Showing posts with label High School. Show all posts
Showing posts with label High School. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Birthday Celebrations

Sometimes my birthday can get overlooked because of Christmas festivities and New Year's Eve celebrations. But reality is EVERYONE in the WHOLE world celebrates my birthday so it makes my birthday so much more fun! I spread out my birthday celebrations for about a week, and each and every celebration was so fun!


We spent New Year's Eve and Kaila's boyfriend's house. Once the clock struck midnight, Patrick found this piece of cake and lit some candles and everyone sang to me. I laughed and laughed because they all knew that I don't like cake, and then once I blew out the candles, I handed the cake back to Patrick to eat. 


I went to Carrabba's for birthday dinner with my parents. THIS chocolate delight was DELICIOUS!



The fab five were at it again for my birthday dinner. We headed downtown to The Cotton Patch, and it was such a fun time with these girls! After dinner, we headed back to my house where we talked for hours about education, the government, our futures, etc. We felt like old ladies discussing these things, but I'm so grateful for these lifelong friends. 


Kaila surprised me with a trip to Atlanta for my birthday weekend. Through me being nosy and a friend kind of spilling the beans, it ended up not being as much of a surprise as it should have been. BUT it was tons of fun. We shopped a lot, ate lots of good food, played fun games, froze in Piedmont Park, didn't get enough sleep, and laughed a lot. I'm already looking forward to my next trip to the ATL. 

Friday, December 20, 2013

Fifth Annual Tacky Sweater Christmas Party

On Thursday night, we had our FIFTH annual tacky sweater Christmas party. I can barely believe that this was the fifth time we did this. How have we been doing this five years? I feel incredibly old. (You can read about Year 2, Year 3,  and Year 4.)This was the lowest turnout we've had, but it just shows how old we're getting. People had things to do with their husbands (okay that was only Hannah), and plenty of others were either out of town or just busy with life. To be completely honest, I'm not sure if we'll get to have one next year. So many of us will have graduated (not me) and we'll be well into adulthood. One of my friends just accepted a job in Texas, and I have other friends applying to grad school. IS THIS REAL LIFE? I feel so old. Okay, moving on....



Typical. 


Love these ladies!


Thanks, MB, for making us take a "fake" laughing picture :)


I have no words. 


I just want the world to know that my sweater is about the 12 Days of Christmas (best one I've ever had; shout out to my mom for getting this one for me!)


Love this sweet best friend of mine!

Hope you are enjoying the tackiest, merriest time of the year!

Friday, August 23, 2013

Dear Maggie,

I've literally watched you grow up. I remember the days where you were this young. It seems like just yesterday you were in middle school tagging along with all of us as we headed to Chelsea's house or to the movies or out to eat. I can't believe you're going to college. 


Times spent with you have always been fun. Whether it's been sleepovers or church events or just random hangouts like going to Bruster's one night, we've always had a blast. You've never ceased to make me laugh!


I can barely remember going to any church thing without you being there. Whether it was Bible studies that I led or summer camp or any of the other numerous events we went to, you were there. So many of my favorite memories from youth group include you, and for that I'm so grateful!


Probably some of my favorite memories include our constant trips to Moe's and Starbucks. I always loved catching up on your life when we would go there, and I loved getting to spend that time with you. Whatever the latest dilemma was, we would talk it out there. If only those walls in Moe's and Starbucks could talk...


Another of my favorite memories would be all of the football games that we would go to. We'd either all pile in the Browns car or your parents would drive one and we'd be in the other. One of the best of those weekends was the weekend we all stayed in Hilton Head and spent Saturday at the beach. 


Senior year was a blast for me, because I got to watch you experience the first of all the things I was experiencing the last of. Homecoming was one of those times, and of course we all had a blast! And who can forget all of our talks by our lockers? Only the Lord could've planned that out!


Since Drew was going through all of the stuff I was going through, you got to be at all of the fun moments of senior year. You made it all the more fun, and you were always excited for me and for what the future held!


The summer after my senior year was sort of hard for me because I knew I would never get to experience some of my favorite years of high school with you. After plenty of years of spending time with you, I had to trust that the Lord was going to watch over you, and that He definitely did. 


Over the past three years, it has been wonderful to get to see God work in you in some really cool ways. You have grown up to be such a beautiful, loving woman of the Lord. A woman that I am proud to be able to call a friend. 


We spent a lot of your senior year talking through what would happen next. We both loved our senior years at ACS, and the idea of doing something different scared us both to death. But, I lived through it and have enjoyed it and so will you!


We also spent a lot of your senior year having sleepovers with Jamie, going on road trips, and talking about boys...wait, we've been doing that for years!!! I was able to watch you become confident in who you were in Christ, and what a blessing that was for me!


There were plenty of crazy, ridiculous times during your senior year as well. From the fireworks on New Year's Eve to all of the beaver adventures to countless other things, it's been a blast. 


During this year, I've gone through a lot, but you've been the most supportive "little sister" I could ever ask for. You've listened, and I've listened. Our relationship has turned into more of a friendship instead of me being the older one and you being the younger one. 


I'm so glad I got to spend the night before you left town helping you pack up. I cannot wait to see all that God does in and through you during your first semester in college. Mags, you are the sweetest and one of my favorite blessings in life! Love you so much!

Thursday, August 15, 2013

fab couple of weeks

It's been a wonderful two weeks of just hanging out, catching up, and sleeping way more than I ever did at camp. Classes start on Monday, and while I'm not looking forward to taking 18 hours, I am excited about getting to be in the program and focus more on my major. I'll get to be in the classroom a lot more, and that makes me excited about school! And even though Mondays and Wednesdays will be some looooooong days, I'll have some sweet four days weekends :)


I got to hang out with sweet Jamie before she headed off to UGA! She's now an Alpha Gam, and I'm so excited for her!


I've also spent some time with my sweet Mags. I can't believe she'll be a freshman in college in just a few short weeks. Thankfully I'll get to see her a little bit more before she heads off to Carollton!


Spent the afternoon with my favorite boys!


It took a few attempts to get a good picture...


...getting there...


...finally!


Had dinner with these guys + a few more for our "once a year dinner" (we really see each other more than that), and it was so good to catch up! 

I've also spent some time with some more people, catching up, grabbing lunch, registering for classes, and even a little bit of shopping. I'm excited to see what this semester brings, and I'm looking forward to a few road trips. I'm heading back to camp this weekend to work the Augusta Christian senior retreat, which makes me so happy. I can't wait to see some of my favorite camp friends + some of my favorite ACS staff/teachers. Happy Thursday, friends!

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Graduations + Beach

I knew Saturday was going to be a long day. I had three graduations to go to, plus I was driving to the beach after the day was over. But, I knew it was going to be worth it. And honestly, it was. Kaila and I left my house at 8:15 that morning and headed to our first graduation of the day...


I got to see this sweet girl graduate and lead the pledge! 
SO proud of you, Jamie! 


We then took a lunch and shopping break and finally headed back to the James Brown Arena for Lakeside's graduation. This was probably how we felt about hearing the same speech given by the superintendent for the second time or just our natural reactions to Bryan taking a picture of us. You decide. 


And then we decided to take pictures of ourselves instead of the graduates during graduation. Yep, we were those people. 


Congratulations, Ryan!


I then headed to West Acres to Augusta Christian's graduation. I got to watch Maggie sing, give a wonderful speech, and graduate!

After that, I headed to Hannah and Jonathan's where I dropped off their gifts and got to have dinner with the sweet newlyweds! It was so fun getting to hang out with them and be their first dinner guest. It was a nice break in the looooong day. Later that night, Kaila and I headed to the beach and we were SO relieved to finally be there. We soaked up the sun for two days and enjoyed just some time away. It was SO needed!


As you can tell, my mom sure did enjoy the sun this weekend :)



Sweet parents!


Such a fun weekend with this girl!



And the last time the four of us will be together until I get back from camp. Bryan and Kaila headed to Swaziland yesterday on a mission trip. 

It sure has been a busy week, but it was so worth it! Happy Wednesday!







Jonathan & Hannah's Wedding

Side note: I have no idea why all of the pictures are grainy/blurry. Blogger has been doing some weird things lately (I've been thinking about switching to Wordpress) but I want to post about this while it is still fresh in my mind!

Jonathan and Hannah's wedding was absolutely wonderful. It was a beautiful wedding, full of moments of God-honoring worship, pure love, and sweet memories I'll never forget. There were many happy tears, lots of laughter, and hours of smiling to where our cheeks still probably hurt from it. I don't think any of us could have pictured a more beautiful weekend.



We started off the weekend with a Bridesmaids' Luncheon at the house of one of Hannah's mom's friends. It was lovely, and it was a sweet time to just be loved on by the bride. 


Rehearsal Dinner with my BFF Bridesmaid!


Kelly is one of Hannah's friends from her year at GCSU. I've met her a couple of times before, but it was so fun getting to spend these past couple of weekends with her. 


I really love this picture of me and Hannah, and I hate that it's all blurry on here. 


Kelly and I really wished we could've worn our Chacos down the aisle. 


We didn't manage to grab a picture of the five of us, but it sure was great getting to be with our other two BFFs!


Family!


They're MARRIED! I was so honored to get to stand up by my best friend and watch her marry her love. I can hardly believe it's come and gone! 

Friday, April 12, 2013

a little break from reality

Spring break is slowly but surely coming to an end. I've absolutely loved this week, and I'm not looking forward to going back to school on Monday, even though we only have two weeks of class left!


This sweet boy turned FOUR on Tuesday. Seriously, FOUR. I cannot believe it's been four years since I became Ash Ash!


Also on Tuesday my mom rocked it like she usually does at the annual FCA golf breakfast. It was a success, like always!


On Wednesday, my friend Kaila and I headed to Atlanta to visit some friends. Her boyfriend is friends with some of my best friends from high school, so it worked out quite well for me. Before we hung out with them, we headed to the World of Coke.






Besides my friend Lauren in Australia, Kaila is my one friend who loves Coke just as much as I do. So it was really fun to get to explore this place with her! 


It was a BEAUTIFUL sort of hot day in Hotlanta. 


Enjoying some Willy's Mexican with everyone!


Finally visited my GT friends but only managed to get a picture with one of them! 

The rest of this week will be spent doing DIY projects, spring cleaning, crafting for Hannah's shower, and just enjoying these last few days of freedom. Happy almost weekend to you, friends!