Monday Motivation: A Season For Everything (Also, I'm BACK!)

I'm back y'all! Hopefully for good this time! If you didn't know, I took time off from blogging because my life got a lot overwhelming. My health has been a constant source of difficulty for me over the past five years since I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease. I tried to go back to college this Spring after a major surgery (in October), but it turns out a major Crohn's flare was just an insurmountable obstacle and everything became incredibly difficult at college. I withdrew from school last week and now I'm back at home unfortunately. I'll be taking time to work with doctors to improve my health, and doing whatever I can mind, body, and spirit to heal. I'm also hoping to do a lot in terms of advocating for Crohn's and other chronic illnesses.
 The way I look at it, this experience is just a speed bump. I'm on a great path. I have a great future. I'm doing great things, and I'm excited about that. There's a season for every thing, and right now I KNOW I need to take care of myself and my health.

I know God would never steer me wrong. I spent so much time before I withdrew last month crying and stressed out. Praying for an answer that all along was right in front of me. Let me just say, my health is already improving now that I am home and taking care of my body and spirit. I know this is what I need right now.
I encourage everyone to listen to themselves and God more, because even when it seems like you "can't" you probably can and need to.

Ignore anyone who tells you you're not good enough. Even that part of yourself that sometimes wants to call you a loser. Because I dealt with that girl a lot last month, and let's face it, she's not helpful! God is on your side and he has a reason and a plan for everything you're going through.

Hang in there. Keep praying and keep going.


Oh and bear with me if I'm a little all over the place with posts. I'm hoping to be back to this but I really don't know what the next few months will be like now that I'm home. Glad to be back though!

Hope this finds you happy and healthy,
Hannah

Sunday Social

I'm enjoying Sunday Social! It's a great way to meet new bloggers and tell a little about yourself to current readers. Join in! 

What is your ideal way to relax: Grey's Anatomy, Hershey kisses, and nail polish. My little Gracie face  or Juno snuggled up next to me is also great, but obviously I can't take the puppies to college. 

Where is your favorite place to be: I am happiest at the ocean. Kiawah. 

Who do you consider your biggest role model: All the beautiful, strong chronic illness fighters I know.

What does your life look like in 3 years? Teaching, living a full life, and hopefully healthy. 

If you could go back and change one decision what would it be? I would have gone to Queens my freshman year instead of going through a tough semester at UNCA. 

What is your biggest accomplishment in life thus far? Being granted a NC Teaching Fellow scholarship despite all that I went through in high school.

Have a great start to your week! 

Stay beautiful,

Hannah

Nineteen

Today is my last day as a teenager. I'm currently in the back seat of my family's car, on the way back from a family trip to visit my grandparents in Pennsylvania. So yes, my last day as a teenager is being spent crammed into a tiny seat with luggage and trying to stay sane for ten hours.
Anyway, to get to the point, there's a lot in this past year I'd like to reflect on. I would write a long post about all of the fantastic moments that made this year what it was, but I will preface this post by saying that I am currently disaffiliated from my sorority so that I can be a recruitment counselor (which is an opportunity I'm so excited about!) meaning that I can't post any pictures of or with my sorority sisters. So that cuts out a large chunk of my school year. Know that those moments rank highly in my heart, and that I will post about my first year in my sorority after bid day!
To continue, here are some of the important things that happened to me this year. In words, then pictures.

Summer 2011:

• Blogging with Danielle, listening to her fall in love on the other end of the phone
• Getting nervous for Queens
• Pennsylvania with Mom
• Recovering from one of my Worst flares just in time for Queens
• Losing weight 
• Seeing Next to Normal twice
• Developing a nail polish obsession (D, it's YOUR fault!)

Fall 2011: 

• Feeling at home at Queens immediately
• Recruitment with my best friend Rachel
• Joining my sorority, finding a home there
• Having a fantastic semester
• Boston with Teaching Fellows
• Cutting most of my hair off! 
• Condoleezza Rice spoke at Queens  
• Casino Night
• Halloween (hahaha) 
• Sorority Events
• Thanksgiving in Virginia
• Boar's Head (Queens Tradition!)
• My Christmas Tree in the dorm
• Working harder than ever, but loving it
• Exam Break Breakfast
• Sunday night dinners at home
•  Leaving for break knowing I had a great place to come back to after break
• Christmas with Family

Orientation at Queens!

Teaching Fellows go to Boston! 

Thanksgiving (actually, the day after, which was BBQ fest!)

Casino Night- a great Queens tradition! 

This is what exam week looks like. 

Spring 2012: 

• A much more difficult semester
• Close friends
• Little :) 
• Struggling with my health the entire semester
• Grey's Anatomy Obsession 
• Landing myself in the hospital for viral meningitis
• Going to my sorority leadership weekend despite everything 
• More sorority events! Getting more involved with my sorority.
• Hunger Games Midnight Showing
• Becoming a Pi Chi- learning more about Greek life as a whole.
• Homecoming
• Greek Week! 
• Working my ass off
• Shakespeare... worst idea ever
• Am Lit- best idea ever 
• Exam Break Breakfaaaast gone wild 

After seeing Spamalot

Some of the Pi Chis at a Sorority event! 

A ton of the Greek women at Queens went to see The Hunger Games at  the midnight  premiere! It was a fun Panhellenic bonding event.

Summer 2012 so far: 

• Struggling with my health
• Pretty Chatty.
• Naturopath finally giving me some real help 
• Tonys Party with Jenny--- winning tickets to Jekyll and Hyde! 
• Colbie Callait, Gavin DeGraw, and Andy Grammer concert with Jenny
• KIAWAH!
• Pennsylvania
• Finally joining the technology world with my iPhone (early bday gift!)  

Concert with my best friend! 

Husk in Charleston 

My instagram addiction is obvious (also, this is Lake Latonka!)

Juno on the lake in her cute little lifejacket! 

Getting ready for a boat ride! 

My latest purchase: a crewcuts shirt featuring a chihuahua with neon orange/rhinestone sunglasses. Worth every penny.

Lake Latonka has THE BEST fireworks. These don't do them any justice, obviously.

Our family photo at the Lake house! 

So that's basically my nineteenth year! Let's hope twenty is even better! 

Hope y'all are having great summers so far! 

Love, 

Hannah

PS- Feel free to follow me on instagram- my username is agracelamb,  as always! 

Concert & Kiawah Week

I just got back from a gorgeous week in Kiawah with my family and my best friend. To say it was a great beach week is an understatement. It was exactly the vacation I needed. I wish I had taken more pictures, but here are a few highlights!

Before we headed to the beach, my best friend and I saw Andy Grammer, Gavin DeGraw, and Colbie Callait. It was a ton of fun, and they were all amazing!

A few days later, we headed to the beach armed with a playlist straight from our middle school days and ready for some beach time!

Monogrammed hats on our beach walk. I'll post tomorrow about my Marley Lilly hat!

Lunch at HUSK in Charleston! 

Husk- pardon my hair, it was so humid! 

We did a little shopping, too. I was really looking for some sweet little necklaces to wear with everything, so I ended up with 4.

I may have gotten carried away. The first one is a watermelon, then a bow (both F21). The silver bow is from Handpicked, and the Wishbone is from So Good. Jenny and I got matching wishbones :)

Ok, so I was on a bow kick. These were all super cute and inexpensive. I'm hoping to dress up my short hair a little!

I also fell in love with these pink J Crew pants. They're definitely bright,  but I love the bright pants trend! 

I also grabbed another Crew Neck, because I'm totally addicted.

The other big theme of the week (besides bows, of course) was Divergent.  I'll post more about the Veronica Roth series later this week, but just know that it was AMAZING. My best friend and I each read it in two days and obsessed about it all week.

So that was my week at the beach in a nutshell! We got lots of sun and time in the sand and I really enjoyed every minute!

Hope your summers are going well! 

Love,

Hannah

Getting Ready For RUSH.

Rush is less than 2 weeks away!
I'm SO EXCITED. Tons of my friends (in real life and via tumblr) have gone Greek and I've loved hearing about your experiences.
If you don't mind helping me out, I'd love it if you could comment and tell me what your RUSH WEEK experience was like, and if you have one or two key tips for rush. Keep in mind I go to a small school, so some things won't apply!

My college has the following sororities in no order:

So please include if you're a member of any of those lovely organizations!

Our Rush Shirts! So cute. I'm a little anxious about the color (mint is not great on my skin, so I'm hoping it's darker in person) but I'm going to rock it no matter what!

Before I go, here are a few things to help anyone else prepare, since I know a lot of my readers are probably getting ready to rush too! 

Elle Fowler's School Glitz: Sorority Rush and Advice!

This is great if you're someone even thinking about rushing in a year or two, or if you're in my boat, about to rush in a week or two. I walked away from this video more confident and ready for Rush week.

Also, we did a little post on Beauty Forum about Sweat Proof Rush Week Makeup! 

Make sure to check it out!!!

Please comment with any and all advice, everyone! 

Glee Live 3D Movie Premiere

I've never done a midnight premiere in my life, but you all know I'm a huge Glee fan. So when they announced they were releasing a 3D concert movie, my best friend Jenny and I decided we'd go all out. Midnight premiere, costumes, singing, everything. It was a total blast.
First of all, if you like Glee, you need to see this. It's on in theaters for 2 weeks so go NOW. It's awesome. Part concert, part Glee characters, part documentary about the fans. It's heartwarming and wonderful and reminds you why we all love Glee so much.
It also happened to be my first ever 3D movie, so that was a lot of fun! I loved the 3D aspects and was glad they made it in 3D. Stay after for the credits, by the way!
I dressed up as guidance counselor Emma Pillsbury because I already have red hair and a closet full of cardigans! Jenny dressed up as Quinn complete with Born This Way "Lucy Caboosey" Shirt. So cute. It was fun and silly and slightly ridiculous but a lot of the midnight premiere-goers were dressed up so that was great.
Here are our pictures. We took a lot of them in the car because we were rushed. The car was stopped, and I wasn't driving!!

My Emma Pilsbury Costume.

Emma and Quinn. Or Hannah and Jenny.

In the theater!!

(Tired, happy, excited!) Gleeks!

Overall it was a really great night. We enjoyed the movie and I can't wait to go back with my mom to see it again at a much more normal hour. Go see Glee Live in 3D now!

Hair Help!

I have a dilemma. I like change, but I also love my long hair.
My haircut is this Wednesday and here are the cuts I'm considering:

Shortest:

I love Dianna Agron's short hair. It's gorgeous this length but I'm not sure mine does so well short. Last time I had it this length it was a TOTAL pain.  I do LOVE how versatile this cut is though.

via thegroncylcopedia

Medium:

Jayma Mays looks lovely here, but again I'm not sure my hair does as well this length. I would be losing probably 3-4 inches to get to that length!

I could get bangs again, but I JUST grew them out. Most likely I'll just get this all trimmed and my layers cut... boring. I want your input though!!
This is my current length with my natural texture:

Comment and help me decide what to do!!

Fresh Start

It's August! I know, I'm highly original, starting this blog post off that way.
I've been dreaming of this month since December when I decided to take a semester off of school.
For those of you who are new to my blog, and thus my life, here's the backstory. I started college in August of 2010 at The University of North Carolina at Asheville and became very ill. I have Crohn's disease and ultimately had so many complications with my health that in December,   I chose not to go back to school for my second semester. I had a miserable first semester at school and decided that I would use the time to research transferring.
I knew it would be Queens. I loved it from the minute I set foot on campus. I had written it off my senior year of high school because it was too close to home (a mere 15 minutes!) but after my semester away that was no longer a problem in my mind.
I simply fell in love. 
The only heartbreaking thing about it was that I had to wait until now. It's finally August. Only a few more weeks. It's here, it's real and it's actually happening.

A few things to get me in the school spirit: 

My mom has a sweater similar to this from her time at Michigan State that I LOVE. I'm not in love with the logo options, so I'm thinking of buying my own navy sweater and getting it embroidered the way I want it done!

Zoya Goldie Polish- Perfect for Basketball games!

Juno

I was lacking inspiration this week and felt like I hadn't introduced my followers on this blog to my favorite furry friend.
Juno is a huge part of my life. That's probably an understatement. I got Juno when I was 15, and had just been diagnosed with Crohn's disease. I begged my parents for a puppy and the rule was that she had to be under 10 pounds. Juno was the result. She was under 2 pounds and could fit in my palm when we got her. She's a chihuahua-shih tzu mix. She's also cuter than your average dog, and that's not just me saying that. Juno has more personality than most people I meet and she's absolutely hilarious. My family thinks it's hilarious that the novelty of Juno has yet to wear off after almost four years, but we still find her to be as adorable, funny and absolutely enchanting as the day we got her.
Enough gushing, here are some cute pictures:

BABY Juno. This face kills me.

Too cute, right?

She loves the beach!

My mom calls this the Audrey Hepburn photo. She's just too poised.

Juno loves all of our animals. This was our old cat, Beaumont, who she used to lick all over. It was hilarious. Juno loves giving tons of kisses.

She HATES clothes, but in winter she gets too cold, so we make her wear the piggy costume. I love it. So funny.

The infamous ELMO. Her all-time favorite toy. Red is Juno's favorite color, seriously. Elmo goes everywhere, but gets brought into my bed every morning.

Waking up from a nap haha.

Lots of kisses, always.

Naps, naps, naps.

 I love Juno to pieces and I'm so glad my mom will be able to bike over with her during the school year. Another perk of going to college close to home!

PS- Yes, I did name her after the movie Juno. It was one of my favorite movies when we got her!