Busy as a Bee

Hi lovelies! Just wanted to check in and say thank you to everyone who has entered my giveaway so far. If you haven't, you still have time- the giveaway ends tomorrow (Thursday, April 16th) at 11:59 p.m. EST. I will pick a winner on Friday!! Hurry up and enter to win some cool summer stuff!

I am currently busy as a bee! Can't you just hear me buzzing? Okay, that was lame, I know. In any case, I am up to my ears in donor stuff for work, as well as planning multiple events outside of work. This weekend WEG and I and 2 other couples are throwing an Around the House shower for 2 friends getting married in June. It will definitely be a good time, but it's a lot of work! (and, as much as we love 'em, our guys aren't a whole lot of help!) Tonight, my friend Caro and I are going to get the food for Saturday and we are also going to order my dress for her wedding on August 8th.

Speaking of- have I mentioned that I am in 3 weddings this summer? June 12th, August 8th, and August 15th! Whew!

Here's the dress for Caro's wedding:

http://www.davidsbridal.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplayView?storeId=10052&catalogId=10051&catentryId=1000122

Sorry that I don't have a picture, but it was a video or something and wouldn't let me save the picture! I think it's so pretty!

A few pictures of my soon to be brides & me!

Julie: June 12th

Julie & Me out one night in 2007

Holly, Julie, and Me- Hilton Head '07

Carolyn: August 8th

Me & Caro- Clemson/Carolina 2007

Caro & Me- Bachelorette Party '07

Carolyn, Julie, & Me- Where were you, Holly??

Bess: August 15th

Bess, Tom (Bess's Bro) & Me- Tailgating in Tennessee '07


Bess & Me at the lake- Summer of '07

Overcome

Yesterday I attended church with my parents at the church I grew up in. There's just something about that church that I love- it's not huge like all the Baptist churches in Columbia and I know everyone there. It's a great feeling to go home to "my church" and see everyone. The service yesterday was beyond amazing and I felt like I should share it with y'all.

We had communion and wonderful music leading up to the sermon, but it was the sermon that blew me away. It was titled "Overcoming" and the message was, simply, that Jesus overcame Satan and rose from the grave to save us from our sins and help us overcome whatever may come our way. We were told that the source of all turmoil, great and small, is Satan and once we know that, we can put our trust in the Lord and know that he is our strength and will help us overcome all of our problems.

And this is where it got amazing. Several of the church's most talented singers stood up and sang the song "Overcome." The lyrics are so special, and I encourage everyone to google them and read them. The main chorus, though, was this:

Savior, worthy of honor and glory
Worthy of all of our praise, you overcame
Jesus awesome in power forever
Awesome and great is your name, you overcame

While they were singing this, about 15-20 people would come to the front and hold up a sign with something that they had dealt with that was difficult in their lives. And then they would flip it over and it would tell how Jesus had helped them to overcome the obstacles. Every single one of them was touching, and the whole church was in tears by the end..it makes me tear up just thinking of it. The song says We will overcome; By the blood of the Lamb; And the word of our testimony; Everyone overcome. These signs were these people's testimonies- people I've known basically my entire life, so you can understand where it would get to you.
Here are what a few of the signs said:

1. I lost my beautiful daughter at age 15..... Thankfully, she found the Lord at age 5, See you Kelly! (Kelly died of an unknown heart defect she'd been born with in Oct. of 2007 while jogging- it shook our church to the core)
2. I had 3 miscarriages by October of 2002.....October 2004, WOW! 3 miracles. (This lady was able to adopt the 3 foster children she and her husband were taking care of and now they are a family after she was unable to have her own)
3. I was addicted to drugs and alcohol from age 13 to 36.....1 1/2 years sobriety. Thank you, Jesus!
4. I was in a car accident and the doctors said I wouldn't live.... Now I'm living for Him (This was a 10 year old girl who the doctors basically gave up on who survived with no lasting effects)
5. A malignant brain tumor at age 5...... Now I am praising the Lord (This child is now 12 years old. At age 5 she was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor and the surgery did not get all of the tumor's tentacles. After a round of chemo and some serious praying, all of the tumor disappeared)
6. I was born with a brain defect...... He's held me through 5 brain surgeries (She is a 25 year old who was born with fluid on her brain and has had a shunt put in, but still has to have surgeries every so often)
7. I prayed for 45 years for my husband to find the Lord..... 8 years ago he surrendered his life to Jesus.
8. I was the husband she prayed for.....Now I give my all to Him.

I won't go through any more of them, but you get the drift. How amazing is the power of prayer and trusting in the Lord to help you overcome. Anybody who walked out of that church yesterday without feeling the awesome power of the Lord just must not be able to feel.

Who doesn't love something free??

It's time for a giveaway in honor of my 100th post and my new blog header, compliments of A Southern Accent. She is so talented and I absolutely adore my new header- if you're reading along in Google Reader, come out from behind there and click over to my page to check it out! I would also like to say a huge thank you to everyone who offered their advice on getting my page straightened out- in the end, I was helped out again by A Southern Accent...whew, thank goodness for her or my page would have looked majorly off kilter!

Now for the giveaway (I still can't believe I've already been posting long enough to get to 100!)

With summer on it's way I thought I would do a giveaway for some beach essentials... I will be giving away the following (cue the dramatic music & drum roll!)

A monogrammed beach towel- You choose the color & font and whether or not you wish to have a full name or initials. Once the winner is chosen, I will contact you with the font choices. The color choices are navy, lime green, hot pink, orange or aqua (colors are brighter than the first picture below- the second is more accurate).

Along with a beach towel, you will also receive a 24 oz tervis tumbler with lid and straw.







I am showing you a plain Tervis Tumbler because how you choose to personalize it is up to you. You can check out all the options at www.tervis.com.

And finally I will be giving away a personalized beach bag that is coordinated with the beach towel colors that you choose- I don't have a picture for this yet because the design will be a surprise! But, I promise it will be cute!!

So, for the rules of entering.

**For One Entry- Comment on this post with the design you would choose for your Tervis Tumbler- one side can be monogram and the other a picture/collegiate team/sorority, etc. It's up to you!

**For Two Entries- Comment on this post with the above information, plus let me know if you are a follower or become one and let me know!

**For Three Entries- Comment on this post with the above information, become or be a follower, and post about it on your blog.

Make sure you tell me if you are a follower and if you have posted so I can check it out! I will accept entries until Thursday, April 16th at 11:59 p.m. EST. Good luck, ladies and Happy Spring!!

Spring Swap!

I participated in the Spring Swap and came home from work on Monday to discover my package from the wonderful Melissa over at the Land of Foo.

I wish I had taken pictures of how she cutely wrapped everything in egg tissue paper with pastel ribbons, but being my normal impatient self, I jumped right in to see what I got.

Here's are some pictures:

All of the goodies- A cute little bag with a bunny, cute pillow (picture below), cute little hand-made box with goodies inside, which included- a mini bunny pez, sweet note, post-it pad, magnet, marshmallow bunny, candle, and hand sanitizer. She also sent some cotton candy!! and this:

From Bath & Body Works- hand soap in the scent Sea Island Cotton!! The hand sanitizer in the little box was also Sea Island Cotton.

Here's the pillow:

It says Wishing you sunshine flowers, gentle showers, and rainbows to sparkle your springtime hours. How cute is that? I found the perfect place for it on my bed!

Melissa's gifts were so thoughtful- everything was pink & green, my two favorite colors and wonderful signs of spring! And she really put thought into getting me the sea island cotton scent and cotton candy to represent my blog. Thanks so much, Melissa! You were a great swap partner and I hope you like your stuff as much as I liked mine :-)

And, stay tuned- my 100th post is coming up soon!! I'll be hosting a giveaway really soon! And Pay it Forward Girls- I haven't forgotten you- I'm working on your surprises!!

C-A-R-O-L-I-N-A...Goooo Cocks!

Total domination- Yes, that describes the Carolina vs. Clemson baseball series over the past few years. Last night's thrilling 7-6 win in the bottom of the night was our 9th win in the past 10 games vs. Clemson. Despite 3 costly errors, we still managed to eke out the win.

Way to go, Yardcocks!

Tonight we play again, this time in Clemson, and we may very well lose since I'm probably jinxing us...but, seems we have ol' Jack Leg's number (Clemson's coach is Jack Leggett).

And, by the way, the victory was that much sweeter since I hear from WEG how dominant Clemson is in every other sport. He didn't have much to say when leaving the game last night ;-)

What a week!!

Thank goodness it's Friday!!

My plans for the weekend:
Friday:
Drinks with friends

Saturday:
Shopping for a shower we're throwing
Dinner with my girls

Sunday:
Church
USC baseball game with my cousin's son

Nice and relaxing- filled with many of my favorite things. I need a weekend like this!
See y'all on Monday!!

Can you impeach a governor?

I usually don't get into politics, but today I have some breaking news- Our SC governor, Mark Sanford, is a true idiot. We are LAST IN THE NATION in cuts to education. Our higher education system has taken a 26% cut thus far. The next highest is Alabama and they are still WELL behind us. USC has been cut $55 million and the college I work for $14 million. But, still our ever-so-bright Governor Sanford is sticking to his guns that he will refuse the stimulus money. Oh sure, just throw us under the bus even more. It's ridiculous for a state and its governor to care so little about higher education. Doesn't Mr. Sanford realize that this money would be a lifeline- it certainly won't fix the problem- but it will help us to keep our doors open and not have to pass such a large tuition increase along to our students, many who won't be able to afford college if we do this.

When our university president met the University of Iowa president at the bowl game this year and told her that we had already been cut 17% and were looking to be up to 26% before long, she asked him "Will you be able to stay open?". Yes, it is that dire of a situation. All state schools in SC have received this astronomical cut, but yet and still our governor refuses to help us. If he doesn't take the money, we'll have to start laying off people at a higher rate....more unemployment for SC, whose rate is already ludicrous.

Please tell me, what is he thinking? Taxpayers are going to pay for this anyway and in SC, we've spoken loud and clear....Take the stimulus money, Governor Sanford, and show us that you give a damn about our education system. If not, we're going to continue to spiral downward.

A picture of our infamous governor:

Oh wait, that's a donkey- sometimes known as a stubborn ass. Yep, same thing.