gamecocks vs. gators.

friday after work, rachel picked me up from my parents' house and we headed down to god's country for the weekend. once the rest of the gang showed up, we went out for pizza and then headed to the vista for the evening. the tin roof line was never ever ending, so we decided to give flying saucer a shot.   we ran into old friends, made some news ones, and had such a good time we were so confused when the lights came on meaning it was 2am. i love nights like that!

{gamecocks + panthers = how i do sleepovers}

dalton put us on a very strict schedule for saturday morning and demanded we wake up by 9:30am. it's important to know that the game was a 7pm kick. we woke up, had breakfast, went to the store, showered, cooked our tailgate food, packed the coolers, piled into the trucks and headed off to the tailgate around 1pm. 

after several hours of hanging out in the farmer's market, we headed over to ammie's parents' tailgate for a low country boil. yum! this was only my 2nd game all season so i had been seriously missing her  parents & their tailgate crew!

{biggest pot ever}

we finally headed into the game around 6:30pm. i know this to be true: i have never loved anything like i love the university of south carolina. 

the gamecocks tried their best to lose but we walked away with a W. conference play is officially over for the gamecocks. this weekend we play a cake team, and next week, the gamecocks and the other tigers will play a rivalry game for the books as both teams are ranked in the top ten. i feel nervously sick already. we waited for everyone to get back to the trucks and headed home.

sunday a few of us had bojangles (naturally) and hit the road. my sunday ended with this delicious filet with my parents & court at 131 main. 

it was a fabulous & long overdue weekend in columbia with my best pals. i'm a lucky girl. 

battle of the carolinas: football is finally here!

ever since steve spurrier moved to columbia 9 years ago, we've kicked off most of our seasons with thursday night games. this is really fun because a. it's the first college football game of the year and b. you get to spend all of labor day relaxing {read as drinking} instead of feeling sick to your stomach all saturday.

this year was a special thursday night game. born in south carolina, raised in north carolina, educated in south carolina, and back to living in north carolina, i'm a carolina girl through & through. and although most my life has been spent in the carolina to the north, my heart lies in the one to the south. and if you live in either carolina, you know there is an epic battle of who is "the real carolina." talk about the most annoying thing ever. unc fans think it's completely asinine that anyone would think of usc as carolina. i have spent the majority of my post grad life trying to get unc fans to understand that it's the exact same thing as them thinking unc is carolina, but they just don't seem to get it. 

my brother in law is one of these "unc is the only carolina" people, as he graduated from chapel hill. so since my sister & i are usc grads, we decided to make this game a family affair. around noon on thursday, we all packed up into brian's car and headed south on i-77 to god's country. 

my friends are amazing and love me so ammie was so kind to let my family use her parking spot. this made things so much easier for us & brian - this was his first usc game since his stroke. we unpacked and set up with ammie's dad & his friends and started the party! two of our cheer friends that my sister coached came and met up with us, and the rest of my gang stopped by for a bit too. around 5pm we headed into the stadium to make sure we got to our seats in time for the pre-game show {ex-cheerleader requirement}. 

{the set-up}

{the spread}

{carolina + carolina + fireball = doing it right}

{my babes}

{us with mia & rachel! leigh and i are very thankful our uniforms weren't made out of spandex when we cheered at usc!}

{melting in the upper deck}

it was unbelievably hot {per the usual in cola} and we were pretty much sitting on the sun, so i spent the first half of the game trying not to die. a few touchdowns and quarters later, they suspended the game due to bad weather approaching. that was a first! so after filing out of the stadium, kristin called and i knew she was close to where i was, so i ran to hug her neck {and meet the boyfriend who is totally adorable} for all of 2 minutes and 4 hugs before the sky fell out. i ran back to the tailgate to find my family gone & thankfully ammie was sitting in her dad's car, so i jumped in. it rained like crazy for about an hour before we hauled our sleepover stuff over to our friend's tailgate where truck bed drinking commenced. 

{williams brice stadium}

{my sweet carolina}

once we finally decided to leave, i forced ammie to ride in the back of the truck with me. you see, i am happiest riding home in the back of a truck after the gamecocks win. ammie screamed the whole time and i laughed hysterically. she kept saying her dad would kill her and i kept reminding her that it's legal to ride in the back in sc :) once we got back to nicole & charlee's new {and awesome!} house, we made the brilliant decision to go swimming in their new pool after 12 hours of drinking. needless to say, we slept well!

{you're a trooper, ams}

cheers to football season & go gamecocks!

a slumber party & a football game.

after having some alternative plans fall through for the weekend, i was glad to have sweet cola to "fall back on." i texted kristin earlier in the week & asked if she would be home on friday. you see, i've been in cola a lot this fall, but she has her own games to go to and so we've missed each other every weekend! i was thrilled when she said yes and a sleepover was planned.

after dropping rachel off at nicole's and getting very lost, i finally found myself at kristin's adorable apartment. it is amazingly decorated with all sorts of awesome vintage pieces from her grandma, books, and candles. we drank red wine and talked all night, the best kind of evening with a friend you don't get to see much. in case y'all didn't already know, i really love that girl. i can't imagine life without her in it.

saturday i woke up and headed to nicole's to leave for the game. i have to work this upcoming weekend, making this past weekend my last game of the season. it always blows my mind how quickly football comes and goes, but this year it went even quicker. this was the first year we had our own tailgate spot, and it has been amazingly fun. we had a great time on saturday and stayed at the tailgate way past the sun going down and the lights getting turned off at the stadium. it was a perfect saturday to end another great fall cheering on my alma mater.

i love you, university of south carolina. forever to thee.

ten day highlight.

i've been a bad blogger. there has been so much going on that i haven't had time to sit down and type. so instead of feeling anxious about "catching up," i'm just going to give you the highlights of my first 10 days of october.

1. chelsea's birthday! my dear friend chelsea (aka chester, chelsman, chelsh) turned the big 25 on the 2nd. we celebrated on wednesdsy night at this little hidden restuarant called sir ed's with all of her closest friends. we then celebrated in a serious fashion on friday night with lots of shots & lots of love!

{birthday girl #1}

{birthday girl # 2: sums up our friendship perfectly}

2. GAMECOCKS! my goodness. i'm still not over it. saturday was one of my favorite days of life so far. after tailgating the perfect amount and seeing lots of old friends, we headed into the stadium for the loudest game i can remember in years, if not ever. the first quarter was amazing, and i have bruises on my shins from jumping up and down and hitting the bleachers in front of me. we absolutely killed georgia. the final score was 35-7, making this the first time in the history of the gamecocks that we have beat georgia three consecutive years. the ride home in the back of the truck with 6 of my guy friends was just the cherry on top. i can't remember that last time i laughed so hard.

{found brantley!}

 

 

{crocker girls + me}

 

{carolina sunset over williams brice}

{the ride home}

3. katie & mom's birthday! it's pretty awesome with two of your favorite people share a birthday! we went to dinner at zink on friday to start katie's celebrations. their actual birthday was on sunday, so i woke up early and headed back from cola to get the festivities started. we had brunch at kennedy's, then went to painting with a twist, and ended the evening at selwyn. it was a great day celebrating two people that bring me so much joy & love me so much even though i don't always deserve it. i love you both more than most things on this planet.

 

{my birthday girls}

 

{our paintings of lola!}

 

{b's & momma's}

 

{oh derrick...}

 

{sweet step dad}

 

{that is one tuckered out birthday girl...}

 

4. mary annie's birthday! i know, it's crazy to have this many loved one's birthdays in 10 days! it's hard to believe it's been 1.5 years since i've seen this girl's face. she is a former roomie turned forever friend that lives in mississippi. you can find her incredible fashion blog here and fall in love with her just like i did back in 2009. she is the ma to my la & i can't wait to see what the future holds for this girl - she is going to do some seriously big things. :) missing you more everyday, my sweet ma!

{circa july 2009: my fave pic of us}

gamecocks vs. tigers (the mizzou kind)

i bet you can guess what i did last saturday... ANOTHER home game! man, it's been a busy few weeks with an insane work schedule & 5 football games, but it sure has been fun!

i took a day trip to columbia and got to sleep in my bed both nights this past weekend for the first time in 5 weeks. i got to cola around 9am, we packed the truck, and headed to the game.

{me, britt, nicole, rachel rose}

bradshaw's dad got tickets for the game but ended up not being able to come, so we had 6 tickets to use. we ended up selling our season tickets (best $40 ever) and asking charlee & nicole to sit with us in her dad's seats. this was the best decision we ever made as these seats were in the shade and our seats are certainly not.

it was a super fun game - our first SEC home game of the year and also mizzou's first road SEC game. it felt like we had to show them what a SEC atmosphere is all about & i'd say we did a mighty fine job. connor shaw was FLAWLESS. he completed 20 of 21 passes, and apparently, if he completes the first 5 passes this weekend, he'll set an SEC record for most consecutive completions. pretty impressive for a good ol' georgia boy.

{tin roof made shirts about dj swearinger's suspension - hilarious!}

{williams brice}

{williams brice}

i headed home after pizza with my pals. sunday was spent sleeping and eating with two of my favorite girls, just the way every sunday should be. i can't wait to stay in charlotte this weekend!

{my sunday}

ps. this is my 100th post!

panthers primetime letdown.

this past thursday, the panthers played in the thursday night prime time spot for the first time since 2008. if i had to explain the game in one word, i would pick tragic. it was a painfully rough loss to the giants with a final score of 36-7. it was embarrassing.

however, prior to the game, momma scooped me up and we headed to meet her friends to tailgate. this was the mac daddy of all tailgates and i was in heaven. mom and i had a great time and made some new friends before i headed into the game.

{direcTV}

{jello shots}

{the spread}

{charlotte}

 the congestion to get into the game was worse than i have ever seen it. i found a group of friends to tag along with because i was alone going into the game. they were super nice & got me in safely before i had to walk to the entire other side of the stadium - it was a hike! i met court, derrick, and court's friend debbie at our seats. even though the game was pretty terrible, we still had a great time! and guess who was sitting 3 rows behind us....

{emily maynard & jef holm!}

football. and more football.

after a crazy friday, i woke up early on saturday to head to cola for the game. i got there around 11:30am and we packed up the truck, grabbed lunch, and had our beers cracked open by 1pm. kick off was at 7pm - our first night game of the season! there is something magical about football games on cool(ish) evenings in the south - there is nothing quite like it. throw in a few fireworks and a lot of touchdowns, and you've got yourself a mighty fine evening.

{me & the crocker girls}

{sweet pals}

{williams brice sunset - and the JUMBOtron}

{firework show at halftime}

sunday i woke up really early & headed back to charlotte for the panthers  vs. saints game! our parents accidentally booked a vacation without checking the panthers schedule & are missing the first two home games which means we have scored their tickets. i changed quick & headed over to court's condo. upon arrival, we learned that our sweet/always late brother-in-law missed his flight, so we had 2 extra tickets. i called my roomies & told them to hurry up & come on. amanda had never been to  a game so it was fun to be able to take her to her first one. it was an awesome game - the panthers got a much needed win, 35-27. other than some rain, it was a perfect first home game of the season. can't wait to do it again on thursday night!

{panthers vs. saints}

 

{awesome surprise of chairmen of the board playing at halftime!}

{tired seester took a much need half time nap - sorry for posting this court but i had to.}

football & moonshine & best friends.

football season is finally here! that miserable stretch between the college world series & football season (also known as SUMMER) has finally come to an end. after receiving a bonus check in august for the exact amount i needed to buy season tickets, i took this as a sign and recruited rachel to be my seat buddy for the season. almost of our other friends also have season tickets with their boyfriends/husbands/parents, so not buying tickets seemed silly.

last weekend was the first home game. so after work on friday, i packed up and headed to cola. i love that 90 minute drive - it's the perfect amount of time to clear your head & listen to whatever song you're currently crushing about 20 times in a row. i met a few pals at one of our favorite places, rockaways, for dinner. after a declicious pimento cheese burger, we went back to nicole's apartment to cook & prepare for gameday.

as this is now our 3rd football seasons as alumni, we figured it was time to get our own tailgate spot. and what better place to get one than in the brand new, unbelievably beautiful, farmers market. and boy, it is beautiful.

 

{before: courtesy of gamecock athletics}

 

{after: courtesy of gamecock athletics}

12:21pm kick-offs are brutal. mostly because this means you have to start drinking at about 8am. our first tailgate was a success & i even got to see chester & jason! they came down for the game because they both graduated from ECU. once we finally made it into the game, we got to see this beauty: our brand new jumbotron. jumbo doesn't really do is justice. it's so exciting to see all of these awesome changes happening in and around our stadium. i think back to my first south carolina game 9 years ago and the stadium & the grounds are almost unrecognizable. thank you, steve spurrier, for your continual push for athletic improvements. we are forever grateful!

 

{before}

 

{after: courtesy of gamecock athletics}

the gamecocks whipped up on ECU for a final score of 48-10, and i got a terrible sunburn. the best part about football season isn't just the football, it's getting to see my friends on a more regular basis.  7 home games this year - i'll think i'll just leave my bag packed until december.

 

{ammie, rach, me}

 

{we used to be productive on gameday...}



 

{6 years later... we deserve every drink}