Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Over a Week Old Weekened Recap- doin' realll well with the whole blogging thing.

Well, not last weekend, but the weekend BEFORE, Ed & I raced down to Chattanooga Thursday after work/class so I could make it in time to see Chi Omega kill it at the annual Homecoming Step Show!! I was AMAZED, you could tell MANY hours of practice and hard work had been put into the show & this alum was HIGHLY impressed!



The girls walked away (more like jumping, screaming, and lots of celebrating) with best overall- out of all the fraternities and sororities! Following step show I went to eat with my Chi-O "family" my two littles, Lauren and Jenna, and then grand & great grand littles Hannah & Ann! It was great catching up with them & hearing about everything going on in Chattanooga!

Hannah, Jenna, Lauren, and I at Step Show

Friday Ed & I ran around our "old stomping grounds" (as my mom likes to say) and went to eat breakfast at one of our favorite restaurants, Aretha Frankenstein's, which back in the day was on Rachel Ray's show "$40 a Day." They have amazing breakfast burritos and it's the perfect place to cure a little case of the "Nappa Valley Flu!" *As a side note, you will soon see that the majority of what we did on our trip was EAT!! Chattanooga has some of my favorite restaurants and aside from all the friends I miss there, I also really miss the variety of places to chow down!*  Then Ed got a hair cut and we ran a few more boring errands that you most likely do not care about- mainly just stopping in stores that we miss when in Bristol.  Friday night was my designated "girls night" (although the majority of the weekend was spent catching up with girlfriends that I miss MUCHO! MUCHO!) we grabbed dinner and vino at another favorite Chatt-town restaurant, Big River, and chatted(no pun intended- ha!)  the night away.  At some point all of our boyfriends (and other guy friends) met us downtown at another favorite spot CBC where we ended the night! **Somehow I managed to not take a single picture all night!

Saturday Jenna and I went to get our nails done and try out this new "gel polish" I was planning on doing a raving review because it turned out so well, and was supposed to last chip free for TWO WEEKS! How amazing would that have been- and well worth the extra $$- SADLY, after a week the polish just peeled off (and I may or may not have been picking at it during that first quarter of the TN v. Alabama game) so no raving review here!

Saturday afternoon we went to the UTC tailgate for the homecoming game! Now, UTC is not known for it's football talent and I've only actually sat through one full football game when I was president and had to wait to hear which sorority won- gosh, that's really sad to admit! BUT, the tailgating is always fun! I love the football atmosphere- lots of people, good food, band playing, cheerleaders cheering, just makes me happy! Because it was homecoming EVERYONE was in town- I felt like a college freshman again and LOVED it (for a day)!!

girlfriends
girlfriends

girlfriends
and THE boyfriend :)

After the tailgate- no, we did not go to the actual game (shhh...)- we pretty much repeated the previous two nights just insert a different restaurant (beer cheese soup YUM) and different bars! SUCH a fun weekend!! Can't wait 'til next year! :) OH! and I can't forget that Chi Omega won Best Sorority for the 15th year in a ROW! SO proud!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Weird post about the way life smells.

Every winter I get my hair colored darker- my mom HATES it, but my hair naturally lightens in the summer and once I'm not out in the sun anymore, it gets brassy looking (and I may or may not be getting a few GRAYS...wth)! Anyways... last week I went to the salon and am now a dark brown with a slight red tint.  Nothing too dramatic, but definitely makes my hair shinier! With the new dye job (and not wanting to have to pay for it again for at least another year) I purchased some new shampoo & conditioner.

Redken Color Extend

I used it this morning for the first time and now I cannot stop smelling my hair!! It smells great- not super scented, just clean!

**Please note, after a week of using this shampoo & conditioner combo my hair feels slightly like straw and I'm using the shampoo additionally as body wash to get rid of quicker & convert back to 'ol faithful... Redken All Soft!

Anyways, after making my hair greasy from touching it so much and pulling it in my face to smell, I got to thinking about scent and how it makes you remember the weirdest things. I can just get a whiff of ammonia and it brings me back to pre-school (we are talkin' 20 years ago!), GAP dream to middle school, or  more recently Parrot Bay Malibu Rum to freshman year of college (sick)! I love getting instantly transported back in time and getting de ja vu from my olfactory receptors (definitely had to google that spelling)!

In the future, I think the scents that will currently define this period of my life will be Woodwick Cider scented candle, Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue perfume, Downy Lavender & Vanilla fabric sheets, and stinky dog (you do not want to purchase this smell- I promise)!

Now, this might gross some of you out... BUT, I love the way amusement parks smell (and malls) I think it's the large group of people and everyone's scents all running together- I know it's weird, but I love it!

Anyways, now that you think I'm a total nutcase... what are some of your favorite smells??

p.s.- I will do a post sometime soon (maybe before THIS weekend is over, about LAST weekend and the great time we had in Chattanooga! Go Mocs!)

Friday, October 8, 2010

My Blessed Boring Life

One of my funniest, favorite, friends Sara recently wrote this post and I felt like she was taking the words right out of my mouth.  As much as I like being 30 minutes away my parents (rather than 3 HOURS away while I was in college) and of course living with Ed and being close to his family as well, there are days when I think..."this is NOT what I would have EVER imagined life in my 20's being like."  Now, these days are few in far between, for the most part I'm a creature of habit and enjoy waking up early, going to work at my stable job, cooking dinner, and getting to spend time with the mammals (not just specifically people, gotta include little Beazy) I love.  But last night, Ed was studying, my mom is out of town, 1-sided conversations with Bea are only entertaining for so long, and I contemplated driving to Chattanooga just to have a girls night like old times.  In college, we would get one of these bad boys....

(Magnum bottle for under $7 with our student discount!)
...put on our PJ's, stay in, sip away, and laugh all night (or cry- depending on the conversation).  These are the nights I miss. 

After college it's really just so hard to meet good girlfriends- especially when you work with people that are all 40+, live in a small town, where most people don't typically move back until after they get married and want to start a family.  It's tough.  Now, I know some people might say something along the lines of, "change something!...MOVE!...get out!" and of course I toss that option around in my head sometimes, but really, for the most part, I think it would be hard anywhere!  In college, I was involved with many activities on campus that allowed me to meet all kinds of people and then of course, I had my sorority that automatically gave me 100+ girlfriends! Things are just different now...

Anyways, enough whining for now... I really do feel happy and blessed at this point in my life.  I live with the person I love, have parents that support me and have great friends that are just a phone call away!

Plus, when you live far away, and you DO get to go visit all your friends, everyone is just so happy to see you! : D and luckily, one of these away weekends is coming up in 6 days!!! I can't wait to go back to UTC Homecoming and see this one:

and these ones...

and can't forget these...

AH! Just thinking about next weekend makes me excited!

Monday, September 27, 2010

The Flea.

I should add fleas to my phobia list- right up there with possums, snakes, and psycho axe murders.

This afternoon I got home from work & was snuggled with Bea on the couch when I saw what I thought was a piece of dirt or a leaf on her fur...WRONG! I saw it's disgusting little legs start to squirm when i picked it up and knew immediately it was a flea. sick. gag. vomit. cue  instant itching all over my body. and major minor freak out.  I tried to search her wiggling body all over but her fur was too thick so I pinned the little biotch sweet baby down and went to town hacking at her hair.  Luckily Ed & I have started skimping on the cost of getting her groomed so we already had, Blair, his brother in-laws clippers at our apartment. On a side note, I always like to remind Blair when we give them back that I trim Bea's butt hair with his beard trimmer :) After the hacking concluded and she no longer had any hair on her rear (whoops forgot about putting the guard on the clippers) it was bath time- I figured I would have a better chance finding the little buggers if I could see her skin.


Bea
 VERSUS
B.B.

Bathing our little monster (especially single handedly- Ed is in the library studying for a midterm) deserves a medal.  To say she despises it in an understatement- she would probably rather eat her own feces than get a bath...oh wait... anyways... after her bath she was totally unhappy with me and did not like the thorough inspection I did of her body; however, I did not find any more fleas on her... but that doesn't mean they aren't lurking in my carpets, bedding, or ON ME!! You better believe I went to town with the flea carpet spray, washed our bedding on hot hot, scrubbed my body until my skin was raw and still can't stop itching! My mom told me I was a lunatic for freaking out over one flea, but you've seen that commercial, where there is one there are thousands! s.i.c.k.

On a positive note, thank goodness Beazy has now forgiven me and is helping me keep an eye out for the UPS man bringing me my Lilly!

*Note this all could've been avoided if she was ready for her next dose of Advantage, but it weirds me out to prematurely put more chemicals on my sweet Bea's skin, so in my mind Oct. 10 can't come soon enough!

Monday, September 20, 2010

Rhythm & Roots 2010

Well, once again I had a busy weekend & am now suffering through the day with my eyes 1/2 opened.  As much as I LOVE being busy & having plans, right around this time I crash and desperately need one of these...

 Maybe with a little Carmel on top!

This weekend my first college friend, Eliza, came to visit!  We met the first night after freshman move-in when my, oh-so-cute, orientation leader mentioned that everyone was going to a Mexican restaurant called Amigos (and of course I wasn't going to say no to the invitation of a sophomore boy).  So I pile in the car with a girl that lived down the hall from me and off we go... well, we get there and I soon realize, "woah... I don't know ANYONE here and EVERYONE here knows each other!" I'm sure I looked like a lost soul wondering around the restaurant, slightly sweaty from moving in the summer Chattanooga heat, and VERY obviously a freshman when I hear, "Hey! Are you from Kingsport?? [I was wearing a high school t-shirt] Do you know Kelli R.??" After chatting that night we kept running into each other at different freshman week of welcome events and soon became inseperable! We had a group of 5 girls and 4 guys that hung out all the time first semester freshman year (I really wish I had a picture of the night we had a mud fight)...

B: Josh, Jack, ?, and Tyler
F: Eliza, Emily, Kelly, Jenny, me and Chase

As time went on we all went our separate ways, and some of us kept in touch better than others! Liza & I continued our friendship and now, 5 years later she is still one of my best friends! 

Sophomore year we lived next to each other (and I went through a chubby phase)

Junior year celebrating my 21st together!

After senior year Jenny, me, and Liza at the lake last summer



Anyways, back from the time-warp... like I said, this weekend she made the long trek to Bristol to visit Ed & I and attend R&R! We had a blast catching up, people watching, spending far too much money on jewelry (haha) and stuffing our faces with food & maybe a little wine ;) 

Pre-Sweaty concert! 


Post sweaty concert (plus new jewels)
Eshwin & I watching Cadillac Sky
Cadillac Sky= AMAZING!
 After a day full of R&R fun we skipped out on going back Sunday afternoon & opted to go spend a little time on the lake... 

EWP, Bea, and I (me stuffing my face with Kettle Korn from the night before)
Beautiful South Holston Lake!

  
Now that you're bored to tears after reading this post go look up Cadillac Sky & see if they are playing anywhere close to you... I promise you will not be disappointed!








Thursday, September 16, 2010

The 4-Letter Word That Gets Me

S-A-L-E.  Seriously, gets me every time.  I can't help myself... I get the e-mail notification that there is an additional 30% off sale items at J. Crew, 40% off and free shipping at Ann Taylor, buy one get one free at Banana Republic and 40%-60% off Lilly?!? What's a girl to do.  I mean, if you don't get it when it's on sale you're practically loosing money...right? Anyways, due to the massive summer sales that have hopefully come to a close- at least for awhile- I'm trying to put my shopping on hold & maybe save a little. Try being the key word :/ 

Here are a few pretties that have recently joined my closet...

Cute with leggings & a scarf for lounging (my goal this fall is to look a little less "lounge-y" when I'm not at work- a.k.a. less sweats, t-shirts & greasy ponytails wow did I just say that out loud?)

A sweatshirt dress?? GENIUS. *See above justification of purchase ^^

The 'Denim Mini Pant' a.k.a. an almost-jegging- I'm not sure I'm quite ready to commit to the jegging craze- these work just as well as a 'jean legging' and also do not make me feel like my thighs are sausage meat trying to be shoved in the encasing. sick. BTW,  my legs are short, so you can't see the zippers- that I'm not a fan of- when I have on boots!
All above from J. Crew

I may have also recently snagged the Lilly Pulitzer Sabine Shirtdress off eBay...I've been looking for it since last year! Can't wait for it to come in!! :D


Perfect for work & fun! 

...And now I'm done... after I find something to wear to our Junior League Art Auction.


On a completely different note, I am SO glad it's finally cooling down here in the south & starting to feel like fall! The closer we get to fall, the closer we are to CHRISTMAS and I've already broken out a few Christmas-ish CD's I can't wait until everyone is in the Christmas spirit or whatever.  My close friends know my obsession (gives my shopping obsession a run for it's money) with Christmas music, but I'll save the gory details for a separate post.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Labor Day [Weekend] State of Mind

Ugh. It's hard to get back into the swing of things after a long weekend- ESPECIALLY after an extra long (Fri.-Mon.) amazing weekend when friends come to visit! But, thank goodness for another short week- and since I'm a lacking blogger- it's already Thursday and another weekend is almost ready for me to tackle! Ed and I are probably going to take it pretty easy, watch a little football & relax since last weekend was jam-packed & NEXT weekend is Rhythm & Roots Reunion here in B-Town! I can't WAIT! Not only will it be a fun atmosphere, great music, and something different to do, BUT two of my best friends are coming to visit! yay!

Anyways, I will leave you with a few pictures of last weekend and I will reminisce about being out on the lake rather than freezing in my office (I've literally had my space heater going all summer- this A.C. kills me!).

 Jenna, my sorority little sis, college room-mate, and great friend came to visit!

We concert-ed...

laked it... 

Got really dirty...
Enjoyed the first fire of the season...

And just generally had a GREAT time! (minus two flat tires...)

And last but not least, broke out the white jeans for one last time... :)














Tuesday, September 7, 2010

The Beginning

Well, I've been blog-stalking for a few months now and have finally decided to jump on the bandwagon and start my own! My biggest concern with starting a blog has been lack of content, I'm a 23 year old girl, living & working in northeast TN and my day-to-day life is fairly ordinary. However, my boyfriend is back in school and I need a new hobby to occupy my time when he's studying (other than online shopping) so, here it goes!

Sweet Bea: The Story of Girl & Dog.

The nice thing about starting a blog is you get to talk about yourself for awhile, and let's be honest, who doesn't like to do that... however, it's slightly awkward considering I can't imagine people actually reading this. Anyways, I'm Becca, Bea is my dog (also known as B.B-we have the same initials-coincidence?- Beazer, Queen Bea, Beatrice Louise, BeazyLouisy, and nugget),  Ed is my boyfriend (affectionately, EWP, Edwina/o, Eshwin, PookiePoohBear- kidding- and I learned this weekend his sisters used to put a red wig on him and call him Sally), and I have an obsession with online shopping. More like an addiction, I can't stop. I work for Ed's dad (definitely has it's perks) at an insurance agency where I am the marketing director (highly unlikely I will talk about this aspect of my life). I graduated from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in May 2009 with a BA in Business Administration & Marketing, and although I'm VERY glad to be done with school, I definitely miss all my friends who, for the most part, are still in Chattanooga.  Like I said, I love to shop, do crafts, I'm learning to cook & have aspirations to learn to sew as well. I was in a sorority in college & have recently joined the Junior League in hopes of reliving the days of yore.  I finish most days with a glass of wine, snuggling with Bea, chatting with Ed, and watching re-runs of Will & Grace reading :)


Anyways, hope you enjoy!