polaroids, curses, tattoos, and stolen keys

first of all, i have to say i'm glad to be safely back in clemson. this past weekend was incredible. there's nothing like a few crazy fun nights with great friends to know how much you are loved....and some pretty out of control memories were made.

Thursday night was pretty great, I went to the Music Farm to see my amazingly talented roommate Emily play, and she did so great. Her talent is undoubtedly a gift from the Lord, because something so beautiful has to be from Him! Then I went home and got some much needed rest, (although I might would have gotten more if I knew what was in store for my weekend!)

Friday was fun, I went by Charleston Magazine, and it was a madhouse as always. I love it though; everyone frantically trying to get their files together, crafting going on in the middle of the floor, and tons of sweets scattered about the office...all the while the word "shipping" lingering over everyone's head. I seriously hope I can go back there one day! Then I went to dinner with the family, which is always fun then met up with some of my favorites downtown. It actually ended up being all C-Mag interns, which was super fun. And Reese brought the polaroid...which always makes great memories. We realized it was Friday the 13th, so of course danced our hearts out when the band played Ghostbusters and Thriller. At some point in the night, we got on the Chris Brown/Rihanna incident, and ended up with a series of Polaroids entitled "Situation: Chris Brown and Rihanna"....Too Soon? Yes, definitely. But after having a serious/awkward/mildly inappropriate heart-to-heart among friends, it was time to call it a night.

Saturday involved getting a haircut, washing my new purple sharpie tattoo off my arm (thank you, reese), a perfect Fraylick-girls shopping trip, and getting coffee with one of my amazing high school girls!

Then, I met up with some of my favorites at Sushi Hiro downtown, which is where the madness really begins. Or at least I'm blaming it on an incident that occured here. Apparently, it's really disrespectful/taboo to stand chopsticks straight up in a bowl of rice. Who knew?! One minute we were all enjoying our time, and the next, the not-japanese-at-all host races over to the table, pulls them out of the rice, and mutters something about curses, funerals, and a death offering. (Insert a table full of blank stares)How do you respond to that!? We all looked at each other dumbfounded and completely thrown by what just happened. Anyways, we brushed it off and continued our great Valentine's meal. One of my friends brought us Valentines complete with Miley Cyrus Tattoos for the girls, and NBA tattoos for the boys. Nothing like a childlike heart...I hope I never grow up. I had "Secret Pop Star" on my arm, and a rose on my wrist. The rest of the night brought even more polaroids (including more Chris Brown/Rihanna Situations) and crazy fun memories. The bouncer at the place we ended up even scrutinized my ID, telling me he had seen it at least five times, and even taken it from a girl once. I thought, funny thing, I've never, ever lost or given it out...and you need a new pick-up line. eek. We even saw a girl in a solid sequin dress and another in a lace-up shirt. Shout out to "What Not To Wear" - I think a trip to Charleston should be in the works. It made for a great Valentine's Day with great friends. I'm blessed to be loved by such fun people.

Then Sunday. Woke up, went to Church with the fam, which is always good. There's something to be said about worshipping the God of Creation with the people that brought me to know Him, and love me with the same love He has for me. I've recently learned not to take advantage of that, but that's another blog, for another day. Anyways, then came lunch, napping, then singing at LifePark. I can't explain how much I love singing, and help lead a congregation in worshipping the King of Glory.

Then Sunday night. Yikes. Let me preface this by saying that I was scheduled to leave Charleston at 6 am to make it back to class by 10. BUT, After eating dinner with the fam, i decided to meet up with some friends for just a short time, just as a goodbye-for-now til I go home again. I've now learned that next time I get that invite, I'm getting in bed immediately. I went to Village Tavern, a small, quirky hangout in Mt. Pleasant, and absurdities quickly followed. Somehow it leaked to the owner of the bar that I sing, so before I knew it, he was leaving, only to return with some strange guitar-carrying dude he had gone and woken up. A sound system was hooked up, microphones on, ready to go. Don't really know how I dodged that bullet, but NO singing with drunken bar owners ensued...thank goodness! Then, we met some new friends, and one fireman tried to be Dr. Phil to Reese. Needless to say, she decided to escape with my other friend. So it was only me and Bucky for a bit. Then, we decided to leave too (after playing some spectacular jukebox jams), only to realize Reese, the friend that left an hour ago had taken both of our keys (not on purpose, just looking after them...without telling us). And of course, she wouldn't answer her phone. So we had to call Channing, our friend who had also already left....in order to dissuade the owner (who was trying his hardest to get us to drink some mystery beverage out of a mason jar. i'm not even kidding) and his offers to drive us wherever we needed to be. I would have walked before getting in a car with him. Anyways, Channing the Angel showed up. Our only plan of action was to drive downtown to Reese's and bang on her apartment windows and doors til she woke up. So we trekked downtown and began to beat on windows, only to realize she didn't live in Apartment A, but in fact Apartment B. Thank goodness no one lived in A, or we would have gotten shot. So we moved down one door, and she awoke, gave us our keys, and we were on our way. An hour later.

I finally made it home, and needless to say I didn't quite wake up in time to get back for class. Oops. But hey, I'm only a senior in college for so long (ok, i'm in my second senior year, but who's counting?) so I'm allowed one or two skips. I hate feeling irresponsible, but Sunday night was definitely one of those once-in-a-million nights, so it was worth it. Where was the polaroid when we really needed it?! I did make it back for the most important class of the day, which was at 5:30 pm. YES.

And I undoubtedly blame the absurdities on the chopsticks curse! Only problem is, someone's gotta figure out how to UN-curse us! ;)


All in all, the weekend was unbelievable. My next visit home has a lot to live up to (although I'm not quite sure I want it to...). The best part of the weekend? Definitely the company. I say it a lot, but I'm incredibly blessed with a band of entertaining, inspiring, caring, slightly crazy, beautiful friends. Each of my friends offer something different to my life, and enrich it in so many ways they don't know. (Family is included in this word 'friends' too!) I'm richly priveleged to be surrounded by such people, especially in such a beautiful setting as Charleston.

Life is good, the Lord is good, and SO are my great friends.

whew!

What a week! (insert immense sigh of relief here).
I've got a few minutes before yoga class, so I figured I'd update the blog.
First of all, if every week is gonna be like this, I'm gonna lose my mind before I graduate, and no one's gonna want to hire a crazy person. haha....seriously though, I am now a master multi-tasker. I can even be in starbucks and lab at the same time ;).

But amidst all the craziness, I've been constantly reminded all week of how blessed I am to have such great friends and family!

Graphics is a relatively small major here at Clemson, so all the people in my class have become a sort of rag-tag family. We're all real close, and remind each other that we couldn't do it without each other. We get stressed out and bombarded with projects and tests, etc., (all the while the ever present job search lingering)....but at the end of the day, always seem to think, you know, today was actually sort of fun. So if I complain about all the stuff I have to do...don't give it much though, I actually do love my major :)

And, BONUS, I got to see my cousin this week! She came up to lecture to some classes, so she rescued me from my 6 hours of lab on Wednesday. Usually wednesdays aren't the best, but this one was definitely the exception. I even had a presentation, that I'm pretty sure I aced :).

And this morning, I had an exam, that wasn't quite as good as the presentation, but the day is quickly turning around!! I'm about to go to yoga, then head to my beloved Charleston later for a great weekend. It's gonna start tonight at the music farm....my old roomie/one of my closest friends is playing at the music farm! (emily lynch...i've talked about her before) I'm so proud of her and can't wait to hear her tonight.

Gonna be a busy weekend, but so so great. Can't wait to see my Charleston Mag friends, my high school girls, and my family!

I'm blessed beyond measure. Have a great day, ya'll!