Summer....and a Senior?!

So I've been thinking alot about holding off on getting in a relationship my senior year. Not out of a statement of “not needing anyone” or out of bitterness, but simply because I’m realizing how much growing I still have left to do, and figuring out what I want to do with my life and seeing where God is taking me, and right now I can’t see myself being in a place to be able to be with someone at that point. Granted it’s always when you’re not planning on it that you meet someone great.

Plus I want to have the most epic senior year ever. I’ve had some great times during my three years at Loma, and I don’t want to look back on my last year with regret. In the same way, I’m not going to have some ‘foreign fling’ here either with someone if I get lonely in this mass amount of reflection time. In the future I want to remember the actual events and memories here vividly, not just associate the time with a guy (like I do my 8^th grade East Coast trip haha)

So far my summer is looking like it will be filled with a wedding (hooray Sarah and Trevor! ), a science and a dance class at the community college by my house (so excited to start up dancing again), visiting and catching up with good friends from home, and maybe an internship or job (maybe even squeeze in a trip to Alaska at the end to visit Haley’s family with her? Fingers crossed).

Although the first thing I'm going to do when I get back is get Mexican food (I had the sad realization today that I’m forgetting what a burrito tastes like!) 

These are a few of my favorite things that have brightened my life this past week..hoping they brighten yours too!

 While I still have time before I think about marriage...

this might be the cutest thing I've seen in awhile!

  

Beautiful song my friend showed me earlier today.

It's been on repeat ever since.

This song...so happy!

 

I saw this puppy on the way to class. Normally I prefer larger dogs...but this little bear stole my heart

 

Movie nights in my room!

 

My new Turkish blanket, eating dinner on the patio in the evenings, 

and the fact that I can successfully make crepes now!!

 

Spending time on the roof in the sunshine

 

 The sunsets when I'm walking home 

My new backpack I bought for 7 Euro! (It was originally 9)

These sayings/pictures I was inspired by (on Pinterest..guilty):

Retreat fit for a Prince(ss)

 

On our last full day of our trip, we decided to take a ferry from Istanbul to the Prince's Islands, what used to be a luxurious retreat for the wealthy and princes way back when. We stopped at one (with a dust storm greeting in the street when we got there!) that has since turned into a cozy little town with beautiful streets lined with mansions and a few little food shops (we stopped and got the BEST ICE CREAM EVER. Seriously..a scoop of mint and nutella in a chocolate sprinkle dipped waffle cone!) and horses and carriages roaming along the streets. We rented bikes, and I handed over the camera to our teacher Cameron who was with us, so he could get some shots of us riding through the streets and along the coast. It felt so good to get some exercise (besides the obscene amount of walking we'd done) and explore the island some. We had a couple of encounters with horses (a few abandoned ones were stampeding behind our bikes but luckily we moved out of the way in time) that I thought it were pretty funny but there were a few in our group who were already scared of horses to begin with..

I'd have to say it was my favorite day during our little semester break.

  

             

As if the ice cream wasn't great enough, Chris Brown was on the T.V.

 Waiting for the return ferry to go back to Istanbul