Life Lately // June Edition

It's been quite a while since I've last updated this space, and quite a lot has happened since then! (Why is it that pretty much every single one of my posts starts out like this? #imaterribleblogger)

Anyways, today I thought I would just do a fun little "lately" post in order to acquaint you all with some of the incredibly exciting happenings that have occurred in my life as of late. (Why no, that wasn't an overstatement at all. Why do you ask? ;P)

Alright, enough rambling. Let's get on with this post!

Traveling...

• To North Carolina. A couple of weekends ago my family and I traveled a couple of hours down to NC to visit family and celebrate my younger cousin's birthday. It was a fun little excursion filled with laughter, sunshine (a more pleasant way of saying "extreme heat"), swimming, and milkshakes.
• To Anderson, SC. (Hey, I just realized that I've spent time in both Carolinas this June!) This past Monday through Friday, my younger brother and I went to the Crossroads Summer Camp held at Anderson University with our youth group, and we both had a great time. (This was the first time I had ever been to a summer camp, and here I am a high school graduate!) It was definitely a stretch for me, as an introvert, but it challenged me to step outside of my comfort zone, and I'm grateful for that. I feel like I grew closer to both some of the people in my youth group, and to Jesus. It was a week filled with fun, laughter, inside jokes, drawing, swimming in a lake for the first time, getting covered in paint, playing late-night games of Uno.... Overall, I'm so thankful for this new experience and the memories that were made!

I didn't take many pictures while I was down there, for some reason, but I really love this shot that I captured of some storm clouds! It rained every evening that week, actually; is that a common thing for summers in South Carolina?

Celebrating...

• My graduation from high school!! I didn't have a ceremony or anything; instead, we just held a party at our house, and I felt so incredibly blessed and loved by all of the family and friends that came. <3 So yeah, I'm officially with done with school! Well, until August 27th, when my college courses begin...

Buying...

• My new laptop for college! I decided on the Microsoft Surface Book 2, and I'm absolutely loving it so far. It has a touch screen, which can flip around or detach from the keyboard and serve as a tablet. It's "practically perfect in every way," and I'm so excited to start using it for school this fall!

Reading...

• The Two Towers. I'm still making my way through the LotR trilogy, and overall I've been enjoying it. It's been slow going as of late, because for a while the story was kind of dragging, but thankfully the pace is starting to pick up again! I have somewhere around 50 pages left in The Two Towers, I believe, and then it's on to Return of the King. (Okay, so get this: while on the way to the Crossroads camp, the chapter I was currently reading was titled "Journey to the Cross-roads." How crazy coincidental is that?!)

Watching...

• Marvel films. My family used to be pretty into the MCU movies when they first started coming out, but over the past few years we kind of fell off the bandwagon and stopped keeping up with them, for no particular reason. Well, we've gotten back into them over the past month or so, and have been slowly trying to catch up on the films we've missed! So far we've watched Captain America: Civil War, Doctor Strange, and Thor: Ragnarok. Of those three, Thor: Ragnarok was by far my favorite! In fact, I think it would have to be my favorite Marvel film of the ones that I've seen. It was absolutely hilarious, and the fact that Loki plays a pretty prominent role in it makes me love it even more! The "get help" scene seriously had me cracking up... I'm sorry, I just love Loki. ;)

• Return to Cranford. Guys, this was sooo good! I just adore lighthearted period dramas like this one, and when Tom Hiddleston is involved, it's even better. I absolutely loved the sweet, beautiful romance that unfolded between William Buxton and Peggy Bell. <3 Overall, I really, really loved this second installment of Cranford, and I'll definitely be watching it again in the near future!

• Incredibles 2. My family and I went to see this last weekend, and we all really enjoyed it! It was such a fun movie, and definitely worth the wait. :)
• Miss Austen Regrets. Yet another film starring Tom Hiddleston! Are you noticing a theme here? ;P I watched this on the ride back from camp, and honestly, the main reason I decided to check it out was because I knew he played a small role in it! What can I say? He's easily my current favorite actor/celebrity crush. ;) But anyways, as to the movie... I can't say it's a new favorite, as it was rather sad and a bit lackluster, but I think Tom's performance made it worthwhile. <3

Okay, but these two totally should have ended up together! Like, why?! *spoiler alert* How could she doubt whether she really loved him? I mean, he was so sweet and completely adorable! :(

Getting Excited For...

• A cross-country roadtrip this September!! My family and I have decided to tag along with my grandma, granddad, aunt, and uncle on a trip all the way to the West Coast and back. It'll be about a two-week excursion, with five days spent on the way out, four days spent in La Grande, Oregon (our destination, where my granddad actually grew up), and then six days spent on the drive home. Along the way, we're planning to visit places such as Mt Rushmore, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Crater Lake, and the Grand Canyon. I've never been off the East Coast, so I'm really looking forward to this long trip, where there will be loads of photo opportunities and chances to marvel at God's beautiful creation. I'll be sure to share all about it on here afterwards!

Well, it's rather late, and I want to try to finish The Two Towers tonight, so I think I shall wrap up this post here. Thanks so much for reading!

How has your summer been so far?

Any exciting plans coming up?

Much love,

Molly 

P.S. I got Instagram back, so if you have it, you can follow me here for lots of bookish, artsy, geeky ramblings. ;)