Miss. Ohio USA = Miami Alum

Last night my friend from school, Kristin, competed for the Miss. USA crown . Believe it or not, this was only Kristin's 2nd pageant ever and she made it into the top 10 - I couldn't have been more excited! She looked absolutely beautiful....

Her dress was by far my favorite evening gown.  The neckline and embellished waist really drew the eye, and I thought it fit her body perfectly. Some of the other evening gowns up there were just really not good. And check out those shoes....I would have face planted if I had to walk in front of millions of people in those things.

 

It was so surreal to see her step on stage for the first time in the outfit on the right. I can honestly say I never thought I would know someone who was competing for Miss. USA.....  And we obviously can't forget about the swimsuit portion of the competition. Kristin has worked hard for that body, and it was lookin' pretty fabulous up on stage.

Who were some of your favorites in the competition? So proud of Kristin for representing Ohio and Miami University so well!

Crafty Caps

Pretty much every other school in Ohio graduated this past week....which is ironic considering way back in 2009 we started a month before all of them.  I guess that's what we get for adding in a "j-term".  But hey, this place is amazing so I'm not complaining - Miami is just helping us prolong the inevitable goodbye.  

 

My friend Tara completely blinged out her cap for Ohio State's graduation yesterday.  But for real, this cap started out black.  I wouldn't expect anything less from the most over-the-top girl I know :)

One of my best friends' twin goes to Ohio University and had little paw prints (OU's mascot is the bobcat) and martini glasses on her cap.  I thought it was so adorable. 

 

Kind of can't get over how cute and creative my friends are.

If you missed it I posted about my bedazzled cap a few weeks ago here, and I'm sure you'll see a lot more of it in 5 days when I officially graduate!

Weekend Full of Friends...and Studying

As of tomorrow I only have one week left of my Junior year of college. I've been working on school work non-stop as of late, so this weekend I took some time to hang out with friends. Unfortunately, now that it's Monday I'm back to running around like a crazy woman.

My friends and I went and celebrated our friend's birthday one night (and ended up spending a lot of time watching the NHL Playoffs). I finally broke out my Lilly skirt for the first time and think my outfit turned out to be pretty cute!

With the birthday boy! He's honestly one of the sweetest kids I've ever met - and one of the most hardworking (he's an accounting wiz).

One of my best friends from high school (who goes to Ohio State) also came and visited me one night. I was so excited to wear my Anthropologie top for the first time - I'm obsessed with it.

Finally, I made sure Tara got to visit the infamous Miami lantern and the seal. 

Isn't Miami gorgeous??

Now back to studying.....so much to do and so little time!

A Long Awaited Reunion

This weekend I got to see my very best friend for the first time in 8 months. Sarah from Living Life Lakeside and her boyfriend Mike came down from Michigan on Saturday to visit me, and since we met on the steps of our school's ice arena it was only appropriate to attend the hockey game. We embarrassed ourselves by running, screaming, and then crying when we were reunited in the ticket line, but I honestly haven't been happier to see someone in my life.

Sarah and her boyfriend at the hockey game decked out in Miami hockey gear.

Sarah and I - the first picture of us in way too long. And I am of course representing Miami in my Miami Hello Kitty shirt - best purchase ever. 

We played Alabama Huntsville this weekend. One of the goalies, Cody Reichard, started a program for sick children at Cincinnati Children's Hospital called Swoops Stoop (Swoop is Miami's mascot). The players go and hang out with the kids at the hospital and each week a different kid and his family get to come to the game. The kids at the hospital designed these jerseys and they are now being auctioned off to benefit the kids - what a great cause.

After the game Sarah and I headed out to celebrate and meet up with some friends. Our tops are clashing just a bit :)

We finally met up with our friend Josh and completed the reunion. This weekend was beyond amazing. It felt so normal to have Sarah back here at Miami, but at the same time it was surreal that she was actually here after having not seen each other for 8 months. I'm so sad she is already gone, but I can't wait until the next time we see each other. 

"Even though we change and we're all finding our own place in the world, we all know that when the tears fall or the smile spreads across our face, we'll come to each other because no matter where this crazy world takes us, nothing will ever change so much to the point we're still not friends."

Skating Santa

A week ago I received a Christmas package from my best friend Sarah of Living Life Lakeside, and when I opened it this is what I saw.... (On a side note, I'm a horrible friend and just mailed her package yesterday - but it's pretty awesome).

How adorable is this stocking? She made Santa my favorite Miami hockey player! He has ice skates, a hockey stick, and my favorite player's number on his shoulder (she is ridiculously good at crafting). The stocking was also filled with lots of goodies that I would show you a picture of if they weren't already scattered throughout the house already!

Today we are having Christmas with my dad's side of the family and heading to Christmas Eve service at church. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas Eve and I can't wait to see and share pictures with everyone in a few days :)

My stocking is hung and ready for Santa tonight, is yours?

Lost In A Corn Maze...

This weekend was full of little adventures/activities that I'll be posting about throughout the week. One of which occurred yesterday afternoon when we decided to go pick some pumpkins and find our way through a corn maze.

I'm not very good at corn mazes. Normally I wander around until I get bored and then cut through all the corn to find my way out - but my friend Kierstin wasn't about to give up.

Lost in the corn...I finished my carmel apple about 5 minutes in and that's when I lost interest and demanded photo shoots. (Top: Theme, Jeans: Joe's, Shoes: Converse, Bag: Coach)

Kierstin took a turn posing with the corn. I then got the bright idea to pick corn off and throw it on the ground so we would know where we had been. Which resulted in...

Successfully completing the corn maze in about an hour and thirty minutes - I almost had my friend Eddie come rescue us.

Long Distance

I am in the midst of a long distance relationship - with my best friend.

and I don't like it 

I have not seen her since our friends funeral. I miss her so much and am to lucky to have met her in line for a hockey game last year. She is my twin and as our friend said to me the other night "you two were made for each other, I've never seen you two not happy when your around each other" And that is so true.

We are both in good places in our lives - we both are happy, we both have guys we are "talking" to, but we aren't anywhere near each other and that makes me sad every single day.

Come back to me, I miss you way too much and don't like being at school without you :(

Who You'd Be Today

On Monday one of my best friends tragically took his own life, and  I am about to drive an hour and a half away to his memorial service. I met Greg while I was waiting in line for a hockey game one day at school - he asked to play with my iPad in order to suck up to me so I would let them go ahead of me so they could get good seats. Two more sessions of talking in line and I had met my current two best friends, Greg and Sarah.

This was taken at the last Miami Baseball game we went to - Greg kept trying to hide from the camera. He always took thousands of (off center) pictures of Sarah and I and it was rare to get one of him.

One of the first weekends after we became friends.  We all drove to Bowling Green for a hockey game.

Greg setting up the tent that we were going to camp out in for the Michigan v Miami hockey games. We argued with him on how to set it up but sure enough he prevailed - and then the tent blew away. 

Greg using me as a footrest. I loved when we would all just hang out and we were always so open with each other.  That night he told me my wedges were sexy - giving me some confidence for the rest of the night. That night is also when my favorite memory took place -  I was in a horribly grumpy mood at the bar and a backstreet boy song came on so he pulled me out of the booth and twirled me and danced with me until I couldn't stop smiling.

Sarah, Greg, and Josh were going to be roommates this coming school year. Miami is never going to be the same without you Greg, it still doesn't feel real to me. Thank you for giving me the best friends I could have ever asked for, always making everything fun, and always making sure I was happy

I love you and miss you. Love and Honor always and forever

I'm Just A Summer Girl....

So we finally had a nice weekend in Dublin. My friend from high school came home (drove 20 minutes) from Ohio State and we layed out on her deck and caught up on our talks and tans.

Me and Tara - trying not to squint too much. It was sooo hot. It's hard going from 50 to 80 degrees in one day, but I'm not complaining.

Guess which towel was mine. Just a tad bit over the top.

'

her mom is adorable - look what she made us for lunch :)

the cheese was legit bubbling by the time we went in.....

Here's to more days like today and a nice warm summer 

Living Life Lakeside

I've finally convinced my bestie Sarah to join the blogging world!!!

She is the most creative, fun loving, caring, girl ever and her blog is sure to be filled with amazing DIY projects, pictures of her everyday adventures, and lots of decorating/design ideas. 

She is basically my twin and you should go check out her blog:
 Living Life Lakeside

Oh, and did I mention it is her BIRTHDAY tomorrow?!?!

Make sure you go check it out :)

What Week Is It???

Today marks the start of Sarah's Birthday Week. She will be turning 23 on Friday,

(Insert annoying Rebecca Black song here) - because we are SO excited.

In honor of her birthday week I thought I would bestow you with the privilege of seeing our disfunction picture that I mentioned a little while ago.

This is why we are friends.

We only have 2 more weeks of classes so we are all crazy busy, but of course that never stops us.  We have lots of work to get done, but that won't stop us from having a little fun.

P.S. this picture sums up my weekend.

Andy came back to visit! Glad we took the picture next to the bathroom.

And excuse the gross hair. I curled it and then it down poured as we were walking uptown.

Hope you all had great weekends!

Check back this week for birthday updates - I have a few surprises and lots of fun activities planned for Sarah.

Party in the USA

I despise scheduling classes - it absolutely never goes the way you want it to. I get so nervous that I literally sleep with my laptop and course codes next to my bed just in case something were to happen, and usually have nightmares the week leading up to the actual scheduling.

Well guess what? I actually got into all my classes this semester, success!

In other news it was gorgeous here this weekend which justified us going out every single night? Friday consisted of hanging out at Sarah's apartment and then heading out to our favorite bar, The Woods.

( if you would like to follow my bestie on Twitter her username is: sarah_jane8)

Oh yes....and these are her pictures from the that I stole off Facebook, because I forgot to take some.

I'm wearing a new J. Crew top and am loving Sarah and my matching crossbody bags.

Party in the USA came on, we're shameless fans and dancers

Saturday we had a fiesta at Sarah's while watching the National Championship hockey game and then headed to The Woods again where we tore it up on the dance floor. Sweat was legitimately dripping off of our faces, so gross.

I served as Greg's foot rest while watching the hockey game. I was kinda depressed because my boy is in the NHL now and officially gone from Miami so I moped around for a little. Plus there is only one chair in Sarah's apartment, so the floor serves as seating. 

Gonna Miss My Boys :(

This weekend was filled with - you guessed it, hockey. It was our last regular season home game so we went all out for the game.

Wearing all of our hockey apparel to support the boys.

Our "Jersey Shore" sign. All of the players watch Jersey Shore (yuck) religiously so we decided to make them their own 'MVP' sign. However, instead of 'MVP' standing for Mike, Vinny, and Pauly it stood for Miele, Vaive, and Pat.

Seniors Last Game

Carter, Vincent, Justin, Pat, and Andy

I'm Gonna Miss Them!

Valentines Day Date

Despite the fact that today is Valentines Day and I am single I'm not going to complain, because I have the best friends and family a girl could ask for.

My best friend Sarah and I went out for Sushi at our favorite restaurant; we made reservations and everything!

My valentine from Sarah. It was absolutely adorable and was poking fun at our twitter addiction. She is so crafty and creative.

How was your Valentines Day?

Best. Weekend. Ever.

This weekend was a huge success. Except for the whole tent blowing away thing.

Sarah waiting outside the ice arena at 3 AM

Me waiting outside at 3 AM with about five layers on.

Nap time once they finally let us out of the cold.

Sarah, Myself, and Lauren

This was in the Miami Newspaper. I'm in the right corner right behind the player, what an exciting goal (if you couldn't tell from my facial expression)!

  

They wore specials jerseys to honor their student assistant manager, Brendan Burke, who died in a car accident last year. Brendan's dad owns the Maple Leafs hockey team, and Brendan was one of the first people in the hockey world to be openly gay. His story is such an inspiration.

All their nameplates said "Burke" on the back to honor him as well.

Look at those cuties, little did I know I would run into two of them later that night.

..

We win. We win. We win.

Me, Lauren, Sarah, and Anna - 4 very happy girls after the best weekend ever.