Weekend Update x 4

After an unintentional hiatus from blogging, this weekend update will be a long one (spanning a entire month, obviously).

First up:

My dad's 60th birthday surprise in the mountains! My sister flew in from California and then my parents' supper club all came to the mountains to celebrate my wonderful dad turning 60!

Next up:

Gameday came to Clemson for the second time when we played FSU, but we don't really need to discuss the outcome of that one...

Other mentionables in the past month:

Clemson beat Georgia Tech on a chilly Thursday night. I traveled to Chattanooga for work. I took a day off. I got a sinus infection. Mom and I visisted a Southern Living design home in the mountains. I sat through 8 hours of CPE. I visited a brewery. Mom and I visited a Southern Living design home in the mountins. And I stole a puppy (wishful thinking).

Come back tomorrow for an update of my trip to Philly to visit one of my besties!

What all have you been up to lately?

Linking up with Sami

Weekend Update ~ Labor Day Edition

This weekend had all the ingredients to be perfect: a holiday, college football, a Clemson win, and a mini-vacation to the mountains.

To try to express how amazing it was to return to Clemson and cheer my Tigers to victory against the Bulldogs on Gameday is simply impossible...

Every muscle in my body was hurting Sunday morning from being so tense the entire game and walking over 4 miles tailgate-hopping, but it was so very worth it.

I spent the rest of Sunday and Monday relaxing in the mountains with my parents. We visited the Cashiers Designer Showcase 2013 house, took a hike around the lake, and I took multiple naps.

With Labor Day gone, I'm officially ready for my favorite season, FALL!!!

Linking up with Sami

SOLID ORANGE

Excuse the silence. Even though I've been working 14 hour days this entire week (yay, recruiting), this is the only thing my brain can think about:

Working in Clemson this time of year is absolutely fantastic. I get to frolic around campus during lunch and we even got to catch a glimpse of Gameday setting up yesterday.

One more sleep until my life is complete and I'm screaming my lungs out in Death Valley, cheering on my Tigers.

Clemson, I just can't quit you.

Linking up with my favorite, Sarah, for Fan Friday!

Blog Everyday in May - Day 31

Today's topic: A vivid memory

For some reason, my entire year of grad school is one extremely vivid memory. The rest of my college years all run together, but grad school feels like it was yesterday.

I remember every night out, every day of class, every hour wasting away in the library studying for the CPA exam.

I remember sledding down the dike by the lake in a kayak and breaking into Death Valley (Clemson's football stadium) on the night it snowed.

I remember 11 of us enjoying our last spring break ever at my parent's beach house in Litchfield.

I remember the crazy, fun summer. Hours spent in the library, and then hours spent relaxing at the lake and by the pool (even if it did mean taking my CPA flashcards with me).

And I remember it all being worth every. single. second.

Weekend Update

Happy Monday! It's a rainy one here in Greenville, but as long as it's not 50 degrees anymore, I don't mind one bit!

This weekend was full of so many great things! Because my coworker and I didn't get home until 9:30 pm on Thursday night from our client in Charlotte, I only had to work 3 hours Friday morning in the office and then I headed to the pool!

Friday night, my coworker and I met downtown at the new rooftop wine bar, Sip, which I'm kind of in love with. I've been saying Greenville needed a rooftop bar for so long, and this one has the coolest atmosphere! Since it was opening day, they were still working out some kinks, but the line to get inside was 30 people deep! We'll be sure to go back on a less-crowded evening!

via

Then we met the guys at Grill Marks for dinner and devoured burgers and fries. I had a really hard time not ordering an alcoholic milkshake..

The snapshots from my Saturday and Sunday look like this:

We made the trek to Clemson for the spring game, and my life was complete with a little football and tailgating. We stopped at Clemson's most famous bar, The Esso Club, for drinks and dinner after the game, and we got to pretend like we were still in college at least for a little bit. Man I miss it.

And then Sunday was one of the most super productive days I've had in awhile. Since I crashed the night before after we got back from Clemson (before 10 pm, oops), I was wide awake at 6 am!

I drank my coffee (and enjoyed my new lilac gel mani!) and lounged around for a few hours before I was ready to tackle the day my closet.

I've been meaning to get in my closet for a giving away spree and a little spring cleaning, and I managed to donate two trash bags full of clothes and shoes! I took my donation to Goodwill and plopped myself on the couch for the rest afternoon to watch The Masters! Ryan had tickets to go with our friend Chase on Sunday, and he sweetly brought me back a Tervis tumbler last night! I was literally screaming at the TV during the playoff yesterday. I could just spread Adam Scott on a cracker - what a cutie! So happy he won! However, I'm a little ticked off that Ryan didn't bring Adam home instead, but whatever.

It's looking like I'll be out of town traveling for the next 4 weekends, so I was quite excited to spend this one lounging around and having some fun!

Hope y'all had a great weekend as well!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is tied for my favorite holiday and this year lived up to its expectations yet again.

I took Wednesday off, picked up my sister at the airport, then we were off to the mountains to spend Thanksgiving with the family! My mom and dad were already at the house and we spent the rest of the day chatting and doing some Thanksgiving day prep.

My mom had purchased a spaghetti casserole to keep us from dirtying up the whole kitchen trying to cook dinner. The 4 of us hadn't had a meal together since May! We enjoyed some wine, Dad built a nice fire, and we all fell asleep early with happy thoughts!

I woke up early Thanksgiving morning and was ready to get cooking! Dad was already up with the coffee brewing, and I started prepping my corn casserole which I also made for the Friendsgiving! We were all taking our time getting ready, until my aunt and uncle called and said they'd be there by 11 am! We kicked it into high gear but were still running around the kitchen when everyone arrived.

My cousin, his wife, their two children, and my cousin's wife's sister showed up shortly after my aunt and uncle, but we were still waiting on my other cousin Matt to make the drive from Greenville. We had a full house with 10 adults and 2 kids! I know that's not as many as most families have at Thanksgiving, but we still had to pull the table inside from the porch to fit everyone!

We sat down to eat about 12:30 or 1 pm and of course went back for seconds! The food was all so delicious, and I was surprised I wasn't sick of it by then since it was my third Thanksgiving meal!

The rest of the afternoon was spent watching my little cousin throw the football around, flipping the TV between football and the James Bond marathon (Thanksgiving tradition), and catching up with family we don't get to see too often. We finally managed to pull ourselves off the couch and head out for a walk around the neighborhood, which was refreshing after all that tryptophan!

My cousin, his wife, and the kiddies headed home but my aunt and uncle stayed with us in the mountains for a night!

 

We lounged on the couch, watched football, and went to bed early! Thanksgiving 2012 was a successful one!

 

On Friday, we bundled up and headed out to cut down our Christmas tree! This was a new tradition for our family and one I can't wait to repeat in the future. It was so fun walking around the farm before we picked the one we wanted to cut down. My sister and I couldn't help but laugh while reenacting all the scenes from "Christmas Vacation," our favorite Christmas movie!

 

The "One"

We decided to go to the first annual "tree lighting" on the square in Cashiers on Friday night, and were surprised at the turnout! There was cider, smores, and a little orchestra. It was a cute start to the Christmas season.

 

 

 

 

Saturday was the Clemson/USC rivalry game, so my sister and I spent the day tailgating and then headed to the game to watch us lose freeze our tails off.

 

 

 

 

Still proud each and every day to be a Clemson Tiger!

 

And that's how I spent my Thanksgiving holiday! I hope everyone had a great time with their families as well, and are gearing up for Christmas!

 

I promise I'll get caught up on my blog posts eventually...Ryan and I just returned from our anniversary trip in Kentucky, which I can't wait to share with y'all!

 

Until then!