#orange4tucker

The loss of a loved one is like no other pain. Grief lingers for the rest of your life, touching you with sorrows in different ways at different times. Your goal is not necessarily to rid your life of the pain, but to live with it and remember the best things about your loved one.

My heart dropped and I instantly got a lump in my throat as I read a text from Stuart yesterday afternoon while at Starbucks. My eyes filled with tears, as they are now, and I kept reading the text over and over in my head. I had watched the news earlier in the morning and heard that a Clemson Student’s body was found in Lake Hartwell and they had indentified the body. I didn’t listen in close to who it was because we really don’t know too many students left at Clemson, I didn’t possibly think it could be one of them.

A few weeks ago, Stuart and I were dog sitting for a family in Greenville, and decided to take the dogs downtown for a walk. Of course I got hungry and Wild Wing Café was the first place I thought of because we could eat outside while the dogs laid under the table with us. Our furry little buddies, Finn and Tucker, greeted everyone as they walked by including our waiter, Tucker. We laughed as he introduced himself since he had the same name as the dog. I am always finding out everyone’s life history, so obviously I started to ask him about his self as he kept coming back to our table. He told us he was from Piedmont and was going to be a sophomore at Clemson. Since I am all about going greek, I asked if he was in a fraternity and he quickly said he was looking forward to pledging SigEp.

Tucker had an unforgettable smile and a personality that made you want to be friends with him.

As we watched the news last night, it weighed heavy on my heart that this tragedy happened. Tucker Hipp was only 19 years old. He was his parent’s only child and he was in a serious relationship. I just was talking to Stuart on Saturday about losing a spouse and not under standing how you could ever get over it. I hope this is something that we will not have to deal with in our lifetime, but feel awful for those who have gone through it. The Lord sure does work in mysterious ways, and I will never understand how he chooses who will come live with him next. 

I feel safe to say that sweet Tucker is holding up his tiger rap and representing Clemson well.  

The righteous cry, and the Lord hears

And delivers them out of all their troubles.

The Lord is near to the brokenhearterd

And saves those whoare crushed in spirit.

Psalm 34: 17-18

TBT Tallahassee edition

Stu and I are headed to Tallahassee to watch Clemson take on the Florida Seminoles this weekend and in honor of our road trip I decided to post some throwback pictures of our last trip there!

 

Props to FSU for having the most fun tailgate I've ever been to! These people really know how to host a party to get ready for their team to play! We got so many ideas from them... and have failed to recreate any of them at Clemson ... YET.

 

Our sun filled weekend included going out Friday before tailgating our tails off on Saturday and then that long car ride home Sunday.

The FSU fans were also some of the nicest people!! I guess the fact that they know they are better than everyone has something to do with it... but hey, they welcomed us into their city and shared their town with all us tigers for the weekend! We even had a surprise visit by their head coach's wife! Of course I had to get a picture with her :)

I hope we will be able to come back with this many memories this time, even though we will be missing The Wolf Pack on our trip! 

 

Puppies for FREE

I have a problem saying no to anything small or tiny! Which is an awful problem when it comes to baby animals. I want every kitten, puppy, squirrel or baby goat we see somewhere :) Stuart knew this before he married me though so I guess he is ok with it!

This past weekend, Stu and I went home to Chapin and Swansea to see family. We were surprised with 9 puppies when we got to his mom's house!

My mother in law's lab had puppies with her pointer hunting dog so they made for some cute babies! They were unexpected, so she is wanting to get rid of them to good homes for free! The puppies will be 8 weeks mid October, so you can start to get them then. They will not be up to date on shots or heart worm or anything, so please if you get one, get your little guy (or girl!) check out asap!

Since some of these sweet babies were more interested in sleeping than meeting us, we don't know how many male and females there are. There are three brown and 6 black. One brown female is already adopted, and one black male, but all others are looking for a forever home :)

If you know anyone who is interested in getting one of these puppies, please let us know!!

A Love For ZTA

This past weekend I had the opportunity to help the USC Upstate Zeta's with their recruitment. As a collegiate member of ZTA, I honestly dreaded this time of year. It was so stressful to balance work, school and Zeta as it is, and then you were adding on 3 nights full of Zeta to recruit the best girls possible! Girls get stressed out, burned out, and just want it all to be over with after day one, so getting through the next couple nights was always a challenge for me, and was for the girls in Kappa Rho's ZTA chapter as well.

Recruitment now seems to bring a different feeling to me as an advisor for these girls verse being a collegiate member of Zeta.

As a freshman going through recruitment and rushing Zeta brought such an exciting and new joy to my life!! That sounds silly, but if you have gone though the recruitment process, you know how exciting it is to run towards you new sisters and new sorority letters! Throwing up the Zeta Crown with your best friend and now Zeta Sister, and taking that group picture for the first time with all your new sisters in front of your letters... You can't beat that feeling of excitement :)

As a sophomore going through, it's a whole different feeling. You now are a Zeta sister and get to talk to all the girls going through recruitment that want to be you! You are getting to know them all and looking for you own little :) Bid Day couldn't be more excited because it's the first time you are standing in front of those letters getting ready to welcome in your new Zeta babies, but first you have to take all the pictures you can!

 As a junior, you feel like a leader. You know your stuff, you want to make sure your chapter gets good quality girls that are going to represent your chapter and know the importance of being a Zeta on campus. You are probably helping your little find a little of their own, or after falling in love with a new member, questioning the fact of taking on another little for yourself.

And then there's senior year. It's all coming to an end, and it's your last year to soak up Zeta as much as you can before you graduate and become an alum. I remembering feeling so burnt out, but as president, you still had to smile and find that love for Zeta to recruit the best! You want to get to know your new members, but it's harder because you lives are on two separate pages now. Bid Day is both exciting and sad at the same time, because you won't get to dress crazy and wear that tutu without anyone questioning you in the future. You take those picture with you other senior sisters that have been through ZTA the past 3 years with you and laugh because you started with 20 girls and now are only a group of 6. It's your last pool jump with your sisters, last run towards new members, and last time to celebrate the love for your letters as a collegiate sister :(

 

 

And then there's being an alum..

It's a whole new feeling of wanting the best to continue on the legacy of ZTA. You want the chapter to get the BEST girls! Not just the prettiest, but the good quality girls who will be a true asset to the chapter. Girls who will become leaders, and hold positions. You want to instill in those new members coming in how great it is to be a Zeta, but how important it is to represent your letters both while wearing them and not.

 

 The excitement of adding new members to your family and continuing the direct legacy you have to Zeta :)

 

Standing by your best friends and sisters as they get married!

 and being reunited with you Zeta family at weddings every weekend :)

And then getting married your self and having your sisters with you through every step!

 

Many people laugh and say that Zeta is just something to do while in college, but I plan to make Zeta live forever in my life. I have so many memories of my college years that Zeta has given me and now the love keeps on growing as a make new memories with new and old sisters I meet. I am forever grateful to be a member of the best sorority on earth!

 

Congrats to all the new members joining Zeta Tau Alpha this fall :) I hope that you all gain the same love for ZTA that I have found!

 

 

#TankedTigers14

This Saturday was our first home game of the year. I think I was more excited to get my tailgate on than to see the game since it was against SC State.  We enjoyed a morning full of food and friends while getting ready to cheer on Clemson during their lunchtime game. The Tigers ran over the Bulldogs and finished the game with over 70 points! After two quarters of watching the game in the burning sun, we finally got some shade and watched the rest of the game relaxed back in our seats! The rest of our crowd skipped out of the game early and made their way to the Clubhouse (Esso Club) to get ready to cheer against USC later that night. I have a feeling that all of our game weekends will be ending at the Clubhouse this year :) You can see below that we had a little fun with the tiger paw tattoos!

We've decided on making a tailgate #hashtag for the season since we have four spots together! #TankedTigers14 it is :)

My dress is from Vestique and bangles are A Southern Touch! Check them both out to get geared up for more games this fall :)