Catching a Breath

I've been wanting to blog again for a few days, but life has been so crazy. Last Sunday, Mom, Amanda and I trekked up to Chapel Hill for freshman orientation. We spent the first night catching up with some friends and stayed at their house, before heading to the University briiiight and early the next morning!

All freshmen stay in one of the North Campus dorms during Orientation, so we dropped my stuff off and went to go get checked in for the sessions. Holy goodness, I was incredibly overwhelmed. They try to tell you everything you would ever need to know (or at least it feels that way) in less than 48 hours. The first day ran from 7am-9pm, then all the families left (unless they were also staying on campus, in which case they just went and did their own thing) and we did...whatever. I ended up going back to my dorm about 9:30 and caught up on my email, Facebook, etc. before just going to sleep. That may have been the best decision I've ever made.

The second day was just as crazy and I know we were all super ready to head home and attempt to process all the information we'd been handed. I've been taking a break from coffee, but when Gen and I woke up that morning, we began walking all over campus to find a cup of coffee, since the dining hall wasn't open yet. We almost walked all the way to Franklin St before we realized that we didn't have enough time. Later that day, I saw a kid walking around with a cup of coffee NOT from Lenoir, so I asked him where he'd gotten it. Right across from Lenoir, in the student stores. UGH.

Wednesday, we sort of took a breather, before the big event on Thursday: Graduation!

Photo Credit: Miss Melissa Early

It still doesn't especially feel real yet and I'm alternately overjoyed and overwhelmed when I try to wrap my mind around it. When we were all leaving the auditorium, I looked around and realized that I will never again have a "first day" at the Newton School. That helped make it more real.

Immediately after graduation, we threw a graduation party with a lot of my school friends/teachers/neighborhood friends. Our house was full and loud--just the way we like it. (:

Friday was Amanda's graduation party and I got to see some awesome Newton School alums who figured they were cool enough to come. (: It was great to catch up with them and several other mutual friends (I think at this point, 99.9% of our friends are mutual friends) who were there.

Saturday, we had another party--this time, a joint graduation/birthday party for Maylen and I. This one had most of our family and other guests who couldn't make it to our Thursday party. We had barbecue (which made this Southern girl very happy) and some amazing cakes (courtesy of Marie & Twannette's):

From Thursday until Saturday, all four of my grandparents were in town and it was the first time any of them had been up to visit us! It was great to be able to introduce them to my friends and to show them our house and my school. Fortunately, before everyone headed back out, we managed to grab this photo:

We took about 100 pictures, but we were all looking in different directions. This one had the greatest eyes:camera ratio; maybe someday I'll Photoshop it.

Sunday, everyone went home and the four of us crashed on the couch for some most desperately needed R&R. 

This week has been wonderful and super laid-back...probably more laid-back than we needed, considering that Mom and I leave for France on Tuesday...and haven't started seriously packing yet. Whoops. But it's also okay, because I've been sick for the past five-ish days. Now, I'm feeling some better, but trying to find my energy and shake the last traces of this nasty cold/fever thing. Ugh.

Speaking of France, I'm going to do my best to blog/at least check in/maybe photo barf a little/possibly while I'm gone, but I make zero promises. If you want to keep up, follow me on Instagram (@briinboots for those of you who have it) or on Twitter!

Until then!

~B

#s 5 and 8

Last night, Amanda and I tackled item number 5 on our bucket list: going to a baseball game. The Crawdads were playing the Lexington Legends on Friday night and the local Dad's League rented a box so we hopped right on that train. Did you know that when you get a box...you get free food? It was definitely one of the highlights of the night.

My family is ridiculously sports-oriented (I guess that's what you get when you're the granddaughter of a sportswriter AND live in the South), but I only have the foggiest when it comes to baseball. I've been to several games, but really, at baseball games, crowd-watching can sometimes take up all your attention. This game, I finally started to figure out what was happening! It was incredibly exciting. (I think I'm using far too many adverbs in this post.)

In Hickory, we manage to turn base cleaning into a lesson on the importance of dental hygiene. That guy terrifies me a little bit. 

In addition to learning the various rules of baseball, Amanda and I also managed to get into some general shenanigans (do you "get into" shenanigans? Sure, why not.). We jumped in the bouncy house--along with some other small child. Bless her. I hadn't remembered how exhausting that was! After what felt like forever, the girl running it turned to us and said "one more minute.". I wasn't entirely sure I could keep going! We stumbled out and Amanda made an executive decision to never again go in the "House of Pain". We sure learned our lesson.

After that, Olivia and Kinsey, who were also there, used some of their Dippin' Dots energy to go ride the carousel...and like the mature, grown-up, college kids we are, we joined in. 

After the carousel, we literally chased down the mascot and got our picture made with him. ...part of me is slightly ashamed, but I fully believe in taking every single opportunity possible...even if they include people dressed up like crayfish. (:

The photobombing kid also absolutely made my night. I have no idea who it is was...but I love him.

Right after we won! (It doesn't happen that often.)

It was fireworks night in honor of Memorial Day! And I love me some fireworks. We'll be in France during July 4 and fly out just before Bastille Day, so I was excited to see some! 

Saturday, we got cracking on #8: Finding an official Brimanda summer song. After much deliberation, some discussion and compromise, we discovered (lyrics): 

We're excited to be crossing things off of our bucket list! Neither of us has to go to school for the next two weeks, so more will be coming soon (as well as an awesome post about my dining room. It's exciting.)!

~B

Wonderful Wednesdays...and Terrific Thursdays

Wednesdays are quickly becoming my favorite day of the week. Every Wednesday, my godfather, Sean, and his daughter Olivia, my "godsister", come over and we have dinner. It's so wonderful to get to catch up with some of my favorite people.

Yesterday, I wasn't feeling so great and just really wanted to curl up in bed and read after school...so I did. And sweet Olivia came up and snuggled with me as well and we shared some quality sister time:

After dinner, everyone but Dad, who had to study, trooped up to the auditorium to watch my school's talent show. It was fabulous; y'all missed out. There was singing, dancing, poem reading...I was super impressed with all of my school's amazing talent!

Will in his ducky pants; there was also a poem involved

There was some awesome Irish dancing by Miss Kelcie

Amanda getting ready to sing. <3

Final bows

Thursday was our last Family ever. Finals start next week, so the entire schedule gets blown entirely away...and then a lot of people just don't even have to be there. Our family is made up primarily of seniors, so to celebrate our last gathering, we all headed out to the park for the second week in a row.

There was some chillin':

Visiting:

And a lot of laughs. At one point, Will leapt on Alex's back and yells "Run Shadowfax! Show us the meaning of haste!" All Lord of the Rings fans instantly collapsed in laughter.

I'm going to miss these crazy kids. It's been a really excellent four years. Neither Amanda nor I have any finals this year, so I've gotten a head start on the whole packing-for-college, cleaning-out-schoolwork process...and the sappy nostalgia, as well. 

We've been working on our bucket list, but that deserves it's own post, so more will be coming soon!

~B

PS - I know there are some wacky formatting things going on in this post, but I've given up on trying to reason with Blogger. (:

# .5

I love weekends. I especially love productive weekends and today already qualifies.

Yesterday, we went to the Montessori dedication and it was absolutely beautiful. They were dedicating the new school building, after 10+ years of planning, fundraising, blood, sweat, and tears. They've been using the building all year, but it really came true yesterday. I love seeing something that meant so much to me continue to make a difference in other people's lives as well.

After that, Amanda stayed the night with me and this morning, we dragged ourselves out of bed to Zumba. It was totally worth the early wake up call and afterward, we sauntered over to the local Farmer's Market. We ran into a bunch of people we know and while our search for strawberries wasn't successful (apparently you have to get there really early), it was still awesome to go and see this part of our community.

After that, we headed to the mall. For Christmas, Amanda and I decided to buy a bear to share between us while we're at school. Of course, in our typical, procrastinatorial (because that's absolutely a word), way...we finally got him today; we realized that we couldn't properly start our summer bucket list without Charles--he's been added as .5. (:

So, everyone, meet Charles Nido Huntington III--the classiest bear ever (yes, that is a little tux; we decided anyone that is the 3rd and has baby Sperrys in his future needs a tux):

At Build A Bear, they place a guardian bear/angel inside the bear after you make a wish on them, but our wonderful build-a-bearer let us both make wishes for him:

We typed out a certificate and listed his owner as "Brimanda". His birthday? Our graduation date. Childhood, I will never leave you. We got to put in his full name and even take a picture together:

We also spent some time at Hancock Fabrics looking up patterns so that we can make him some clothes. First item on the list? An Oxford made of plaid with HPU purple, UNC blue and Newton-Conover red. This will be one school-proud bear.

It feels great to finally be started on our list and even better to spending time with my best friend--as if that didn't happen enough already. (: 

Here's to a fabulous Sunday!

~B

What Time Is It? Summertime!

Today, I realized how little time I have before college begins! AP testing finished today (for me at least), so now just a few chapter tests, 1/3 of a final project and just over two weeks stand between me and graduation. In the words of Babs from Chicken Run: "All me life flashed before me eyes...it was really borin'."


So Amanda and I have taken it upon ourselves to make it less boring. Tonight (after she moved out of my house! :( best two-week roommate ever.)  we began a summer bucket list (inspired by Katie Bower). It's going to take a little bit of juggling to get it all done, because my June looks like this (ignore all the reminders for Zumba; it's a repeating event):

(Click for a larger image)

And our July looks like this:

(Click for a larger image)

Then we begin the move-in shenanigans August 16/17/18/general area! Nevertheless, the fun must continue. I've already planned to go stay with her at High Point for at least one weekend in July, where we can continue our shenanigans--taking full advantage of our approximated 3 weeks together. We're still refining/editing this summer bucket list, but for now, here are our plans:


1. Get our noses pierced.
2. Go to a drive-in movie.
3. Go for a hike.
4. Watch the entire Star Wars series in one rainy day/weekend and play the accompanying drinking game (the non-alcohol version, of course). 
5. Go to a baseball game.
6. Play in water sprinklers.
7. Blow bubbles.
8. Find an official Brimanda summer song.
9. Go to an outdoor concert.
       - We're looking at the Greensboro Beach Music in the Park festival.
10. "Camp" outside at our house.
11. Go to a waterpark.
12. Have a picnic.
13. Go to Movies in the Park.
14. Have a Nicholas Sparks marathon. Cry all day.
15. Have a rubber duck/sailboat race in the river.
16. Fly kites.
17. Make homemade ice cream from our homegrown strawberries.
18. Go to a rodeo.
19. Play dress up.
20. Go to the Davidson Soda Shop.
21. Catch fireflies.
22. Go trail riding.
23. Make blanket forts on a rainy day.
24. Plant a tree. Or two. And some flowers.
25. Go swimming in a lake/swimming hole. Then go swimming somewhere that we can take underwater photos.


I ordered a new camera tonight, since I've sold my DSLR, and I'm beyond excited. It's a nice little point and shoot, which means that all of these will be fully documented and posted on here for posterity before we are allowed to cross it off the list. 


Here's to best friends and Summer 2012!
Sunnily,
B

Big Changes

Ooof. I can't believe I haven't blogged in over two months. Lately, I've felt like I've had words fixin' to crawl right out of my fingers, so tonight--I decided to do something about it.

Last week, some big things happened in my life.
1) I turned 18! It's a weird feeling, knowing that I've hit that point; the point where I've more or less reached the "grown up" stage. Legally, I'm on my own now. It's sort of a scary thought. I'm definitely feeling the "with great power comes great responsibility"saying.

Boots&Ditto Time!

2) After four years, many mutual "meetings", (thanks to Michael, Andy, Alex and Jason!), hours of Skype, miles typed across our keyboards...Brit/Ditto and I finally met! She was in town for a wedding and I drove over for an early lunch. It. Was. Wonderful. It was like we'd been best friends for years--what a coincidence--and I'm sad our visit wasn't longer! But still--I'll take what I can get. (:

3) I chose a college! The people around me know that making this decision has taken me hours, months, long agonizing cries to my mom and some really deep soul-searching. Until December or so, I was set on one school--a small, liberal arts college in the beautiful mountains of Virginia. Then...I didn't get the full scholarship I'd been so desperately hoping for, I began to fall out of love, I opened my eyes to the flaws that I'd so valiantly tried to ignore...and began the college search all over again. All along the way, I'd kept telling myself: "things will turn out just like they need to". That saying became my touchstone. Every time I got nervous or unsure about my future, I would tell myself that and remember to have faith.

I'd applied to several other school besides my Virginia school, just in case--a move that is so typically me...and boy, am I ever glad I did. I think my total application list was 10 schools. There were 4 or so that I'd applied to simply because they were free applications and I like to have many, many backups; two that I could have forced myself to go to...and then four schools that I truly believe I could have been happy at: Randolph, Emory and William & Mary. For a while, UNC floated around those different groups as I did research, fell in love, did more research, fell out of love, visited...and got knocked-on-my-butt-are-there-stars-in-your-eyes in love. But something inside me kept me from committing. I could come up with loads of reasons not to: it's too big, I might not make it in the business school, etc, etc. And then...things turned out just like they needed to.

I applied to all of my schools early decision, except for Emory, Davidson, American and W&M. Most of those were serious contenders and I waited on pins and needles for the decisions. And in about one week, I got them ALL. Waitlisted. At all four schools.

At first, I was totally shocked. And then it started to be funny. I'd start to open the small envelope and take bets on whether I would be denied or just waitlisted. Nope, waitlisted. By every one. I tried to console myself, reassure myself that it wasn't so bad--loads of people just apply for safety, right? But the waitlisting made me really evaluate my options. Did I really want to go there? W&M was tossed out, as was American and Davidson, but I chose to stay on Emory's waitlist. Emory had been my other top choice, after UNC--what was I supposed to do now?

So, over spring break, we went back to visit family down South and planned a trip to Emory while we were there. I'd already told Emory that I wanted to stay on their waitlist until the day that I had to commit to Carolina. I kept telling myself "I can wait for it". Just to be sure I had all the information though, I went to visit. The night before we left to drive down, I lay in bed and prayed. I told God that I didn't want this to be a coin toss, that I needed to know exactly what the right decision was. I asked to either never want to leave...or to hate it.

God must have been listening, because boy...I hated it--or just really, really disliked it. I went home and two days later, sent in my deposit to Carolina and I couldn't be happier. Everything's falling into place...and happening exactly like it needs to.

I'm proud to be a:

Really awesome sign found here on Etsy

~B

Hello February

...where on Earth did January go??

I'm not sure that I'm ready for my year to go flying by so fast. That being said, I'm excited for what's still to come!

My year has gotten off to a fantastic start. I didn't make resolutions this year, but after this post by Christine Kane, I found myself a word. (: My word for the year was Cleanse. It has so many meanings for me, from clearing out old health issues to getting junk out of my room to clarifying where I want my life to go, that without a doubt--this is my word.

While I keep forgetting about it don't always succeed at keeping it in mind, I've found my life echoing it anyway. I've managed to go to Zumba at least one-three times a week --and I'm definitely noticing when I don't go-- sell my desk (which has made my room look like we're moving again), condense all of my Google accounts onto one, and keep my grades up. I've also gotten hooked on Grey's Anatomy, finished the last two seasons of West Wing...again, and catch up on Downton Abbey. (Honestly, my life doesn't revolve around TV, but these were impressive milestones.)

One of my favorite things this year has been staying in closer contact with my grandparents. I've been emailing back and forth with both sets, as well as calling them fairly regularly. I'm consulting with them for the product for my senior project and it's so exciting. I'm a major history nerd and I "have" to hear these stories. I'm ecstatic.

An aspect of my "Cleansing" for the year has been dealing with some of the unhelpful notions I have floating around in my head. For example, I used to see my heart beat under my shirt, like my shirt would move, and it would really freak me out. I mean...I would have thoughts like "my heart's too strong" and ridiculous stuff like that. Now, I see it and think "oh hey there, buddy. nice to see you're doing your job." Heck yeah, my heart rocks.
Another has been dealing with my own insecurity. During Zumba, it's so hard not to doubt yourself or compare yourself to other people, so I've had to tackle this one (or be miserable during every class...which simply wasn't an option). I've found that if I just watch Ashley teach the steps and sort of...just turn off my brain, or turn it down, I do so much better. It's like I just relax and have fun with it. I'm starting to really learn the steps, so now I have the ability to focus more on how I'm doing. It's been so liberating to feel fully in control of my body now.

January, you were fantastic. February...you're getting off to a rough start, but that's okay; there's time left to beat January redeem yourself.

I need to stop doing these catch-up posts. Someday, I'll figure out how to blog life as I go along. Also, someday, I'll have a camera. I miss pictures.

-b