STRIVE 2013 Thanks

Just a few words and comments to thank each and every person for your love and support through STRIVE 2013!

Also, the my total amount raised is in...

Will Tony have to eat asparagus and take Bryce and I out for a fancy dinner? 

Check it out!

It's the little victories

It's the little victories that matter and are always fun to celebrate.

Moments I want to remember forever: Part 3

 Adventures with my handsome, exploring different parts of our city that neither of us have been to.

I like to call them the "Adventures of Bryali."

This past weekend we were finally able to check out this beautiful park in North Las Vegas that we have heard about and have wanted to go to for a while now...and let me tell you it was an adventure.

You can't tell in the photos but it was crazy windy and stormy, but even with mother nature acting cray cray it was simply stunning.

We got to witness a signature Las Vegas sunset that was absolutely breathe taking and we walked around the park a bit saying hello to some of the geese and admiring the fun little attributes of this cute park.

Earlier this month we took a tour of the Neon Museum and actually learned that this park use to be a 'Divorce Ranch.'

Here's the low down...3..2..1...go:

So back in the day in order to get a divorce you had to be a resident of the state you were in, most states you had to live there for a year to be considered a resident...but good ol' Nevada only required you to live here 6 to 7 days before you were considered a resident, so people would come to Nevada and stay at this ranch for 6 to 7 days so they could become a resident, and then bada-bing-bada-boom they could get their divorce.

Only in Vegas, right?

So it was interesting to walk around and look at the beauty of this park knowing that little fact.

Especially because a lot of people now have their weddings here.

 Which I don't blame them, it's a perfect location for an outside wedding, especially because it doesn't feel like you're in Vegas, and it's simply gorgeous.

It's little adventures like these that I treasure the most.

I love creating memories with him.

<3 

Happy Thursday! 

Currently: Vlog Edition

My little brother

I never had a younger sibling growing up.

Then my dad met this sweet wonderful woman and they fell in love and got married 5 years ago.

That's when this little man entered into my life, and it alllll changed.

We joke with each other.

We vent to each other.

We sing ridiculous made up songs to each other.

We give each other advice.

We both love God, and serve at our church.

We are just plain goofy with each other. 

I am so thankful for my little brother and our unique relationship.

I wouldn't trade our relationship for anything in the world.

Here is just a little glimpse into our relationship.

53 in Heaven

 Happy Birthday to the sweetest angel I could ask for.

Today my sweet momma would have been 53.

Even though she isn't here for us to sing to and smother in kisses and sweet hugs, my sisters and I still lit a candle in her honor and sang her happy birthday.

I'm still always caught off guard when my eyes well up with tears. 

It's not that I never feel sad, and I that I don't cry, but it is always when I least expect it.

I didn't expect to start crying while singing Happy Birthday with my sisters, but listening to both of my sisters sing and thinking about how my mom isn't here to see us grow up and experience our lives with us was overwhelming for me.

Just another reminder to myself and for others around me to be thankful for the time you do have with people, especially your loved ones. Be patient with them, love them, respect them, and show them grace even when it's difficult...because you never know when they will no longer be there for you to call or to hug and say I love you to.

So, Happy 53rd Birthday my sweet Neitha Rose.

You will forever be my angel.

<3

A rose is a rose is a Neitha Rose

Hello December!

I am still in awe that it is December already, and it's not just the beginning of December...we are already mid-way through December.

Crazzzzzy!

I wanted to take a minute to simply just update what is going on in my life, especially because things have been non-stop go go go for me.

But I did get 5 minutes to sit down and just kind of ramble about things that have been happening, and what better way to do that than to Vlog it.

:)

30 Days of Thanks: Day 23 thru 30

Day 23 thru 30:

Life has been super crazy lately, so I have had to vlog the past (actually more than half) couple of 30 Days of Thanks.

But hey, it's come to a close y'all.

Check out the last tid bits of what I am thankful for below.

<3

   

30 Days of Thanks: 17 thru 22

Days 17 thru 22:

So....I am super super far behind with my 30 Days of Thanks.

With moving it has left me with very little down time other than to recuperate with sleep. 

So I mashed days 17 thru 22 into one.

Ooops :)

30 Days of Thanks: Day 16

Day 16:

The weather today is uhhhh-mazing.

Rain, clouds, hot coffee.

The best kind of Friday.

PS: yeppp I recorded this while on the road...I am that talented and kind of sort of too busy today to sit down and record or type a lengthy blog.

#sorryimnotsorry 

   

30 Days of Thanks: Day 13:14:15 Vlog

Day 13:14:15

I've been out of town the past few days, so I was not able to post for these 3 days.

SO, I compiled it into one and into a vlog to make it easier for me.

Yepppp.

Enjoy<3

30 Days of Thanks: Day 12

Day 12:

I am thankful for my sweet Diva D <3

 

30 Days of Thanks: Day 9:10:11 Vlog

Day 9:10:11

All wrapped into one.

I figured I would catch up on days 9,10, & 11 by vlogging about what I am thankful for.

Enjoy <3

30 Days of Thanks: Day 8

**This post might be a little mushy-gushy or what ever you want to call it.

 But I don't mind, so enjoy the tiny glimpse I am sharing about my love life.

Day 8:  

I am thankful for my sweet handsome boyfriend and best friend.
I could not have been blessed with a more wonderful, genuine, kind, down to earth man in my life.

Each day I grow more and more thankful for this sweet man.

God's timing with bringing him into my life couldn't have been more perfect and today I get to celebrate 6 months with this handsome man.

He has brought so much joy into my life, and he constantly inspires me to want to be a better person.

His love and passion for God is something I have always wished for in a man, and I am so thankful to finally have found a man with that quality.

I love that he is constantly teaching me new things.

Hopefully one day I will be able to fully understand him when he speaks Spanish to me, but I would definitely say so far I do pretty well.

I am thankful for how laid back and easy going he is.

He helps me slow down in life and pick and choose what battles are really worth battling.

We may disagree on politics at times, but thankfully instead of arguing with one another we simply communicate our beliefs and knowledge about topics and we see each others sides.

I am also very thankful for his family.

He has been blessed with such a fun and unique family.

They are such welcoming and genuine people.

Each and every one of them has a love for God and they all volunteer at our church.

It always puts a smile on my face seeing his entire family every weekend giving back so much to our church and they always do it with a smile on their face.

I am also thankful for the relationships and bonds I am developing with them, especially his mom and littlest sister Jess.

Recently this past weekend Bryce and I were a part of a prank that we played on our Junior High Pastor where Bryce "proposed" to me on stage and in return my part of the prank was to say no and run off stage.

We tricked all of the junior high students but especially our pastor.

Later that weekend Bryce's mom had walked up to me and told me how she saw the video of the prank and she thought it was hilarious.  

She then looked at me and said, "We almost had ya in the family." 

In which I replied, "Almost." ha ha 

I just adore that entire family.

God has blessed me in so many ways this past year, but he has especially blessed me with such a wonderful man and relationship.

So short story long, I am blessed and beyond thankful for my sweet and handsome boyfriend that God placed into my life.

God is so good.

<3

30 Days of Thanks: Day 7 -Vlog

30 days of Thanks: Day 5 & 6

Day 5:

I am thankful for my sister Aubi.

The Papa to my Mama

My twinsy

My Aub

My Aubi Duab

One of the very few women I've looked up to my entire life.

She has always been there for me through the ups and downs through out my life, and I can not begin to thank her enough for all she has brought into my life.

She was there for me more than ever in the lowest part of my life last year.

She held me when I cried, she reassured me that God had a plan for my life even though I couldn't see it at the time.

She promised that there was a light at the end of the tunnel.

She has helped me grow so much through out the years and I am so thankful for that.

I am thankful for the unique bond that we have as sisters.

I will never forget our apartment days and the interesting neighbors we had.

Freestyle Fridays

Karaoke nights

Watching the strangest infomercials on Saturday mornings while listening to our neighbors scream at one another.

Thinking our apartment was on fire, so we grabbed our laptops and ran outside to the parking lot...only to realize we were the only ones outside and the smoke was coming from the neighbor below who was barbecuing illegally.

Our many trips to Niketown and Fat Tuesdays.

Mama and Papa cooking nights.

Our first couple of nights in the apartment cooking and being resourceful with the only cooking utensils we had...which were scissors and a fork.

So many good, fun memories with her.

I am so thankful God blessed me with her.

 

Day 6:

I am thankful for my oldest sister Gabby.

My Gabrielle.

My Big Sis.

My personal GPS.

My "I did dad, I did" sister

She is one of the most compassionate and selfless people I have ever known.

She loves fully and gives fully.

I have never met some one who is so giving to others and so thoughtful like her.

(Other than my Gram Cracker)

She has taught me how to have a child like spirit.

I look up to her in so many ways.

I try and be as thoughtful as she is towards people.

I am so thankful for all the times she has listened to me vent and been there to help guide me and pick me up when I tend to doubt myself.

I am thankful for her words of encouragement.

She has such a sweet spirit and she truly deserves to be blessed with the best.

I treasure the times I have with her.

She is one of my absolute favorite road-trip partners.

I can not express enough how thankful I am that God has placed her in my life as my older sister. She has bestowed so much wisdom and love upon me, and she is always there for me.

With all of that being said, it is her birthday today!

She is the big 2-9!!

Happy 29th Birthday to my Gabrielle. 

I love you so incredibly much and I am so excited for you to move back to Vegas.

I am looking forward to our morning coffee dates and breakfast days again.

I have missed you so much.

I love you sissy!

Happy Birthday <3

I am incredibly blessed with the two sisters God has placed me with.

I couldn't have asked for better family than what God has blessed me with.

 

30 days of Thanks: Day 3 & 4

Day 3:

I am thankful for STRIVE and our FUSE students and leaders. 

STRIVE was such a success, and we were able to give so much back to the Las Vegas community.
339 junior high students and leaders served all across the Las Vegas Valley.
From 
painting curbs 
sorting books
pulling weeds/picking up garbage 
to  
cleaning entire class rooms from head to toe
helping out at the Las Vegas Rescue Mission and the Ronald McDonald house
and so much more.
There wasn't anything we didn't do.
How cool is that?! 

I'm also super thankful for the wonderful team and staff I am blessed to be a part of at Central Christian Church.

All of the long, long hours that our team put in with:

phone calls

e-mails

texts

flyers

excel sheets

meetings

late nights

site visits

bumps in the road

and

more meetings
it ALL paid off.

I can not begin to describe the joy that it brings me to see the images pouring in from our STRIVE work day and seeing all the students and leaders working so hard, and doing it with such a HUGE smile across their face.

It is truly inspiring to see such selfless acts of service.

I am so so so proud to be a part of such a wonderful team and ministry.

<3

Day 4:

I am thankful for maple bars and red bull editions the day after STRIVE.

30 days of Thanks: Day 1 & 2

Well hello!

Who can believe that it is already November?!

November 2nd to be exact.

Two days in to November already. Cray Cray!

So with that being said I wanted to jump on the "30 days of Thanks" train that a lot of my blogger friends are doing.

Obviously I missed day one. But that's okay, I like to play by my own rules.

So with that I shall incorporate Day 1 & 2 into this fancy little post.

Day 1:

I am thankful for my absolutely wonderful friends that God has blessed me with in my life.

I am surrounded by such supportive individuals who love me and care for me in a way I have never experienced with past friendships.

My friends are all so genuine and so God centered.

I love that I get to work a long side them doing God's work and I get to simply do life with them.

From small group, to FUSE groups, to weekend services, to celebrating holidays with them and weekend trips away from Vegas.

I am just simply blessed and so incredibly thankful for each and every one of them.

<3

 

Day 2:

I am thankful that our event STRIVE is this Saturday.

We have been working almost every. single. day. on this event for the past 7 months and now it is tomorrow! It is so awesome seeing all the hard work we have all put in to this event.

Hours and hours of e-mails, phone calls, excel sheets, site visits, meetings, etc. have been put into this event. 

STRIVE is going to be the LARGEST student community out reach that has EVER happened in Las Vegas and I am incredibly proud and blessed to be a part of it.

With that being said since STRIVE is over after Saturday, that means I will have some what a normal schedule again AND the best best best part (which is what I am thankful for) we get to have Tuesday off. 

So instead of going in and working on STRIVE stuff like normal, I will be at home sleeping and relaxing with my sweet pup...oh and of course going and VOTING.

So, plain and simple, I am thankful to have Tuesday, November 6th off of work.

I will finally get a day of rest.

Amen.

mind-FULL

Ever feel like you have so much on your mind that it makes you feel literally exhausted?

Unable to keep your eyes open.

Short of breath.

As if someone knocked the air out of you.

That sums up my day today.

I went to bed exhausted last night and woke up even more exhausted than I was yesterday.

I don't think my mind and thoughts took a break while I slept.

I woke up feeling stressed out.

Pit in my stomach.

Short of breath.

Not particularly how I wanted to start off my Monday.

Thing is none of it faded as the day went on. It increasingly got worse and worse.

To the point where when I got home I was just simply over the day.

I just wanted to erase today and move on to tomorrow.

I hate feeling like that.

I don't like feeling like I want to erase any day that I have.
I want to enjoy every single day I am blessed with, no matter the difficulties it brings sometimes.

But today I just felt completely OVER it.

When I got home, I felt like I wanted to do something to keep myself busy, because let's be honest I am always constantly doing something or going some where (just ask my family), and yet today I didn't have anything to do when I got off work.

I should have been thankful right?

But I wasn't at first. 

I felt like I was missing out on something.

So I looked for things to do...

- laundry

- cleaning my room

- checked my phone to see if I had any appointments that I didn't remember.

But, there was nothing in my calendar for tonight.

After I finished my laundry and cleaning I laid on my bed trying to think of something to do.

I grabbed my phone and decided to finish my reading for my small group.

After I finished my reading, it left me some what more relaxed than I had felt earlier.

I sat back and thought about the scripture I had read, and then I reflected on my day and all the worries and stresses that I let completely steal my day away from me.

I felt silly for allowing my past hurts and scars to creep in to today.

My life today is nothing like it was a year ago.

The people in my life, are nothing like the people from my past.

Today I am surrounded by friends and family who love me more than I could ever ask for.

I've been blessed with an amazing best friend who I can vent to about anything and everything and she brings me back down to Earth when I get all worked up over stresses or worries.

I've been blessed with a wonderful man who is so passionate for God and gives every part of himself to serve God and people.
He is so genuine and caring towards me, and I am constantly thanking God for bringing him into my life.

Looking back on all those positive notes about where I am today, makes me thankful that I had nothing going on tonight.
If I hadn't had that 'quiet' time to sit back and reflect on the good things in my life I would probably still feel overwhelmed and upset over today.

That 'quiet' time changed my perspective on today, because in reality today wasn't bad.
 I just simply let my worries and stresses steal away my day.

Thinking about all of the blessings in my life that I have to be thankful for helps bring me back down to Earth and out of the mindset of letting my worries/stresses overwhelm me.
I now feel as if I can breathe again.

The pit in my stomach is no longer there.

The tightness in my chest from the stress has loosened.

Sometimes when things get crazy, when your mind feels so full of junk and stress to the point that you feel overwhelmed, you just have to take a minute, sit down and take a deep breath in and focus on all the good in your life.

Don't let all the worries and stresses and negatives take over your day.

No day is worth wishing you could erase it.

Trust me, at the end of the day you'll wish you wouldn't have allowed your day to be wasted.

Thankfully for me, I still have 2 hours left of today to focus on all the good.

killing time

What do you do when you have time to kill?

I usually hop on Facebook, check my e-mail, check pretty much ALL my social media accounts, and then once I am over all of that I open up a new blog post and stare at the blank screen for how ever long until words come to me.

I don't like to just write about gibberish.

I don't like to vlog about gibberish either.

I want my words and my posts to have substance.

I'm not the best blogger.
I don't post on a consistent basis, but I also don't get as much alone and down time as I probably should.

I constantly feel the need to go, go, go and to constantly be busy doing or working on something.

But sometimes you need to just stop, and have some time for yourself.

Time where you don't have any where to be at any specific time.

Time where you don't have any thing specific to get done.

Time to just simply sit back and reflect on your life.

Time to simply spend with God.

I think time with God is a must or at least should be a must for people.

I know when it comes to me it is a definite must.

Making sure I take time to spend with God is so incredibly important in my life because it keeps my life balanced regardless of how hectic my life gets.

So as long as I get in my alone time with God I feel balanced in the end.

Of course there are times where I just simply feel so overwhelmed with all I have going on and I will have little freak outs or a roller coaster of emotions but when it gets to that place that is when I know that I need to seriously take a minute, take a deep breath and breathe and simply schedule in some "quiet time."

That is what I like to call my God time.

I would be lying if I said that I have been regularly having my quiet time, because in reality I haven't lately.

I've been so wrapped up in work, church, and a social life that I haven't been home unless it is to sleep for maybe 4 or 5 hours.
Usually when I am home I will go up to my room and have my quiet time where I shut my door and shut out all of my distractions so that I can focus on God and I.

Last night was the first time in a few weeks that I have been home before 10pm and where I haven't had anything going on.

Now at first I was bummed out, I left church at around 830pm and just felt this need to try and find something to do but instead I shut my mind up and my restlessness up and decided to go home and truly just relax for the rest of the night.

At first when I got home I went up to my room and just felt super bored and a bit down, and then I started to think about the fact that there are plenty of times when I am at work that I am wishing I could simply just sit in my bed and relax and not have anything to specifically do for a few hours.

So why now am I complaining when I am getting exactly what I have been hoping for?

So are you curious as to what I did last night.
Here let me tell you.
I took a nice shower and I got in bed and simply sat there and relaxed.
I sat back and thought about how much God has been working in my life and about how a year ago I was in such a different place.
I never would have imagined a year ago that I would be where I am today with my faith.
I never would have imagined that I would be so involved with church like I am.
That I would be surrounded by such an awesome group of individuals who all love and want to serve God.

I took time last night to simply thank God for blessing me with all the wonderful opportunities that he has bestowed upon me.
For the people who have become my best friends and who constantly are challenging me and inspiring to grow deeper in my faith. 
For blessing me with the wonderful supportive family that I have.

I also had the time to talk on the phone with a good friend for a while and then I spent some time with my brother.
 Then I called it a night and decided to go to sleep since I had to be up at 5:30am this morning so that I could get my brother to church by 7am.

So now since I have been sitting here at church since 7am waiting to go to the 9am service, I decided it would be the perfect time to sit back, reflect and spend some quiet time blogging.

I'm not gonna lie though...when I first got to church at 7 all I could think was, "What am I going to do with my time for 2 hours until service?" But it has definitely been a much needed 2 hours of just me and my yummy cup of coffee, sitting alone with my lap top in hand letting my words flow from my finger tips.

Couldn't ask for a better start to my Sunday.

<3