My Favorite Gatlinburg, TN Vacation 2012 Photos:
Me atop the Great Smoky Mountains in Gatlinburg, TN, July 2012.
Me during a one mile hike up the mountains to a waterfall.
Me at the bottom of the beautiful waterfall!
The beautiful mountain view behind the timeshare we stayed at.
Me and my silly 7 year-old cousin at a Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge, TN.
We tried to recreate a famous scene from the Titanic movie, but better lol.
Me and some friendly black bears, taking a break together on a bench. Haha.
Me at the waterfall in front of our timeshare.
Notice more of those playful little black bears again in the background.
One of the many gorgeous mountain views I was able to capture.
So my vacation to Gatlinburg, TN overall was a blast and should get
me through the next year or so until my travel cravings start to come
back. Of course I spent way too much money on souvenirs, attractions,
and the like. So I will probably spend the next year trying to make up
for what I spent on vacation, saving as much money as I can, and trying
to get my last school loan paid off. I can't wait to be debt free! If
only for a little while. I am also pursuing a new career field and hope
to continue to study on my own and eventually break into this new career
field. More about that at a later date...
In other news, my boyfriend of four months and I broke up at the end of May, not long after my last post. While it was hard to get through at the time, looking back I now know that it was for the best. I really learned how important it is to communicate how you feel and what you are conflicted about with the person you are in a relationship with and not through a third party. I also learned how important it is to see how well the other person deals with conflict or whether they shutdown and avoid it altogether. An argument or conflict sometimes really is a good test to see what the true character of a person is like, as opposed to how they claim their character is.
God is in control of all aspects of my life right now, whether it makes sense to me or not and whether it's easy or not. And lately it has been hard to learn the lessons that He has been teaching me. I have been reading a lot lately about sanctification and maturing in the faith and I truly believe that is what God is trying to do in my life right now. He is refining me into what He wants me to become and not what I currently am. He seems to be refining me by fire too at times. But I know it's for my own good even though I can't see what's coming next, I'm trusting Him to guide me along this crazy path that we call life.
I'm not sure at this time what I really want to do with this blog. I'm almost tempted to add one more topic to the title. And that topic would be "dating." I have recently in the last month or so gotten back into the dating scene and it has been interesting to say the least. I have some pretty good dating stories new and old alike that are worth a good laugh if nothing else.
Over the last three years, all of my dating experiences have all been good learning experiences for sure. And I've come a long way in learning what I do want and don't want in a potential life partner. I am hopeful that eventually God will bring the right person along when the time is right. I have a feeling that it will be soon, but I'm trusting Him either way on the timing. I've met some great people along the way, made some great memories, and learned a lot about myself in the process. So I guess it's been a blessing in a way, even if it doesn't always feel like it.
Perhaps, a new topic to add to this blog would revive my passion and motivation to write on here again. I have gotten back into dancing a little recently when I went swing dancing a few weeks ago and I joined a dance social group on meetup.com. So I'm just trying to reprioritize my life right now and figure out how best to spend my time. So maybe a new topic that is fresh on my brain would help this blog and give it the new flavor and zest that it needs to make it one of my priorities again. Haha.
So what do you, the audience, think? How does this sound? "Dancing, Dieting, Dating, and a Diary." Too long? Or I could just take off the dieting part and have, "Dancing, Dating, and a Diary." I kind of like the second one better. Maybe I will try a new name out for a while and see if I like it and how it goes.
Until next time...dance on and date on!
