Bachelorette Bash

I've come out of blog break for an update of this past weekend! But don't be upset if this is it for another week or two...Just being honest!

This past weekend, I got to celebrate Kathleen and her very soon wedding with a lingerie shower and Bachelorette party! Most B parties I've been to have been more on the tame side, and though there were no male strippers (thank goodness!) or anything too crazy, this one was the most typical "what you would expect" kind of Bachelorette party and I loved it! It was so fun to get dressed up with friends from the sorority and other friends and family that mean so much to Kackles and just have fun! Only a few of the pictures have been deemed internet worthy though...so here's a snapshot of the night :)

It was such a fun night out and I cannot wait for more wedding festivities for Kathleen and Avery!

Also, can I just say how impressed I am with Kathleen for embracing the "bride to be" get up? I loved it! But hey, I mean, you only get to do it once so go big or go home! Props to my roomie :)

Sorry I'm Not Sorry

I've been a bad, bad blogger lately...and your know what? I'm not sorry! I have been busy with school, spending quality time with family and lots of friends, and getting healthy (aka trying to run/walk more). We've had beautiful weather lately and I'm not going sit in front of a computer more than necessary, which is already a decent amount for school....

The semester is ending (seriously, I only have 4 classes total left to attend before turning in my final papers and projects are due!) and I will have the whole month of May off from school! Woohoo!!

Okay, well...that's as much of a blog post as you'll get for now, but just know that I'm living my life and I'll get around to a real post one of these days!

A Day in the Life...

...of an unemployed, living at home grad student. Although my plate doesn't sound very full, I feel like there's alway something for me to do! Mondays and Tuesdays look pretty much the same so here's a general run down of the first 2 days of the week.

I usually wake up around 8:30, unless Charlotte comes in to wake me up earlier. After breakfast, I check up on all of the important things--like Twitter, Facebook, Gmail, blogs, Draw Something, etc. Usually I watch the shows that I missed from the night before while I'm doing all of this "important stuff". As of late, I've been trying to fit in a walk after that too. Then I'll read or review the readings I have for the class that night and that takes up a decent amount of time.  But Charlotte can slow down any process though because she wants to play or help or steal my computer from me. :)

Evidence that a toddler has been "helping" me study

Then I shower, get ready, eat lunch with Katie and Charlotte while my hair dries, and finish getting presentable. I'll print off whatever I need for class that night and double check whatever I need to have ready. I don't have a "usual" after that but somehow it gets filled up and quickly without fail.

By 3:30, I start to get ready for class: get a diet coke and piece of fruit for the ride to class, a Tervis Tumbler of water and a snack for class, and make a sandwich or pasta to eat on the way home. Keep in mind I'm gone from 3:45 until 9:15ish hence the excessive amount of food and drink. Every trip to class is a small road trip. I pack up my bag and hit the road. The hour drive each way to and from class is great for time to just me and catching up with friends on the phone. By the time I get home, with 2 hours of driving and 2 and a half hours of class under my belt, I'm pretty brain dead. I watch whatever my mom is watching (I have absolutely no vote if one of my mom's show is on and Katie and Lee get the bonus room...) and catch up with her before going to bed around 11:00 or 11:30 for some quiet time and do some reading for fun.

Well, those are my class days in a nutshell. Wednesday through Friday looks very different, but that's another blog post for another day!

Grad School Spring Break Part Dos

The second half of my spring break was equally as wonderful, restful, and filled with time with friends as the first half! Late Wednesday night, Katy overcame the fight with her GPS and made it to Marietta in one piece. We stayed up late talking because I haven't seen her face to face since this:

that's right, my 24th birthday celebration. In other words--WAY WAY too long! I was so glad to hug her neck and catch up without having to schedule phone dates/playing phone tag and leaving forever long voicemails.

Thursday: We slept in, and were begged by some little redhead to play Mario Kart and Just Dance to entertain the kiddo. Eventually Charlotte lost interest, but Katy and I did not so our dance off continued for quite some time. We realized how late in the day it was...by the time we got ready, we didn't each lunch until 3:00! Oops? I dropped off K. Fish at the airport so she could make it to her friend's wedding and I headed over to Kirby's and Daniel's for the night. It was so great to have almost a whole day with my best friend--even though we forgot to document our visit, she did make a little collage of past adventures :)

Friday: Kirby and I spent some time together, but most of the day was spent with my little French Fry (we're trying out new nicknames, this one seems to be sticking) and helping Kirby clean the house. I am so glad to be able to help Kirby out while she seems to constantly be going to doctor's appointments and spend time with her cutie little kid! It helps that the kid is pretty stinking adorable.

Friday night was another reunion with a long lost best friend!! Kasey was in town for a dental conference and the last night I saw her was December 2010 at the Garth Brooks concert!!

That is just crazy, which made seeing her even more sweet. And only because I love her, I faked being a Cats fan so I could fit in with the rest of the Kentucky girls while we cheered them on against IU. She was staying at the Westin Downtown and Hooters was a short walk away....so Hooters it was. Hilarious. And so fun.

Saturday: Mostly an uneventful morning, but relaxing. Alexa came over in the late afternoon so we could have some friendship time, so naturally we watched guard videos. We went over to Bonnie's so we could get ready for Mary, Bracca, Beza, and Bro's Miami birthday party. Although the Miami theme was left up for interpretation, I think mine turned out a bit more Hawaii meets Vegas rather than Miami, but I embraced it. I've missed the chance to dress up for parties since socials are a thing of the past...The party was awesome and so so fun. Two Saturdays in a rows with some of my favorites: I can't complain!

Sunday: Picked up Katy from the airport and made perfect timing to see the Hunger Games! It was great, but like always...the book is better. They did a pretty good job of sticking to the books and it was neat to see the books acted out, but books will always, always be better. Katy had to turned around pretty quick to get stuff done before her week of rotations, but it worked out well because I had to head back to Bonster's because I'd left my license at her apartment. Whoopsies! Don't worry, I have it now.

And that was my spring break in a nutshell. Wonderful, filled with lots of friendships and time with family and seeing long lost friends! So so wonderful.

Grad School Spring Break So Far

I've never been one to have a "crazy" Spring Break. High school spring break meant early morning practices in gyms and traveling on Greyhound buses to Winter Guard shows. College SB, well 3/4 of them were missions trips (that I loved). Last year, I got to go on a "Spring Break" of sorts with Young Life. But this year, I'm kicking it at home and loving it. It's just been so so great to not deal with constant pressures of school work or even just not having to go to class on Monday and Tuesday night! Here's a run down of my break so far though :)

Friday: Family dinner, the usual.

Saturday: Lunch with Bonnie and Shahrukh. Playing with Felicity/dressing Katie for Lee's Festival concert. Dinner at Fellini's with friends to celebrate Alexa and Andy's birthdays. Delish. And wonderful to sit outside. Surprise celebration at Abbey Road with Mary's family for St. Patti's Day. Lovely.

 Sunday: Church. Lunch #1 with Clelands. Lunch #2 with Mardis/Newman family. Shopping with mom and Katie. Nap. Sunday night TV.

Monday: I finally got to see Annie! We got Starbucks (sat outside), enjoyed day drinks and snacks (outside) and spent time catching up. Oh yeah, and we totally meandered through Pope for absolutely no reason. So random. Monday night was "calm Bonnie down from her crazy stressful day" dinner.

Tuesday: Walk with Annie at the Hooch. Hair cut. Goodwill clothes hunting for Mary's Miami Bash. Almost drive to Atlanta to search for Kirby's dog, Sully. Turn around (false alarm). Take Charlotte on a Aunt Kristin/Charlotte date while her parents went on a real date. We went to McDonald's, split an ice cream cone, and looked at the kittens and birds at Petsmart. Only Best date I've been on all year :)

Wednesday: Errands, errands, and more errands. Kirby and Felicity came over to visit for the day. Dinner at Moe's with F, Burger, and Gigi. Now, I'm just hanging out waiting for KATY FISHER TO COME IN TOWN!!!!!! It's been over a year and a half since I've seen her and I cannot wait!!! More on the visit later :)

Mardis-isms

If you have ever been around a Mardis girl, you've probably raised your eyebrow and wondered "What in the world is she saying??" But really, it's like my sisters and I have our own secret language. Here's the run down:

What I call Kirby: Burger, Burg

What Kirby calls me: Burger, Burg, Toph (at times I refer to myself as Tofu Burger...on a rare occassion)

What I call Katie: Dearie

What Katie calls me: Girl

What Kirby calls Katie: Dearie

What Katie calls Kirby: Dearie

We know what the other sister calls each other so it all makes sense to us. The only time I actually use their names is when I'm talking about them to people outside of the family and sometimes to help my confused parents :)

Another little key that might help is explaining our Mardis-ian version of German. Some background: Katie was learning how to speak German when she was in high school and would practice on us/teach us and it kind of just stuck.

 Ich liebe dich (sounds like ick lee-bay dish): I love you

Vas bist du doing? (sounds like it's spelled! :) : What are you doing?

Du bist gut? (Doo bist goot): Are you good?
Sehr gut (sare goot): Very good!

Dunke bit (Dun-kha bit): Thank you

Bitte (bit-teh): You're welcome

I'm sure there are more...but I can't think of much else! I love that my sisters and I share something special that is just ours to have, even if we get weird looks from friends and strangers alike when they hear us talk! Admittedly, I am the worst when I am talking to Kirby and probably say "Burger" every other word. It just comes out so naturally when I'm talking to her and I don't even care what people say or think! It works for us :) I love having sisters. End of story.

Do you have any special family bonds that you and your siblings share?

Ten Years Later

It's amazing how much and how little can change in ten years. A decade ago, I was in the midst of my first winter guard season with 16 other girls. Yes, this is the same show I posted bragged about a few weeks ago and could continue to gush about for some time...which is exactly what I'm going to do.

This past Saturday was the Art of Youth Show that Pope puts on every year and Alexa, being nearly as sentimental as I am, decided it would be fun to do a 10 year Serenade Reunion. Although a few other girls are spread out here and there across the country, a surprising amount of us still live in or near Atlanta. Ten out of the 17 girls from that season came--not to mention 3 sets of parents that joined us too! We critiqued watched the other guards that performed and stayed until the end to see our alma mater perform (they looked beautiful btdubs...loved their show!)

Afterwards, we stayed around to take pictures in our two favorite places--the gym and the band room! ha! But seriously, it felt weird to be back at our old stomping ground sans spandex and sock buns.

Just like old times...no body knew which camera to look at. Typical.

This was right before we broke out some of the old show moves. Seriously though.  That's muscle memory at it's best!

Pope Girls Now and Then! :)

Afterwards, the group of us went to Marlow's Tavern so we could catch up. I think I laughed the whole time I was there!! Shout out to Marlow's for not kicking us out...even though we were there until 1:30 AM and were the last customers to leave. The time went by so quickly and that night has easily been the highlight of my semester thus far. It was so so wonderful to hear what everyone else is doing, and has been doing since 2002. The best part of it all was to see how little had changed once we were all together and to realize that we all share something so strong that no one else shares with us.

PS-It was so funny to reminisce over some of the details that I forgotten (maybe blocked out?) about that season that seemed too ridiculous not to laugh at now. Those who have ever heard a few Adam-isms understands :)