First Monday Trade Days!

I'm headed to Canton's First Monday Trade Days for the weekend with my momma and two of our good friends. It's our annual girls shopping weekend trip. This year instead of doing a traditional mall shopping experience, we've decided to go to the Canton trade show. Although it might look like junk to some, it looks like Heaven to me. I've heard it's amazing and there's tons to look at and it's very reasonably priced. Not sure how long we'll last outside in the heat, but hopefully we'll come home with a car full of treasures. I'd like to rent a U-Haul and bring it home full of stuff :) For those of you who haven't heard of the First Monday Trade Days, it's basically a huge plot of land that different vendors set up shop at and they sale all kinds of things at low prices. It's a HUGE area (see last picture for view from above). Can't wait to show you what I buy when I get back! Hope you all have a fabulous weekend full of fun!

Way-Back-Wednesday...College Style!

Caitlin's 18th bday...she's just a baby!

Love these girls so much!

My 21st birthday!haha

crazy girls

Snow day with Court. The day Miss Pucker came to life :)

LOVE

:)

Miss yall!

Hanging out in Chouteau Bend!

First trip back after graduating. Fun times!

Caitlin's infamous dancing tongue face.

One of my most favorite pics.

Halloween Freshman year, hahaha.

oh, we look so young.

Our first snow day. We didn't have proper sledding equipment so we made due with chemistry goggles and a plastic container. Didn't workout as planned.

Dinner at Dick's in San Antonio. On our way to Padre Island. Spring Break of Freshman year.

Trip to my hometown

Grandma/Grandpa theme party. So hilarious!

Embarassing face, but college would not have been the same without late night trips to Benson's Grill and the GOTCHAA!!!

Love you Gill!

YO MOMMA FACE!

:))

Volleyball girls

Trip to Fayetteville for Gill's 21st!

pretty girls!

This was the result of a girl's night in. We decided to play dress up and make a music video to the song "Disturbia"....wow, good times!

Halloween Junior Year. Ginger Spice and Jessica Simpson

New Year's trip to Norman

Pom Squad before performing Risky Business dance.

i miss pom, but i don't miss dancing at the baseball games.

love you guys!

Love you Allie!

bahahaha, who knows

roommates

miss being crazy with Court!

Pom Squad haunted house...we made a few kids cry

:)

Halloween Senior Year, Ninja Turtles, favorite costume!

"JIMMYY SHUUU"

New Orleans for Mardi Gras

miss spending ridiculous amounts of time getting ready and taking stupid pictures...although i don't miss the mess of our house looking like a sorority house.

Pom Squad 09-10

<3

Lake trip to Tahlequah, so much fun!

I have done a wonderful job at abandoning my way-back-Wednesday posts. After looking through old pictures from college and reminiscing on all the wonderful times we had, I decided this post would be fitting. I cannot explain to you how much I miss my college friends. I think about them all the time! Since I graduated and left Arkansas, I've been back to visit 3 times. I remember when I moved, I promised them that I'd come back once a month. Oops..I totally failed. Even though it's only a 3 hour drive, it's really hard for me to find the time to make the trip since I don't have the weekends off. I promise girls that I'm going to come visit soon. A few of the girls have made the trip or two to see me since I've moved. Even three of the girls drove 3 hours just to come get their hair done by me and then they turned around and drove right back home. I was so excited they came all that way. It always makes my week when people come visit!! I have so many fun memories of college and the relationships that I built while in Arkansas. I cherish each and every one of those friendships so much. I know that we may not talk very often and we may not see each other very much, but I always know that no matter how far apart we are, we will always reunite and pick right back up where we left off the next time we see each other. Just FYI girls, next summer we are due for a super fun girls weekend getaway to somewhere awesome. All of you in these pictures are included and you better be there!

"True friendship is a sacred, important thing, and it happens when we drop down into that deeper level of who we are, when we cross over into the broken, fragile parts of ourselves. We have to give something up in order to get friendship like that. We have to give up our need to be perceived as perfect. We have to give up our ability to control what people think of us. We have to overcome the fear that when they see the depths of who we are, they'll leave. But what we give up is nothing in comparison to what this kind of friendship gives to us. Friendship is about risk. Love is about risk. If we can control it and manage it and manufacture it, then it's something else, but if it's really love, really friendship, it's a little scary around the edges."

I absolutely love this quote. It's from one of my favorite books, "Cold Tangerines." I immediately highlighted it when I first read it because it is SO true. Building lasting friendships and relationships is so important to me!