Hi lovelies. Welcome to Forge A Frenzy.

I’ve had a million different things on my mind for this post. I wanted it to be personal. I wanted it to be an update on life. I wanted to move past just chatting about my outfit, move past SEO terms and audience centered content. I wanted to be vulnerable. I wanted to be open. But that didn’t really help me narrow it down. So I will be going a little bit deeper here. If you are up for the challenge of connecting the dots throughout this post, maybe there will be something that catches your attention.

Every time I sit down with Jesus and ask him where he wants me, where he is guiding me, my mind wanders to my blog. This website has grown to be an extension of myself, an extension of my heart. And, as one of my favorite verses in scripture proclaims, “Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” To be open and honest, my heart has been challenged and changed and called out more so in these past few months than in a very long time. As a result, my desires have also been challenged and changed and called out. So in order for this space to be an extension of who I am, of my heart, it must change and grow as I do.

I have been challenging myself to be present in more daily life situations. One of our pastors at church spoke this week on finding Jesus in the mundane. Which I am fairly certain I have written in my journal about 500x. But this time it stuck. He got very candid about finding the kingdom in our every day circumstances. For a real life, boring example, when my sweet tiny Boston is bugging the crap out of me, it is easy for me to get frustrated and push him off and go back to what I am doing. To be irritated and frustrated and allow that to affect my mood. Playing with and entertaining Boston, for me, would be considered mundane. Where can I find Jesus in that? Where can I find joy in that? These are the questions I am beginning to ask myself as I am leaning into this challenge of living kingdom life EVERY MOMENT.

Kingdom life is not the absence of excitement and fun.
That is a lie that has captured my heart for years.

To change subjects, as my mind does 30x a second, overwhelming singleness can grasp you at times when you least expect it. I would say that I have discovered myself  in new ways and truly begun to fall in love with who I am and who I am called to be, but that does not mean that my heart doesn’t often ache for my lifetime companion who pulls me closer to Jesus and pursues my heart. So, when I find my mind wandering towards the black hole that is really just superficial loneliness because I have been so blessed with wonderful west coast friends, I turn to Jesus and ask him to fill me with hope and then I pray for my future husband. I pray for his patience and his heart and his temptations. Speaking on singleness is hard for me because I place a lot of value in relationships and significant others but I think that taking the leap and speaking on it is proving to myself that I am indeed growing, even though sometimes it feels like I am taking 6 steps backwards.

LIFE UPDATES
– I am flying to Georgia TWICE in the next few months and I am actually beside myself with excitement. I have been missing my ATL people. AND I get to go to a UGA game and get all of my “I miss Athens” out of my system. I’m a happy gal.
– My sister Morgan is here for the summer and it has been SO fun and I am so grateful she is here.
– One of my longtime besties, Lauren, is flying to CA in a little over a week and we are going to have a freakin’ blast.
– There is a UGA Alumni event in LA in a few weeks that I am soooo excited about. I need some dawgs in socal.
– I’m thinking maybe I want to venture into the world of vlogging… maybe there will be a video coming soon.
– BACHELORETTE PREMIERED LAST NIGHT. Y’all know my guilty pleasure is the Bachelor/Bachelorette franchise and this season is going to be entertaining. Currently loving Peter and Brian. I will be updating my favorites as the season continues (;

OUTFIT ROUNDUP
(because nothing about this post changes my love for blogging, styling, and fashion)
Jumpsuit | Blue Life from Haute and Borrowed
Earrings | Vanessa Mooney from Haute and Borrowed
Necklace | Nectar Clothing
Slides | Similar from Nine West

This past weekend, I went to Venice and Malibu with Tori, a friend who is here from UGA! She is interning at a super cool company called Electric & Rose (who I will hopefully be collabing with in the near future) and we talked for hours and drove up and down PCH in her convertible and explored this beautiful city. We had a BLAST and I am so thankful we got to spend the day together! We went to Malibu Farm, which was a dream when it comes to aesthetically pleasing interior and views. Not to mention the food was super yummy… they have f’rose and it is divine. She’s keeping up with her time here in CA on a blog of her own that I’ve linked here.

Well, this post has not been filled with style tips but more filled with me and my life. It felt a little silly to include these semi-serious photos with this post but oh well, just breaking blogger stereotypes one day at a time.

‘Til next time,

Photos by Lorelei Ritzert.