A Whirlwind Weekend

Hey y'all,

So this weekend has been a bit of a whirlwind and I thought I would share a slice of my life. *beware of picture overload!

Friday was very busy at work but I was able to have a nice lunch out with friends during the middle of the day. After work I hit the road and made it to my parent's house in time to enjoy some yummy bbq ribs and chicken. The rest of the night was spent hanging out with my big bro, kDw, and catching some of TLC's Friday Bride Day. I mean, I don't have cable so I need to cram in my Say Yes to the Dress and I Found the Gown when I can. 

Saturday began at 5am. Yep, 5am on a Saturday since we had to hit the road by 6am for kDi's college graduation. We were out of the driveway on time and hit the McDonald's on the way. It had been so long since I enjoyed one of these.

We got to the PNC Arena a bit early so we had to wait in line for the doors to open but hey, we ended up with the perfect seats. The KID sister was one of 100 valedictorians, aka she graduated with a 4.0 GPA! Yep, she is a smarty pants which also meant she was seated at the front of the arena (sorry for the bad iPhone pics, I got the nicer camera later). 

Selfies before the ceremony!

Yep. Perfect seats. She also made it on the jumbotron due to her grad cap and the News and Observer had a picture as well!

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After the ceremony we grabbed a couple of pictures (and yes everyone was commenting and loving the cap!)

With the graduate! I am so proud of this KID!

Yes, her initials are KID and she is the kid sister ;)

The day continued with stopping by her apartment and packing her up. Then a quick lunch at Jersey Mike's commenced before we headed to Reynold's Coliseum for her departmental graduation. Again, we got there a bit early and found great seats. The only problem was that it was 3pm and there was no air conditioning. Luckily, the ceremony was pretty short. 

The NCSU College of Sciences Department of Biological Sciences graduates

SHE DID IT!
She crossed the stage and turned the tassel!

 After the ceremony we had hours to kill before our dinner reservation so we decided to take a picture break since kDi didn't take any senior photos. Here are some of my favorites including some pictures after the ceremony with the family and a few friends.

M and kDi went to Namibia together last summer!

 Outside of the Departmental Graudation

 All of us kids

 Candid pictures are the best. 

I mean, she is a Daddy's girl after all.

 All of the family. 

Myself, Mommy, kDi, Daddy, sDe, and kDw + photobomber

I think the wolf would be proud of her cap.

Then we were off to Brasa (a Brazilian steakhouse) for dinner but of course we took a few selfies in the car. SHE IS ALL DONE! GOODBYE STATE!

 She thinks NCSU is better than UNC.

 Yes the cheesecake was delicious. The entire meal was soooo good!

 This was the sunset on our ride back to our hometown.

Sunday was a lazy day after all of Saturday's adventures. We had a nice big brunch to celebrate the graduate and Mommy. The rest of the day was spent laying around the pool reading and watching some tv. Dinner was a yummy cookout with our family friends and neighbors and then we all watched Saving Mr. Banks.

Today, I had a dental appointment (yes my dentist is still in my hometown) and took the day off so I spent a bit of time with the graduate and my siblings before hitting the road back to the Triangle. 

I hope you all had a great weekend and congrats to all the graduates out there! I'll leave you with this last picture.

5 on Friday

Hey y'all,

Can you believe that I have been posting all week? I can't! YAY for finally making time for this little blog. So let's get started with five on Friday.

one. Thankfulness. I think you all should look at Ryann's post about 30 Days of Thanks. This will either be it's own blog post or attached to one and helps to prompt me to write something everyday. Today I am thankful for my faith. I know that if you have been reading this blog for a while or you know me in real life you know I am a Christian. I am so thankful to my family for raising me in the faith and encouraging me to continue to grow in my walk with God. I have been very blessed through my years and I know they have all come from our great God!

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two. Long Weekends. This weekend will be a long weekend for me due to doctor/dentist appointments so I guess I will enjoy that extra day even though it is booked solid.



three. hair cuts. I am going back to brunette tomorrow. For the last (almost) three years I have been highlighting my hair every 5ish months or so. I am ready to get back to a natural color on me, even though I was born blonde and let the mousy brown back (I think it will be like a chocolate brown when all is said and done).

At my 19th birthday celebrations. YAY for brown hair!

four. Book Club Friday. I have not linked up in a while since I have not been reading a ton which is a major problem but I did just finish Geek Girls Don't Date Dukes. I was given this book via Netgalley and if you are a fan of the Victorian era and have seen Lost in Austen run out and grab this book. It is actually the second book in a series and now I have to track down The Geek Girl and the Scandalous Earl. The book is described as
 "Leah Ramsey has always loved historical romance novels and dressing in period costumes. So when she has a chance to time travel and experience the history for herself, she jumps at it—figuring it can't be too hard to catch the eye of a duke. After all, it happens all the time in her novels. 
Avery Russell, valet and prize pugilist, reluctantly helps Leah gain a position in the Duke of Granville's household . . . as a maid. 
Domestic servitude wasn't exactly what she had in mind, but she's determined to win her happily ever after. Even if the hero isn't exactly who she's expecting." 

So I highly recommend the book as a quick, cute read if you enjoy Victorian romance stories! I give it 3.5 stars!

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five. Football. I have to shout out GO HEELS for my team takes on my sister's team Saturday! While DUKE is Carolina's rival, State always thinks they are rivals with us so we are a house divided and hopefully my team can pull out the win like last year.

What are you up to this weekend?