Weekend Review

Well, I've officially made it to the little town of Martin, Tennessee and the place I'll call my home/office for the next 15 days! I forgot when traveling out here that I would be going back an hour to the central timezone and that just always throws me off. You wouldn't think an hour would make a difference but I constantly have to remind myself that when calling home at 9:00, my parents are probably asleep because it's already 10:00pm there!  This past weekend I traveled from Florence, SC to Clinton, SC and the home of Presbyterian College (PC). I got to visit this pretty little school back in November for work and immediately fell in love with the beauty of the campus. The quad, the worship area by the lake, and all the beautiful oak trees just screamed "southern" to me!

Lucky for me, this past weekend I wasn't alone in my visit to PC and instead was joined by some of my closest co-workers (and sorority sisters) as we met to train upcoming leaders from the state of South Carolina. I can't tell y'all how happy my little heart was to love on these girls all weekend and to stay up late catching up with each other's lives!

I hope you all are having a wonderful start to your week. Just think, we are almost halfway to the weekend!

P.S. Don't forget that tomorrow night at 11:59pm EST my first giveaway ends, so don't forget to tweet, follow on bloglovin, and enter for your chance to win a copy of Blog, Inc!

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Monday Coffee Talk {Vol. II}

Happy Monday my sweet friends! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend :-) Anyone do anything majorly exciting? At least the weather seems to be warming up for us and hopefully the snow up north is gone for a few weeks. Here is Volume II of my Monday Coffee Talk aka my ramblings for the week. I hope you all enjoy reading along!

Travel Day:

Today is a travel day for work and by the time you read this I'll be on my way to the airport to catch flight #1 of 2 today. I was just saying the other day how I have not flown in 27 days (due to our Christmas break) and that just feels so weird to me. My body is used to flying somewhere new every 4-7 days, so not being on a plane in almost a month has me so excited for this flight today! I've spent the last week at Francis Marion University in Florence, South Carolina but heading out to Martin, Tennessee today, via a layover in Charlotte of course.

Bachelor Monday: Okay, I seriously need y'alls help! You know how ABC used to post the weekly Bachelor episode online the very next day? Well now you cannot watch it until a week later!!!!! To watch it the next day you have to verify your cable provider and all the ones they allow you to verify are strange one's that I've never heard of! This is where I need y'alls help: does anyone know any other website where you can watch the episodes starting the next day? My flight does not land in Tennessee tonight till 10:13pm so I'm going to miss the episode and will be so impatient to have to wait all the way till next Monday to watch tonights episode! 

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Worrying gets you no where:

Y'all, let's be real...I am such a worry wart! I love being a good listener and supporting my friends but lately I've found myself being so worried about things going on back home with my friends and trials of loved ones that those thoughts constantly consume my mind. The worry causes me to not be focused on the "here and now" of the moment and causes me to lay in bed at night wondering if I was back home would things be better? My prayer this week is that God will just heal my heart and cause my wondering mind to stay focused and to know that all our lives are in his control. 

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Giveaway: Don't forget that my Blog, Inc. book giveaway ends this Wednesday night at 11:59pm! Winner will be announced on Thursday so make sure you get those entries in!

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[Mini] Weekend Vacay

I'm heading out of town bright and early this morning for what I'm considering in my mind to be a mini weekend vacation. Well, it's not really a vacation, it's a work trip, but I get to see four of my sweetest sorority sisters and I am so excited to love on them for 2 whole days! Every sorority officer from ZTA in the state of South Carolina is gathering together this weekend for officer training. To my luck, two other current Traveling Leadership Consultants, Mallory (top right) and Chelsea (bottom right), will be there with the two colleges they are visiting right now. My sweet ZTA sister from UNC Charlotte (who was also a TLC 2 years ago), Casey (top left), will be there as a trainer. This will be the first time I've seen Casey since she got engaged last summer and I am so excited to finally see her beautiful ring in person. And last but not least I get to see my Katelyn (bottom left) whom I met several years ago at a ZTA National Convention when we both won the same award. She graduated from Clemson University two years ago and then traveled last year as a TLC. She is my go-to person that I always call with questions when I'm confused on the job! Any who, in case you cannot tell, I am beaming with joy that I get to see these four blessings in my life this week! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I'll be back on Monday morning with a little weekend review :-)

Also, don't forget that you only have till Tuesday night at 11:59pm to enter my first giveaway for the book "Blog, Inc.". Enter while you can!

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A Thankful Heart

Y'all, my little heart is just bursting with so much love and thankfulness today that I just could not help but share with you all the two ladies that made it be this way! 

Jana Tolman Design You might have noticed that as of yesterday I have a BEAUTIFUL new blog layout, ekkkk! I just love it so, so much and cannot stop looking staring at it. If you read about my blogging goals for January, you saw that on my list I wrote: purchase a new layout. I searched and reviewed many blog designers and even made an Excel spreadsheet to compare what each designer offered in their packages. After all this, I could not have been happier to purchase my first professional layout design from Jana Tolman Design.  Jana is one of the nicest ladies you will ever work with and she was always so quick to respond to my e-mails. The vision I had in my head was made perfect by her and I am so excited the design is finally live on the blog. If y'all get to missing me you can come find me up on cloud 9 where I'll be for the next few days weeks just admiring the blog! You can also follow Jana over at her blog Life Could Be A Dream. 

A Worker at Home

I am also so thankful for Katie who blogs over at A Worker at Home. Being featured in her sponsor spotlight yesterday was such a neat feeling and will always be something I hold close to my heart as a new blogger. (You can view the post here!) She has given me so much social media love as well that I just want to give her the biggest hug in the world. Katie's little family is fixing to go from 3 to 4 as her and her husband welcome a new baby girl in just a few short weeks. I'd be lying if I didn't say I'm excited to read all about this precious little girl once she arrives! 

A Worker at Home

So to Jana and Katie, thank you both for your kind hearts and dedication to helping my little blog grow. You two don't know how thankful I am to have worked with y'all!

35 Things I've Learned

If you've been following along on this little blog journey of mine, you know by now that when I graduated from college last May, I took a 10-month position working for my sorority as a Traveling Leadership Consultant. This little journey of mine is halfway over and it's hard to imagine that in 5 short months I'll be home for good and won't be on the road visiting a new state or college every week. When I came back on the road this past Saturday, I went to a school that was within driving distance of my home so I had a good 3 hours all to myself to reflect on the past five months and how I've changed as a person. It was weird to me a few weeks ago when I sat waiting to board my last flight home for the holidays. There are no words to describe the way that I felt but I had changed. I've always considered myself pretty mature for my age but sitting there I felt like a true grown up. For the past five months I had experienced things that pictures nor words will ever be able to convey to someone else. I have lived in cities and towns that I never knew existed. I've learned that sometimes when you take a job you have no clue what you are truly getting into, but you quickly immerse yourself and fall in love with every aspect of the position. And I've learned that if you allow a journey to impact your life, it will truly change you for the better. 

I thought it would be fun to give you all a little photo montage of my life for the past 5 months. I also thought it would be neat to let you in on some of the things I've learned while traveling; some funny, some personal, some inspirational. With that, let's take a little journey down memory lane:

1. It is possible to gain 19 new best friends in 3 short weeks. 

2. God will always send you where you need to be. 

3. Staying up till 4am training a rising leader is so worth it when you finally see the sparkle in their eye and they understand what you are talking about. 

4. Taking 30 minutes out of your day to call loved ones is important to keeping your mind from not burning out. 

5. Airports are the best for people watching.

6. Airlines that still provide peanuts, pretzels, and drinks are my favorite. 

7. If your carry on suitcase doesn't get checked under the plane and you are worried because you cannot lift it over your head (ie it weighs 43 pounds), just look confused when you get on the plane and 99% of the time a nice gentleman will help you place it in the overhead bin.
8. The beaches in New Jersey are very different than those in North Carolina. 

9. Eating at local places makes me feel like I'm at home.

10. Having a good cry every once in a while is okay, and most of the time it will make all your worries go away.

11. Staying in touch with friends gets much older as you age but it is important to make the effort to catch up and talk. 

12. It is okay to ask for help. 

13. Never, ever stop empowering people.

14. Working together as a team is a must.

15. Dogs are seriously a gift from above!

16. Honesty is key.

17. I still don't like the look of pine needles on a college campus! (Weird I know!) 

18. Washing your makeup off your eyes every night is key...or else you'll get an eye infection!

19. No matter where you are, you can always see the sky.

20. Shrimp sauce/white sauce/yum yum sauce...yep, they are just a southern thing and people will look at you like you're a fool if you ask for it up north!

21. Even when you don't feel like you're making a difference, you are.

22. The leaves in the Midwest during the fall are ten times more beautiful than those in North Carolina. 

23. Worrying gets you no where in life. 

24. Prunes and cream cheese can make the world go round. 

25. Reading a card that says "thank you for your help and inspiration" will make any day brighter.

26. Money can't buy you happiness.

27. Double names from the south are still my favorite!

28. Family is everything.

29. North Carolina "south" and Alabama "south" are two totally different lifestyles!

30. Small town comfort can never be beaten.

31. Being a majorette is the coolest thing since sliced bread and something I wish I had done growing up!

32. No experience is ever too bad that you can't learn something from it.

33. Don't always judge a person based on your first impressions alone.

34. Props to models, modeling is hard!

35. Hearing the song "Sweet Caroline" will always make me feel like I'm at a Carolina Tar Heels football game!