Another Weekend Recap

So as its Thursday night (the official start to my weekend), I figured I needed to go ahead amd post another weekend recap (from last weekend) before my next weekend begins again. And let me tell you, the days to come are bursting at the seams with fun things planned:

List of Fun:

• Friday: Sushi and the State Fair
• Saturday: dinner/drinks date with my favorites - Kathryn and Grego!!!
• Sunday: Lazy Sunday with football and relaxation

More to come on all this soon! But lets go back to last weekend's craziness....

First, its important to note something the was going on around campus during the week. On Saturday, the Gamecocks were scheduled to play the Georgia Bulldogs and ESPN chose to cover it on College Gameday. So during the week crews were setting up for the taping, which was pretty cool to walk by in the Horseshoe.

The Gamecocks dominated the game (if you missed it), but more on this to come...

Last weekend I thought it would be a great idea to fit in as many different things as possible. It began with a trip home on Friday to spend time with family. It was the first Friday of the month so downtown was holding a celebration in the streets. I went out and enjoyed some great time with my parents and even Jared and Rachael made the trip to town as well.

It was also the end of a week long festival supporting the arts, so my mother and I made it to a show at the old studio that I took dance from in the second grade.

On to Saturday. 

I made it back to Columbia Saturday afternoon to make sure I could watch the big football game. A few friends were in town so we spent the night watching the game just at the apartment of my friends Phil and Cait. It was so crazy downtown and around the stadium, plus they have a 62" TV, so it was so nice just to stay in and hang out. 

Caitlin and I made appetizers for the boys and fun drinks for ourselves.

Sunday was spent re-cooping and catching up on homework and studying, nothing very exciting.

Now, I'm all caught up and hopefully will have some great posts to come about this weekend coming up. Along with the List of Fun, I have to tests to study for this weekend, so lets see how I get this all done!

Have a great weekend!

Morgan and Matthew go to the Zoo!

The last weekend Matthew came down to Columbia, we decided to take a trip to the SC Zoo!

I absolutely love animals and always think its a great idea to go to the zoo, until I get there. I love animals so much that it usually makes me so sad to see them in tiny little cages and not running around free. One Zoo that I don't normally feel this way at is the NC Zoo. I am pretty partial to that Zoo because:

1) Its in Asheboro, I'm from Asheboro
2) The exhibits are so big and the animals seem to have plenty of room to roam around and avoid the annoying people visiting if they want to.

I have never quite been as impressed with a Zoo as the NC Zoo, but the SC Zoo ran a close second. I was really happy about the amount of space they give the animals and they seemed to have a good variety of exhibits.

We also picked a perfect day to go because it was cloudy and cool so the animals were very active.

This is why we call Colby a deer/kangaroo/person/dog.

love this!

It was such a nice morning walking around with Matthew. We wanted to keep the weekend as relaxing as possible so Saturday was spent at the Zoo and Sunday was spent at home watching football.

I even made Kathryn's white bean chili (minus the chicken).

I absolutely love lazy Sundays!

I hope your Monday is off to a great start! Colder weather is starting to creep in and I'm loving it. Please get here Fall!

Wedding Recap: Part 3

Here it is...

The final installment of Jared and Rachael's wedding recap.

Just in case you missed the first two:
Wedding recap: Part 1
Wedding recap: Part 2

Saturday morning was the morning of the wedding! I woke up early again and sat out on the porch with my parents until a few more people began to stir and it was time for mom and I to get ready to go to a bridal brunch at Poogan's Porch in downtown Charleston.

                                                                                    (Credit)

                                                                                 (Credit)

All of the bridesmaids as well as mother & aunt of the bride and mother of the groom enjoyed a yummy brunch and some coffee and mimosas. 

After brunch, the bridesmaids headed back to the Vendue Inn (also where Jared and Rachael were to spend the night) and began the process of getting ready. Not only did Rachael give all of her bridesmaids earrings for the wedding, she also gave us beautiful floral robes that we got to wear when getting ready.

The hair/make-up lady showed up and one by one we all were done up for the celebration.

                                                                                 (Credit)

When everyone was ready, it was time for pictures. Jared and Rachael chose to do a first look, so we were able to take most of the pictures before the wedding. We headed out to the area of fountains and took a bunch of group pictures.

Then it was off to the Rice Mill for the wedding!

(The following pictures were borrowed)

And from here it was time to party!! The reception was held inside the Rice Mill so we didn't have far to go.

                                    

It was such a fun night, everyone stayed on the dance floor and the party continued late into the night. The entire weekend was so much fun and it was wonderful to spend so much time with family. 

Thank you, Jared and Rachael, for the amazing weekend. I can guarantee everyone that was able to make it had so much fun.

Wedding Recap: Part 2

Welcome to Wedding Recap: Part 2!

If you missed part 1, check it out here...

On to Friday!

Friday morning I woke up extremely early. I had some trouble sleeping and felt wide awake at about 5:55am. I headed downstairs because I knew, of course, my parents would be up. The three of us sat on the porch and watched the sun rise (this ended up being a ritual every morning and one of my favorite parts about the whole trip).

Once the sun was up and a few more people began to make their way to the porch, I decided to go out for a quick run then get ready because Rachael had made plans for a girls day at the spa for mani's and pedi's.

I grabbed a quick coffee at Starbucks and met the other bridesmaids and bride at a salon in West Ashley.

Rachael picked a color of pink that matched the pink in the wedding and we spent the next 3 hours getting pampered.

After nails, I headed back to Folly to hang out with the family for a short time before I needed to be at the wedding site for the rehearsal. Most everyone had already gone to the beach and come back to shower, but I still slipped on my suit and made it out to lay in the sun for about 2 hours before it was time to clean up myself.

Once dressed and ready to go, those of us in the wedding headed to the Rice Mill for a quick rehearsal in preparation of the next day's events.

[The following pictures are borrowed].

After practicing all of our duties for the wedding, everyone headed over to James Island County Park, where the rehearsal dinner was being held. Everyone, but my little brother's girlfriend (Allie) and me. As a gift, I had decided to give Rachael and Jared a groom's cake for the rehearsal dinner. A lady out of Charleston had made the cake, so Allie and I left the rehearsal a little early to go pick it up.

Once we arrived at the park, everything looked amazing. My aunt and cousin had decorated the area for Rachael and Jared and it was perfect. 

After a little bit of confusion with the caterer and of course a friendly game of football, the food arrived and everyone enjoyed some BBQ and good company.

Stay tuned! Only one more installment left, the Wedding!