Restore the Gulf! And a very happy birthday to Amanda!!

Happy Friday y'all! First I want to wish a VERY Happy Birthday to my fabulous friend Amanda!!!! I love her to pieces and wish I could celebrate her birthday with her but she lives in Rhode Island!

Here we are in Orlando

At Aquatica

On a cruise

Drinking wine on said cruise

Kayaking in Jamaica

On the beach in Key West

On my graduation day from undergrad (she sat through the whole 5 hour ceremony! What a trooper!)

And here she is when she came to visit me in Mississippi!

As y'all can see we've had a ton of adventures together and I'm sure we will have many more! Happy Birthday Amanda!!

Also-please do me a favor and go to the Restore the Gulf and sign the petition. The Gulf Coast needs everyone's help! Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida need the country to stand behind them during the Gulf Coast cleanup! Help our coast!

As a side note-I love this video!! Sandra Bullock, Blake Lively and Dave Matthews!! Some of my all-time favorites!

Have a great weekend y'all!

30 Day Blog Challenge and Update!

It has been way too long since I posted! I spent a week in Florida with my family and came back to Mississippi on Saturday. I have lots of great pictures to show y'all and I will do that as soon as I unpack and upload them-look for them tomorrow and Wednesday! I spent the 4th with great friends and today is my birthday (21st birthday part 3 haha) and I will be laying out by the pool/relaxing with friends!

I've been seeing a "30 Day Blog Challenge on a few blogs and I thought it might be fun to play along. Here are the list of days:

Day 1-A favorite song

Day 2-A favorite movie

Day 3-A favorite book

Day 4-A favorite television show

Day 5-A favorite quote

Day 6-A moment you wish you could relive

Day 7-5 things you could not possibly live without

Day 8-A thank you letter to someone who has changed your life

Day 9-A photo you took

Day 10-A photo of you taken over ten years ago

Day 11-A photo of you taken recently

Day 12-A song that you want played at your wedding

Day 13-A guilty pleasure

Day 14-A vacation you would like to take

Day 15-A person you admire

Day 16-A song that makes you cry

Day 17-An art piece

Day 18-A time when you felt passionate and alive

Day 19-A talent of yours

Day 20-A hobby of yours

Day 21-Something you know you do differently than most people

Day 22-A website

Day 23-A way in which you want to be remembered

Day 24-A movie no one would expect you to love

Day 25-A recipe

Day 26-A childhood memory

Day 27-A physical feature you love

Day 28-A scar you have and its story

Day 29-Hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days

Day 30-A motto or philosophy

So for Day 1: A favorite song, the song I pick is "Proudest Monkey" by Dave Matthews Band. Here are the lyrics:

Swing in the tree

Oh I am bounce around so well

Branch to branch,

Limb to Limb you see

All in a day's dream

I am stuck

Like the other monkeys here

I am a humble monkey

Sitting up in here again

But then came the day

I climbed out of these safe limbs

Ventured away

Walking tall, head high up and singing

I went to the city

Car horns, corners and the gritty

Now I am the proudest monkey you've ever seen

Monkey see, monkey do

Then comes the day

Staring at myself I turn to question me

I wonder do I want the simple, simple life that I once lived in well

Oh things were quiet then

In a way they were the better days

But now I am the proudest monkey you've ever seen

Monkey see, monkey do

Monkey see, monkey do

I absolutely love this song. Not only is it such a pretty-sounding song and Dave's voice is amazing, it reminds me of how I felt leaving home, going away to grad school, and being here by myself and having to not be shy and make myself a Mississippi family (which I love!). Sometimes, especially when I've been back to Florida and have been around my family I wonder if I made the right choice coming to Mississippi over staying in Florida for grad school. However, being here has made me more independent, and I've overcame the challenges of finding my way around a new place, making friends, and learning to stand on my own two feet when a long relationship ended. But I've grown, made amazing friends that I love, got through my first year of grad school successfully, and now I am the proudest monkey :)

Look out for pictures from my trip, the 4th, and my birthday soon!

Later y'all!

Dave Matthews Band 2010

Last weekend, when I was up North, I went to see my all-time favorite Dave Matthews Band at the Comcast Center in Massachusetts. I see them every summer and they never disappoint me-they have the best concerts! I went with Chelsea and we had a great time!

First, I need to explain my love for Dave Matthews Band...

This is the symbol of DMB...the firedancer...

...and this is my tattoo of the DMB firedancer...it's on my left lower back and is usually covered by clothing.

DMB just means a lot to me...their songs/lyrics and Dave's voice always make my day better. If you really listen to the songs they are amazing and have such great meaning.

Chelsea and I before the concert. We usually take pictures of ourselves to pass the time haha!
It was the perfect night for a concert...warm breeze, not humid, sunny with a few clouds to cut the heat...perfect.
Chelsea's epic tub of popcorn...I don't like popcorn so she was all on her own with that!
Waiting for Dave haha!

"Troubles, they come and go, but the good times, they're the gold."

"Celebrate we will, cause life is short but sweet for certain."

"Then comes the day, staring at myself I turn to question me. Do I want the simple, simple life, that I once lived in well? Oh things they were so quiet then. In a way they were the better days. But now I am the proudest monkey you've ever seen. Monkey see, monkey do."

"Standing on a bridge, watch the water passing underneath it must have been much harder when there was no bridge, just water. Now the world is small, remember how it used to be? With mountains and oceans and rivers and winters and stars."

"I can't believe that we would lie in our graves, wondering if we had, spent our own living days well. I can't believe that we would lie in our graves thinking of things that we might have been."

"One sweet world. Around this star is spinning. One sweet world. And in her breath I'm swimming. And here we will rest in peace."

"Turns out, not where, but who you're with that really matters."

Such a great night! Thanks Chelsea for such a great and funny time!

I have some videos of Dave singing but I keep getting errors when I try to upload them to Blogger...any suggestions?

Tomorrow-my MAC To the Beach Collection finds!

Later y'all!

Trip Up North!

I know I've been MIA for a few days...but last Thursday I headed out to...

...Rhode Island! I have some wonderful friends who live there and I was so happy to see them. I was able to go shopping, relax, and have some local food like clamcakes and chowder and Del's lemonade. Here are some pictures from the evening trip to Narragansett Beach we took.
The Coast Guard House is in the background...I love the lifeguard chairs.
Surfers were out hitting the big waves...in wetsuits of course!

From left Danielle, me, Amanda, and Brianna.
Rocky beach covered in pebbles that were smooth from the waves. I was on the lookout for an enormous clam shell like the one I found on this beach a few summers back that was still attached to its other half...but no such luck. The water was freezing too!
Here I am with my Del's lemonade...the best frozen lemonade you will ever have!

I always love visiting Rhode Island...especially in the summer with the ocean breeze! I was sorry I couldn't make it to Newport to visit but maybe next time!

While I was in RI I was able to pick up a few items from the MAC To the Beach collection and I also got to see Dave Matthews Band in concert...they put on an amazing show, as usual. I LOVE seeing them in concert they never disappoint me! Posts to follow later this week about the makeup and the concert (with lots of pictures!! I took a ton!!)

Later y'all!