Happy Birthday CJ (a little late)!

I am always so late on these, I posted one for Anna back in September but I think I was about a week late on that too, so I am just staying true to form!

CJ and I originally meet when my roommate, Sara invited her to our annual Christmas Potluck celebration.  At the time I had heard so much about CJ and was excited to meet her, I thought she was cool but I think I may have only ever seen her once or twice more during our college years.  Fast forward to Kristi's wedding and the bridal shower leading up to it, we were two of the few single girls left so we obviously bonded over being single.  

With the new Mrs. Beabout!

Kristi may have brought us together but a love of traveling, throwing parties, and adventure has made this friendship last!  It is hard to even pinpoint a date when we started hanging out but this picture from June of 2010 definitely shows we have aged a bit since some of the initial hang outs:

OMG, look how young we are?

Through the years, we have definitely grown more in out friendships and compliment each other nicely--CJ likes to drive and I like to ride along in the car and clean out her purse, console, glove box, etc.  We even survived a 10 day, mile-intensive road trip together--which really says a lot about testing the bounds of friendship!

If I suggest something, CJ is almost always up for helping out and getting involved--take for instance:

A 1920's murder mystery party:

Or tacky sweaters and singing at the nursing home:

A Virginia Tech football game or even a basketball game that we made a last minute call on to go to:

  

Plus our mutual love for all things Hokie is kinda awesome too!

 She has even made it to not one, but a few southside speedway races with me and Osl:

We share a love for the holidays and get so excited about Christmas:

And this past Christmas, she even got to take part in Williams Family Christmas Breakfast (my mom's side of the family) as she was in town on Christmas day!

I am so thankful for your friendship, CJ and am truly blessed to have a friend as awesome as you!  You are a person of great generosity, you put up with my (seemingly) uncontrollable desire to straight and organize, and you are just a great role model of what a true friend should be!  Thanks for always having my back and I hope your birthday was as great as you!

A perfect weekend

It seems like waaaaaaaaay too often I am traveling or overbooked or too busy and I sometimes tend to forget about all the goodness in simple things.  Well this weekend, although busy, was a perfect reminder of how a bunch of little, simple things, make life all the more full.  

I kicked off an early weekend with Anna and CJ on Thursday night at Plaza.  It has been awhile since we have all been there so it was a great chance to catch up over some margs!

Then the weather held off for a perfect opening night at Southside Speedway.  CJ and I went to take in the first race of the season and befriended a mom and her two kids who were there for the first time.  It is always fun to see the crowd there and to have some good old southern fun!

Then on Saturday, Kristi, Bethany, CJ, Kathryn and I went to the Spring Bada Bing out at Hardywood Brewery.  They had a bunch of vendors there and a handful of food trucks so we enjoyed some yummy food, some lovely sunshine and each other's company.  We even had a Young House Love sighting of John, Sherry and Clara (and little Baby soon to make his appearance).  Then Kristi, CJ, Bethany and myself did a little dress shopping while Kathryn slipped away to go babysit.

After some shopping and another stop by to see Kristi and Bethany, CJ and I went to go see the new Muppets movie!  It was not nearly as good as the first one (aka: wait for the DVD), but we still enjoyed the relaxation of getting to go see a movie!

Notice another star up there?

And another one here?

After the movie we hit up the grocery store at like 10pm on a Saturday (aka the best time to grocery shop).  Then Sunday was the day of errands, doing laundry, prepping meals, and finally getting around to helping CJ clean up her basement (which is looking so good).  All in all, a wonderful fun and productive weekend.  

What did you do this weekend?  Was it fun? full of errands? or enjoy the relaxation and beautiful weather, or all three?