love is in the air

Today is my friends Debbie and Charles wedding day! I love them dearly and I know God has amazing things in store for them. I'm so excited for them and for the silly dancing that is to come at the reception. Wedding receptions are one of the few places where it is ok to bust out the oldies, you know what I'm talkin about... moves such as the sprinkler, bus driver, shopping cart and fisherman....  I am so pumped!

Relationships (Friendships)

I don't do this often, but I have something on my heart, so this entry is more a stream of thought instead of my normal photo diary. 

Relationships are complicated. They are the sum of a spectrum of emotions, an unending amount of life experiences and ever-unique personalities. They are frustrating and they are rewarding. Our relationships are what we make of them.

If you are sitting at home, alone, feeling left out or unappreciated. It is important for you to recognize the power you have to change your situation. You don't have to be alone, you don't have to be left out, you don't have to be unappreciated. These are all things that You have the power to change. You can meet new people and go new places, You can invite people to dinner or throw a party and You can speak up and be honest about how you are feeling and what they can do to change that.

It is incredible how much we expect others to know about us, about how we feel, when most of the time we can't pinpoint things ourselves. How easy is it to blame our circumstances on everyone else, instead of looking at our part in things? This was the pep-talk that I gave my 13 year old self. If you don't want to go through life without good friendships, then you have to be willing to put yourself out there and actually be a friend. I'm not going to lie and say it is easy, a lot of the time it isn't. With relationships come sacrifice, you have to learn what it means to put others before yourself. You have to give time and make an effort. You even have to over come that deep fear of being rejected.

Take a minute and reflect on the relationships you have right now. How many of them are genuine? How many of them are one-sided? How many of them are surface friendships? How many of them make you a better person?

I believe we were built with a desire to be connected to other people. It is part of our being, to want to be known and to know others. If that is the case, if that is a deep desire...then why do we all often fall short? Why is it so hard to be vulnerable, heck, to be honest? Why do we complain and complain about being alone but allow our actions to keep us detached from the people around us?

I've mentioned before, how incredibly blessed I've been when it comes to real friendships, this was not always the case. I can tell you that my 12yr old self was incredibly lonely and by the time I hit 13 I was ready (desperate) for something to change. I took baby steps...I pushed myself to step out into the scary unknown and face the fear of whether or not someone would accept me and want to know me. That small decision way back then...has drastically changed who I am today. Every person I call friend is in my life because I want them there. I make an effort to let them know they are important to me. That they are loved. It's not always with grand gestures. Sometimes it's with little notes, texts, small gifts or time spent. But, they know.

I also know when to walk away. I can step back and see when there are people in my life that do nothing but drain me or I them. We don't bring out the best in each other or really put the effort in to care for each other. We aren't the right friend for each other. So, why force it? Why do we feel the need to try and make things work that aren't meant to? I am done trying to force it. It is energy and time that can be spent elsewhere. You aren't going to be friends with everyone, that is a lesson I had to learn young. One, I am happy to embrace now as an adult.

I am not the kind of person that wants to be able to say I have hundreds of friends. I just want to be able to say there are people out there in the world that I truly know. People that I am invested in, that I believe and pray for their dreams like I do my own. That there are people out there that I love no matter how far apart we are or how long it's been since we've caught up. Those people I can call at 1am when I need to cry, those people I can be my dorky unencumbered self with and know they won't judge me, the people I know pray for me and care for me.

Relationships are a gift that should be treasured. They are precious and their value should be recognized. I encourage you to reflect on your friendships, if you value them and want to keep them make an effort this week and let them know what they mean to you.

xoxo,
Briony

Sunday Citar: Friends

The Lord has blessed me with so many amazing friends. I heard somewhere that most people are lucky to find 5 true friends in their lifetime, well I am 28 and I've already been blessed with more than that. I just want to send out a big I LOVE YOU and I am SO THANKFUL for YOU to some of my dearest friends; Jessica Haist, Courtney Leedy, Tabitha Blue, Gerri Smalley, Rachel Pastukhov, Ashley Crump, Erin McDonald, Amanda Kramer, Ashlee Fay, Joanne Garcia and Monica Aguilar. You are all insanely amazing, beautiful, strong, driven, creative, inspiring, faithful, honest and priceless and I just want you to know that each one of you has made my life better. No matter where life takes us in the next 70yrs I hope you know that you've got a friend in me for life.

Friend Friday: Meet Rachel

“A true friend is someone who thinks that you're a good egg even though she knows that you're slightly cracked” Bernard Meltzer

I read this quote above and instantly thought of my dear friend Rachel. If you are lucky enough to know her I am sure you've heard her use the term "good egg" on many occasions. One of my favorite things about Rachel aside from her fun personality, her adventurous spirit, and her heart for others is her...vocabulary. Haha There is always some random new tag-line coming out of her mouth. These hilarious sayings often have the power to stop my thoughts dead in their tracks and make me smile. That is Rachel though, she has an out of the box type spirit. She is a lil bit quirky, insanely funny and all-around encouraging. There are many reasons why I cherish our friendship but I'd have to say the main thing that I love about Rach is that she pushes me to dream...she is always pulling my hearts desires out of me, making me speak them and recognize them and in turn challenging me to chase after them. She is a good egg.

Happy Friday All!

Friend Friday: Meet Courtney

“If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together there is something you must always remember, you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we're apart i'll always be with you.” Winnie the Pooh

“A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.”

Have you ever met someone and known from your first meeting that your life is better because they are now in it? That is how it was when I met Court, I knew instantly that she was going to make me a better person. She has one of those dynamic personalities that draws, everyone who has a chance to meet her, in. She is bubbly and fun, she has a laugh that is insanely contagious, she knows who she is and what she believes, and she has a heart filled with compassion. I met Court my 2nd year of College and we've been sisters since. She is a little younger than me so I naturally fell into the big sis role and care for her as if she was my blood. I am just as protective of her as I am my little brother...probably more because she actually tells me the stuff going on in her life. Haha. I know that our bond is only going to get stronger over the years, and I am so thankful to have her in my life.

Happy Friday All!

Friend Friday: Meet Jessica

"Nothing but heaven itself is better than a friend who is really a friend." Plautus

Friendship is a treasure, one some people take for granted often (me included.) I have been extremely blessed in the friend department throughout my life, and I've decided that I am going to introduce some of those amazing people to you. Now this is an ongoing project and I am sure it will find its footing down the line, but each Friday I am going to do my best to feature one of these amazing people that have bettered my life.
So blog world, meet Jessica. She is my oldest friend. I met her in Middle School and we've been close ever since. There are certain people you meet throughout life that you know are going to be there through it all. Jess is one of those people for me. No matter how far apart we are or how long we go without talking, we pick things right back up from where we left off.
I love her because she is strong and honest, she wears her heart on her sleeve. She knows who she is and she doesn't apologize for it. She is an amazing mother, a loving wife, a gracious daughter, and a steadfast friend. I hope you all are blessed to have a friend like her, for me she is irreplaceable.

Have a happy friday all!

hello warm weather!

It is so pretty out today I had to post another jumping shot of Court. This is what I am doing inside :) Enjoy your Friday!

ken and gar

“The greatest treasures are those invisible to the eye but found by the heart.”

TGIF

This is how I feel about friday, I am so ready for the weekend! Haha I love this shot. Court and I were on our trip up the mountain and pulled off to explore a bit and we decided to do some fun jumping shots. We worked out a plan where we would watch over each others shoulders for cars flying in our direction. We had a couple close calls but we survived and had lots of fun in the process.

it's all about the fur

all smiles

whenever I look at this pic it literally brings a smile to my face. like so many others out there in the blog world, i've been going through all my old photos and loving where each one of them takes me. this one for instance is my best friend (aka partner in crime), she knows me inside and out and still likes me. haha. whenever we had nothin to do on the weekends i would make her go and do a photo-shoot with me (she never really liked being in front of the camera but she loved me so she dealt with it.) i would come up with a theme and then we would come up with an outfit, do her makeup and hair and set out to have some fun. and man did we have fun, we found so many hidden treasures each time we went out; whether it was a remote lake up in the blue ridge parkway or an old 3 story estate store in downtown lynchburg our weekend adventures would never disappoint. i miss those times and i miss this girl. but i will be seeing her in a month so i can't complain...i'm just ready to set out on another adventure.

Falling for Fall: Day 26

So today I got to hang with two of my best friends (they just so happen to be married...haha) Pete and I cleaned house all day, while Jess was at work and then once she got home we headed to WALLY-WORLD (aka Walmart) to get stuff for the fun Halloween Bash. As you can see from the above pics, pete (like me) is not a big fan of the big W whereas Jess is in her element. hahaha. I think that is why we all get along so well, Pete and I are so much alike personality wise so we've always gotten along and jess and i are so different that we balance each other out (same goes for her and pete) haha BUT sometimes she has her hands full with the two of us...especially if we are grocery shopping. We turn into two crazy kids...haha. We ended up having to make another stop on the way home at another grocery store and I decided to chill in the car with Deedle...she loves the company and I wanted to take some pics of her cute little face. Although we didn't get to carve our pumpkins, it was a fun-filled evening.

Ladies Night!

So today my friend Tab had a group of us over to watch the movie Waitress, being that the movie was about a woman who makes pies, Tab had each of us bring a pie to pass. I am not much of a baker, so I had sought help from the local super market. hahaha. We had a lot of fun.

Falling for Fall: Day 12

So tonight after work I headed over to my friend's Jess and Pete's house, we went to Hot-N-Now for dinner (ate in the parking lot across the street like we always do) then headed into the Pet Store to get Deedle Bug some doggie treats. After that we planned to rent Fools Gold, but once we made it to the video store by their house we realized that the whole area was without power. (Jess told us not to blame her, she isn't a big movie person so the fact that the one day she said 'let's rent a movie' is the one day they don't have power was just crazy) So any way, we headed back to their house lit some candles, made a fire and chilled. I of course occupied my time trying to write my name in the candle light....I didn't succeed but I got a B. hahaha It was fun, and the power came on soon after so we ended up getting the movie. All-in All the night was full of fun and adventure, and a great way to spend a friday with my best friends.

Falling for Fall: Day 10

So today I went to my friend's Tab and Chris's house to help make Apple Butter...I am not sure how much I really helped but I had fun hanging with them and peeling the apples. hahah. Tomorrow I get to go back and try the final result I am pretty excited!