23

I have a birthday post with no pictures!!! Crazy. But I learned this year that having a birthday in graduate school (and adult life in general) really humbles you.

I woke up on my birthday at 6:30am after 4 hours of sleep. YIKES. I went to work at 7:15 and left to give a 2 hour diagnostic at 9:15. Then I had one hour to CRAM for a test on five chapters at 1:00. I had a lecture in that class until 3:00 and then I had to go by the clinic to fill out paper work. WHEW

By the time I got home around 4:30 I was absolutely exhausted. I had made dinner plans though that I was excited about so I did get some fun in ;)

Meghan, Mindy, and Lauren joined me for dinner at Casa Rustica- a yummy Italian place in town. I had invited about 10 girls but their schedules are all just as busy as mine & only 3 got to come! We had a good time though and Mindy and I ordered the BEST Muscato. I don't know if it was the day I had had or if it really was that good but I probably could have drank a whole bottle ( I did not) ha ha

Afterwards Mindy and Lauren came to the movie "The Other Woman" with me and it was great! I love a good, funny rom com and thats exactly what it was! 

I got home about 10:00, was in bed by 11:00, and asleep before midnight! Hah I think I may have fallen asleep before I hit the pillow ;) 

No matter how busy or tired I was though, it was a good day! I am blessed by all the people who made my day special and I have A LOT to be thankful for in my 23 years of life :) Here's to 23, exciting things are to come!! 

(like Andy not being in the middle of law school finals during my birthday ;) Just kidding, but I had to add in why he wasn't a part of my day :-P)

Easter Weekend

My Easter weekend started on Thursday and I could NOT have been more excited!! I have had class until 3:00 on Friday afternoons all semester and this was the first weekend I was able to come home before Friday night!  

Thursday was also my brother's birthday! We got to celebrate him on Friday night by going to dinner at Portofinos :) I didn't take any pictures Friday night but here is a picture from Christmas, since his birthday did land on a #throwbackthursday ;)

I love you Will!! I can't believe you are getting close to your 30s! That must mean I'm getting old too… ;)

Saturday I met with my dad to go over the wedding budget and finalize some more plans! I can't wait to share some of my decisions once the contracts are finalized :) 

Saturday afternoon I got to go over to my Uncle Charles and Aunt Kim's house to dye Easter eggs with Barrett and her boyfriend Stephen! My family hasn't dyed eggs in forever so it was fun to be a part of their tradition. I bet you can't guess which egg is mine ;)

I ended the day with babysitting my favorite little side kicks! S is always so sweet during the time we get to spend together after E goes to sleep. While watching Cinderella, she turned to look at me and said "will you come over every day so I can give you a hug and a kiss?" Oh girl, if you only knew how much I'd love to do that instead of being in school this summer!! 

Sunday morning we woke up and got ready for church! It is funny how things change, all of us just casually looked at our baskets before walking out the door to church, and to think it used to be such a big deal to come down and pull everything out of the basket. It made me laugh that my mom and Phil put notecards in my basket. I have had SO many tests this semester, I really did need them ha ha

The sermon at church was SO good and hit close to home. Pastor Alex explained that the Saturday between Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday symbolizes fear and doubt after Jesus had died on the cross. But we KNOW he arose from the grave and we should rejoice in that!! Too many of us get stuck in the fear and doubt of Saturday when we should be celebrating the JOY and HOPE that comes with Sunday when Jesus overcame death!!

We got our next door neighbor, Dave, to take pictures of us after church and they turned out so pretty! We all kind of coordinated ha ha 

Mom and I were even twinsies ;)

Shortly after church we headed to Greensboro to have a cookout at my cousin Allie's house. It was so nice to see my Aunt Cathy's family! Allie has the cutest little boy, Brady and he definitely stole the show most of the afternoon :) I took a video of him opening his Easter basket and I wish I knew how to post it! He knew exactly what to do and it was precious! 

I spent today relaxing since mom and the girls went back to school. I ended the day having dinner with Dad, Kendall, and Will to celebrate our birthdays :) A great ending to my long weekend!

Now it's time to gear up for the craziness that comes with the end of the semester. Progress reports, evaluation reports, clock hours, tests, projects, and finals!! Oh, and it's my birthday week :) I'll be sure to find some time in all of that to celebrate!

Hope you had a Happy Easter! 

The Graduate Student Life

Since my last update, I have realized just how lame I am when I spend my weekends in Boone! I mean, seriously. Last weekend I spent Friday night grocery shopping and cleaning my bathroom Ha ha I guess thats what adulthood does to you ;) 

Meghan and I did decide last minute to go to the App baseball game on Saturday and it was a beautiful day to do so! I'm so glad we did!!

Saturday night Meghan, Mindy, and I were all riding the lame bus and we realized that it was our sorority's formal night. We, however, being the cool grad students we are, were already in our pajamas at 10:00pm. We decided to take our own formal pictures. We were dying laughing. 

I wouldn't want my weekends any other way though. Relaxation is just what we all need!!

Midweek Randoms {Venue Touring}

This past week we FINALLY had some beautiful weather in Boone! I was so excited to do some therapy activities outside! One of them included artic twister :) 

I went home this past weekend to tour and shop for venues!! I can't believe I'm full blown into the wedding planning now! I took this absolutely beautiful sunset Friday night as a "good luck" and "look to me" sign from God for the days ahead :)

I also found these two pictures Friday night… I was a flower girl three times. Now I get to have my own flower girl(s)!! Is this real life? ;) 

Barrett gave me this super cute and thoughtful gift on Saturday morning!! I LOVE the picture she framed and you know I love anything monogrammed, especially a notebook and sticky notes to help with my planning!

I was so excited these girls could go with me on Saturday, their opinions helped a lot! And just seeing them was wonderful too :)

Now, it's time to make a final decision, then hopefully a few other plans will fall into place too! In the mean time, I'll be missing my handsome, silly fiancé… because lets face it, wedding planning 7 hours away from one another isn't always fun