Kayaking.

A few weekends ago, we took an impromptu kayaking trip with some guys from Jasmine's softball team. I had never been legit kayaking.. and didn't really know what to expect. But I CAN tell you, I didn't expect them to just dump us out at the top of the river with zero instruction.

Also, let me mention that this was during the month of monsoons that Georgia was having.. so the river was beyond full. When we crossed the bridge on our way to the kayaking place, and saw the river below, we started wondering what we had gotten ourselves into. And then as we started driving on the winding, muddy roads to get to the kayaking place we reeeally started to wonder what we had gotten ourselves into.

But we caught on within no time.
Yeah, we may have fallen out a time or two.. or three...
but it was a blast.

We all just kind of formed a big party barge, 8 people/kayaks across, as we let the river carry us down for the first few miles. Midway through we stopped for lunch, and those boys mean business when they plan a kayaking trip. Portable grill, bratwursts, the whole shabang. I think that may have been the best bratwurst I've ever had.

Then it was back onto the river for the last 7 miles.
We ended up doing 11 miles total, and we literally spent the whole day out there. Arriving at 9:30, and ending around 6:30. We were worn out.

The first half of the river was pretty laid back and easy, but the second half was more fast-paced with the rapids. At one part we went over a waterfall, which was terrifying.. but definitely worth it. ;)

Around the last mile it started raining pretty badly on us, and we came to some fast-paced rapids that were pretty scary. It's like you can't paddle hard enough to get you where you need to go... and I ended up getting dumped out of the kayak in the midst of the rapids. My adrenaline kicked in and I managed to grab my kayak, but I got swept along in the current and it was pretty scary. My legs were slamming against rocks.. and it feels like you're literally helpless when you're in fast-moving water like that. There's nothing you can do to stop yourself. It all ended up being fine after we passed that rough patch, my kayak just suffered some damage-- it filled with water all along that last stretch. And my leg had an awesome battle wound for the books. ;)

We survived our first kayaking trip though, and we can't wait to go back.
And you best beliiiieeeve we devoured some McDonald's Big Macs and french fries after that day on the river. That was some serious work!

And... the waterproof camera survived the trip too. That's a success! I forgot how to operate the old school disposable cameras... they're so much fun to get developed. The pictures are a mystery. ;)

My Summer.

Summer is that time of year when I try to spend every bit of free time at the lake.
There's not much in life that can relax me as much as a weekend spent at the lake house.

Sitting on the dock,
feeling the breeze roll across the water,
the sun on your skin,
the occasional rock from passing boat's wakes...

THAT is Summer to me.

We spent the weekend at the lake house with my sweet grandparents, and I can't wait to share more pictures tomorrow.
Happy Monday!

WILW

I'm linking up with Jamie for What I'm Loving Wednesday!

Today I'm loving...

[one.] Denim Cutoffs.
Seriously, I'm in love with this look.. and I'm stalking Goodwill from now on to find me some good Levi's. Yesterday I found some Calvin Klein jeans.. and Jasmine helped me cut them up, so more to come on that later ;)

Source: gramfeed.com via Leslie on Pinterest

[two.] I knocked out my first Biochem exam on Monday, so I've had two nice days to just relax and actually do Summery things; like sit by the pool.

[three.]- Ben is coming to Athens this weekend. :) I haven't seen him in 3 weeks, so I'm beyond excited to spend some time with him.

[four.] My new iPhone case I just got. 
Y'all, society6 has a buttload of cute ones.
I'm obsessed.

What are you loving today?

go link up and share!

Flip Flop Swap

I'm hosting a Summer Flip Flop Swap with Liv and Sarah, and we hope you'll join in the fun!

Because who doesn't love a fun summer package?

and meeting a new friend in the blogging world?



<a href="http://lifeinitsordinaryform.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx71/kailibreanne/Blog/Design/Olivia/FFS2.png" /></a>

So how do you join?
and what are the details?

Spending Limit is $15-20 
(a minimum of 15)
Your package MUST include a pair of flip flops, and feel free to add some fun summer items into the mix as well.

Sign up is Today through this Friday, June 22. 
Partners will be paired up and emailed out over the weekend.

If you're interested in joining just leave a comment below answering these 5 questions:

 1. Name
2. Email
3. Shoe Size
4. Favorite Color
5. Favorite Thing About Summer

and then grab the button so your blogging friends can join in too!

Be sure to check out Liv and Sarah's blogs too... they're some of my favorite girls around!

Memorial Day Weekend

This weekend at the lake was beyond perfect.

Amazing weather.

Wonderful friends.

Great food.

Lots of sun.

aaaaaand, I had a sweet date for the weekend who came up to join us. :)

He met the fam for the first time, and things couldn't have gone smoother. (my heart is happy.)

Ohhhh how I love the lake and summer.

We had some brutal tubing wipeouts... which I am still recovering from.
The first lake weekend is always a wake up call when it comes to my out of shape self... I've gotta get back to my game with tubing and knee boarding. ;)

Hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend!

Lake Getaway.

I spent the beginning of this week up at the Lake with Jasmine.

It was my first time up there since Labor Day. Oh my word, I have missed it so much.

Life at the lake is so relaxing.

We have no internet or cable, and it's just so nice to escape everything for a few days.

a break from social media is necessary sometimes.

We sat on the dock, took in the view... and I got some more freckles ;) 

 

Now I'm counting down the hours until I can be BACK up there for Memorial Day weekend.

However, while I was away... I missed the Bachelorette and the Glee finale. So I have some major catch-up with Tivo tonight. 

Totally worth it though.

What is your favorite getaway?

Is there a place you love to go to just relax?

 

Swimsuits.

Okay, Let's just get it out there: Swimsuit Season SUCKS.

I'm never ready, 

never pleased with how I look in a bikini, 

and swimsuit shopping? 

Well that's just the pits.

Some of you may have seen my tweet over the weekend:

 

I went on the dreaded swimsuit shopping trip Saturday, and must say... I find the sizing of Target swimsuits puzzling.

Why are the sizes so small?

My booty isn't that big, I have what you would call the "white girl booty" aka non-existent, so I like to think that I'm not a size large. 

In fact, I'm pretty sure my little size zero sister can't wear the small.

Who fits into these?!

No wonder swimsuit shopping is so awful, it's already bad to see yourself in the mirror in a bikini... but in a swimsuit that makes you realize you need 2 sizes bigger? that just really ruins my self-esteem.

So that's my vent session.

Boom.

Share your thoughts!

Summer Reads

Blogging in the Summer is really hard.

My brain doesn't feel like thinking.. so I don't come up with great blogposts. And on top of that.. I don't really do much that IS interesting enough to share with you.

Basically, over the last week I've been reading my tail off.. and if you've noticed I've added a Reading List tab at the top of my page to link you to a page of the books I've read this year.

If you're like me and LOVE to read.. make sure you check out The Hunger Games series. My sweet friend Melissa told me about them and I can't get enough! I'm waiting on the third one to make it to my library. 

I also love reading books that you sweet bloggers suggest, because we all seem to have similar taste! I've finally made it through the last list I was recommended.. and I have a few more on my nightstand. But I'm ready for more recommendations! Send them my way so I can have a lengthy pile of books to read!

What are some of your favorite reads this summer?

Happy 4th!

We're taking our family vacation over this holiday weekend!

So for the next 5 days I'll be at the lake, surrounded by some wonderful friends and family!

and sunning my bum. ;)

via

I wish you all a wonderful and safe Fourth of July holiday with your families!

via

Lake Reunion!

Last Friday my sweet Chemistry friends came with us to the Lake for a reunion!

It's hard to put into words

just how much fun we had.

So here's some pictures to share with you our weekend!

and pardon my lake hair... I wasn't blessed with nice beach or lake hair ;)

Patrick, Sarah, and me!

We taught Patrick to kneeboard!

and Sarah cut up on the kneeboard!

a little bridge jumping

and we got a new tube so we could double up!

We had so much fun, and I'm so very blessed to have such amazing friends! Best lake weekend ever, it'll be hard to top!

Talk about FUN!!!

Our city is having a Summer festival right now.. 

and big news folks. 

THE FAIR is involved!

Uhm.. woah.

The fair hasn't been to our town for 13 years.

As in, the last time it came I was in like 2nd grade.

This is huge. 

:)

And you best believe as soon as I got wind of this.. I was there in a skip and a hop. Literally. I skipped to the car, hopped in.. and was there in like 3 minutes. 

We didn't partake in any fair foods.. because friends, the fair is a lot more expensive than we remembered! AND we didn't want to worry about losing our funnel cake on the sizzuhluhhh! ;)

Daddy took all of these fabulous pictures.. I love the lights! This one is my favorite:

Anyways, it was a blast (as if you can't already tell). 

And now we're off to the lake for some Memorial Day weekend LAAAKE TIIIIME!! hollaaa! Hope you all have a wonderful and safe weekend! Can't wait to catch up with the blogs come Tuesday!

Looks like the World didn't end...

Not that I thought it would...

and not that it's a laughing matter, but we did kind of joke about the whole thing. I mean really, the guy has claimed this before and was wrong. Now he says he miscalculated because he didn't include leap years? Get real. 

But I did come across this and thought it was funny:

At 6:30 Saturday we had a "rapture" cookout. I promise I'm not making fun of the rapture, we were just playing off of the whole "world ending" that didn't happen. 

Daddy tweeted this before our cookout, cracks. me. up.

For the cookout, we put a bunch of random furniture out on our NEWLY pressure washed patio (thanks to my sweet daddy) and the weather was absolutely perfect for it!

 

check out the reading.. love me some royal wedding!

 Mallory & myself :)

And of course, I didn't get any pictures once everyone got there.. but here's my dinner plate ;)

How did y'all ride out the "end of the world"?? 

I'm thinking REM probably made a ton with itunes downloads of their song! haha

And I've finally Reached Summer!

This school year has definitely had its ups and downs.

But amidst it all, we made the best of it in our apartment!

And now that Summer has finally arrived for me I thought I'd do a quick recap of all of the fun times we had!

move in day in August!

Ally cleaning the nasty showers we found upon move-in!

 Late Night Runs to Arby's

 The day Betsy broke down in the parking lot and had to be towed! Which has happened again this week, post to come ;)

 

Baking treats!

Thuggin Thursdays

Hosting a Pancake Party!

 Sneaking fudgesicles into the Library

And who can forget all of the studying?!

I've never worked as hard as I have this year in school, and I'm definitely proud of myself! A lot of tears have been shed, but in the end it's definitely been worth it. I've made some great friends at my college, but I'm definitely excited to see what UGA has in store for me! It's a bittersweet goodbye.. but in the meantime I can't stress enough how happy I am to finally get a SUMMER again! It's been toooo long!