The best concert I have seen so far

If you know me, you know I love Ben Rector's music, which is why I practically jumped at the chance to see him in concert. Maddie and I have been planning this trip for months, literally since before we met in person!

We drove three hours to Orlando last weekend to see Ben perform at The House Of Blues bar and ohmygosh. It was an *adventure.*

Like I said, Orlando is about three hours from Ave. I did all the driving, since it was my car we took. I still can't believe I did it. How do you go from intense driving anxiety to a seven hour road trip? Beats me...divine providence I guess. 

We left early in the morning, stopped for lunch, and finally arrived around 12:30ish in the afternoon. 

Maddie and I started squealing when we saw the Disney signs....

That's right. the concert was INSIDE Disney. 

And by inside Disney, I mean the huge shopping mall outside of the parks that anyone can get into. 

But still, there was Disney stuff EVERYWHERE. 

^Our "We made it!" selfie

We walked around and window shopped for awhile, which was super awesome, especially since I haven't been in a real store for literally seven weeks...what exactly do I mean by real store? Anything that's not the tiny Publix on campus. 

Had way too much fun trying on all the crazy hats...

More hats. Hats for days. 

We took some pictures with princesses....

By the time we had seen everything, it was about 2:30, so we decided to head over to the line. We waited in direct sunlight for two hours, taking turns sitting in the shade because it was so hot.  Then we got some shade, which felt awesome, and theeeeeen we got hungry, so Maddie went over to the taco truck to get us dinner while I held our place. 

Good Lord, those were THE best tacos I've had, possibly ever. Could it be because I've been eating cafeteria food 24/7 since August? Probably. A little bit later, Maddie's roomie, Maria, joined us. She lives in the area, so we made plans to spend Saturday night and her house and drive back to campus Sunday. 

Then this is the fun part.

In the spirit of Florida, we saw the storm clouds roll in, because of which it proceeded to rain for an hour and a half. All we could do is sit and take it. For 90 minutes. By the time they let us in at 7, we were soaked, and I had run to the car to get us dry clothes. We took turns changing in the bathroom, and after almost not being let back into the venue, which is a story in and of itself, we settled into our spots, standing just five rows back from center stage. 

Jacob Whitesides opened with a bang. He was fantastic! Maria kept calling out for him to marry her. Lol. 

The concert started at 8ish, and he sang for about 45 minutes. 

^a very wet but very excited selfie while waiting for Ben!

Ben opened with his song Fear, which instantly sent me into tears of course...It was amazing. 

He sang some of my favorites, including Whitney Huston, Bob Marley, and Jackson 5. We did the Cha Cha Slide, he and his band members did a synchronized boy band dance routine, and there were many epic guitar solos. Ben not only performed with grace, but he also entertained. He maintained the respect that his emotional songs deserve while keeping the atmosphere appropriate for playful songs as well. When he sings live, it sounds *exactly* like the recording you buy on his album. He is absolutely the real deal. 

After lots of jumping, hand waving, singing at the top of my lungs, and pinching myself, the concert was over and ALL of the emotions began to kick in. We tried healing our post concert sadness with brownie sundaes from Ghirardelli, which were delish. But still,  

We drove to Maria's, got a good night's sleep, and drove back to campus early Sunday afternoon. It's still insane to me that I stood maybe 30 feet from this amazing artist. The fangirling is REAL. 

All in all, I had a wonderful weekend. I've been told he's coming back in February, so if anyone wants to give a girl a birthday present...

xoxo Kate

that one weekend where i was actually social

Wanna know where my favorite place on campus is?

my room.

I know that sounds really unenthusiastic, but let me explain. I'm still getting used to things here, and being able to walk around in pj shorts is a limited luxury. Plus, my room is cute! So while I love seeing my new friends, nothing compares to my bed + netflix.

However, I occasionally get out and do fun  (social) stuff. I figured I should document it just in case mom asks what I've been doing for the past seven weeks when I come home for break.

 Every year, one of the households on campus hosts a 50's themed swing dance/sock hop. Me, my roomie Christine, and Emma from down the hall thought we'd go check it out and ohmygosh it was SO much fun. Everything was retro'd out from the music to the outfits and the food. I missed my dance partner (sad face) but I learned some cool moves to teach him :)

We're cute. 

I will admit, I got a little crazy with the mom dancing. Four weeks of stress and homesickness were relieved and it felt *awesome.* Because of my oldies childhood, I knew the words to pretty much every song they played...so thank you daddy :) 

 Then, the next morning, we drove an hour into Naples for a Sunday on the beach, and finished it off with Panera. Funny how I didn't go to the beach *once* over the summer, but a month into school I plan on hitting the beach as much as possible...

This Michigan girl totally forgot that not all water is fresh...heh heh heh.

sunbathed, waded, met a sand dollar named Tommy....good times.

I'm supposed to be studying for two exams right now...but I just wanted to let y'all know that I'm not a total shut in (except that last night I skipped out on more swing dancing for a New Girl marathon...)

By the way, it's the first day of Fall, so...YAY! And here I am posting beach pics. *insert cry laugh emoji*

xoxo, Kate

New Adventures

I've officially survived not one, not two, but three weeks of college.

It's still kinda sinking in.

It's been every bit as hard as I thought it would be. Not academically, per se. Emotionally. Mentally. Literally everything about my life has changed. If I want breakfast, I have to wake up before nine and walk ten minutes to get it. I have to make sure I'm getting out and socializing enough, but not too much. I have to email important adults and schedule meetings instead of ignoring the problem or asking dad to do it for me. For the first time in my life I've been hungry with no food to eat. And I don't mean "no food" as in nothing looks tasty. I literally mean NO. food.

Growing up is hard! But microwave mac & cheese and listening to Ben Rector helps. 

 In all honesty, the first week was awful. There wasn't a second where I didn't want to pack up and go home. I felt like that week would never end. It wasn't until this Monday when I actually felt like I might be able to do this. I keep reminding myself that four years ago, my anxiety was so severe that I didn't even think college was an option...There was no way I would've lasted a second. And yet here I am, living 1,423 miles away from home. I'm doing it. 

last week was much easier, and definitely faster. That being said, I still miss home like the dickens. Every day I wake up and cry internally over the fact that I'm going to miss all the pumpkin flavored things and turning leaves and crisp chilly weather. You can take the girl out of Michigan, but you can't take the Michigan out of the girl. Luckily I'm coming home for fall break at the end of October, so I'll be able to binge on cider and donuts for a couple days. #givemealltheautumyouhave

my dorm--third floor JP II 

All in all, there's some amazing people. It really is a wonderful place, and I've already learned so much. It's hot, but beautiful. And it usually only rains once a day. But it's still nice most of the time ;)

xoxo, kate

Transitions, Anxiety & Faith

I leave for school in florida in exactly a week--even just typing that is weird. I've had so many different emotions the past couple of days, and I'm not gonna lie, most of them are negative. Anxiety, doubt, fear...it's all really overwhelming. Sitting here and writing about it isn't easy.

I feel like this is God's way of waking me up a bit. You know when you hit a dry spell and you feel like you're just kind of going through life with your eyes closed? Well Jesus wants you to live with intention. He wants you to be bold, to trust in Him, to rest in Him. As someone who is both incredibly stubborn and a little too attached to their comfort zone, this can be a very hard lesson for me. I know I picked a wonderful school, and I have so many things going for me. But when you struggle with anxiety, all the positives in the world can't completely quell your fear. That's where Jesus comes in. That's when you throw your hands up in the air and say "I'm weak, scared, and imperfect, but You are not. You are strong. You are brave. You are perfect."

I leave for school in a week, and I'm not going to spend my last seven days at home worrying about things. God has already gone before me.