it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

sorry for the absence. NC got some snow.  And since we never get lots of snow, NC people don't know what to do, and where I live basically shut down for the weekend.  It was awesome though to sled and such.  My highlight of the weekend was definitely yesterday morning at breakfast when my dad suggested we tie our boat tube to the back of my brother's jeep and pull it in a parking lot.  We had so much fun! Then P and i followed it up with lunch and a little Mario on the Wii. We opened like 9 worlds.  It was definitely something to be proud of. Last night my mom and I cuddled up in front of the fire and watched Miss America! My top 3 favorites were:

 

miss virginia

  

miss texas

 

miss oregon

I was so excited to see one of my top favorite 3 win! Congrats to miss Virginia! If you didn't see her stunning yellow dress, google it.  It was amazing!

oh and since the roads still aren't cleared my class is canceled tomorrow!

what did everyone else do this weekend?!

p.s.does anyone know how to change the spacing on my sidebar so everything isn't so ridiculously spaced because i am html dumb. thanks!

work or play?

For my internship at Weddings Magazine I was given the task of blogging. I did my first one last week and I have a few drafts in there waiting to be posted.  It is hard though to do this since we try to stick to our advertisers.  Especially when I find really neat things that have nothing to do with our area! anyways, go check out the blog and let me know what you think about it (we are still in the process of designing the background and stuff) it is basic and has been very simple since my boss started.  Now we are ready to kick it up a notch, so let us know!! 

oh me oh my!

a special thanks to Laura Loo, Jennifer and Katy Mary for the advice on the friendship ordeal. just an update... she invited me to go rock climbing (something i absolutely love, even though i am super scared of heights) on friday but i can't make it.  so hopefully we will be able to get coffee soon and catch up... i'll let you know if anything changes.

as for now, it is only tuesday but it is the stress of a thursday. 

Dear College professors,

why do you find joy in making impossible syllabuses, when you know how much time goes into a full course load of classes. and then continue to add assignments that aren't on the syllabus just for fun.  it isn't cool.  it makes my body stress out, and i get overwhelmed. college professors, you frustrate me sometimes. today is one of those days.

love,

alexandria

*lets go wolfpack!*

friendship

 

so here is something i have been pondering...

college and friendships.

i have been realizing how i really don't talk to a lot of my friends from high school anymore.

see,

there was this group of us.

we didn't have a special name or anything

but we were together all the time

like a stitched seam

but since college that seam has been pulled and we have gradually fallen away from each other

the worst part is, is that we are on the same college campus!

but it seems like recently it has been a one way show

me calling them to see if they want to hang out

but they are both in sororities and are too busy with that and partying

and on top of that i am busy too with younglife

so i don't blame it all on them.

our schedules just seem to clash. all the time.

so finally after some unreturned phone calls i called it quits

i stopped calling, text, writing on their fb walls

and decided that college changes people.

we aren't the same girls we used to be

we have different goals

different beliefs

different loves

and i was ok with that

then randomly last night one of them texted me

not a "hey, how's it going lets hang out"

but something that normal people who talk all the time would say

but i followed it up with a "p.s. how are you?"

returned with "good, i'm at work right now but we need to get coffee sometime"

and i agree.

just because she let me go i shouldn't just give up on our friendship right?

i just get confused.

i love her

but i don't love the way she has treated me in the past few years

i know forgiveness is in order

and i will forgive her.

but in all honesty

would you want to be friends with someone who doesn't share the same

beliefs

morals

&

loves

as you?

someone who cut you out of their life just because?

someone with whom there isn't much in common with anymore?

is it OK to not be friends with them?

you were best friends for years, swept away by the busy life of college....

a friendship ripped at the seam

mend it or not?

btw

(this post may be long, it will be like three days packed into one!)

over the past few months of doing this, i have grown to love it! blogging that is. you ladies mean so much to me, and i love checking up on what you all are doing! it may be silly, but i feel like i have accomplished something with my 28 followers who are so sweet and genuine! it is like a little family for my little growing blog...and i love it, every second of it.  although i do get a little overwhelmed when my reader shows i have 50 unread posts from all the your fabulous blogs i read! but i just wanted to make sure all you ladies realized how much i truly care about you and how much you all mean to me!

{via}

now back to the obsession general liking of other blogs. i have a problem. especially this semester.

i only have one class out of all five of them where i don't have my computer open...so that means that in all four of the others, i have blogs open constantly. my friends think that all i do is blog/read blogs but i promise i pay attention sometimes! like this instance today in our shakespeare class...(still not sure why i am still enrolled in this little gem)

professor: rambling about how the word "expense" in sonnet 129 is equal to orgasm and how shakespeare was probably gay, had an affair with not only some high status young male, but a black lady as well.  oh and he didn't live with his wife... we learned all of this about him by reading the sonnets.
me: This may be a stupid question, but how long did it take him to write these sonnets? They seem pretty complicated.
professor: basically speaking french with the occasional condescending: "a 7th grader with a decent vocabulary can figure these out, they are so simple and straight forward" blah blah blah (not answering my question) continues to blab.
c: (speaking to my friend j) i have no clue what's going on, how did alex know what was going on, i thought all she was planning on doing in here was blog?
j: (speaking to c) me too, since when does she pay attention in class?
me: (in my mind) why are you still talking about how anyone can understand what shakespeare is writing when i asked how long it took him to write them?
professor: did i answer your question? good.
me: .... (maybe blogging is the better alternative to attempting to learn shakespeare)

so essentially what i learned today in class is that shakespeare is really hard to understand unless you break it down bit by bit with a college professor who is obsessed with it. but really, who has hours upon hours to do this? we only got through 10 of the 154 sonnets in two class periods which = 3 hours total... really shakespeare? fact: obviously you didn't write that to the point if it takes that long to break them down and get the meaning down....

back to reality. i have had a really hard time keeping up with everyone's blogs recently because i have been trying to learn shakespeare, pr, more pr, writing and food science...but i pinky promise i will finish reading them all by the end of next week! 

tomorrow (or i guess, technically, today) i am leaving to go skiing with younglife.  we will be back late saturday night which will be followed by a short and sweet hang out with preston and an overnight babysitting job from sunday to monday. so i will be back probably monday.

 {via}

but i thought this would be fun-

how about leaving some questions for me to answer? 

anything is game, i'll answer it. pinky promise. ask one or as many as you'd like!

2nd award

so lots going on! today has truly been a busy day!

so anyways an update on the outfit... i did steal my friends camera today and took a pic of my feet

then tonight since i am just totally self absorbed, i made my dad take a picture of me while i stopped by for a hot second

So back to reality. i ate dinner/am eating dinner right now 9:41 p.m. wow, so much for the no eating after 9:00 p.m. rule... i am also eating typical college kid food... ramen... and i love it!

my favorite kind of ramen is the creamy chicken kind. i don't like it just any way though.  i like it when there is hardly any water in it so the noodles are less soupy...

what about y'all? favorite kind of ramen noodles?

 Jennifer gave me my second award!

The rules of this award are as follows:

1. To accept the award, you must post it on your blog with the name of the person who has granted you the award, and a link to their blog.

2. Pass the award on to approximately 15 other blogs that you recently discovered, and think are great!

3. Contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

so this is a perfect time for me to pass along this award because over the weekend i spent hours looking up new blogs and i found quite a few i have fallen for and feel they definitely deserve this!

Juliana from A Blonde Walks into a Blog

Marcela from The Joy of Enjoying  

Mrs. Preppy from Mrs. Preppy 

Chloe from My Favourite Things 

Lauren of The Little Things We Do 

Katie from Color me Katie 

Legally Fabulous from Legally Faboulous 

Kristyn from The Rise of a Novelist 

Lindsay from La Belle Vie  

Kitchen Bellicious  

Holler from Puccini & Pearls 

Sweet Everythings a collection of love

i'm aware that this isn't even close to 15 ladies, but i thought these ladies deserved this award! 

days go by

this will be a quicky...or hope so!

Jennifer from I'm Just A Girl gave me an award this week! I promise I will pass it along as soon as I get out from underneath this work load and find some free time to do it justice....If you haven't seen Jennifer's blog, run to it right now to check that puppy out, it is so wonderful!

it's beautiful days like today that i wish and throw i mild tantrum that i don't carry a camera with me everywhere. 

 {via}

Today I am rocking a shirt from a designer consignment shop called Dress. the shirt is a grey/silver silk by some designer named Walter. Walter designed a $165 (beautiful, yet overpriced) shirt which I purchased yesterday for $70.03 after tax.  This is by far the most expensive shirt i have ever bought, yet i love it. and i am glad for my purchase. Along with this shirt, i am wearing my dark denim skinny jeans with black flats that have gigantic bows on them.... i will admit that i am a sucker for shoes!

Today between classes I had some time to sit in what we call the Court of Carolina's on State's campus.  IF you know naything about NC State, it is known for the ugly brick everywhere.  But I still stand by the fact that the oldest part of campus, surrounding the Court of Carolina's is beautiful.  I love sitting there on the hill basking in the sun, hoping someone comments on my new shirt. It is so warm here that i was able to shed my shoes and enjoy the sun, and with the lighting, i am sure i could have gotten a few real cute pictures of my toes and adorable shoes! but until then...

{via}

this is the court of carolinas. I was lying in front of that beautiful building called the 1911 building.

i believe

today has been a lazy day for the most part.  i slept in until like 10:30 which is beyond lazy for me. i ate lunch with preston and his parents. we talked about classes and weddings. Preston dropped me off and i have pretty much been sitting in the same place since then...with the occasional walking to the door to let the dogs out and answering the phone when it rings. 

other than that i have been reading other blogs and thinking.  we are so lucky to have everything we have.  those in Haiti are walking through their crumbled lives.  most of them have lost everything including friends and family. my heart and my prayers go out to them. 

{via}

there are tons of ways to help.  if you have the money you can text "Haiti" to 90999 which adds $10 to your cell phone bill and all $10 goes to the American Red Cross to Haiti aid.  if you can't send money, pray.  i have complete faith that God is there in Haiti helping those families find each other and stay strong amongst all the disaster surrounding them.  

my thank-yous go out to those bloggers who are able to send money based on how many comments they recieve, and those with etsy shops that will send proceeds to help as well. 

{via}

i'll have my cake and eat it too, thanks.

Hello lovelies!

last night we had a tiny birthday bash for my mom who turned 49 30! ;) we had plenty of food and then some! we ate my mom's favorite...st. louis toasted raviolis with bread, pasta, other things and of course, cake!

for her birthday we surprised her and stole all of her  very organized  recipes about a week ago and made them into cook books for her.  we originally thought two 1-inch binders would be fine, absolutely not.  it took us four of them with over 200 slip covers (each slip cover had at least 3 recipes in it!)  I must say that it was a project but we were glad to have done it for her. 

today has been so beautiful! it was almost 60 out which was fabulous.  I had an early class then just got to hang around my house with my puppy elsie and her friend hank, the dog. Preston came by this afternoon and we took the pair on a walk.  i must say, elsie is growing up fast, but i am doubtful that she will ever learn how to walk on a leash properly.. hank on the other hand is a pro.  we enjoyed our walk.  Preston and i rarely get to spend some alone time together so it was nice to just walk and talk about nothing in particular....

 {via} 

tonight i'm going to a highschool basketball game with the younglife team! so excited about that.  Then afterward it will be the sonnets by shakespeare popcorn and a movie in bed! can't wait!*

i hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

agape

last night i made some of my guy friends dinner... we had mac-n-cheese with hot dogs cut up in it and green beans--a childhood favorite.  it was really nice to get out of my mini apartment and hang out with them... while i was there i told them about my absolutely not stressful day and how great it was.  they ended up being great guys to vent to.  they helped me realize that it wasn't that much work, i just needed to focus on God and He alone would help me get through each day! one of my friends j even had my shakespeare professor last semester and said he was hard but a great teacher and that he learned a lot.  so i slept well last night with no nightmares about school!

today was busy so i didn't exactly have the time to even think of stressing about class.  i did finally purchase my books which i will pick up tomorrow.  once i get cracking on my reading this weekend, i will feel better to have some things crossed off my homework list.

other than that i have realized that there really is no reason to stress over things you can't control.

i am also working on setting boundaries.  my pastor spoke about it the other weekend during the first section of a series he is calling "Resolutions" in spirits of the double digit year. i am working on learning how to say "no" more often to ensure that my days are meaningful and led by Christ.

 

i know that sounds hypocritical because i was talking about how i need to get cracking on my school work...but last semester i really learned the value of time with Christ.

I am doing this group through young life called BRU Crew (Bible Readers United...we felt cool when we made up the name hah!) we spend an hour a week together reading the Bible.  We started at Genesis 1 and are reading all the way through it in 9 months.  Hard, but honestly it has been well worth it. this group forces me to spend time alone with God on a regular basis on a personal level.

i'm not going to lie, i am a little behind because i wasn't a very responsible reader over break. but i am sure that i am more stressed about the reading than Jesus is.... last semester the time i spent with God really made me reevaluate my priorities.  for some reason it all clicked.  i was able to balance all my school work and everything else and it paid off.  so even though i was super stressed the other day and called it my "challenge" and thought it would be impossible to do great,  forget what i said.

i know i will be able to because i am focusing on Him and He alone gives me the strength to get through my days.  So by focusing on Him daily, all the craziness of class and school work fall right into place.

"...do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34

{http://iamnothingami.tumblr.com/post/247174443/via-sassaroon}

stress: physical, mental, or emotional strain or tension

today ladies was a wake up call

yesterday my one class for the semester seemed super exciting--grated if i actually am able to enroll in it.

today is a different story so far.

class number 1 PR Application

one group project for the entire semester

rough

with a group that has two different opinions on what we should do

class number 2 Shakespeare's Late Plays

since when have i loved or understood shakespeare?

oh yea, never

and since when have i been able to keep up with a 100 miles an hour teacher

oh yea, never.

yet i still have a 3rd class of the day Media and News writing

maybe it will be better

but after looking over the syllabus, may be close to impossible.

i am trying to look at this semester as a challenge

i want to find the good in it.

i am pushing my boundaries and taking real college classes with hard professors who think the world of themselves

i want to learn about these subjects, even grow to possibly love Shakespeare

we will see how it goes

i can't afford to drop any of the classes either so a challenge it will be

last semester i worked hard and it payed off with great, outstanding grades

this semester may be a different story

hopefully if i keep organized, stay motivated and keep up with my work load we will be OK.

(we as in my mind, body and soul)

i will keep you updated...

{http://inspires.tumblr.com/page/31}

hopefully the seemingly impossible will become possible!

merci beaucoup

 Thanks so much to Katy Mary for my very first Blog Award!  She just started a new blog called Three Hundred Sixty Five Loves and it is fabulous! My favorite thing about her is that no matter how small my little blog family is, she always takes the time to comment!

So with all things there are rules to this award:
1) Thank the person who nominated you for this award.
2) Copy the award & place it on your blog.
3) Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
4) Tell us 7 interesting things about yourself.
5) Nominate 7 bloggers.
6) Post links to the 7 blogs I nominate.

so here it goes... all about me-

1. I am a natural blonde

2. I wish so much that I could be the editor of a fun weddings or interior design magazine, and I am very sad that the publishing world is going through a rough spot

3. I played clarinet for 10 years and just recently stopped playing due to school.

4. I love music you can sing along to.

5. I am a caffine addict.

6. I am also a coffee whore--starbucks white chocolate mocha and caribou morning break

7. I am completely in love with my quirky pup elsie (:

Here are 7 of my favorite ladies-

1. Katharine is one of my dearest friends I met at college.  She definitely deserves this award because her posts are so real.  She speaks truth more than anyone I know and i love her for it.

 2. Laura may be one of my top read blogs.  I love everything she puts on it about decor.  She also has an amazing etsy shop with beautiful art!

3. Gracie is so fantastic.  She has a wedding coming up.  She is marrying the man of her dreams, and I can't wait to hear all about it! Her blog is just a joy to read. 

3. Nicole is another top read blog on my list.  Not only do I hope to be her sister in law some day, but i hope my blog gets to be as lovely as hers!

4. Taza is famous in the blog world, for real. If you haven't read her blog or seen the cute pictures of her puppy, go asap because it is amazing!

5. Amanda's blog is so great.  Not only does she speak so much truth but she also always takes the time to drop a love note!  She is so wonderful and her blog is so fun to read!

6. I have recently started to get into the novelista barista's blog.  her coffee inspired blog has definitely drawn me! go check it out!

Now that i feel famous and all, go check out their blogs and leave a little love!

 

ciˡeco

so this morning was the first day of classes

i tried so hard to be excited for my 9:10 which i am not even enrolled in yet! 

so this morning was hard, especially when i realized there is a chance i won't even need that class. bummer.

then i was thinking about how much i love being on campus.  

one of my most favorite things, although odd, is being on campus in the morning when no one else is really around.

it is nice to be here and breathe without anyone really getting in your way running to class.

while i was thinking, i was completely humbled by this guy

i have seen him before but never really realized how strong of a person he was

i have never met him before or spoken to him, let alone even gotten the courage to say good morning

but i remember because i see him.

the hard thing is that he would never recognize me because he doesn't see

he is blind.

our school is known for its non-handicap-accessible-ness.

this man is blind and uses a walking stick to get around.

this morning i watched in aw as he walked down stairs without a hitch

then he used his walking stick to move up the side walk.

his stick followed the grain of the brick on the side

when his phone rang he detoured to the wall and answered it

i take for granted being able to recognize someone in order to be able to say good morning

i also take for granted being able to watch where i am walking without worrying about walking into things

i also take for grated being able to look at my phone to see who is calling...

most of all i take for granted the beauty around me, of the earth in nature, the uniqueness of individuals walking all around,

this unknown man inspired me today

inspired me to notice the little things that i don't notice every day...the beauty of this world we live in

i hope i don't forget this feeling i have because it is extremely humbling

we need to thank the Lord each and every day for the simplest things... *

{this was taken on Sanibel Island at the lighthouse}

pinky promise

sorry i have been so mia from the blog world recently.

there has been much to do in the new year and it is only the 8th day!

i promise i will get to you ladies, i haven't forgotten, i just need to sit down and do it.

i will be back asap as soon as i get these few things done:

1. buy books for class that start monday, whoops!
2. read for the classes that have assignments already, boo!
3. read for BRU crew
4. call mountain hardware and inquire why they sent me a men's medium, when I am in fact a female who sent them a women's medium jacket to get fixed (but also thank them for sending me a brand spankin new one!)
5. babysit
6. help my lovely friend c begin the wedding planning process.
7. get my apartment clean, and prepare for class

then i pinky promise i will be back!

love all you ladies, and i can't wait to sit down and read what you all have been up to, because i would much rather do that then be doing all THAT!

*

art

So today I was searching around the internet and stumbled upon dallasshaw.com

I love each of these pieces! This lady is so talented! her artwork is stunning... here are a few that i couldn't keep my eyes off of!

Dallas Shaw

 

  

 

Don't you just love these?!

love, love, love....

Sure is the season for love!

i am so happy for all my friends who are engaged right now!

most of you don't know that I work for a local weddings magazine called "Weddings Magazine"

maybe work isn't the right word, haha, i'm the intern.

but this job comes with lots of perks.

I get to attend bridal shows!

Over the weekend, i attended a 2 day show.

I saw so many people I knew!

I don't dress up too too much, but i did love getting cute for the show!

i always try to wear cute "work" clothes, but it never works... but last minute i had this great idea to pair these two shirts with a navy pencil skirt and they both looked fabulous....so day 1 and day 2 outfit complete without buying anything new!

Although I loved meeting other vendors and talking to brides about their big day one of my favorite things to see was the love!

There was so much love in that room!

The families were such a support to the girls planning.

Some families came without the soon-to-bes and were just getting ideas.

It was so adorable to watch how the "lucky grooms" treated their soon-to-be-brides.

Always thoughtful and loving.  The smiles and gentle touches of genuine feelings are hard to describe but that feeling has embraced me this weekend.  I cannot wait to know-to know for sure. 

I know I always say that I can't wait to get engaged and married, which I can't but at the same time after this weekend I know I can wait a little longer to be sure it is the right timing. It is every girl's dream to find her prince, I've found mine,  we both just need to grow up a little more!