Diving Into My Worship Playlist

Hi everyone and happy Sunday! Wow, posting on a Sunday feels so weird.

Welcome to the first installment of FAITH. I want to gently ease into things so I thought for our first FAITH post, we could take a little visit to my worship playlist. Music is a language that everyone speaks, so I thought it would be a good start.

For me, my worship playlist is for any moment when I am feeling particularly grateful, stressed, or alone. It gives me a great deal of comfort no matter what situation I’m in. And lately, I’ve been playing it much more than any other playlist I have.

Let’s be honest for a minute- there are SO many songs about bitches, money, and drugs. And for the longest time, I didn’t think that my opinions or personality were being skewed because of those songs I was listening to. But recently I realized that a lot of who I am is based off of the music I listen to. I also realized that I let the music I listen to dictate my mood. So I started to change up my listening habits. Now, most mornings I listen to my worship playlist while I get ready for the day and I’ve seen a drastic change in my mood. I’m always feeling ready to take on the day, and a lot more positive about whatever thoughts I’m having.

A lot of my favorite songs on the playlist have lyrics that have spoken to me. They’re lyrics that have changed my outlook and gotten me to think about things a little deeper. It’s hard to explain, but it’s like they hit me in the chest when I hear them and I immediately feel a deeper connection to the song.

Some of my favorites are:

“You will never stop fighting for me
When I can’t fight for myself
Every word is a promise you keep
‘Cause you love me like nobody else” Fighting For Me, Riley Clemmons

“Before I spoke a word, You were singing over me
You have been so, so good to me
Before I took a breath, You breathed Your life in me
You have been so, so kind to me” Reckless Love, Cory Asbury

“So when you’re on your knees and answers seem so far away
You’re not alone, stop holding on and just be held
Your world’s not falling apart, it’s falling into place
I’m on the throne, stop holding on and just be held” Just Be Held, Casting Crowns

Click the photo below to be taken to my Worship playlist on Spotify. It is regularly being updated with more of my current favorites!

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An Introduction To FAITH

I always want to be transparent with everyone, and there has been something on my heart quite a bit recently. I’ve spent the last couple weeks working really hard on something that I think will be one of my favorite additions to this site!

For the last year, I have found myself diving back into my faith, which I had abandoned for most of my life. Don’t get me wrong- I’ve always had faith, but I haven’t practiced my faith much at all since I was a child. I’m not sure what exactly brought me back to a place of wanting to know God again, but whatever it was, it hit me like a truck.

I started watching videos, reading books, and referring to the Bible in times of confusion or worry. As it has become such a huge part of my life now, I thought I should let that reflect in my work.

I am extremely excited to start my next series- FAITH. Yeah, I spent the last two weeks coming up with that super creative name. Just kidding, but I had to acknowledge how basic it is. 

FAITH is made up of just about literally anything faith based- makes sense, right? That includes everything from bible studies to church notes and personal reflection. It’s my way of sharing my thoughts with you in a new and meaningful way.

I’m super excited to start this series and share this part of my life with you guys. I think this is something I was meant to do and although I feel a ton of pressure, this will be something I look forward to doing.

So stay tuned for new FAITH posts every other Sunday at noon, starting this Sunday!

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10 Things You May Not Know About Me

After last week’s post, I gained some new readers, so I thought now would be a great time to share a little about myself. So first of all, welcome to all of my new internet friends!

  1. My name is Megann Louise Rosecrans and I’m 22 years old.
  2. I am a college student studying communication with a minor in digital content creation.
  3. I am engaged (!!!) and plan to be married next year!
  4. I’ve been writing online for ten years, and four of those years were on this blog.
  5. My dream job is to be a full time blogger but I’d also love to be a PR agent, communications specialist, or a paralegal (I don’t know why, don’t ask).
  6. I used to have a podcast and have been considering starting another one (maybe with my fiancé?)!
  7. I just moved in with my fiancé in a city that neither of us are familiar with. It’s been quite the adventure so far.
  8. I love cleaning. I hate being messy and cleaning is such a stress reliever for me.
  9. I played the flute in middle school (and still could if given the opportunity).
  10. I’m extremely interested in interior decorating.

That’s just a little bit about me, but you can learn so much more about me in my other posts and by following along in my journey of life!

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We Moved In Together!

Exciting stuff is happening in the Shaeffer household! For starters, there is now a Shaeffer household! Colt and I made the leap and moved in together to finally put an end to the “long distance” last week. We talked about it for a few weeks but didn’t take any action, then out of nowhere we got the motivation to start looking. And not too long after, we found a place we both loved!

When I tell you guys that this place is perfect, I mean it. It’s the best mix of country roads and shopping outlets. When we drove down for the first time, I was holding back tears. But I wasn’t holding back the several excited slaps I was giving colt from the passenger seat. The location has helped out a lot since the move, since we’ve practically been living at the grocery store.

Living together hasn’t taken too much adjusting for us since we basically lived together at my apartment, but it’s definitely a little different. For starters, Chef Colt makes amazing dinner almost every single night now. I will never complain about that. But I will complain about laundry and dishes. With two people, dirty stuff piles up fast. Bath towels lasted at least a week at my apartment, and now I’m having to clean them at least twice a week. And dishes fill our sink after one meal, so there’s that too. Fun adult stuff I suppose. I’m super lucky to have a fiancé who steps up and helps out whenever I’m overwhelmed with things.

We’re still working on making this place a home but we love it regardless. Things are slowly coming together and I couldn’t be any more excited. Welcome to our home for the next 12 (at least) months!

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Wedding Dress Shopping!

Sorry I went MIA last week. I was a little wrapped up in moving! But that will be a post for next week, I promise you! But in the meantime, let’s rewind a week and talk about my first (and only) wedding dress shopping experience.

Being that I am the actual worst at picking a dress for anything (homecomings and proms were rough), I was not excited for this one. It’s the most important dress I’ll buy.

My whole life I was so excited to go bridal gown shopping with all of my bridesmaids. But with COVID ruining hopes and dreams, I had to compromise. My mom, sister, and soon to be mother-in-law were the ones that tagged along since I could only bring three people with me. Heartbroken was an understatement. But I was still beyond thankful I could at least bring them.

I sifted through so many gowns and pulled out my favorites. Who knew what they’d look like on me though? I was so scared I’d fall in love with one on the hanger and it would look bad on me. That would be so discouraging. I’d probably call it quits right there. We went to the fitting room and I tried on dress after dress and…

I found my dress.

I literally found my dress at my first appointment! And it was only the third dress I tried on. Maybe you guys think I’m crazy. But before I even looked at myself in it, I stepped out of the fitting room and told the girls that this was the one. It just felt right.

I wish I could tell you guys all about what it looks like or even share a picture but I like the element of surprise… and Colt would kill me if he saw it early. He refuses to look at pictures and says he wants to see it for the first time when I walk down the aisle. If he doesn’t cry, I swear I’m turning around and we’re trying things again!

I’m so in love with my dress and I can’t wait for you guys to see it! Stay tuned for other wedding planning content, as it has recently consumed our lives!

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We’re Engaged!

Ahh! I’m so excited to finally be telling everyone the big news! I’m going to be Mrs. Megann Shaeffer! Can you believe it?

It sure didn’t take long for him to put a ring on it but when you know, you know! We’re both so excited to start this new chapter of our lives together and I can’t wait for all that comes with planning a wedding and living life as a family (including all of the fun content)!

We’re both so thankful for our friends and family who have been nothing short of supportive and excited along with us.

Expect a lot more relationship content since I’m on a high right now! Also send me all your best advice! I’d love to hear it!

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Easiest Pumpkin Muffin Recipe

Ok, unpopular opinion- I hate muffins. Well, most muffins. Pumpkin muffins are seriously the only ones I’ll eat. And when I start, I can’t stop. They’re so addicting no matter what time of year it is.Since fall has officially begun, I thought what better time than now to share the easiest and yummiest pumpkin muffin recipe?

My mom shared this with me a couple weeks ago and I chose to make a dozen for the apartment to see if they were any good. When I woke up the next day, they were all gone. They were a hit!

Ingredients:

-15 ounces of pumpkin puree

-1 box of spice cake mix

-white chocolate chips (if you’re feeling fancy)

-cream cheese frosting (again, if you’re feeling fancy)

Yes, that’s literally it. Just wait.

Steps:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Mix everything together. It will get pretty thick and your arm will hurt like a motherf***** but it’s worth it. Don’t give up!
  3. Pour into cups
  4. Bake for ~20 minutes
  5. Let cool.
  6. Frost.

This was my first batch, which ended up being a little sloppy. But I promise they were still so delicious! And since they require minimum effort, why not make them all the time for a nice fall treat?

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How I Organized And Customized My Laptop | 2019 MacBook Pro

Hi guys! I’ve been wanting to make this post for a while now but I wanted to wait until I was completely happy with how everything looked. Now it’s finally time for a laptop tour/ how I organize my laptop post! Why am I so excited for this one?

So here’s what my desktop looks like. Take it all in real quick. Also please don’t comment about my 5,000 emails. I know I suck!

As you can see, I have my folder icons personalized and sticky notes all pinned like a little virtual bulletin board. I love the way it turned out and how easy it is to find everything that I need. So let’s get into how it’s all done.

*Disclaimer: I learned all of these cool tricks from different people on social media, but I can’t remember all of their names. If they come to me, I’ll give them full credit! I just don’t want to take credit for any of these myself!

How To Customize Folder Icons

I found this trick on TikTok a while back and immediately ran to my laptop to try it out! So cute, right?

  1. Google clipart that you would like to use for the icon. This can be anything. I chose the white heart emoji. And it helps if the photo has a transparent background. But if it doesn’t, you can remove it through markup.
  2. Copy the image.
  3. Right click to create a new folder, or use an existing one.
  4. Once the folder is created, right click on the folder and choose “Get Info.”
  5. Click the folder icon in the top left corner of the information window.
  6. “Control” + “C”

How To Customize Sticky Notes To Create a Virtual Bulletin Board

Full credit goes to Julia Crist on Youtube for teaching me this one. As soon as I changed my folder icons I was hooked and went on a deep dive to find more tricks and this one changed the game, even though it’s super simple. I just love the look if it now!

Fonts

I wish I could remember where I downloaded these fonts from so I could share, but I love them! If you have downloaded fonts that you want to use to customize your sticky notes, here’s what to do!

  1. Open your stickies
  2. Click “Font” in the top left corner of your screen.
  3. Choose “Show Fonts” then select the font that you want to use.

Photos

This one was a little time consuming for me because I couldn’t quite figure out what size I wanted the photo to be. Stickies has a feature where you can simply add a photo to the sticky note but the photo is almost always too big. So I take a few extra steps to make sure it fits without cropping anything out. I’m sure there’s other ways to go about this, but here’s how I did it!

  1. Choose your photo.
  2. Create a new sticky note that is the size you would like your photo to be on your desktop. Use this for reference.
  3. Open Pages or Microsoft Word and drop your photo into a new document.
  4. Scale it down to a size that would fit in the sticky note.
  5. “Command” + “Shift” + “4”
  6. Trace a box around the photo by clicking and dragging the cursor. Release the cursor after you have highlighted the entire photo.
  7. Drag and drop the photo to the sticky note when it appears in the bottom right corner. It only appears there for a brief time before moving to the desktop, so if you cannot find it in the corner, check the desktop for a screenshot of the photo.

And there you have it! Nothing too fancy, but it looks so nice in the end! If you try any of these out, I hope you like the new look of your desktop! Let me know if there’s any other laptop posts you’d like to see!

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Meet My Boyfriend

As I mentioned when I first came back, a lot has happened over my spicy COVID summer. One of those things being meeting my boyfriend and my better half, Colt. And ever since we met, we’ve been inseparable. It’s pretty cool.

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I was hesitant on writing about our relationship just yet because of what usually happens whenever I share too much of my personal life too soon (hint: it goes to shit), but I think that now more than ever, we have to be over the moon about every victory. And Colt is definitely one of my biggest victories.

Colt is the sweetest man I have ever met, let alone dated. He cares so much for other people and is always willing to go out of his way to make sure others have what they need. I was immediately shocked (and impressed) by how selfless this man is. It was one of the first things that got me hooked.

He was the first man to actually take me out on a first date, open every door for me, and treat me with unwavering respect. I’m amazed that someone like him exists. I don’t believe that I deserve him in the slightest, but I won’t complain.

Something extra special about our relationship is that it is my first long distance relationship. I mean, it’s not super long distance, but it’s still a whole new ball game for me. We’re nearly four hours apart, which can be daunting at times, but we’ve learned to make the best of it. Plus that saying, “distance makes the heart grow fonder,” has proven itself to be very, very true.

I know that Colt and I will be going on several adventures together, so you’ll be hearing a lot about him in the future. Be ready!

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Reviewing Shows I’m Watching in Quarantine

Being stuck at home has been challenging. Everyday has been harder and harder to keep busy. Especially now that school is wrapped up for the semester, I’m finding it difficult to find things to do. I’ll be honest- I’ve been spending most of my free time watching Netflix and Prime shows.

While I’ve finished some of the single-season shows, there are others that I’m still working on. If you’re looking for new shows to watch while you’re isolating at home, keep reading!

1. Upload on Amazon Prime

★★★★★

IMDb Summary: A man is able to choose his own afterlife after his untimely death.

This show has me hooked. I’ve loved Robbie Amell since the True Jackson V.P. days, so that was enough to get me watching. It’s set in 2033, so the not-so-distant future. I was fully committed to each episode, which is rare. I’m usually scrolling through my phone while watching tv, but I couldn’t have cared less about my phone when watching. My sister and I watched all ten episodes in less than 24 hours, and when I say the last episode leaves you needing more, I’m not kidding. I LOVE this show!

2. Never Have I Ever on Netflix

★★★★☆

IMDb Summary: The complicated life of a modern-day first generation Indian American teenage girl, inspired by Mindy Kaling’s own childhood.

Being 21, I felt a little out of the age demographic watching this, but I quickly fell in love with this show regardless. It really emphasized diversity, which I found to be so cool. I loved seeing different cultural and religious practices being shown without heavy stereotyping. There were definitely a few points in the show that had me thinking “I know I’m too old to relate to a high schooler, but is this really how they act?” I actually told my mom at one point when we were watching (yes, I got her involved) that it seemed like a 40 year old man wrote some of the jokes. But overall, I really liked the storyline and all the different plot points of the series!

3. Too Hot to Handle on Netflix

★★★☆☆

IMDb Summary: On the shores of paradise, gorgeous singles meet and mingle. But there’s a twist. To win a $100,000 grand prize, they’ll have to give up sex.

Ok I promise you I didn’t think I’d get sucked in so easily. It’s easily comparable to Love Island in the sense that they’re all living together in a nice beach house on an island and looking for love, but there’s one catch that isn’t quite the same- no sex. The premise of the show sounds so mind numbingly stupid, but I promise it’s such a great show to watch when you don’t want to use too much brain power. I mean, they look at their own v-jays in the mirror and rub mud on each other. It’s pretty dumbed down. All the great looking people had me a little self conscious for a while, but the show had me constantly wondering what would happen next so I stuck around. The only thing I didn’t like was that the show often ended in weird places. If the whole series hadn’t been uploaded all at once, I would be so mad having to wait for the next episode.

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How I’m Staying Busy During Isolation

In a time like this, it’s easy to lose sight of all the positivity around us. So many of us are worried about the pandemic (myself included) and it’s hard to take our eyes off of the news. But for my own sanity, I’ve kept myself busy everyday.

If you follow me on Instagram, you can keep up with everything I’m doing while in isolation. I’ve even created a highlight appropriately named “Stay Home” that shows you all the things I’ve been doing to keep busy.

Like I’ve said in previous posts, I’m back at my family home. That means I have a back yard again! I spent a day with my sister cleaning up the backyard by raking up leaves, picking up sticks, and cutting dead branches off trees. We’ve been talking about breaking out my projector and watching a movie outside once the weather is nicer.

Before things got too bad where I’m living, I went out and bought some coloring books. I know it’s sort of juvenile, but coloring is really calming and out of all the times I’ve needed to relax, I think now tops them. I got markers and colored pencils at first, then at a later trip I discovered watercolor pencils (WHAT?!). They’re super cool and really entertaining to mess around with. All you have to do is dip the tip into some water and color just like a normal colored pencil.

I also love cleaning my room! When I moved out of my family house, I was too busy making sure I had everything to clean up my old space. I wish you guys could have seen how much stuff was thrown around my room. I have a closet filled with shoes that may or may not even be in pairs, storage bins filled with old junk I probably haven’t even touched since my senior year of high school (3 years ago), and jewelry I’ll literally never wear balled up on my dresser. Because things are so hectic and scary right now, I can’t get out to donate anything just yet, but I know that once things have simmered down I’ll have a lot to get rid of.

Every day has been an adjustment for us at the house. Being in a small town where the entertainment typically comes from late night trips to Walmart has been hard. I haven’t been in a store in maybe three weeks, only going when my grandparents or parents need something.

My sister and I took a quick trip to our apartment the other day to grab a few more of our things. At this point, we’re pretty much moved back home. We keep grabbing more things and bringing them home just to have. We’re not sure when we’ll be back at the apartment full time though. We’ve been told by some locals that things aren’t looking too great there.

Like always, I hope you and yours are staying safe.

Can’t wait for things to go back to “normal.”

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Coronavirus

Wherever you are, I hope you are staying safe, washing your hands (which you should have been doing regardless), and being mindful of others.

I’m currently spending week one of spring break at home with my family. We’ve been watching all the latest updates on COVID-19 and preparing for what may come. Are we bulk-buying toilet paper? No, but we are making sure we have what we need before it’s all picked over by the impulsive panic-buyers.

My university, like I said before, is on spring break this week. However, they have extended spring break another week and planned for online classes to begin the following week amidst positive coronavirus tests in our county as well as surrounding counties. While other universities have closed their doors for the semester, ours is planning to return to regular in-person lectures April 10th.

In the meantime, I ask everyone to practice good hygiene (I can’t believe I’m asking this) and be mindful of precautions established by the Center for Disease Control. You don’t need 50 rolls of Angel Soft or 20 boxes of Mac and Cheese… at least I didn’t see that on their website!

Also, for those who are not in the “risk group” for the virus, please keep in mind that while it may appear to be a simple cold that you will get over, you can easily pass it on to someone who cannot recover as easily, if at all.

Please stay home if you are sick.

To learn more information on COVID-19, click here to visit the CDC website. 

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