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).