Happy Birthday to Us!

This past weekend, I celebrated my 27th birthday. I also was able to celebrate it with two of my bff's Devin and Kelly. If you haven't read this post...it gives a little bit more background on our joint parties. :)

On Friday night, we had tons of friends over at my parent's lake house. We had lots of food, keg, and numerous rounds of flip cup were played. If you're not sure what Flip Cup is, then ask a college student. It was so nice to have everyone together. We even had a pinata...you know that made the party extra special.

{Me, Devin, Kelly}

I've never received flowers for my birthday...or really ever (atleast not in a long time). I was so excited to have these waiting for me when I arrived at the lake to help set up for the party.

{"Uni" did not look like this in the morning...same way I felt}


She got me an AWESOME gift! You can read about here. She also got me a very classy New Kids on the Block halter dress she found at Goodwill made out of NKOTB bed sheets and a sweat band.

I'm an only child...but I am DEFINITELY an Auntie to my sweet girl Campbell. She is my cousin's daughter who is 21 months and my namesake (Campbell Elizabeth) and the closest thing I have to a niece. So she is super special to me. Her mommy helped her make this card.

Overall, my birthday this year was a major success. Had a great party on Friday. My mom and I went to Olive Garden for dinner on Saturday night (on the night of my official birthday). It's a tradition that started when I turned 21 and has carried on every year since. Then, last but not least, at my grandma's for Sunday lunch my mom cooked my all time favorite meal...country fried steak, black eyed peas, macaroni and cheese and banana pudding. If I was on death row and I had my last meal...I would want to die with country fried steak (as well as chick fil-a waffle fries, baked potato, and cheesecake) in my belly!

Everything was perfect! I am so blessed with such a loving and supportive family and great friends who keep me sane every day of my life. Thanks for everything!

loves,

sweetbef

Go Cocks!

{photo courtesy of TheState.com}

I am so proud to be a Gamecock this morning! The baseball team from my alma mater, the University of South Carolina, won the 2010 Men's College Baseball World Series last night beating out UCLA in Game 2 of the Finals! I was THIS close to turning the TV off at midnight last night when the winning run was scored. So glad that I stayed up to watch the end!

I have my garnent and black on today to show my Gamecock pride!

loves,

sweetbef

Jessica...A Survivor

*note*...if you get tired of looking at pictures all the time of me, myself, and I please forgive me. and let me know if you'd rather be subject to something else.

During my Spanish 101 class as a freshman in college, we were asked to get into groups and a sweet girl by the name of Jessica asked if I wanted to be in her group...We've been friends ever since. Going on 9 years.

{Spring Break in the Bahamas}

In the summer of 2006, I moved back home from Columbia looking for a job, Jessica had moved back home after getting her Master's looking for a teaching job in Charleston. We were chatting on IM one night and she told me that she went to the doctor because her knee had been hurting for some time. She found out that she had cancer. I was so scared for her. Four years later...she's a 3 year survivor of Osteosarcoma, which a form of bone cancer.
{Jessica and I at her "End of Chemo" party}
{One of my many Summer visits}
{Luau Birthday Party for a mutual friend}

Jessica is now healthy, beautiful, happy, and still one of my bestest good friends. We try to visit with each other as often as possible throughout the year. I always love a good excuse to go to Charleston. She truly is my hero and her story is so inspiring. You can read her story through her words, here.

loves,

sweetbef

Birthday Past...

My birthday weekend was a major success...I took very few pictures, but I will try to update you on those happenings later. In the meantime, I thought you might enjoy a glimpse at my past birthday's...

{I was such a looker back then}

loves,

sweetbef

Zodiac Sign - Cancer

If you were born between June 22 - July 21 then you have the privilege of having a crab and a 69 as Zodiac symbols.

Luckily for me, two of my very best friends share this special Zodiac with me...Kelly and Devin. I met Devin in 2002 during my sophomore year of college. I met Kelly soon after, because she and Devin were in Pharmacy school together and were later roommates for several years.

In 2005, Kelly and I (being that our birthday's are only two days apart) decided to celebrate our birthday's together. The next year...Kelly, Devin, and myself decided to be a trio and celebrate together each year since. In the past two years, it's been hard for us all to get together at the same time for our birthdays, but this Friday night we're able to make it happen!

I wanted to share some pictures with you guys of our friendship over the years. Beware...picture overload. Enjoy!

I'm so blessed to have such sweet, caring, funny, loyal, and best friends in my life. I don't know what I would do with out either of them. We've shared many memories together and have many more to make! I can't wait to see what the future holds for our friendship.

loves,

sweetbef

Hair 'do Dilemma

UPDATE: I MADE AN APPT WITH A NEW SALON...HOPEFULLY SHE CAN GET MY HAIR DID RIGHT!

So...I normally only get my hair cut like once every 5/6 months. My hairstyle doesn't need to be maintained that much because their isn't much to it and my ginger locks are still virgin to chemicals so I don't have to get my "roots done" ever. Even though I hate my hair color, I've never had the urge to color it. For one, I don't know what color I would change it to...blonde maybe? I do have my "blonde moments" so it would probably match.

I've being living here for over 3 years...and it's been hard for me to find a hairstylist that I like. I started just going to those ones in the mall at first because it's easy to walk-in and get a trim, but then I wanted to get a more "regular" stylist. I picked out a place near my apartment, but that only worked like 2 times because it wasn't convenient for me to leave work early and I usually had to wait a week to get my hair done. So I found a salon which is like a block up the road from where I work about a year ago. The stylist I was assigned to that day was perfect. She was my age so we had a lot in common. I went to her atleast 3 times, until she moved to D.C. I was so sad. So for the past couple of times I've been to another lady who is super sweet, but she never seems to get my hair the way I want it. The second time I went to her I took this picture....

I love Sara Evans' hair in this picture, but she and I both thought I may not be ready for those short layers just yet. Well, then the next time I went for a trim I decided to take a picture of what my hair looked like when my previously relocated stylist cut my hair. It still didn't come out the way I wanted, but I let it be...she just didn't get it.

So now I'm not sure if I should pick a new stylist or not. On the one hand, I'm "comfortable" with my current stylist and I know she can schedule me the same day, but should I go to someone different and possibly have them cut my hair the way I want it?

I NEED to get my hair cut this week...it's gotten so long and gross and it always ends up in a (knotted) pony tail by the end of the day...and it's so thick and coarse it definitely needs to be thinned out.

Woe is me...and my hair.

loves,

sweetbef

Happy Father's Day

Daddy,
When life brought challenges your way,
you only let them make you stronger.
So grateful for the example you set,
just by being the man of character you are.

And to the other father's in my life, I am also so grateful for them.

My Grandfather who is 92 (93 in September) years young. He's so sweet and is still always on the go, outside playing with his tools or visiting friends at the local cafe every morning.


And my Stepdad who has been married to my mother almost 8 years. I've never seen her so happy or so in love.

loves,

sweetbef

It's a Boy!

First of all, I know it's 9pm on a Friday night and I'm blogging. Don't judge me. It's been a rough week.

I've been at my job for almost 3 years and I work with 4 other people and they are all women. Working with just women can be challenging, but it can also be very fun. Two of my co-workers are having baby boys. One planned, one suprised, both blessed. The minute I found out they were both pregnant I immediately stopped drinking the water at work.

Today we had a baby shower during our lunch hour for both Jeannie (baby Andrew's mommy) and Kate (baby Logan's mommy). We had so much fun.

Here are the gift baskets I made for Jeannie and Kate. It had all kinds of goodies.

We had the shower in our conference room, so since I was in charge of the decor, I wanted to make it look as nice as possible...and food of choice (as requested by the mommies) KFC chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, pasta salad, biscuits, and peanut butter pie. That's how we roll in the South.

Jeannie has been married to her husband for 6 years and vowed to never have kids. Prior to her pregnancy if she even heard the sound of a baby cry she would get uneasy and freakout. She hated kids. Well, since being pregnant she's totally embraced it and is so excited about meeting her little man Andrew. So inside the card, I wrote..."We make plans and God laughs. Congratulations to you and Brian on your miracle Andrew." Well, that made her immediately breakdown and she couldn't read the rest of the card. I felt that this was a great opportunity to document that she does not have a heart of stone and she can cry real tears. It was not my intention to make her cry, but I was honored she appreciated my sweet words. :)

I can't wait to meet Andrew and Logan...but I thought it might be interesting if they could meet each other before they met all of us!

loves,

sweetbef

Happy Early Birthday to Me!

Tuesday my bestie Mandy emailed me at work and told me that she had gotten my birthday gift and couldn't resist waiting to give it to me next week, so she was mailing it to me. Under one condition...I had to call her the minute I got it in the mail so she could hear my reaction when I opened it. Well, for her sake...I wanted to put the reaction on video, but that did not work. Voice reaction over speaker phone was all Miss Mandy got. So, I decided to reinact what happened in photos for her to see...

{Preface...as you may or may not know, I am a HUGE fan of comedian Chelsea Handler.}

I have read all three of Chelsea Handler's books! She has me literally LOL'ing. Which is a rare occurance when/if I read a book. One of my friends got to see her in Atlanta back in March and told me she was hilariously magnificent. I was watching her show, Chelsea Lately on E! the other night and heard her mention that she was adding new show dates in new cities. I tried to take a mental note to look online the next day to see where she was going. Apparently, that mental note went to Mandy's brain the next day instead of mine and she got the tickets for her show in Charlotte in October.

This is the absolute most awesomest gifts ever! So glad I got it early...and yes, Mandy...you NAILED it! :)

{The Beautiful Gift Giver and Me on her b-day last year.}

My good friend Brad (or B-rad as I like to call him) has a big birthday today! Happy Birthday B-rad!

Love,

"Bizzle"

(as B-rad likes to call me)

Congratulations!

Congratulations are in order for my cousin Cyndi and her husband Austin. Cyndi gave birth to a healthy baby girl this morning.

Welcome Ruthy Johnel!

Best Wishes to Austin, Cyndi, and big brother Will.

*hopefully i'll have pictures of baby Ruthy soon*

Dear Beach, I miss you!

So...when that alarm clock went off this morning I was not ready to face a Monday at work. But I survived and have lived to tell about it and my beach trip this past weekend.

I got to Myrtle Beach Wednesday night and immediately was greeted with a strawberry margarita by my mom. I enjoyed catching up with her on the balcony and watching the people walking on the beach at night. Every morning I loved watching the lifeguards put up all the beach chairs and umbrellas and just sit in the sun and eat my breakfast and lunch. Every day was the same...which was perfect. Head down to the beach about noon and come back in about 5pm and shower and then go out to eat. It was SCORCHING...but we always had our umbrella or "fort" as I called it, music, nice "fun" drinks, and the ocean right in front view. I've never seen the Atlantic Ocean look this beautiful...atleast not at Myrtle Beach and it felt just like bath water. It was so relaxing. Thursday night we ate at my mom's favorite place, the Sea Captain's House. It's this old house fixed up as a restaurant right on the water. The wait is always a little long, but there is a back porch with live music and you can sit outside on the benches/swings/rocks and watch the ocean. We always love going there.

My stepdad and stepsister were there until Friday and then when they left to head back home, it was just me and my mom. I love our time together. We always have a good time and catch up and remember old times. Friday night we went and did some shopping and dinner at Broadway at the Beach. If you ever go to Myrtle Beach, definitely go there for shopping and entertainment. There is an aquarium, IMAX theater, restaurants, rides for kids, and PLENTY of shopping. Saturday night I was craving this blackened salmon penne pasta I had last year when us girls took our beach trip. It was at this open air restaurant south of the Myrtle Beach area called Latitude 22. We get there and another restaurant has taken it's place. I was so sad I couldn't enjoy that nice pasta meal I had been craving, but their new food did not disappoint.

My mom's been taking me to the beach every year since I was little. She was always toting me and my friends as we grew up into teenagers. We definitely laughed remembering all those times together. I don't know how she was able to put up with us. I could write two long books on all those trips.

Here is a little picture overload for your viewing pleasure.