current mood: moon child

I promise that I've been trying to come up with something poetic and productive to say, because (let's be real) my Ability to Blog and Read Blogs Like a Regular Human Being has been severely lacking lately. Yet, despite sitting at my desk for hours typing up new posts for my music blog (stay tuned...pun intended), I can't organize my thoughts enough right now to say something significant here.

And, in a way, I feel like that is sort of symbolic/indicative/representative/etc. of my life right now...a little transitory. I'm currently searching for a job, still getting into the groove of this semester, and struggling daily with insecurity and anxiety. Though it's nothing too severe, sometimes it just leeches the joy out of life.

The Lord led me to this verse and made me realize that I often walk around defeated, 

when I should be radiating His joy:

"How long will you people turn My glory into shame?"

~ Psalm 4:2a

Anyways.

It's time for this moon child to get some sleep.

Just wanted to stop in and say hi, hello, I hope you're all well!

+ If you will be so kind as to hover your mouse over the tabs under my logo, then you will notice a *splendid* new drop-down menu that I finally learned to code; I will accept your applause now. 
(But seriously, that took me a while lol)

remember.

After coming back from Bible college, I have struggled in my relationship with God. 

This blog used to be lit up with posts about my walk with the Lord and what I was learning, but over the past six months, my love for the Lord has cooled, and my joy in Him has dwindled.

Even as I type this post, I am battling doubts. 

I haven't been reading the Word as deeply, haven't been letting the One who formed my mind and shaped my heart speak to me through the pages of the Bible. Which is a shame, because, wow, God wrote me a book! Even if you don't believe what I do, can you at least admit how incredible the idea of God writing a book to humans is? That's some pretty snazzy stuff.

"For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."

~ Hebrews 4:12

Anyways, what I wanted to say is this: I've been wrong. I've been finding my rest outside of Christ, outside of God. I've been replacing Truth with the lies found on social media, in magazines, in my own jealous heart. Suffice it to say that Jesus correlated about five or six different things I'd been thinking lately into one amazing lesson my pastor preached today. I love when He does that -- His little "coincidences" always get me!

It boiled down to finding my rest, and abundance of life, in Christ alone:

"He will cover you with His feathers,

and under His wings you will find refuge;

His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart."

~ Psalm 91:4

He has taught me so much in the past few days that I can hardly vocalize it.
Just know that you are not who the world says you are. You are not the body underneath your clothes, or a failed geometry test or the smile you hide behind -- you are God's, if indeed you have put your faith in Christ. You don't have to try to be "good enough", to "stop sinning", to "figure it out later".
You can have rest and peace inside the heart of Christ right now.

"For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. 

In love He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will -- to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves. 
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us."

~ Ephesians 1:4-8a

Remember who you are.

my name's birthdayface

Somehow, in all my Christmas and New Year's excitement, I failed to post a very special update that monumentally and gloriously occurred in December: 

 IT'S ACOUSTIC ERIN'S 2ND BIRTHDAY!

Yes, that's right:

In the time that I've been blogging on good ol' AE, some human has finished half of high school, or gotten a degree, or had a child, even two children. That's not a small amount of time, I dare say!

Most of you probably don't know this, but Acoustic Erin isn't actually my first blog. 

Sometime in 2012, in my senior year of high school, I joined Blogger as a very green but curious newbie writing a blog called Write Dream Run Sing. I wrote mainly about my daily life and high school adventures. Also, I recall a lot of pink....? I was obsessed with Shabby Chic and hair bows and such at the time.

I also don't think I knew what GIFs were back then. Can you tell I'm making up for lost time?

Like other bloggers, I eventually fell into a love-hate relationship with blogging, and felt compelled to delete my first blog. I then created a couple more that never quite worked out, and were very short lived. Then in December of 2013, I started fresh for the last time, finally hitting my stride with Acoustic Erin!  ♥

 In celebration of 2 years of pretty consistent blogging, I thought I'd take the time to re-introduce myself to those of you who are relatively new readers.

My name is Erin, and I'm a 22 year old full-time journalism student. I have my AA degree and am currently working towards getting my Bachelor's. Halfway through my college career, I took a year off to study the Bible at a Bible college. Part of the reason I started writing Acoustic Erin was to document this special one-year journey.

Even though I'm back at university now, I keep up my blog because I can't imagine not blogging. My favorite things are hiking the Appalachian Trail, writing songs with my sister, playing the acoustic guitar, procrastinating writing my novel, listening to vinyl records and living out this adventure of a life Jesus has provided for me! 

*sassy pout*

Well, that's me. I welcome any feedback that you guys have. Now is as good a time as any to ask what kinds of posts you fancy the most? I'd love to see Acoustic Erin continue to grow in 2016....but what direction should it go in? I'm really curious to hear y'all's opinions on what works, what doesn't.
Let me know what you think, yo.

+ To read my first-ever post on Acoustic Erin, click here.
For a look at the past versions of my blog title, click here.  

Obsessions: danisnotonfire & AmazingPhil

Hello, humans!

I haven't posted on my poor, neglected bloggeth in a week, but I do have a good excuse for taking a tiny break: On Monday, I started my sixth semester of classes at university, so this week I've been up to my eyeballs in syllabi and assigned textbook readings. To say the least, it's been a little chaotic.

Yeah, ordering textbooks is undoubtedly one of the most painful parts of starting a new semester. 

But anyways, now that I have a bit more brain power to blog, I write this post as a confession of sorts: 
I have a new obsession.

I have always known that I have something of an obsessive personality. 
I get obsessed with random, odd foods (tomato soup, tuna fish, and boiled eggs among them) and work them into nearly every meal until I find a new food to obsess over.
Right now I fancy...onions.

Then there was my high school elementary school Neopets addiction. 

And that one time that a hurricane hit on my tenth birthday and I was trapped indoors for days and randomly got hooked on Harry Potter and fell in love with Daniel Radcliffe and cut out photographs of his face from my stack of Disney Adventures and taped them all over my journal. 

But now, this past week (perhaps as a coping mechanism, what with school starting up again and all), I have a *new* obsession, and that obsession is none other than YouTube sensations danisnotonfire and AmazingPhil. 
                                                                         I don't even like YouTubers, y'all.
But I have made a hearty exception for these two and now most ardently watch and await new videos from sassy Dan and sweet Phil. I don't even know what more there is to say about this. I actually almost didn't publish this post, because I'm kind of embarrassed about it. I'm 22, folks. I should be beyond this. I SHOULD HAVE CONQUERED MY OBSESSIVE TENDENCIES BY NOW+ What about you all? Are you a devoted fan of Dan and Phil? Or is there a particular movie, band or sports team that has your heart? Please let me know I'm not alone in this...? 

Thrift Haul

There's something about thrifting. ♥ 

I was raised on secondhand shops, and often went on long Saturday van rides with my mother and grandparents to peruse the best thrift stores and flea markets in our area. Thrifting is just magical; there's really no telling what you might find! This morning I decided to set out on an impromptu thrift store excursion, and here is what I bought:

Cost: $1 
AKA THE PURCHASE OF THE DAY 

I always comb through the oversized black T-shirts in the men's department on the off-chance of scoring a sweet vintage band tee. It's rarely happened, but today I was amazed to find this (super massive) Pink Floyd shirt! If you saw my last post, you might remember that my sister was wearing a rad Dark Side of the Moon tee. #jealous Now I have my own Pink Floyd shirt...and it's vintage. GAH Any ideas on how to style an oversized band tee? I might have to make it into a dress. 

Cost: $5

Speaking of dresses, this little plaid number was too sassy for me to pass up. Although it looks kind of like a picnic blanket, I loved its little straps and structured bodice. It can be preppy or punky, and I love that versatility. I may have overspent on this item, but I think it has potential.

Cost: $2

Finally, I'd been looking for a bag with a chain strap, so I was pleased to find this plum purse at a great price. This photo doesn't do the bag's rich color any justice; the purple is actually rather vibrant. I think I'll pair it with jeans and a striped tee or a simple black dress so it stands out.

Total Time Spent: About 2 hours

Total Money Spent: About $8.55, including tax

Total U-Turns Made: 3

+ What about you? Have any thrifting luck lately? 

What is your favorite item in this post, and how would you wear it?

adventures with boo bear

Today me and this jellybean went out for a night on the town.
Aka we ate breakfast, bought 2 CDs at the thrift store and then went to the library before picking up a can of tuna fish for my lunch. Because what are sisters for, eh? ♥