What I Wore Wednesday

Do any of you have trouble switching seasons in regards to your wardrobe? What I mean is, do you struggle remembering what to wear in the summer after a long winter of tights, boots, and scarfs? I tend to forget what I wore last year, so I have to make up all new outfits. It takes about 3 weeks of warm (or cool) weather before I start getting into the swing of things. Before I realize that I can wear those shoes with that dress or that I can make that a "summer sweater" by wearing it with shorts. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? There is a good chance that it is just me.

Luckily, I'm starting to get into the swing of summer. That means my legs are shaved regularly enough that I don't have to cover them with a maxi dress, and my toenails are perfectly polished, so I don't have to cover them with ballet flats. Here's what I've been wearing lately....

One of these days, I'm going to take pictures of my outfits with a real camera in my full length mirror, but for now, this is what you get.

Sweater: Old Navy ($9.99 Clearance!)

Tank Top - ????

Scarf - TJ Maxx

Shorts - Maurices

Shoes - Sperrys

This was my first day of classes. I wore MU colors even though I'm getting my doctorate from KU. I was being passive agressive.

Dress: TJ Maxx

Cardigan: Lane Bryant

Purse: Kate Spade

Shirt: Lane Bryant

Sweater Thing: Old Navy

Pants: Half of Half ($2!!!)

Purse: Garage Sale

I love maxi dresses! Love them.

Dress: New York and Company

Sweater: Old Navy (I bought it in high school!)

I wore this to shoot a wedding a couple of weeks ago.

Dress: Half of Half

Boots: Garage Sale

Belt: Cato

This dress was never actually worn. It was one of those moments when I put something on in the dressing room, and thought it was ADORABLE, then got home and realized I looked like a bridesmaid from 1988. It was awful. I literally laughed at myself in the mirror. It was terrible and went straight back to TJ Maxx.

So I'm back in summer mode, and I love having a tan and painted toenails and no make-up. Do you guys tend to wear a lot less make-up in the summer, or is that just me? Maybe it's a teacher thing.  I feel like I'm asking a lot of questions in this post, so I'm going to go ahead and end it here.

:j

This post is linked up to The Pleated Poppy: What I Wore Wednesday {wiww}

Let's talk about being scared.

11 days ago I decided to send an email inquiry about a doctorate program.
A few hours later I received a reply stating that I could apply for a cohort beginning this summer.
3 days later I finished gathering up transcripts, references, and writing samples.
4 days ago I got a call stating that I had made it through the preliminary round.
Yesterday I got an e-mail saying that I had been accepted into the program.
Tomorrow I begin classes.
I was told this was the fastest anyone had ever been admitted and enrolled.

I've been wanting to get my doctorate since I graduated from my master's program, but like I mentioned in THIS POST, I have a hard time with big decisions at this stage in life. Then one day, I was talking to someone at work about getting my doctorate, so I decided to look up the program, and suddenly doors were flying open and I was on the fast track to grad school. I firmly believe that the Lord has had a big hand in this.  Usually it takes weeks to apply, get accepted, and enrolled, so this is definitely out of the ordinary.

Here's the thing though, Internet. I'm a little scared. I told my friend that it was one of the first times in life when I really felt like I could fail at something. This isn't just Geography 101 or reflections over chapter 2. This is a dissertation and case studies and talking to people in higher places than I'm used to. I don't know what to expect, and that scares me. Everyone around me keeps telling me that I'll do great. I want to believe them, but sometimes the little voices inside are a bit louder.

I know I'm not alone in these feelings. It's that moment before trying anything new whether it be walking into a new church, getting a new job, or even hanging out with a new group of friends that brings a whole slew of emotions - excitement and fear mixed with hope and worries. We have all been there.

I'm reminded of 1 Peter 5:7 "Cast all your anxieties on Him because He cares for you." A lot of times when I read this verse, I focus on the first part, "Cast all your anxieties on Him." And I tend to I ignore the second part of the verse, "because He cares for you." I forget that He cares. He cares about my anxiety. It matters to Him. I matter to Him. I'm not casting my cares into the great abyss. I'm casting them to someone who has my best interest at heart. He catches what I cast off and is more than able to take care of it. I cast my anxieties BECAUSE He cares for me. If He didn't care, I wouldn't be placing my fear in his hands. I wouldn't be able to trust Him.

So even though I'm scared about this whole doctorate thing and even though I have no clue where this is going to lead, I rest assured that the Lord cares for me and is taking care of my anxiety.

:j

The iPhone Chronicles

I am the kind of person who likes change. I love the 4 seasons. I love that education brings a whole new batch of students every year. I love re-arranging my office. I love the excitement that comes with change. Last week, I took on a new change with my phone.

I've had a Samsung Galaxy SII for a year and a half. For some people that doesn't seem like a long time, but I usually get a new phone yearly (part of my contract), so it seemed like an eternity. I honestly loved my old phone, but the battery life had gotten out of control and it had obviously been dropped once or twice (or 12 times). It was time for a new one.

Most of my friends are iPhone users, so I decided to take the plunge. Even though Consumer Reports ranked it #3 of the Sprint Smart Phones....and I don't usually go against Consumer Reports. Last Friday night I got an iPhone 5, and my feelings are decidedly mixed. I am trying really hard to be open minded. There are a lot of things that are simply habits that need to be changed, but there are a lot of things that I'm flat out missing.

Let's talk about the good....

1. iMessage - I like the idea of group messaging, although I hate that it is locked down to other people with iPhones. Seems a little Monopolizy to me. (Yep, that's a word!)

2. Overall Design - I love how sleek it looks and feels. It feels classy. It also makes me feel like I'm part of an elite club of iPhone users. 

3. Apps - There are a couple of apps that I can get on iPhone that I don't have on Droid. So far the only one I care about is the Chipotle app.

Let's talk about what is tripping me up....

1. Ringtones - Customizing ring tones and alerts is a pain. On my droid, I could download a sound that I liked (such as the sound of a whistle) and it asked if I wanted to set it as an alert. It took a minute if that. On the iPhone, I either have to go through an app, use my computer, or something I haven't figured out yet.

2. Keyboard - I used Swype on my old phone. Granted, it caused some auto-correct issues, but that was my fault. And once I changed the settings, I got much better about not sending ridiculous texts. Additionally, I didn't have to switch between the letter screen and the number screen. That has been highly annoying. I used to just hold down the Q key for a second to get a 1. Or I'd hold down the N key to get a comma. I hardly ever switched between keyboards.

3. The Back Button - This is hands down the hardest thing to give up. If I was flipping between apps, I could just hit the back button to go between. If I needed to get to an app that I was in multiple apps ago, I could double hit the home button to get to my active apps just like on the iPhone. However, the back button allowed me to toggle between the app I was previously in. Additionally, inside of apps, the back button worked to get me to the previous screen. On an iPhone it is up to the app designer where the back button goes. Sometimes it's the top, sometimes it's the bottom, sometimes there isn't one.

4. Exiting Apps - On my Droid, I could hit "Exit All" to get out of all active apps. On the iPhone, I have to go into the active app drawer, hold down one app so they start wiggling, then exit each app individually. It's time consuming.

5. Additional Storage - I always added an SD card to my phone, so I could have unlimited storage. My last phone had 64 gigs. I hate being locked into 16 gigs. I love listening to podcasts while I work out. You'd be amazed at how much storage that takes, so it's nice to have options to expand my storage. Not a huge deal, but annoying.

6. Multiple Functions at Once - My iPhone definitely can run multiple apps at once, but sometimes I'm downloading something, and it stops because I open a new app. I don't feel like it's true multi-tasking. I could be wrong here, but I feel like when I have a ton of apps running (like streaming music, checking Facebook, and uploading a photo to Instagram) it gets bogged down. 

7. Settings - My Droid had a menu button as well, so inside an app, I could just hit it and go to the menu. On the iPhone, I have to go into settings, and drill down into the individual apps. Once again, time consuming and annoying.

8. The Headphone Jack - Why does the iPhone put the headphone jack on the bottom? When I'm at the gym, I like to set my phone in front of me in case I need to check Twitter, but with the headphone jack on the bottom, I can't.

9. Screen Size - This one isn't a huge deal, but when surfing the web, I can definitely tell a difference. The iPhone screen is small, and not ideal for the ratio of a lot of web pages. I am not a fan of the huge screens of some Droids, but it is nice to be able to zoom in and see some images really big.

10. Apps Talking to Each Other - I'm sure there is a way to do this on the iPhone, but I haven't figured it out. If I want to send a photo to Instagram, I have to go into the Instagram app on my iPhone. On my Droid, I simply tap share the photo, and every possible app that can share a photo pops up. 

Like I said, I really am trying to be open minded. There are just little things that are annoying me so much! So iPhone users, help me out. Why should I continue to give your device a chance? What exactly do you love about your phone? And Droid users, remind me of the annoying things. I know it's not a perfect phone. I'm trying to be fair and balanced here. Help me out, Internet!

:j