Welcome to The Bungalow!

 Living at my house on the lake has been one of my favorite things I've done during my time at Clemson. I spend most of my time studying, but when I'm not studying I get to play with these sweet things! Throughout the course of this semester, we decided that we really ought to have our own reality TV show. If we did, these would be our characters. Meet the ladies of the Bungalow (in order of appearance):

Samantha: The Groupie
Samantha has a refined taste in music, but if I had to guess her favorite band, I would have say The Jerry Jacobs Band. I'm pretty sure she's got a thing for the lead singer...

Emmy: The Overachiever
Emmy is the queen of campus involvement. In the words of our Golden Child, "She bleeds orange." She knows all the ins and outs of food science, and all of the Bungalow girls are proud of her accomplishments (and her stellar GPA!).

Blair: The Gentle Old Soul
Blair is the epitome of gentleness. She keeps us sane and grounded. Although she's leaving us in December to enter the big-girl-world, we love her dearly and will miss her next semester.

Katlyn: The Stepford Wife
My other roommates have told me that she is 'The Stepford Wife' because she is a stunna and she makes a mean chicken casserole with bread on top (I can attest to that). I've never seen the movie, but I do know Kat, and she is beautiful!

Jenn: The Fiancee
Our sweet roommate Jenn was just proposed to on Sunday evening, and guess what? She said yes! (See photo) Jenn is going to make a beautiful bride, and we can't wait to see her walk down the aisle in May!

Chelsey: The Golden Child
Chelsey always has a little word of encouragement tucked in her back pocket, ready to pick you up when you're feeling down. She is sure to brighten up anyone's cloudy day. 

Kiley: The Comedic Relief
There's no doubt about it, Kiley is definitely the funny one. She loves a good laugh (and she loves a good prank even more). Whether it involves roaches, bodily gasses, backing into cars, or awkward moments, Kiley is sure to have you in a fit of laughter. 

Emily: The Diva
Finally, me. Some of you probably have heard that I tend to have diva tendencies every once in a while... Okay, maybe more like every day. Oh, well. 

We get to add one more Bungalow girl into the mix next semester, and her name is Emily, too! We'll have to wait until then to see what her character on the show would be.  Sidebar: apparently none of my roommates knew that I even had a blog, so hopefully they like their shout-outs!

 

  

 

Back in the Saddle Again

I'm Baaa-aaaack!

Hi, sweet friends! I'm back in Clemson, and I survived sorority recruitment for the third time! I've made it through two weeks of classes, and I finally have a chance to breathe!

This year I've moved to a house on the lake! Lake Hartwell to be exact. With 7 other girls! I'm sharing a room with this diva, and it's like a sleepover every night!

I am loving senior year so far! I get the prime football tickets this year, I get to shake President Barker's hand as he presents me with my class ring, and I get a grand-little in my sorority. I have a feeling that this year will be full of surprises and I can't wait to experience them! I'll keep ya posted!

[Extra]Ordinary

Hi, folks! Here's a quick (or maybe not-so-quick) little blurb about my day!

7:00-- Woke up and got ready for the day (white and navy polka dot tank, denim shorts, and navy keds)
8:00-10:00-- Babysat two of my favorite angels!

10:30-2:00-- Hung out with Stacey, Taiter, and Stephen (running errands for MOVE tonight and eating lunch at Pita Pit, which was delicious!)
2:30-3:20-- Organized the pantry (sounds lame, but I love organization!)
3:35-4:15-- Played singles tennis with my Momma
4:30-4:45-- Visited the downtown farmers' market with Daddy (lots of great and local goods!)

(I love cukes!)








 (And tomatoes!!)












A fun drink called "Louisiana Lemonade" consisting of lemon, lime, peach, pineapple, and strawberries!







(And Daddy drinking it!)

5:00-8:30-- MOVE at FPC with 40 of my closest middle and high school friends!




9:45- present-- Watched The Office (which is becoming one of my favorite nightly rituals! I <3 Dwight Schrute)
Finally-- Beginning my 15 day John Piper Bible study (super excited about that!) 

God has given me so many reasons to be thankful and so many reminders of His love for me and others throughout this day.  I am SO looking forward to tomorrow... stay tuned, it'll be a good one!

Jackson Family Beach Week

Our first full week at the beach consisted of rain, rain, rain for the first three days.  During the rain, we saw "White House Down" (so great! I recommend it), made cakes, hung out with our extended family (it was my mom's family reunion, and she has 47 first cousins), and read. I finished The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom, then read Inferno by Dan Brown and The Activist by John Grisham. 

The sun finally peeped through for the first time on Wednesday, allowing us to spend a couple of hours on the beach. It shined through for the rest of the week, and guess what? I didn't get burned! Not-a-once. Needless to say, I'm very proud of myself (props to Dad for lathering me up with 50 SPF). We putt-putted, walked up and down the beach, and watched Wimbledon (watching TV is indoors, I know, but I had to watch Djokovic beat Del Potro!!). It was a very successful week in Garden City. I can't wait for week #2!

Here are some photos of my fun week at the beach!

(This is what the weather looked like for the first half of the week. Not fun. Yuck.)

(Baked two cakes and a batch of cupcakes all in my new white denim shorts!)

(And Tyler helped lick the bowl that was not yet empty.)

(We ate at my favorite all-you-can-eat crab-leg restaurant on our final night in GCB.)

Joy, Joy, Joy

According to Merriam-Webster, joy is a noun meaning a state of happiness or felicity/ a source or cause of delight. But, if you asked me about the joy I found in this day, I would tell you something slightly different.  

Joy is a fresh can of Valspar paint (and getting to splatter it all over some walls).

Joy is giggling and being silly with old friends.   

Joy is being asked to join the First Pres high schoolers as a leader at Fun in the Son. (Yes, my heart is still jumping around in my chest from excitement!)

Joy is a hand-delivered Turkey Tom from Jimmy John's (and if you can't tell by now, I love a good turkey sandwich). 














Joy is spending time with my Momma, even if it was in the waiting room of a doctor's office (shots stink no matter how old you are).

Joy is playing tennis until my sweat was sweating. 

Joy is this pup right here. If this doesn't melt your heart, you need to rethink your life. 

I found a lot of joy in this day. I also found a lot of things that could take the joy out of a day like today.

Joy is not:
-waiting for 2 hours to get a very painful shot
-slamming my finger in the door (you better believe I cried like the 4-year-old that's trapped inside of me) 
-missing my little brother while he's gone (for 17 days!!)
-my MacBook Pro not reading my memory card, disabling me from uploading pictures from my camera

Even with those stinky, no good, yucky excuses to label today as "a bad day", my God let me in on a not-so-secret secret: you have to choose joy. Choose to see the blessings in today instead of the cruddy parts. Choose to apply the knowledge of the gospel (that Christ's love prevailed... he won for us!); choose God over flesh. When you feel like you are in the pit, or down in the dirty clay, remember that God WILL pull you out. Find joy in that. Find the joy in each part of your day. Choose joy.

Just Another Day in the Life...

Today.

Today was non-stop. As soon as I woke up, I started cleaning my room. I did a load of delicates and laid them out to dry.  I had just finished organizing our "junk drawer" (while watching Novak Djokovic aka my celebrity crush aka the #1 male tennis player in the world destroy his opponent in three straight sets at Wimbledon) when my mom called me and asked me to meet her at her office. I quickly got ready for my day (Nike work-out pants, a sorority t-shirt, tennis shoes, and a pony tail).

When I got there, we decided to go to lunch. We ended up at the New York Butcher Shoppe. I think the sandwich-dudes there know my order by heart: Queens sandwich on honey wheat bread. This sandwich is my go-to.


 Afterwards, we went to McLeod together and worked out, went by Target for some new home accents, and came home! Shortly after, Jesslyn came over and we went shopping for dinner supplies!

Tonight we had our high school girls small group, which consisted of me, eight crazy-awesome high school girls, and 16 bird-dogs (if you know, you know). We dug into Hebrews 4 and then some Orange Leaf fro-yo. Too sweet (the fellowship and the yogurt).

Thankful that my God let me spend sweet time with my Momma and the P3 girls.
Blessed doesn't even begin to describe it. 

Hey, Girl.

Hello.

Bonjour. 
Hola. 
Hallo. 
Guten Tag. 
Aloha. 
Ciao. 
Konnichiwa.

Ta-Da! This girl just got a blog. After spending a couple of hours (yes, hours) trying to figure out how to put this bad boy together, I am finally writing my first post. I'm calling this an introductory post to preface all of my future posts. Here is my vision for this blog: fashion, food, faith, friends, family, and fun.  I'll (hopefully) be posting about my day-to-day life, things I find interesting, things that are on my mind, etc.  I've been wanting to create a blog for a while now, so here it is!

If you want to learn more about me, here my other media output methods:
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