SUCH a long break...

Sorry it's been so long!! I've been all over the place! Between moving into my new apartment in Waco, starting summer school, being with my family and going to see Franklin, it seems like I've been in a different city every day!

What's been going on with me... hmmm...

Well, I came home from New York on Mother's Day, which coincidentally happened to be my birthday as well!! Franklin surprised me at the airport and we went home, I opened gifts, and we all immediately went to get some MEXICAN FOOD!!! It was INCREDIBLE!!

My mom has been going to this doctor in Austin who specializes in Eastern (or Chinese) Medicine--which is all natural health and personal wellness. I have seen the wonders he's done for her and my sister, and I decided to check him out for myself... Basically, I have begun a Candida Cleanse Diet. I am only eating low glycemic fruits and veggies, organic meats and fish, some corn and some rice... basically, no sugar, no dairy and no wheat... it's been interesting.

But I can tell a different in my body. Along with this diet, I have been going to my daily aerobics class at Baylor where we dance to Elton John and Donna Sommers (thanks to our grandmother instructor who could run laps around us!)

So, for now, I'm in Waco with Pudge and Shelly, going to class and eating healthy... it's neat.

That's an update for now!!

One Week Left...

wow.

I can't believe I'm at this point. I have exactly one week until I turn 22, board a plane, and head home to Texas for good. It's been 5 months, but feels like 2. It went by so fast.

Going home is SUCH a good thing though. As much as I love it here, I miss Texas. It's where I belong. I'm so excited to get back to the Hill Country, back to the Tex Mex, back to the Jones family craziness, back to my friends, Pudge and Franklin, of coarse. Texas is my home.

As much as I'm ready to get home, there are somethings I'm going to really miss about NYC...

1. I'll miss being a part of the real world. It'll be hard going back to a classroom. If anything, I'm more ready now than ever to go out there and kick some behind! The saying really is true about this city, "If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere."

2. I'll miss my small group girls. I've grown so close to the girls in my small group, specifically Nicole and Kristi. These girls have made such an impact on my life and made living here so much easier. They are incredible, Christian girls who have truly shown me what a Christ-centered friendship can truly be!!

3. The food. Yep, that's right... I've had every single type of food known to man at my fingertips. Plus, there are a million gluten-free options and everywhere delivers to your door... I'll definitely miss that!!

4. Although this is a double-edged sword, I'll miss the pace. I love that everywhere you walk, you feel like you're walking to somewhere important--like you're walking to DO something important. That's what makes this city magical... the feeling that whatever it is you're doing, you're doing something BIG.

5. I'll miss my church here... I haven't missed a Sunday, and today was my last one. I cried a little.

6. Oh, and I forgot to mention, I'll miss the shopping, the celebrity sightings and working on a live, national, network broadcast morning show... those too.

I'm so grateful for the opportunity to have come up here... My parents are incredible. I owe them so much more than I will ever be able to repay them, but I'm ready to come home.

So... In the next 7 days, I have to finish writing my Spanish paper/book, pack everything up, do the last few things I've been wanting to do, celebrate my birthday and head home... busy, but SO fun!!! I am SO BLESSED!!!

He Loves us ALL

How He Loves Us-David Crowder

Today I got some news that broke my heart. It literally made me so sick to my stomach that I couldn't eat, which is rare.

Last night, my sweet, beautiful friend, who is African American, was the target of unprovoked, unnecessary racist comments. The words were so mean that the girl who told me the story had cried, herself, in the pain that she felt for our mutual friend.

What hit me the most hard, was that someone was capable of coming to the conclusion that my friend was beneath her, and deserving of the verbal abuse simply because of her skin color... I felt it to the bone. I was so upset.

But it wasn't an hour later that I went to sort the mail at The Early Show and an interesting postcard (simply sent to The Early Show--no one in particular) came into my hands... Searching for a name, I saw a sentence that said this, "The hispanics have already ruined Mexico, now they are trying to ruin our country with their drug wars!"

I was blown away. The next sentence said this, "The Hispanics and the Homos are ruining our country and need to be banished!!"

The feeling in my stomach was turned from anger to sadness... How can this world be so ignorant to the fact that people are people, NO MATTER WHAT?! I went to run an errand for a producer and as the cab drove through Times Square, I looked out the window. I saw almost every nationality, ever skin tone, every type of person possible in that ten minute cab ride. And I realized something, and this might be weird, but I realized this:

Every single person out there began the same way. Born from a woman. Fed, bathed, diaper changed... etc.

We all began the same way... A gift from God.

I am a Christian. That means I follow Christ. No denomination. No religion. A faith. I FOLLOW CHRIST, or I try to. And he LOVED. That's what he did. WHY can't the we all understand that there is something to love in EVERY SINGLE PERSON?!

... I can't always understand it either, but it's true.

These are the lyrics to a song by David Crowder in the video above:

Notice that he doesn't say How He loves some of us... It's "oh how he loves us ALL."

He is jealous for me, Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,

Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.

When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,

And I realize just how beautiful You are,

And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us oh,

Oh how He loves us,

How He loves us all

He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves.

And we are His portion and He is our prize,

Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,

If His grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.

And heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss,

And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,

I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,

When I think about, the way…

That He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves.

Yeah, He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves us,

Oh how He loves.

New.

I made my first blog about a year ago, the day before I left for a three month trip to Argentina. I blogged almost every day while I was there and it was the perfect outlet for my emotions... You see, I'd go ahead and call myself a passionate person. When I feel anything, I mean anything, it's never with apathy... If I am sad, I'm devastated. If I'm happy, I'm joyful. If I say 'I love you,' it's because I genuinely do. I go, I walk, I feel and I live with passion. So yeah, I'm a passionate person.

And for all those feelings, for all those emotions, it's strange to me that I have very few outlets in which I turn to. I like to talk, but sometimes, my tongue gets ahead of myself and my words get jumbled... I sing, but it's not usually a beautiful thing, and everyone else songs don't always allow me to express what it is I'm feeling, so I write my own... but my guitar skills and song-writing limits me to a few chords and a room all to myself (or with my puppy, Pudge.)

So, I write. And I write for others to read. I'm not little miss creative or anything. In fact, the only literature I care to read is in Spanish or about vampires, so I'm not a novelist or anything like that. I write what I think. It's raw, it's real and it's me. Take it or leave it.

Thus, this blog. After my Argentina trip, I fell victim again to the business of Baylor and Waco, and stopped blogging. So, when I went to NYC, I began to blog again, but for Juicy Couture on hercampus.com. It was a fun thing I had going, until I realized that I had fallen victim again to being stuck under someone else's expectations. Therefore, I'm here. You have the option of reading this or not. It will probably bore you, but it's me.

I named this blog "Beneath The Bobbi." It's because I have been writing a 'fashion blog' for the past five months and never felt as if I truly was myself, sure the funny Chandler was there, but what about my spiritual self? I needed to express my most genuine passion--Jesus Christ. So, here I am, giving the world the chance to truly see me, behind my Bobbi Brown, my blonde hair and my Juicy Couture! (I'll probably write about that stuff too, but with a little bit of my heart behind it!!)

So here I go. Hope you like it.

Chandler