friday's five.

1. i have spent way too much time on buzzfeed here lately. don't ask my why i need to see 51 pictures of corgi puppies, find out 31 ways to spike lemonade, or read about the 7 different types of foodies out there. i honestly couldn't tell ya... but i need a life. that's for sure.

2. my office is so dang cold right now that i seriously have on my north face, gloves, and a leopard print blankie. i have to take short trips outside just to warm up. it's ridiculous. and i'm done complaining now. until monday morning at least.

3. i'm running in the main street mile today after work. and the only reason i'm doing it is because they're having a block party on main street afterwards for all of the participants. anddd it's for a good cause. and i get a free t-shirt. that's it. your girl is definitely not a natural born runner... so even a mile surrounded by public eyes scares me to death.

via.

4. i've become this coffee feen here recently. like... don't talk to me before i have my coffee in the morning type of addict. i'm okay with it though because i feel like i'm getting a lot more done in the office now-a-days. or may i'm just using that as an excuse...

5. this quote right here has spoken volumes to me here lately. i know it's deep and all, but it's so good. 
go on... love it as much as i do, and have a wonderful weekend!!

via.

pinterest lovin.

let's see what julia's pinterest has been looking like here lately...
warning: there is a whole bunch of random-ness about to happen.

one:// john 13:7- what an amazing reminder to trust Him.
two:// this looks like the perfect date right here.
three:// that dress though. absolutely in love!!
four:// i want to take a running jump into that bed.
five:// sometimes i try to eat healthy. other times i find recipes for buffalo chicken pizza.

one:// this might be my new favorite quote. especially because i don't like to be realistic sometimes.
two:// THE perfect fall bag. now who wants to buy it for me?? because like helene said today- we don't do expensive.
three:// i love the way this looks... but would i love having my initials on my face every day?
four:// gimme gimme gimme!! fall is soooo close i can feel it!


linking up with the lovely michelle at the vintage apple!

late update.

oh my weekend? my weekend update? those 2 full days of pure relaxation and zero work involved? those 2 full days that i cherish more than anything at the end of a work week? you wanna know what i did? every last detail?
maybe you do. maybe you don't. i don't know.

friday M and i ventured over to asheville for a little date night after work. i was in need of a nice dinner, a cold beer, and a good conversation. which is just what i got. we went back to his place where we continued to watch episodes of band of brothers. ya'll. i have never been interested in history biz-nass and i have never liked watching any war related tv shows/ movies... but for some reason i have really gotten into this docu-drama. and i know it came out forever ago, but it's one of M's favorites.

saturday involved sleeping in and then spending the entire day with my 4 precious nieces. they can be downright exhausting, lemme tell ya, but so much fun at the same time! i also may or may not have volunteered myself to help watch all 4 of them when my sister and her hubby take their 10 year anniversary trip to NYC in september. let's just say i'm going to need a lot of energy those few days...

sunday we all got up and went to church as a family. i am so grateful to have a loving, encouraging family that has always keeps me focused on the good things in life.
annnnndddd i ended my day with a run in my new tennies. woop woop.

thanks kid section... small feet rock.
now if only my body would cooperate with running...

my weekend wasn't crazy. my weekend wasn't exciting. but it was just what i needed. lots of family, lots of prayers, lots of play time, and lots of good conversation.
that is what matters most.

finley.

a couple of weeks ago i asked for one big, urgent prayer request here.
it was for finley. one of the strongest little fighters i have ever come across.
she was born on july 25th with little to no heart beat and zero brain activity. she was put in a medically induced coma shortly after birth and was monitored 24/7 for any chance of a change.
this past friday, august 16th, little finley went to be with our Lord and Savior after a 3 week battle here on earth. her parents are starting the journey today to find out exactly what went wrong during her birth to cause this to happen.

visit the facebook page- fighting for finley- to read more about her story, the fight, and now what her parents are planning to do next.
they are truly wonderful, faithful individuals who need your prayers more than ever now! i ask that you send them love and prayers for answers, peace, and understanding through all of this.

"And just because God didn't heal Finley's earthly body, we still have faith that He can use this tragedy for the good. The Lord doesn't always give us what we ask for, because sometimes while the thing we want may be good, God often times has things in store that are better." -tim and noelle oblander, finley's parents

i just can't even begin to imagine...

a slacker, a quarter life crisis, and an announcement.

hello slacker status, julia rose here.
apparently i'm not a big fan of blog posts 5 days/week anymore. which i hope is okay with everyone else, because i've been quite happy with it personally. to be honest there hasn't been much that i've wanted to write about...
because there is still a lot that i'm trying to sort through.

i have found myself in quite a turning point these days. i may have mentioned it before but i seriously think that the whole quarter life crisis thing is real. so so real. and i'm not kidding.
i find that it is especially real for those of us who are 25 and at a stand still in life.
those of us who are looking for more. those of us that aren't exactly 100% sure of what that more is. we just know that something has to change or we need to start doing something else in our lives.
that could be so many things for so many different people too.
we look at ourselves, our situations, our careers, our love lives, etc. and we start to really evaluate who we are and what we are doing.
that right there. that's me. that's what i'm doing.
i am starting to really pursue myself these days because of my looking, my digging, and my questioning.
and to be completely honest- it's kind of a beautiful thing. a scary thing, yes, but beautiful at the same time.

you know what else i am really starting to do? something i haven't ever done before. i am giving it to God. all of it. handing him the pen for the story of my life and trusting that He does His will.
not just praying for the things that i want to happen, but praying for the things that HE wants to happen. and praying for the understanding of those things.
i am also truly starting to get to know HIM. studying his word and taking it all in.
i have found a lot of joy in this. joy that i can't really describe. it's incredible how much He loves us and wants us to seek him. He waits our whole lives for us to hand it all over to Him.

i don't have any answers and i don't know what in the world i'm doing right now. which is pretty typical for my whimsical little life. but i'm opening doors, i'm praying, and i'm hoping so very hard that things work out at least in some of the ways that i want them to.

ps- i never did really come out and say it on le'blog but i guess this is as good of a time as any... 
i didn't get into graduate school for this year.
something that i was really counting on. something i truly thought was going to take me places.
which is a big reason as to why i'm still so unsure of my life and why i am questioning a lot of things.
i applied for a 1 year program that only accepted 4 students for the upcoming year. silly i know. but i have finally come to accept this fact. i truly believe that in this life things happen for a reason and when one door closes we have to have faith that God is opening others.

i need to work on taking more pictures.

mondays always come way too quickly. but i guess it just means we're one day closer to another weekend... which is never a bad thing.
this weekend was actually quite busy, but for some reason the only picture i managed to get was the one above, which was on our drive to a friend's house.
friday M and i had a date night in. my betty crocker skills were in full force for some unknown reason. but once our bellies were full i don't think we made it another hour before we were both asleep on the couch. real exciting life we live, i know.
saturday we went to the shooting range so M could get his hunting rifles ready for the upcoming seasons. that boy loves to hunt and i am eagerly trying to convince him to let me go with him. which by the way is something i honestly don't see happening... but it's worth the effort.
that night we headed over to a friend's house for their annual summer bash get together. but not before we stopped at a little greek restaurant for supper. i could eat greek food all day, every day. give me some feta cheese and olives and i am one happy lady.
sunday was spent in M's home town. laziness and relaxation ensued. it was lovely.

5 on friday.

one:
ya'll, M is not a planner. and i don't mean for you to take that lightly either- he truly despises making plans. he just doesn't do it... i am usually the one to plan out what we do (which isn't necessarily a bad thing- i LOVE planning). so when he called me yesterday at 4pm and asked me to skip the gym i was curious, to say the least, as to why. you can imagine the level of shock that hit me when he said that he had made plans for us to wine taste at the biltmore house followed by dinner in asheville. yeah. shocked. surprised. giddy with excitement. i was all of that and more.
it was great... mainly because we needed this night together. just the two of us. and our new wine collection we somehow took home with us...
ps- if you're ever in asheville,nc this is a MUST do. wine taste for an hour (or 2), head over to the wine cellar and buy your favorite (or 3 of your favorites), and head off to whatever spot on the huge biltmore property you want and enjoy yourselves. alone.  
well with your wine of course.

two:
the bachelorette finale on monday night. i used to get so in to all of the bachelor/bachelorette shows, but i just can't these days. the drama, the fakeness of the reality show life, the idea of dating 30 men and choosing one at the end... it all bothers me. i do, however, like to watch the finale. just so i can see who is chosen and all that fun stuff. of course i had my best friend, wine, there to help me through it. and yes, those are snuggly footies you see (being worn in august). what can i say? i like warm feet.

three:
i just feel the need to share with you all that M and i still have 3 more weddings to attend this year. yep, on top of the 5 (i think) that we have already attended in 2013. i'm telling you- i need to make this a career somehow...  last year i went to 9...

four:
jennifer. if ya'll don't know her- you need to. she has been my real life best friend for years now and a fellow blogging blondie. we got to catch up over dinner on wednesday and we had such an amazing time. but then again, we always do.

five:
it's friday. and that's all that really matters today. woop woop.
let's see if my weekend can top my week... because for once, it's been pretty darn amazing.