favorite ice cream flavor.

• I basically answered this in my 5th fact.

7. Top 5 favorite movies.

• Without a Paddle, The Breakfast Club, all of the Fast & Furious movies, Safe Haven, and The Heat!

8. What is your thing? (favorite hobby, notorious habit, something that you're known for)

• Always being with people. Like, always.

9. What is your favorite season and why?

• SUMMER. I hate being cold.

10. If you could live in a different era which would you choose and why?

• Back in the Baby Boomer era. I don't know why, but that time period is just super cute to me and I have no idea why.

11. Where is your favorite place?

• Home. I love being in my hometown with everyone I love. It will always be home to me, not SAU or wherever I may live in the future.

the nominated bloggers:

1. Erin @ Styles I Like
2. Jessica @ A Cup of Jessica
3. Emma @ My Beautiful Messy Life
4. Michaela @ by michaela christine
5. Sarah @ Space, Place, & Southern Grace
6. Mo @ Ollivander Mo
7. Danny @ Danny +
8. Mary @ Secret Obsession
9. Hannah @ fragmented youth
10. Rubi @ When Life Gives You Rubi
11. Lauren @ lauren elyse CAN

questions for the bloggers:

1. What are your opinions on Miley Cyrus?
2. What is your latest Netflix obsession?
3. If you could travel anywhere, where would you pick?
4. Do you have a very small number of very close friends or a variety of friends?
5. What has been your favorite memory this far in your life?
6. Who inspires you?
7. If you had to do one thing over in your life, what would you pick and why?
8. How many kids do you want to have?
9. When you were a kid, what did you want to be where you grew up?
10. If you had to pack up and leave your house right now and could only grab five things, assuming your family and pets get out safely without you, what would you take?
11. What is your favorite pizza topping?

Studentrate!

Have you ever heard of Studentrate?
If not, you will now.

One day, I got a follow on Pinterest from a page called Studentrate and I checked it out. They had some sweet deals for students but what caught my attention was their Pinterest. They had boards for everything I liked. It was awesome. I immediately followed then and soon after, became a pinner on their College Trends board!

Maybe a month or so ago, I saw a Pinterest post about becoming a Studentrate blogger! I was super excited and obviously, I emailed Lindsay {the girl in case of that}.

I was so excited when she told me she'd love for me to be a part of their blogger community! If you're interested, it's super cool! It's basically a partnership: you promote Studentrate, they promote your blog! It's a great opportunity & I'm so excited to be a part of this!

Check our their website with lots of great deals, their Facebook, their Twitter, their Instagram, & of course, their Pinterest!

Blog design!

As much I really love my blog, I need a new design for it!

Does anyone happen to know of someone that does free blog designs?
My blog is really small right now and I don't have much any money!

I really want at least a header, background, social media buttons, blog buttons {2 in particular}, and some page buttons.

Please & thank you!

Things You May Not Know About Me {as of lately}

I realized that I haven't given many updates about my life lately & new things about myself.

So here's fifteen things {new or old} you may not know about me.

Look, it's me!

1. I'm a little bit addicted to social media. Twitter is by favorite the most addicting. {@brooketriciaa} I use Facebook to keep up on my friends mostly. I also love Pinterest, Tumblr, and Blogger {obvi.}.
2. I am a college freshman at a Christian college in Michigan and I'm majoring in youth ministry.

This is my collage from the first week of school!
Pictures from a concert, McDonald's & piling eight people into our car.

3. Last semester, I had four classes. I failed three and got a C in the fourth. My GPA is a 0.5 right now...
4. A few friends and I are going to be applying to start our own chapter of Her Campus soon!
5. I'm in the process of partnering my blog with the Her Campus blogger network as well as Studentrate {fingers crossed, guys}.
6. When I was a sophomore in high school, I started dating a guy named Steven {he's been mentioned on her quite a bit} and we've broken up a few times, but we are together again and {knock on wood} have been doing so, so, so much better and haven't gotten in any actual arguments this time.

Aren't we adorable? :)

7. My friends are my world, ask anyone & they'll tell you. I will bend over backwards for my close friends because they've all done so much for me.

Between those pictures, those are my best friends!
Abby, Liz, me, Caitlin, Alisha, Ashleigh, Cassie
Antonio, Dom, & Dusty

8. I go to a lot of concerts and it is literally my favorite thing. Seriously. I've seen my favorite band {Skillet} five times so far and in February, I'll be seeing them two more times {including second row tickets for one- wooo!} and couldn't be more excited!
9. If there is Mountain Dew around, I will drink it. All of it.
10. I love, love, love The Sims. I've played it since the original Sims. {I cannot wait until Sims 4 comes out next year!}
11. I am very iffy about my opinions on my college right now. It's not at all a bad school, but I don't know if it's the best option for me.
12. At any moment, you can ask me if I'm listening to Spotify and 90% of the time I'm in my room, it's a yes.
13. I'm undecided about what I want to do this summer. There's an internship I really, really want to take, but it's really far away, along with a job away from home and one at home. Decisions, decisions...
14. I've recently started crocheting {apparently that's the 'thing' to do at my college} and I really like it. I just wish I was better at it!
15. I love movies. At my moms house, we have over 300 movies. Netflix has been a good friend of mine. Megashare is now by BFF though. {I'm not condoning illegal movie websites, just saying it's a good resource ;)}.

So there you go! 15 things you may or may not know about me!

Summer.

Link-up with Laura @ Our Reflecftion's here comes the summer.

Well, after today, I will have 1 1/2 days left of school, of being a junior.
Then, my favoirte.
Summer.
This makes me happy. :)

Summer means hanging out with friends.
Summer means staying up all night.
Summer means going to camp for a week.
Summer means shorts everyday.
Summer means getting away from life in general.
Summer means amazing pictures.
Summer means checking off a ton of bucket list items.
Summer means going swimming.
Summer means going to the zoo.
Summer means being crazy.
Summer means sleeping all the time.
Summer means more fun, less responsibility.
Summer means Big Ticket Festival.
Summer means being a teenager.
Summer means late nights with the music up.
Summer means my heaven.

I can't wait.

What does summer mean to you??
Love you all!
<3Brooke!

Link-up with Laura @ Our Reflecftion's here comes the summer.

Five Minute Friday.

Linking up with The Gypsy Mama's Five Minute Friday!
This week's topic:: See.

A Five Minute Writing Challenge

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community.

GO!

I'm sitting in school and I'm seeing how empty it is.
Our seniors are gone.
I'm seeing how few cars are in the parking lot now that they're gone.
I'm seeing how different our school is. Everyone seems so much less mature.
That's going to be me next year.
I'm going to look at the freshmen, sophomores, and juniors next year, and just say "Wow. I see what they mean. You do miss that."
I'm going to see how much younger the freshmen look as they get smaller and smaller every year.
We're the oldest in the school from yesterday until next year.
I'm seeing how fast we're growing up.
It's crazy.
And scary.
I really don't know how to feel about this.
Seeing how all of the seniors affecting everyone here is crazy.
Especially since I only talked to about... two of them.
And I still miss them (even if one of those two lives about a block from me...shhh).
It's weird.

STOP!

Friday's Letters.

Dear summer,

...why is it that you're still not here?!

sincerely, i want to tan.

Dear youth group,

why?...

sincerely, slightly crushed.

Dear friends,

thank you for letting me vent all the time.

I need it.

sincerely, barookacka.

Dear boyfriend,

you make me mad,

you drive me crazy sometimes,

I really want to punch you at others,

but I love you. <3

sincerely, your girlfriend that'll be here forever.

Dear school,

...I hate you.

deeply.

sincerely, can't wait to get out.

Dear new followers,

thank you!!!

I love you all! <3

sincerely, happy girl.

Dear old followers,

thank you for sticking around,

even in my mess of posts...

:)

sincerely, crazy girl.

Dear June 14-16,

come faster.

now.

...please.

sincerely, waiting impatiently.

Link-up to Friday's Letters.

Love you all!

<3Brooke.



my letters.

Link-up with {Ashley @ Adventures of Newlyweds}

My letters::

dear boy in the hallway,

it is not, nor will ever be, cool to walk around with your pants half way down your butt.

please pull them up.

thank you.

sincerely, disgusted.

dear ex best friend,

we had a good friendship while it lasted,

but i'm glad it ended when it did.

sincerely, over it.

dear followers,

i love you all,

and i really love your comments when you leave them!

sincerely, thankful.

dear summer,

please, please, come faster.

sincerely, impatient.

dear best friends,

i love you!

you mean the world to me!!

sincerely, your best friend.

dear blogs i follow,

i love your blogs,

but you people really need to stop making awesome link-ups!

..then i have to do all of them.

sincerely, link-up overload.

Perspective in five.

Linking up with {The Gypsy Mama's 5 Minute Friday} -- Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.

GO!

You know, when you think about it, our perspective on everything shows a lot more about ourselves than anything.
It's like the glass half full versus half empty thing.
Depending on which one you see, it shows a lot about your personality, your life, and just you.
Everything could be seen as bad through one person's perspective, and good through someone else's.
Everyone has a different perspective on everything.
It's really cool when you think about it though.
Like a little kid could fall.
One person would be like "Oh, no! He's hurt! Go get a wash cloth, and a band-aid, and Neosporin, and..."
Where another could be thinking "Oh, that's not bad. It could have been worse, and hey, everything happens for a reason. Maybe him falling now prevent him from doing something later could could result in a much bigger accident."
See, your perspective is everything.
You could be that person who sees everything as negative, or you could be that cheerful, optimistic person who thinks everything that happens is for a reason, and not to worry so much.

STOP!

Linking up with {The Gypsy Mama's 5 Minute Friday}

Love you all!
<3Brooke!

Plans for my blog.

sorry for the third post today!!

So I realized that honestly, you guys probably know really know much about me.
So sometime soon, I'm going to do kind of an "About Me" month.
Each week, I'll have a topic, and a post for each of the days.
Example: Week 1: These Crazy People I Call My Best Friends. Part 1: Steven.
And so on.
It'll probably be about a month long (4 weeks) with four topics.
For some topics, like the best friends topic, there will be seven posts for seven days, but other topics may be as little as four days.
I'm already planning this, and I'm pretty excited about it.
I might even have a button made, so if you know anyone who can make me a free button for this, please let me know!! :)

Love you all!
<3Brooke!

Frivolous Friday!

{link-up to this blog}

How I treat myself?

Well, usually it's a little something like this::

Check recent statuses, post a status, creep on best friends/boyfriend.
Then once that gets boring,

I read a bazillion tweets, and retweet quite a few of them.
Then...

I check up on recent posts, see if I have waiting-to-be-approved comments, enter giveaways...
Most of this will be while listening to music, such as my favorite band...

Which I love oh-so-very-much.
And then, I'd probably sit there and play around with my pictures (:

I <3 Photoshop! :D


{link-up to this blog}

High Five For Friday- Winterjam!

High Five for Friday!  --  post-Winterjam edition ;-)
{link-up to this blog}

1. Building 429.<3 They played Where I Belong-- my jam. ;-)

2. Newsong.<3 I don't like the song 'Arise My Love' but they are so amazing live that I actually liked it. And they played 'The Same God' :D

3. Kari Jobe.<3 She played Revelation Song (in my opinion, one of the greatest worship songs!!)

4. Sanctus Real.<3 They are great. His voice live is...<3. 'The Redeemer' was played. Brooke's day was made. (haha, that rhymed :D)

5. And, of course, last, but never least:: Skillet! This is the only band I know that could have tons of people head-banging and jumping up and down, then, a minute later, in tears. (btw-- the tears were b/c of 'The Last Night') They played about 8 or so songs-- and I knew all of them and was screaming the lyrics (surprisingly, I still have my voice today!!):: Whispers in the Dark, Those Nights, The Last Night, Awake and Alive, Hero, Comatose, Monster, and Rebirth. I love them!

{link-up to this blog}

High Five For Friday!

High Five For Friday, anyone? :-)
Here's mine:: finding these totally cute five things from Delia's!

Lucy Banded Dolman
from: www.store.delias.com

Olivia Low-Rise Jegging Light Wash
from: www.store.delias.com

Candice Wedge
from: www.store.delias.com

Black Wayfarer
from: www.store.delias.com

Underwire Retro Balconet Top & Ruched Top Hipster
from: www.store.delias.com

Ta-daaa! :D

Link-up to Lauren @ From My Grey Desk for High Five for Friday!