Well.

It has definitely been a while since my last post. In a nutshell, 2 years later, I am with the man of my dreams. His name is Edward. I am very much in love with this man. He loves me unconditionally and I love him unconditionally. Crazy to think I have been with him almost 2 years. We met online but not on an actual dating website. We just kinda started talking and we made the quick(and CRAZY) decision to move in together. Yes it was fast and we probably should've waited but I think we both knew if we waited, it would've probably never happened. And here we are almost two years later. I can't believe it. I am thinking we will get married in two years tops... unless something happens out of our control. I am back in college. I finished all my pharmacy technician stuff and actually worked as a pharmacy technician for about a year before I started in my current job as a Behavioral Health Technician here at Mercy in Springfield. I am blessed beyond belief. I am now going to college to just get my pre-reqs out of the way and then I will be applying for NURSING SCHOOL. Then someday, I hope to be an RN in Labor and Delivery or a Mother/Baby Unit :) We live in our own apartment in Springfield and I absolutely love my independence. Bills are tough sometimes but I am glad I am finally on my feet after everything I went through for so long. We are hoping that next August/September when this lease is up, we will move into a bigger place. We started out at my studio apartment. Now we are in a one bedroom. Next step is a bigger apartment, duplex or loft or God Willing a HOUSE :) When I look at everything now, it is crazy to think how far I've come in just a few short years. I never would've thought I would come this far :)

Yet Again.

It has been a minute since my last post. Working 40 hours a week, finishing pharmacy tech school and preparing for music business school is very time consuming. And on top of that, I'm still trying to maintain a social life. Not as easy as it may seem.
It's Monday and it's my favorite night of the week. Tonight is perfect. Mondays are "Sing Off" night. Tonight I am sitting on my couch. I am pinterest-ing(I am addicted), enjoying some amazing acapella from some SICK groups and drinking some hot chocolate.
Life is good.

these are a few of my favorite things.

So I am bored and I decided to come up with a list of my favorite things. Here it goes.
God. Music. Working. Reading. Learning new things. Texting. Jamming to music in my car. Karaoke. Acapella music. The Sing Off. Committed. Traveling. Long conversations with the best friends ever. My independence in my new apartment. Beyond Scared Straight. Netflix. Love. Cuddling. Changing my hairstyle(both cut and color). Laughing. Quotes. Photography. Vlogs. The Twilight Saga. Kickbutt Acapella arrangements. Dry Erase boards. Baking and cooking. The feeling of accomplishment. Ice cold water. Relaxing on a day off. Getting my nails done. My mom's art. Being myself. Music Business. Dreaming big. Babies. Sleeping. Star Gazing. Road trips. Hot Chocolate. Caramel Mochas from Mickey D's. The Brett Family. Beautiful fall days where I can sit on my patio and drink coffee before work. Fresh squeezed lemonade. Being creative.

Life is beautiful. Despite any current struggles I may be having, life is beautiful.

It Has Been a Minute...

Wow. I am finally getting around to update this thing. In a nutshell, here is what has happened in the past few months~~
*I have gotten a lot of schoolwork done! I'm almost done now :] I know I said that a lot before but I really am close to being done. Just have labs and clinicals to do :]
*I experienced the EXTREME JOY of being done with working at McDonalds :D No words can describe!!
*I am back in Springfield MO aka the place I have always called home :]
*Not even a full two days after being back in Springfield, I got hired at Teletech making $9.50 an hour and working full time :] Definite blessing!
*I got my first apartment ((Orchard Park Apartments in Springfield)) It's a studio and it's BEAUTIFUL!! Water, trash, sewer, high speed internet and cable are PAID :] PLUS a movie theatre, pool, fitness center, coffee shop and tanning beds ;] I am in LOVE!!
*No Missouri boyfriend. I'm cool livin' the single life :]
*After I am done with my pharmacy tech stuff, I hope to enroll with Full Sail University online and I wanna study Music Business :] Music is my passion and I wanna do something with that for the rest of my life :]

Life is good! God is GREAT :) Be blessed!

New Found Love of Singleness.

Since January, I have been following The Single Woman on Twitter (@TheSingleWoman) and she has really inspired me in more ways than one. She inspires me to wait for the person who God has for me. But most importantly, she has shown me that the single life is a blessing and not a curse. In fact, it is something to embrace. I can use the time to accomplish my goals and dreams. I can have "Me" time which could include me eating a carton of Ben and Jerry's ice cream and watching a sappy chick flick and bawling my eyes out. I don't have to worry about checking in with someone all the time. I'm free to learn who I am. Once I learn who I am, I will know who God has for me.
On April 16th, she posted this in a column on her website www.thesinglewoman.net It is something that couldn't be further from the truth...
She might be the bravest woman I know.

She walks the unaccompanied path. She has her own back. She asks for no favors. Not an ounce of independence does she lack.

She has moments where she feels as though no one sees her. She feels them LOOK at her, but do they really SEE her? She gets catcalls when she walks down the street…yet she goes to bed alone.

She’s not afraid to change her mind…but petrified to change a tire. She makes her own decisions…but can’t make toast without burning it. Her idea of a three course meal is a Lean Cuisine. There are shoes in her cupboard where flour and sugar are supposed to be.

She’s sassy and feisty on the streets…but some nights her tears fall on empty sheets.

She has moments where she KNOWS she’s sexy…and moments where she doubts everything about herself.

She screws up…a lot. She stumbles and she falls. She gets it wrong as often as she gets it right. But she never gives up the fight.

She has bad hair days. She’ll buy a new dress at Target and pray it passes for something a little fancier. Some months she struggles to make her rent and her car payment in the same month. Because she bought too many shoes? Sometimes. But the only pair of designer shoes she has in her collection are a pair of Christian LaCroix that she got half off at a sidewalk sale.

Sometimes her friends let her down. They don’t always say the right things. And the elusive “One That Got Away”? She still can’t cut the strings.

She has moments of panic where she wonders if her Prince Charming got lost somewhere, or decided to settle instead for another less complicated, less stubborn, less independent princess. Sometimes she don’t know where she’s going until she gets there.

She hasn’t got it all figured out...far from it, in fact.

But she loves God and she loves to dance…and she’s her own “Better Half.”

The bravest woman I know?

She is the reason I do what I do.

She is The Single Woman.

She’s me…and she’s you.


--I love the part where she mentions that the single woman is "her own better half" I never even saw it that way until I read this.
But it is 2:11am and I just wanted to write something. Hope those of you who read this were inspired and know that you aren't alone when you're single. You have the two most important people you can have... GOD and YOURSELF :)
jbaybay :)

Day Off.

So it's a beautiful Friday here in Wisconsin AND I'm off of work!! That never happens!! How am I spending it? Sitting INSIDE on my computer doing school work/job searching/doing my whole social networking thing/updating my iTunes with some amazing music and I also have "Say Yes to the Dress" on. lol. Life is good!
Watching "Say Yes to the Dress" has me thinking about marriage and all the planning that goes into a wedding. Some people put SOOOO much money down on just a dress!! If it was up to me, I would get married in a park or something in a simple outfit/dress. I would never pay $7,000 on a dress that I'm only gonna wear once!
Okay. Just throwing that out there!! lol.
I have become quite the acapella junkie :) Ever since I watched the Sing-Off, I've gotten hooked! I have always liked music and I always thought acapella was pretty cool. But now, it's something totally different. I love seeing what can be done with the human voice alone. The beats. The tight harmonies. I LOVE IT ALL!! ----> even more reason for me to pursue what I want to pursue :)
Well I should get back to school work! Pharmacology :) Woot woot!
JBAYBAY

Time is FLYING.

Okay so I don't have time to update this much after all. I am a twitter junkie. I have loads of schoolwork to finish by the middle of June. Preparing to move. Working 30+ hours a week. And above all, trying to keep God the center of my life. That's hard to do with a schedule as hectic as mine but I try.
I'm very undecided about my future plans. But this quote from the movie Eclipse is how I see this journey I'm on right now...
"This isn't the time to make hard and fast decisions; this is a time to make mistakes. Take the wrong train and get stuck somewhere. Fall in love... a lot. Major in philosophy, because there's no way to make a career out of that. Change your mind, and change it again, because nothing's permanent. So, make as many mistakes as you can. That way, someday, when they ask what we want to be, we won't have to guess... we'll know."
Eventually, I will have to make a decision about my future when it comes to school, dreams and goals and I pray that God guides me where He wants me. But I also know that God doesn't force Himself or His plans on you. So I just pray that I'm sensitive to His voice more and more all the time.
I know, I'm being very vague about my dreams and goals right now. But I just don't wanna say anything at this point because it seems far fetched. But God has been working on my faith a lot lately and showing me that NOTHING is far fetched when He has control of the situation. I'm ready for a change of pace. Something new. Something that could shake the world. I'm READY GOD!!
On a different note, I'm a fat butt and I need to start working out more. I say this all the time but I'm serious! I need to fit exercise into my already busy schedule. Problem is I value my sleep. So I also am praying that God would help me not value my sleep as much and I can get up earlier and work out. I need strength God. lol.
But anyways, I gotta get ready for work now. Byebye.
[jbaybay] ----> future license plate!