Graduation Weekend!

Warning: It's a l.o.n.g. one! I wanted to remember every detail!

On Saturday May, 8th I graduated from the College of Charleston!

My family came to Charleston for the weekend and we had an awesome time.

On friday, Charlie and I met up with his parents at Jim n Nicks and had some awesome cheese biscuits and fried chicken with macaroni and cheese and cinnamon apples!

It was ahhh-mazing!

My parents arrived that afternoon and we of course spent the rest of the day SHOPPING!

which is always oh so much fun!

We then met up with Charlie's parents at Hank's Seafood!

Yummy!

Then we took a stroll down the market and tried on some awesome glasses!

Kanye style!

And then we ended the night at Kaminsky's of course!

(oh and charlie and I so didn't go there the night before too..no way..we are NOT pigs like that..)

I got the best cake in the entire universe!

mmmmmmm!!!!

I spent the rest of the night packing up my clothes and straightening my hair.

I only really straighten my hair for special occasions because it takes like 2 hours and i end up dying of a heat stroke every ten minutes....but the end result always looks nice!

I finally crawled into bed at FOUR in the A.M. ...

My alarm clock went off like crazy at 7:30 and I began my graduation day!

The gates to the cistern opened at 8:30 which is when we had to be there also.

Our parents got in line at 7:30 and were already about 75 people back.

They ended up getting great seats though!

Oh and did I mention that our OUTDOOR graduation ceremony just had to fall on a record high day in Charleston?? i didn't? well it did...it was H.O.T.

After Charlie and I finished getting ready we met up with the parents for a quick photo op!

I felt soo bad for charlie having to be in all of those heavy clothes!

I was dying of heat and I didn't have on barely anything compared to him!

We then went to cougar mall to rangle (is that a word..? i dont think so, but lets just go with it..) our way thru a sea of white dresses and white jackets!

We picked up our flowers and hugged our friends!

Then we separated into classrooms depending on our major.

Since I switched my major pretty late in the game I don't really know that many people that graduated but i hung close to the one..well maybe two..that I did know!

Here are the Historic Preservation and Community Planning Senior girls!

And the HPCP guys! give or take a few!

and a group shot!!!

After our photo-shoot we lined up alphabetically and headed out the doors to prepare to walk through Randolph Hall.

We waited for about 10 minutes before it was time for the line to start moving.

Finally we went inside the building and went into the main room which is the Alumni room (or something like that!)

When we got in there i saw Charlie!

He ended up being in literally the same spot as me just in the other line!

We got to walk out of the doors together and then separated down opposite stairs.

This was the view of our side right when we walked out of Randolph Hall and before we walked down the stairs.

I ended up in the third row and called Jenn to see where they were.

I was standing up on stage on the phone with sis when they took this pic!

Being on the stage was a lot more laid back than I thought it would be.

We all talked to each other and got to whoop and yell when our friends walked across the stage!

Our commencement speaker was Marco (polo) from boeing of charleston.

He did good..but i felt like it was just a huge commercial for boeing!

Then the senior class president and another student spoke.

They did awesome!!!

It then came time to make our way across the stage!

I was in the third row from the front so i was lucky enough to be one of the firsts to walk and get it over with!

When we circled out of our seats to line up to walk, i got to walk past some of my really good friends that aren't graduating yet!

They were marshals for the graduation!

Here are the sweet ladies!  

Stephanie, Melanie, and Jan (one of my bridesmaids!)

I felt soo sorry for them, they had to stand the whole time and then come back in the afternoon and do it all again!

But they rocked it out and if they were not there no one would know what was going on!

anyway

When we lined up they had a photographer there to take two pictures of us and then another one took a picture as we walked across the stage!

The awesome lady with the awesome voice announced my name and i heard "get it girl!" from my lovely man!

And other yelling from my awesome family and friends!

I couldn't stop smiling!

The provost said that I had a huge smile and I must me very happy!

and I was!!

Caroline got an awesome pic of me shaking the President of CofC's hand!

It was awesome!

Then it was back to my seat to wait for Charlie to be called!

His name was finally called I stood up and screamed for him!

He saw me and just shook his head and smiled!

He was very good friends with the Vice President of Student Affairs and we got to shake his hand as we walked also!

But charlie, of course, went in for the hug!!!

The ceremony ended "Charleston Style" with some good old fashion shag music!

and we threw our fake diplomas in the air since we don't have hats!

We exited down off the stage and back out the doors of Porter's Lodge!

We ended up walking out together too!

Charlie and i walked down the street and waited for our friends and family so we could take pictures!

We finally started the long hike to lunch!

We walked to East Bay Street to eat at Southend Brewery!

On the way there the Carriage would see us and explain to the riders about CofC's graduatio and everyone would say congratulations!

It was kind of like being a "P" list celebrity! 

bad bad bad joke...

We finally made it through the sweat and hottness to the restaurant!

I ordered the best Pizza everr and everyone had a wonderful time relaxing and cooling off!

After lunch we went back to mine and sis' apartment.

On the way there these two sweet boys told us congratulations!

They were too cute!

We finally got back, changed and ate some yummy cake!

We ate and relaxed and mom, dad, and sis left for the lake!

After they left I laid down on the couch and took an amazing two hour nap.

It was perfect!

We had an awesome night, which I will recap when my friends post the pics!

I cannot believe I graduated from college.

I feel kind of lost and weird, like i dont know what to do!

But im sure things will get back to normal soon!

.....

I take that back..We are getting married in ONE MONTH!!

after that things should settle down a bit!

Charlie and I kept saying what a perfect day it was.

I had the most amazing day and weekend with the fam!

I posted on facebook that morning a line from "I'm not gonna cry" a graduation song by Corey Smith!

"Sure we made a little trouble, but i learned from every mistake, so there's no regret, we've done the best we could..these are the best years of my life, so I'm not gonna cry...now its time to celebrate, its our GRADUATION DAY."-Corey Smith

Happy Mother's Day!!!

"My mom is a neverending song in my heart of comfort, happiness, and being.  I may sometimes forget the words but I always remember the tune."  

~Graycie Harmon 

I am so blessed God chose to give me the most amazing and perfect momma.

She has shown me what it is to be a wonderful mother and wife.

She taught me to love unconditionally and to help others in every possible way you can.

She has shown me to live by your heart and I pray that my heart is half as big as hers.

I say that every time i speak of my mom, but her heart really is the purest and most wonderful giving love filled heart.  

Jenn and I are so lucky to be able to call her our mom.

She is not only my mom, she is also my dearest friend and a wonderful advisor.

She speaks from her heart and everything she says has a meaning behind it.

I wish that I had her ability to think about things before I say them instead of shouting out everything on my mind!

I look forward to the next month as we prepare together for the wedding.

I have so enjoyed spending this time with my mom and am so happy to be moving back 5 minutes from home so I can eat her yummy food and hug her anytime i want to!!

I love you momma with all of my heart and am so thankful for you and all you have done for me.

There is no gift I could ever give you to repay you for the wonderful gifts you have blessed me with.

You are my true angel and I am so thankful for you!

There are so many other wonderful women who have influence me in my life.

I am thankful for each of them and for showing me how to be strong, driven, thoughtful, loving, and caring.

I would never be who I am today without all of these role models in my life.

I am so blessed to have so many wonderful ladies guide me and help care for me.

I wish all of you a Happy Mother's Day!

"A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts."

 ~Washington Irving

40 days till the Wedding and FIVE days till Graduation!!

I have officially completed my papers, tests, and exams.

I am officially (almost) a graduate of College of Charleston!

WHOO!!

Today I turned in my final take home exam, completing my exam week!

Then I found my graduation dress:

Vineyard Vines: Seascape Dress

At CofC the girls wear white dresses and the guys wear white dinner jackets in place of normal graduation robes.

I think this is such a classic touch and unique to CofC!

In five days i will be walking across a stage in front of this building accepting my degree from the School of the Arts in Historic Preservation and Community Planning:

I am soo excited!! But soooo sad at the same time!

It is going to be surreal to not have a school to go back to in August.

I cannot believe that I will not be in Charleston everyday for most of the year.

It is just going to be a huge change.

I am excited for the next few days before Graduation when we can go to the beach and just enjoy this amazing city we have grown to love so much.

Charleston has become a part of me and I will never forget it or all of the amazing memories i have had here! 

Anyway!

This past week has been spent in the Library preparing for exams....

I had a break from thursday to today and all I did was sleep!

I was up soo late every night last week and the only thing that kept me going was triple venti soy mocha lattes, apple jacks, sour patch kids, and of course my study buddy!

who also gave me this awesome side braid:

Yes, dad, we did also got our work done! I promise!

Tomorrow Charlie has to be up at 3:30 in the a.m. to drive to Jacksonville, Florida.

He is going before the boards for the Army's Officer Candidate School.

It would mean a lot if you remembered him in your prayers as he makes the drive down there and back in one day, and as he interviews.  

Its a long tedious process and we are just praying the Lord will move in our lives and help guide us in the direction we are both supposed to take.

FORTY DAYS TILL THE WEDDING!!!!!

we are still trying to find a christian song for our soloist to sing during the wedding.

Any suggestions would be sooo helpful!

Hope all of you have had a fabulous day!

Last College Class ever.....

So today was my last day of classes for my Senior year.

I only had one class today and it was from 5-7:45.

I had one exam and two presentations...

Luckily, all of it was not as hard as I thought it would be and we walked out 45 minutes early!

I then went to a concert on campus to celebrate the last day of class.

I met up with this fabulous girl:

and saw this amazing man in concert:

COREY SMITH!

now i will be the first to say that my sophomore year playlist consisted solely of Corey Smith songs.

I would listen to them literally every time i turned my ipod on.

Since then I have not really listened as much and I forgot how truly amazing he is.

I was so excited tonight to show of my rapping skills during "Drinkin' again" and finally be able to get all the words right...almost.

He did an amazing job and it was such an awesome end to four years of classes.

He ended the show with "Long way to go".

It was a perfect ending and made me and Christen almost cry thinking about graduating College.

It has been an amazing four years and its seems so surreal that Sociology was my last undergrad class i will ever take.

I honestly, cannot believe it.

During the concert we just kept looking at each other affirming our thoughts on graduating college.

I am ready to graduate, move home, and get married,

but i wish that i could just stop time on the Cistern, under the huge oak trees, listening to "Carolina" and dancing with my friends.

These four years have gone by like a flash of light, I feel like I just graduated from High School.

Change is always something I have had a hard time with.

When I came to college I cried and cried about being TWO hours away from home.

About having the fabulous girl above live literally a few doors down the hall from me and I was soo not happy about it.

I said multiple times how much I hated this stupid city and I how I just wanted to go back to the beach.

(the real beach where you walk to the end of the street, not drive over two bridges and into another city)

I was so ready to give up on all of it but I hung through it all and stayed.

Now I love that two hour drive back home and think the distance is absolutely perfect.

Christen is an amazing person and I cherish all facets of our friendship because it has allowed us each to grow individually and test out true nature.

We are each comfortable with our selves now and that is just what our friendship needed.

This city is honestly the greatest thing that has ever happened to me.

I love every single piece of it.

I love that no matter how many times you look down a street you will always find something new.

A new alley to venture down or a new building that takes your breath away.

I love everything about living here and it is going to be so hard to move after graduation.

I have so much to look forward to, but its going to be bittersweet to leave this chapter and move to the next.

I have a long, long way to go

The whole world in front of me, and time moving so slow.

A long, long way to go...

Happy Birthday Jenn!!!

My amazing sis Jenn turned TWENTY on April 24th!!!

She shares her bday with our cousin Sandra!

and KELLY CLARKSON!

needless to say, I am completely jealous of April 24th Birthdays!

We spent the weekend at the Lake celebrating and having so much fun.

This morning we all slept in till noon-cause sleeping is one of Jenn's favorite hobbies!

We woke up, ate yummy blueberry muffins and assumed our positions on the couch while we watched tv!

 Then we sat on the porch and played with the football until 3 when we could open presents!

(We like to wait till 3 on our birthdays to open presents..why?  I have no idea!!)

For the presents from me and charlie, Rob came up with the idea of making her go on a scavenger hunt!

It was so much fun!

Charlie got her The Pioneer Woman Cooks Cookbook!

This is THE most amazing cookbook and blog in the entire universe of the world!

If you haven't checked her out before, be prepared to spend a good 2 hours drooling over her millions of pictures and amazing recipes!!

She then opened the presents from Mom and Dad and she got some DVDs and...

an IPAD!!

Its the coolest thing ever!

She has been playing with it literally all day and it can so much fun stuff!

So obvs we spent like 2 hours playing with it!

Then we had an awesome dinner of Oven baked Chicken, Mac&cheese, yeast rolls, and broccoli and cheese!

yum yum yum yum!!

After dinner we went back to playing with the Ipad and then came time for dessert!

Charlie and I picked up a cake from Kaminsky's in Charleston.

If you ever go to Charleston, SC run as fast as you can to get a piece of cake from here.

It will seriously be the most amazing thing you will ever eat!

We got her a Cookies and Cream cake and it was AMAZING!!

After the cake we all watched the new Sherlock Holmes movie.

(I have not idea how it was cause I fell right asleep from a cookies and cream induced coma..)

Everyone seemed to think it was good!

We are now sitting in our beds on the computer!

It has been an amazing day and I am so lucky to have such an awesome sister who loves me soo much!

She makes me so much happier when I see her and she knows exactly what to say to cheer me up.

She always makes me laugh and never fails at Trivia nights!

I love her soo much and "I'd die without you"!

No Day But Today...

Love you Deef!

Flower Girl Dress!!!!

This beautiful girl

is going to look fabulous in this dress!!!

The blue will be replaced with a light pink!

I cannot wait to see her sweet face! 

Only 56 days till she comes!!!!!

She is just sooo cute and I cant wait to see her momma too!!!!

WHOO HOO!!!!

Bridesmaids: Lauren

Lauren is one of my oldest and dearest friends.

I went to a christian school in the 6th grade and met her.

We realized we lived literally a street apart and became instant friends.

Everyday after school was spent on her golf cart kicking over cones or just driving around listening to music.

During the summer we spent almost everyday at Myrtle Waves eating cinnamon pretzels and breaking all of the rules in the lazy river.

She went to summer camp every year for two weeks and I literally thought my world was going to fall apart.

We wrote each other every single day and I still have each of those notes.

In 7th grade we both went to another christian school that was thirty minutes away.

Lauren and I carpooled and never spent a morning or afternoon apart.

We loved every minute of it and felt just like sister.

We shared our crushes and secrets.

We skipped school together the day the new mall opened and faked sick together so we didn't have to sit through Mrs. Breault's math class.

We were constantly given "the eye" in class because we could not stop talking.

She became a basketball player and I became the number one fan so i could still hang out with her all of the time!

We shared all of our first days of school and went to both proms together.

And we graduated side by side.

her a bit more distinguished than I ;)

My life would never be like it is today if it were not for her.

She is one of my best friends and will always be so close to my heart.

Her family feels like my family and are still so close.

I would never trade her friendship for anything.

She still knows more about me then almost anyone.

Lauren has the kindest, most gentle heart.

She always gives the perfect bit of advice and is always looking out for others well being no matter who they are.

She still has the most encouraging words and i look back on those notes from when she went to summer camp and it takes me back to some of my greatest childhood memories.

As I mentioned in another post Lauren recently got engaged!

I am so excited for her and the new life she will lead.

Her fiancé Scott proposed in the perfect way for her and she said it was just like a dream.

They got engaged in Disney World where dreams really do come true!

Lauren will make the most beautiful bride and I cannot wait to see her say her vows.

She deserves all of the happiness in the world and it is my prayer that God will continue to bless her and show her smiles, love, and laughter everywhere she turns.

I am blessed to call her my best friend and have her stand with me as I get married.