{Roommates; A blog Series - Part 2:3} Ashlyn

Ashlyn was the only one that I didn't know out of high school. She also played softball with Amanda. We met during a fire drill, as I told you already. Our freshman year, she lived with someone else.. but she was still always in our room and hanging out with us.
 When we started trying to decide who we wanted to live with the upcoming year, we all unanimously voted for Ashlyn. She handily won mostly because she came with a big screen tv. We were very honest with her about that.

Ashlyn's best feature is her ability to go with the flow. No matter how drastically our plans changed (unless they were pushed up and she was not dressed yet),  she was already fine and ready to hop on board the fun train whenever it go around to leaving the station. She was always extremely flexible and was always happy doing whatever as long as everyone else was happy.

Ashlyn and I got close our freshman year after she had shoulder surgery. I would go down to her room every morning to help her get ready for class. After she was ready (or sometimes before) we would would have what would fondly be known as our early morning dance parties.
Ashlyn also shared my love for concerts and live music. These are some of my fondest memories with her.. just us dancing like we didn't care, and then catching up on the day to day life.

Thanks to Ashlyn I got to know the local hospital well. First one of her friends almost died in our room, specially my room. We had the entire dorm in havoc due to an ambulance later driving up and emts rushing the building. That night ended around 4 am after an ambulance ride and a long stent in an ER waiting for news and the person's parents to arrive. Looking back on it, it was hilarious how freaked out and clueless we were at the time. Another one of her close friends has a panic attack in the middle of the night and called us as if she were also dying. The tone in her friend's voice was of straight fear when she called, and we instantly ran across campus without a thought. So instant, in fact, that we forgot keys, ids, and shoes. We also failed to notice that the sprinklers were on when we started running straight trough them. A few weeks later, I rushed Ashlyn to the ER in the middle of the night because she thought her ear drum had ruptured. We got blue lighted by a cop on the way and I swore we were going to be in a high speed chase if he came after me.

Ashlyn's parents were the masterminds behind all of our trips. Her dad got us great plane tickets, her mom always served as chaperon and trip planner. They always got us in on the best trips--hilton head weekends, Las Vegas, Mall of America (which I sadly missed out on), The Bahamas. Not to mention, her dad would always take the best pictures.. hence why we have all of the ones we had.

{Roommates; A blog Series - Part 2:2} Megan

Though I knew Megan going into college, we were not close at all. I liked her, we just never really spent a lot of time together. Little did I know I would soon be glued to her..
When everyone else had practice, she and I were left back to entertain ourselves, and that's how we quickly became so close. I was able to go to her for anything.. advice, encouragement, to rant, to share. She and I shared some of the same pet peeves, so we were always in agreement on so many things.

Megan was probably the easiest person to live with ever. She was always very considerate of everyone in the group and never wanted to leave anyone out, even if it meant totally replanning things from scratch in order to best fit in everyone. She was always happy, even when she was in bad moods, she was able to ignore what was bothering her in order to not bring anyone else down with her.

My favorite thing about Megan, she was always willing to go along with one of my crazy adventures. always. That was probably because she never liked to let anyone down. If you ask her about the first adventure we ever went on, she'll tell you I got the car up on 2 wheels. Which FYI is totally false. She likes to really exaggerate that story.

She also loves to laugh.. A LOT! at everything. Especially Vicki Gunvalson getting hit in the head with a football on Real Housewives. If I could find a gif of that, I would have so shared it. (Please pause, because if she's reading this she'll need a moment to collect her laughter to catch up) Obviously, that always made me feel good about myself, because she laughed at even my most horrible jokes.

Megan kept us up to date on the latest celebrity gossip and on all of the tv shows we needed to watch every night. I would ask her pretty much everyday, "what show comes on tonight?" She got tired of that, because I asked her everyday for every week. Heck, I still have to text to ask her a lot..

The hardest part of living with Megan, was the first couple of weeks where we had to adjust to two people in the same apartment with the same name. After a while, it became second nature. We somehow were able to learn to tell who was talking to whom based on what they said, who was talking.. people could never figure out how the other knew to ignore when it wasn't meant for them. It was easier than they thought.


I already told you about the time that she and I were on cash cab.. Good times. No other stories shine a light in comparison.

Another one of my fondest memories of Megan was when we stalked Amanda--black attire, war paint, and all. Amanda was meeting up with one of her ex's to have the "let's get back together while we're home for summer" talk. Megan and I were on team ex-boyfriend like bugs on a windshield. We were a little excited and hopeful that they'd come to the mutual agreement to get back together. So hopeful, in fact, that we staked out waiting for an answer. We found a hill overlooking the place they had decided to meet up, and waited.. for hours.We decided we wanted to get closer to the action, so we slowly snuck down to the parking lot they were in. Slowly.. up until the point where I tripped and tumbled all the way down the hill. Cover blown. They saw/heard everything and enjoyed a good laugh. We even made a video montage of our whole expedition. Side note: they got back together, for about 2 months. Amanda broke it off once we went back to school and she met Tyler. Now they're married.. so I guess it was a good thing that our expedition was only half in vain.

{Roommates; A blog Series - Part 2:1} Amanda

People always asked us how we remained such good friends while living together. Ashlyn's mom put it best when she says that each of us have our niche in the group and neither is too much like the other. We are able to pick up the slack where others lack, and because we are so different we rarely (though it happened) butted heads.

Amanda 

My mom and Amanda's dad grew up together. My grandma actually babysitted her for a few months before I was born. We attended sunday school together and then elementary school. She used to make fun of me because I was a weird child. She apologizes for it now, but I think I deserved it--I still am was a little weird. I knew her best going into our living situation together, as we have had classes together every single year. She is a brianiac and a perfectionist, so it was only fitting that she was our class valedictorian.

Amanda and I were the best at getting things done. We were both vocal about our thoughts and opinions, which meant we rarely held bad feelings towards the other for long. We'd both just call a sister out about what was up and that was that. Sometimes it was a little more headed and to the point than others. Other times, we'd find ourselves having a "training session" where we'd end up talking about things we could do better or had done wrong. I absolutely loved that we were able to be very blunt with each other, and help each other grow into the best version of herself.

After college, she got a job teaching first grade about 30 minutes from my apartment right next to the high school that Billy coaches at. We continued to see each other at least once a week for the year that she lived there for dinners, baseball games, or dates or any excuse we could thank of to hang out. So she and I continued for the longest time still feeling like roomies, except I got to miss all her door slamming.

One of my favorite memories that I can share  of Amanda, besides the one about her burning her hand on the oven or her getting into a wreck while watching a movie on her laptop in the car, happened in the winter of our freshman year. We got into a discussion about how cool swing dancing look and how she would love to try it. I, being the smallest, got nominated for the position of guinea pig.. okay, maybe I jumped on the idea.

We watched videos and began practicing, and got to the point where we were awkwardly able to do two different tricks. One day, during commercials for American Idol, we decided to practice some more. Typically, we would only perform these highly skilled maneuvers outside in the grass, but I felt confident in my progress that we could do them inside. I think there were a few boys present that may have boosted my confidence/need to show out. Looking back, not one of my better ideas.
We did the trick where she would swing me around her back, upside down, and then land me back on my feet.. except after the ol' over under allyoop, my face slammed into the floor.

How the trick is kinda sorta supposed to look:

Us attempting it, but not quite getting it right.. again.

Our sophomore year, Amanda broke her finger playing softball and didn't know it for like 2 days. When she finally had an x-ray done, they told her she had to have surgery the next day. Horrible planning on her part, because the next day just so happened to be her birthday. We were banned from talking about the wedding, but she was such a delight on her birthday. Amanda on percocet is my favorite and very rare form of her. To coincide with the occasion, we threw her a "We're glad you didn't die/hope the pain goes away soon" party

Megan and I decided to go buy her random things to go in a bag along with the only thing she actually wanted.. why? I don't know. So she and I set out to the dollar tree where we each picked 3 of the most random things we could find. We ended up with a fake parrot, a tooth brush, an over-sized diamond ring key chain, a figurine of a lion and some other random things to pair with her T-swizzle cd. Oh! and some Rhinestones so that we could bedazzle her cast :)

When she returned from her surgery, we let her open all of her gifts. Since she was so high, it was even funnier than we imagined it would be. To make the story better, it was also the night of  some random award show, and she sang every single word to Love Story by Taylor Swift to Tyler, her new boyfriend of like 3 weeks. Later he held her hair back while she vomited, because she didn't take her medicine as directed. sigh.. young love.

{Roommates; A blog Series - Part 1} Where it all began

When I graduated high school, I was fortunate enough to have two girls that I had grown up with choose to attend the same college as me. The first one, Amanda, I had literally known since I was in diapers. The other, Megan, I met when I was in 4th grade when we were rec cheerleaders together.

Though we'd known each other for what felt like forever and we were friends, I wasn't exactly besties with either. However, we decided we'd try living together our freshman year of college. The 3 of us decided we wanted to live in the same dorm, which was an apartment style dorm with 4 bedrooms each. We were paired with another random student to make us four. All of us actually got along very well together, not that I was afraid of that happening.

Amanda played softball as did our other randomly chosen roommate, Emily, so we often found ourselves mingling with their softball teammates on campus. Sometime in the fall, we had one of those dreaded middle of the night fire drills. You know the ones.. about 3 am, right in the middle of the deepest REM sleep. Ironically enough, the fire alarm sounded JUST like my laptop did when it was dying.. or that's what I thought in the middle of the fieriest of deep sleeps imaginable.  In the middle of the night, I heard what sounded like my laptop yelling at me to plug it in. I darted out of bed, because the noise was AWFUL, and tried plugging it in and wiggling the chord to make that incessant noise stop. It wasn't stopping, not matter how hard I tried. Eventually, the light bulb went off in my head that it wasn't my laptop, it was a fire alarm!! I walk out to see my 3 roommates staring at me asking, "what took you so long?" I explained the whole story once we had gotten outside, and were huddled into our little group of sleepy eyed friends. This is where we met Ashlyn, another softball player. She thought my story was hilarious.. Shortly there after, we were facebook friends. The rest of our freshman year, the 4 of us were members of a very tight knit group of girls.

By our sophomore year, we swapped out our first roommate for the new friend we made our freshman year, Ashlyn.

Hilton Head 2008

Halloween 2008

Our Vegas Trip! 

Extreme Home Makeover 

Graduation

The four of us were inseparable. We were our own little pack that did everything together.. all five years. We eventually even ended up transferring from our of our juco together. The college we chose to move to was one of the best in the state for Amanda and Megan's majors, it was my #1 choice out of high school (long story why I didn't go there in the first place) and with the 3 of us going there, Ashlyn decided to follow as well. Of course, we decided to remain roommates after we moved. We lived together until we graduated and went on to big girl world about a year ago.

Our Chrimstas card picture our final year together

It's so weird not having them right down the hall now. At the same time, it's exciting seeing our lives finally starting to become what we set out for back when it all began. I honestly consider myself so very blessed to be able to say that I had a very healthy, enjoyable relationship with my roommates, that actually ended with us being more like family than friends. I couldn't have imagined going through college without them.

Roommates {A Blog Series}

I recently started a post about my college roommates, but that post suddenly got extremely long, so I have decided to do a blog series on us. So I encourage you all to sit on the edge of your seat and be on the lookout over the next couple days as I hammer out a few pieces about my lovelies!

Where it all began 

Each of the girls

Our apartments over the years

Things I miss most about them

Some of the funny stories from along the way

How our Vacation turned into a Staycation

This weekend was a lot of fun, even though parts of it didn't exactly go as originally planned. It's still sorta fun to roll with the punches!

Saturday one of Billy's childhood friends, Josh, got married! Their friendship actually spans back to before they were born, Billy's grandma and Josh's grandmother were very good friends.. I think is how that story goes. If you ask Billy how the friendship began he'd tell you, "We've just been friends forever." (sigh) Well, Josh's family moved to Tennessee when they were still young. Their families still remained close, as they would always spend part of the summer at the cabin, as many of their friends thankfully do. Josh brought Brooke, his then girlfriend, with him one summer about the first summeer Billy and I were together. She and I hit it off instantly! We had a lot of common ground, we were both the same year in college, dating baseball players, she was a ot major as was one of my best friends.. plus she was the only other female in the house close to my age! Thank the lord! I just love her. Sweetest girl I have ever met, hands down! Needless to say, this past New Years I was ecstatic when we got word that Josh had finally "begged" Brooke to spend forever with him! Even better, she said yes!!

Saturday, we set out to Brooke's little hometown in Western North Carolina right outside of Maggie Valley. It was a sweet, simple, Christ-centered ceremony surrounded by all of their friends and family. I was so happy to be there and to be with their sweet families as they said their vows and became Mr. and Mrs. Hullett! I even caught the bouquet!! ;) I could not stop talking about how gorgeous Brooke looked in her dress. Absolutely stunning! I could not have ever imagined a more perfect dress for anyone. Isn't it beautiful?

After the wedding, Billy and I had decided to make the best out of an already great trip spend the weekend, plus Monday in Smokies to go to Dollywood and do some hiking in Cades Cove! So we made the quick trip in some rough rain on into Tennessee to Gatlinburg, where we had planned to stay. Much to our displeasure, every single hotel was booked! I had never seen so many No Vacancy signs lit up before in my life!! We literally drove into or called every hotel in the 3 surrounding cities, and every one was sold out, or all they had left was a smoking room, with a heart shaped Jacuzzi tub for $170 a night.. Homie don't play that!

About 9:30 that night, we decided we'd just go back home to Atlanta, because we knew even if we found a room, the park lines would be miserable if there were that many people in town... Side note, the first available hotel we found, was over an hour and a half away back in Georgia!! Guess we learned our lesson in making hotel reservations in advance.

Instead, we could have a staycation! We could do everything we wanted but on an even better budget, and the room has already been paid for! This is exactly what we have been wanting to do in order to help me as I'm saving money for a hopefully upcoming uh.. wedding party.

Sunday, we enjoyed shopping on the cheap with some friends at the outlet mall for their new baby that should be making her appearance later in the fall! I'll tell you more about my new neice, Addy, when she gets here! Quickly followed by dinner, also on the cheap, with our coaching family. After dinner, we went to a movie, on my couch, with netflix.
Today, we still got to enjoy our theme park trip, but improvised with Six Flags instead of Dollywood. Billy has only been to six flags once, and it was very brief as the lines were so long we only got to ride 3 rides before the park closed that day! No joke! So it was also something somewhat new to him. We had a blast together. I've missed being able to spend time with him because of baseball season.

It was actually really nice to do this instead. We saved a good bit of money, and still got to enjoy the same things we would have done if our original plan would have unfolded right. I'm actually kind of glad it didn't, because I feel like we got in some better quality time doing things together and with those we would have much rather had been with anyway. Instead of wasting half of Monday in the car on the way back, we were able to have nap and cuddle time, which we all know I'm a huge fan of. Since we didn't get to eat at our favorite restaurant in the mill, we got the next best thing at Cracker Barrel for a fraction of the price. 

We should really have staycations more often. I could get pretty used to having Billy all to myself on the weekends.. or at least for the next 3 weeks before the next season kicks up. 

5 On Friday

Today I am linking up for 5 on Friday! My five is going to consist of my top five new Favorite song recommendation that you should be adding to your iTunes playlist pronto. You can thank me after your jam sesh later.

Rachel Farley's new single - High Heels

Home - Sundy Best

Chillin' it - Cole Swindell

One Hell of an Amen - Brantley Gilbert

She Will Be Free - Josh Abbott Band

and because I had one more I just HAD to share..
Dirt Road Diary - Luke Bryan
Don't forget his new album Crash My Party on August 13th!

American Pretty Boutique - Sponsor Spotlight!

This month I am so sincerely proud to be sponsored by American Pretty Boutique.

One thing I am passionate about, and try my hardest to do (even though it's not always easy) is to buy American made products. It's especially hard when shopping for clothes, because everything is made in mexico or Thailand or really expensive. Now that I have been introduced to Dani, the owner and founder of American Pretty, that will soon become even easier!

Dani set out on a mission in December 2012 to promote and  provide girls with great fashionable, made in America quality clothing, at affordable prices. If you ask me, she's doing a heck of a job! Most boutiques you have to choose between good quality or an affordable price. Dani is providing us BOTH! Not only that, but her inventory boasts extremely contemporary and fashionable pieces!

The Down South Maxi -$40

Maxi dresses are all the rage this summer! Besides, who doesn't love the small lace detail at the bottom!? Precious!!

Marina Del Rey Dress - $49

Love this beautiful detail on the back of this dress. The color is perfect to show off that dark summer tan!

Leather and Pearls - $56

This is a great piece! I love the combination of the soft pearls and the leather.

Cruise Control top - $34

My personal favorite! I love coral. This top will be able to transition well from work to play. You can't beat the price for boutique shopping either!

I really, really recommend you take a couple minutes and hop over to American Pretty and browse through the rest of their inventory. Be sure to like them on Facebook here too! I'm sure there will be something you'll fall in love with and just have to have! So go on over, tell Dani I sent you.. and buy me something nice as well ;)

Just because they love my readers as much as I do, Dani has decided to spoil you all and give you 15% off your ENTIRE purchase! How sweet is she?! Just use the coupon code: VIP15 at checkout and then proceed to do your happy dance.