Two of my girlfriends from high school came to visit me in Asheville, so this weekend was a nice and busy one. We managed to hit up pretty much every part of town worth exploring in just one day. Sometimes it's super nice to go to school in a heavily tourist populated place, because when friends and family visit I get to see the city through their eyes and fall in love all over again. We ate a lot of good food(I may or may not have went out of my way to get a frozen treat two nights in a row), shared a lot of laughs, and did as much damage as three girls can do while shopping(which, actually, is quite a lot of damage.)

In other news, I am dragging my feet on this Labor Day Monday because MY SCHOOL HAD CLASSES TODAY.

This is my official complaint.

I'm going to do laundry and take a nap.

Enjoy your holiday.

from the weekend.

Just a few pictures from the mini beach trip I took this weekend. It rained two out of the three days, so we couldn't really enjoy the beach much, but we had plenty of quality family(and shopping) time.

And for the record, I think there's something so incredible about the way the coast looks on a rainy day. Everything seems a bit more dramatic. Clouds are bigger and more impending. Greens are brighter. Grays are cooler and browns, warmer. It's almost like there's nothing in this world as dark and deep as the ocean before a storm. It's very extreme in the best of ways.

Overall, it was nice to get away for a bit before I face the stress of packing and moving back to school. I now feel refreshed and ready to take it all on and transition into a new kind of routine.

from the weekend.

This weekend, my dad helped me paint my old bedroom at home. The room looks so different without the orange walls, and I'm beyond happy with the result. I decided to go with Valspar's Channel Seal Gray, which is a warm purpleish tone of gray. My sister describes it as a "chic gray," which is exactly what I was going for. Today I'm sharing just a quick preview of the progress and will be back Wednesday with a look into the (mostly) finished result.

from the weekend.

I had the best time on Friday night seeing Jake Owen with an old friend from high school. Stephanie is seriously the sweetest, and the hour and a half drive to Greensboro and back was just enough time for us to catch up. The concert was awesome, and I was definitely impressed considering it was my first country music concert ever. To me, country music is just fun and carefree and that's exactly how I felt the whole time I was there. I have also always associated country music with summertime and seeing this song played live got me nothing but super pumped for the season ahead. The whole experience was a great way to kick off summer and remind myself that I'm working all the time so I can afford to do things like this more often and to soak up these days of gold.

from the weekend.

Remember me saying a few days ago how crazy life has been lately? Well on top of all that chaos, my brother graduated college and was commissioned into the U.S. Air Force as a 2nd Lieutenant this weekend. Crazy, right?

His commissioning ceremony was so beautiful and it was awesome seeing so many of our(and his) loved ones gathered together. Michael, we love you and we are so proud of everything you've accomplished. Life may be moving at a million miles a minute but we are so excited to see what it has in store for you!

His beautiful girlfriend, Nicole(pictured second from top), also graduated this weekend from UNC Chapel Hill with a degree in Biology. We are insanely proud of her as well, as everything she's accomplished is no easy task to say the least.

Last but not least, the flowers pictured at the bottom are from Mother's Day. I'm feeling so thankful for such a strong mother who can handle the craziness like no other. This weekend definitely reinforced her unconditional love during the good times and the bad. Mom, you're the best and I love you. I feel like I say it every year, but you don't get thanked nearly enough for all that you do.

from the weekend.

Saturday, I ran errands, went to the Farmer's Market, and bought fresh strawberries. I enjoyed the beautiful weather and ate the best homemade black raspberry ice cream.

Sunday, I slept in, ate a homemade brunch(strawberries included of course), sipped my coffee slowly, and caught up on the latest episode of Hart of Dixie. Then, I caught up on both homework and my workout routine. As a bonus, my friend Brandon planted a seedling of his mint plant for me to keep. I had painted a pot to put it in a few weeks earlier, but I just got around to picking up the finished product yesterday. It is definitely adding a cheery spot to my current stress-zone of a dorm room. Hopefully, I'll keep it alive and have fresh mint all summer to infuse in my water with lemon or cucumber!

I truly believe that one of the most important things I've learned as a college student is how crucial productive Sundays are to my well-being. I have recently made it a habit to spend Sundays all by myself and take the time to do the things I may have neglected the previous week to prepare for the week ahead. I always allow myself to wake up slow, then I make a to-do list for the week ahead. I usually manage to squeeze in a small workout to push my routine into action, and then I make a point to get ahead and start work on the most daunting project for the week ahead.

I've grown to love Sundays, instead of spending the entire day stressing about the week ahead.

This has definitely become my latest mantra.

from the weekend.

I actually went home this weekend for Easter, and it was just what I needed. I managed to squeeze in as much relaxation and family time as I could before exams. I now feel ready and refreshed to finish out strong during this final week of class. Plus, all the fun time I spent catching up with old friends made me so excited for the adventures to come this summer. I'll be counting down the days starting now. ;)