Zeta Moms

I miss my sorority so much sometimes to the fact that it might unhealthy. College Zeta was the best 4 years of my life so far, and I can't even explain the bond that is formed between the sisters and your letters.

My mom was never a sorority girl, or a girly girl for that matter. She doesn't wear makeup, usually is in jeans, and pearls are not a necessity in her wardrobe. I never thought that I would be in a sorority when I got to college, but when I decided to join, my mom was not a huge fan. She was the middle child, and grew up very close to her 2 sisters. I don't think she understood why I would want 38 sisters of my own, when I had basically grew up an only child. It didn't take me or mom long to fall in love with Zeta though! I will never forget mom taking me shopping and buying me new stuff that was all zeta teal and then taking a picture of me with my new ZTA sticker on my car :)

I loved our events where our parents could come and see what we had done over the year! Mother Daughter Tea was during the first semester of school and it was just a little brunch where our moms got to meet and mingle with each other. We basically were all grown up and still playing "tea". My mom always loved coming to it, and the awesome tshirts she got out of it! I loved going home on the weekends to see my mom going shopping in her zeta thsirt!

I think that is a little part of her today that misses Zeta as well! Whether it's us missing out on the Mother Daughter Teas together, or just me calling her to tell her what happened at chapter tonight, there was a part of her that loved Zeta too!

Mother Daughter Tea our Freshman year of college! We had only been in Zeta for a little over a month, and I loved the fact that there was an event that I could share with my mom!

Mother Daughter Tea my sophomore year. By this time I was the historian in our chapter. At your mom's second tea, you get to give her the mother pin of Zeta.

There was no way that Bri could live with Angela and I and not join Zeta! I will never forget the night that Bri called us in her room and sat us on her bed to tell us something very important. We had thought something must be really wrong with our Bri Bri! We had no idea that she was just telling us she had decided to rush Zeta!

This was my junior year at Mother Daughter Tea at Hopeland Gardens. This was my year as Vice President in the chapter. I got to help the special events chair plan the Tea and decide on fun games to play with our moms. I apparently thought that it was too hot to wear clothes this day !!

Mother Daughter Tea my senior year. This was especially sad since it was my last one. I was president at the time and I was very proud to bring along my grandma to share in this event with us. Since I take after Ma with my outgoing personality, I knew that she would enjoy getting to play sorority girl for the day!

Looking back at this picture really makes me sad. Bri, Angela and myself went though so much together in college! From our freshman year to our senior year, we had grown so much as best friends and Zeta sisters.

Bri and I were lucky enough to bring our grandmas along! We are so thankful to have these two beautiful women in our lives today. We are both mini versions of them :)

Throw what ya know!!

Beautiful Club For Life!

I call my girls The Beautiful Club. Yours may be called The YaYa’s or simply the Girls. The BC started the year before my junior year of high school when basically I made a pact to myself that I would be best friends with the same group of girls forever! In any case they are the trusted women who show up when life stinks and celebrate when it doesn’t. They are strong, loyal friends who think I am beautiful in sweats but fully appreciate a sassy outfit or new bling necklace. While a couple from the original group have come and gone, there are 6 of us that still remain best friends today! Two of these girls go farther back with me and will be standing beside me on my wedding day at my Maids of Honor. I met Bailey in kindergarten and Monet in 6^th grade.

The Beautiful Club knows both the tenderness and selfishness of my heart and love me anyways. They aren’t afraid to tell me I need a haircut, nor would I be offended. They have earned that right. We have been friends for over 10 years. Longevity doesn’t necessarily elicit a deeper friendship but it sure keeps you from having to explain yourself. They know my stories…my failures…my hiccups. They remember…and graciously forget. They remind me of my strengths and never withhold a compliment.

 

Life’s too short not to celebrate one other.

We laugh hard and cry easily, often at the same time. We help each other embrace our imperfections as young women, daughters and friends.
 

My hope is that someday, my own daughter too will find these special relationships, ones that don’t judge but can ask the hard questions. Friendships where competition and insecurity are replaced by encouragement and trust. I desire for my daughter to truly know how to celebrate other women because once that is mastered, a new beautiful club will be made.

Things I want my future daughter to know about Girlfriends:

(a collection from a few of my trusted gals)

1. True girlfriends are those who will tell you the good and the bad. And find a way to make you feel OK about both.
2. Your best friends may have other friends too. That’s ok.
3. A girlfriend understands that we all want to feel celebrated on our birthdays.
4. Girlfriends come in all colors, shapes, and energy levels. Don’t have a type. You will miss out.
5. We are all imperfect people. Your friends will disappoint you. Forgive them even before they ask.
6. Your girlfriends are who get to pick to be your family because God knew your mother could not handle you as sisters.
7. True girlfriends are those who meet you in the middle, and sit with you if the moment calls for sitting, and walk with you when you can move forward again.
8. Be brave enough to be real. Your Authentic self is enough.
9. You know she’s a true girlfriend when you don’t clean up before she comes over… you’re comfortable allowing her to see YOU, mess and all.
10. A lack of phone contact should not breed insecurity, just an excitement for when you finally do connect. Pick up where you left off, no guilt or hesitation. Life is hard and we all know it.
11. Life gets busy though. Be intentional.
12. Love them well. That will look different for each friend.
13. Truly good friends are your best cheerleaders– they make you feel like everything you want is possible.
14. If you find a friend that can make you laugh so hard you pee….don’t let her go.
15. Always reach out to the new girl in school or life. Always.
16. A phone date together with a glass of wine can be as fulfilling as a dinner out.
17. True girlfriends are those who take and give in equal measure – but always remember to measure over the length of a yard and not over the length of an inch.
18. It is a blessing to have an intimate few but always have room at your table.
19. Don’t be a high maintenance friend, life’s hard enough. Just love well and often.
20. Laugh and cry together, often at the same time.
21. Don’t flirt with her boyfriend, spouse or love interest.
22. Remember your life and family are not supposed to look like hers. You were created differently. Don’t compare.
23. Friends should never feel like an obligation.
24. Girlfriends know when to simply say “you will get through this, I promise.”
25. When you know you are crazy, your girlfriend can assure you, you are normal, even though you are crazy.
26. A girlfriend is like a good bra. Hard to find, but stay close to your heart and are a great support system.
27. Be Trustworthy ”A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy person keeps a secret.”
28. True girlfriends always know how to point out the best in each other.
29. Apologize when you screw up, because you will.
30. Don’t just say you’re going to pray for her, actually pray, even when she doesn’t ask.
31. Know the purity of her heart. It’ll make it easier to give her the benefit of doubt.
32. Give of yourself expecting nothing in return. A true friend will reciprocate when she is able.
33. You have been placed in each others lives with great purpose. Cherish each other

And of course I had to post some old pictures of us all!!!

 

Blessed Be Your Glorious Name

Luke 6:38

"Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure--pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return."

My momma always told me that if you give, you will receive. This mainly was because every Sunday she has her envelope ready to drop in the offering plate at church as it came around, and I as a child never understood how she could afford to give money to the church every week with all the other stuff she had to pay for. She assured me that when you give to God, he gives back to you in other ways.

That little quote has always stuck with me in life. I feel that I am a pretty giving person when it comes to helping others. My heart always breaks a little when I see a homeless person, or animal, looking for food or shelter. I feel guilty like it is my job to feed them or give them money. Stuart thinks I am crazy when I pull cat food out of the back of my car to feed the cats at the gas station, but I always feel a little bit better about myself :)

This past weekend while Stu and I were in the mountains, we found a little store that sells homemade jams and jellys canned in jars. After trying a couple with some crackers that they had out, we decided that we really wanted to buy some of the strawberry orange marmalade preserve. As we went to pay, Stu realized he didn't have any cash on him and saw that they didn't take cards. He told the owner that he had checks in the car so he would be right back. While waiting on Stu, I started to wander around the store more and talk to the owner about his business. He was a middle aged man who talked about his three daughters, wife, and how they became to be owners of their own jam and jelly business. Stuart came back in empty handed and told the man that he had left his checkbook at home and we could not buy the jelly today. The owner kept the conversation going and started to ask Stuart about his Clemson hat and education. Next thing I know, he is packing up the preserves in a bag, along with a jar of pepper jelly I had commented on about liking, and telling us to pay him later. I was really taken back on the generosity of this man. Here we are, two strangers who just stumbled in his store today, and now he is going to trust us to pay him back later! He told us to mail him a check, "It's what we do in the mountains." Stu and I left with our two jars of jelly and were really amazed that this nice man just gave them to us and trusted that we would pay him later.

We came home Sunday and were unpacking our things and I started to think about this man again. He gave us that stuff without getting anything in return. He trusted that we would do the right thing and pay him back. Well yes, we did send him a check in the mail with a huge thank you note attached, but it really got me thinking about doing something extra nice for someone who is truly in need of something. I recently moved all my winter clothes up to Greenville from Mom's house and realized I had more than enough jackets to get me through this cold weather. Mom takes a lot of our old stuff to church owned thrift stores, but I thought about starting a coat drive instead. Stu was all in for it, so I called around to a couple homeless shelters yesterday and asked how drop offs worked. I decided that we would collect as many coats as we could, and give them to two local shelters up here called Miracle Hill Ministries. One of for women and children, and the other is for men and families. My goal is that we can collect at least 100 coats by Thanksgiving, and deliver them the following week.

If you know anyone who is willing to donate to our coat drive, please contact me and we will get them from you!

Check out Appalachian Harvest online at  http://www.jamsnjelly.com/

Wedding Invites - 5 months away

It's official! Stu and I are getting married on April 5th, 2013 at 3:00 in the afternoon! Today makes exactly 5 months away from our wedding day!! EEEEKKKKKK

Last night we sat down with Logan at Palmetto Pizazz and ordered our wedding invitations. We chose an invitation that is really different from others, but I am very excited with it! We got an incredible deal on our invitations too.

I met Logan and her husband at the Wedding Festival in September in Greenville and booked a date with them then to look over invitations. Little did I know that she would come to that meeting equipped with hundreds of invites packed in 8 HUGE books!!! After looking through many of the books, we had narrowed it down to a couple. Logan was so sweet and helped us choose the right invite for us! I loved working with Logan on every detail of our invite! She was so helpful with helping us pick out our fonts, colors and wording!! I know that when we get out invites in person, that they will be perfect!!

Check Logan and Craig's business out at Palmetto Pizazz on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/#!/PalmettoPizazz

Mountain Weekend

Stu's favorite place second to Clemson is the Mountains. He mentioned this time last week about wanting to take a mountain trip pretty soon, but I had no idea he meant the following week! By Sunday night, he had booked a house and was already planning what we would do while we were up here.

We both got of work yesterday, kissed Tipsy goodbye for the weekend, and headed up to Rosman, NC. It was already dark when we got up here last night, but once the sun came up this morning, we both jumped out of bed to see our beautiful view!

 He cooked us some country ham and biscuits for breakfast and then we left for a hike in the Gorges State Park.

 

 Our hike was 3 miles to both of the waterfalls that we saw. I was hoping to see a bear or some kind of wild cat run through the woods, but all we saw was a little black mole looking for a place to hide

 

       











  This afternoon when we got back, we watched Clemson beat Virginia, and started or fire outside. This was our gorgeous view at 5pm!

S'More Please!

Every good mountain trip includes a bon fire and smores :) Stu went and brought groceries on Thursday  night and surprised me by buying everything to make smores with. When I unpacked all our of stuff here yesterday, I noticed that he got the jumbo marsh mellows instead of the regular sized ones. After dinner tonight, we got out the goods and roasted us up some smores!!

 

The jumbo marsh mellows were too big to put on our graham crackers, (also too big to fit in your mouth at once!) so we had to cut them in half ! Stu had to be the man and eat a whole one though! I ended up just roasting a few and crunching down on that burnt yummy-ness!

Mummy Hotdogs

Stuart said it was my turn to cook dinner tonight since last night he made us some delicious tenderloin with mashed potatoes. If you know me well, you know that I DO NOT COOK, I bake :) I have a huge sweet tooth, so I am always making some kind of cookies, cakes or brownies.

A few weeks ago I saw a picture of this mummy hot dog on Pinterest, and saved it because I knew it would come in handy sometime! With Halloween just on Thursday, I quickly remembered these cute little guys. I made sure we had some Pillsbury crescents and our fridge is always stocked with hot dogs of some kind.

 

I cut each hot dog straight up at the ends for the legs,

and then on the top on each sides for the arms.

               I wrapped each dog with at least one crescent roll dough, and then baked them all for 12 mins for 375 in the oven!

 

 

They came out looking great, and they tasted even better!!!

 

This was so easy to make for dinner and super cheap too! Stuart put chili and cheese on his and it was delicious! We will definitely be making these again even if we do just wrap the hot dog in the roll :)