Last Weekend in the Smoky Mountains

Friday, September 16, 2016



Last weekend, my Mom and I visited the Smoky Mountains in East Tennessee.

We originally attended for my college friends' wedding, and we decided to just make a full long weekend out of it. Boy, I'm glad we did.

So, here's what we did each day. :)

Saturday

This was my friends' wedding day! It was so good to see my college friends and get to touch base with the friends I don't see that often.



Also, the venue was GORGEOUS.





Sunday

Sunday mainly comprised of three things: running errands, eating thai food in Sevierville, and relaxing.

Relaxing was the theme of this little trip. It's fun to go explore, but it's also nice to turn off the accelerator and just chill for a while.

Plus, the gorgeous scenery never hurts. :)






Monday

We relaxed. In the mountains.

I guess I'll take this opportunity to describe where we were. Our cabin was situated amongst lots of trees, and when night fell, it got so dark that the only light you could see was the moonlight through the leaves above. It was a gorgeous setting, and it truly felt like we were in our own little world in the woods and mountains.






Tuesday

Tuesday, we headed home, back to the real world.

But nevertheless, I'm so glad and thankful that my mom and I got to spend this past weekend together. :)


Mondays are for Music: A Bastille Starter Guide

Monday, September 12, 2016

photo from here

Hey hey! :)

I want to try something different with today's "Mondays are for Music." Instead of curating a few random songs I've liked lately, I want to share one of my favorite bands (and by favorite, I mean Top 3, easily) with you. So, let's talk a little bit about Bastille.

I've been a fan of this band since college, when one of my good friends introduced it to me. Then, once their first album came out, I practically dove into it headfirst, and the rest is history.

"Pompeii" is a favorite, hands-down, and I think that's the first song of theirs you should start with. I have the happiest memories of listening to this song on road trips.


From there, I recommend these three tracks: "Bad Blood," "Flaws," and "Of the Night."


And that's my brief starter guide to Bastille! Have you listened to this band before? Got any song recommendations? Please leave them in the comments! :)

Why Did I Start Blogging?

Monday, September 5, 2016



[Savannah] in Wonderland has been my corner of the internet for over two and a half years. I can still remember the day I created the blog on my dad's birthday (January 7), 2014, and I'm so, so happy that I did. I guess you could say that today's post is this year's belated anniversary post, since at the time my blog turned 2 years old, I was in the throes of starting new (at the time) full-time work.

So, why did I start blogging at all? Why did I choose this outlet to share my thoughts and adventures with you?

Let's talk about that. :)

I chose to blog because I wanted to talk about stuff on my mind.
I was in college at the time this blog was created, and I was wrapping up my senior year. I consider it Providential timing that one of my assignments in one of my media classes was to write a blog post pertaining to an issue young/college-aged adults could face. Also, my professor said yes, I could use my existing blog. So, I wrote a post about chivalry that had been burning in my mind for quite some time (so much so that I actually adapted the experience/that post to a magazine article for work). You can read that post on chivalry here.

I wanted to keep on talking, so I proceeded to talk about things that I was either dealing with, learned, or otherwise wanted to express to y'all.

I chose to blog because I wanted to share my passions.
If you look at the top of this blog, you'll find several categories. These are things I like to talk about or enjoy in my spare time, so why not talk about them on this blog?

Back in my Tumblr days, I created several separate blogs for each passion - for example, I can remember having personal, travel-related, book-related, and writing-related Tumblr blogs going at various intervals. A good thing about this format I'm on now is that I can keep those passions in one corner of the Internet so I can express them whenever I want in one place. It's convenient and I love it.

Finally, I chose to blog so I can share my faith.
I've shared some very faith-related posts with you guys, like how I was baptized, and most recently, how I related my study/thoughts on patience to pumpkin spice lattes.

I want to let you know that my faith is of paramount importance to me, so I'm always more than happy to share or relate something to my faith in Jesus Christ. It's an absolute blessing to have this personal outlet to share such a big part of my life with others, and I'm so thankful to God for giving me the ability to write not only for work or leisure, but also to write to you.

Anyway, y'all, that's why I blog. Thank y'all so much for reading, whether you've just visited or have been here since the beginning. I love you guys! :)

Patience and Pumpkin Spice Lattes

Friday, September 2, 2016

We're officially in September. Isn't that crazy? It doesn't seem like we should be nearly done with 2016.

With September comes the excitement of the coming Fall season. And with the Fall season comes one of my favorite things about Fall (besides the colors and the gentle temperature drop): Pumpkin Spice Lattes. I know that might be a typical Fall favorite for most, but there's something comforting about the flavor to me.

It seems like tons of people are eagerly waiting for Fall and the Pumpkin Spice season. With images like this, it's hard not to notice the impatience brewing (pun maybe intended):

image found via Google Images, particularly here

Speaking of impatience, there's something I want to talk to you about: patience.

Since I've been in my twenties, I feel like there's been a lot of waiting in my life: I waited for May 17, 2014 so I could graduate college, I couldn't wait to get a job after graduating, I waited for writing opportunities after college, I'm currently waiting to potentially meet the man who will be my future husband...things like that. And all that waiting can be tiresome, honestly.

It's a good thing to know that I'm never alone, though.

God's assured me in His Word that He will be with me through it all (particularly in verses like Deuteronomy 7:9 and Romans 8:28), and if I cling to what's good - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control - it's beneficial in the long run, because "against such things, there is no law."

But here's the cool part: God's already strengthened me in the waiting, and He continues to do so. Plus, it never hurts to pray and bring your concerns to God. In fact, that's what He wants us to do; He wants us to come to Him with everything. In fact, He's already blessed me in ways that I could have never imagined or come up with on my own - in fact fulfilling many of those "waits" I mentioned earlier - so why should I worry about waiting?

So, just like there's a season for Pumpkin Spice Lattes, there's a season for everything. There'll be a time to wait, and there'll be a time to act, and there'll be a time to step out of my comfort zone and see what's out there.

And y'all, it'll all be worth it.