"I got my toes in the water, ass in the sand, not a worry in the world a cold beer in my hand"

The lyrics in the title of this blog post from Zac Brown Band's song Toes pretty much sums up our July 4th weekend. As you know from my last blog post I had just come off of a week in Ohio when I arrived back on Friday the 2nd after some flight issues which prevented me from getting home on Thursday as originally planned. My former co-worker and friend Heather, who you may remember from past blog posts moved back in December, was back in town for the holiday weekend and we were so excited to have here. While she was here we tried to squeeze in as much celebrating as we could, both for the holiday weekend as well as to celebrate our friends Bethany and Calvin's upcoming wedding. Friday night the girls and I from work hosted a shower for Bethany here at our house. I was still a little exhausted from my trip and was so grateful that Timmy had the house cleaned and had run some errands for me. Between his prep work and the help of all the ladies, it was a pretty stress free evening and everyone seemed to have a great time enjoying some margarita's and celebrating Bethany! Below are a few pictures from the shower.





Saturday night all of the ladies, and our accessories (as Heather likes to call our significant others) went to dinner at the Fat Hen to again celebrate Bethany and Calvin. It was a wonderful dinner and a great way to kick off our beach weekend with the whole group!



Saturday night was our first night in the beach house that we had gotten on Folly Beach. Post dinner we went back and continued visiting and catching up on the amazing screened in porch where you could see and hear the ocean across the street. The 4th consisted of sitting on the beach all day. It was lots of fun just to hang out, visit, enjoy some drinks, and get some sun (or sun burnt as most of us did). We had a cookout at the beach house that night and then walked down to the end of the beach to watch the fireworks. Folly Beach had done their show the night before so we watched the ones being shot off from downtown. While we were far away they were still pretty. It was a nice and relaxing day and we certainly never lost sight of how grateful we are to live in the USA and all of the men and women who have fought and continue fight so that we can enjoy days like we had that day on the beach!





I had taken Tuesday off work so it was nice to have Monday and Tuesday as beach days as well before heading back to work after almost two weeks of not being there. This week as a lot of catch up at work for me, but Friday Libby and I, along with two of my students, took some time to take advantage of the "Dress like a cow and get a free combo meal" from Chick-Fil-A. You can check out our picture below. You better believe that was one of the best meals ever, you can't beat free! I have entered our picture in the Chick-Fil-A photo contest and it is pending approval, once it is posted you can go online and vote for it. If we win we can win free Chick-Fil-A for a year, I figure why not try, we have nothing to lose! I will let you know when it's up so you can vote!

"Turns out not where, but who you're with that really matters"

Well here we are, the beginning of another month and we sit here recapping the last month for our faithful blog followers, as always I apologize to keep you waiting so long between the posts! June turned out to be a relaxing and fun month for both of us, filled with family and friends that we continue to be blessed to have in our lives.

Shortly after my last blog post back at the beginning of June I was thrilled when Reed called me and said he had a long weekend coming up the next weekend and wanted to come visit and that he was going to bring his new girlfriend, Devon. They got in late on Thursday night and Friday since I had to work they came down town and did some sight seeing and then stopped by and had lunch with me at work before they headed out the beach for the afternoon. That night we went to the Charleston Battery soccer game because they were playing the Richmond Kickers and Reed had a chance to see some of his buddies who he played with in the past who are now on their team. After the game we caught up with some of my friends at one of our favorite places to hang out now that the weather is nice, Red's on Shem Creek. Saturday we went over to Isle of Palms for the day and hung out on the beach and at The Windjammer watching the US v. England World Cup game. After a nice day at the beach Timmy cooked us some amazing fajitas and we just relaxed which was so nice. Sunday Reed and Devon came with us to church and we took them to brunch at one of our favorite spots downtown, Hominy Grill. It was a great weekend and we really enjoyed having Reed and Devon here to visit!

The following weekend Jonathan and Mary Katherine stopped by and stayed with us on their way to Hilton Head for the week. We were happy to have them all here to visit and Timmy cooked some amazing steak and shrimp kabobs (can you tell we are really enjoying our grill?). They headed out to the beach on Saturday morning but they came back by on their way back home the following weekend. I was in Ohio, which I will get to more in a minute, but Timmy enjoyed the opportunity to spend the weekend with them on their way back. Again, good meals were enjoyed and they even had the chance to go downtown and do some sightseeing around Charleston. Other than Timmy's parents this is the first time one of his brother's and their family have been able to visit us since we were married and moved to South Carolina so we really enjoyed being able to have them here. We also are looking forward to our trip up to Maryland in August to celebrate Benjamin's 1st birthday!





Like I mentioned above, I left on June 24 to head to Oxford, OH for a week to facilitate for Beta Theta Pi's Wooden Institute. I am always so grateful for the opportunity to give to Beta and spend time working with other Beta's and Friends of Beta's to help the collegiate members from across the country really understand the values of the fraternity and how to live them. While the week is about the participants experience I am always so surprised about how much I also grow and learn from the experience every year. It was great to reconnect and spend time with some of my Beta friends as well as meet new friends and professionals in the field who were also there facilitating for the week. I also had the chance to meet some of the new Beta staff members, including TJ Hutchings who will be the LC in the Southeast region so he will work with the South Carolina colony that I also advise. For those of you who work in the higher ed world or with fraternity/sorority life, TJ is keeping a blog of his traveling experiences as a consultant, so if you want something else to follow I recommend his blog, Just Livin the Dream . I wish that I had thought to blog while I was on the road for two years for Chi Omega!




So July is upon us, where does the time go? It his now been a full year since I started my job at CofC. It has been an amazing year and I continue to feel so blessed to be living in an amazing city, doing a job that I love with amazing students and co-workers, to be surrounded by great friends, and to have such a caring and supportive husband. To celebrate the 4th of July weekend the girls and I (along with the men in our lives) have gotten a house at the beach for the long weekend. I am excited for some vacation and beach time and will be sure to post next week about our girls weekend!

I hope that you and your family & friends have a wonderful July 4th, wherever and however you may be celebrating. What a blessing it is to live in America and to have the opportunity to enjoy all the freedoms that come along with that. Let us never forget all of those who have fought and sacrificed and continue to do so that we can enjoy everything and everyone we have in our lives!