the day before

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merry christmas eve. i am sitting in bed drinking coffee and having some time with Jesus, and it hits the spot. later today, after i pack my car with way too much stuff for a just few days at home, i'll be driving down to the land of the pines. i'm excited to go somewhere where i know i will be greeted with squeals from my mom, a huge smile and hearty hello from my stepdad, and a surprisingly big hug from my much-cooler-than-i little brother. 

we will catch up over coffee (or wine depending on the time of day i arrive). we will drive around town with my stepdad dressed up as santa and shout "merry christmas!" to anyone and everyone we see. we will get dressed for christmas eve service at my parents' church and light candles and sing beautiful songs. we will come home and eat irish stew and be allowed to open one present only. we will lay out our stockings on the couch. and even though i am 28, i will definitely have a hard time falling asleep tonight. 

hope each of you has a very merry and joyful day today. even if you are still scurrying around making last minute purchases and preparations, take some moments to breathe and relax and focus on the joys of the season. friends, family, love, giving and receiving. take it all in. 

on a related note, my good friend chelsea is an amazing writer and has recently published an article about this beautiful season we are in. take a few minutes and read; it's really wonderful. 

hometown recap

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the beginning of a new week is hard. there's the dreaded monday, waking up to an alarm set hours before anyone should actually have to get out of bed, putting on real clothes, etc. starting a new week is really difficult when you've just had a really great weekend. 

as i mentioned i my previous post, i spent the weekend in southern pines with my family and two of my girlfriends. we had a blast. i told you guys i was going to document our trip, but, alas, i left my camera in my desk at work and didn't feel like driving back to get it before heading home. i've pieced together some images from the world wide web and some instagram pics that chelsea took. i promise will make good on my promise, though. promise. 

on friday evening, i drove straight to my dad's new place. he lives within walking distance of downtown so we took a nice evening stroll down to the wine cellar for happy hour. it was such a nice night and we sat on the outdoor patio and talked for a while. we decided that since it was time for dinner and since we were already downtown, we might as well make an evening of it and dine out. 

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we walked a block away to ashten's and nabbed the last table in their "formal dining room". i felt very informal in my jorts and baseball tee. i thought they would at least place us behind a wall or a huge flower pot to shield me from the other diners, but we got a table right next to the front entrance. i made sure to use my napkin as a bib. 

on saturday, i went yard saling with my parents. i scored a few good finds, but the real treat was spending half the morning with my parents in the car. riding with my parents is a mix between an amusement park ride and a site seeing tour. the gps is shouting out directions, there's random braking, pointing, u-turns on one way streets, rolling stops. i sat quietly in the back seat drinking what i thought might be my last cup of coffee. 

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chelsea arrived around noon, and we hit the ground running. we stopped at a few places downtown including a resale shop, the ice cream parlour (for afternoon candy and fries), swank coffee shop, and the mockingbird then headed over to goodwill and scoured the racks for treasures. just as we were finished at gcf, amy texted and said she was in town! whoop. we met up with her at the wine cellar for moscato. 

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by the time our glasses were drained, it was nearing dinner time so we all headed back to my parent's house for ribs. my older brother kelsey was in town so we had a very full table. it was nice to have so many of my favorite people all in one room sharing a meal together. we kind of don't take things too seriously so there was lots of reaching across the table to reach the bread basket and laughing (at each other) between bites.

ames, chels, and i had plans to go see to rome with love at the sunrise theater downtown so off we went again. woody allen? annoying. but the movie was fairly enjoyable-ish. 

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on sunday we went to church, ate lunch together, took some awkward family photos with my college-bound brother, explored a bit more around town and then we all headed our separate ways. it was such a lovely weekend. the right amount of busyness and relaxation. all i know is that i want it to be friday again.

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i hope you all enjoyed your weekend! what did you kids get into?

hometown

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i'm heading home this weekend for a little r and r. i haven't been home in what feels like months, so i'm excited to see my family and visit all of my favorite spots including swank coffee. this will be the last weekend i see my little brother before he heads off to college. i'm getting a little sad just thinking about it. good thing my roommate amy and my friend chelsea will also be joining me tomorrow for some girl time!

i love my sweet hometown. i love going home for weekend visits. we moved to southern pines when i was nine, so i have basically grown up there. it holds such sweet memories for me. like when my brother surprised us at christmas and came home from being stationed in las vegas. or walking to my first real job at the local library only blocks from our house in downtown. there was learning to drive stick shift, my little's brother's first day of school, birthday party games in the backyard, my first one mile fun run, dates with my dad, sleepovers with my girlfriends, holiday parades. 

i think a lot of people can agree that there's something special about your hometown. there's a little pride that swells up in your heart. you become a little territorial. in your head you're thinking "whatever, joe schmoe. my hometown is way cooler than yours." unless your hometown is like chicago or san francisco in which case you win hands down. and, in which case, why haven't you invited me to visit?

hope you guys have a fun weekend wherever you are and whatever you do! my goal is to take pictures of my trip home and show you guys how cute southern pines is. i always take my camera with me and then it stays in my bag all weekend while i'm out frolicking around. i might have to resort to tying a string around my finger to help me remember. 

xoxo

p.s. on a rando sidenote, i just signed up the the color me rad race in october. i'm so excited i could go run a 5k right now, but i wouldn't have people throwing color on me so it's just not worth it.