To Infinity and Beyond

Happy New Year everyone! Can you believe that we've made it thus far? 2016 has honestly flown by so fast that it seems as if I had just moved to England yesterday, even though it's been almost 5 months now. Now I'm not going to lie, 2016 was definitely filled with its ups and downs. Although I won't get into that because 2017 is all about positivity. But don't worry because I will give you a run down of MY experiences in 2016. 

Breakdown of 2016:

-I failed my first year of college at the University of Arkansas

-I got my very first job working at Forever21

-I got accepted to Kingston University

-I moved to England on a whim

-For a whole month, I had nowhere to live. I was living in a hostel until a friend took me in

-I went through a period of time where I had absolutely no money

-I finally found a place to live near my school

-I made a few friends in my flat building

-I got a job at Primark (I don't work there anymore though for various reasons)

-I met a complicated boy who I care about

-I lost said friends due to unknown reasons

-I learned to be more comfortable with being by myself

-I ended the year with the people that mattered the most

As 2017 begins, I have a completely new perspective on my life and how to handle certain things. Throughout my ups and downs, I have managed to make it through another year without coming out completely shattered. So in honor of the new year, I have decided to make a list of goals that I want to complete by the end of the year. I don't like to call them New Years resolutions because whenever I hear that, I always think about how easy it is to forget it. So instead of setting a time limit for myself, I just wrote out everything I wanted to complete this year. And who knows, maybe you'll see something on this list that you never thought to put down that you might like.

2017 Goal List:

-Get my own apartment

-Go to Disneyland Paris

-Get a kitten

-Finally get a tattoo

-Sign up for a gym (for Pilates and Zumba)

-Visit at least 2 countries 

-Cook more

-Take Youtube and Blogging more seriously

-Take driving lessons ( I already have my US drivers license, but since it is a new country that drives on the opposite side of the road, I just want to be safe and sure)

-Try for an internship

-Purchase a bike

-Go to an amusement park

-Attend Fright Night at Thorpe Park

-Eat at one of the restaurants by the River

-Go Bowling

-Get professionally waxed (I have always been terrified of getting waxed anywhere, but I want to face my fears)

-Get my nails done professionally more often

-Visit a country I haven't been to before

-Go out on my own more often

A lot of the things on my list might seem like small tasks, but I've wanted to do them for so long and I've never given myself the opportunity until now. I have a good feeling that this year, for me and hopefully for you, is going to be an amazing year full of love, self discovery, surprises, opportunities, and experiences. So cheers to the new year. Be good to us.

Hello everyone! It's been a while, hasn't it? Almost 2 months since I last wrote a blog post. In case you haven't noticed, my life really doesn't consist of anything very exciting or interesting enough for me to blog about right now. But boy do I have a blog post for you today. Quite a few things have happened since my last post, one of which is something that I cannot wait to share with you all.

School has been a huge pain in my butt this past week. Spring Break could have been longer. Speaking of Spring Break, I had an absolute smashing time. If you want to know what I did for my Spring Break, make sure you check out my "Spring Breakers" post. Ever since coming back from break, it seems as if every class I have has kicked it into full gear. The work just keeps piling on, making me put everything off even longer because I just have no motivation to start anything. I know that's bad, but I'm just so stressed and I just can't find it in my heart (or brain) to do anything yet. But something that I can look forward to is that there are only about 5-6 weeks left until school is over. 

As we all know, summer is approaching well and fast. And I think I can vouch for a lot of people by saying it is crunch time to getting that summer body we've always wanted before we start hitting the beach. I'm not sure I've said this before, but I am the absolute worst when it comes to working out. You can't get me to stick to going to the gym and working out constantly even if my life depended on it (let's just hope it doesn't have to resolve to that). But one thing I can actually say that I'm really proud of is that I have taken the liberty of taking Pilates and Piyo classes at the multipurpose facility on campus (it also helps that the walk to the facility literally takes 2 minutes). Even though it's technically a form of 'exercise', I really don't think of it that way. I actually really like these classes and they actually work. I've gotten more toned and I just feel better all around. I would 100% recommend these types of classes to those of you who are in the same boat as me or to anyone who's just looking for something new to do. 

Now here is the moment of exciting news that I know you all have been dying to know. In one of my past blog posts, I had mentioned applying to a school in the U.K., Kingston University. Here's the big new...THEY GAVE ME AN OFFER! I cannot even begin to explain how thrilled I was when I found out they actually wanted me to attend their school. The only catch is that they accepted me under a conditional offer, meaning that in order for them to fully accept me, my grades need to be at least a C+ or above by the end of this semester. I'm not going to lie, I am a little worried. I haven't been doing all that great this semester and I'm scared that this opportunity is going to slip through my fingers because I messed up my grades. But because I want this so much and this has been my dream for years, I need to get my life together and push through these last few weeks in full power mode. I don't even want to think about what would happen if I didn't get all the way in. But I have faith in myself. I have already emailed all my teachers about the situation and now all I have to do is do good and wait for my results. 

Along with my grades, something else I need to get in line are my finances. It's going to cost quite a bit of money for me to make that big move overseas. I have made a campaign on gofundme that will help aid the costs, but I never have any luck with fundraisers. That's where all of you beautiful people come in. Now I know a lot of you out there are thinking something along the lines of "why would I give my money to some girl? What's in it for me?". Well let me tell you exactly what's in it for you. I have set up a reward/gift option on the campaign where as if you donate the certain amount, I will be sending you a gift personally from me. If that's not enough reason, then I don't know what else is. Also, you will get the satisfaction of helping a young woman fulfill and achieve her dream and goal. If you want to visit the campaign page, just click this link: gofundme.com/kingstonuniversity and you will be led to the main page. I have until September to reach my goal, but I have faith in you and I and I know we can get there. 

Also, a little something on the side that I plan on doing when I do make that huge move overseas, is vlogging. Now me personally, I am absolutely obsessed with watching vlogs. Just getting to catch a glimpse of someone else's life and seeing what they get into on a day-to-day basis. I know a lot of you out there are just as obsessed with vloggers as I am. Just a few of my favorite vloggers are Joe Sugg, Gabriella Lindley, Lily Melrose, and Zoe Sugg. And that's only a select few. One day I can only hope to be as good of a vlogger as they are. 

Step 1 to being a great vlogger: Buy a vlogging camera. (it's essential)

Although not much has gone on, I hope you all enjoyed my little insert. I also hope you all have a wonderful day!

c'est la vie

xoxo

Hello everybody! Are you enjoying your December so far? Mine is beginning to become a bit stressful. I have an exam next week and an English paper due the same day. I also still have to study for the exam AND for the final the week after that. Christmas break is so close yet so far. This build up is driving me insane. 

Hello everybody(I have realized that I alternate between saying everyone and everybody)! I can't believe it's Friday night already. This week seemed to sneak past me quite quickly. 

I feel like having a chat session with all of my fellow wanderlusts out there today. So if you haven't guessed it already, I'm going to talk about travel. As if I don't talk about it enough. 

I love to travel. You know that. I talk about traveling on Facebook, on Twitter, to my friends. I post throwback Thursdays of when I did travel...2 years ago. I guarantee everyone is getting sick of me rambling on and on about how much I love to travel and how I can't wait to travel the world like I want to. I don't blame them. It's basically all I talk about, besides boys. I can also talk about boys for a very long time. 

I don't know when my love for travel started to blossom, but once it reached its full bloom, the desire to travel completely skyrocketed to the moon. I wanted to go everywhere. I wanted to work and raise the money to go everywhere. I would always go online and research all the places I wanted to visit. I would look up things to do, places to stay, places to eat, and places to shop. But that was all I could do...Look at a computer screen and long for the places I wish I was. When I was finally given the chance to actually fulfill my dreams, I jumped at that chance and held on tightly. During my sophomore year of high-school, I was nominated by one of my teachers to travel with the program People to People, since was one of the leaders. I was beyond elated when I found that out. I went to every meeting, and read and reread every checklist I had. I was counting down the days where I would finally be able to travel outside of the US for the first time. 

The trip was absolutely amazing. It was hands down the best days of my life. During those 3 weeks, I traveled to Belgium, England, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and France. I took pictures, I ate snail, I made friends, and I met some of the most attractive males I have ever seen in my life.

For as long as I can remember, I've always been drawn to England. I don't know why, but it was just my number one place that I've always wanted to visit. During the trip, we only had 2 days to spend in England, but I made sure those 2 days were the best days out of all of them. For some reason, I feel at home in England. I have this deep connection with the country and I just feel so comfortable there. 

When I came back home, I immediately knew that I just had to go back. No matter what it took and how long it took. For my senior year here at university, the only credit we need is an internship. No core classes, no labs. Just an internship. When I heard about that on the first week of design school, my heart jumped with happiness. For my internship, I have wholeheartedly decided that I want to go to London. This is something I really want to do so I am going to do everything in my power to keep my dream alive.

One day, just out of boredom and curiosity, I looked up interior design internships on reed.co.uk, and I was not disappointed. There were so many opportunities to choose from. I actually emailed a few of the internship firms just to see if any would actually answer. To my surprise, one firm actually did respond and they showed interest in me. I was thoroughly surprised and happy that they replied to me so quickly because at the bottom of the page where they give you the description of their firm, it said that they only reply to potential candidates. I sent them an email of a written CV/resume and they replied by asking me a bunch of questions like why I think I would be good for the roll, how long would I be able to work and when would I be able to work. If those questions didn't sound like "We like you and we are definitely considering you", then I don't know what will. 

Unfortunately, because of how far away(but not far at all)my senior year is, they can't exactly hire me yet. But they said to contact them 6 months before I am able to intern, so I guess I still have some sort of chance. So from now until senior year, I am going to work my butt off to try and save up all the money I can to make the move to England. I've told a lot of people close to me how much this means to me and how badly I want to live there. They all basically said the same response: It's going to be difficult to transition and change. Every time I hear someone say that, it immediately puts me in a "Challenge me" mode. I don't know why, but I feel like they are telling me that I can't do it and that it'll be too hard or too much for me to handle. But I can reassure you all now, nothing is impossible. Sure, the transition process may be stressful at times. I'd have to apply for a visa, change banks, change cell services, and find a job. But I know that with the right mindset, I can do it. 

At this point in my life, I feel like this is what I'm meant to be doing. I'm following my dreams. I'm going to become a successful Interior Designer with an amazing life, living in London. But for now, I am going to do my best in school. I'm going to start small and work my way up to the top. Something I can look forward to in the near future though, is my semester in Rome. For the design school, it is required in our curriculum to travel abroad to Italy for the second semester of our junior year. Italy is another place I have always wanted to visit. The people, the beautiful architecture, the culture. To prepare for that amazing semester in Italy, I am going to be taking Italian classes my sophomore year and the first semester of junior year. I feel like it would be so much easier to navigate my way around and meet people if I knew how to speak their language. Italian is another very beautiful language, in my opinion. 

To tell you the truth, I honestly cannot wait to move out of the US. Not that I don't like it, because I absolutely love my country, but I just feel like I belong in Europe. 

All of my fellow wanderlusts out there, I want you to tell me where in the world you would like to go. Or to all of my fellow travelers, what is your favorite place that you've gone? 

I know today's post wasn't very festive at all, but I feel that as long as I make a post for all you beautiful people, then it'll be okay. Also, if you didn't know, you are now able to subscribe to my blog if you just scroll to the bottom of the page. All you have to do is enter your email address, then it takes you to a page where you have to put in the given code. After you confirm your email, you are set to sail. I know it sounds like a long process, but I promise you it will be worth it. 

So now, to get back into the festive theme, here is today's advent calendar reveal!

Milk Chocolate Ornament

And the countdown continues...

Hello my lovelies! Now I know what you are all saying: "OMG Cheyenne! Where have you been? I've missed you!" And the answer to that is: I've just been everywhere. I've been taking care of myself and dealing with things I needed to do. I have officially graduated from high school and now I am on the path to college. If you've been with me from the beginning, you'd that I've been waiting for this moment since I entered high school. The Freedom, the parties, new friends, and an exciting 4 year journey. Sure, college is hard work and you have to work hard to pass. But I am ready for the challenge. Sometimes I like to push myself and others to do good for themselves. 

Sometimes I do have that nagging worry in the back of mind as to whether I'm going to do good in college and have decent grades and just get through successfully. But then I run through my mind that God won't give me anything I can't handle. If I've made this far in my life, I can make it even further.

 I can happily say that I am not going to be going on this long journey alone. In a short period of time, I have made 2 amazing friends and I can honestly say that I already love them to death. I feel like this friendship was a God-made friendship because we fit so perfectly together. One of the many things that we bond over is travel. As you know, my love for travel is eternal. After my month long embark around Europe, traveling and seeing new territories has always held a place in my heart, and now I have two beautiful people to share my love for travel with. Going to college won't be so bad and nerve wracking after all. 

By the time some of you read this(depending on where you are), I will be on the road to my future. The university is holding a student orientation(duh) and I cannot tell you how excited I am for it. I have been waiting for this day ever since I signed up for it(eager, I know). 

For those of you who are now seniors in high school, I have a little advice for you: Opportunity is knocking. Whether you know where you want to go for college or you don't know at all, whatever decision you make will be a good one. And hey, if it's not, you can learn from it. I can honestly say that I am actually thankful that I didn't get accepted to The University of Tennessee. If I did, I wouldn't have met the amazing people I've met. So I just want to give thanks to God. Yes, I was very upset that I hadn't gotten into UTK at first. But really, it was just God saying that he had bigger and better things planned for me, and he was right. I bet UTK is looking at me now like 'Man, I wish we accepted her. She's so cool'. But it's too late now *insert laughter here* #woopigsooie

Lastly, I just want to thank all you readers for going on this(very staggered)journey with me and staying with me even though I don't update as often. And I recommend you follow my amazingly beautiful friends on their blogs. They are just starting out but I can honestly say that they are absolutely amazing writers!

Maria: https://convergingsoul.wordpress.com/

Micky: https://wanderlusts3r3ndipity.wordpress.com/

Stay beautiful and shine on!

Opportunity Knocks

by: Michael D. Nalley

Opportunities often knock at our door
Those we have to choose to accept or ignore
It is sometimes a shame we don't unlock
The door even when we hear the knock

Opportunity may be a road full of rocks 
Life is a journey filled with hard knocks
One road may be right, the other wrong
One road may be short, the other long

Many times we wish we could turn back the clock
To a time that we heard a good opportunity knock
It has been said time and tide wait for no man
For goodness sake we must come up with a plan

The world is a diverse place of cold reality, and warm romance
Where the merciful Lord often offers more than one chance
The wise will learn from the hard knocks to avoid the dangerous rocks
Time will tell who has fell and got back up when opportunity knocks

Happy Thursday everyone! This week has flown by pretty fast, I suppose. 

Anyways, I have some really good news.. As you may or may not know, #DigitourSlayBells is going on and I really wanna go. People like Andrea Russet, Kenny Holland(bae<3), Sammy Wilk(also bae), Brent Rivera, Trevor Moran(my queen, besides Tyler Oakley), and Lohanthony(Del Rey) will be there. Obviously there will be more awesome people but I'll leave that up to you to look up the rest lol . The closest event is in Orlando, I think, and I live in Alabama.... 8 hours, 8 ratchet hours of driving.

So what me and my friend are trying to do is raise money to buy plane tickets so we don't have to drive. We both need to raise about $300 each AND find an adult to accompany us. I also need to be extra good at home and school because the event is on a school day. And for the event, I'd be out of school for 2 days. So I need to have good grades and take my work with me. Lord knows how much I want to go to this thing. So I'm going to be babysitting, selling my products, doing work around the house, and asking my dad for money. We have to raise money by December so we have time to buy plane tickets and find an adult. Crossing my fingers I get to go.

Another Monday? I'm getting pretty old now lol. I hope you all had a decent weekend. Mine was just 'eh'. I didn't get much sleep last night. I love to sleep and considering I had school the next day didn't make me very happy. Me and my bed have a pretty special relationship.