february 2014.

a recap of the entire month of february is about to happen in one post.

weekend 1 (jan 31- feb 2): i was home for the only weekend of 2014 and got the stomach flu. how special. 

weekend 2 (feb 7th - feb 9): i traveled to the good ol' "city" of hartsville, sc. two of my very best friends from college are from hartsville and they were throwing our pal laura a bridal shower there, so we made a weekend of it. and i sure am glad we did!

there are two bars hartsville, and one is a double wide trailer called j. michaels. an in j. michaels, you can go to the bar and order a PITCHER OF SHOTS FOR $25, which of course we did. and because i've been good friends with these girls for so long, i seriously knew half the people in the bar on friday night. it was amazing. the shower was adorable and i actually really loved their small town. we did every single "must do" hartsville thing and had a wonderful weekend!

and then the great snow storm happened. it was crazy for us southerners! it was the most snow i can ever remember seeing in charlotte. we couldn't drive anywhere for days. luckily, we live in a great spot and can walk to the grocery and more importantly, the bars.

weekend 3 (feb 14 - feb 17): CHEERSPORT! read more here. because of the snow, my flight to atlanta got cancelled and i didn't get down there until friday night. but i hit the ground running as soon as we got there, and i slept less this year than ever before. when i headed home on monday, i had slept for a total of 9 hours over the 3 nights i was in atlanta. but as usual, it's totally worth the work to see all of my cheer friends & spend the weekend doing what i love with my daddy!

weekend 4 (feb 21 - feb 23): murrells inlet, sc. rachel turned the big 26 so a gang of us headed down to her beach house for the weekend. we have spent so many weeks & weekends here over the years that it truly feels like a home away from home. i love everything about the inlet & love it best when i'm surrounded by 16 great friends. saturday was gorgeous and i spent a few hours on the beach relaxing with laura. saturday night we got a limo and went out in myrtle beach (disclaimer: we don't normally go out in myrtle beach) and it was a goooood time. maybe a little too good.

february has been full of fun! this weekend i'll be staying in charlotte for only the 2nd time since christmas. i'm really looking forward to it, even though i have to be at work at 6:45am on saturday... yuck! saturday night is the annual march forth with hope gala and sunday will be spent doing a whole lot of nothing.

bring it on, march!

mini CHEERSPORT weekend {atlanta, ga}

last weekend i went to atlanta with my dad to work a CHEERSPORT competition. {read more about CHEERSPORT here} i was planning to drive myself down after work on friday, but my dad had a busy day and ended up not leaving when he was supposed to, so we got to ride together. we got to atlanta around 9:30pm, checked into our beautiful suites, {thank you connections & omni for taking care of us!} had a beverage at the bar, and headed to bed.

{view from my room}

 

{view from my room - atlanta got a ferris wheel.. not sure how i feel about that!}

my 5am wake up call came quickly! i don't think i've woken up at 5am since nationals last  year. it was a loooong and pretty uneventful day which is always a good thing. we ended the evening having a drink with some of my dad's employees, i love them.

{i love our new backdrop}



{teams competed from 8am-10pm, breakdown was done in an impressive 30 minutes}

 

sunday morning i woke up too early for having been awake from 5am-2am on saturday. i laid in bed for a few hours doing absolutely nothing & it was glorious. i have been on the go non-stop since christmas, and i really enjoyed the down time on sunday morning. dad & i packed up and headed home around 11:30am, but not before i enjoyed room service in bed :)

{i love you, atlanta}

 

it was a quick but fun weekend and what i loved most was getting to spend so much time with my dad! being the baby of 3 girls, it's very rare that my dad & i get to spend one-on-one time together. i cherished our time together this weekend!

after 4 out of town trips and 1 weekend filled with baby showers all in the month of january, i'm looking forward to staying in charlotte this weekend. next up is a weekend in hartsville, sc {aka the middle of nowhere} for a bridal shower & the next week i'll be headed back to atlanta for 4 days for CHEERSPORT nationals!

CHEERSPORT 2013.

about 12 years ago, my dad accidentally got involved in the cheer competition business. you see, he had quit his big time corporate job because he wasn't happy, and ended up getting involved with our cheer gym as a "summer project." at the time, CHEERSPORT was a small competition that had been dreamed up by my coaches. and when my business-minded father got involved, he realized this company had potential. so since 2001, my dad has been running CHEERSPORT, and it has grown into quite the crazy event. according to the atlanta journal constitution, CHEERSPORT draws in over 70,000 people to the city and creates $34 million in economic impact, making it the 3rd largest event in atlanta ever year. even bigger than the final four. pretty insane.

this past december, my dad made the big decision to sell CHEERSPORT. and even though he now works for someone again, business is as usual besides everyone's paychecks just come from a different place. we held our annual CHEERSPORT nationals this past weekend, and it was another great event.

{entrance to the competition; 1 of our 5 arenas; this year's competitor gift; our 200,000 sq ft warm up room.}

i got to atlanta on wednesday evening and grabbed a drink with my sweet little from my sorority. she moved to atlanta a few months ago, and we had a beer at a bar i love that i used to frequent when i lived in atlanta, six feet under. it was so great to see her, she is good for my soul.

thursday started the craziness, but we ended the evening at peasant bistro for a quick valentine's day dinner with my family and brett! we even rode back to the hotel in a horse & buggie... i wish i was kidding.

{our usual weird pic; brett & i at dinner; court & brett stunting...normal;  daddy & mary ann on the ride home}

the rest of the weekend was all work and no play. and as always, the highlight of CHEERSPORT is seeing all my cheer friends, and spending some quality time with my dad. after 5 long/awesome days in atlanta, we headed home to charlotte. can't wait to do it again next year!

 

{view from our room at the omni... i love.}

can i rewind? CHEERSPORT weekend!

i set a goal to blog 3x a week. clearly, that lasted 1 week. i want a do-over! rewind to president's day weekend...

CHEERSPORT, Atlanta, GA. my favorite weekend of the year!

i flew into atlanta after work on thursday and always love seeing this upon my arrival.

{airport signage. a totally badass banner that we design and the city pays for}

a cute boy picked me up from the omni and took me to my favorite spot in the highlands. we stayed up until 3am and it still wasn't long enough - most fun i've had with a nice boy in quite some time.

the next day the work began after 3 hours of sleep.

{new omni bridge sign - obsessed!}

saw some sweet friends of mine.

{love him}

{arena b5 with out lovely new backdrops}

{we like to call this "occupy CHEERSPORT"}

{view from the prezi suite}

it was a wonderful weekend in my old city! we had 927 teams this year - i am so proud of my dad and his staff for continuing to be the world's largest cheerleading competition year after year. we are blessed beyond belief. i got to see so many old friends and spend some time with some new ones. i did not want to leave!