High Five for Friday! (Or Sunday)

So this post is a few days late...I didn't finish it quite on time because I had a very busy week last week. But here's a quick recap of the high points!

1. Youth Workers Retreat:  Last weekend I went to Nags Head with a group of adults from my home church, FBC Sanford, to help plan and prepare for working with the youth group. I was the youngest person there but I had a blast hanging out with some of the wonderful leaders in our church, including the Youth Minister. We talked a lot about his goals for the youth this year and his challenge to us all, sharing and living out our faith. It was so inspiring to be around a group of people who are so motivated to help guide teens into building a relationship with God. It was also motivating to my own relationship with Him. I can't wait to see the work he will do through us and to us while working with the FBC Youth this year!

2. Not Your Mama's Grilled Cheese: Each month we have team lunches with our team at work, and this month it was my choice! After much debate with a couple of my coworkers, I decided on a place called Relish. It's on the corner of Millbrook and Creedmore in a little strip mall and has salads, soups, sandwiches and more! All of our drinks came in mason jars, how cute! We started off with fried pickles as an appetizer and then I ordered a grilled cheese . . . but with pulled pork and slaw on the inside! It was easily one of the best grilled cheeses I've ever had (other than my dad's, those are his specialty). I highly recommend stopping in for lunch or dinner! They have everything from that delicious grown-up grilled cheese to shrimp and grits, in a restaurant full of southern charm!

3. The City of Champions: For the past two weeks at work I have been preparing to go visit one of my clients. My main preparation was focused on a presentation about their past performance and some of our plans for this year while working with them. I was really nervous because I hadn't met them in person before and had only recently been introduced to them over the phone, but I was more than excited to go on my first real business trip. After working several long days, I hopped on the plane on Wednesday morning headed to Baltimore. That's right, Baltimore. As in Maryland, the Orioles, and the reigning Super Bowl Champs, the Ravens. Our day with the client, Raymond Geddes, went great! After lunch we shared our presentation, answered questions and got to know more about Geddes and the people we were working with. Raymond Geddes is a school supply company so they took us down to their show room where they let us take some samples home with us. I loaded up on stickers, gel pens, book marks and more. I felt like it was my way of coping with not have to do real back to school shopping this year. After our meeting, Lauren and I drove into downtown Baltimore to get a better view of the city and stopped at Midnite Confections for a cupcake. It seems to be a tradition for me to get a cupcake in whatever city I visit. Call me the cupcake connoisseur. After enjoying a Black Velvet cupcake, with possibly the best cream cheese icing I've ever had, Lauren and I hopped back in the car so I could get on my plane heading back to Raleigh. On the way to the airport we drove past both the Orioles' baseball park and the Ravens' stadium, which only got me more excited for football season. When I got to the airport and made it to the gate I found out that my plane was delayed . . . for three hours. Luckily I ran into two of my co-workers who had just landed in Baltimore for another client visit. They rescued me from the airport and took me to dinner downtown before bringing me safely back to BWI so I could board my 11:10pm plane. Destination: RDU.

4. Facing my Fears (DMV Style): When you hear the letters D-M-V, what words come to mind? Long lines, failing drivers tests, license mug shots? That's exactly what I was thinking. My dad recently signed my car title over to me since I'll be paying car insurance so I needed to take the title to the DMV and get a new license plate. I just knew it would take forever, waiting in a long line with bazillions of people everywhere. Like Disney World with no rides, the State fair with no fried foods. Pretty much I was dreading to this trip to the DMV, especially after dad told me to go the the big one in Raleigh since its close to my work. I took my lunch break on Thursday to go and it surprisingly wasn't so bad! The line was really quick and I came out with a new UNC license plate! Conveniently there is a Cookout right across the street from the DMV so I picked myself up a lunch treat for the DMV success and headed back to work. If you couldn't tell I was a Carolina fan, my new license plate will proudly show everyone. Just wait until I get an Alumni sticker for the window!

5. Alumni Status, in Print: I finally got my diploma and it fits beautifully in the frame my granddaddy gave me for Christmas! Enough said.

1) The group on the Youth Workers Retreat before dinner. 2) The long awaited diploma! 3) Ravens Stadium in Baltimore. 4) Relish Cafe in Raleigh. 5) UNC license plate!

High Five For Friday!

After not blogging for over six months, I thought it was about time to start again. For the hundreds of people who read my blog (I'm flattering myself its more like 2...me and my mom), I've been through lots of exciting changes this year and done lots of exciting things since the last time I touched my fingers to the keyboard. Graduation, a trip to Europe, a new job, and much more!

My goal is to blog once a week and then kick it up to twice a week once I master that goal for a couple months. A lot of the blogs I read link up and do "High Five for Friday" where they post the top 5 highlights of their week every Friday. After my first few High Fives I'll start linking up with the blogs that I follow so y'all can read up on some of the ladies who inspired me to start blogging.

This week's High Five for Friday will be my top 5 moments since the last time I blogged:

1. Turning the Tassel:  Finally! After four wonderful years in Chapel Hill, I graduated! With a BSBA from Kenan-Flagler School of Business, I am officially an Alumni. I'm thrilled to be finished with school, but I'm sure once some of my friends start back in the Fall I will feel a little more nostalgic. As of right now, I'm just dying for my diploma to come in so I can put it in the frame I got for Christmas.

2. A Taste of Europe:  A week after graduation I hopped on a plane with about 30 other alumni that I didn't know and landed in London. We spent 19 days traveling Europe, going to France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Austria and Italy. It rained a lot while I was there so most of my pictures feature me in amazing places in a raincoat. Fashionista. It didn't rain while we were in Italy which is probably why it was one of my favorite places . . . other than the delicious gelato, gallons of wine, miles of pizza and so much old stuff. I love history . . . reading historical novels, watching historical movies, visiting museums, etc. My friends that I made in Europe teased me in Italy because I wanted to touch everything that wasn't locked behind a glass box. I had a field day in the Colosseum. It was just incredible to be touching something that was built in 70AD and still standing; to see where all the Romans watched the Gladiators, where you can still see word etched in the stone, where Caesar himself sat and raised a thumbs up for the man to live, thumbs down to die. I could go on for ages about Europe so I'll save that for a future post. On that note . . . this isn't the real Caesar's palace is it? Like did Caesar live here? (Know that movie??)

3. Workin 9 to 5: I was so lucky to get a job before I graduated! And a job that I now love! I'm working in North Raleigh at ROI Revolution which is an online marketing agency. I have learned so much in the past two months, and I honestly do learn something new everyday. I love the people I work with and everything about the company I work for and the work I do. We even went to a company team building at Tasu in Cary where we learned to make sushi! I can confidently say if I ever start to suck at my job I can fall back on becoming a sushi chef.

4. A Weekend in DC: Josh's best friend Pace moved to Washington, D.C. this month for a new job with the Washington Capitals, so he asked Josh to help him move in one weekend. I decided I would tag along for the trip so I could visit one of my close friends, Cierra, who was doing an internship with a law firm in DC before heading to UVA for law school this fall. We arrived at night so it was so cool to see the monuments all lit up and not so surrounded by tourists. Saturday morning we went to brunch at pub called Irish Whiskey. I had the best omelet of my life; I'm still dreaming about it. After brunch we went to Georgetown and explored the 3 story Nike store followed by the most delicious cupcakes I've ever had (red velvet of course) from Sprinkles. By then it was late afternoon so we returned to Cierra's studio apartment for a nap before ordering pizza in for the night. Overall, a great and rather relaxing trip to our nation's capital!

5. New Paths: Since we've all graduate, many of my best friends are all going in new directions. Last night we met up at Cheesecake factory to send Haylea to Emory for grad school, Molly to Disney World for an internship, and Stacey to ECU for grad school. For all the rest of us staying here, we have jobs and will hopefully be meeting up at least every other week for Shan's chocolate chip cookies and margaritas. What a combo! I didn't take any pictures last night, except of the Ultimate Red Velvet Cheesecake (which might be my phone background right now . . . its love y'all), so the last picture is of a few of us and Stacey and her RING from last month. He liked it & he put a ring on it. Now she's engaged! EEK. So exciting. We've been trying to figure out her colors and secretly plan her wedding on Pinterest. But it's so exciting to see all of my best friends forging new paths in their lives. It's a little sad but we're already planning trips to Atlanta, Orlando and more to visit each other. I can't wait to see where the rest of the year will take us! 

Pictures: New business card, it's now super official (top left); Cierra and I in sprinkles with red velvet cupcakes (to middle); Stace & her new bling (top right); me and the Eiffel Tower (bottom left); my best friends and I at the old well in our grad gear (bottom right).

Welcome to 2013!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

The Mayans were wrong! Welcome to a brand new year, that for me will be full of new beginnings, wild adventures, and many surprises along the way! I'm going to do a Top 10 recap from Christmas to NYE that will sum up what's going on in my world!

1. Christmas was wonderful! Lots of business clothes, movies, accessories and tons of love from my entire family. Granddaddy even got me a frame for my diploma (that will be here in May! Ahhh!)

2. Saw Lincoln with Josh! I thought it was a pretty good movie because I like history, especially the Civil War time period (that interest came from my Grandmother). It's not the whole story of his life but the years when he issued the Emancipation Proclamation to his death. Daniel Day Lewis was a wonderful Lincoln!

3. Bowling with the fam. My whole family has the competitive streak, so the day after Christmas we went bowling. Dad talked a lot of crap because he thinks he's so great...at everything. I was absolutely terrible. I would've won if bowling was scored like golf! Josh and Seth finished on top, with Josh winning it all. Now dad has found his bowling ball from the 80's, has shined it and is ready to go again!

4. Had my eyes check, vision hasn't changed since high school! I also got new glasses because I misplaced my old ones. Oops! Can't wait til they come in!

5. I worked the concession stand at the high school basketball tournament for three days. It just reconfirmed how happy I am not to be in high school anymore! I also smelled like popcorn for three days straight. But I did get to talk to a lot of great people from around the triangle while serving concessions!

6. First Annual Wing Competition at the Betheas! Bracey invited me to a wing competition that her parents were having with some close friends. I got to be a judge and try 3 pretty great types of wings. Patrick, Bracey's little brother, gave us the most spicy wings I've had in my life. My lips burned for at least 10 minutes after trying them. Mary Martha's wing were a sweet teriyaki flavor and absolutely delicious! Her fiance took the trophy for the best wing with a sweet and spicy kind. I'm going to enter the competition next year. Anyone know any great wing recipes?

7. I've been reading the Bride Quartet by Nora Roberts, which is here series of four book about four Wedding Planners and their road to their own weddings. LOVE THEM. and I highly recommend them! On the last one and will hopefully finish it today!

8. I was asked to do the Children's Sermon on the 30th for College Sunday at my home church in Sanford. I talked about New Year's Resolutions. Mine is to not worry as much this year and to trust in God's plan for my life. It's hard but its so important and I need to be reminded of it daily!

9. Mom and I stayed on Sunday night at our church for Family Promise. A group of churches has taken in several homeless families and provide meals, shelter, and guidance as they search for jobs and homes. It's so rewarding to use some of my free time to better the lives of these families, even if all I did was watch tv and share a meal with them. Great way to kick of the new year!

10. NEW YEAR'S EVE! I went to Raleigh to Bracey's boyfriends house and spent time ringing in the New Year with some of my best friends! We went to downtown Raleigh to watch the acorn drop, went to a few bars and it was so fun! Downtown Raleigh is like a mini-fair on NYE!

I'm excited to start this new year! I will graduate, go to Europe during the summer, turn 22, hopefully find a job, and start the post-grad life! I'm beyond nervous but also excited about what the future has in store for me!

"For our present troubles are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!" -2 Corinthians 4:17

10th Day of Christmas: Sweets!

5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th Day of Christmas!

TWO DAYS TIL CHRISTMAS!

Where did the time go!?! Obviously I couldn't keep up with blogging everyday, which I've learned from some of the bloggers I follow that its totally fine not to . . . you just have to start somewhere! 

The past few days have been filled with shopping, wrapping, baking, making candy, reading, spending time with family and much more! I'll hit the highs and lows:

• My pound cake exploded somehow . . . these are usually my specialty. I have no idea how it happened.
• I've wrapped millions of presents!
• Had a movie and chocolate night with Josh and my family. Complete with chocolate covered strawberries and pretzels
• Successfully made another round of our annual Buckeyes (or Reese Balls) and I made cutout cookies for the first time in years!
• Shopped til I dropped. Literally. I don't know how Santa does it
• Got my nails done in a bright sparkly red and had my hair trimmed (primping for the holidays)
• We survived "the end of the world!" I guess the Mayans just didn't have enough time to finish another 1,000 years of calendars? 
• Had a wonderful day of horseback riding, watching movies, decorating cookies and trees, and spending time with Josh's family who came in from New York!

Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year because almost everyone is in a cheerful mood, family joins together to reconnect and everyone shares the love. What could be sweeter!?

Favorite Things:
Obviously my cat, Maryanne, had to make in this blog at some point under my favorite things. Because she is definitely one of my favorite things. Here's a couple of her glamor shots since I've been home . . . 
 
Sausage Balls are a staple around here during Christmas. Every gathering, every party, snack for the neighbors. It wouldn't be Christmas without them! Check the Recipe Tab for all the ingredients and instructions!


Christmas Craft:
Don't be surprised but I actually haven't crafted much since the beginning of break. I've been filling my free time doing a few things for UNC-DM and reading a series of books by Nora Roberts called "The Bride Quartet." The first one is "Vision in White." I'm sucked in. I can't stop reading . . . but hopefully the crafts will come back! For now here's one my mom's best friend, Debra, made here. A Glowing Wine Bottle! I have a ton of wine bottles I want to do this with! Picture to come but for now, here's the Pinterest link on how to make them!

Y'ALL ITS ALMOST CHRISTMAS!

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." -Romans 15:13

4th Day of Christmas: Wisdom!

9 days til Christmas!

This morning, after a wonderful night with the girls, we went to Summit Church in Durham which is where we normally go to church when we're at school. The sermon was about the 3 Wise Men and J.D., the pastor, reminded us that historically, the Magi came after the birth of Jesus because they started traveling when the saw the star. He joked that the Nativity scenes shouldn't have them, that they should actually be placed across the room from the scenes and we should pull them back out of storage in June because that would be about the time that they actually arrive to see Jesus. He also made an interesting parallel that I had never thought about: he said that in the story of Jesus' birth, the gospel Matthew talks about how pagans (not believers) from many nations came to see the Messiah. Then Matthew ends with the Great Commission, telling us to go out into every nation and spread the Gospel. I thought it was really neat how it came full circle. He also talked about many of the other misconceptions of the Christmas story and highlighted some of the parts that we don't necessarily pay attention to. I would highly recommend that you listen to his sermon from today because it was amazing! The link to the series is here. The one from today isn't up yet but should be pretty soon! 

After church we went to McAllisters, introduced Stacey to Snapchat, then headed to the Dean Dome for Kristen's graduation! I can't believe she graduated already! It seems just like yesterday that I had met them in our Freshman year Bible Study . . . and here we are. All of us will graduate in May, which is crazy! Preparing ourselves for the real world. YIKES. Personally, I know I've become really frustrated with applying for jobs, continually improving and re-working by resume and cover letter. But its nice to look back and remember how much fun I've had at UNC, how much I've learned, all of my friendships and memories. I'm just so blessed to have the opportunity to be at UNC-CH, earning my degree and working to figure out where my future may be!

Favorite Things: 

If you know me well, you probably knew this was coming . . . but one of my favorite things in this world is kittens. Particularly my cat, Maryanne. She's sleeping beside me right now and has slept in my bed with me since I've come back from school. People think its weird that I sometimes have her picture as my phone background...I'm that weird cat lady. Here's my most recent picture of  her...she loves Christmas!

Today's recipe is for Buckeyes, or as I call them, Reese Balls! We're making these tomorrow for some of the neighbors so I'll have a picture of them soon!

Christmas Crafts:

"But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy." -James 3:17

3rd Day of Christmas: Gifts!

Again, we can just pretend I posted this on the right day . . . Saturday, December 15!

Three French Hens with a Side of Cheesecake:
Saturday I actually woke up early so mom and I could shop ALL day long. We headed to Southpoint for the day to pick up the last few gifts and to see the Christmas decorations. To me, giving gifts is SO much fun. Of course I like to receive them too, but giving gifts makes me feel so happy and warm inside. I put a lot of thought into what I'm going to get someone because I want it to be useful and I want them to love it. Once I find the perfect gift I get so excited imagining the person's face when he/she opens it! That's where I have the problem . . . I always want to give the gift before its time. For example, on mine and Josh's year anniversary since we started dating, I bought us tickets to the Bank of America 500 race in Charlotte and I would always say "I can't wait to give you your present," well then I ended up telling him what it was because I was so excited and couldn't hold it in. The same thing happens at Christmas. I always want to have my present opened first, or earlier than Christmas. I guess its a good thing that I love to give so much, but I wish I could just keep the presents a secret! Mom and I shopped for at least 5 hours, got back home and started wrapping presents. Then I went back to Southpoint to the Cheesecake Factory for Dirty Santa gift swap with my friends from school. I got the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake which was delicious, but its always such a hard choice. I really like their Red Velvet Cheesecake too! They have so many options and choosing is honestly the hardest part. I've made a resolution to try a new one every time I go . . . and then I will also be like 500 lbs heavier. But the Cheesecake is SO good! We weren't as vicious as usual with the stealing presents, probably because we were stuffed with cheesecake. I got to go first and opened a CAT COFFEE MUG! That couldn't have been more perfect for me so I just threatened people so they wouldn't steal it. It also probably helped that I had already named the mug Harold, so people knew I was pretty attached. After the party and cheesecake, I wobbled back to my car and went to stay at Shannon, Kristen, Chloe and Stacey's apartment because Kristen's graduation was the next day! We watched lots of Friends episodes, constantly laughing. Its so relieving to just spend time with my friends, watching as many episodes that we want and not have to worry about studying!

Favorite Things:
Cross Necklace. (and reindeer antlers) The sideways cross necklace has been all over Pinterest and I finally got one in October. I love it and can't stop wearing it! I obviously like reindeer antlers too . . . I actually have antlers on my car now too! Yes, I'm that car with the antlers that every one stares at, but they're so stinkin cute!

I wish I had a great cheesecake recipe for this entry but I've never tried to make a homemade cheesecake yet! Maybe I will soon but for now, Party Ham Rolls. These babies seriously make me drool (check out the Recipe Tab). They are wonderful and we have them every Christmas when we go to my Grandmas. Sometimes I can convince mom to make them, she made them for a tailgate this Fall, but they usually only make an appearance during Christmas!

Christmas Craft:

"In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” -Acts 20:35

2nd Day of Christmas: Mistletoe!

Let's pretend I actually posted this on time (Friday, December 14th), who knew Christmas Break would keep me so busy!!

Two Turtle Doves in a Mistletoe Covered Tree:
Friday morning I slept in...again. WOW. That seems to be the only thing I'm good for this week. When I finally woke up I headed out to Josh's house in Fuquay that they have been renovating over the past couple weeks. I figured I would roll up my sleeves and do a little hard work! Well . . . that's an exaggeration. There wasn't too much I could help with because Josh was busy sanding some of the walls and dust was flying everywhere. So I busied myself decorating the front porch! It actually took me a while to fluff out all the strands of garland and add the little pine cones and poinsettias throughout each strand. I wrapped the garland around the poles, perfected their spacing and we were ready to fire up the lights just in time for sunset. One of the strands in the garland was dead so we had to find another strand of lights to wrap through it but by the end of the day they were perfect! During one of our work breaks, I sent Josh to the top of a tree to cut down some real mistletoe!
He managed to get a whole bundle down and came out of the tree with only a few scratches. Then while he went back to sanding I broke some of the limbs off and made a small bundle for his mom to hang in the house. Well, I hung it after I held it over my head a couple times to see if it actually worked!  :)  I  didn't even know that mistletoe grew in the tops of trees until a few years ago when my mom told me one day while we were driving. Now every time we're in the car Seth and I point it out in every tree we see. It grows only in hardwood trees and it is taken from tree to tree by birds' feet. When all the leaves fall from the trees you can see theses balls of green mistletoe in the limbs . . . its the only green thing in most of the trees during winter so they are really easy to spot! It's a great reminder that we need to spread the love, just like birds spread the mistletoe, and make sure everyone can see it (and feel it) during and after the Christmas season!

Favorite Things:
Nashville. The show. I've never actually been to the city but I absolutely adore the show. We took a break before dinner to watch last week's episode, which happens to be the last one until January. AHHH. WHAT. If you like Country music, a little drama, great clothes and a little love story then you have to watch this show! 

One of my favorite things to eat when it gets cold is Chili! With a little cheese, sour cream and crackers . . . I'm in heaven! My grandma's recipe is in my Recipe Tab. It never tastes exactly like my Grandma's when we make it. We thinks she keeps some of the ingredients secret! 

Christmas Crafts:

This is the lyrics to one of my favorite Christmas songs, "O Holy Night." I'm thinking about making a couple more with different lyrics to holiday songs so I can hang them side by side next Christmas!

  

"Show faithful love and compassion to one another" -Zechariah 7:9