is this bad?

time for another linkup!
this time with the super cute taylor grace over at the daily tay.
i prefer the funnies. and this girl has me crackin up on the reg!

is this bad:
that i just checked under my bed and in my closets at LEAST 3 times before crawling into bed tonight? yes, i'm still scared of the boogey-man.

is this bad:
that i just bought my most recent jeep in november and i'm already making plans to sell it?

is this bad:
that i still think the scariest movie. OF. ALL. TIME. is "willy wonka and the chocolate factory"? for real- the new and old versions scare me senseless.

is this bad:
to almost delete your facebook on a daily basis because everyone around you is getting married,
having babies, or causing drama?

is it bad:
that i could care less about my week ahead and am solely thinking about my weekend coming up?

is it bad:
that i have a problem with wearing an outfit i already have pictures in? i seriously feel like i have to go shopping right before any new occasion. sorry bank account.

goodbye monday.
j.

recap.

sheesh- what a weekend!!

i absolutely LOVE my sorority sisters.

but i was again reminded that i am NOT in college anymore.

i seriously have laid on the couch most of the day today trying to recover.

i did somehow make it to the grocery store... but hungover grocery shopping should be illegal.

i somehow came home with pickled beets. i hate pickled beets.

anywho...

i cannot even begin to express how much fun i had seeing my sisters this weekend.

it's amazing how we can go months, or even years, without seeing one another 

and once we do it's like no time has passed at all. 

we pick up right where we left off, every time.

saturday was our big day.

we had a meet and greet/open house at the DZ house on campus at noon, then carried our happy butts to our old mexican stomping grounds- el pac for lunch and drinks. 

somehow we managed to make it back to the house to get ready and get to the banquet by 6. ok so maybe we were a little late. whatevs.

afterwards we just HAD to go to omalleys. 

we spent countless nights shutting that place down when we were still in school so it's kind of a given that we have to end up there when we're all back in town.

and we may or may not have taken over the band's station to plug in my phone and play "dixieland delight"... i mean what band doesn't know the best alabama song ever made??

as DZs we kind of changed the words to say "with my DZ girls tonight" instead of dixieland delight. nbd.

as usual, yours truly tried to snap as many pictures as possible. 

here are just a few from saturday- and yes i did have 3 different outfits on in one day.

missing them all already.

j.

50th.

excuse me while i scream with excitement over my saturday night...
wwweeeeeeeeeeeee!!!
(i hope you imagined the geico pig, because i did)

this weekend i've travelled my happy butt back to my alma mater and celebrating my sorority's
50th year on the campus of western carolina university!!
woo hoo!!
we usually all get together in october for homecoming, but this is different.
this is all about us.
not only do i get to see all of my favorite sisters, my trainwreck family, and my best friends. i also get to meet 50 years of delta zeta alumna that are travelling hundreds of miles to celebrate together.
this is big people.

i've never really blogged about my love for delta zeta, mainly because there is no way to put it into words. but i seriously don't think i would have made it through college without those girls.

i'm not gonna even try and get all sappy on here.
i'm actually gonna go pretend that i'm back in college now.
don't worry- 5 hour energys and excedrin were the first to be packed.


xoxo.
j.

friday's letters.

my first link-up! wooo! moving on up blogging world!
this one comes from the lovely ashley over at Adventures of Newlyweds



dear gym:
thank you. thank you for kicking my butt 5 days in a row this week. i may hate you now,
but i can see myself falling more and more in love with you.

dear hunger games:
yep, officially obsessed with you now. just finished your second book- moving on to # 3 as soon as i can.

dear pay day friday:
you're awesome. and thank you for my t-shirt and jeans at work today. it was much appreciated.

dear pinot noir:
get off my counter and into my wine glass, now. mmmk?

dear cullowhee:

it's delta zeta's 50th anniversary at wcu this weekend.

sorry we're not sorry.

until next time lovers.

j.

i need to vent.

... about honesty.
why in the world is it so hard for people in this world to be honest???
just. plain. honest.
we would have less drama, less trust issues, and better relationships all around.
i mean seriously. think about it friends.
if you are honest- then you have nothing to hide and nothing to put dents in your relationships. whether these relationships are with your friends, your lover, your family, etc. they can all be damaged if you aren't honest and up front about things.

especially if you come from a small town.
everyone knows everything in a small town- i swear it's like protocol to know everything.
and if you ever try to hide something from someone... you're in for it.
because if you don't own up to whatever it is you have been hiding and tell the person that needs to know the most- someone else will.
never underestimate that.

think about it though.
if you are honest about everything in your life, what problems could you possibly have? the people that mean the most to you will know everything there is to know about you. and any time doubts or rumors arise- you won't have a problem not believing that person.
you will address the situation and move the hell on.

if you are honest about things. even if it is the worst thing in the WORLD... telling the truth instead of lying about it and hiding it from that person will only better your relationship.
you're only saving yourself and your loved ones from being hurt in the long run.
it's better to deal with the hurt and the pain now, cherishing the honesty of your friend/boyfriend/relative,
and then move on.
than it is to find out months from now that you had been lied to from the beginning and it turn out that whatever it was, was actually true.
think about it.

and because it's so true...

be honest, that's all i ask.
j.

uh, no.

so with my job (social worker at DSS for those of you who didn't know)
we have constant, and i'm talkin' constant, trainings.
in true fashion- we had one today at the waynesville police department
on some awesome new adaptive devices for those clients we serve
that may be hard of hearing or losing their eye-sight.

i promise this is no boring post- it gets pretty dang funny in a minute...

one of the devices we were trained on was called the "ubi-duo"
(yes, pronounced oobi- do- o) and pictured below:

even though it sort of reminds me of battle-ship, it's not.

actually what you do is log in and simply start typing to the person in front of you.
the two devices come as a pair and they are already linked up together so you can seriously have a full blown typing conversation with someone that is deaf or hard of hearing.
pretty sweet- right?
so of course we were prompted to test these babies out and start talking to the person in front of us.
i just so happened to be stationed right in front of an older man, we will call him Ed.
i don't know Ed. never seen him before in my life...
but he seemed to be in his late 40s- early 50s, and wore a wedding ring.

so Ed starts out our little test conversation.
it went something like this...
Ed- "wow these things are really neat!"
j- "yeah they are, they're really going to come in handy for our clients"
Ed- "i see we're both wearing purple today"
j- "... uh, yeah looks like we are"
(ok- a little odd)
Ed- "representing ol' WCU"
j- "yeah, i went there- it happens sometimes"
Ed- "oh i did too, what a coincidence"
j- "good school"
Ed- "let me guess- you majored in criminal justice?"
(the prorgram admins had us introduce ourselves and state where we work...
i obviously said i was a social worker with DSS)
j- "nope, social work actually"
Ed- "oh, darn, i was hoping you would be carrying some handcuffs ;)"
j- "uh, no."

that's when i decided i desperately needed coffee and had to get up and leave.
i mean, are. you. kidding. meee?!?
i think i just attract dirty old married men.
he then tried inviting himself to lunch with our group while i was getting coffee...
thank the good Lord above they caught the creepy vibe as well and made up some excuse.

yuck.
happy hump day friends.
j.

the post it note.

did you guys know that i used to drive a post it note?
i mean really, a pale yellow, post it note colored, PT CRUISER.
quite possibly the ugliest car ever made... and i drove it in yellow.
it actually looked identical to this bad boy rightcheer...
(add a sunroof though)

want to know what makes this whole thing even worse...
i picked the darn thing out.
and loved it... all for about a year.
i actually sold my mitsubishi lancer (my first car) to get a jeep
and somehow ended up leaving the car dealership with this thing.
talk about an impulse buy of the worst kind.
i think it was the matching yellow interior that initially sold me.

either way, i owned it.
my friend jeff has this hilarious obsession with pt cruisers
and he always says that hoodrat things happen in them (funny i know)...
since he never saw my post it note in person, when i told him about my former car a few months ago-
he initially thought i owned something like this...

haha. not so much, bud.
but it definitely looks like a hoodrat mobile.
have you ever driven something you can't help but laugh at now?
oh and i finally got the jeep i originally went to buy that day.
i'll leave you with this, just because it's HILARIOUS,
and makes me wish i had this license plate on my old post it note.

no bull peeps.
j.

today.

does anyone else have a problem with living in the moment?

i like knowing what someone is thinking or feeling, what the next step is, and what my future holds. it's so hard to just stop analyzing everything about your life and live for today. i've realized though, 

that this is so unhealthy for my life and what i'm searching for.

i may not know who i'm going to marry, if i'll stay with my current job, where i'll settle down, if i'll have kids, etc. i have ideas of what i want... but i know i'm not the one with control over this. the big man upstairs is.

i'm seriously going to work on this and i hope you do too.

i feel that i could get a lot more joy out of this life if i just left it all to God.

 thank you pinterest for your ever-inspiring quotes.

 j.

wine.

i love wine. i really do.
and yesterday, as in saturday, we had a wine tasting at jenn's mom's house.
it. was. a. blast.
pretty sure our moms out drank us though.
these are a few of the beautiful ladies there (including yours truly).

what you do...
bring yourself, an appetizer, and a bottle of wine of your choice.
i brought a pinot noir. one of my faves.
then everyone puts their wine in a brown bag and ties the top with a ribbon, marking on the bag whether your wine is a white, a red, or a zinfandel.
deb, our host and jennifer's mom, then went through and wrote a number on each bottle.
we had 16 bottles total.
once that is done you start tasting! we each had a piece of paper with us to rate the bottle on a scale of 1-3,
3 meaning you really love it.
once everyone is done tasting and has a glass of their favorite in hand, you pick your winners!
these ladies won 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place with their wines ranking the highest.

jennifer and i were last and 2nd to last. haha. we swear it's because they didn't know good red wine!
once everyone has a good wine buzz going and is munching on the great food,
you do the wobble and the cupid shuffle... apparently.

now everyone needs to go and have their own wine tasting party. and invite me.
kthanksloveyoubye.
j.

lovin'.

just a few fantastic things yours truly is lovinnn' right now...
other than my incredible family, friends, and life in general. 

these frames. i'm seriously considering these for my new glasses. seck-say, right?

 blazers, blazers, blazers! fun, classy, stylish, & can be worn with in so many ways!

that wedding season is in full swing! and these have got to be THE cutest invitations for my dear friend stephanie and phillip's wedding. the picture doesn't do it justice- but someone's been on pinterest!

this song- makes me wanna dance.

that this movie comes out. tonight. hollaaaa zac efron- you're hott. and the book was the bomb. dot. com.
so yeah, i'm gonna have to see it.

whatchu lovin on right now?
have a happy friday!
j.

wedding via pictures

i figured i would keep the writing to a minimum this time
and let you see the beauty and fun for yourselves!
here are just a few of the pictures from the wedding weekend...
there are many more that may pop up in later posts, but these are some current faves :)
the wedding (the second go around) was held at the bloemsma farm in franklin, nc.
the day, the venue, the colors, the dresses,
the bride, & the groom could not have been more perfect.
see for yourself...

love.

j.

wedding part 1

whew! what. a. weekend!
my best friend is no longer stephanie crane. she is now stephanie bowles. and it's legit this time.
words cannot express how happy i am for steph and shawn.
they deserve all of the happiness in the world!!
these days true love is hard to come by... but i can assure you that these two people have found it and they have found it in each other.

one thing was missing from this weekend though, and that was cindy crane- stephanie's incredible mother.
cindy passed away last fall after years of battling cancer. she was the definition of a fighter.
every girl dreams of the day she will get married, and those dreams always involve both parents being there, but that isn't always how it works out.
stephanie and shawn were able to plan it out though to where they held a small ceremony in a neighbor's front yard where steph's mom could watch her get married. my dad just so happens to be a pastor and very willingly married the two of them back in september. they did not sign any official papers,
but under God they were already married.
they held off on the big ceremony and reception until this spring. steph always wanted a spring wedding and she wanted time to grieve over the loss of her mother- even though that is something you never truly accept.
so april 14th, 2012 they were married for a second time and let me tell you- it could not have been a more beautiful or more perfect wedding!!
here are pictures from the first wedding held for steph's mother.

stay tuned tomorrow for more pictures of the second go around :)
not every girl gets to marry the same man twice- am i right?!
xoxo.
j.