single vs. not.

i was going to write my own thoughts on this... and then i remembered this thought catalog article that sums up my thoughts perfectly.

thank god for katie, court, and kristin :)

suitcases & shenanigans.

as i sit here trying to distract myself from the excitement that is tomorrow, i am thinking about all of the fun things i've done this year and all the trips i've been lucky enough to take.

i brought in the new year in the best way possible - floating in the middle of the ocean on a fantastic cruise. as soon as i got home, i went to gatlinburg, tennessee for a quick mountain weekend with my crazy friends. later that month i headed to DC to spend a long weekend with my sweet cousin. february came quickly and so did CHEERSPORT in atlanta. a few weeks later, march arrived and we headed to vegas for another long weekend.  next up was nicole & charlee's shower in st. matthews / st. pats in cola. half of april's weekends were spent at the beach, one in murrells inlet and the other in cherry grove. and now somehow, it's may, and the first weekend of this ever-so-rainy month was spent in savannah with my best friends.

i've seen so many skylines & sunsets. i've seen brian cross the finish line of an 180 mile ride. i've ran 150+ miles that i never dreamed i could run. i've driven a lot of miles & taken a few flights. i've drank a lot of wine & ate a lot of fantastic meals. i've celebrated many important birthdays. i've spent nights on air mattresses with my favorite pals. i've seen so much love and felt the joy of true friendship.

tomorrow i will be leaving for a trip i never dreamed i'd actually get to take. i am overwhelmed with thankfulness & gratitude, and i haven't even stepped foot on the plane.

here is our itinerary:
friday, may 25th: court & i leave charlotte at 7:30pm
saturday, may 26th: arrive in london at 12:15pm
tuesday, may 29th: take the train from london to paris at 9:30am
thursday, may 31st: fly from paris to barcelona to meet the rest of our family & get on the cruise ship.
friday, june 1st: provence, france
saturday, june 2nd: nice, france
sunday, june 3rd: florence, italy
monday, june 4th: rome, italy
tuesday, june 5th: we dock in capri, italy and i start the long treck back to america all alone - ah! the rest of the family will stay on until the 11th, but i have to get back for work.

so cheers, to the first half of 2012 being more amazing than i ever could have dreamed. i can't wait to find out what the next half holds!

yogi.

 kristin has taught me many things since we became pals sometime early in 2012. one of these things is that i should drink more green tea. so i have added about 4 cups of green tea to my diet every week, generally on the weekdays after lunch. she suggested yogi tea, which you can find at harris teeter or trader joes. on top of being delicious, each tea packet gives fantastic life advice. it gives me something to look forward to and i always find myself smiling as i open up a tea bag. thanks klav!

warrior dash!

a few months ago,  i decided i wanted to run warrior dash. after some successful convincing, i got derrick & court to sign up too. this was my first race of any kind and knew it would be fun for all, so i paid my $65 and kept on running.

after what felt like 2 days and was actually more like 3 months, warrior dash arrived! court and i left a little before noon and headed up to rural hill where the dash was located. from the second we arrived, i was impressed by red frog events. this is the SUPER COOL company that puts on warrior dash and several other awesome events all over the country. from the "pre-race" information email blast, to the signage, to the parking, the registration, the bathrooms, the entertainment, the bag check, the dude spraying everyone off from a water tank after the finish line, they did it all right. every little thing.  i rarely never walk away from an event thinking such things and i was thrilled to feel that way about such a fun day!

because of some other weekend plans, we chose the sunday 2pm start time. it was a BEAUTIFUL sunday and we got to enjoy watching the other pour souls jump over fire and crawl through mud for about an hour before we starting getting ready for our wave. mom made it just in time to snap a picture at the start line.

and we're off!

here is the course map:

3.18 miles and 14 obstacles later, you will find us here...

{last obstacle before the finish line}

{we did it!}

{sweet brian showed up at the finish line!! i wished so badly he could have done this with us - he would have LOVED it.}

{it's good to be best pals with your family.)

{all the donated shoes - great way to incorporate the charity aspect}

{after we got hosed off}

{turkey legs & free beer}

what a fun day and a flawless event. we walked away with some battle wounds, but we'll survive. i can't wait to do it again next year!

happy birthday derrick & mary ann!

friday was my step mom's birthday and sunday was my brother-in-law's birthday, so friday night we had a joint party! we started off the night at BLT, which is quickly becoming my favorite spot uptown. the steak is always perfect, the sides are heavenly and we had a peanut butter dessert that was to DIE for.

after dinner we headed to howl at the moon which is always a fantastic time, especially with my parents! katie met us at the bar and we had a great time celebrating two very important people in my life!

{BLT's signature "popovers."}

{filet}

{lobby at the ritz - i love!}

{howl at the moon's famous buckets... court & i and derrick's sister kara}

{my cute step mom & katie}

{sister leigh & i}

{sister court & i}

DIY project: bed makeover!

after several years of fixing my bed in between moves and other nonsense, i decided it was time for a new one. someday down the road, i'll get my old bed fixed by some magic woodworker, but until then, i coughed up $100 at ikea and got this one. yes, only $100 for the whole thing!

of course i couldn't just leave it white, because that would be too easy. so i went to lowes, picked out my favorite valspar spary paint color and bought 2 cans along with some primer & a clear coat finish. i thought this would be plenty. WRONG.

after using both cans on 1 side of 1 of the 3 pieces, i needed more paint. easier said than done. by the end of it all, my family & i went to a total of 5 different lowes around charlotte to get all 8 cans in this particular color. this was the first thing mom & i moved into my new house last week & i am obsessed with my new blue bed!

{finished product}

{excuse the mess}

update: my bed in my new room after another move. paint has held up great! photo tour of my new room: http://redhead-rants.blogspot.com/2013/03/photo-tour-my-new-room.html

bye bye scott!

as soon as i got home from savannah on sunday, it was moving time! my mom met me at scott and helped me start moving things over to the new place. the movers came on monday to move the big stuff, but i really like to move most of my clothes / personal stuff to make sure it stays clean & safe. after 4 trips, i was done with almost everything. thankfully my other two roomies had already moved out so i could use their rooms for storage... i have a LOT of crap!

my new house is actually a townhouse and is about 3 miles south of scott. this also means it's about 3 miles further away from work and both my sisters, too. but what's 5 extra minutes when you have your own bathroom, 2 closets, a giant room and a DISHWASHER?

i will miss scott ave and the fantastic location. i wll miss our little dilworth bungalow and running in the neighborhood and freedom park. i will miss our landlords. but i am excited about having a new home and living with katie & amanda. it feels like a fresh start and a way to keep things in the past that need to be kept in the past.  so thanks, scott ave, for letting us call you home for the past year. i will miss you!

{scott}

{back deck}

{that time we gamecocked our front yard}

{last day}

savannah, jawjah.

last friday after work, katt & i headed to savannah to meet the rest of our our pals for our first friend's bachelorette party. while this was the first, i have a feeling we're going to be bacheloretting a lot in the next year or so.

we had such a great time - i fell in love with yet another beautiful, southern city. it reminds me a lot of charleston, but with a serious hipster twist to it.  we stayed at the most gorgeous hotel in savannah called the bohemian thanks to my gracious daddy & his millions of marriot points. mostly we drank, sang, ate cheetos, and laughed. i have a fantastic group of girlfriends and everytime we see each other, it's like we haven't missed a beat. we don't have to talk everyday or even every few weeks, but when we're back together, it's like we're right back in college living next door to each other again. i think that's what true friendship feels like. i'm thankful.

{riverboat. view from our balcony.}

{savannah smiles. LOVED this place and LOVE this picture... sums up my thoughts perfectly.}

{the bohemian. beautiful!}

{balcony view of the river}

{sweet marilyn. so proud of you, friend! good luck in NYC.}

{sunset from the rooftop bar of our hotel.}

{the bachelorette practicing walking down the aisle. we made her a "to do" list for the night, this was one of her things to do.}

{at the rail, they were selling 40s in paper bags since "that's what mexicans do" and it was cinco de mayo. the bartenders were also dressed as mexicans. hilarious! and oh yea, how gorgeous are my friends?}

{found this in an alley outside a bar. so in love with this.}

i'll be back for you, savannah!