Roomie + Room

You were able to get to know a little more about me in my last post, now I'll let you in on where I live, well at least the room I live in. But first, you need to know a little about my gem of a roommate! God knew exactly what he was doing when he put us in the same room. We are so alike, it's crazy.

Her name is Katie and she's a native North Carolinian as well. She's currently a Junior and Criminal Justice major in college. Despite these things, we are completely (almost) the same person. We both have blonde hair and blue eyes, we both have parents that have been married since 1990, we both have one sibling, and we both have birthdays in June - not on the same day though, that might've been weird. She has become one of my best friends in these past months and we joke that our parents got together before school started and planned our rooming situation because we are so similar.

Here we are!

Now on to our living quarters! This little dorm room has really become home to me over the past 6 months. The more decorations we bring in, the more "home-y" it feels. Isn't that weird - the more clutter, the more comfort? That could potentially be a problem in the future. Anyway, we have really made it our own personal space and I can't wait to show you around! Before Katie and I met in person on move-in day back in August, we had talked about the "theme" we wanted to go for. We knew we wanted it to coordinate, but not exactly match and I think we accomplished just that! We decided navy was a perfect color for our bed spreads and we would decorate around that. Her side is a bright, navy + pink + turquoise mix, while my side is a navy + turquoise mix, with sort of an earthy feel - both including monograms naturally.

Here's a panoramic of our little abode!  

(Click to make the image bigger)

A closer look at my half of the room and some of my favorite things! Like I said earlier, the more on your walls, the better. Katie and I have tried to decorate with so much in this room so it doesn't have that hospital feel, I think we did a good job!

My bulletin board is one of the best things on my side. This is where the majority of my pictures are and little things I have gotten from around campus. It's really nice when I am doing homework at my desk to look up and see my friends and family's faces! Why yes, that is David Beckham.

We couldn't have ended up in a better room, either. This was out of pure luck, let me tell you. Our building is a suite-style building. If you're unfamiliar with this, it is a building with rooms for four people: two bedrooms, one bath, and one common area (living room). Katie, me, and our two suite mates, Kelsey and Charlotte, ended up in the very end room on our hall. It's amazing! It is like our own little apartment, minus the kitchen. Instead of our two bedrooms connecting, we have a hallway down the middle and at the end we have our common room and bathroom. It's nice to have separate everything, it feels more like a home than a dorm. I would definitely go with a suite-style or apartment-style building if I were looking at housing options for the upcoming year, but that's just me!

*One of my tips for any upcoming college freshman is to make your dorm room feel like your second home. It is so important to feel comfortable with where you live and who you live with. Bring LOTS of pictures and wall decorations, trust me - the white walls get old fast. Fill them up with things that make you happy! Command hooks will be your absolute best friend in the decorating process. I suggest you buy up all you can!

I hope you enjoyed this fun little post! Have a happy weekend!



25 Things.

This post is a little random today. I am a HUGE gossip magazine junky. Us Weekly, People, Glamour, you name it. I read it. So in honor of one of the little things they do on their websites, I wanted to do a 25 things you may or may not know about me post. Just for fun! Here we go.

1. I collected snow globes when I was little. I used to get them from everywhere.
2. Don't get me wrong, I'm big on Starbucks, but I think drinking coffee at home is special on weekends. I do have a cup here and there though.
3. I graduated high school on my 18th birthday. I went to a sandwich place afterwards with my best friend because everything else was closing. I did have a party, don't worry. My 13th birthday fell on Father's Day, that was pretty cool too.
4. My ideal wake-up time is 10 am, but that rarely happens ever.
5. I feel naked without earrings, I always have a pair in!
6. In a perfect world, everyone's handbags and shoes would match. That drives me crazy!
7. In high school, I won the Cheshire Cat award because I smiled all the time. I like to think I still do.
8. My parents will be married for 24 years this April, I think that is amazing and rare these days.
9. My car is named Ferg. Why? When I was a freshman in high school, she played Fergie's The Dutchess CD the best. The bass was so good. 
10. I like to think my birthday is the exact middle of the year because it's June 15th, but I'm a little off.
11. I have to wear my retainer every night or I get paranoid. Is that weird?
12. I want a Yorkie so bad when I graduate from college! (Mom, I know you're reading this.)
13. This first concert I went to was Travis Tritt, but I had to leave before he even came on stage.
14. The best (basically first)concert I have been to is Train/Mat Kearney. Train was amazing, Mat Kearney was rained out.
15. At anytime, I could have up to two monograms on me. Don't judge.
16. Not to sound like such a girl, but Nicholas Sparks' A Walk to Remember will forever be my favorite movie, Nights in Rodanthe was SUCH a good book. Bridesmaids is pretty far up my list, too.
17. I could eat breakfast at anytime of day.
18. I could rock out to 80's music all the time. I think my mom and dad have really great taste in music - Hall & Oates especially. 
19. I have to charge my phone every night. It's a pet-peeve.
20. I have 7 pillows on my bed at the moment, but I usually sleep with my head on the mattress.
21. I was a cheerleader for 7 years, then I danced for 5.
22. My favorite thing to eat when I go home is Shepard's Pie, or spaghetti.
23. My favorite Pandora station is my Christina Aguilera one. I only 'thumbs up' her old music, so I get to hear N*Sync, Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, and Destiny's Child all day. Again, don't judge.
24. I know all the words to Paul Revere by the Beastie Boys. It's a talent the whole family shares.
25. I hate getting my nails done. I feel like it's torture.

I hope this was the slightest bit interesting. Have a great week!

Weekend Re-cap!

This weekend has probably been one of the busiest weekends I have had on campus. I don't know if it is because of the new semester, I'm more comfortable on campus, or if it is because I'm hearing more of what's going on, but it has been none stop! I LOVE it! Let me tell ya how it went!

For starters, my roommate, Kelsey, and I are loyal Starbucks customers. Probably a little too loyal, but hey why not? We went into our campus Starbucks and saw a sign on the wall that said "TAKE THE STARBUCKS CHALLENGE." Seeing the word challenge, I was like how many drinks do I have to buy? The answer: JUST ONE! What? Right. All we had to do was take a selfie with our drinks and hashtag #cupsupunccharlotte on Twitter. How easy. We went in for our second visit of the week and what do you know, we made it on the wall! We thought we were something else.

Tehehe...Starbucks Famous

Then, we got word of a home basketball game that was happening Saturday night. Kelsey, our new roommate Charlotte, and I got tickets and were able to go. It was so fun. I have never been to a college basketball game before, so it was an experience. It was UNC-Charlotte vs. North Texas. We were up at halftime, 40-37, but after the buzzer rang for the second half, I thought it was all downhill. We were almost instantly down by 10. All I could think was DANG.We completely pulled through, literally to the finish. The score was 74-74 and I was just excited that we were going to tie. OH NO, we got the ball, ran the clock down to the actual last second, shot, and scored a two pointer! We won 76-74 and it was amazing!



Kels, me, and Charlotte at the UNCC vs. North Texas game!

We won! Victory confetti and Charlotte flags!

To pull the weekend to a close, Kelsey and I attended Elevation Church. The Panther's wide receiver Steve Smith spoke alongside Pastor Steven Furtick. He spoke about passion and how passionate people act in their lives, relating back to his life, fame, and career in football. It was awesome! Pastor Steven broke the ice with some entertaining interview questions and lightened the mood in the whole place. Steve Smith is so shy in person, it was unexpected!

Of course a before church selfie!

After church lunch at Panera, yum! Necessary food pic.



It turned out that Bridesmaids and The Help are both on T.V. tonight and I am loving every minute of it. This weekend has been one for the books and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day will be one for the schoolbooks (corny pun ends here). I hope everyone else had a great weekend, too!

From Break to Books

I'm about a week and a half back into school and I'm loving this semester so far! I have two 12:30 mornings (SLEEP, SCORE!) and two 9:30 mornings (not so much sleep) and no classes on Fridays! What a miracle. My Christmas break was wonderful. Who wouldn't want to be home for a month? I love being with my family and friends.

There were some awesome and not-so-awesome happenings during the delightful month of December. I received my first speeding ticket (yikes!) on the way home from college, I made the Chancellor's List at school, I was able to meet the precious new baby Riley Grace, I spent Christmas with my grandparents, brother, parents, family and friends, and New Year's with my best friends, and celebrated my daddy's 44th birthday! It was very eventful, if I do say so. Probably the best part was sleeping in something other than a twin sized dorm room bed...kidding, kind of. Time for a re-cap in pictures!

For starters, I met the brand new addition to the Parrish family, Riley Grace!

Christmas with the Cooke sisters!

Take two.

 Christmas Light show with my brother and parents!

The awesome three generation Christmas selfie with myself, Nana, and Mama!

Christmas family picture, I love them!

Sibling shot!

New Year's with the best!

Laughing as usual!

Celebrating Daddy's birthday!

The cutest picture of all. My parents sent me a selfie from an NCSU basketball game,

 one of dad's birthday gifts!

I have a beautiful four day weekend ahead of me, thank you Martin Luther King, Jr., A LOT of reading, and hopefully a basketball game Saturday night! 2014 will probably be one of the best years yet. It's going fantastically so far! Have a great and safe weekend!

Freshman Year, I'm halfway through with you!

My very first semester of college has come to a close. Wait, what? Really though, where have the last 4 months of my life gone? Probably to way too many Starbucks vanilla soy lattes, a bag of milky ways, one re-arranged dorm room, a TON of laundry loads, more-than-I-can-count trips to Target, a few trips to the mall, about four movies at the campus movie theater, endless amounts of One Tree Hill episodes on Netflix, letters from my mama, and of course some homework here and there. I can't believe I am moving into my second semester of college in just under a month. January 8th to be exact, my dad's 44th birthday!

I do have a few successes to report so far. I have not changed my major and do not plan to, something a lot of Freshmen can't say. I still like all of my roommates, three great girls who I am blessed to know. One awesomely successful semester of volunteering for an elementary school, which I'm going to miss doing every Friday morning. Five classes that I can say I passed with no worries about them! Really though, my schedule was great this semester. I probably just jinxed myself for saying that. And lastly, the support of my family through everything that has happened here so far.

A lot of people put the teaching profession down because of the extremely low pay, but I have not heard one negative thing from my family about it. All positives. Sure, the pay sucks, but looking at the negatives won't get you anywhere. We look at the bright side of things, something a lot of people don't know how to do. The pay isn't stupendous in North Carolina, so why not find somewhere that it's better? We can change the situation we're in if we're willing. We can choose to be happy. We can be great in any circumstance that we're put in, you just gotta do it. End of my little rant.

Another exciting thing that I get to do soon is GO HOME! Tomorrow to be exact. I love going home. I'm not going to lie. No shame. I love seeing my parents and brother. It's great this time of year because of Christmas! I love everything that my family does before Christmas comes. This year we get to go to a few light shows, we already put our tree up, but we get to enjoy that view, and family time! My parents are the greatest people I know and I just love to be around them. I also enjoy watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas about 107 times before Christmas, too. That movie never gets old.

Anyway, that was just to sum up what has been going on lately. Hopefully the 3 1/2 hour ride won't be too taxing tomorrow. Of course not! There's Christmas music on the radio! AHHH, I love it!

Back to Reality for a Bit

Thanksgiving break is over and I am currently sitting in the library back at school. Finals are this week and next week. I honestly don't have it tough this semester, but I probably just jinxed myself. My Education class has almost come to a close, we had our last day at the elementary school last week. That was so bittersweet. Those sweet babies will stay with me forever!

Thanksgiving was great! I was so happy to be home. I went Black Friday shopping with my parents and brother, that was a success! But, my favorite thing that we always do is put the Christmas tree up! We do it every year, the day after Thanksgiving. It's a tradition. We have a different theme every year. It's so fun to mix it up! This year it is beach themed. We put starfish and seashells all over it! The presents are wrapped in brown paper, tied in twine and blue ribbon, it looks so sandy! I love it!



There are about two weeks left in my first semester of college! It has gone by SO fast, I almost can't believe it. I swear I just moved in yesterday. I'll be so happy and relieved to go home for the holidays, though. I love my family. Here are some more pictures from break.

On the way to Myrtle Beach with my mama!

Saying goodbye to ML at Jumpin' Java, our favorite coffee hangout back home.

Seeing Catching Fire with a bunch of great friends!

Now, I should probably stop procrastinating and get back to actual school work. Those essays won't write themselves, unfortunately. Happy Holidays!



The Holiday's are Upon Us

I just got back to my dorm room from seeing a movie, Stuck In Love, with two of my roommates. I'm sitting at my desk, reflecting on this first semester of college as it slowly, but gradually comes to an end. I was lucky enough to not to have any exhausting mid-terms and that has been a stress-reliever. It is almost indescribable that I have nearly completed my first semester of college.

When you are little, you always dream of "one day," but that one day is now! Like, what is that? I'm having my "college experience" fold out right in front of me and I'm tackling it head on - sort of. I'm not as social as I would like to be and sometimes I feel like I'm held back, but I'm fending for myself in a way, this is what it's like to be an adult! Whoa.

I'm going to the Gravedigger's Ball this weekend. It's supposed to be a really awesome Halloween party uptown, so I'm excited for that. I plan to be a pirate. How "arrrrrrrignal," or cliché, which ever you prefer.

Speaking of holidays, I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving, it's sooner then we all think. Being away from family for the first "real" time has been an eye-opener. I can't wait to get home to my family. I'm looking forward to decorating, too. We always put up our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. We can't forget the Black Friday shopping, too! What about the Christmas music on the radio? It's a must. Speaking of Christmas music, I'm listening to the Mariah Carey Pandora station right now, hold the judgment.

This blog is all over the place today.

Here are a few things I recommend trying for the Thanksgiving-Christmas season (Compliments of Pinterest, ever girl's best friend):

The first thing is using brown craft paper as wrapping paper. You can save some mullah by grabbing this up at the dollar store and investing a little extra in some super cute bows! This is such a modern twist on a classic tradition.

 

 

The second is the quick and easy must do! Forget paying $40 or $50 dollars, how about $10 or $15?! You can buy all of the necessary materials at a local Hobby Lobby or Michael's craft store, the ornaments from Dollar Tree. This is such an awesome way to welcome the holiday into your home. All you really need is a little time, hot glue, and a big bow! Personalize it with your own initial and it is ready to hang.

 

 

Last, but definitely not least, this little number is for the Thanksgiving dinner table. How precious! If you are having a family get together, this is perfect for a little down-time while you're getting the food ready. When everyone is seated, you can go around the table saying what you listed, and it eliminates the awkward put-on-the-spot feeling we all get when we're asked those simple questions that make get us tongue tied. This can be created with plain printer paper, or the cute brown craft paper you're saving for Christmas wrapping!

 

 

P.S.

Don't forget to add your favorite holiday stations to your Pandora! They put a little happiness into your work day.

 

Happy Decorating!