"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also"

This verse, Matthew 6:21, has always been extremely convicting to me. Mainly because there are a lot of things that I "love" and that I too often put too much stock in things that aren't Jesus.

Your treasure is whatever you value, cherish, focus on, invest in. If someone were to look at my daily schedule or my bank account, I don't think anyone's first thought would be "She loves Jesus" (in fact, their first thought would mostly likely be "She loves Chic-fil-A"). I have to repeatedly bring this verse to mind and remember that my first thoughts, my time, my interests, my talents, my money, everything needs to have kingdom purpose. I'm definitely not perfect at this, but I'm working on it.

All that to say, today's challenge is post a picture of your most treasured item. I unfortunately tend to develop sentimental attachments to a lot of things and, sadly, I like a lot of the stuff I have, so narrowing it down was hard. I decided however, to go with something that I've had for a very long time and that I never leave home without. It's simple and kind of silly, but that's just kind of who I am I suppose.


Her poor nose is worn from years of travel in many a purse, but the mirror has held up and I still have the comb that came with this precious compact my dad got me when I was like 3. I don't actually utilize this a whole lot, but it's nice to carry a piece of childhood around with me :)

Finally, A Challenge

Thus far in this 30 day challenge, I haven't been too particularly challenged. Yes, I may have been required to narrow some things down or pick favorites where a favorite just isn't possible, but nothing I would consider a real challenge. But today's challenge is this: post a picture of the person you would switch places with for a day. That's not hard or anything.

There are some people I definitely wouldn't switch places with like President Obama or Charlie Sheen. I could try to pick a big-name do-gooder (or a small name do-gooder) and make myself look good. I've got some pretty cool friends who are a lot better at stuff than me, so it could be fun to switch places with them. I've had some pretty awesome mentors, teachers, and professors over the years, many of whom I claim I want to be like when I grow up. Or I could choose Katie Holmes because people think I look like her and I'm sure she gets really tired of people stopping and asking her if she knows that she looks like me, so that could just be fun.

It's a hard choice and it's getting late, so I'm just going to pick someone (and avoid making any sort of real or inspirational choice), and it comes from one of my favorite movies: Ferris Bueller.


Sure he may be a bit of a liar and a sneak, but his intentions are good and he just wants to live life to the fullest and bring his friends along for the ride. Plus, he sings in a parade. Sounds like a good day to me!

"I'm Schwasted"

There just isn't anything better than spending time with people that you love and who love you just the way you are. I'm very fortunate to be friends with a lot of amazing women who are just good with who they are and when we all get together, good times happen.

This past weekend I had the chance to spend some QT with these ladies as we celebrated our dear friend Traci's upcoming wedding. And thus the source for my day 5 of my challenge: Post a picture of your night. This is actually going to be a picture from the afternoon, because I like it best out of all the pictures we took :)


An additional side note: No one was actually "schwasted" at any point during the weekend, some people just don't have filters and that makes me laugh. The below quotes are testament to that:

Jordan: How often do you dance by yourself in front of the mirror?
Rebecca: Everyday...and in front of my grandma. She likes it.


At 12:56 Sunday morning, after hanging out in Charleston all night:

Rebecca: I have to leave at like 7:00 in the morning.
Jordan: Well why don't you go brush your teeth and put yourself to bed?
Rebecca: I forgot my toothbrush.
Traci: Didn't you brush your teeth this morning?
Rebecca: No, I just scratched. I never get cavities. Praise God! I have good saliva.

Rebecca, we are VERY glad you were a part of the weekend :)

And thus commences a posting overload

Given that I spent the weekend gallivanting around Chucktown, SC with some of my favorite people, I've gotten quite behind on my 30 Day Challenge, which is simply unacceptable for a serious blogger like me. So, I guess I ought to start playing catch up and make up for it.

3o Day Challenge Day 4: Your Favorite Memory
(I'm switching days 4 and 5 because I was in a car most of Friday night)

I would not trade my 12 summers at Rockfish for anything in the whole wide world. Camp is where I grew up, it's what I lived for, it was strangely always changing but ever so consistent amongst all sorts of crazy transitions in life. It's where I met some of my best and most cherished friends. I had lots of adventures, celebrated a lot of birthdays, dunked a lot of kids in mud, praised Jesus, grew in my faith, laughed a lot, cried a lot, and bled a little. This picture is from my "tied for best" summer ever at Rockfish. The leadership team met every morning before breakfast and often got into some sort of mischief before Gene would show up, but this particular morning, we just decided to take this picture and it makes my heart happy :)

Bonus Post

Despite the fact that I have about 13 things I need to be doing rather than doing a SECOND post in one day, I said I would blog this, so I need to keep my word.

My best friend married a wonderful guy named Brian, who I'm lucky enough to have as a friend. Despite many attempts to be funny, Brian is only genuinely funny about 37% of the time. This works to his advantage because when he really is funny, I feel compelled to blog about it.

The following is a paraphrase of a story Brian told us tonight:

"So the past few nights I've been having these dreams where I'm choking people. And I keep squeezing but they just won't die."

Insert raised eyebrows and lots of laughter.

"I mean, they're always bad guys, but, I don't know, it was all in outer space and stuff and man, Justin Bieber just wouldn't die...and he was causing trouble on my space ship."

How I Met Your Mother

30 Day Challenge (Day 3): Post a picture of the cast of your favorite TV show

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love TV and that there are many shows that I love in a lot of different ways for a lot of different reasons. I could very easily cop out and post several pictures from different shows, but in the interest of being a challenge purist, I shall narrow it down to one.

So, to complete today's challenge, after much thought and discernment, I am officially making How I Met Your Mother my favorite TV show. In thinking about all of the shows that I watch pretty regularly (and enjoy regularly), I have never seen an episode of HIMYM that I haven't loved. I've had a love/hate relationship with Glee this season, I get too emotionally involved with Parenthood, The Office can be hit or miss, Modern Family is close, but ultimately How I Met Your Mother is where it's at. It's consistently hilarious and there isn't an unlikeable character on the show. And I may or may not have a crush on Marshall, who is fantastic.

Long Lasting Love (30 Day Challenge: Day 2)

So here I am, day 2 of my thirty day blog challenge. I only have an hour left to meet my deadline and my brain is quickly losing power.

Today's challenge: A picture of you with someone you've been close with for awhile.

I chose this picture for a very strategic purpose--it fulfills the challenge, not once, but twice.

This is Jordan and I this past summer at the Hanson concert. We have been best pals for almost 10 years now! We met when we were 15 at Camp Rockfish, and became BFFs while knocking a tree down on the Great Adventure. We both wanted to lead the group, but not alone, so we opted to do it together and that's just been the story ever since. We have had a lot of random adventures since then and I thank Jesus for her.

As for the second fulfillment of the challenge, I have loved those boys on that t-shirt for about 15 years now. And you just don't forget your first love. I will shamelessly listen to Hanson until I die and will go to blows with anyone who wants to give me crap for it :)

Challenge Accepted

My friends know me so well. My dear friend Katie B. posted on her blog about a 30 Day Blog Challenge that she knew I couldn't resist. Several years ago, a similar challenge resulted in the "100 Things You May or May Not Know About Me " post (which I should revisit, because I think it's probably somewhat outdated), which was lots of fun, and I'm excited because I am always looking for ways to increase my blog output. So here it goes, for the next 30 days I shall be completing some form of challenge and posting it on my blog. I have no idea what that will consist of, since I just found out about this like 15 minutes ago.

30 Day Challenge--Day 1: A picture of yourself with 15 facts

1. My favorite color is green.
2. My bookshelf is slowing collecting more and more children's books.
3. I am terrible at making decisions.
4. I play as a major component of my job.
5. My favorite song on Just Dance 2 is "Hey Ya" unless I'm playing with Meredith, in which case it's "Girlfriend."
6. I mentor a hilarious and adorable 7 year old girl, who makes my heart happy.
7. I have a poinsettia from Christmas still in my living room and I just don't know what to do with it...feels wrong to throw it away.
8. I hate feet.
9. I LOVE living by myself.
10. I have known my best friend since I was 15 and I love that she just lives one mile down the road.
11. I haven't been home to Myrtle Beach in over a year (I have seen my family though).
12. Over the past few years I have started collecting owl things, but I'm kind of particular about it, so don't go getting me owl stuff and make me the girl with the weird owl collection.
13. I LOVE kettle corn, especially from the state fair.
14. My favorite character on "How I Met Your Mother" is Marshall. He's amazing.
15. Sunshine and Diet Coke always make me happy.

A Perfectly Fulfilling Saturday

I woke up this morning at 4:00am. Then again at 5:00am. Then again, and for good, at 8:00. So NOT the plan for my first Saturday to sleep in in about a month. But nonetheless, that was what happened. Distraught by my inability to fall back asleep, I decided not to waste a perfectly good breakfast hour and to make chocolate chip pancakes. This isn't exactly abnormal on a Saturday for me, just usually it's more like lunch time before I get any sort of ambition :)

That was just the beginning of what would turn out to be an amazing and random collection of entertainment on this beautiful, sunshiney Saturday. Jordan and I had big plans for the rest of the day since both the Wake County Library Booksale AND Roller Derby were going on at the State Fairgrounds. But when we pulled up, we discovered that the flea market was also open. BONUS. There is really nothing like putting yourself smackdab in the middle of three niche populations all in one day. Good people watching was not lacking.

The day was full of successes as I found this awesome treasure (see below) for my friend Neela at the flea market:

I added several great works of literature to my book collection for a whopping 12 bucks:

And I discovered that I enjoyed roller derby as much as I thought I would and may or may not have spent some time pricing skates:


I'd put my Saturday's awesomeness up against yours anytime.

In Case You Didn't Know...

Justin Bieber was present at the March on Washington with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I apparently have been out of the know on this subject in all my years, but today at mentoring S set me straight.

As our reading tonight, we started a story about the March on Washington that took place in 1963. Let's just say tonight was not our best night and we used the ENTIRE hour to read the story and do our questions. As the final part of our response questions, S was supposed to draw a picture of what she thought it would have been like to be at the march back then.

Her picture began with a tall sky-scraper with lots of windows that she insisted was the Lincoln Memorial. She then drew a person, which apparently was me, labeled with a B for Ms. Brooke. Right next to me she drew another person. Upon trying to label this person with the appropriate letter, she looks at me and says, "Do you have a boyfriend?" I told her I did not and with a look of disappointment she says "Well if you did have a boyfriend, what would his name be?" I told her I that I couldn't possibly know the name of someone I didn't know. She then proceeds to put a big J on top of the second person. I asked her what his name was and she says, oh so matter of factly, "Justin Bieber. And you're holding his hand." Then she broke out with "Baby, baby, baby, OH!"

Needless to say, I don't think she really understood the assignment.