Tuesday Thoughts...

This is what goes on in my head!

-My sister left Sunday and I already miss her tons. It was so nice having her home. I'm starting a countdown for when she comes home, for the whooole entire summer, today!

-I need a drink...or five.

-I'm getting back into a workout routine and am enjoying it...kind of.

-It's is Mer's last week at her job, which means her move to NYC is quickly approaching...and I think it sucks.

-I get so many pointless emails at work. I think some people send emails because they have nothing better to do.

-I need to plan a vacation to a resort...where I can sit on the beach alllll day and drink, read and get tan. Yes, that would be wonderful.

-Speaking of vacation...whoever decided that we didn't need Spring Break in the "real world" you really suck. I know I have PTO and could technically make my own Spring Break, but it's so not the same thing.

-The last Hunger Games book is really sad. I may or may not have had to re-do my makeup this morning because I got choked up reading...I know that it's not going to turn out like I want it to.

-I only watched two episodes of The Bachelor this season but from what I saw/read on Twitter I didn't like it. I loved Ben on Ashley's season but wasn't impressed with him on his own. I'm hoping Emily's season will be better

 -My Twitter acct isn't private and there are some characters that try to follow me.

-When the weather is nasty, my productivity at work suffers...a lot.

-These little gems look ahhhmayyyzing. One of my daily rituals is to read this blog, the one

I mentioned last week...and now I'm thinking I may need to add this to my thinks to bake this week.

-I'm excited for New Stars with Guitars. One of the local radio stations puts on free country concerts a few times a year to benefit St. Jude's Children Hospital. I've gone to the last two and can't wait for this one. Josh Thompson, David Nail and some other newbies are playing. I saw Josh in January and he was great. Can't wait to see him again!

Monday's are the pits.

 I have a serious case of the Monday’s and some serious hate for Daylight Saving’s Time.

I know I said I was looking forward to it getting darker later but the whole “losing” an hour of sleep just isn’t working for me.

I had the wooorst time trying to fall asleep last night and then getting out of bed this morning was a struuuuugle.

…to attempt to get me going today I had a cup of coffee, a latte and a diet mtn dew…and I still look like a zombie…sheeeesh. One of them better kick in soon or I'm going to put my head down at my desk and take a snooze...foor real.

On a more positive note I'm filling out my March Madness brackets (yes, plural) today. I don't follow basketball like I do football so I have no idea what I'm doing but it's still fun to participate...plus there's a big screen TV up for grabs in our office pool. I participate in multiple competitions and I change up my bracket for each one...I figure it gives me a better chance of winning something...

...it's also the start of St. Patty's week which means green beer is in the immediate future and at lunch I'm going to pick up St. Patty's Day stuff from the party store.

Here's to surviving Monday. Thank goodness Monday only happens once a week.

My Weekend.

As soon as I left work Friday I went straight to the gym and had a great workout...I didn't want to but I knew that I had to...boy was I sore the remainder of the evening.

After the gym I had dinner with my sis and mom. My dad wasn't flying in until later that night...his 11:30 p.m. flight turned into him getting in at 3 a.m. I don't know how he does it every week.

I then read more of the Hunger Games, watched tv with my sis and called it a night!

Saturday began with breakfast at Chick-fil-A with my mom and sis and then we started a day of shopping! Oh, what a glorious day of shopping it was...we had a great time.

...and then the best part of the day happened! We went into Green's and they had a rare edition of Sam Adams Pumpkin Beer on draft. I got so excited hoping it was the rare edition Pumpkin Beer that we had in Boston at the Sam Adam's brewery so we bought a growler! (it ended up not being what we had in Boston but it was still deeelish)

We then went to Total Wine and they had Son of a Peach back on draft and again I got so excited. Do you see how excited I get over beer? I can't help it. There is something about a good beer! So of course we had to get a growler of that as well.

When we got home my dad had gone and gotten a growler of beer from a little beer place by our house. Knowing my love for Son of a Peach he said he had to get a growler of it when he saw it...great minds think alike...guess we should have called and told him we were getting one!

Thus we ended up with three growlers of crafted beer and the four of us started drinking. We had a few people over and slowly began my getting drunk....by myself....still not sure how I was the only one.

Drinking with my Dad!

My Dad and Juli!

Beer!

Today we had brunch downtown and my sister left to go back to Boston, boo. The only good thing is that she'll be home the first weekend in May for the WHOLE summer! Let the countdown begin!

Time to read the last Hunger Game's book and enjoy a cold brew! Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Cabin Weekend-Winter Edition Part 2

Time to finish up the rest of Cabin Weekend-Winter Edition.

Saturday I woke up around 9. I can’t seem to sleep in at the cabin…but I don’t care. I want to spend as much time with my friend’s as possible since I only see them a few times a year.

The day began with Bloody Mary’s and Mimosas around 10. It was at 10:30 I cracked open my first Spotted Cow, by myself, and the day of drinking began.

I had big plans to drink all day as the MVP of the weekend was up for grabs. A person could earn MVP for various reasons…being the most drunk (this is where I thought I had a chance), best outfit, etc.  Katie and Kallie picked up a wooden man thing at Goodwill the day before and they, along with Tess, constructed a trophy for the MVP.  This was the end result…pretty sweet, huh?  He even has a red solo cup.

Anywayyys, my friend Tom finally joined me in drinking around noon and we started playing drinking games…this continued on for hours. The only time we got up from the table was for bathroom breaks or if we needed more beer.

                           I think by early afternoon I was definitely not sober…but it’s alllll a little hazy.

Tom makes anything and everything into a drinking game.  We even had a game where you had to name the artist/song title of the music playing on the iPod. Loser had to drink, obviously.

 Throughout the entire day we were double fisting…always a great idea.

Evening came and we all started to get more drunk and a dance party/beer pong/baseball/multiple drinking games ensued.

…along with getting dressed in appropriate attire for the Rustic Woods Campground bar. This is always a highlight/favorite activity of our weekend.

After we get ready there is always a photo shoot!

The Girls

The "Pillars" aka they haven't missed a single cabin weekend. Still a liiiiittle bitter that I'm not one. I had to miss due to family vacay...won't happen again!

Some of the guys and their new staches!

The whole gang!

We’ve made it a tradition to go to the Rustic Woods bar on Saturday night of our cabin weekends. The bar is small but they have booze, a juke box, a pool table and we can walk…win for us. It's pretty much a big dance party/drinking fest. I can't even describe how much fun it is. We hang out with the locals...who definitely hated us at first but now love us and know to expect us around the last weekend in Feb and the last weekend of July.

The bar!

...I had so much fun that I dropped my iPhone and shattered the glass...awesome. I feel bad for everyone around me because drunk me made everyone look at it and hear the story over and over again...that must have sucked for them.

Sunday we woke up fairly early and began the clean up process. It amazes me how quickly we can get that place looking like we found it when we arrived on Thursday.

Once we were done we all voted for MVP of the weekend. Tess, Corey, Tom and I received votes but Tess/Corey received the same amount so they tied for MVP.  Can you see why they one? Those are some pretty quality outfits!

It was then time to leave and head to Milwaukee where I was flying out. Kallie, Erik and I made our usual stop in Oshkosh for fried cheese curds...as usual they were ahmayyyzing. 

I was sad to leave Wisco and my friends after an awesome weekend...but I'm already looking forward to summer edition!

I love Fridays.

Yes, yes I do.

Friday means the work week is almost over and I have two glorious days of doing whatever I please...it also means that I get to wear jeans! Ahhh good old jeans. Jeans are so much more comfortable than the dress pants/dresses I wear Mon-Thurs. If they ever take away casual Friday I think I might cry...seriously...or quit.

I'm looking forward to a relatively low key weekend with my family.

A weekend of...

• Shoppppping (Macy's VIP sale...GAP Friend's and Family...annd a little outlet action. My bank acct will be taking a hit but this girl is exciiited!)

• Cooking/Baking...look what we made last night, oh em gee were these deeelicious. I mean, it was a party in my mouth as soon as that first bite hit my lips...for real!

 Brown Sugar Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Brown Sugar Frosting!

...you can find the recipe here and thank me later for introducing you to this blog. There isn't a bad recipe on the site and the girl is awesome.

• Drinking
• Sleeping
• Working out...I have a 10k coming up that I am definitely not ready for.
• Celebrating a friend's birthday!
• A little Neftlix
• aaaand reading the Hunger Games series!

Cheers to the freakin' weekend!

Cabin Weeknd-Winter Edition, Part 1

Every 6 months my friend Katie invites a bunch of us up to her cabin in Wisco and two weekends ago we had the 3rd winter edition. In my effort to not make this my longest blog post everrr I'm splitting it up into two parts-Wed/Thur/Fri part 1 and Saturday will be in part 2.

I look forward to these two weekends and as soon as we set a date in stone for the winter/summer I immediately start a countdown...for real. In case you missed the recap of the Summer Edition you can read about the debauchery that it was here!

Anyways, I headed to Wisconsin on a Wednesday night. I hadn't been since July so I wanted to spend as much time there as possible. I flew into Milwaukee and on Thursday Kallie and I headed to Appleton, my hometown. We spent the day hitting up some of our favorite spots. One of my favorite parts of the day was getting to go to Copper Rock, a local coffee shop. I spent many nights my senior year of high school drinking lattes and doing homework...ok the homework part might be a stretch...it always turned into chatting with friends and getting little, if any, homework done.



The remainder of the day we spent with Kallie's family and then we headed to the cabin. Before we headed to the cabin though we made a pit stop at Wally World and picked up this gem! It was only $2 so we couldn't pass it up! I mean, how sweet is her sweatshirt?



There were only a few of us at the cabin the first night so obviously we drank and played drinking games. I kicked off a weekend of drinking with a Spotted Cow. If you know me you know that is my all.time.favorite.beer. I think it's partially because I only get it a few times a year, and because it's named "Spotted Cow." If you ever make a trip to Wisco, throw one back for me!

Friday morning we headed into town to do grocery shopping for the weekend and of course to get fried cheese curds from the local Culver's. Fried Cheese curds are another FAVORITE of mine. I talk about them way too much and as soon as I land in Wisconsin I start asking someone to take me to Culver's to get them. If you have never had them...which I hope is not the case, put these on your list (along with the Spotted Cow) to try! They.are.DELISH!



After shopping it was time to start drinking.duh. We played drinking games all afternoon while we waited for more people to arrive. Later in the evening we headed to a local pizza place to eat and drink (duh) some more. I'm still not sure how we didn't get kicked out of the restaurant. People seemed to either love us or completely hate us...can't say I blamed the ones that hated us. After drinking all afternoon we were not sober (no we did not drink and drive, we had DD's...because some people showed up right as we were leaving for dinner!)

Corey, Tess and I at dinner.


...halfway through dinner, this happened.



Yes, my friend Tess is laying on the floor. Just another reason why she is so great.

After dinner we went back and more of our friends had arrived along with these little guys...Gummy Bears soaked in liquor. I can't even begin to tell you how many ended up on the floor because we made drinking games like "toss the gummy bear in the air and try to catch it"...loser had to drink. With that being said, these will now be a staple at cabin weekends going forward.



You can imagine how the first night ended... A lot of empty beer cans/bottles and being drunk with my friends!

What I'm Loving Wednesday...

I'm loving...

-The Hunger Games. I'm pretty sure it's past love at this point and has become a straight up obsession. I finished the first one in a few days and am currently on the second one. I find myself constantly wanting to read it.

-That my sister is home right now for her spring break and that she will officially be home ALL summer!

-My mom's Kindle. I've purchased two books on it and find that I like reading on it much better than reading a paper book. Definitely asking for a Kindle or a Nook for my birthday.

-Quaker Oatmeal to Go...especially the Brown Sugar Cinnamon. Oooh baby these are good...plus they aren't that bad for you and they fill you up!

-We spring forward on Sunday. Not loving the whole losing an hour concept but I love that it will get darker, later. I also love that this means WARM weather/summer is right around the corner. See ya later Casper the ghost.

-"We Are Young"...the Glee version. Such a good song.

-Macy's is having a VIP sale...with limited exclusions. Yessss!

Oh hayyy, remember me?

Hello my little blog. I am baaaaack. I know I know, it has been forever and a LOT has happened since I last updated in DECEMBER…sheeesh…sooo I am going to attempt to do a little catch up sesh.

1.)I went to the ACC Championship. My sis was in town for it, it was a blast and surprisingly Clemson WON! Yes, I said surprisingly…if you followed sports or Clemson football the team disappeared after they lost at GA Tech. The fact that they beat VTech again was a surprise.



That same weekend I ran a 5K. I completed it in 31 minutes which was a personal best! It felt good to burn some cals before I stuffed my face alllllll day!

2.) My sister threw her annual Christmas wine exchange! Everyone brings a bottle of wine and we exchange. It was a blast...and of course we had more food/alcohol than we could eat or drink!

My family and me!


My best friend :)


The whole group!


3.) I celebrated Christmas and New Years, both of which were great!

4.) My family went to the Orange Bowl. Even though Clemson got their bootay's KICKED it was nice to spend time with my fam. I was NOT a fan of Miami though and don't have intentions of going back, unless it's for the Orange Bowl again. The week we were there was the coldest week Miami had experienced in a year. We could only lay out for one afternoon and even then it was overcast...bummmmerrr.



I was so hopeful that we would bring this back...the final score was 70-33...we weren't even close.


5.) I went to Boston with Crouch and Austin to see my sister! My friend Liz, a high school friend that lives in NYC, also joined us. It was such a good time. We did a whooole lot of drinking and very little sightseeing...my kinda trip!

First morning we were there started with Bloody Mary's and Mimosas! My kinda morning!


We did the Sam Adam's Brewery tour...so much fun. I highly recommend doing this if you visit Boston and like beer...plus it's FREE!





6.) Went to Wisconsin for another cabin weekend...but since that was so recent I'm going to do a separate post.

It's been a good, but busy, few months! 2012 is flying by.

What I'm Loving Wednesday...

I'm loving...

-that I'm going to Charlotte this weekend for the ACC Championship and our whole tailgate group is going!

-my sister is flying back in on Friday afternoon to also go to the ACC Championship! It's so nice to see her TWO weekends in a row!

-my new running shoes!

-Trader Joe's Horseradish Hummus...deelish!

Thanksgiving Break Recap

My Thanksgiving break was awesome! As soon as I left work on Wednesday I headed to the gym to get in a quick workout. It ended up being super quick because my legs were killing me from the previous day’s workouts, I also wanted to get home to see my sister! We went to dinner as a family and then my sister and I went downtown with friends. The bars were all packed and we ended up going home early.

My sis and I both had camoflage tiger paw koozies in our purses!



Thursday morning I got up and made myself go straight to the gym. I knew if I didn’t go first thing I wouldn’t go and it closed at 1. After my workout I started drinking with my fam! I began the day with a delish Bloody Mary, seen below. My sister then made Apple Cider Margaritas and let me tell you, they were pretty much the best things ever. They were SO good that I’m sharing the link so that you can try them out for yourselves! While you’re there check out her other recipes (HowSweetEats) because everything she makes is AH MAYYYY ZING!

Awesome Bloody Mary!


Apple Cider Margarita!


After a few drinks the Packer game started. It was awesome watching them move to 11-0,Go Pack Go!

We didn’t end up eating our Thanksgiving meal until around 6. As hard as it was to cook all day and not eat the food I think it worked out better. We didn’t snack all day and I only felt completely full and disgusting once, score! After dinner we rested up and were going to go shopping at midnight. Well, midnight came around and we decided that we were wayyy too tired so we opted to go to sleep instead.

Friday morning we slept in and left to go shopping around 10. To our surprise it wasn’t that busy out and we got some good deals. I had to leave shopping early because I went to Atlanta to see Brantley Gilbert in concert.

My friend and I left for Atlanta around 3:30 and got to the concert venue at 5:30. People were already waiting in line so we got out of the car and waited. It was general admission and I was determined to get a good spot! We waited outside for TWO hours before the doors opened and then waited another 2 hrs for the opening act to come on. We did however get a spot in the front row thanks to my friend. She and I ended up going in different lines and hers moved faster than mine. You have NO idea HOW excited I was to be in the front row. I knew that I would get to shake/touch BG’s hand…okay yea that sounds creepy but he’s one of my favs. This was my fourth time seeing him in concert since June!

Brantley Gilbert!


Anyways, the opening act was a guy named Brian Davis and he was awesome…but I was getting antsy and ready for BG to come on. I knew that I had to get up early the next morning and we still had a 2 hour drive home. BG did not end up making an appearance until 11 but it was worth it. He was AWESOME and I got to shake his hand, eeeeeeek!!!! Can’t wait to see him again in February.

Saturday morning we got up early and my sister and I headed to Columbia with some of our friends for the Clemson/Carolina game. We met up with friends to tailgate. Our guy friends cooked a pig, which was delicious. We tailgated from about 12 until after the game. Believe it or not I was pretty sober the whole.entire.day. Definitely a different concept for me! My parents had let us use their truck, generator, tv and satellite so I knew I had to be extra responsible so the last thing I wanted to do was get wasted and forget something.

My sister and I tailgating!


The game was absolutely horrible and I officially HATE fireworks. Carolina shoots of fireworks after every touchdown they score…needless to say those fireworks got to be pretty obnoxious. After the game we went immediately to our hotel and hung out. Most of us had only brought Clemson apparel and didn’t want to go out and get ragged on for the loss. Even though we did lose it was still a great time!

We got up relatively early on Sunday and had breakfast and headed home. The remainder of the day I spent working out and hanging with my family. I was sad to that my sister had to leave yesterday but can’t wait to see her again on Friday for the ACC Championship.

It was definitely one of the best Thanksgiving breaks I can remember! So thankful for my family, friends and the blessings in my life!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Turkey Day! I hope that everyone has a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving spent with friends and family.

I wanted to take a minute and reflect on all of the blessings/things I'm thankful for because I definitely do not do that enough.

I'm thankful for...

-my parents. They're always there for me and would do anything for me. My parents have given me so many amazing opportunities.

-my sister. I'm so glad she is home for Thanksgiving

-my friends. They're amazing and without them I would be lost.

-my job

-Blakeli. No matter what kind of a day I've had I know I can go home and see her and her tail will be wagging and she will be SO excited to see me

-my health

-that my family likes to drink!

-Green Bay Packers, hoping they move to 11-0 today

-Clemson Tigers...even though the football team stresses me out quite a bit I still love 'em

-for all of the other wonderful blessings in my life!

What I'm Loving Wednesday...

I'm loving...


-USB Christmas lights and tree. I got the Christmas lights at Big Lots last year and the tree at Target. I know Target has them again this year because I got one for my boss yesterday. Who doesn't love a little Christmas cheer at work?

-Brantley Gilbert and Eric Church are going on tour together in 2012. I will buy my tickets during presale and I may even go to this concert multiple times. It.will.be.AH-MAY-ZING!!!

-mah sista gets home today and she's home until Monday! Cannot wait to cook, drink, laugh and spend some QT with her!



-that tomorrow I'm spending the day with my fam and am going to eat a ton of good food! I've worked out hard this week so I can spluuurge tomorrow!

-these purple Hunter rain boots. LOVE!!!


-that as soon as I leave work today I'm off until Monday!

Tuesday Thoughts...

-I did Pilates for the first time last night and it was okay. I didn't love it but would be open to going again.

-I cannot wait to see Brantley Gilbert in concert on Friday. It will be my fourth time seeing him live since June!

-My whole.body.aches.abs, arms, legs, the works.

-It's going to take a heck of a lot of coffee to get me to be productive today. this girl is tiiiiiired

-I am excited for dinner with Mer tonight! I have not seen her much lately.

-Is it Summer or is it Fall? This weather has been weird!

-Piperlime is a great website. I got a coupon in the mail yesterday and I can't wait to put it to use!

-I love breakfast foods.

-I really hope Clemson does not get their butts kicked by Carolina on Saturday.

My Weekend.

What a great weekend it was!

It began Friday with dinner and drinks with a good friend! We then watched a movie at her house and by 11 I was exhausted and in bed.

Saturday morning I went shopping with my mom...always a favorite activity of mine! Stores have started their Black Friday sales and I got some good deals.

I then picked up a friend and we went downtown to watch the Clemson/NC State game. I really have no words for what happened. Clemson looked horrible. I hope it was just an off game for them but I don’t think that’s the case. They have not played well the past month. Defense has been horrible, they’ve turned over the ball one too many times and they don’t look like they have that same momentum that they did before. I ended up drowning my sorrows in booze.

After the game I went home and changed and then went back downtown and proceeded to drink even more. I was seriously bummed about the game. We began our night with a Tiger in the Tank…it’s a slushy made with everclear at one of the local bars.






Then we crashed a wedding that a few of our friends were at. Now before you think “you crashed a wedding?”…we technically “did crash a wedding” but our friends told us to come and we only stayed for a few minutes.

After some wedding crashing we went out and finally my friend Amanda was smart enough to realize that we needed to go home.

Yesterday I woke up with the ab-so-lute WORST hangover. Thanks to some pedialyte, a bagel and a long nap I finally felt like a human again around 1:30. I watched the Packer game on my phone (still UNDEFEATED) and then hit up the gym.

Overall it was a great, great weekend. Now I’m hoping the short work week goes by fast so I can see mah sista!

Go Tigers!

Go Tigers!!!

Fridaaaayyyy...

This week went by relatively fast. I think it's because work was super busy and I lived at the gym.

Tonight I'm headed to dinner with my friend Jenny. I think I've mentioned her before. We grew up in the same town in Wisco and went to middle and high school together. She lives here now for her job. Our schedules this fall have been crazy and I've only seen her a handful of times. Were going to a local Tapas restaurant. I bought a Groupon back in the summer and it expires next week so I need to use it. Then we are going out for a little bit.

Tomorrow Clemson plays NC State and I will be watching with some friends!

I'm also going to do some shopping and working out.

Happyyyy Friday!

What I'm Loving Wednesday...

I'm loving...

-that my sister will be home one week from today for SIX days!



-the Clemson Tigers are the Atlantic Division Champs. It was necessarily a pretty win but a win is a win! ACC Championship here we come!

-I have nothing to do tonight except workout. Yesterday was my day off and I'm looking forward to getting in a good workout tonight!

-plaid. I love a good plaid shirt...and tartan plaid is back for the holidays. love love looooove.

-the GMC Terrain. I think it's a nice looking SUV and I'm in the market for a new car.

-that Mer and I were in a music video that Brantley Gilbert posted on his Facebook page.

-that Friday is TWO days away!

Go VT beat GATech!

This will be one of the only times that I cheer for Virgina Tech, ever. They play GA Tech tonight and the winner will more than likely ACC Championship bound.

I'm still bitter, yes still, over the loss the Tigers suffered in Atlanta to GA Tech almost two weeks ago. It was heart breaking. Those dang yellow jackets ruined our undefeated season. I do have to say that they did outplay Clemson 100%.

Anyways, I've had my eye on the ACC Championship for a while now. I booked hotel rooms back in October. The game is in Charlotte and Clemson has had a good chance of going the whole season. In fact, if Clemson beats Wake Forest on Saturday, they will be ACC Championship bound. I really don't want Clemson to have to play GA Tech again. They are always a struggle for Clemson...so Go Virgina Tech!!!

What I'm Loving Wednesday...

I'm loving...

-The image below. I do feel like a lot of people are getting married/having kids and I'm happy for them...buuut that's just not where I'm at in my life!



-iHeart radio app

-Fruit Ninja...um this game is so fun.

-Spinning. It's quickly going to become my favorite form of exercise.

-That I have a running/workout buddy!

Tuesday Thoughts...

-Eric Church's album "Chief" is awesome. I don't think there is ONE song on there that I don't love. Do yourself a favor and purchase it!

-My knee is killing from working out.

-I need new running shoes

-Without Pandora I would be lost

-Pedicures make your feet feel ah-may-zing