(:

There is nothing like a crisp October day that makes me want to be outside,

 all day, every day.

It is so beautiful!

 So I went on a drive, along the beautiful twisty Blue Ridge Parkway,

It was so beautiful!

 I stopped to take pictures, because it was so gorgeous,

 although none of the pictures ever do it justice.

 I even stopped and spontaneously trekked a mini hike along one of the trails.

 I discovered a gorgeous cobblestone path, sunlight peeking through the trees, the smell of the forest (which I absolutely love. If they made a cologne out of that, or a candle,

I would have my whole house smell like that! Not perfume though, it's more of a manly smell...)

and some abandoned boulders. It was awesome (:

Besides that, it's been midterms week. so that's always pretty stressful! but I made it without too much hair pulling and a fair amount of sleep, so I consider it pretty successful (:

I went to a VMI game! Which checked off a major thing on my buckest list for this semester.

 Because of a very nice cadet, I was able to go in & see the barracks - which are so cool!

They have an amazing view, and it's the neatest building. Kind of like Hogwarts (:

 It's really like walking inside a real castle.  We also got to eat a free lunch & attend the football game, for free! yeah, that's right! my pocketbook & I were happy (:

It was so fun! We sat in the middle of the band, so we had lively music the whole time. It was so fun being with the cadets & my friend. The guys around us were so goofy, I almost felt like I was with my brothers back home. I also got to meet the mischevious, funny kangaroo mascot, and he flipped my hat around and had me do a gang sign picture. I also attempted, and failed miserably, to play the trumpet & the trombone, which was hilarious. 

It was a fantastic time (:

 

That night was also stake conference, which was amazing

. The speakers spoke so well and taught me alot, and the Spirit was really strong. There was one odd moment where I saw the first counselor in the Stake presidency, and found he looks exactly like Captain America! I mean, they could be brothers! So that weirded me out for a few minutes, haha. But he did a great job as well, and it was just awesome. I love my Church (:

 

Then I had the whole day free, so I decided to find a place to paint.

I listened to the Reflections of Christ soundtrack (if you've never heard it, go get a taste here. it's amazing.)

I found a cute little place in downtown Lexington, and sat down with everything I needed - brushes, canvas, mineral spirits, everything! So then I opened my container for my oil paints.. and there were none in there :( It was so sad! I left them all at home. So, instead, I used acrylics, and tried to rinse the brushes with mineral spirits anyways, which didn't work out too well... haha.

But it was so lovely, and so peaceful.

I got to talk to a few people, and a little Japanese tourist family came and took pictures of me.

It was a lovely afternoon!

 

I've been learning so much, and can tell already that I've grown from living out on my own and from the experiences I've had in the past months.

I'm so grateful for my life. I am so, so blessed.

I can't describe how thankful I am to know that no matter what happens, no matter what lies ahead, I have full assurance that things will work together for good.

Alrighty, that's the end for now (: