Bon Voyage!

YAY! I am finally on spring break! Its so sad being my last spring break! A group of us (65 of my closest college friends) are headed on a cruise to the bahamas for the week and I am so excited! There are about 20 people going that I know, so it will be a good chance to meet some new people from my school and other schools! We leave Sunday after midnight and are taking a charter bus to Florida to get on the ship Monday! I am really excited and will have to tell yall all about it!! (Maybe this time I will take more than two pictures!) If yall have any packing suggestions, feel free to share- I always take way to much stuff, and none of it is every appropriate!

Tonight is my friend aMb's birthday and I am so excited about it! I finished her cooler this afternoon and I hope she loves it. *Sorry I don't know how to rotate the image so if you dont mind, tilt your head!!*


We went out last night for margaritas and tonight is her surprise party. I hope she is feeling up to it!!

I decided to get the navy/white and pink/white jacks. Thanks to all of yall that suggested colors, I already have the platinum so these new colors were perfect! I hope yall got to enjoy the sale as well :) I was also so excited about the Tibi sale this week at Gilt. I have been eyeing this dress since I saw it in New York in December.
I went online at 1:00pm to see if it was included in the sale and it was! I was so excited because it was only $138!! I found out they were out of my size in the coral and was devastated. I decided that I really loved the dress and should get the black since they still had it in my size. When I tried to buy it, it said someone had it in their shopping cart :( sad day! I hope whoever beat me to these purchases truly loves their new dress and gives them a good home!!

I am not sure I will have time to blog again before going on my cruise because I still have to pack! I hope each of yall has a fabulous week and I can't wait to read about them when I get home!!

JACK ROGERS!

YAY! So I just got this wonderful email through our sorority list serve. There is a survey online that you can take and get 30% off jack rogers at navajosandals.com! Yall should all go check it out!
Here is the link

http://columbia.qualtrics.com/SE?SID=SV_8ByJeLVeazWE6gs&SVID=Prod

So now what colors do you think I should get? I'm thinking the navy/white, pink/white, lime/white or basic gold... Maybe all four!! Let me know your opinions!

Update

Thank yall for your comments and worry over the raccoon! Our raccoon left his nest in our chimney and the wildlife specialist was able to cover up the entrances to our chimney- apparently we have three, which is interesting because our house is tiny!! So we thankfully no longer have a pet. However, when we went to remove the trash bag that was covering our fireplace, it smelled awful! So we have left that up until someone is able to come clean out whatever mess might be in our chimney. All the girls we have over for the progressive dinner, found it hilarious. (I will update yall on the weekend and the wonderful dinner later, I have lots of studying to do!)

On a side note, some of you have had the pleasure of meeting and playing with my fish, Finley. I have never been interested in fish and the procurement of Finley was quite spontaneous. (I wanted a puppy and realized it wouldn't be practical because we live on a busy street and don't have a fence.) Anyhow, Finley has gone home to stay with my parents while I go on spring break; therefore we are completely void in the pet department. I miss Finley!

New Pet

So my roommates and I have discovered we have a new pet. And not a good one!! Its a raccoon living in our chimney!! Over the past couple of months we could hear some noises coming from our chimney but we never did anything about it. When I got back from nyc on tuesday, it smelled awful in our living room. We thought it might have been our trash, so we took that out and cleaned up our kitchen. The next morning the smell still wasn't gone, and we guessed it could be the cooler I was painting. We moved that outside. Then we realized the smell was coming from our fireplace. So we called our rental company and they said they would send out someone to check it out the next morning. So yesterday afternoon, the chimney guy comes to discover that we have a raccoon stuck in our chimney! We then have to call a wildlife specialist to attempt to get the raccoon out. He said that the smell could be a) something that the raccoon brought back to the chimney, b) the raccoon had babies (eww) or c) its feces and urine. HOW DISGUSTING!!! We are so grossed out. Not only does it smell bad, but we had a possibly rabid creature living in our house! The wildlife specialist wasn't able to get him out so he is coming back today to try to get him out. In the meanwhile, we have duct taped a garbage back over our fireplace so it doesn't escape (yes we know that the trap vent thing is closed but we are still freaking out). To make matters worse, we are hosting a progressive dinner at our house tonight!!! Lets hope Bandit doesn't try to make an appearance!


I am very excited about the Progressive Dinner tonight. It has been a tradition in our sorority for the seniors to throw the freshman a progressive dinner. We were the last pledge class that had this opportunity and are really excited to bring it back. My house has a mexican theme, so we will have margaritas, tacos and queso! We will have three groups of 15-20 girls come through. Then the entire sorority will head to another seniors house at the end of the evening for a party! This is going to be great! This is also the day that I am starting to get very excited about Spring Break!

NYC!

Sorry it has taken me forever to get around to telling yall about my fabulous trip to the city. I went to visit three of my sorority sisters from college, B, A and E. B lives in Manhattan, A lives in Williamsburg and E lives in DC. We were celebrating valentines and also a belated birthday for B.

Getting to NYC:
I flew out on Friday afternoon, my flight was delayed and I didn't get in until about dinner time. I also had spent most of my trip safeguarding a case of cupcakes I was bringing as a valentines present; they ended up getting smooshed about 20 minutes away from B's apartment. I was sporting my fabulous new lavender monogrammed sweatshirt. When I got to B's apartment E was already there and they thought my outfit was hilarious (mostly because I took the subway from the airport into Manhattan through Brooklyn). They gave me a hard time about that sweatshirt all weekend. I was also wearing my new uggs that I justified buying because they are like a 'hammock for your feet'. This phrase was also ridiculed all week. Before we left for dinner at a nearby Mexican restaurant, I ended up swapping shoes with E because she fell in love with my uggs. So there I was in the middle of Manhattan with a monogrammed sweatshirt and her converse tennis shoes on. It was quite comical. After a couple wonderful margaritas, we headed back to B's apartment to get ready for the night.

First Night on The Town:
We ventured to the upper east side to hang out with some of E's friends from graduate school. After hanging out a bit at their apartment, we headed to a bar that one of them worked at. Some guys I know that used to go to a nearby college (S & N), met up with us at the bar. After this bar, we headed to another for karaoke night. We ended up getting kicked out of the bar for dancing on the furniture (Tom Petty was on and we were loving it!) and so we decided to head home. Overall it was a good start to a wonderful Valentines Weekend!

Valentines Day:
Saturday morning we woke up, all a little sluggish. B & I had a cup of tea and got ready to get watch our college basketball game at a bar downtown. E and a study abroad friend R came over and were tired as well. We ended up all passing out and waking up at 4pm, just in time for a quick brunch! We went to a diner near B's apartment where I had a chocolate monkey milkshake! We went down to the seaport to watch the ice skaters (fall) and do a little shopping! I was lucky to venture into J. Crew where I got new white pants, a coral colored suit skirt and this adorable top in bright coral! I was so very excited. We also took this picture in front of the Brooklyn Bridge (please excuse us looking slightly awful)!
We headed back to get ready for our dinner reservation that we had (A's sister S came along as well)! We went to Village Restaurant and it was delightful! We then went to a burlesque show at a local bar where we got to see this lovely lady. I was so intimidated by the burlesque that I had to have a few drinks beforehand and so by the end of the show I was told I had to stop with the drinks! Needless to say I didn't listen. We ended up going to two more bars that night but I could not tell you the names of them!! It was overall a wonderful valentines.

Sunday:
The next afternoon (because we were completely out of commission before noon) we had brunch with E's brother. We went to a really good brunch spot in Tribeca. We then ventured over to R's place and hung out with his roommates to try and recover from the previous night. It was then decided by one of R's roommates that the best way to recover was to go to another bar (yes at a 3pm on a Sunday, six of us went to a bar). We stayed at the bar for about and hour drinking mimosas and bloody marys. After this, E had to leave to go home to DC because she had class on Monday. B and I then went back to her apartment to watch August Rush, which is an absolutely amazing movie. I recommend you all check it out. That night, A, B and two of B's coworkers went out to Down the Hatch for cheap beer to celebrate no work on Presidents day. I was really excited to have beer because it seemed like everywhere else we went only had cocktails. S, N & A decided to come out to meet us. We went to a couple other bars in the area and headed home somewhat early (1:00 as opposed to 4:00)? When we got home B and I devoured the pizza that we had left over in the fridge! It was so good (Hawaiian... my favorite)!

Presidents Day:
On Monday B & I went shopping almost all day and I found so many cute things! Then A met us to go see Confessions of a Shopaholic. I loved it- B & A kept asked me if the movie made me want to take back all the things I purchased that day. It didn't. We then headed back to B's apartment to see R- B's roommate who is another one of our sorority sisters. R had spent the weekend with her boyfriend and I was really excited to see her. We didn't do too much on Monday besides gossip and watch The City. On Tuesday morning I left for the airport shortly after B & R left for work. It was sad to go and I cannot wait to go back up there!

I Love My Blue Devils

The big game is tonight and before it starts I just want to let everyone know...

GO DUKE!

That felt good. I have been a blue devil ever since I was born and will again cheer them on tonight against the tarheels. I wish I could find and post the picture of me when I dressed up as a duke cheerleader for Halloween when I was six. It is precious! So as much as I hate to say it... GTHC-GTH!!

And please go check out this hilarious youtube video that I was lucky enough to find on a friends blog.


UPDATE: No my duke blue devils didn't win. Sad Day.

New Favorite Website

Absolutely just fell in love with this website- MacBeth Collection! Yall have got to check it out. I've always loved the party buckets and think this would be the place to get one! Last year for an engagement present for one of my best friends (wHd), I painted her and his names in nautical flags on a baby blue bucket and filled it with goodies!! I was in love with it and wished I had a picture to show you. Along those lines, I've also started my newest project. My friend, aMb, has a birthday coming up and I want to paint her a cooler for her. For those of yall who are greek, you have probably heard of the this tradition. I did my first cooler last semester for my friends mountain weekend. The cooler was amazing and Anna commented how she would want one. Hers will be so cute (and of course include her monogram!) I will post pictures when I complete it!

So this week I am very stressed out about school work. I have a project proposal due tomorrow then a midterm on Tuesday. Gross! But I am very excited because I am going to NYC this weekend!! I am going to celebrate valentines day with three of my very good friends! We are going to have a wonderful time and am in love with the city! I am flying on Friday the 13th so I am a little superstitouos about that. Wish me luck! And I will try to take pictures to post when I return!