2020, you've been unexpected.

I have been waiting for the year 2020 with so much excitement since I started undergrad. Being an almost-optometrist, 2020 already had so much to offer by the date it is given, but beyond surface level it was so much more because of the expectations and anticipations I have had for years: 

 

This was the year that I am going to have life direction. 

This was the year I am going to have a "real" purpose. 

This was the year I get to be more independent. 

This was the year that I get to have my own home + host. 

This was the year that things would be easier. 

This was the year that I would pass all my boards on the first try. 

This was the year that I would match with a residency or start my dream job. 

This was the year I would have more freedom than ever before. 

This was the year that I could create the "normal ordinary" that I have always wanted. 

Well let me just tell you- none of that is what is happening. 

I am more dependent on my parents financially more than I have ever had to be as an adult

As of right now, I have no idea where I am going to live. 

As of right now, I have no idea if and when I will get a job. 

I am still waiting to pass 1.5 of my board exams. 

I did not match for a residency and I cannot apply for jobs because of my boards. 

I am waiting for my school/NBEO/graduation, etc. I do not have freedom in my schedule.

Nothing about my life right now is my normal ordinary. 

And yet:

I have friends bringing new life into the world: PRAISE GOD

I have friends still getting married and starting their life amongst all this chaos: PRAISE GOD

I have people reconnecting with friends and family better: PRAISE GOD

The environment is improving: PRAISE GOD

Big corporations and financial burdens are being addressed: PRAISE GOD

Country relations seem to be more open because we have common ground: PRAISE GOD

I have a roof over my head, food to eat, and water to drink: PRAISE GOD

Kids and parents are reconnecting: PRAISE GOD

People are thinking more about themselves: PRAISE GOD

We as a nation are going after "the one" sheep: PRAISE GOD

Technology is helping keep people connected: PRAISE GOD

God, I feel selfish that I seem to only be consumed with how COVID is affecting me. I am not thinking about other people, I am only thinking about myself. I just had so many plans for this year, for this time, I thought I would know how I felt, I thought I would be happy. All of this is a mess. There is nothing about this that I feel good about or positive about. None of this was part of the plan. But in all of it, I know this is your plan. This is your will. You turn all things into good. You know better than I do. But all of this is hard to digest and I feel defeated, overwhelmed but also sure that it will be okay. Here it goes.

^^^^^^^

I wrote all of that on March 17, 2020. And here we are, January 2021.

The District Church out of Indianapolis just gave a sermon that put all this into perspective. The pastor said "God never wants us to be our own authority... most of our frustrations exist because we think this life is all about us." This kind of rocked my world a little bit because he was totally right in bringing that to our attention. I was viewing 2020 as a total disappointment because I was putting myself at the center of what I thought this year should have brought ME. What I expected about all the things that would bring ME joy. Life is really about Jesus, worshiping him, loving people around us, walking through life selflessly. And I can't believe I am saying this, but that is what 2020 became about. Was there tragedy, absolutely. Did terrible, hurtful things happen, yes. "Everything is cancelled" became the theme of the year. But when you look at it from the perspective that Jesus wants us to have... I think I learned to love people this year the way God has intended me to do my whole life. When bad things happened to my friends, we loved on them. When bad things happened to me, I felt cared for (even if it was virtual/socially distanced). I think I have sent more flowers and cards this year than I ever have before. I actually had the time to listen and talk to my friends. I spent more time with my family than I have spent with them since starting college. We made memories and started new traditions. We enjoyed each other's company and the simplicity of having time for one another. It was actually okay. 

This is not a big pat-on-the-back for me by any means for finding the good or doing good things. It is more of a wake up call because I rang in 2021 thinking, "holy moly, 2020 was a HUGE BUMMER with so much unrest, so much anger, racial tension, financial crisis... disappointments... it was cancelled and a waste". But when I took myself out of the center and looked at this past year from a more biblical view point, 2020 became way less of a bummer.  God's good showed. 2020 now looks like spreading love to local businesses, caring for people in any capacity possible; it looks like rallying behind one another in sickness, aiding people in crisis, uplifting people, seeing the good in what you have, valuing people for their skills-- loving your neighbor as you love yourself. Again, 2020 was full of terrible things, full of heartache, death, ruin, and turmoil. But in the darkness of those valleys, it gave people the opportunity to rise up, forget themselves and love on those that were hurting. The actual design and purpose for our lives. 

In the world of tangible achievements and accomplishments and milestone (what I thought 2020 was going to be full of), 2020 might not add up to much for a lot of us. But on a personal level, I think it added up to a lot. 

2020, you certainly were unexpected. 

Until next time, 

T. Hall 

PS: on a personal level --- really just for me. 

I did accept a fellowship in Philadelphia where I am living with one of my closest friends 

I did graduate as a Doctor of Optometry in 2020

I did pass all my boards

I am licensed in the state of Pennsylvania 

I live in a wonderful community 

I was able to keep my job

My family did lose people to COVID, but it did bring us closer together

I voted for the first time (yikes)

I gained valuable perspective on how to love people 

& all this happened during a world wide pandemic. Insane. Find the good because it is there. 

Treat on a Tuesday

Another note/draft- sorry for all the words

7.1.2017
God, you always teach me all my lessons and give me all my clarity while I'm running. That's how it's always been and always will be, isn't it? Keeping me in shape in more ways than one.

So God got me today. I ran for the first time in a long time and after one of the most hellish [HELLISH] months I have ever had. But He gave me this nudge to go run; I thought it was just me wanting to be healthy after having a stomach bug, but I should have known better. So I start running, and I'm thinking, yeah I was made for this run because I have only been able to eat bread for the past 4 days- carbs galore letttsssss goooooo, and so I decided I was going to do 4 hills since I was feeling so up for the challenge. Now for those of you who don't live in Massachusetts, specifically western Mass, these are not some small-fry hills. There are HILLS out here. So I do 3, and I'm feeling pretty tired and almost whimp out on my 4th, when I got that nudge inside saying "just do it. You can do it. Just prove it to yourself." So I whipped around onto the next street really fast before I could change my mind. I start laughing to myself because this street was literally a monstrosity of a hill! So big I couldn't even find the top because, let me tell you, it was NO WHERE in sight. I had to laugh even harder because having faith in myself running this hill was about as mystifying as faith in God. But I found myself saying, God says believe in what you cannot see (it's okay, I laughed that that was even the phrase going through my head). So I kept climbing with Thomas Rhett's "Vacation" song blaring in my ears and he sings one line that says "I'm going to rehydrate while I dehydrate, you know what I'm sayin'? " and it just all the sudden snapped in me how, during this last month of crazy I have totally fallen away from God. I kept telling myself to relinquish control, but I didn't. I just kept doing things my way, not letting myself take breaks, being hard on myself, and quite frankly being average. That's all I am without God. Average. My grades in school reflect it, my relationships reflected it, how I have been feeling in general reflected it. Anyway, back to  my original point, I was reminded but the rehydrate and hydrate thing was the message I heard from Pastor Tyler before I left on all my traveling (go to Lifesongonline.org and check it out 6/11/2017). That particular message focused on how God is the living water and we are always salty (notes coming soon on this message). We dehydrate ourselves with everything around us, people, jobs, etc, and need to be rehydrating with Him to be above average, to make our mark, to be different in this crazy world. Mind you, I'm having all these thoughts while I'm running up over a mile high hill (yes, still running and not kidding about the climb) and let me just tell you now. I didn't make it to the top. I doubted, kind of, that there even was a top at one point. Really I gave up and didn't want to put the effort in to find the top anymore, but let me tell you how it went down. I know I sound crazy, but God was talking to me through this whole run and I got to this fork in the road and He said "go left." I look left and it's more uphill and in my head I said screw that. So I ran a little bit to the left, made a loop, then ultimately made my way down turning right. The whole time after I turned around I was thinking, you know, if you had just turned left, it probably would have just taken you back to the street you parked on, you just had to get through the hardest part. Then I thought, I WENT THROUGH 4 HARD PARTS BEFORE, WHY DO I NEED TO DO ANOTHER ONE?!? And then I was overwhelmed by two more whispers: "because I asked you to", and "because you know I will repay you in 10 fold". Dang it. 

More often then not, I like to think I am following God's directions. But today made it clear to me that I don't. A lot of the time, I let myself just do what I want. You know where turning right (my way) got me on my run today? 3 streets backwards from where I started. You know where left would have gotten me? 2 streets closer and a sweet view of the sunset. God always knows better. His journey is hard, you have to dig deep to find the energy and effort to get there, and odds are, you are not going to like the looks of it when you see the original challenge. But the result. Man. That's the good stuff. And to think you and I could miss it on something so much bigger than a running path but in a real life opportunity because you weren't listening or didn't feel like putting a little more effort in. Those are my word-thoughts today friends. I hope they resonated a little with you as they did with me.

Happy Tuesday, and don't give up! (Cheesy, I know, but just embrace it)

T. Hall

The Sweetest Sunday of All

So--- these are some drafts that have just been sitting in my blog folder.. some of the stuff was worth a read even a few months late so I decided to post them for my own benefit. Hopefully you all get a kick out of it too! Sorry again for them being unfinished... one of these days I'll get good at this. 

Hello friends! Just in case you were wondering, this is the sweetest Sunday of the year: Easter Sunday.

First let me talk about egg hunts. You gotta love 'em, right? It's colorful, it's fun, it's usually full of money and chocolate! All the things people love. Everywhere you look there are these little nuggets and prizes, you just have to put a little effort in, and it's all yours. Some are really easy to see, and others take a bit longer to find and reveal themselves. As I was thinking about this, I was thinking about what my personal "egg hunt" looks like. If I just put a little bit of effort in, God usually has a prize waiting for me to find. Some prizes are really easy to see and take hold of, but there are some that are a lot harder to see. If I just follow his clues, I find His surprises. Over the past year- first it was school (that was a hard one to find), now it's staying in school (grades, duh), but also opportunities with outreach, friends, leadership, and so much more. Sometimes it's something really small and obvious that God wants you to see- those are the eggs on the ground; other times the eggs are hidden so well, disguised even, that you miss them. That's the real bummer. BUT there was one gift that God made that was so big no one could miss it- He gave His one and only son to us and sacrificed Him to die for our sins so that we could live eternally with Him in heaven. And that is why the story of Easter is the greatest story ever told.

This Easter season I am just overwhelmed with emotion. For the past year, I have felt like I have just been falling into God's plans, and I am so grateful, but so out of control. I don't know about you, but I really like control, and especially over these last few weeks, I really would have liked to have some. But I didn't. The thing is though that God has blessed me with so many open doors, I am freaking the heck out actually. And then I laugh again because I know that is exactly where He wants me- dependent on Him.  All of these opportunities I have been blessed with are amazing, and I can't wait to see what happens with them all. However, I know it's about so much more than that. It's about Him. This man, He saved my life, and now He is letting me live my life for Him (even though 5 out of the 7 days a week I view it more as drowning).

The Easter Story is the greatest story ever told, but this year it is just hitting home like I have never felt before. I am being pushed to be vulnerable about why I love Jesus, why I want to celebrate his resurrection, why I am thankful for his resurrection. Guys, it's so simple. This man died for me, and He died for you. He planned this life for you. He loves you. He loves you so much He openly confessed it KNOWING that we would all turn away and reject Him at many points in our lives. That my friends is vulnerability, something that God is teaching me a lesson on right now.

Let's go with what is on my mind. Guys, emotions are the worst. I just have to say that as a girl, I hate having feelings, the idea of investing, and all that good stuff. Friendships, no problem. But the second I think I could have feelings for a guy, I freak the heck out. I don't like to be vulnerable, I don't like to feel stupid, and the risk is at stake for both of those things when it comes to telling someone how you feel. It's hard and usually embarrassing and full of fear. Even as I typed this, I laughed a little because who doesn't like to be flattered? Even if you tell someone that and the feelings aren't reciprocated, you probably still made that person's day. That is not the point I am trying to make though. When I think about this vulnerability in a relationship, I next think about Jesus and His willingness to be vulnerable. Think about if Jesus hadn't been vulnerable and transparent with us... what in the world would have gained from His teachings and example? What would we have seen? He loves us more than I could ever love anyone, and yet it was so easy for Him to say and show, and without it, what would Christianity stand on?  He came to earth to tell us and assure us of an eternity that we can't even imagine exists and that we were loved like no other by our Father in Heaven. That takes boldness and guts.  Talk about the vulnerability needed to tell His best bros that, His family... I don't know... again, just the blurbs on my mind this beautiful Easter Sunday.

Sweet Sunday... on a Tuesday

(...on a Tuesday)

I keep getting this itch to blog. Let me say I am dumbfounded/laugh at this because I don't even think there is anyone out there really reading this, especially with my inconsistency. Then I get to thinking, what the heck, why not just write and see what pours out just in case? So here I am, five months later (once again), ready to just type some stuff here that is hopefully fun to read and is encouraging either in the cooking department or the spiritual department. 

To help explain myself, I always get this want to blog when I am cooking or baking. When I'm in the kitchen, that is my down time, and I can think about more than my to-do lists and school work. Usually I bake on Sunday's because that's my day to just chill out and be normal. That's also the day I can assure you I start with God and He resets me for my week. Plus He's usually got me thinking about some stuff that others might want to think about too. 

SO- here we go. 

This week the baking came earlier than Sunday because one of my closest friends came to visit and her birthday was Thursday (plus I am on spring break, so why not?)!!  Of course I had to make some sweet treats to welcome her to Mass. I remade a recipe that I've probably posted about before: Nutella Crinkle Cookies, which I don't have a picture of, sorry. However the real fun was a new recipe- the BEST cinnamon rolls  I have made (granted this was my first time making them from scratch). Of course, it was the Pioneer Woman who put out this recipe originally, and I got a copy cat version off of Pinterest. Click the links for either recipe. These blogs do a much better job directing than I do if you want to make them. Of course we enjoyed her sugar-filled-birthday breakfast with our favorite Greyhouse Coffee which was also an ingredient in the cinnamon roll frosting.  It was the perfect match. I wish I had taken better pictures of the food, but hopefully you can assume just by the look on my friend's face that we were excited about our early-morning sugar overload. 

 

While I was making the dough for these bad boys, I was watching this video:  

Fully living for Jesus Christ by Nick Vujicic 

and it made making these birthday rolls ten times sweeter. I know- cheesy transition, but if you read this blog, you'll just have to accept that I think in puns. Nick Vujicic's perspective and ability to be a tool of Jesus Christ is something truly incredible, and oddly enough, his words are so relatable and raw which is what I appreciate the most. You'll know what I mean about being relatable once you start watching. If you have the patience, watch Nick Vujicic's  videos using the link above, or at least one of them. I promise you won't regret it one bit, and he will inspire you whether you believe in God or not. 

For those of you that couldn't care less about the videos, here's what was on my heart this past week: 

"God often times presents answers to prayers in packages you don't want." -John Bevere's book Under Cover. 

We are reading this book in my small group, and that quote was the subtitle under the chapter.  I'll just start by saying this:

First of all, no one really wants to hear that because we want what we want, duh.  

Second of all, everyone needs to hear that because sometimes it's just true. Sometimes the right answer looks different to God than it does to us, and His way wins every time. We just have to recognize it. 

So often, for those of you who follow Christ, we pray for things: marriage, money, jobs, better health, relational help, clarity, understanding, guidance. Things we "NEED". And then we have expectations for how God will deliver these needs/wants/answers to us and we look for those in particular "packages", for lack of a better term, not the "unexpected delivery". So as my friend was leading this discussion revolved around this quote, he gave a list of ways that God could deliver answers to our prayers like these. He said (in much different words) that instead of the answer we are expecting, the plan "A" way, it may actually looks like a plan N, Q, or 4 way because those definitely don't look anything like the plan A, or the B, C, and D that you probably came up with if it wasn't the plan A answer/delivery  (hopefully you kind of followed that thought process of mine).  The answers could be completely random, unseen, or unexpected in our eyes, but they are still answers nonetheless, we just often miss them and feel ignored or like we just need to be patient. To explain this idea a little more, my friend then proceeded to give a whole list of prayers in the said categories I listed above and tied it to the unexpected package delivery to help us connect the dots.  Of course he got to the lovey/marriage ones, because let's face it, most of us are still in that stage of life and he explained:

"you could be praying that you experience the kind of love that God has for us here on earth, as in you want the love you get in a marriage, and He gives you someone unlovable because that's God's real love right? The father who loves those that are ungrateful, unthankful, and distant BUT YET HE LOVES AND PURSUES THEM THROUGH IT ALL. He didn't necessarily give you someone for marriage, but someone to show love like Christ loves them therefore really experiencing what it's like to love like He does."

I'll be the first to admit that this is my weak point. I am a typical twenty-something hopeless romantic, so of course I have prayed that prayer countless times.  As he was explaining all of this, internally my jaw had hit the floor and all the lightbulbs turned on in my head and my heart kind of sunk. My answer to prayer was a man, and God's answer was challenging me with people to love to the greatest capacity, selflessly and unconditionally. I'm not saying that God has given me the most unlovable people necessarily, but He has challenged me with different friendships and how I should love people more than I have ever been challenged before since I moved to Massachusetts. Often I complain about how ungrateful, unthankful, and distant people are and how much it drives me crazy!!!!! Whoops. That wasn't the response God wanted me to have. Now I see that, even though I was a little less thrilled with the packaging, I see these situations more as opportunities than burdens and annoyances unlike before and that makes me excited. I always grasped that God could say no to something I wanted, but I never thought of this "disguised delivery" approach- that He was actually answering me just doing it in a way that wasn't even on my radar. So whatever it is you're praying and waiting to have answered, look in all the other places because there might be an answer you aren't seeing.

As cliche as it is, I'll end with this. I feel so lucky to have God who loves me when I am ungrateful, unthankful, and distant. He answers my prayers in ways I don't want in order to make me better in the end. He pursues me when I am my ugliest self, as He does with you as well. 

To me, that is pretty sweet. 

Thanks for reading and I hope it was an okay way to spend some time, 

T. Hall 

Pre-Thanksgiving Thanks

Hi All!

SO- I am hosting my first Thanksgiving this year, and I am beyond excited. If I'm being perfectly honest, I usually see Thanksgiving simply as a segway to Christmas... but this year I see it a little differently because, well, I'm planning it. I can't believe that I am not going to be with my family, but it's kind of cool that I get to open my home to people here in Massachusetts and celebrate. We are having all the Thanksgiving things- turkey, sweet potatoes, stuffing, pie, corn, green beans- all pot luck style. Who knows if it will all be any good, but hey, we are all making our best effort and each bringing something to the table (literally and figuratively).  I need to work on my invite delivery though because I still had to tell some people via Facebook today what exactly is going on, but I'll learn in time, right? Hopefully this isn't my last hosting experience. Here are some of the recipes we are using this year and that I have used in the past! Click on the picture or go to my Pinterest board titled "Thanksgiving Traditions" (link to the right) and it will take you to the blogs I used if you need to incorporate these into your meal:

 

But anyway. I have a cool opportunity to do something so simple, and yet so scary for me with this hodgepodge group of people: pray for them and our Thanksgiving meal. I don't know why I care so much about what my friends think of me, but I do, and it makes me laugh a little to think of how intimidated I am to pray, something I do all the time, in front of them.  It's not even like it's a secret that I am a Christian. But still, it's scary to open up my home, share my traditions, and be outward in a place where Christianity isn't something that people really are fond of at the moment. And yet, it's because I care about all them, I want to pray for them and our food because I feel blessed that they will be here and we can share all this stuff together. It's a simple gesture to glorify Christ in all that He has given us in all of our lives. Classic thing to say I know, but I mean it! If I didn't have people coming here, I would feel so sad tomorrow. If I didn't have these people here in Massachusetts, I would be sad too. I honestly would have probably gone home. But I do have them and I am so thankful to share, celebrate, and take a break from our studying.

Then of course, I think about the reason we celebrate Thanksgiving- to stop and take a minute about what you have to be thankful for. This year, I feel like as soon as I think about all of this, I am flooded with so many things that have happened over the past 365 days. I also know that there are many out there so confused and lost, and feel like they have nothing to be thankful for and that breaks my heart. Entering the holiday season only magnifies their losses or sadness over what "could be" or "once was" or whatever reason someone is suffering. Last year, selfishly I felt much more pitiful than thankful because my plan wasn't unfolding how I expected, I was still recovering from a major heart break, and I was honestly kind of a mess for really small reasons.  I was being so selfish, not really caring about everything I did have and solely focusing on everything I wanted. This growing up thing is hard and I got lost in my own world. I had just as much to be thankful last year as I do this year, I couldn't see it.  If any of you are out there in one of these dark seasons,  just know that you are so not alone. That in these transition times of life, it's not easy to focus on or see all that you do have. All problems are relevant in the eyes of Christ, but sometimes He shows us how fortunate we actually are by giving us the opportunity to help someone else in their hard times too.  Whether that is helping prepare a meal, volunteering, or whatever it is you can do to help make someone's holiday season a little brighter, I say that is a good way to start even if you are lacking in the holiday cheer department.


With that being said, my favorite Thanksgiving tradition combines the two things I love most into one way of bringing people together.  Food and family.  Our school sent out emails that we could put together Thanksgiving meal baskets for families with the Salvation Army. I figured why not take this opportunity?  So our optometry class rallied together collection donations, and we all were able to kick off the Thanksgiving season right. My classmates were so generous and we were able to put together TWO huge baskets to help prepare a good Thanksgiving dinner for those in the city without the means to make a traditional Thanksgiving meal. I was so excited when the final product came together. For two families, I like to believe we made a difference this year.  Here are the tubs... next year I need to make them a little cuter for presentation purposes.

                          

I'll be updating more about my cooking adventures and actual dinner, but until then, this was a nice escape. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope it is full.

T. Hall

Optometry 2020

So here's the thing. I'm terrible at blogging and continually posting.  I feel like that is my starting sentence for every post I write which is obviously still consistent considering my track record over that past year.  Blogging has simply become an occasional stress reliever or a way for me to avoid studying for an exam (like right now) so I guess I am just going to have to accept that :)

To catch anyone out there who might be reading this up to date: I worked as an optician for a year, applied to optometry school, [finally] got in, moved to Massachusetts, and I am now attempting to make all my dreams come true. For those of you who know me, you know optometry has been my plan since I was 13, and if you REALLY know me, you also know that this was never really "my plan"- it was the Big Man upstairs who made it all happen and he is slowly revealing my story piece by piece.  I wouldn't feel right if I didn't attempt to share the journey. 

To preface all of this even more: in this very broken world we live in, I am just that.  I screw up often, I definitely don't have some super power or weird intuition about growing, hearing God's voice, or seeing His plan. I am flawed and confused, and half the time I have no idea what I am doing out here. But then I come full circle and remember my prayers just last year about where I was supposed to go and what I was supposed to do, and it turns out this was God's plan all along. I heard in a sermon one time that God gives you dreams or visions of the finish line (like becoming an optometrist for me) but withholds the trials and effort necessary to make it happen so that we will actually pursue the dreams He has for us.

So that meant for me, all within an 8 week turn around this past summer, I moved to a city I knew nothing about into an apartment with a perfect stranger 13.5 hours away from home to start at a school I almost didn't even apply to all because I believed God wanted me to jump in with blind faith.

Now that definitely does NOT mean my life has been all peaches and rainbows since I moved, although I think it is really pretty good most of the time. I get to study what I love most, I am meeting some incredible people, and there is so much new for me to explore. But more importantly here in Massachusetts, I am being challenged. The people that kept me accountable are now hundreds of miles away, so it is my turn to lean in and make things personal with God. And quite honestly it's weird sometimes. It's also weird to get on here and want to write about it and share that I don't have all this figured out. But this is the message I guess I want to get across from this part of my story:

Just because God leads you somewhere, it doesn't mean that your everyday life is going to be radically altered day-in and day-out even if it seems that way at first. Everyday may look normal, feel normal, and then occasionally it feels a little unknown because you don't really have control, but yet you just know that there's something different about the path you're on and you're going for it because you believe that there is more to what you're doing than what you can see. You probably won't feel that way every single day, but every once in a while you get that feeling in your gut, and you're reminded to keep going. Maybe none of that makes sense, but that's the journey I am on now.  He put me in this city, at this school, into this program, and with these people. I have no idea what I am supposed to do here other than go to school and show people love, but I think that's all I am really supposed to keep in mind. The details are just left in the dark (at least for me) for the time being.  

The funny part about my story is I am here learning all about sight, right? Trying to make people see clearly into infinity. But if you actually think about it, we can't even see beyond the moment we are in. God has this whole out-of-the-box type of visual system where He sees the whole plan at once and reveals it to us in moments. How in the world does all of this come together? I have absolutely no idea. But what I do know and what I have learned is that we as people can only sense through our eyes what is going on right here and right now. God can see much farther passed the right now, and he chooses when to reveal glimpses of goals and dreams of the life he intended for each and every one of us. With that, He also presents the opportunity to pursue them in all kinds of surprise forms.  So far, what I couldn't see and have blindly trusted in has led me in a very different direction (the East Coast), but I can say I feel rooted here.  I feel led even in blind faith and momentary sight. My current day-in and day-out is not at all my plan, but it has always been God's.  His perfect vision just for me (O.D. 2020).  The best part is though that he has made a tailored plan for each and every one of us, just like He has for me.

There is still so much work to be done, and I will be praying for some many people- that they find a connection with God and find comfort in Him.  I struggle, you struggle, we all struggle to feel like our life has meaning and good reasoning. I can only hope that sharing my story helps provide comfort and helps encourage those in a daze trying to figure out your journey. There is much more to come in all of this, but for now, I'll stop babbling here. 

Thanks for reading and good luck with whatever leap is next, 

T.Hall 

PS: In this normal, ordinary, momentary sight I have, I saw some wicked New England fall things. Maybe this will lighten the mood a little :) Happy Fall everybody!

Welcome, Fall

Pier1

HI friends! So apparently my blogging habits are only seasonal... I am going to try and get back in the swing of things, but even if I continue to be inconsistent, I couldn't resist a fall blog post. First and foremost, HAPPY FALL! I am so excited for this season, as you all know, it is my favorite. Don't worry, I decorated starting September 1st just to make sure everyone would be up to speed three weeks later when fall actually started :) Some of my favorite fall finds this season are from Pier1, specifically the fall throw pillows. There is nothing more fun to me than mixing up your living room decor with a little seasonal flare. I took this photo really quick in the store, but online there are so many more adorable pillows that I wanted to snatch up.  I unfortunately had to pass on buying some of my favorites, however Target's Fall Offers were too hard to resist, so go and check them out as well! I bought a few small signs, candles, and mini pillows all for under $15! I am sure I will make my way back to Pier1 though because this display just can't be beat.                                            

Pier1

My fall shopping did not stop there though of course. My home would not be complete without a big bouquet of fall flowers. I know it sounds crazy, but I always get my flowers from Kroger (Payless, whatever is near you) and I am never disappointed. Besides the lovely flowers I can get at the store, I have also loved getting wild flowers from the local farmers market on Saturday mornings while I can. They have been absolutely stunning, but there season is slowly coming to an end. The bouquets always seem made with a little extra love, but then again, that's probably just me being a little over the top about my love for fall.

For the first time ever, I also got to go through a corn maze! My friends had all done it the year before, but I was too much of a penny pincher to do it. This year, I was given the opportunity to walk through this massive corn maze (free, might I add) through my church, and it is officially added to my Fall Must-Do's every year now! It was so fun even though I am directionally challenged, and it was also really beautiful out there. Where the corn maze was also had all kinds of fun games set up, a little playground, rock wall, gift shop, and pumpkin patch where I got my pumpkin for the season (which was actually my favorite part) making for an all around fun atmosphere.  I wish I had taken more pictures along the way of the maze and of the property it was on, however I only snapped one photo towards the beginning of the challenge at the beginning of the maze.  To say the least, this kicked off my fall season even better than the shopping. 

My fall obsession (and shopping obsession) however reemerged and extended all the way to Chicago and into my wardrobe thanks to Ann Taylor Loft. I was able to get a ton of work clothes in all kinds of fall colors and patterns, and I am so excited to break them out this week! This mini-adventure has been one of my favorites so far this season, not necessarily for the shopping but the celebration attached to it. Over this past weekend, I got the opportunity to celebrate my wonderful mother in the windy city. She is the big 5-0 this year, and she is rocking it better than anyone I know.  Of course, we celebrated her birthday in Chicago shopping on Michigan Ave., and she was also able to score free tickets the the Bears game against Oakland so we got to do all of our favorite fall things in one fellow swoop.  We also got to stay at an incredible hotel of the weekend, and I was able to pull off a few surprises upon our arrival. I have posted about some of my Chicago favorites in my previous post, Sweet Chicago, if you want to check out all of the traditional things we make sure to do while we are in the Big-Little-Windy City.

To say the least, our weekend was packed with tons of fun, selfies, and some hard core fall festivities (Shopping, football, hot chocolate, etc.)! Chicago seemed to even dress up for the occasion with their street pumpkins, which of course I had to get a picture of!

There are definitely more adventures to come, starting with my Fall Pinterest Board and all the pumpkin treats I have yet to make.  Hopefully there is another adventure for me to post about here soon!

Thanks for reading, 

T. Hall