Another Give Away!

Hey everyone!
Life's been insane the last couple weeks and I'll have plenty of updates soon!
I wanted to let in you on a little giveaway we're doing with Whitney over at Keeping Up With the Cyperts!



Whitney is hilarious and gorgeous and you should check out her blog now!
Also, who doesn't love free stuff?? There are some great gifts coming your way!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Stories of My Tattoos

So I think tattoos can go many different ways.
I think they can wind up being terrible and trashy and you regret them 5 years from now.

I think you can have glaring errors and regret them immediately.
Now I'm not judging tattoos here but I think we can all agree that spelling mistakes are a no go for tattoos. 

I think you can have classy ones with meaning that you look at fondly

I think you can have tattoos that look like works of art

I think they can be put in classy places

And I think we can all agree this tattoo on Chris Brown is terrible

I'm going to tell the stories of my tattoos and why I got them. 

When you turn 18 you kind of want to do something adult. I don't smoke so buying cigarettes was not a realistic option.  I'm not really into going to a strip club, so tattoo it was. 

My first tattoo I got in high school with one of my best high school friends.  We both wanted to commemorate a big moment in our lives and our faith.  Now, I wanted to make sure I got a tattoo somewhere you can't see in a wedding dress. That's a thing for me. If I have a tattoo I want to be able to cover it when I want to look super classy. I also have family members who aren't super tattoo supportive. 

Anyway, at this point in my life, I had gone through a big religious moment. I don't like to get preachy here, but this was a big moment in my life that really shaped who I am today and decisions I would make for the rest of my life. 

ignore my lack of pedicure and chipping toe nail polish

I got a tattoo of am ichthys or a "Jesus fish" as some people would say with the word agape (ἀγάπη) written inside in Greek.  Agape is a word used in the Bible to mean unconditional love: divine, unconditional, self-sacrificing, active, volitional, and thoughtful love. Different from philia which usually relates to friendship, brotherhood or generally non-sexual affection and different from eros, meaning sexual affection. To me this was important because it's not the love that people let go of, it is love that fills your life regardless of what you do and why you do it. You always have a heart to come back to and a home.  I knew no matter if my beliefs changed or were challenged through my life, I could look at this and remember the type of love that changed me from making some terrible decisions and the kind of love that we should be displaying to one another in life.  I truly believe that if the world had more love, it'd be a more beautiful place, regardless of religious beliefs.

My second tattoo I got when I was about 21 years old. How appropriate.  I wanted a tattoo to connect some really important parts of my life when I was in college. I am a member of Alpha Sigma Alpha and ladybugs are our thing. So I wanted a tattoo of a ladybug to show off my Alpha love and to be a symbol of the group I am so proud to be a part of.

 

Inside the ladybug, though, I had music notes instead of dots.  Music has always been a part of my life. I love singing. My first two years of college I was in my undergraduate choir. That was an amazing experience for me and I made a lot of good friends through being a part of it.  My junior and senior year I was in our all female A'Cappella group, Mainstreet.  This meant a lot to me and I developed even better friendships here and made some amazing memories with outstanding women. I can't tell you how special it is to me and how amazing it is to make amazing music with a talented group of women and to work so hard on something and hear it all come together into one great sound. This was my way to bring together some important pieces of this part of my life into one tattoo.

Now a lot of people will say "Can't you have the memories without putting it on your body?" 

Yeah, you can! 

I think some people are tattoo people and some people are not. 

I'm a moderate tattoo person.

I can't tell you how many people ask about  my tattoos and it becomes an ice breaker. I like representing important parts of my life this way. I might get one or two more, that's all. 

Also, I won't lie, it does hurt.  The worst is if you get anything that needs to be colored in. 

I'm impressed with people with face tattoos. Not that I want one, but that has to hurt like woah.

I know people have strong feelings about tattoos for different reasons, but I love mine, and I don't regret either of them.  Maybe one day I will, but I try not to regret any of my decisions, instead treat them as learning opportunities.

Will I get another tattoo? Yep - I have plans for at least one more, and I love it but I'll always keep mine what I consider to be classy, although I will always envy edgy people who get away with some kick ass tattoos.


ALSO - Don't forget to enter the GIVE AWAY I'm doing!

Heavens to Meighan! It's a Give-away!

Hey everyone!
Today I'm hosting a give-away on Meighan's blog!
If you want to win you can enter here, but you should head over and check her out!
Her blog is pretty awesome and I'm pretty sure we're secretly soul sisters! Just click her picture below!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sunday Currently (5)

reading I'm trying to reread The Great Gatsby like everyone else. I didn't really enjoy it in high school, but maybe I'll like it more now as an adult. 

writing  a new post for Tuesday about my tattoos

listening to one of the XMen movies on FX. I have no idea what's going on I haven't paid attention at all.

thinking About how much stuff I have in the upcoming months.  Here is my travel schedule: 

May 17: Valdosta, GA

June 6-7: Washington, D.C. (tentative)

June 15: Seabrook Island

June 22: PA for a friend's wedding

June 28: Moving to D.C.

smelling Sunless tanner - this will probably be what I am smelling through the end of summer

wishing This last semester hadn't gone so fast. This year has had a lot of ups and downs, but it's been a great one and this semester has flown by. I'm really going to miss working at Oxford and the students here.  The students leaving has just super made this a reality. Summer on a college campus is so uneventful.

hoping I can just keep my faith strong for another month and trust that everything is going to work out.

wearing a Spirit Week Tshirt and my new gray and highlighter yellow running shorts with leggings under them - sorry my legs rub together like half the women in America and if I don't wear leggings my shorts ride up in the front and my legs rub together, and it's really uncomfortable.

loving How gorgeous the weather is outside right now. I'm going for a run/walk/jog after this post, hence the outfit.

wanting to have all of the answers to everything that is in the air right now

needing Focus and energy to make it through the next few weeks

feeling  rested

clicking Around on bathing suits - I'd like to get a new one this summer but don't forsee that happening.

I went out to dinner with my RAs last night. It was our end of the year hurrah! I know I keep talking about the end of the year, but I didn't imagine leaving my job at the end of this year. It's so bittersweet only working with students for 2 years before they move on to another campus. I'm so glad I got to experience this time in my life with them.

My blog is getting a make-over later this month! I'm really excited about it!

Steve's Visit:

Finally the update on Steve's weekend!
We are approaching the end of the semester here, so my posts are going to be a little all over the place!

Steve came to visit last weekend.  He arrived on Saturday and left on Wednesday. I tried to plan some fun stuff without allowing us to get overwhelmed and not have any quality time just at home.

Saturday I made meatloaf with mashed potatoes and peas for dinner - one of the meals he's been asking for and evidently misses the most.  How 1950's housewife of me! We had some Holly's cupcakes - probably some of the best I've ever had! I had coconut with a cream cheese frosting and Steve had red velvet.  We watched Les Miserables as well, because Steve hadn't seen it yet.

Sunday we went to the Renaissance Fair. It was a blast! The weather was disgusting  It was in the 60s and raining. The good part was that it wasn't busy and a lot of stuff is inside, and I have a pretty stellar rain jacket, so we still had a lot of fun.  We got a pretty awesome marshmallow catapult that made Steve feel like he was 6 years old.  He said he's going to load dog treats on it when we have a dog and shoot them across the room. 
The fair was a lot bigger than I thought. They had tons of booths with jewelry, decorations for your home, Renaissance style attire and things like elf ears, horns, dresses, boots, and more for you to purchase if you like to dress up for the fair. They had places where you could get your palm read or tarot cards read and there were tons of live acts and music!
Of course, we had delicious fair food! We had CHOCOLATE COVERED BACON. Yes, you read that right. I literally could have eaten my way through the fair. I'm not even joking. There were so many different booths and foods to try. We decided to share a smoked turkey leg and conch fritters and shared a beer. It was delicious.
They also had this guy in stocks where you could throw a tomato at him, the booth was called "Vegetable Justice." First of all, I ignored his heckling. Second of all, I am terrible at throwing for things like this. The first one I threw so hard I let the tomato go too late and it smashed the ground like 15 feet in front of me. The second one I threw so high it hit the stupid awning. It was embarrassing. Steve also missed but came MUCH closer.

Pirate give away at the Renaissance Fair - we got a "trust the pirate" knife for $10.

One of the bands at the fair - The Ded Bob Sled. They were really good!

Throwing the tomatoes at the "Vegetable Justice" booth

Fair food! Conch fritters, turkey leg, and beer.

Look at that chocolate covered bacon!

Monday night we went out to Two Urban Licks in Atlanta.  It's one of my favorite restaurants.  Steve and I went there in November 2011 as our last "date" as fiances before we got married so we wanted to go back. I didn't take any pictures of food. We were really close to another couple and I thought that would be embarrassing and tacky. I do have this one not so great picture of us taken by the valet. Also, we forgot cash to tip the valets. I usually remember but this time I totally forgot and then I felt like such an asshole. I guess I deserved the terrible picture.

Tuesday night we just kind of kept it low key since he was leaving the next morning.

I'm so glad we had all this time together, but I really hate it when he has to leave.  It's even worse now the the uncertainty of when I'll be up there. I know it will all work out in the right time. I just have to make peace with it right now.

I'm also connecting to this link up:

We all need to start following each other on bloglovin' with this transition away from GFC. This is a great way to do that and find new blogs!

I did a really cool project this weekend that I stole from Pinterest that everyone has done - it's super easy! I'll be posting about that later this week! Make sure you check back for updates!