Updates

I've been pretty absent from the blogging world these past couple of months, and although I still don't have that many followers, i'd like to look back one day on this busy time and remember what all was going on.
A few things happening right now:

• We're officially a little over 2 months away from the wedding and I couldn't be more excited! Wedding planning has surprisingly been an ease to me and i've enjoyed planning it. With that being said, I have encountered a few "bumps" along the way. I've learned the harsh reality that i'm not going to make everyone happy, but one of my best friends reminded me the other day that this is my day and not to lose sight of the fact that i'm marrying the man of my dreams. All these minor annoyances won't matter in the end. Lesson here is that i've got to stop letting the little things get to me.
• I've made a "what's left to do" list for the wedding, and ummm yeah it's pretty intense. Needless to say, I have NO summer and the rest of my Saturdays (11 until the big day!!) will be filled with tying up last minute details and making about a 1000 trips to Florence (where our wedding is going to be held)
• I'm LOVING my new job. It's pretty different than what i'd thought I would be doing with my career, but I have absolutely no complaints. I'm communicating a lot with the people I work with as well as our corporate offices and i'm learning a lot about the world of advertising in the TV business. I really love the people I work with and they keep me busy, which I like because it passes the time at work quickly.
• S and I have decided to make Columbia our home for right now. We both have jobs we love so we're content with staying here for the time being. That doesn't mean that we may necessarily settle down here, but we're both SO happy and we're excited to stay close to friends and family right now. We're currently looking for a house to rent in Columbia. Our lease at our apartment is up the week or our wedding, so we'd like to be moved into a new place prior to that. We've got some appointments with property managers to check out some places this week *fingers crossed!!!*
• Lately, I feel like i'm not the only one with some life changing things going on! A few of my close friends (including one of my bridesmaids) as well as S's sister just got engaged and i'm sooo happy for all of them! Even though i'm sad to see my own wedding planning coming to an end, I know i'm reaching "that age" where all my friends will be experiencing this exciting time, and i'm here and ready to offer my help on anything they may need. Wedding planning really is so exciting to me!
• My bff, MH just moved to NYC. We all knew this day was coming, she's such a born-to-be, city sleek, fashionista and even though I already miss her, I can only imagine how much she's loving NYC right now. Plans for a trip to visit her in the fall are currently in the works!!!
• My brother and his wife are busy preparing themselves for the arrival of their TWIN girls!!!! The sis in law is due early fall and she's already been shopping away for all the cute little dresses and things she'll need for the girls. I can't wait to spoil them myself.

Such an exciting (and BUSY) couple of months ahead!

Today.

Today is going to be pretty hard for me. It is officially my "last" day as a receptionist and 2 year long intern...

That's right, this girl right here has gotten herself a FULL-TIME job!

I'm pretty excited to say the least and I cannot wait to see what this next chapter in my life is going to bring. Don't worry, i'll be blogging about my new job, so i'll tell you all about that later.

But today, i'd like to do a little reflecting while I, *ahem*, work.

I began my journey at Colonial Life Arena what seems like forever and a day ago. (2 1/2 years ago to be exact.) I heard about an available position through an email within my department at school, and applied immediately. I was only a sophomore and wasn't really sure what to expect from this industry, but I was desperate for some spending money and I needed money to keep up with my drinking habits. I was called in for an interview, and within a week received an offer to be a receptionist working about 15 hours a week. The hours worked perfectly with my schedule and I was super excited. I was hired right before the Christmas holidays, and before my first day at work, my boss invited me to our Employee Appreciation Party. She thought it would be a great opportunity for me to meet some of the people I was going to be working with in a casual setting. I was extremely nervous, but I went anyways. Of course, while I was at the party, I won a door prize for a $50 gift certificate to a spa. I immediately was in love with my new job, although I could tell I had already pissed some people off. (that's for you, PK and SM) They changed their minds later, of course.

Months went by, and I really began to enjoy my job. I started to understand everything that went on leading up to and behind the scenes of an event. And it's pretty hectic at times. You work long hours and are around your co-workers non-stop. I learned really quickly, you have to love this industry and the people you work with. And man, did I grow to love both!?!?!

I've gotten to experience a little bit of everything, from the stresses of working 20+ hour days, to meeting some pretty awesome people from all over the world, to having our own tailgate in the box office while most were tailgating in our parking lots, to driving Miss Kellie Pickler herself to Wal-mart, to even recruiting my own roommate to babysit Usher's kids when the show was in a bind.

It's been so much fun and I wouldn't trade my work experiences for anything. I have developed some of the best friendships in my entire life since working at the arena, and I know i'll stay in touch with most of them for a long time. 

This job has changed my life. I've met people who have become my role models, taught me about life, and watched me grow up. I've learned that it's possible to have a job and have fun at the same time. Today is bittersweet. My coworkers have made me feel loved and appreciated, and that is a blessing that's hard to come by.

I'll leave you with some pictures of some of the fun times i've experienced at CLA.

A Lot of Unknowns...

I'm at such a weird place in my life and experiencing so many concerns that have never even crossed my mind that I'm not sure I can even describe it all.

Lately, i've been thinking a lot about my future, with S of course, and what the hell i'm going to do with my life.

I'm graduating from college in less than a month, and i'm scared to freaking death.
You might say that i've known that this day was coming for four years now, but it just recently hit me, as in knocked me down and took the breath out of me, hit me.

It all started last week when I went for my first big girl job interview and was turned down for the job. It hurt big time. And I know, I know, it was only one job interview but it was still the biggest blow I think i've ever gotten. I've spent the past four years working my butt off in school, work, and networking like crazy to graduate doing..... _________. I guess that I figured all this work would lead to me landing my dream job and being able to start the Monday after graduation. Crazy right? But that's really what I thought would happen and i'm starting to realize that it doesn't. That i'm graduating along with thousands of other people in the exact same boat that I am and we're all searching for what we want to be when we grow up.

All this is in conjunction with the fact that the lease on my apartment ends in July, i'm getting married in August, and WHERE the hell are S and I going to live? What are we going to be doing????

Yeah, so there are a lot of unknowns that are keeping me on the edge of my seat right now. I know i'm not the only girl to be experiencing all this, and thank God for my friends, family and wine to keep me sane during these next few months.

I've got a lot to figure out.

On Cloud Nine

I've been reading this book that my fellow bride friend, Sarah bought me that offers some amazing advice about getting married and the first year as a married couple. I've read about half of it, and it really has offered some great advice/prepared me for things to expect.

One of the chapters talks about brides and how they handle their special day. Every bride deals with their exciting day differently and the author of this book describes some of the emotions that you will experience.

As I told you last week, I had my first bridal shower this past Sunday, and I got a little glimpse into what this author was talking about first hand. My bridal shower was so amazing and surreal. I am still on cloud nine thinking about how much fun it was to be together with my close friends and family, and how I literally could feel the love surrounding me throughout the room. I spent all of last week giddy and excited and Sunday did not dissapoint. It's just such a humbling and unreal feeling to get to be around so many people who are excited and happy to be celebrating this special time with me.

As far as the shower itself went, it was a hit! My mom and future mother in law did an amazing job preparing everything from start to finish and they had some amazing help.

The theme was a kitchen and recipe shower, and everyone that was invited was asked to bring a recipe along with their gift. I can't tell you how excited I am to try some of these recipes. I know this collection of recipes will be one I will keep forever!

Some of the recipes I got included:
-Baked Chicken and Rice
-Chili
-Greek Style Roast Lamb
-Southwestern BBQ chicken
-Easy Cheesy Chicken
-Swiss Cheese Lasagna
-Chicken Casserole
-Artichoke Tomato Pasta
-Tex Mex Taco Soup
-Strawberry Pretzel Salad
-7-up pound cake
-Pecan Pie (my Grandma's famous!)
-Fudge Pie
-Cinnamon baked fruit
-German chocolate cake w/ coconut pecan frosting
-Chocolate Chip Cake
-Red Velvet Cupcakes w/ cream cheese frosting
-Orange juice cake
-Chocolate Toffee Bark
-Bumble bee break
-Broccoli corn bread (my mom's and my favorite growing up!)
-Carrot cake muffins
-Skinny Margaritas

I can't wait to try these, and i'm happy to share, so if you see anything you'd like to get the recipe for, send me a message and i'll pass it along to you.
***as you can see, as few of these I may need to wait and try AFTER the wedding so I make sure my dress still fits! :) ***


A few pics from the shower...

Parting gifts - home made oreo balls and peanut butter balls

Fun recipes!

My beautiful mom

My bridesmaids

My MOH, made this glass for me!

Thought of the day

Saw this and just had to post it.

Tough Days

So lately, i've been running into a few "woe is me" days. Sometimes I feel like i'm the only 20 something who is going through huge life changes, about to graduate college with nothing to do with my life, always worried about money and stressing about how much time I don't have on my hands, and then I snap out of it bc I see that EVERY other 20 something in America is going through the same thing that I am. It sucks, but it's just a fact of life. Some days you just have to keep fighting no matter how rough things may get. You have to look at the positives and push through.

If i've learned this from anyone, it's my mom.

As some of you may know, almost a year ago, my mom suffered from a brain hemmorage. When my stepdad called me and told me what had happened to my mom, it was one of the scariest moments in my life. My mom was airlifted to Charlotte, and thank God for my friend, Shannon, because I wouldn't  have been able to make that drive alone. It still brings me to tears thinking about that day. My mom was in intensive care for what seemed like forever after that, and I remember not being able to sleep or anything during that time.
It's been a year since that happened and my mom is still seeing the effects of her brain hemmorage. She suffered from short term memory loss. (She recently tested 15%... normal is between like 50-75%). She also stills gets frequent dizzy spells. Because of these two combinations, she still has not been released to drive by doctors. Anyone who knew my mom prior to what happened would know that this is hard for her. My mom has worked since she was a young teenager and was the most independent woman I've known. When my mom went for a routine catscan after this incident, the doctors also found a large mass on her thyroid that they said had to be removed. She's had one surgery, but they have to go back in to remove the rest next month. She also tore her rotator cuff in her shoulder when she passed out after her brain hemmorage.

I know it has been one of the longest years of my mom's life and she's got a long way to go, but she's the biggest fighter i've ever met. Everyday is one day closer to getting her back to her normal self. It seems so unfair that something this major has happened to her, but then again, there are so many things in life we just don't understand. We can spend our whole life questioning why certain things happen to us, or we can get up and change our fate.

My mom is my hero. She's had to deal with more in the past year than some people will encounter in a life time.

There's going to be tough days ahead, but I know we'll make it through.... my mom taught me that.

Fun Times

Everyone always thinks of Fall as being such a fun & busy time because, at least for me and my friends, every weekend is consumed with tailgating and football!

But it never fails, my Spring time weekends fill up pretty quickly with fun events too... This Spring has been no exception.

This past weekend, we had a blast at Carolina Cup. I got to see a lot of people I haven't in a while, and I even managed to see a horse! Here's a few pictures captured from Saturday.

I'm also super excited about my first bridal shower on Sunday. My mom and future mother in law have been busy preparing me a lovely kitchen & recipe shower back in my hometown and I am so excited to get to celebrate and spend time with my friends and family!

And as for my week this week, i'm just busy at work crossing things off my to-do lists as normal.

At night you will find me and S in the gym (we've made a pact to go 5 days a week now!) then settling down to watch our new addiction, LOST. We've been watching the seasons on Netflix and we're pretty much addicted!

I've just been having a lot of fun lately, hope you all are too! :)