Five on Friday

Happy Friday! We made it through the week and in just a few short hours it will be the weekend, wahoo! I'm linking up again with some of my favorite women for my usual Five on Friday post. Thank you April, Darci, Christina, and Natasha for hosting this every week! one// Sarah Jessica Parker cards at Hallmark I think it might be the southern soul in me but I sure do love me a good handwritten note. Pair that note with some beautiful stationary and my heart just smiles! I travel with lots of stationary on me as every college I visit, I normally leave behind 3-5 thank you notes (so you can imagine I'm going through cards like wild fire). Last night I popped on over in to Hallmark mainly to find Josh a Valentine's card and the worker persuaded me to buy Sarah Jessica Parker's new stationary box set. I'm not too crazy about the price of $12.95 for only 10 cards but I do love the high quality that they are. 

Hallmark
two// 2014 Winter Olympics The Winter Olympics start tonight, need I say more? I'll admit that I get more into the summer games than I do winter, but nothing will ever beat the opening ceremony of either. I think the main reason I love the opening ceremony so much, is for one night the entire world seems to be unified. 

via

three// Birthday

Y'all, this past week my little sister turned 19! Where has the time gone? It did not hit me until her actual birthday how quickly life goes by. She will be 20 in less than a year now and my mind still cannot comprehend that. To me, I feel like we should still be those little girls with cow licks in the top right of this picture. This was the first birthday that I've been away from her for and it was a lot harder than I originally imagined but I sent her lots of love and goodies throughout the day!

four// Godly Friendships

Four years ago this summer, God sent the most amazing lady into my life that has now become one of my very best friend. Emily Sue and I worked at mission camp together for 8 weeks in 2010 and were not that close to begin with but after that summer a beautiful friendship began to develop. My friendship with Em is one of my most prized relationships on this earth and I was more than honored to stand beside her this past August as she married the love of her life in what was truly the most unique wedding ceremony I've ever seen. Over the past few weeks all of her wedding pictures have finally been seen and it's without a doubt that I am so thankful her photographer captured the shot below. I knew there was nothing more I wanted to do than pray for Em and Derek right before their marriage started and it was such a highlight of the day for me. Thank you God for such a beautiful friendship that is truly centered on you!

 Tara Mauldin Photography 

 Tara Mauldin Photography 

five// $75 Sephora Gift Card Giveaway

Lastly, don't forget you have until 11:59PM on Sunday night to enter for your chance to win a $75 gift card to Sephora! I know you don't want to miss out :-)

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Five on Friday: Travel Essentials

Happy Friday Sweet Friends!

I'm sorry for such a late night post, but I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off today! You see, tomorrow I head back out for my final five months on the road with my job as a traveling leadership consultant. I had a dreaded doctors appointment today then ran to grab a few last minute things before I finished packing. Packing for five months at a time can be somewhat difficult but something I get better at doing every time I fly to another school. With today's Five on Friday link-up (A. Liz Adventures), I decided to have a little fun and post the five items I have labeled my top  travel essentials.

[ONE]- Mini Travel Steamer

$19.99: Bed Bath and Beyond 

There is no way I could travel without this. My mini steamer heats up in 20 seconds and is ready to steam away and make my clothes crisp and wrinkle free. The biggest plus is that it only weighs 14 ounces so it doesn't take up much space in my bag. I will seriously never travel anywhere without this little friend of mine!

[TWO]- Erin Condren Life Planner

$50: Erin Condren

A year ago I was lucky enough to stumble across the Erin Condren Life Planner and I don't think I'll ever use anything else. I love how each day is divided into Morning/Day/Night and I'm given a large square space to write down all my meetings. I also love the vast array of cover choices that you can select from. 

[THREE]- Lands End Tote Bag

$17: Lands End

This tote bag saves my life on a daily basis. Flying every week requires a strong and durable bag that I can use as my "personal carry on item" and this bag holds so much. I also use it on a daily bases as my book bag to carry notebooks and my laptop to campus for meetings. I also love that you can get your monogram on it! 

[FOUR]- Clarisonic Mia 

$125: Clarisonic

There are not enough words to describe how this little gadget has changed my life. I've only been using my Clarisonic Mia since September but I'll be the first to tell you I'm hooked. Being exposed to different types of water every few days on the road was really starting to make my acne flair back up in the beginning. However, since starting to use this little gadget my face had been more clear. I've also noticed a major decrease this winter in the amount of dry skin I have. 

[FIVE]- Blog, INC. Book

My Blog, INC. book will be the most well loved thing on the road this semester. I still have one more chapter to read in my copy but I'm excited that there is still 12 days to go in my giveaway for one of you to win your very own copy. Don't forget to enter via the rafflecopter below as the winner will be picked on January 15th!

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I hope you all have a beautiful weekend! Tomorrow I'm off to my first school of the semester in South Carolina and look forward to brining you all on the journey! Make sure you're following me via Instagram and Twitter to be a part of my day to day travels!

Hottest Deals in Fashion

Yesterday I may have dragged the boyfriend with me to go do a little new year's day shopping! I was told a few months ago by a sweet friend in Georgia that on January 1st every year, Dillard's department store puts their entire store on sale for 50% off. She informed me that this was not really an advertised sale but that I had to try it. So with my heart set on this "huge sale", Josh and I ventured to the mall this morning. Well, to make the correction, the entire store is not on sale, just the clearance items. However, the catch was around 80% of their store had been placed on clearance so aka almost the entire store really was on sale!!! (My heart was smiling!!) Everything that was marked as clearance was an additional 50% off the lowest price. If you follow my instagram account, you saw that I scored a beautiful $149 dress for just $26.07! Is that a deal or what? Since I am fixing to hit the road traveling again on Saturday and won't be able to shop much anymore, I decided to create for y'all a list of some of the biggest online sales that I'm loving right now. Let me know what you think! 

Jcrew.com is having 40% off final sale items through January 7th with the code SHOPHAPPY.

Factory.jcrew.com is also having 40% off clearance items through January 7th with the code SALE40.

Anthropologie.com has 25% off their sale clothing and accessories with 50% off their home sale. Use code WARMUP.

Nordstrom.com is having another semi annual sale with up to 50% off online purchases! 

Bananarepublic.com has 30% off sale items with the code BRGOOD30 till January 6th!

I also decided to link-up with Showered with Design and Happiness is Not a Destination for the month of January to do their Inspire Me 2014 Blog Challenge! They've listed great ideas for almost every day of the month so hop on over to find a prompt you would like to write about! 

Today's prompt for January 2nd was: What did you do for New Years?

My answer to that is not a whole lot and I was perfectly fine with that! Josh came over to my family's house and we all spent the evening together eating a wonderful home cooked meal, playing games together, and watching Modern Family till our stomachs hurt so much from laughing. At 11:50pm we turned the channels to watch the ball drop and then I was able to share a little new year's kiss with my favorite boy! Originally Josh and I were going to attempt to go to Charleston for NYE but with my work having me go back out on the road this Saturday, I decided to spend NYE right at home and soak in every minute I could get with my loved ones!

Don't forget to enter the giveaway below for your chance to win a copy of Blog, Inc!

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Five On Friday (Hey from Pittsburgh!)

Happy Friday my sweet friends! I'm writing to you today from the ever so chilly city of Pittsburgh! (More about that in a second!) With Friday comes my favorite link-up to participate in is Five on Friday with A.Liz Adventures!

O N E
My November work schedule came out yesterday and we get a whole 9 days for Thanksgiving break! Not only do we get over a week off but...I'LL BE HOME FOR MY BIRTHDAY! I am so excited to be reunited with my wonderful family after what will then be 4 months away from home on the road and finally getting to have their loving hugs 24/7! 

T W O
Currently I am in the chilly city of Pittsburgh...well actually about 20 minutes outside of it on a Pennsylvania "mountain"...but we will just say Pittsburgh for the time being! I'm not used to weather this cold in the middle of October! We have seen snow flurries and my body has been trying to adjust quickly to the cold without making itself sick. Look at the low for tonight...burr!

T H R E E 
So if you've been following my blog you probably have seen where I am just 110% in love with pageants! I grew up participating in them and still to this day get excited to attend them, judge them, or meet queens. Well, yesterday the school I am working with right now held a 12 hours of Pink event for breast cancer education and awareness. Using some connections we had, we were able to get Annie, Miss Pennsylvania 2013, to come for 4 of the hours. It was such an honor to be with her during the day and to walk her around campus to meet those who had been affected by breast cancer. 

F O U R
Last week I got to work at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey! Let me tell you, I was sadly one of  those people who always associated New Jersey with what was seen on Jersey Shore...but let me be the first to say: if you allow your heart to feel something different about a place it will quickly fall in love. The state of New Jersey grew on me every day and I was very thankful to spend a few days on the beaches of Jersey leading young women to become better leaders!

F I V E
Last but not least, I am excited to sight see downtown Pittsburgh tonight and tomorrow. Here are a few things on my list that I'm dying to get to:

1. Mt. Washington and the inclines

2. Andy Warhol Museum 

3. Botanical Gardens

What are YOUR plans for the weekend?

Five on Friday!

Hello Blogger Friends! I hope you all have had a wonderful last week of September! Where did this month go? It is hard to believe that October is just around the corner and fall will be in full force soon. Last week I had so much fun with the Five on Friday link up that I decided to participate again. If you have never looked at this link up I highly encourage you to visit A. Liz Adventures, Carolina Charm, Hello! Happiness, or The Good Life Blog. Last week it provided me with so many new readers and I also found some pretty awesome bloggers to follow as well. So here's my five this week:

{One}
Tonight is my last night in Louisiana and I am so excited for a girls night in/out. My sweet hosts are taking me to the Louisiana Boardwalk here in Shreveport for some shopping, dinner, and then cheesecake! We have decided to bring our cheesecake home and have a night in watching chick flicks...how fun?!?!

{Two}
I am excited that tomorrow I will get to head back east and travel for 12 days in the beautiful state of Georgia. I'll be splitting my time between Americus and Augusta and cannot wait to see what my visit there holds!

{Three}
I also have to give a little shout out to my sweet little sister Kristen who received her bid from Zeta Tau Alpha this past weekend and is now a new member at my home chapter! I am so excited for her to experience this journey and glad that her heart fell in love with ZTA.

{Four}
So for a long time I have been obsessing over monograms necklaces but never bought one. However The Plaid Barn is having a HUGE sell today where you can buy one for $9.99...so of course I just bought the tortoise shell one!

{Five}
I am also really obsessing over the new Kate Spade Beau bags, especially the leopard print one. However, I'm not loving the price of $500-$900.

What are your plans for the weekend friends?

Five on Friday!

Sorry for the delay in writing another post! I have spent so much time trying to read other blogs and spruce mine up for y'all that I got behind in writing However, I promise to start doing better!

I'm super excited to be joining my first link-up party and of course it's "Five on Friday"...hope you enjoy!

Link Here

[ONE]

Y'all, fall starts this weekend! Can you believe it?!?! I am such a fall girl that it isn't even funny. Want to know why I love fall so much? Well fall contains the following: my birthday, anniversary with my wonderful boyfriend, unlimited college football, colored leaves, apple cider, brisk weather, Thanksgiving, pumpkin carving, sweater weather...I could seriously go on forever! 

[TWO]

The food here in Philly is to die for! I mean just look at that french toast above, who could not love that? My joke has been it's a good thing I'm leaving Philly Monday or else I might soon go into a food coma! 

[THREE]

Loving the fact that I got to spend the day with my sweet sorority sister (Katie) and experience the history of Philadelphia with her. Being a history minor in college I just die inside when I get to visit monuments that are so important to our country's history. Today I finally got to visit the Liberty Bell! 

[FOUR]

While I have really loved my time in the North, I am excited to get back down South on Monday! I've never been to Louisiana before but that's where my job has me headed for next week. Here's to lots of shrimp and good times :-)

[FIVE]

And last but not least on the list today, my thankfulness for this handsome guy! Spending the past four years with him has been such a blessing and I am so lucky to have someone who supported my decision to take a year off after school to travel and challenge myself with my dream job. Thank you Josh for being the world's most amazing and supportive boyfriend <3