Tales from your local coffee shop

Today's coffee shop tales come from Indigo Coffee Shop & Bookstore. I sit here writing to you from this super cool room with sweet gold foil ceiling tiles and intricate wood designs. I got a mocha, the usual, and I spent about two hours going through Facebook and Twitter catching up on everything there is to know in the world of social media. This table that I'm sitting at is super cool because it's next to a window and it looks out over a main downtown street in the Haymarket District. It gives you pretty sweet vibes.

They even have one of those cool "take a book, leave a book" areas (too bad I don't have a book I could leave because otherwise I would totally participate). I think those things are the coolest. I really love book stores, but not just Barnes & Noble and the big chains, but those little ones that are tucked away with cozy reading corners and cool stories along the shelves. It makes me feel like a kid in a candy shop. (Hopefully all of my English teachers throughout the years will appreciate this). I also love coffee, so this whole coffee shop bookstore thing is really working out for me. The only thing that would make this place better is if there was a little bit of mood lighting, I'm a big fan of lamps (#lamplife5ever #ILoveLamp).

*Sidenote - I really love how I can just write about whatever I want on here, and in my own style. Like, yes I talk in hashtags sometimes, and yes I think I'm really funny in case you were wondering. I guess you could just say #MillennialProbs. I think I spend 50% of the time trying to convince people that I'm funny. Which I guess could mean that I'm not actually funny, or just half funny. (I'm giving this too much thought). If you know me, you know that I can be really sarcastic, and I like to impersonate people when I tell stories with their "voices" (I use quotations because their voices usually sound nothing like the way I sound when I'm talking like them (usually this applies to my mom, sorry mom). Anyways, back to what I was talking about earlier...

I love looking down the street and seeing all the lights lit up. It reminds me of New York, only on a way smaller scale. I used to close my curtains and pretend the lights showing through in my dorm room were the lights in NYC (they were actually the glistening lights of Plaza 900, our subpar dining hall, but a girl can dream). Missing those sorts of things about NYC makes me wonder if I will ever want to move there some day. Sometimes I think I want to, and other days I remember it's signature smell of pee and cigarettes and I reevaluate my choices... Other things I don't know if I could live without include green grass (I know there's Central Park, but there's just something about green grass that puts you in a happy mood). Also, I love driving and I definitely wouldn't be able to do that in New York. I love going for a drive to clear my head (it's not as relaxing as it used to be though ever since my radio antenna blew away as I was driving down the highway, now I only get 4/10 radio stations but it's better than nothing. Also, no I don't have an aux cord, I drive an '05 Mazda 6 - too old to have an aux and too new to have a tape recorder).

Well, I suppose I've rambled on long enough for now. Until tomorrow or next time...

XO

Madison

Song of the Day: 10,000 Weight in Gold//The Head and the Heart (love them so much)

p.s. I'm pretty sure I saw a drug deal go on this morning as I was driving to work, it was a weird start to a not-so-interesting day. Also, here are some cool pics of the coffee shop I'm at!

Just me...

Hello. I feel like every time I start writing a blog post I say the same thing, "wow, it's been forever since I last wrote on here...blah blah...I'm going to start writing more regularly...and then I say something about why I haven't written in a while, and it's usually because I'm always really busy." Well today I'm not going to say all of that. (: I'm just going to dive in, and give you an update on what I've been up to lately.

The last time I wrote I was fresh off a plane from the big apple. Today, it's mid-June and I'm fresh off the work day from my summer internship. Now it's time to let you know what all happened in between...

I finished my freshman year of college at Mizzou. I will be transferring to the University of Nebraska in the fall. Most people don't understand why I would leave Mizzou since it's such a great Journalism school, but to be completely honest I just don't think Mizzou is the place for me. There's a little bit more to it, but that's the short version. Some people will say I'm just going to Nebraska because that's where my boyfriend goes, and yeah that's a definite plus, but it's not why I decided to go there. However, sometimes people would rather create their own version of your story than really listen to what you have to say. Oh well.

My freshman year of college went by really quickly, it was a great year filled with lots of ups and downs and lots of changes. Changes for the better. Sometimes I like to think of it as growing pains. We all know what it feels like when you're little and it hurts sometimes because you're body and your mind is growing and changing and maturing. Well, just because I stopped getting taller doesn't necessarily mean those growing pains go away. I don't think they ever will, but each time I grow I look back and realize I'm a little bit stronger, and a little bit wiser, and maybe it doesn't hurt so bad after all. I suppose that's how I like to look at college and getting older.

I mentioned my boyfriend, Quinn, earlier. Well, everything with Quinn and I is going just swell. Seriously, really great. He's pretty great if you ask me.

In the last couple of months my family experienced two deaths. My great grandfather, and my great aunt passed away within a couple of weeks of each other. It was really sad, but mostly because it just didn't seem real. I wasn't super close to either of them, and sometimes I look back and it makes me sad because I wish I could ask them questions or listen to some of their stories, but I no longer can. It's a pretty sobering realization when the thought of someone crosses your mind, and then you remember they won't be at that next holiday. You won't be calling them up on Father's day because they won't be there to pick up the phone. It's pretty sad. But at the same time it's nice to get together with your family and remember the good times and the nice memories you shared with the ones you love. So in a time of sorrow, there's also joy.

On a more positive note, I started a summer internship at a digital marketing agency. It's pretty cool and I'm excited to have the opportunity to gain so much experience at this point in my academic career. I'll keep you updated on how it all goes.

In between all of that were dinners, and movie dates, and time spent with friends and family. Here are a few pictures to catch you up.

Quinn's birthday breakfast!

Watching Friends on the Quad instead of studying for finals.

Admiring how pretty Jesse Hall is.

Quinn and Anna being silly.

Quinn being goofy at Olive Garden when my dad wasn't looking.

My bestest pal Frankye and I at her sisters grad party!

Quinn and I walking around at the Plaza.

Frankye and I at the Florence & the Machine concert(!!)

Quinn and I celebrating date night with some Jack Stack BBQ.

Friends!

Q and I (again) (:

Me with my friend Lauren, the bride-to-be!

Hope that got you all caught up, for now at least(:

Song of the day: Go With Me // Quinn Mosier (!)

Until next time,

Madison

She's The Man

Thursdays are probably my favorite day of the week. Mostly because on Thursday evenings I get to relax (which, believe me, is quite rare). My roommate, Bailey, and I like to sit sleep in our beds and bond while watching TV together. Today we decided to watch "She's The Man" which if you haven't seen you are definitely missing out. Think Channing Tatum before he was Channing Tatum and Amanda Bynes before she got...weird. I can practically recite every line to this movie. It's about a high school girl, Amanda Bynes, who decides to pretend to be her twin brother so she can join her school's rival boys soccer team and beat her old school to show them who's boss. Of course, there is tons of other drama involved and it wouldn't be the perfect tween movie if there wasn't a complicated love triangle somewhere in the mix, hello Channing Tatum...I mean Duke Orsino(:

Unfortunately, amidst our whole reliving our childhood with "She's The Man," Bailey and I realized we some how lost the TV remote ): Of course this put a damper on things, but not to worry, there's these little buttons you can actually push on the side of the TV and accomplish the same the as a remote can (can you feel the sarcasm here?). Also, instead of getting to totally relax I had some work to do which included finishing up a Teen Vogue story and writing my Informative speech outline for my public speaking class (one of these is WAY cooler than the other...). Nonetheless, Bailey and I were still able to enjoy reliving our secret dreams of someday going to Illyria and also kicking butt against a boy's soccer team. You're lying if you say you can't relate.

That's it for today.

Madison

p.s. Sorry our room is such a mess!

Song of the Day: Love Yourself//Justin Bieber (duh)

Update: Bailey and I have yet to find the remote, but it has to be around here somewhere so we aren't giving up hope... #college

Bailey wasn't really in the "picture mood."

"Here's a picture of me (not) writing my speech."

"Uhh..Hi I'm Sebastian Hastings."

"The weather was SO nice today!"

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Etsy Favorites

Shoutout to Sunflower Drive and Quinn for my awesome print. Quinn got me this print and had it framed for me as one of my Christmas presents and I absolutely LOVE it!

"The Best Is Yet To Come" print is one of my favorites. I love the black font on the white background with the all-white frame and matte. The whole thing matches my minimalist and feminine type of decorating style.

I wanted to share one of my favorites with you and maybe now you can find one of your own. If you have time you should definitely check out the shop on Etsy. They have tons of super cute prints that are a perfect gift for any occasion.

That's all for now.

Madison

p.s. I think I may have an addiction to Goldfish and Tazo Zen green tea...(sorry, not sorry?)

Song of the Day: Creature Fear//Bon Iver

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Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

For my Valentine's Day, Quinn and I are spending the afternoon at a coffee shop reading our bibles and enjoying a little bit of relaxation before we have to head back to school this evening.

Because we both have school tomorrow, we decided to celebrate our Valentine's weekend with a date on Saturday night. We went to Mongolian barbecue for dinner and it was great. We had a bit of a wait, but other than that the evening went smoothly. I gave Quinn his black Skagen watch (originally one of his birthday presents) a little bit early and I also got a really cool Apostles Creed print framed for him to hang up. Quinn got me a John MacArthur bible commentary, which I was super excited about because it makes a huge difference when you are studying the bible. We finished the night off by eating some pie and watching Made of Honor with his family(: Hope you had a great Valentine's day!

xoxo

Madison

p.s. Can't wait to tell you all about First Friday's in KC with Lexy last weekend! Also, if you haven't already, check out my latest story for Teen Vogue, 5 Apps That Make It Easy to Watch NYFW From Anywhere

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My Letter to Bob Goff.

Hello Bob,

My name is Madison Rodick and I go to the University of Missouri. I read your book Love Does during my senior year of high school and I would have argued then that it changed my life, at least I thought it did. But one book doesn't change your life, with the exception of the bible. More than a year after finishing your book I look back and I can see that while your book didn't change my life, it provided me a very important stepping stone to where I am at right now. 

Sometimes God has a different path for you than you have for yourself and I think that was definitely the case for me. I seemed to take a roundabout path where I experienced many things in order to figure out that what I always thought I wanted in my life, were nothing but temporary. In order to fulfill my deepest, darkest cracks I had to surrender myself and let go of my burdens. Only then did I realize what I really got the most fulfillment out of was my time spent praising and honoring God. What an awesome realization that was, I now wake up each morning and devote my time to God with a devotional and digging into scripture. It is something that I look forward to each and every day and it makes me so happy to look at my life and know I seek my fulfillment from God, because unlike anything else, that fulfillment and love I feel is eternal. There is nothing like God, and most days I am without words because I have trouble even trying to fathom just how great our God is. When I take the time to look around, or even just looking up at the sky when I walk back to my dorm at night, I find myself in awe of the beautiful stars. I think, why me? What have I done to deserve such a powerful love and sacrifice. But then I am reminded that God loves us so much that he gave his one and only son to redeem us and wash us of our sins. God is so great, he believes that we are perfect because he made us in his perfect image and I could not imagine anything more wonderful or joyous than receiving a love such as the one we are granted.

It seems as though everything has been falling into place lately. I think that is one of the things that love does, love allows us to experience greatness. I don't know about you, but when I look at my life I realize just how blessed I really am. I find that all too often I take things, or even people in my life for granted. I do not deserve this life and I wonder why it is that sometimes I find myself being unhappy. I have no reason to be unhappy, and every reason to be so grateful and joyous that all I can do is thank God over and over again for choosing me. He saved me, and he saved you, and I owe everything to him. I want to do something greater, I want to make a difference. I want to show my crazy love for him, and point others in the same direction so they may experience the kind of feelings I have been able to experience. I guess that is really why I am writing to you, I want to make a difference and I admire the way you have been able to do just that. I adore my God, and I can not think of any greater way to express that love and adoration than to shout it from the tops of mountains. Or in my case, publish it for the world to see.

Bob, I admire your work in Uganda and your incredible ability to foster the idea of love does in so many individuals. I hope and pray that God would point me in a similar direction and allow me to serve others and honor his name. Most importantly, I want to let others like me know that they are not alone. In my most juvenile act, I thought that I was alone. I figured no one could possibly be going through the same things as me, but I could not have been more wrong. So many young people my age are going through this same transition into adulthood and trying to find the balance in their lives; between their relationships and their faith and everything else that college and high school-age kids are facing. But that is where I think many of us make the mistake, there isn't supposed to be some sort of magical balance, no, God should be overflowing in every portion and crevice of your life. So much so that you would be spilling your love out for God all around you, so that it may spill over into those around you. That is how I believe you are supposed to love God, you allow him to pour himself into every part of your life. You make Him your life, it's not about following rules or mechanically falling into habits of reading your bible without really reading your bible. You are supposed to be like a sponge, at least that is how I feel, except this sponge has no limit to how much love it can soak up. I feel like then, when you reach the point where I am today, you speak about your love for God and your faith as freely as can be, you are made radiant because of his light, and others can see him when they hear you speak about his great love. I cannot imagine anything greater than that kind of love.

So thank you, Bob. Thank you for writing Love Does and thank you for helping me to use it as a stepping stone to know God better. Without knowing me, you helped make a difference in my life, and I hope that I may be able to do the same for others.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter, I look forward to hearing back from you.

Best,

Madison Rodick

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