The Beginning of Everything | Booking It

The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider

EZRA FAULKNER was supposed to be homecoming king, but that was before--before his girlfriend cheated on him, before a car accident shattered his leg, and before he fell in love with new girl CASSIDY THORPE. 

Golden boy Ezra Faulkner believes everyone has a tragedy waiting for them--a single encounter after which everything that really matters will happen. His particular tragedy waited until he was primed to lose it all: In one spectacular night, a reckless driver shatters Ezra's knee, his athletic career, and his social life.

No longer the front-runner for Homecoming King, Ezra finds himself at the table of misfits, where he encounters new girl Cassidy Thorpe. Cassidy is unlike anyone Ezra's ever met--achingly effortless and fiercely intelligent.

Together, Ezra and Cassidy discover flash mobs, buried treasure, and a poodle that might just be the reincarnation of Jay Gatsby. But as Ezra dives into his new studies, new friendships, and new love, he learns that some people, like books, are easy to misread. And now he must consider: If one's singular tragedy has already hit, what happens when more misfortune strikes?

This book was utterly fabulous. The book had a very John Green-esqe feel to it, which I obviously loved. 

Ezra was really easy to relate to for a lot of reasons. He didn't want to just do what everyone else was doing to fit in, yet he wanted to fit in and find out who he was so desperately.  And Cassidy was great. There was some stuff she did that I didn't really get and I sort of hated her at certain parts of the book, but in the end you truly know why she was the way she was and I thought that was great. 

The last 30ish pages of this book were so intense and beautiful and I just loved it.

Oh, and I loved Cooper. He was a fabulous poodle. Just saying. 

"We all have been fooled into believing in people who are entirely imaginary--made-up prisoners in a hypothetical panopticon."

"'All of our longings are universal longings,' Cassidy said. 'I'm paraphrasing, but it's Fitzgerald.'"

"and I wondered what the future would hold once we'd gotten past our personal tragedies and proven them ultimately survivable." 

and my personal favorite:

"Oscar Wilde once said that to live is the rarest thing in the world, because most people just exist, and that's all. I don't know if he was right, but I do know that I spent a long time existing, and now, I intend to live." 

*****

5 outta 5

I completely and totally recommend this book it was lovely and wonderful and yes. 

You should read it. 

you can find Robyn Schneider on youtube!

Read on :)

Here Comes The Sun | Vacation 2014

//Andalusia, Alabama
June 6-13, 2014

thank you pinterest for this lovely. 

So this summer we got the privilege of going to visit some of my extended family in Alabama. It was such a nice little break from the constant happenings of life and, if I may say so for myself, we made our own adventures for everyday that we were down there.

On Sunday we basically just had a family day. Nothing too exciting; Church and then just some catching up. My dad preached Sunday night, and it was the first time that I've ever got the chance to hear him. It was fantastic.

my uncle keeps strange pets around...Hadley was brave enough to hold one of them.

Monday was our beach day. We all got in our vans and drove down to Destin, FL for the day. It was my second time there, and let me tell you: it's. gorgeous. I've never seen such beautiful water and white sand. It's lovely.

destin, florida is absolutely breathtaking

While we were in Destin, we decided to stop for some sea food because...why not? Joe's Crab Shack for the win! Am I right?

I love these lovely ladies. 

After a long day at the beach, we went home and, well, slept. (Long car rides are exhausting). 

Tuesday we went and saw Blended (excellent film by the way). My cousin drove us around her old college town and showed us where she went to school. We stopped and got some Sonic (because what else do you do?) and then we went back to my aunts house. Later on that night, we decided to go bowling. 

bowling shoes selfie...wait what?

It was such a good time with my family. After bowling what did we do? We got some more Sonic. (It's a reoccuring thing throughout this whole trip, just bare with me). 

WEDNESDAY WE DID PUTT-PUTT. Holla! 

This was actually so fun though. I don't know what else to really say about it. 

Wednesday night we had Church again. 

Thursday we went to this really cool zoo that had so many awesome animals. The guy who ran the zoo was, like, freaking close to all the animals. Like, he would feed the bears marshmellows out of his mouth...like WHAT?

selfie with some ponies...cuteeeee.

 He also had snakes....lots and lots of snakes...which he made us hold... EW! I will never hold a snake again in my entire life. Agh.

Merci had a slight panic attack.

holla!

i swear this one was trying to kill us!

(We got more Sonic on the way home from this...just thought you should know). (We love happy hour a little too much).

I don't have any pictures from Friday. But on Friday morning we went swimming in a family friends pool. It was so nice to be able to just enjoy the weather and relax in the sun. The water felt amazing (it was like 100 degrees down there). So it was nice. 

Friday night my aunts Church hosted a game night and it. was. awesome. We played this game called Battle of the Sexes and it was madness. It was so funny to watch all the guys vs. the girls and to see how competitive we could all get. (Girls won...both games). 

On Saturday morning we drove home. So not too much excitement that day. I literally slept the whole way. But overall it was such a great vacation. I learned so much and tried so many new things. It was incredible. 

We vlogged some of it, so if you would like to see our crazy vacation adventures head over to youtube.com/abeautifulpath - we would really appreciate it!

xoxo Shi

What kind of vacation did you go on this summer?

Weekly Eye Candy | June 30

via

So it's that time of week again...WEEKLY EYE CANDY!

I don't know why but I really really love these weekly eye candy posts. I think it's so fun to share the stuff that has been majorly catching my eye lately. 

• 1. Bobby pins. I don't know why, but I just like this picture a lot for no reason in particular. I just think it's cute.
• 2. This. Is. Gorgeous. All I want to do with my life is travel and fall in love with the places that God has created for us to enjoy. Nature is a truly incredible thing if you ask me. 
• 3. I like elephants. And tattoos. I wouldn't actually ever get this tattoo, but I think that it's super cute. 
• 4. I go to seek a great perhaps. I love Looking For Alaska (did you hear they're making a movie of that one too? Gosh, these John Green books-turned-movies are going to ruin me). I love the idea of seeing a great perhaps as well. Adventure anybody?
• 5. Everyone smiles in the same language. I just think that this is such a good reminder to smile at people always. You never know if that smile is going to impact someones life or not. 
• 6. More with the theme of adventuring. I love this idea. Take a picture in every state and cut out the picture in the shape of that state. How cute!?
• 7. A little reminder that God is with us always. I love the reminders like this one. 
• 8. I want to fall in love. Waiting on God's timing, so when it does happen I know it's going to be fantastic.
• 9. Baby feet. Ah. I just love little babies so much. 
• 10. Stay close to anything that makes you feel alive. Speaks for itself really. It's one of my favorite quotes and I always try to remember this as I live my day by day life. I love it.

So that's all of the weekly eye candy I have for you today, stay tuned to see what I find for next week!

xoxo Shi

So I Graduated | High School

// Wright State University

May 27, 2014

insta that i shamelessly stole from someone in my class. oops.

So, yeah. I graduated a while ago and haven't really had much time to post about it. What better time than the present, am I right?

There's really not too much that I want to say about it other than IT FEELS SO GOOD. 

I'm beyond ready to move on to college and focus on furthering my writing skills and getting new opportunities. I couldn't be more thrilled. 

the yellows' cute, right? ha

My high school experience wasn't the best...by far. But I am so grateful that I got the opportunities and chances that I did while I was there. And I thought that I would go ahead and share some of them with you. Nothing too much (we'll save that for later), just some of the things that really stick out to me from my four years there. 

+ I met my best friend in the seventh grade. We weren't friends for a portion of our freshman / sophomore years, but we became close again and I couldn't be more thankful to have this girl in my life. She has been my rock through so much this past year and a half. I've been blessed by her. 

her dad is seriously good with a photography too. so that's cool. 

+ I learned how to be more vocal and open with things. I was always a shy kid. Like the cry-when-a-stranger-talked-to-me type. It was bad. But throughout my years of high school I learned to be a lot more vocal and talkative with people. And now I can pretty much talk to anyone who comes up to me. I'm not a shy little girl any more and I am so grateful for that.

+ Some of the best lessons I learned in high school weren't in math or english or history. They were just by simply observing people. I learned that everyone you meet is a little bit broken or a little bit in need of a friend. Life is messy and that's okay. But we have to learn to take it on at full force and give everyone we come into contact with a chance. Because that's what love does. 

+ I found out who I was. It's rare for someone who just got out of high school to say that they know who they are. And to be honest with you, I probably don't completely know who I am either. But I'm better than I was. I know who I want to be, now I just have to figure out how to become her. 

we always have to be goofy.

i love my family.

+ Most importantly, I learned that the people who are always going to be there for me are my family. They support me through everything that I do and I couldn't be more thankful for them and the impact that each of them have made on my life. They are the best friends that I could have ever asked for. God blessed me. 

Overall, high school may have been difficult, but it was definitely worth it and I can't wait to see where my life goes next. 

Congrats class of 2014.

We did it. 

xoxo Shi

How many of you guys graduated this year?