Open Doors

"When God closes one door, He always opens another."


Today I was sitting in my room trying to think of something to write about for today seeing as my day was not very interesting at all.  Majority of my day was spent doing homework and sleeping, typical college student agenda!  But today I really thought about the quote that I began this post with.  


Sometimes in life when we think that everything is going perfectly, whether it actually is or we just ignore the fact that it isn't, things change.  Something goes wrong or something significant happens that changes the course of our life and the way we see our future.  At times it can be difficult to deal with these instances.  We humans like things to stay the same and when things change for the worst, it is difficult to deal with sometimes.  We may get angry and sad and act out.  However, if we just take a second to step back and realize that it is going to be okay, things may not be as bad as we make them seem.  


"'For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" (Jeremiah 29:11)  We may not see the "big picture," but God does.  He has wonderful plans for each of our lives and He will never lead us down a path of destruction.  So when things happen that don't necessarily line up with what you had in mind for your life, take it and make the best out of it because there will always be something better coming your way even if you can't see it now.  

I have been so blessed these past few months, blessings that I may have never realized or accepted had I not trusted in the fact that God has my life in His hands and He has it under control.  So I challenge each of you to do the same next time something doesn't go your way no matter how big or how small...its one of the best things you can do.

Merely Puddles

 Puddles of water.  Where they are and what they surround reflects in them.  Those things, in a way, define a puddle of water.  A puddle of water surrounded by a mass of flowers will reflect the flowers while a puddle surrounded by a group of people will reflect those exact people.  So if there are two separate puddles and you say to you're friend, "Hey, watch out for the puddle!" they will most likely ask to which one you were referring and you will most likely say the one by the whatever or the one with the reflection of the whatever and maybe even the bigger or smaller one.  So aren't we all just like a puddle of water?  


My dad has always told me that we become like the five people we surround ourselves with most within five years.  Kind of scary, huh?  (Or not, I guess it depends who you surround yourself with)  But isn't that the same as a puddle?  Isn't a puddle just a collection of water that becomes defined by its location and what it reflects into the world? I noticed this today as I was going through the pictures I had taken this weekend and it really made me think.


So I challenge each of you to step back and take a look at your life, and think about these puddles.  What is it that you are reflecting to the world?  Are you surrounded by people that you want to become like one day and is that someone the kind of person that you want to "reflect?"  I have learned this lesson a number of times and have within the last few months really looked at my "puddle" and what I'm reflecting back to the world.  Now after reading this you may think I'm crazy, and that is fine.  But before you jump to conclusions about my sanity or imagination, think about it...take a step back and look.

Adventures With My Sister

Today was a really great day that I got to spend with some old friends, new friends, and my sister. We started today with a lunch gathering at my apartment; I made grilled cheeses for everyone! :) afterwards Anna and I went to the square and ha a great time! I got some great shoes for an amazing price! I can't wait to wear them! After enjoying some coffee and going into all of the cute shops we went into one of the books stores where I found something too interesting not to take a picture of. Flavored bugs. It kind of caught me off guard. I didn't realize people in the UD ate bugs. That's gross. After I got over the fact that they sold bugs meant for food I played with the store cat, mamacita. She was beautiful, I wish I had had the good camera with me!

When we left the square it was time to go to the basketball game with Zack, we won! I had such a wonderful day with some wonderful people. Its days like this that remind me how blessed I am. :)

Old Friends, Good Times

Today has been a wonderful day for me! First of all, I didn't have class and I got to sleep late again. And by the time I had woken up, my wonderful friend, Laura had arrived in Oxford for the weekend. I was so excited! Then Laura and I hung out, I got some work done after we ate lunch and then we went on an adventure. With camera in tow, we decided to explore the town for some inspiration and ended up taking a whole bunch of awesome pictures! Unfortunately, I haven't had the opportunity to go through them so they will be saved for another post. Afterwards, my sister had arrived and we all hung out together like old time! I just love spending time with them!


At dinner, we went to Ajax and sweet Zack joined us and we had a wonderful time with tons of laughter. We needed the evening with chocolate cookies and a redbox movie which I can't really tell you about because I fell asleep 10 minutes in. Oh well! Now we are about to continue on with this slumber party and figure out sleeping arrangements in my tiny room. This should be interesting!

First Week...OVER

Today marked the last day of my first week of the Spring Semester! Yay! After going through a whole week of class/work/BSU I have decided that I am very pleased with my schedule and can't wait to see how it plays out over the next few months!  I even made a 100 on my first quiz in English, this was obviously destined to be a great day!  Only problem was it was a gloomy, rainy day.  I'm not one for rainy days, but today wasn't too bad!
At the end of the day I got to go to the basketball game Ole Miss v. Florida, unfortunately we lost, but it was a pretty good game and I just love watching the basketball games. Its definitely less painful than watching the football team this year.  But, next is IS our year, I can feel it!
I'm so ready for tomorrow because I get to spend the weekend with my sister and a few friends that are driving up here to Oxford.  Its always great to spend time with my friends from back home! :)



On a random note, sometimes I have days when there is a certain CD/artist that I am obsessed with at that particular time.  Today was a Chris Rice kind of day.  If you don't listen to Chris Rice, you should.  So go buy all of his music.  It's wonderful.  I'm listening to his Deep Enough to Dream CD right now and I just rediscovered how much I really love this CD.

Extraordinary Mediocrity

Today was a typical day in the life of Kate.  Nothing too special happened really.  So I'm going to try and pull out the main things that defined how today went.  


Seeing as today was Wednesday, I didn't spend but an hour and a half in class and that time wasn't too bad at all!  Afterwards, I went straight home to take my nap of the day, and can I say that I really love a good nap!  After my nap I went on a hunt for my English book that I was told I needed to purchase in order to complete a homework assignment that is due tomorrow.  Having a book that is 4 inches thick is not a very uplifting thing...at all.  Afterwards, I decided to tackle the horrible task of grocery shopping.  If any of you know me, you know very well that I am a bargain shopper.  Because of this, not only did I save some money, but it took me about 2 hours in Kroger to finally get everything I needed at the price I wanted to pay!  Well there goes my afternoon... But at least I got that nap!  


Eventually it came time to eat dinner.  DILEMA! I couldn't decide what to eat!  Thankfully I have such a wonderful best friend who offered to make me chicken nuggets! She's the best.  So off I go to her apartment for a night with the girls!  While at her apartment we really didn't do too many interesting things, but enjoyed each other's company while attempting to get our homework done, eating cake, and watching the newest Cinderella Story movie on ABC Family.  I ended up taking the camera over to her apartment so while I was there we entertained ourself by taking some picture of things in her apartment! (These are the pictures that are scattered throughout the post)  I always love hanging out with the girls!


Taking these pictures has been lots of fun for me over the past few days.  I've been challenged to take pictures of ordinary things that I see in an everyday atmosphere.  Its amazing the images that we see each day and we take for granted.  Like the water droplets on the outside of a cup!  Its always a good reminder to not take life so fast and "stop to smell the roses."  I think we should all stop every now and then and just notice the beauty around us whether it be in nature or the random things we have around the house like a bicycle, lamp, or even the lights strung across your living room ceiling!  

Today turned out to be a mediocre day, and most days will be that way.  However, we have the power to find the extraordinary in the mediocrity.  Sometimes its obvious and other times it isn't.  So my challenge to you is to enjoy every second of every day and every person and thing around you.  If this post has been completely random and not cohesive in an way, I apologize, but that dear reader is the way the mind of Kate Simpson works.  :)

OOPSY

Well apparently trying to juggle school, work, friends, and being sick has caused me to be very forgetful when it comes to my picture of the day.  Therefore, today you're in for a treat!  Recently I have been taking lots of pictures for practice, seeing as I'm an aspiring photographer and all. My pictures for this post will be a collection of a good many I have taken over the past few days.


The past few days have definitely been filled with excitement and plenty of adventures!  School has finally started back and I can honestly say I am looking forward to all but one of my classes...and even that one doesn't seem like its going to be too bad!  I was finally reunited with my best friend, Hannah Beth I know you're reading this!  I am so excited because we are going to be celebrating her 20th birthday next week!  The only other thing I can possibly think of that has happened these past few blog-less days has been a lovely case of an acute sinus infection.  Of course I would get sick right as classes begin...just my luck.  But hey, let us all strive to take negative situations and turn them into positive ones! What is positive about being sick though?  Well I've watched some cute movies over he past few days and gotten caught up on all of my TV shows.


Well that is about it so here is the "gallery" I promised!

A Marathon?!

What did you do today, Kate?

Well today I officially signed up as a Marathon Makeover participant!  I am now training to run a Marathon by October. No, I'm not crazy and I wasn't bribed.  I have decided to do this on my own accord.  I'm trading in the sneakers for some running shoes!!  

I am so excited about this new challenge and goal I have set for myself.  I have discovered a love for running that I never knew I had.  Although the idea of running 26.2 miles is a tad bit overwhelming, I'm going to take it one mile at a time.  If you haven't heard about Marathon Makeover, it is a wellness program that trains couch potatoes to run marathons!  My parents have done a fabulous job training so many people and inspiring them to get off the couch and do something!  Maybe this is also your year to accomplish overall wellness! Join me!  Now you may be saying, "But they don't have a training team where I live!"  Good news, they don't have one where I live either but there is an online group for those of us who don't live near one of the many groups.  I encourage everyone who is willing and can to take part in this challenge with me, you won't regret it!  Check out their website:

www.marathonmakeover.com.

Other than sign up for this exciting experience, I did some other not as interesting things.  Today I got to help with a photo session for a 6 month old! Too cute!!  After I got home I messed around with the camera and took some random shots myself! After that, I took a nice long nap and woke up for a yummy grilled cheese!

Check back tomorrow and see how I spend my last day of "freedom" before school starts back!

Feeling Icky

First day back in Oxford...and I feel horrible!


This morning I woke up and I just didn't feel quite right.  I couldn't breath through my nose, my stomach hurt, and I had a horrible headache!  This was definitely not what I had planned for the day!  So today I decided that I would just relax and rest myself so I could start out the semester with a clean bill of health!  I got my allergy medicine and my ibuprophen in hand and sat down at the computer to be lazy and then productive once I started to feel better.  


Despite not feeling so great, I got a fair amount of things done that I had just been avoiding and forgetting about recently.  I am currently working on getting a bible study together and I have gotten a wonderful amount of work done on that and I can't wait to see how this plays out!  Secondly, I looked for the first time at what textbooks I will be needing for this coming semester.  Luckily, I only need two and I will not be set back too much money from having to buy a stack of books that I will probably never use.  And even better is the fact that by selling some old books I will be able to cover most of the cost! Yay! I just HATE buying textbooks!  And lastly, I have started looking for a place to live next year with my very best friend.  Unfortunately the place we are looking at does not come furnished so if any of you have some furniture you would like to donate to a cause for poor college students, let me know!! I would gladly take it off your hands!  So now that I have been productive I think its time to throw a frozen pizza in the oven and check out what Netflix has to offer.

On The Road Again...

Today's post will be short and sweet for those of you who aren't up for a long read because its late and I'm tired.  It has been quite a day getting ready to go back to school!  I'm so excited about the spring semester and I really can't wait to see what God has in store for me!  So far it's been as great year so hopefully it only gets better!  Before I left I went and had an AMAZING lunch at Bonsai in Clinton.  I was very pleased with the presentation of my food! I'm all about food presentation.  I feel that food is 10x more enjoyable if it is pretty!  But I'm safely back in Oxford and reading to take on this semester!  

Sexy Lexy

OH my car (which I goes by the name of Sexy Lexy).  I have a love/hate relationship with it.  I love it, it hates me.  It seems to only give me trouble when I need it the least.  So about a month ago it decided to give me another round of trouble.  What happened, you ask?  Well the right blinker light decided that it no longer wanted to remain in my car.  On the way back from Memphis after seeing my family run the St. Jude Half Marathon, it just popped right out!  


I thought it would be okay seeing as my friend Lucus was with me and put it right back where it belonged and I didn't have any more trouble with it.  WRONG.  I was on my way home for the holidays when it yet again decides it no longer wants to have a peaceful relationship with me.  Needless to say, it lost the duct tape war.  So finally today dad and I ran it over to the body shop to get it fixed.  Hopefully, knock on wood, my car is done giving me problems and I make it back "home" safely tomorrow.  


Lessons learned:


1. Duct tape is a life saver.
2. Cars are conveniently inconvenient.

Alohamora!

This morning when I woke up, I decided not to be lazy.  I had an appointment with the eye doctor and thought I would curl my hair and actually fix it just because I never really take the time to do stuff like that.  My mistake?  It poured all day, the curls didn't last long and turned into a frizzy mess.  Oh well!

No, these are not the glasses I went with, just one of the many I tried on!

So while at the eye doctor's I was told that not only did I need the glasses that I already have (for reading), but I also need a SECOND pair.  Really?! Who needs two separate pairs of glasses?? This is crazy.  Maybe this will solve my problems.  So naturally it took me absolutely forever to find some frames that I liked, seeing as they will inhabit my face majority of the time.  I want glasses that make a statement.  


So mom and I of course had a lovely time trying on practically every single pair that we could.  It was tons of fun, and time well wasted.  I'm not sure if she feels the same about that one though. :)  But then I came across the PERFECT frames.  These are frames that I have always wanted and I very seriously considered them.  I'm sure the people who were also in the office thought I was crazy walking around with them on just seeing how they "felt."  As you can see, I fell in love with some, as I call them, Harry Potter glasses.  For those of you who know my love for Harry Potter, you know very well that this is NO JOKE.  

After much debate I finally decided that with these glasses I wouldn't be able to take myself seriously, much less resist the temptations to draw a lightening bolt on my forehead every day.  So I finally decided against them even though now part of me wishes I hadn't.  I did, however, end up with glasses that I do like so that is good.  



I hope this Tuesday was as enjoyable for the rest of you as it was for me and I can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring! :)

Lazy Monday

Well I hate to admit it, but my day started this "morning" at about 1:00PM.  Oh the life of a college student.  I'm just taking advantage of my free mornings while I can because in a few short years I will be teaching bright and early every morning! (hopefully!)


When I woke up today I was the only one at home, and that was not a problem at all.  I spent the majority of my day, more than a few hours, playing the piano.  I really miss being able to play the piano every day.  I didn't realize that until last year when I went to school and didn't have a piano handy whenever I just wanted to relax.  For me, piano is my escape.  I can sit down on the bench, pick any song I want to and just play away, as loud as I want to.  I LOVE IT!  Luckily I do have my guitar at school and a keyboard so I'm not suffering completely. :)


As I speak Caroline is doing a lovely job cooking dinner.  And to make it even better, it is one of my favorites!!! SLOPPY JOES!! WOO HOO! I'm definitely spoiling myself here in Clinton.  I can't wait to taste it, I'm sure she'll do a wonderful job.  Meanwhile I will continue my staring contest with Zoey!


Its been such a great day for me at home and every day I spend here with my family reminds me how truly blessed I am to have a warm and cozy, loving home to come to when I just need to get away from the craziness of school.  So spend some time with your family and enjoy every second of it, I know I sure am! :)

Home Sweet Home

Can I just say it is so nice to be back home with my family spending time together before the school year gets back in swing!


This morning my day was started with a WONDERFUL sermon given by the one and only Mark Simpson, my father.  He always does such a great job and it sure does make a daughter proud!  Dad gave a message about living fully in God's purpose for our lives and not worrying about "people-pleasing" when God's purpose may lead us into tension...like I said, wonderful.  


 One of the reasons I love being home so much is getting to have family dinners/lunches together and talk about what is going on in each of our lives.  Its of course never a dull moment.  Today my mom made a delicious meal, but her cooking is always amazing!  I sure do miss it when I have to cook for myself. It never tastes as good!  

Over lunch, the four of us girls decided to have a "girls' day." For our day of outings we decided to go to see The Beauty and The Beast together, this is in fact my favorite of the Disney princess movies so I was more than excited.  One of the best parts about this was that Caroline had never even seen it!  I was shocked.  I think I pretty much failed as a big sister from the 90s not watching that with her when she was younger.  I was really anxious to see what she thought about it, because they just don't make cartoons like that anymore!  Needless to say, it was everything I expected and then some, no disappointment here!  (Except the fact that I don't even own it...this will have to change!)


After the movie we all went to get a little something to eat before heading back to the church for an evening service.  My grandmothers were both singing in their choir tonight so we went to see them.  And we were able to hear yet another wonderful message!  So great!  Afterwards, my dad's parents took our family out to eat to McAlister's and had a great time visiting and enjoying each other's company.  When we got home we all watched the Golden Globe's together and then Anna and I got into hair dye...I guess you'll have to wait around to see the results! :)


I love days like these where I get to spend quality time with the ones I love.  It's always great to be home!