Weekend in Review

First of all, thank you all SO very much for all of your amazingly heartfelt, sweet, and honest comments on my previous post in regards to anxiety. How wonderful is it that we as women are able to share so easily with each other? It's a beautiful thing and I feel so fortunate to be able to write in this blog and have so many of you partake in it with me. I just wanted to extend a very sincere thank you, and let you all know that your words truly helped me. I read through each one, and I am going to be trying out any and all of the techniques I haven't yet tried, outside of medicine.

Also, I wanted to take a moment and say hello! and hi! and all that good stuff to the tons of you who commented introducing yourselves! Over the next week I am going to make my way over to all of your blogs, and I'm excited to see your corner of the internet too. :)

After I completed that blog on Saturday morning I ended up pulling myself out of my low spell. I spent the rest of the day getting a lot of things done (staying busy helped), and my girlfriends arrived later in the evening for a little sleepover. We were all exhausted, so after chit chatting for a bit we headed to sleep, only to wake up around 7am this morning! We all got ready and walked down to St. Micheal's for a really delicious breakfast. Afterward, we headed over to Sarah's for Brenda's baby shower. It was a lot of fun and so, so good to see everyone on such a happy occasion. Brenda is one of my sorority sisters, and we've all been friends since college, lived together, did the whole college thing side by side. She currently lives in California with her husband, adorable Boxer puppy, and will soon have a baby added to the mix. They decided to keep the gender a surprise, so most of her gifts were non-gender specific. I have to hand it to her- I don't know if I could go a whole nine months without finding out! It's so exciting though, and I can't wait to see if "baby Powers" is a boy or girl!

walking downtown early this morning for breakfast


cuties!


at St. Micheal's


at the shower- beautiful Brenda, the mommy-to-be!


cupcakes, always a hit!


boy or girl?




Shirls, Alana, and me








6 weeks (or less) to go!




if it's a girl... ;)




the lovely hostesses Megan and Sarah, and the guest of honor! :)




It was just such a lovely afternoon. I love attending events in honor of my friends, and I feel so lucky that there always seems to be one around the corner. In fact, this Wednesday I will be attending the wedding of two friends, Lexy and Jason! I'm so excited, and I'm especially looking forward to it because it's not going to be a traditional type of wedding. They're both very artistic (he's a tattoo artist) so I know whatever they come up with will be ultra-original and beautiful. Plus, I can't wait to see a million of my friends in one place. Awesome.

But, back to today- I came home incredibly exhausted, but when Hank got off work (yes he works Sundays until the summer, yuck!) we decided to get some exercise in so we walked down to the market and did some quick grocery shopping. I had to stop by a few places while he had band practice, and now I am laying low and thinking about my lesson plans for tomorrow. This week should go by really quickly- we have AIMS testing (not fun) but this week my seniors start our book club unit, so that's exciting. It's so crazy how quickly the year has gone by- it seems like just yesterday I was getting to know these kids and now we have less then three months left! It's neat being a teacher in that sense- I get to live a wonderful schedule where there is always a break, an end, a beginning.

I am going to head to sleep, but before I go I wanted to mention something that one of my readers asked me to share with you all! She works for a non-profit organization that is trying to raise awareness for their cause, and you can click here to learn just what that cause is, and to vote! It takes a second and I know it would mean a lot to her...and you can consider it your good deed for the day. :)

I hope all of you have an amazing week!

So much love!

Friday night- birthday fun

Last night was such a great night. Two of my closest friends, Alana and Erin, celebrated their birthdays. The night began in downtown Phoenix, at the First Friday Art Walk, continued at a couple of bars- including Lost Leaf, my favorite...and ended at Hanny's, for a late night birthday dinner. The older I get, the more I appreciate birthdays. I'm not one to get sad about them at all- I think it's so awesome to have "made it" another year, and the whole idea of the celebration is fantastic! YES! Let's celebrate you and your life, and this past year, and let's toast to the next year. Birthdays are my favorite days, and this is even more so when they are the birthdays of people I love.

I've been friends with Erin since our freshman year in college, when we lived in the same dorm, and we both ended up rushing Pi Phi. We've been close ever since, spending birthdays and holiday parties, nights out, girl's trips and vacations across the country together. She's a really special person to me, so her birthday is a special day to me too, since I'm so happy she was born...as weird as it sounds! haha. And my sweet Alana- I met her my sophomore year of college and immediately fell in friend love with her. We've been the same kind of close ever since- spending those same girl's nights, trips, etc. Alana is one of my all-time favorite people, and to know her is to love her forever. Our group of girl friends has been close for a long time, and once you get to the point where you've all been friends for close to a decade, it's really just a big family. We're all so incredibly different, and it's so neat that over the years we've remained so close. Weddings, babies, up and downs...we've all been there for one another.

Last night was no different! It was super fun, and a night to remember for sure. Here are some photos from the evening-

downtown Art Walk


the birthday girls and me


my cute little besties and me


the gorgeous sisters


Erin, Kyle and Jeff (this was one of the few photos I took with my D60- you can totally tell the picture quality!)



Erin and me


sisters!


same shirt, kinda...


Alana, Em and me- these ladies are the best.


Pi Phis ;)


The Kolbes


Shirls and Sarah


Leah and Alana


Shirley and Nate, aren't they the cutest couple?!


walking downtown to Hanny's


birthday table one!


birthday table two! (still missing a couple of people)


Happy birthday Alana!


dinner


The Barnas...good people :)


me


Kati! I love this photo so much.


annnd, one of the lovely birthday girls! So pretty.


I hope all of you had a wonderful Friday night, whatever you did! I slept in super late this morning, and now I'm off for a day at the salon with Rhonda. Have a great day. :)

Weekend in Review

This weekend I joined some of my closest girlfriends for a weekend at our old stomping grounds- Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, AZ for the Homecoming festivities. We don't go every year, but this year worked out for a majority of us last minute, so we took the plunge and decided to go. Our usual girl's trip/travel group was whittled down a bit due to Amy and Carrie living in Florida and Minnesota, respectively, and Autumn and Brenda pregnant, so it turned out to be just five of us.

I had the best time this weekend. I got to catch up with so many old, dear friends and my little heart felt like it was going to just burst from happiness the entire time. Many of you might not know this, but I was in a sorority throughout all four of my undergrad college years. I lived in the house/wing and loved every single second of the experience. When people meet me now, based off appearances they're sometimes surprised I was a "sorority girl," and I don't talk about it unless I'm with my sisters or if it comes up, so it's funny for me at times when people find out and it kind of bends stereotypes and preconceived notions. I love it. In case you're curious, I'm a Pi Phi alumni (Pi Beta Phi), which is actually the oldest sorority in the United States, we were founded in 1867 and there is more than likely a chapter in any major university you visit. Pi Phi is a huge, huge part of my life and it's a really special thing to me. I feel like it really shaped me into a wonderful woman, as cheesy as it sounds, and I met many of my very, very best friends through it. I know a lot of people have negative feelings towards Greek life, but for the most part those are people who probably haven't ever experienced it themselves. I am a huge proponent of "girl power" (haha), and a total girl's girl...so sorority life was made for someone like me. A big part of Homecoming is meeting up with all of the Pi Phis, and the active chapter will do a luncheon or banquet on the last day. This year we went out Friday night, Saturday morning for a late-start Tequila Sunrise, and Saturday night. Sunday was the luncheon. Overall the weekend was awesome. We ate yummy food, walked all over downtown, danced our butts off, and laughed 'til we cried. It's such a wonderful thing to be able to make new memories with old friends. Like I said earlier, my heart is so full of love and so happy, and I am so grateful for all of these amazing women in my life.

Now, pictures!

our room at the historic Monte Vista Hotel right in the heart of downtown Flagstaff. I LOVE this hotel so much, and the salon/spa Autumn and I worked at all through college is attached to this, so I would often have to go into the scary basement to get fresh towels. I am positive the place is haunted and Erin, Jenna and I swear we had a strange experience with the "Bellman Ghost." haha.



Jenna, Erin, and Shirley




dinner! We enjoyed a delicious Thai meal.






After dinner we headed down to Maloney's, which is a bar we used to frequent while in college. It is definitely not my kind of place now, but it was fun for awhile and we ran into a million people! I ended up seeing Kelli, my sister's best friend and one of my favorite people. Her boyfriend Mike attended NAU so they came up for the weekend and it was a pleasant surprise to see her. :)



Alana and me, squinty because the flash was way too bright for a dark bar!



more squints! ;)



outside, it was so cold. I swear I'm not that short, just crouching!



Katie and Terra, Autumn and my little sisters in Pi Phi and dear friends! I love them.





Big sis/little sis! Terra is one of the most important people to me in the whole, wide world. We've been through a lot together and now that she is back in the country I am so excited to spend as much time as possible with her. She is coming up this next weekend to stay with me, and I'm literally counting down the minutes. She is such a doll.



We spent Friday night bar hopping and ended the night at the Monte V, dancing to a fun band and being silly. Alana, Erin and I decided to eat pizza at 3am (NOT my style and I felt so gross the next day- although it was so delicious at the time), and went to sleep around 4am or so. The next morning was Tequila Sunrise, which is an NAU tradition where the bars open at 6am and it's just an all-around insane time. We thought about doing it/not going to sleep...but sleep won and we didn't wake up until around 8am and then headed downtown, still insanely tired!

Here we are! Alana does not look happy. ;)



heading down in the elevator


Here's Shirley, sitting on the patio at Charly's/Hotel Weatherford and enjoying brunch. We were incessantly entertained by the wasted, wasted people stumbling around!



beautiful day


tired faces...shortly after this I went back up to the room and napped my heart out with Jenna!


That night we decided to do Beaver St. Brewery for dinner and then go out once again to see friends and enjoy our last night in town! Dinner was okay, Shirley and I split a pizza (bad choice...pizza again?!) and a salad.

Jenna and Alana at dinner



Afterwards we went over to The Green Room.

Don't even ask what those drinks are...and yes, that is a Red Bull can floating in the pitcher.



Now this is a horrid picture of me, but the real gem is cute Shirley in the background. Her face makes me laugh every time and I'm leaving this up for Autumn's benefit!



Leah!



I stopped taking photos at this point because the night got a little crazy and I forgot to, but it was really fun time! :)

The next morning we slept in as late as possible and headed over to the Pi Phi luncheon I mentioned at the beginning of the entry! One of the neatest things about this afternoon was that one of my very special students, Anna, is a Pi Phi pledge now, so I'm taking part in her experience with her...I'm just so excited that she decided to do it and it's awesome that she's a part of something so special to me.

Jenna and Shirls downstairs in the conference room



Alumni photo!





Anna and me!



up in the chapter room- Michelle is in the middle and she is basically the chapter's "Mom." Her class was the founding Pi Phi class at NAU, and she's now the advisor. It's very neat to know her as an adult now, rather than the way it was before.



Here are some of the baby Pi Phis that rushed when I was a junior...they're all grown up and it's adorable.



more of the little ones



And finally, one more in the hallway!



So, that was my weekend! I definitely need to get to sleep now but I hope all of you had a beautiful past two days. I have a few things I want to blog about this week outside of day to day stuff, so I will be tackling that tomorrow night. Goodnight all! xo