just keep running.

let me just start off by letting you know how amazing the past few days have been. 

absolutely. exactly. perfect. 

Dad was out of town so it was just me and mom the past two days... and we did what we do best. 

Shopping. Eating. Occasional Movie. Repeating.

and the best news is... I still have a day and a few hours here!

and now Dad is home too. so I get to have daddy time tomorrow!

(and I get to wear new shoes to church tomorrow too!)

woohoo!

Today started with waking up, breakfast and revisiting what every Saturday morning the three months before tryouts were like all during high school. A 3& 1/2 hour practice at the gym. Needless to say with already being exhausted, 3 years older and naturally a little stiffer, it was not quite as easy as it was back in the day. Or maybe I'm a little wiser now and decided it would be nice to actually get out of bed in the morning. Whatever the case may be, after practice, lunch and some antiquing with mom, I decided it would be a good time for a run. I honestly have NO idea what I was thinking, and this proves that my thought of being wiser earlier is totally erased now. But anyway, I loaded up my iPod and kicks and hit the road.

So one thing Dothan has a 1-up on Birmingham in is running spots. Friday I ran the 5k trail at Westgate and today I took my normal path through our street and adjoining neighborhoods. When I was in high school I measured out a stretch of a few miles through roads near the house to run... well today I realized my high school self was obviously either way more in shape than I remember or just absolutely nuts. Halfway through the run I realized the whole path was mostly uphill, a little downhill, a tiny flat stretch then straight back uphill and so on so forth. Of course my legs were already feeling like jello after practice, and when I found myself almost 3 miles away from the house running up a hill that had no peak in sight I was pretty sure I would never make it home.

So then I initiated my 3-step "get home fast before you die on the side of burbank dr." emergency plan.

1. turn on fast-paced, loud music.

2. keep moving. 

2a. move your feet.

2b. move your arms.

2c. if necessary, and appropriate or not, play an air instrument to whatever fast-paced, loud music is playing at the time. Today, since my music was mostly the glee soundtrack or the one song i busted out the biebs, it was air-drums, but sometimes you can play an air-piano, air-guitar or you can get creative. (ps. don't mind the people in cars passing and staring... they're not working out. you are. and you do whatever you want to while you're burning those calories!)

3. listen to the little voices telling you to keep going.

Yes. I did just say that.

And Yes. I do listen to the little voices. Don't act like you don't either. And maybe it's not an actual other person's voice, or just my thoughts speaking to me. Weird. I know.

But today when I thought I was going to curl up on the curb and pray my mother would come find me on a road two neighborhoods over I started thinking to myself...why don't you stop? but then I thought... why would you stop? the only reason I am where I am is because I kept going times before. So then I started motivating myself. Yes, I motivate myself, and yes, it is usually out loud. I find myself doing this often whether I'm running, twirling, writing a paper or studying. In the end, I never quit running the whole way home and beat both my records for my mile and my 5k! My close friends know this a very important accomplishment because when I beat my mile at the end of my run I get a little motivational message from Lance Armstrong! I don't really care for him... but he is telling me good job and I just think that's really cool! (ps. this is available via the Nike+ system... totally recommend it if you like to run or are considering starting to train for a run soon. it's awesome.)

So back to the whole motivational thing. I guess it's just second nature to always want to do my best whether it is having a no-drop halftime show, win at ping-pong or board game or beat a record in running. I've been raised to be competitive so I still am and probably always will be, but there's another side to this motivation too. It's not just me and it's not how hard I train, practice or condition myself for the task. It's God. It's the power in his hand and a little push on the back to keep going. He does things we can't even imagine doing ourselves. I will talk about his next week, but two years ago I had a rare injury that should have kept me from being able to do daily basic activities like running or even walking. However before it was ever diagnosed, I made it through an entire 4 months of intense twirling and every performance without missing a beat. In fact most of the time the major pains I would feel would simply disappear when it would come time to perform. This is nothing of my doing, but everything of God's plan.

Growing up around athletics I've seen the power of medical miracles. I've seen the ability of man equipped with the skills and knowledge to repair broken bones, torn muscles and even kill cancer. But it's not just man. It's the simple yet elaborate and so far beyond our own understanding love of God to meet our every need and allow us to live lives of enjoyment through him. So from now on when I twirl I don't just do it because I'm good at it, or it's why I went to college and got scholarship for. I do it because God has allowed me to. God has given me the skills and ability. He has given me the right people at the right time to be able to continue. He has given my parents the funds to pay for lessons, buy uniforms and even pay for my college so I could continue to twirl. I could easily take all the credit for where I've come from and what I'm able to do. But it's so much easier to simply give the glory to God. 

As I continue to train for both majorette tryouts and the future races I'll be in I will never be able to explain how I keep running and practicing when I'm physically and mentally exhausted. I will never be able to understand why my injury happened or how I continued for months after I was in pain. And I don't have to know and I don't have to explain. I can simply say... It's God. 

change.

So the time I've been counting down to for weeks finally came yesterday afternoon.

After taking a test, turning in a huge project, taking my car that blew up Monday night to the shop, going to the doctor to find out why I had been feeling so lousy for weeks, cleaning my car and my room and finally packing my bags...

I'M FINALLY HOME!!!

and it couldn't have come at a better time.

I even got to stop in Troy to see my BFF4L Amy for a little while.

ps. I hope you're reading this like I told you, because here's your shoutout! :)

I really can't remember not being best friends with Amy. Actually I don't remember never not knowing her. You know how people say you have those friends that you can go for years without seeing or talking to but when you do meet again you always pick up right where you left off? Well that's how we are. 

Since we live three hours apart we're lucky if we get to hang out for more than a few hours a semester if that. So that made my day of driving home even sweeter!

But anyway, today I was thinking as I woke up in my OWN bed (yess!) about how coming home has changed over the years since I've been gone. I remember my freshman year I made it the week of majorette camp and almost two weeks of classes before hopping in my Jeep and zipping south down I-65. As one of my friends helped me load my bags in my car on my first trip back home, he told me that coming home may help me feel better and escape the pressure I was feeling with being in a new place, but in the end I would just find out that I'm the one changing. I didn't take it for much at the time, but now that little conversation is proving to be true every time I come home.

Of course I realize this isn't a ground breaking discovery or anything. Everyone knows that time changes everything. It's just so crazy to sit back and think about how my life has played out right in front of me, and I hardly ever notice. In the past two and a half years I've learned more about life, relationships and myself than I ever thought I could, but I never even realized it at the time.

After coming home that weekend my freshman year, I realized that life would never be the same as it was during the 18 years I lived here. All my friends were now off at college making new friends and lives just like I was. My parent's were still here of course, as well as my church and a few familiar faces, but I felt different. I felt at home, because I was at home. But inside, I knew something had changed. Going back to UAB that weekend I realized that I was moving on and growing up and I had to deal with it.

Time was changing and I was changing too.

So driving into Dothan last night I reminded myself of this. Coming home is always a treat, and always will be. I have literally worked myself into being sick and mom is always up for movies, manicures and hopefully this weekend a nice little day trip to PCB to help my vitamin D deficiency I found out about. right? ;) But no matter how much I look forward to coming home, I can't stop life. I can't rewind back to 2008 and try to avoid the obstacles I'm facing.

I learn something everyday about life and how to live it. I've learned about friendships and relationships. I've made some amazing friends and I realize I've lost some others. I'm learning what makes ME happy. I'm learning about my own attitudes and actions and how to control them. I've started looking at real jobs that I would enjoy, and I'm learning how to prepare myself for them. I've learned how to be healthy. This week, I learned once again how far I could push myself physically. I've made goals. I've reached goals.

But most of all, I've learned that God is in control of all the above. I am a witness of having faith in God and trusting in his plan. When I have been completely lost, he guides me home. When I have been sick, he heals me. When I have made mistakes, God forgives me and still loves me.

Times are changing. Home is changing. I am changing.

But God NEVER changes.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Hebrews 13:8

So with that I'll end with a big "Bye Y'all" from Dothan. I've already had my round in the awful traffic, ate at one of my favorite restaurants and decided that while I was in getting my haircut I may or may not have been sitting next to one of those awful "Bama Belle" chicks from that TV show that had it's stint on TLC. But anyway! Now I'm going to eat lunch with mom, run the trail and work on my routine a bit.
It feels so good to be home! ahhhh! :)

Midweek Music Obsession.

so right now I'm addicted to Adele's new album, 21.

I fell in love with her first album when I was a senior in high school, and I have a feeling this will be a repeat. 

Her voice is timeless, yet vulnerable and reminiscent of greats like Etta James and Ella Fitzgerald. Adele's traditional robust vocals and piano ballads are also met by a new blues and rockabilly inspiration. The content and feel of 21 is more mature than her previous album 19. Being the same age as the artist is also neat to see how I can relate just as easily to her new album as the last. 

I would recommend Rolling in the Deep and Someone Like You for a little hint of how amazing this album is. Or you can take my word for it and just go buy the whole album on iTunes, you won't regret it. 

Just got added to my "Driving Home" playlist for tomorrow night! eeek! :)

Have a wonderful wednesday! 

let go.

let go. and let GOD.

as easy as those words sound... right now they are probably the hardest to fully understand. 

I don't do well with not having control. I don't do well with having all the control either, but at least as I have a little grip I know I have some decision over the end result.

But considering I've been sick for the past month and it's forced me to call my doctor, my car isn't working well, I have a HUGE art history mid-term tomorrow as well as a million other little school projects and commitments I've made, on top of cleaning, packing and getting ready to go home and overly being homesick and counting down the minutes until I leave Birmingham at 3:30 on Thursday...

As much as it would help to let go... I can't.

I guess I just need a ton of prayer right now. 

and I probably shouldn't blog about this... but it's a school assignment I need cross off my ever growing by the second to-do list and I have nothing else interesting to write about... so it's now a blog post.

I know my pitiful life is a walk in the park compared to other peoples and that's what I'm trying to remind myself. So when you get overwhelmed do what I'm about to attempt... What I'm about to do.

let go. and let GOD.

the final drive.

One of the things I love most about my family is the passion we have been instilled to have in whatever we do. When my brothers and I were little my parents gave us the opportunity and means to do whatever activities we wanted. And when I say whatever, I mean it. Between the three of us we all participated in basketball, softball, baseball, soccer, swim teams, tennis, boy and girl scouts, my brothers both played football, and I danced, took cheerleading, gymnastics and baton lessons. Not to mention church activities, choir, guitar, drum and piano lessons, middle school bands and choirs and of course the regular expectations of doing our homework and excelling in academics. As we got older, my parents eventually made us pick from what we were good at, but most importantly enjoyed. For me it was at first cheerleading, which I can now look back at and be extremely thankful did not work out, but I finally settled on baton. I didn't make majorette the first time I tried out and my parents told me I could either quit or keep going. I knew that whichever I decided they would support me 100%, but once I made my decision to continue they expected me to give my all, all the time. Long story short, I worked my butt off during high school, made some goals and with the help of my beyond amazing coach and parents, I made majorette in college! woohoo!

As for my brothers, they picked football. This may have had some pull of my dad being an athletic trainer and all three of us growing up on the sideline of Dothan High football games, going into the locker rooms at half-time, and having personal heros in the high school standouts we saw every Friday night. It may have been the fact that they played pick-up in the cul-de-sac we lived on every afternoon after school, or maybe that my brothers are just avid sports fans in general. But nonetheless, they chose football, and from then on football defined our family. Just like my parents told me, they also told my brothers that they were to put everything they had into what they were doing. We were never allowed to do anything halfway. First off, dad would get mad if we got hurt horsing around. And second, they wanted to see us excel, and in turn we were going to do whatever it took to do exactly that.

They both started playing in middle school and continued playing in high school. This also means that from the time my oldest brother Chris, started playing in middle school in 1997 and my second brother Cory, started playing in 2000 my parents and I were then at a football game either Tuesday, Thursday or Friday, sometimes all three, until Cory graduated in 2006. That's 9 years. I kept my parents coming to Friday night games for two more years, but every Saturday morning we would make our way to Birmingham to watch Cory play at Samford. So for the past five years, whether it was traveling to just Birmingham, or Illinois, South Carolina, Louisiana and a several other places, my parents have been there. Now that's 14 years.

My family's whole life has always revolved around football. Before we were born, my mother followed my dad to football games when he was the trainer at Troy. Since my brothers have been playing football, I've seen every game with the exception of a few the past few years when I had games of my own. When my family sits down at dinner we all talk about how the season is going, Dad always asks about the shoulder or ankles or if anything else hurts, and that's just how it goes. From spring training to the last game of the season, it's what we all think about. Whether I was cheering for Chris playing when I was in 7th grade or watching Cory when I was in college, I've always had a #51 or #66 to cheer for. But as with all good things, this too has come to an end.


Cory's senior football banquet was Tuesday night, and it was a day I thought I'd never see. One of the most powerful things about the night was seeing how God was glorified in all of his team mates lives, not only in the wins and success, but also through injury, loss and defeat. I've seen my brother go through a lot of different trials, and I've also seen him prevail by giving God all control.  Proverbs 3: 5-6 says "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will set your paths straight." Sometimes we don't understand God's plan for our life, but as long as we trust and lean, everything will be fine.


I know God has amazing plans for my brother. Football was just one of the seasons of both his and our family's life. It started when we were little on a high school sideline and ended in Samford's football stadium. I will never forget being able to watch my brother play football in college, and I know he will never forget it either.

Thanks for the memories, Cory. :) I love you. 

one day for love?

So it's Valentine's Day. 

A day of love. 

Honestly, I'm not the biggest fan of this commercial holiday. Every time I see a life-sized teddy bear I always think of high school when girls would carry balloons, bears, candy, flowers, etc. etc. that their boyfriend gave them that morning before school. That they could've left in the car. But they carried it around all. day. I don't understand why they chose to do this, but I always enjoyed watching them balance a bear, bouquet of flower and bundle of balloons along with books, notebooks and other things. 

I do realize I'm being extremely pessimistic.

But why do we designate one day of the year to celebrate, love. I'd much rather know I'm loved everyday than receive a bunch of expected hallmark-induced gifts one day of the year. I'll admit I've never been one to have a "valentine" and I'm okay with that. But when Mr. Right does comes along, I'll make sure we have a no-bear/balloon/box-a-chocolates deal. 

Love is an all-the-time thing, not a once-in-a-while thing.

So enjoy your chocolate covered cherries, and put the roses in a vase, but don't let it end today.

 Love should be everywhere, everyday, every time. 

And if you're like me, just let this comfort your day when everyone else is celebrating.

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 Romans 8:38-39

Thank God for an unconditional, never ending love!

So, here's who I love the most. :) 

What I don't love is a stomach virus. Have a great v-day while I rest, eat soup and do homework.

much love.

lately.

It's finally the weekend! woohoo. This week wasn't as hectic as it could've been, but I've started on a couple of projects that aren't due for a few weeks, so I feel pretty productive. If there is one thing that I'm really really awful at it's procrastinating, but I'm slowly overcoming this problem. But anyway! I can't think of anything too exciting to write about, so I'll just give you a little rundown of what is currently going down in my life. Some of it is exciting, but that may just be me. At least I'm excited about what's going on in my life, for the past few months that's been hard to come by. So here goes....

1. School! woo! I'm actually enjoying all my classes now, with the exception of Lit. It's awful. I hate reading, so that's been difficult. But as for all my other classes... I'm in love. For those of you who didn't know, I just changed my major to journalism from graphic design. I love art and design, and always will. In fact the other night I spent hours just looking at design blogs, posters, tutorials and other stuff. However, it takes a special person to work in the design business, and I slowly and miserably found out that I was not that person.
**For those of you reading this in college or going into college, you shouldn't hate your major classes!**
You shouldn't. They will be difficult, and hard, and you may go through a few, or many all-nighters. But when you look for excuses to miss class and put off projects over and over, you may not be in the right place. I think the hardest thing for me was accepting and finally telling my parents that I wasn't happy. But my parents have this really weird thing where they can read my mind and know exactly what is going on in my life. When something isn't quite right my mom can spot it after talking on the phone for 2 seconds. So after a weekend at home they knew exactly what was going on. It took hours of sitting down with them and the entire UAB undergrad catalog, but I finally decided that I needed to change majors. I dropped my graphic design class and started planning the next step. So now I'm in journalism classes and I am so much happier. College is hard. There's a lot of adjusting, growing and a lot to learn, but the most important thing is learning what makes you happy. It is what you will be doing for the rest of your life, and that is kinda huge. :)

2. I'm training for a 5k! or 10k!  and hopefully, this will eventually be a half and full marathon! But I'm taking baby steps. I have always loved running, and being able to train for this is really exciting. Also it's a long story for another day, but one year ago an injury kept me from running at all. I had surgery, and I couldn't walk or run long distances for almost 4 months. So being able to run without pain is one of the best feelings in the world.

3. Grad School! I feel like this title should maybe even be... Grad School!?????? It's just a little something I've been thinking a lot about lately. But I must admit looking at all the programs I could go into with what I'm getting a degree in is really exciting. Even though it's really dim I feel like I can start seeing the light at the end.

4. Home. I just really want to go home. Sad, i know. But I've been thinking about home a lot lately. I miss it. :(

5. Majorette Tryouts! I'm making up my own routine this year. Which is fun, but really hard. I'm enjoying twirling so much more now, especially after also not being able to twirl after my surgery. I finished the first half of it yesterday, and I love it. ahhh! I'm so excited! It's going to be really cool.

6. oh! it snowed this week. and a lot. Like I said before, I moved on campus again, but this snow was fun. I looked at it in a different light after getting all my bad feelings towards it out during my last post. haha.

7. I think that's all. Now I'm going to go run, grab a bite to eat, come home and paint. All my friends are out of town, so it's me time!!! woohoo for time by myself. love it.

happy friday.

storehouses of snow...

So today on my way to work it was snowing. SNOWING. It never snows in Alabama. NEVER. But in the past month it has snowed a total of 3!!! times. Which is unheard of here. So of course when the first few flurries start falling the whole state/city panics, buys all the milk and bread and runs home as fast as they can. Which then gridlocks traffic and causes a million wrecks. (ps. people in AL really can't drive to start with, so adding snow is asking for disaster).  So, in response the city of Birmingham panics and shuts both roads to my apartment down. It also doesn't help that I live on top of a mountain. So I'm either snowed out of my house or snowed in my house.  Thank goodness I've never been snowed in... instead I pack a bag and move in with my awesome friends on campus for a few days (told you they were cool.) :)

But anyway, as I was driving to work I started thinking about this... snow. It was so peaceful driving with no cars or other crazy drivers on the road and tons of flakes falling all around my car. (It's seriously not the first time I've seen snow, maybe the 7th time in my life, but I am from Dothan so don't laugh.) But then I started thinking about how sick I was of it. Although it is pretty the first time it falls, and it is fun for snowmen and snow angels and sledding and snowballs, now it was a bit excessive. It's just so wet and cold and icy. All the businesses, roads and schools (except for UAB, of course) shut down. Everyone is cold and irritable. It is nice every once in a while, but this has just been too much for me. Maybe if I lived up north where it is normal and life continues despite the snow I could handle it, but this is not my cup of tea, or cup of skinny vanilla latte should I say, which would be lovely right now.

This thinking turned into deeper thinking throughout my day. Which in turn left God with leaving this thought in my head. I find it funny how that whole process works, and I sometimes like to sing the noodle song from a childhood TV show when I get a crazy, out of the blue thought in my head. But in the Bible, God uses weather as a tool to show his people his power. Just think about the floods, lightning even drought and famine that are spoken of all through the Bible. Sometimes God uses the weather as a way to punish his people, but many times he uses it as a tool to show his control and constant guidance over our lives.

 In Luke 8, when Jesus calms the storm he asks the disciples, "Where is your faith?.  I sometimes can picture myself in that boat and I sometimes even picture that boat as my own life. It's so easy to have a moment, maybe even a stretch of months or years when we can feel the storms of life beating our boat around, we can feel the water pouring over and pulling us down, when we run panicking. But this is where that faith comes in. My dad once told me that having full faith in God means trusting him with every decision, major or minor, in my life. As hard as this is, it's amazing the difference I feel in knowing I'm following God's plan for my life. As of right now I can't tell you exactly where I will be in 5 years, not even 2 years, how much money I will eventually make, or where I will end up living. But I do know, that when the next storm does come to my life God has total and complete control of the sails, and this boat will not be sinking.

So back to the snow, it was also in the Bible in the story of Job, a man who had by no means an easy life. Except instead of just snow, Job also got thunder, lightning, hail, rainstorms, ice and scattering winds... all at once. But instead of shutting down like we do, and complaining of the cold like I found myself this morning, Job was lead to proclaim just how powerful, wonderful and almighty our God is. So no matter how cold, wet and icy it is, this is just God showing his beauty, power and awesomeness to us. During the next rainstorm, flood, heat spell, or freak blizzard we have or the next storm in your own life give God all the control, trust in him and have faith. He created the storm, and he will be there to save you.

Much love.

post-spoiler alert. this was really long. when it rains, it pours. :)

P.S... Here's some pictures from the snow day we had back in January! It was a lot of fun, and we all became quite the sledding enthusiasts this day. :)

girls!

one of the coolest people of i know :)

sleds!

a little introduction.

hi. :) So if you didn't know already, my name is Carrie and this whole blogging thing is new to me. So here is a rundown of exactly who I am and a few interesting/strange/neat/quirky/whatever you think... facts about myself.

1. My full name is Cara Noelle Smith, but I've always gone by Carrie. I don't understand why my nickname is longer than my actual name, but it is and has been since I was born. I blame my parents, but they blame my brothers, so I'm just stuck with a special name situation. But you can call me Carrie/Cara/hey girl, whatever you feel like. :)

2. I'm from Dothan, Alabama. I lived there for 18 of my 20 years of life so far, the other two have been in Birmingham at school. It's a town in the south, south, south east corner of Alabama. It's also the Peanut Capital of the World and an hour and a half from Panama City Beach, so that's cool.

3. Now I live in Birmingham and attend UAB. I love, love, love living in Birmingham and I'm in love with my school. I never pictured myself living in a college town and I've always wanted to live in a big city, so Birmingham is the perfect fit. I also love that my school mascot is a dragon, well it's actually a blazer, but who else can say they cheered for a dragon in college? Maybe this just makes me really weird, but I'm okay with that.

4. I'm a UAB majorette. Honestly, twirling is the real reason I came to UAB. I'm so blessed to have found a place where I can be comfortable, surrounded by great people and amazing twirlers while doing what I love. If I could do one thing all day, everyday for the rest of my life, it would be twirling baton. During certain times of the year, like right now, it's what I wake up, daydream, and fall asleep thinking about, and I almost always have my batons with me. They're defintely not the most convienent objects to carry around, so it takes some dedication, but I'm used to them. I'm sure I will talk more and a lot about this later, because it is such an important part of my life. So to summarize this up, I LOVE twirling baton. It's what I do, and I LOVE it.

5. I'm majoring in Journalism. I'm also minoring in Graphic Design, which used to be my major. This whole big change has taken place within the last 4 months, in the middle of my junior year, so I'm halfway done with college in 400 level art classes and 100 level journalism classes. I could easily have a breakdown about this at any given time, but I'm so much happier in what I'm doing now.

6. My friends I've made at UAB are probably one of the best things that have ever happened to me. I'm so blessed to have been surrounded by great Christian girls and guys since I've been at UAB.  I'll also talk more about these amazing people later, but I must say, my friends are great, wonderful, awesome and really cool. be jealous.

7. I'm a CHRISTIAN. I debated putting this as the first point, because it really is the most important thing to me, but instead I'll wrap up with it, because it is the base of my life (poetic, huh?). All the listed above are all possible because of the grace God has given me and the faith I have in him. Amazing family? check. Growing up in Dothan? check. Twirling baton? check. Coming to Birmingham? check. The whole changing major fiasco? check. Amazing friends? check. In all my life, everything comes back to the goodness, faithfulness, and awesomeness that God embodies. I would be nothing without him, and   with him I have everything.

So, that's me. That's who I am, minus a whole lot that will eventually come later. But anyway, this whole adventure should be fun and interesting. I don't know exactly what this will become, just like everything else that happens in my life. So enjoy, sit back, relax and welcome to my life. :)

Ps. I totally started this randomly on a Wednesday night, only to be assigned a blog in class on Thursday morning! cool, huh? :)