If you want something, you gotta make it happen: Lots of catching up to do

It was starting to look like I really wouldn't get a summer break, so I made one for myself.  I booked a flight to California and I was off.  I've only been on a plane a very few times in my life, so I wasn't so sure what to expect.  First flight to Houston, I get the row to myself and sleep so I'm starting to think I could get used to to this.  Then I was proved wrong when I sat with two not so small people with lots of luggage in an aisle seat with the cart rolling by every few minutes.  On the way back I met two very nice girls my age that I sat with on the first flight to Chicago and I was thinking "Ok, maybe the last one was just a lone bad experience..."  Not so fast, then I was stuck next to a young woman with an 8 month old that screamed for a good 45 minutes finally fell asleep.  Thank goodness, right?  Nope... when the baby woke up mom was bouncing her to keep her from crying.  As we land, baby throws up toward me (not conveniently toward the guy on the other side of mom).  All in all, flying may not be in my very near future.
While in Cali I got to spend fabulous quality time with my long lost loves Maria and Dante :)
We went to lots of great places to eat and I made it a point to branch out because I've been so picky for so long.  We also went to the Fashion District in Downtown L.A. which is a lot like Canal Street in NYC as far as I'm concerned except much less "sketchy" and much happier.  I got a precious new wide-brimmed hat and a cute cross-body Valentino bag.

We went to Rodeo Drive and saw all the fancy jewelry and fashion stores, but we didn't look "expensive enough" so the people in the stores ignored us.  I find that incredibly rude, these people have no idea how much money I have in my fake Valentino bag, how dare you judge me.  Here we are roaming around being ignored but still having a fabulous time regardless.

Then, I found my own personal Heaven.  Being the Southern Gal that I am, it makes me extremely happy to come across the best of the best of my favorite thing in the world... Pearls.  Mikimoto is the cream of the crop!

So then we went to an Angels baseball game!  We had a blast!  To be honest I'm not entirely sure if they won, but Maria and I did a lot of catching up and cheering and beer drinking and laughing.  Getting out of the parking lot, was an entirely different story, but its a funny one.  No one paid any attention to lines, right of ways, other people's cars, etc.  One thing I did learn while in Cali, traffic is horrific.  We went so many wonderful places, Laguna Beach, Santa Monica Pier, Newport Beach - Fashion Island, and so many more... It was a blast!  We did a lot of much needed catching up and girltalking.  Love you, Maria!!

 Once I got back I had a nice relaxing 4th of July with my family and the Hollands at Sans Souci, WLK... where I've spent the last 22 July 4ths.  Its like my Christmas, I LOVE IT!  Fireworks are the best night of the year to me, if that makes me lame then so be it.  Middle of  last week Shaina came to visit!  She had never been to Wilmington so we saw some sights, went to the beach, and went Downtown for dinner and drinks. It was much needed girl time!  Us down by the river.

Finally, as if I hadn't had enough girl time, we went to Emerald Isle on my birthday for a girl's weekend.  It was an interesting weekend to say the very least.  Caroline, Hawley, Allie and I met Alex, Stephanie and Heather to go out and have a blast, and the night ended very differently for all of us... some left, some lost, and some crashing on the bicycles we thought it would be a good idea to ride out.  I had a great birthday and we relaxed Saturday on the beach and had a great dinner.  I've had a great couple of weeks that I made into a summer for myself, but now its seriously time to hit the books, 10 times harder.  Work hard, play hard... after graduating from a year of working hard, I've played hard the past couple of weeks, now is definitely back to working hard studying for this CPA exam, looking for a job, and moving.  Its been a long time since I've updated, so this one is long, but theres not a whole lot going on in July and August so they won't all be this long, swear!

Things to look forward to:
WLK a couple of weekends this month
Moving back home to Matthews to see friends and family (and save money)
Getting this studying done!

The grass ain't always greener

I'm adding another phrase to my list of things to live by: The grass ain't always greener.

Yes, I said ain't. I've recently realized that just because you've always wanted something, doesn't mean it'll be all its cracked up to be once its right in front of you.  Makes you appreciate what you have and where you are.  Just something to think about...

Its been a while since I updated this thing, quick recap:
-A couple of blurry trips to White Lake <3
-A TON of studying for the CPA exam
-Took the Audit section of the CPA... say a little prayer and cross your fingers on that one
-A little QT with the fam for Memorial Day weekend.... said a big "Thank You" to our troops and cleaned out the garage
(those of you who know what our garage looked like would be baffled at the difference)
-Saw a lot of people I hadn't seen in a while, some at the good ol' B-moor Pool, did a little catching up
-Starting a few Do-It-Yourself projects with some old furniture
(I'm excited about these and I'll be sure to let you know how it goes)

I have a bit of a reprieve from the madness for the month of June with just one class and our practicum project to focus on.  Then back to some intense studying through July and August.  In the meantime, I'll be packing, moving,exercising, cooking, and job searching... with a good number of beach breaks thrown in the mix.

Things to look forward to: Sunny afernoons all to myself! What shall I do?

Friday The 13th ain't so bad after all

Things that made this a Friday to be thankful for:
-Wearing my old lifeguarding flip flops so that I could walk through the huge puddles on campus
-The gorgeous sunny day after the torrential downpour this morning
-Studying on the beach
-The really cool display of windsurfing guys that I watched all afternoon... in between studying of course ;)
-Short nap on the beach
-"I Love Beach Music" Pandora station
-Beach Hair!
-My new orange zebra beach bag that i loooove
-Drivin with the windows down, sunroof open, and music blaring
-Ellie was especially excited to see me when I got home
-A Friday night to do whatever I want to
-Knowing that I get to study like this for the rest of the summer, because I've got a lot of studying to do

Summer Break was fun while it lasted....

All 24 HOURS of it.  I spent it couponing and shopping for deals, which doesn't sound fun but I enjoyed it.  I saved $25 today, and thats just the first go at it.  I'm not fabulous at it, because I'm still leaving the store paying money... those ladies on tv have figured out how to get paid to take things out of the store, so clearly I've got a long way to go.  Also, my room is cleaner than its ever been, and I love it!
-So that is how I spent all 24 hours of my summer break, pretty lame.

I finished my exams yesterday, which means YAY its summer, right? Not so much.  Tomorrow is supposed to be a day off, but our program has a month long practicum project that we work on in groups and our group is meeting with our client tomorrow, which means bye bye summer.  Thursday some of us begin our first review class for the CPA exam.  Basically I get to study for the CPA exam all summer long. I know I need to do it and it will be worth it in the end, but its hard to get excited about even graduating (JUNE 25TH, please hurry) when I'll be taking some sort of class or studying for some sort of exam all summer.  I'm pretty bummed about it at the moment, but I'll live.

On a brighter note, formal with my AKPsi was a blast/blur, it was fabulous to get to see Miss Shaina.  And Mother's Day with my family was great! Love you Mama!

Things to look forward to: Studying.... Here.

Do one thing every day that makes you happy...

Its the cute little sign that hangs on the mirror in my bathroom... Do one thing every day that makes you happy.  It reminds me that theres not much point in putting a ton of energy into things that don't make you happier now, or won't make you happier in the future.  This summer, while I'll be studying for the CPA exam (something that will make me happy in the future, but definitely not while I'm studying) I want to make a point to do more of the things that I enjoy so that I become a healthier happier person.  What's that you ask?

-Going to the beach as much as possible, you know, since I've lived here for almost a year... luckily you can "study" on the beach, or not.
-Extreme couponing, while yes the show lives up to its name as extreme, saving thousands of dollars because you gave them a piece of paper that they gave to you... sounds fabulous!
-I want to get a beach cruiser bike and ride it on the beach everyday, only problem is its not going to fit in my car :(
-Getting crafty.  Making old things into new things, boring things into fun things, useless things into useful things.
-Clean & Donate. I have TONS of stuff, too much.  I want to get rid of some of it and keep the rest as clean as possible.

That being said... Extreme Couponing is on right now and I'm gonna go look up coupons.  I know, that might make me lame, but it gives me something to do while procrastinating my school work. haha

Rollercoaster of Life

The past few weeks have been full of some serious ups and some not-so-ups, and a couple of loops, without a whole lot of inbetween.  I think I'm ready for things to just kinda chill out for a little while, but as soon as I say that I'll get bored.... "Be careful what you wish for", right?

Some crazy and bizarre things have happened lately (at both ends of the spectrum), but everything happens for a reason.... even if no one has clued me in yet, I'll figure it out eventually and in the meantime, I'll just take it as it comes.  Another one of life's mysteries is trying to master getting my procrastination under control, which highly contributes to some of those not-so-ups. 

On Sundays, the first productive thing I do, after lounging around because I fully believe in Sunday being the day of rest (or sometimes making the long drive back down 74E, not fun) I make an intense TO DO LIST/SCHEDULE for every day of the week.  A schedule of times and things to do ranging from the time I should wake up, going to class, and motivating myself to do INSANITY and not slack.  To be honest with you, this is one of my favorite things I do all week (super sad and pathetic, I know) but I do it with the sticky notes app on my computer and delete things as I finish them.  Crossing things off of a To Do List has always been one of the most satisfying things in life, to me at least.  Its important, for my sanity, to always include fun things on the To Do List as well... so I pack my nights full of my favorite trashy reality tv shows. 

Things to Look Forward To: Easter Weekend at White Lake
-This will be my first Easter away from my Family... sad, but it'll be fun!!

Dancin'... Shaggin' on the Boulevard

This weekend was Azalea Festival!  Mom, Kate, Mike, and Greg came down to the coast to help celebrate.  First we watched the parade (as Kate and I were dressed for summer in the cloudy windy weather).  Mostly sports cars with Princesses of "Some Random Food" as Greg described them.  At one point, there was a sign for a "Shag Contest", and Greg looks at me and says "That doesn't mean what I think it means, does it?" and I kindly explained to him that 'round these parts shagging is first and foremost a dance that people do to beach music... Later, we went to see the Band of Oz, which Mom and I were extremely excited about and introduced Mike and Greg to the concept.  As Mom and I were dancing to "Hold Back the Night" Mike asks, "Is this what you call "Beach Music"?"  What is the South coming to that it lets in people without first teaching them the essentials of surviving and having a good ol' time down here?  But, its ok, I'm happy to teach!

On the update front: Only 2 and a half more months til I Graduate again!  Insanity is kicking my behind, each and every day.  I'm not doing fabulously on the eating healthy front, but according to WW I'm still getting the job done technically, but I know that won't cut it doing it like that for long.  So now that I've gotten a hold on the Insanity madness, I'm gonna work on improving the eating part of the deal.  Now that I've done my weekly Sunday procrastination ritual, back to the grind....

Things to Look Forward to: ERIC CHURCH Thursday in Cullowhee with C!! so excited!

Insanity. Bring it, Shaun T

Tomorrow: Insanity, Day 1
So rather than ease into exercising, I decided to dive in head first.  Tomorrow I begin Insanity.  For those of you who do not know what Insanity is, its the crazy hard workout program that is sure to be the death of me, but I'm going to commit to it and kick my but into shape.  "How?" you might ask.  Well I've got a lot of things in my corner.  Obviously, there are the programs I am doing.  Insanity, where Shaun T tells me what to do and doesn't accept my excuses, and WW that tells me what I can and can't eat, and how much.  On top of all that, I have:

My Motivator.  Kailee has taken on the daunting task of being my motivation coach, so to speak.  Bless Her Heart!  Her commitment and advice about working out and eating healthy have already helped me in ways she'll never know.  She is a vegan, which means she has more commitment and self-discipline than I'll ever have, but I'm going to do what I can.

My Team. My family always asks to see how my progress is coming along and they get excited for me when I do well.  Caroline is going to do Insanity too as soon as I send it to her.  I believe Greg might be doing it also.  Apparently its the cool thing to do.

My Scheduling.  Lately I've been setting a schedule on Sunday for every day of the week with times and what needs to be done.  It has worked out surprisingly well and its made my days much more productive.  I scheduled my workout times much earlier in the day because at night I find myself wanting to relax and nowhere near motivated to workout.  Kailee works out at like 4:30am and says it makes her evenings easier... I'm not that ambitious, but you get the point. 

I'm excited to get started whipping my butt into shape... Bring It On, Shaun T!!

Things to Look Forward to (Other than Insanity, of course): Azalea Festival in Wilmington this weekend!!
The Band of Oz, family, and beer... that'll make for a good time!!

Priorities, Priorities....

The key is not to prioritize your schedule, it is to schedule your priorities...

A lot of things have gotten me stressed out lately, they've put me in sort of a funk.  I'm pretty much done letting that happen.  I have decided to give myself an actual schedule with times and everything to follow rather than a "to do list" that I can change around.  To relieve some of this stress, I'm focusing on what needs to be done now in order to make things I need to focus on later, much easier (or even possible)...

My Priorities, in order obviously:
#1- Walking Across the Stage (again): focusing on my classes and getting all my work done, on time, and studying as much as needed to get good grades... June 25th can't come soon enough!
#2- Whipping into Shape: eating healthy and exercising every day to get in shape, and cleaning a little each day (to keep my sanity)
#3- Money Money Money: saving money, pretty self explanatory
#4- Anyone Hiring?: finding a job is of the utmost importance, although I've looked a little, I need to focus more of my energies on this, but it keeps getting put off because of more immediate problems... I'll seriously need one come August
#5- Taming the Beast: aka passing the CPA exam, this summer.  I feel like I've got a good plan to help do this by taking review courses and having study materials already, but this will not prove to be an easy task
#6- Shelter: finding a place to live, and someone to live with once I move back to Charlotte (where hopefully I'll have a job).  While good ol' Brightmoor is always an option, (Thanks to my fabulous parents) I'd like to make it on my own....

So we'll see how this goes.  Although this isn't everything I need to focus on, they are extremely important things I need to figure out as soon as possible.

In other news, SpringBreak was fun and relaxing.  This weekend I went to Oak Island to hang out with some of the family, watch Campbell play some baseball, and eat some good Chicken & Dumplin's.

Now back to reality, got some work to do. June 25th, Hurry It Up!! -Love, Meg

Hindsight is 20/20, Go Figure

In hindsight, starting all of these new commitments to eat healthy, exercise and cook everyday literally the day before my SpringBreak began.... maybe not the brightest idea I've ever had.  I'll get the hang of it! One thing I have mastered is being in the car....

The Dub to the QC- roughly 3 hours, Crown Town to The Whee- another good 3 hours, Cullowhee to The DIRTY D- 4 hours of my new gig as a mobile DJ, Durham back to the Whee- another 4 long hours...  For those of you who lost track, thats 14 hours so far.
I still get to look forward to 3 back to the 704 and another 3 to the 910, for a grand total of 20 hours.

A few things I have learned along the way:
-Everyone should know how to jump a car (You can youtube it like Caroline, but learn)
-Driving in the mountains is no joke, and definitely not for me
-Blink-182 really never gets old, nor does it ever cease to remind me of some of the best years of my life
-Durham is affectionately referred to as the "Dirty D" for very good reason, NO Thank you!
-Its the little things in life that really do mean the most, and sometimes the best vacation is spent doing nothing

Friday was an entertaining night with amazing friends at Coyote Joe's for the Sara Evans concert. I introduced Caroline and Hawley to "the damndest thing", as they both kept saying.... line dancing.  I found it funny that I could bring Bladen County girls to the QC and they would be culture shocked by line dancing of all things.  After the concert, in true Meg fashion, we FORGOT to turn off the lights in Kate's car and were stranded in the Coyote Joe's parking lot (not really an area of town you'd like to be stranded in if you had to pick)  But no worries, I used to drive Otis so I know how this goes.... C flags down random passer-by, I jump start the car, while Hawley prays it doesn't explode and Mom and Kate are on their way to be our DD (Thanks!!)  All in all, it was a much needed night out!  I had a blast screaming in people's ears to get them to move (Hawley's suggestion) and dancing like crazy with Miss Shaina!

Cullowhee has been nice and relaxing so far, with a little detour to the Peds floor at Duke to visit Bradley, who thankfully is getting better!

Things to Look Forward to:
-Lunch tomorrow with Greg's sister, Rachel
-Out on the Town in Cullowhee for Wing Night with C
-Spending the weekend with some friends that I haven't seen in quite a while to celebrate St. Patty's Day!

Next Stop: Crown Town

In the Spirit of being a Good Presbyterian

I keep wanting to make these huge life changes and trying, only to let them fall by the wayside...

I've come to the conclusion that I am the type of person that needs to be held accountable by someone else.... So you're it, whoever you are reading this blog, I am now going to hold myself accountable to you, whether you like it or not :)  I also have a problem with putting things off and "oh I'll start tomorrow" with no real intentions of starting tomorrow, or next week for that matter.  This time, I am ACTUALLY going to start tomorrow, as tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, and what better reason to hold myself accountable to something than my favorite reasoning for everything... (you can just ask Caroline)

I AM A PRESBYTERIAN.

Its one of the things in my life that I believe legitimately happened for a reason.  I couldn't have ended up a part of a more perfect religion for me, even if I had attempted to create one myself.  I'm not going to pretend like I go to church every Sunday, or even close to it, but I have been taught and know these things to be true (and say them to myself more than once a day, for whatever reason)... and somehow, it keeps me sane.

Everything happens for a reason.

What is meant to be, will be.

My "Lent List" as I am calling it, includes (but is not limited to) the following:

Making Every Day a Good Day & Seeing the Brighter Side of Things

Trying New Things, Venture Out on my Own

Saving Money

Get A Job

Eating Healthy Everyday

Exercising Everyday

Cooking New Recipes

... And holding myself to this, by telling You! whoever you are

I don't promise that I have the most exciting life, as I'm 100% positive that I don't... so read at your own risk.  Seeing as how this was my attempt at a break in my week long study session of 4 Finals this week, I better get back to studying (Mom will appreciate that one)

PS: Mom&Dad I got a 93 on my first final! WhooHoo!

ALSO, (Brad, if you're reading this) Thanks to Brad for unknowingly letting me steal his awesome picture of the Lake, its also my desktop background.  Hope you feel better soon Rooms!

Something to Look Forward to:

Thursday begins my Spring Break. I can't wait to catch a break from school work.  It will be a nice change.

First Stop, Charlotte to go to Sara Evans at Joe's with my two life-long bests, Caroline and Hawley (and Shaina will be there!) 

Here goes nothing...  :)