Parent's Weekend

Yesterday, my parents came up for Parent's Weekend.  A3 had a little tailgate at our house for our parents...

Family!

Megan and I in our Florida colors!

After the game and ADPi Parent's Cocktail, we moved on to our second night of Halloween celebrations!  I hate I don't have any pictures from Friday night, when our chapter of 102 girls all dressed up as Dalmatians, except for Kat, who was Curella Devil!  So we were the 101 Dalmatians and Curella!  Saturday night, my diamond fam decided to all dress up together.  Kate decided that we should be the four seasons (which beat out my sister's idea of the four gospels and my idea of the cast of Gossip Girl...)

HOWEVER, if you look at this picture, guess who's missing?!  We only had spring, summer, and winter... unfortunate.

Also this weekend, Sarah and Callie came over to make these caramel apples... random, but they were pretty good!

Such skill... look for them at the fair next year!

That's all for now, hope everyone has a fabulous week!

What are you doing next year?

Being a senior in college, I encounter this question on a daily basis... EVERYONE seems to be really concerned with what I, along with everyone else who is graduating in May, am doing after graduation.  Now, as an early childhood education major, I have a pretty good idea of the type of job I'm looking for.  Some people seem to think that the current job market for teachers (or complete lack thereof) is going to significantly limit my job opportunities for next year.  Now, that's where I'm going to have to disagree... I personally have LOTS of job/ career/ life ideas, which I'm going to list here:

- Ideally, I'd LOVE to get a job teaching public school in a relatively good district in South Carolina.  So that's probably my first option... just in case that doesn't work out for me, I've come up with others.

1.  Nanny.  Specifically, Kelly Ripa's nanny.  Now I'm sure you're thinking, how random/ impossible!  Negative... just think about it.  What type of person would a rich/ famous family living in New York want to be their nanny?  Uhh, probably a young-ish, independent, unattached, RESPONSIBLE girl (that's me) who has a degree in early childhood education (this will be me!)  I mean, I see this as a. a great idea, b. a wonderful chance for me to get to live in New York City, and c. a great opportunity for Kelly (or some other celebrity) as well, because I would provide quality child care for a reasonable fee!

2.  Open my own salon with Sarah.  Again, this is another GREAT idea.  I realize that it would probably involve us having to go to cosmetology school or something, but we have it all planned out... we'd open up an upscale full service salon somewhere around or near the Columbia area.  There is definitely a market for this, and if Sarah and I know a lot about anything, it's hair!  I see my main role in this operation as probably running the salon/ keeping the books/ managing people... essentially, I'd be the Tabatha (as in Tabatha's Salon Takeover, duh.)  Sarah would be on the more... creative side.  As in, doing people's hair.  I'd prefer to do nails (only hands... I'd have to hire someone else to do the feet!)  Anyway, another legit idea, in my opinion!

3.  A more immediate possibility is to be a long-term sub... which, is significantly less exciting than the previous two options, but also something that I'm thinking I'd enjoy... the way I see it, I could potentially get a lot of experience in classroom time (hopefully in a good district) without having to do a lot of planning on my own OR dealing with all of those scary observations that first year teachers have to do all the time.  It's a win-win situation haha... plus, I could really do this anywhere, so I could live wherever I want and then start subbing.  

There are a lot more options (I'm actually keeping a list on the door in my room, which my friends add to regularly), so I'll continue to post as good ideas come up.  And feel free to offer your own suggestions!  Point is, I'm not that worried about it (which is kind of shocking, considering it's me).  I feel confident that God will lead me exactly where I need to go.  His plans are perfect, and I can't wait to see what they are!

OH!

I can't believe I forgot to mention this... so if you're in the Columbia area and have recently listened to 104.7 (as I was and did on Wednesday when I went to the fair), you have probably heard of the tickets on the Taylor Swift Cruise that they are giving away.

That's right!  Taylor Swift CRUISE!!!!!!  Now, I'm a HUGE Tay Swift fan.  I also love cruises.  So as soon as I heard this announcement, I knew I HAD to win this cruise.  So I went to the radio station's website to enter whatever contest this is and ran into a slight problem.  Apparently, they say key words on the radio that you have to enter on the website to win.  This is problematic due to the fact that I can't pick up that radio station at school.  Whatever, so not to be deterred, I went on over to the Royal Caribbean website to see how much I would have to beg to get some tickets for Christmas.  Here is what I can gather about the "Taylor Swift Experience" offered on the Allure of the Seas:

- Taylor Swift Trivia.  How fun is that?!  Although, honestly, I don't know how much I actually know about her life or anything...

- Look alike contest: Do people on the street mistake you for Taylor Swift?... nope.  So that's two down on the Taylor Swift Experience...

- Taylor Swift Karaoke... this would be enjoyable, I'm not going to lie.

- A concert by Taylor in the ship's Aqua Theater! 

So then, I saw the date... it is in January.  When I'm going to be student teaching.  Now, I'm questioning whether this is necessarily the best way to start off my semester... by taking an entire week off to go on a Taylor Swift cruise.  I don't think my teacher would be too impressed by my work ethic or my priorities.  UNfortunate.  Plus, all my kids would probably be really jealous.  But here's my thing... 

Dear Royal Caribbean, WHY on earth would you schedule this cruise in JANUARY???  Hellooooo... you know all the 12 year olds (plus me) are going to be in school!  What parent is going to let their child miss an entire week of school to stalk Taylor Swift and sing karaoke?!? (I wish my mom would.)  You're going to end up with a bunch of randos and creepy old men on your cruise because those are going to be the only people available to cruise at that time of year!  Please reconsider this choice in scheduling so that the people who are actually Taylor fans (i.e., me) can participate.

Sincerely,

Anna

Friday Randomness

I don't really have anything exciting to blog about, so here's just a few highlights of my life:

- So, yesterday my devotion was on Mark 6:31, which says, "Come by yourselves to a deserted place and rest awhile."  Well, I was quick to take that as an excuse to put all of my school work on pause, and I have been lying around doing nothing all last night/ today.  I stayed in bed until 11 this morning, which if you know how weirdly early I get up on a daily basis, this is a big deal.

- Not sure if I have mentioned this on the blog, but my car has been hit twice within the past few weeks.  By two different people, in two different parking lots.  Talk about confusing for the insurance companies!  One of the insurance companies sent a rep out to look at my car this morning, and he could not for the life of him find my house!  (I will say, it probably didn't help that I wasn't completely sure of the address here... BUT all my mail goes to my student box!  I have no reason to know the townhouses' address!!!!)  So this guy calls me at 8 this morning (on the one morning that I was actually still asleep at 8) and he can't find the house.  You know how when you first wake up your voice sounds terrible?  Yeah, so I was trying to sound somewhat awake/ enthusiastic and give this poor man directions.  He finally found my car, and hopefully they will pay for my bumper to be replaced!

- I finally got my camera back, and just HAD to share my favorite pictures from homecoming (/ my only pictures from homecoming)!

It's my whooooole diamond family!  Well, 5 generations anyway!  

I just love it when this happens!  PS- sorry for the mess in the back corner... I swear that was the ONLY messy part of my house that weekend (and it WOULD have been captured on film)

- I'm looking for some good boots... I've been looking EVERYWHERE and cannot find something I like.  Well, actually, I have found these that I like...

... but they're a little out of my price range, at $398.  They're Coach... and precious.  See, all the boots this season have that little heel on them... I really liked last season's boots that were more of that flat/ wedge-ish heel... which I have now spent 20 minutes trying to find a good example of online, but I cannot.  But you probably know what I'm talking about.  So if anyone has any suggestions of where to go to find some good, cute, (more importantly, cheap) boots, please let me know!

Ok, well that's all for now... have a fabulous weekend!

Reality TV trashiness

Ok, I'll be the first to admit, I LOVE me some reality tv.  In fact, now that I think about it, I'm not sure that I ever consistently watch anything that isn't a reality show.  My favorites would be Real Housewives (I like New York and New Jersey best), Keeping up with the Kardashians (Bruce is a saint, that's all I'm saying), Jerseylicious, Wifeswap (classic), 19 Kids and Counting (the wedding episode is quite possibly the best reality episode to air, ever), 4 Weddings (kind of random, but some of those weddings are rough), and Say Yes to the Dress.  

Below is a video that Nance shared with me... these little kids reenact Keeping Up with the Kardashians.  I have to say, these kids are good, plus it's hilarious!  

The kid who plays Scott is DEAD ON.  For real.  They also have a New Jersey housewives one that is just as good.

Now, my most recent fav in reality tv would without a doubt be SISTER WIVES (I'd love to see those little kids act out that one!)  Now here's a show that from when I saw the first preview, I just had a feeling that this was going to be good.  Seriously, one of the most interesting things I've watched ever.  Sunday nights have become quite the anticipated nights at A3, where we all pile into Nancy's little room and watch Kody somehow convince 4 women that sharing him is a great idea.  Let me pause here and say, I don't really get Kody's appeal.  I'm not sure if it's his long surfer hair or his... interesting sense of humor, but regardless, the man has 13 children with his first 3 wives, and has recently taken on another wife and her three kids.  Now we all have our favorite wives... mine personally is Meri... his first, and only legal, wife.  I think Nancy likes Janelle because they're both pretty sassy.  I don't really think that my description of this show can do it justice, so here are a few prime quotes from some episodes:

"I like marriage!  And I'm a repeat offender... (our faith) likes to reward good behavior, so they figure if you're good with one marriage, you'll be good with two..." -Kody

"Love should be multiplied, not divided" -The show's tagline... after watching these episodes and some of the arguments that ensued, I'm not sure this was the best choice in wording

"I don't want to be kissing my girlfriend while my wife's in labor..." -Kody, the loyal husband to 3 at this point

"Girls, take turns playing with the daddy doll..." -Robyn, as the children are playing with their dollhouse, which of course isn't just your typical dollhouse... it's a polygamist dollhouse

I must say, good job, TLC!  You consistently turn out the quality shows that go beyond random celebrities doing stupid things for the camera.  You legitimately find these families, these obscure gems, that fascinate America to no end!  It started with Jon and Kate (unfortunately, we all know how that turned out... but don't try and claim that you didn't/ don't think those children are precious!)  Although there have been a few bumps in the road, a few shows that we could have done without (*cough, Little Chocolatiers, cough*), TLC remains on the cutting edge of reality tv.  Seriously... multiples, 19 Kids, polygamy... these are big issues!  Which brings me to my final Sister Wives quote, something that Kody told People magazine this week in response to the investigation that has ensued since the show's airing: "I just hope they don't put me in jail for loving four women."  I hope not either, Kody, because there's nothing I want more right now than to continue to watch you and your wives deal with the dramas of the polygamist lifestyle.

Surely goodness

The worst thing about coming back from Fall Break is having to face all of the work waiting for me back at school.  Contrary to popular belief, early childhood education is, in fact, a legit (and currently stressful) major.  But I'm not here to complain about my major because I chose it, and hopefully, it it will one day get me a job I love.  My problem is that I stress myself out wayyyy too much over my work.  I'm a huge perfectionist, and sometimes I literally cannot fall asleep at night because I'm thinking of ways that my work could be better, or simply being overwhelmed by all that I have to do.  Anyway, so lately I've been thinking a lot about camp this past summer, and how I would LOVE to go back... mostly because I associate camp with not being stressed, not because I'm dying to get back to the outdoors or anything haha.  So this morning, I was sitting in Springs, reading a devotional, and I came across this verse that is from a camp song:

"Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever" - Psalm 23:6

Now, I never sang this song at camp until my very last week there.  Just to give some background info on my last week at camp: It was the first week in August, and I had been at camp for 2 months at that point.  The camp I worked at did both day camps and residential camp, and I had been on site doing res camp for most of the summer.  The last week was an "extended week" which meant that the kids were there from Saturday- Saturday instead of the normal Sunday- Friday.  It was also my birthday week.  I would have literally done ANYTHING to be on day camp that week.  Anything.  I had been on site the week before, and I was dying to go somewhere cool my last week in Florida.  However, I was assigned to be on site at camp that week.  So my week 7 middle school girls left on Friday afternoon, and I got another group of elementary school girls on Saturday afternoon.  I was beyond exhausted and out of fun things to do and upset that I didn't get the weekend to catch up on sleep like I usually did.  Additionally, most of the girls in my cabin were BFFs who had all been at camp the summer before.  They wanted everything to be just like last summer, and they were quick to point out to me when something was different... especially things that their old counselor let them do that I wasn't letting them do.  Anyway, these girls' FAVORITE song was "Surely Goodness," which I had not sang all summer.  So to try and appease them in some way, I requested that we sing it at worship and campfires.  We sang that song a bunch that week, and it became one of my favorites.  Probably partially due to the fact that I had not heard it 500 times at that point in the summer, like I had every other song.  Looking back on it now, though, that was one of my best weeks of camp.  Though it was exhausting, I had so much fun that week, despite my initial bad attitude about it.  Every time I think about that week, I think about that song.  (I also think about how that week was the week I started using cabin times to paint nails and do hair... like I said, I was OUT of stuff to do!)

So, I was pumped to see that verse pop up in my devotional today.  I thought it was ironic, seeing as how I've been thinking about wanting to go back to Florida.  It also reminded me of how well that week turned out when I was initially stressed about it.  I believe that God's goodness and mercy WILL follow me through my life, even times like now when I'm stressed out.  

Surely goodness and mercy

Will follow me

All the days of my life, all the days of my life

And I will dwell

In the house of the Lord

Forever, forever, forever, Amen

I heart Fall

So usually I always say that summer is my favorite season... and I do love the hot weather (I'm crazy, I know), FOURTH OF JULY (my second fav holiday), beach trips with my fam, laying out, and of course my birthday.  However, this past summer, which was spent in Florida, I had enough of the hot weather to last me... oh, probably the rest of my life.  Seriously.  Spending, like, 75% of my time outdoors in the heat and humidity really made me ready for some cooler weather.  Therefore, I have decided that Fall is officially my new favorite season.  Here are just a few of the things I'm currently loving about Fall:

1.  Pumpkin Spice Lattes from Starbucks.  I'm pretty pumped about the return of my favorite seasonal drink!  I've had one almost everyday I've been home for fall break... probably not the best choice financially or nutritionally, but these things only come around once a year!!

2.  Going along with the above picture, my second favorite thing would be fall nail polish colors.  I know this is a really random "favorite thing"  but I'm a fan.  

3.  Candy Corn... and those pumpkin things that are kind of like candy corn.  If pumpkin spice lattes are my favorite seasonal drink, then I guess candy corn is my favorite seasonal candy (except for Easter candy, which tops the list, but that's another post)

4.  The State Fair... which I love mostly for the food because, let's face it, I refuse to ride those rides.  I'm pretty much against riding anything that is regularly taken apart and put on the back of a truck and driven around the country.  But I love the caramel apples and elephant ears.  Last year, my roommates and I went together, and unfortunately I don't think they were as enthusiastic about the fair as I was.  I have high hopes for this year, though, and I feel confident that they'll grow to love it as much as I do!

5.  Pumpkin desserts... now I'm realizing how much food is dominating this list, which is probably a bad thing.  But I basically love anything pumpkin flavored, especially Nancy's chocolate chip pumpkin bread (hint, hint, Nance)

6.  The return of pashminas... although, for me they never really left since I'm a big fan of summer scarves.  But when you're in South Carolina, and especially Florida, people think you're crazy for wearing summer scarves.  So I'm excited to bust out my solid pashminas and not be judged for wearing them!

7.  FALL BREAK... seriously, PTL for fall break.  I can't think of a time in my college career ever when I've been so ready for fall break.  This year has been even more fun since Kate came home with Sarah and me!  I've personally loved spending the past three days lying around my house doing absolutely nothing except for watching TV and drinking pumpkin spice lattes.  I wish that it was longer... I could use an entire week.  Unfortunately the massive amounts of work I brought home to do with me remain largely untouched.  I've only written one paper and one lesson plan... that should probably change like now.  I keep finding better things to do... like blogging.  And bidding on e-bay, which I've never done before.  I think at this point, I'll do just about anything except school work.  8 more weeks...

8.  Cooler mornings... which I get the joy of experiencing on my 8:00 days.  I actually hate being cold in the mornings, BUT I look at this as an opportunity to bust out the patagonias, so it's going on my list.

9.  Fall flowers (random, I know, but I think mums and pansies are pretty)

10.  The fact that it officially becomes socially acceptable (to me and retailers, at least) to count down until Christmas... only 10 1/2 weeks!!

Last week in pictures

So... I realize I have not posted on here in a while.  But all I did from Thursday- Sunday last week was recruitment, so therefore I had lots of work and sleep to catch up on this week.  Here are just a few pictures from our wonderful rush...

Now I'll be the first to say, I really genuinely like recruitment.  I understand that that makes me weird or something, because it's usually people's least favorite thing about being in a sorority.  But I love it!  However, as much as I love rush, I love BID DAY a million times more!  Bid day is by far my favorite sorority event... there's really nothing like it.

This year, Bid Day was coordinated by my fabulous little sister Kate

Seriously, most fun theme EVER

Personally, (and I know I'm biased) I think that PC has the best bid day ever.  Each girl runs down the steps of Neville individually to her new sorority.

SO fun.

Again, here's just a little flashback of bid days from my time at PC:

Freshman year when I was just a little Alpha... I seriously could not have been more excited about my bid from ADPi/ the fact that Katie Lee was my big sister

Though I didn't think my excitement level from freshman year could be topped, I was even MORE excited on bid day sophomore year when I found out I got KATE!

While I'm on the subject of excitement over getting Kate, I just thought I should include the photo that was taken when I found out she'd preffed ADPi... ridiculous, but I was so, so happy

Then junior year bid day came around, and I was so pumped for Sarah to finally be in ADPi... clearly, she was excited too ha!

So after all of my exciting bid days, I wasn't sure that I would be as pumped this year.  However, I was wrong, as evidenced by this picture, taken by the photographers at bid day:

I was so excited to get this precious girl in my family:

Obsessed.

This year, to add to the fun, Mandy got to come to bid day... even though she wasn't in a sorority, she still gets into the spirit... and she even perfected her sorority squat!!! 

Now, I know this has been a pretty pi-tastic post, and now is probably not the time to try and claim that I'm not pi-tastic... because clearly I am ha.  I will say, I had no clue my freshman year going into this how much I would get out of it.  Before ADPi, my view of sororities pretty much consisted of Legally Blonde and bad things about hazing that you hear on the news.  I'm so glad to say that my experience has been so much different than those things.  Through ADPi, I've gotten a chance to be a leader, make some best friends, gain a big sister that I always wanted, get another little sister (which, having Kate as my little and Sarah's big has seriously been SO FUN), make so many memories, and learn to work as a part of something that is much bigger than myself.  Through my experience in ADPi, I've learned a lot of life lessons... not to mention practiced my public speaking skills a LOT!  So many of my best college memories involve ADPi in some way or another, and I wouldn't change my experience for the world.  Now, to add to the cheesiness, here are some lyrics from "These Are Days" which we sing during second night of rush.  I know it's cheesy, but these lyrics are true, and I'll always think about ADPi when I hear them:

"These are days, you'll remember.  Never before, and never since, I promise, will the whole world be warm as this, and as you feel it, you'll know it's true that you are blessed and lucky.  It's true, that you are touched by something, that will grow and bloom in you"

Pi love!