Concerts, College, Braces, & Beach!

As we eased into late summer, we kicked off September with a Labor Day pool party at our house for all the neighborhood friends and had a blast! Brayden had her weekly Ruby Tuesday meetings, which are held for the sorority women who rushed, but are not yet members. I believe this is to educate them on processes and expectations before they are initiated. Brayden also attended the UGA Scuba Diving Club, which is more geared toward people who are not yet certified. However, she is given the coolest opportunity to scuba dive in February in the Georgia Aquarium next to the manta rays and whale shark! I’m so excited for her! She also had her Honors College Convocation ceremony, where the university celebrated the students who are part of this prestigious group. Then, she had a progressive dinner one evening where they went from one sorority sister’s house for appetizers to another’s for the entree, and concluded with dessert at the last house. So fun and creative! 

I had dinner with Heather, Julie, Crystal, Angie, Kendall, and Tonya at Foxcroft Wine Company one evening and it was so much fun. And some really exciting news, after about two-and-a-half years of having braces, Hanleigh had hers removed! She looks like an entirely new, grown up version of herself. It’s pretty crazy. The great thing about this is that we are seeing that beautiful smile so much more now! Brayden went with her roommate to Atlanta to see Caamp in concert at the Fox Theater and they had front row seats, just behind the pit. It looked like it was such a great time. Throughout the entire month of September, her sorority stays very busy, thanks to mixing with various fraternities. Just this month, they had social events with Pi Kappa, BYX, ATO, Beta, Delta Sig, and Phi Delt. Her weeknights are definitely busy, but she is doing an amazing job of going to class and keeping excellent grades. 

We headed to Raleigh on a Friday night and took a trip down memory lane by driving all around the town and looking at the various dorms, sorority houses, townhomes, apartments and houses that we lived in while attending NC State. It was really nostalgic and super fun! The next day, we headed to Carter-Finley Stadium to do some awesome tailgating before the NC State versus UVA football game. Momo joined us amidst the absolutely insane heat (typical for the first Saturday noon game) and we had a great time. After the game was over, we made our way back home with a quick pit stop for dinner at Ed’s Tavern. Meanwhile, in Athens, Brayden went to the UGA versus Austin Peay game. On Sunday night, we met up with the Dunlaps to have dinner at VBGB and then saw Caamp in concert at Skyla Credit Union Amphitheater. It was an awesome, chill show.

A few days later, I made my way to Ocean Isle Beach for our annual girls’ weekend. It is always such an amazing time! This year, it was the typical crew minus Leslie (we missed you so much, girl!): Heather, Tonya, Kendall, Julie, and me. We enjoyed time at the beach, an amazing dinner at Oyster Rock that had us all drooling over the Chilean sea bass, and the most fun evening full of dancing and endless giggles on the moonlit beach. That’s all I’ll say about that. The next day, we took our traditional pontoon boat ride down the intercoastal waterway with a pit stop at Provisions where we met what seemed like a very nice man, but who quickly turned into a very confrontational jerk and started being very aggressive to Julie and calling her a traitor because she lives in Charlotte and is a New England Patriots fan, something she has been since birth. We got out of there because he started getting really nasty and then he followed us in his boat for about 20 minutes before passing us. What a loser. That night, we had the yummy chicken and vegetable satay bowls that I make. Can’t wait to go again next year! This is always one of my favorite trips with my girlfriends! 

Brayden had a sports media certificate meeting, which is the concentration she is pursuing in her journalism major. She also had a Panda Pal date, which is where the incoming members meet with their potential big sisters by “dating around” to see where the best fit is. Although, Brayden already had a gut feeling who her big would be. She attended a charity event called Mr. Milledge and went to her weekly Grady Night Shift production meeting. Hanleigh joined Ray to see The Lumineers in concert as part of Ray’s birthday gift, Brayden attended an RA meeting and then the Red Door Roundup, which is a philanthropic event that her sorority puts on. She also had the My Tie date night and then went to LaGrange, Georgia for the weekend to chill with a bunch of her sorority sisters. I feel like all of the girls really appreciated that because they’ve been going non-stop since the beginning of the year and just needed to relax, decompress and get to know each other better 

Christel celebrated a birthday (happy birthday to the best stepmom ever!), I had a much-needed massage, and Trent has been seeing the doctor about his dry eyes, which is helping out a lot. I had my monthly facial with Amy, Hanleigh babysat our neighbor Ben, and Trent’s parents made their way back from their annual month-long trip to California. Brayden did some volunteer work at a local elementary school in Athens and then had her big/little reveal. Her and Izzy were so excited to be paired up together. They first met on bid day and it has been a great friendship ever since! 

Trent, Hanleigh, and made our way down to Athens for the weekend to visit Brayden. While she was at an ATO “darty” (day party), we stayed in the coolest little Airbnb: it was a shipping container like you would find on an ocean-faring cargo ship. We met up at El Paso and treated her and her friends to dinner as well as watched some hilarious college boys sing karaoke! It was a really fun night. We’ve ventured back to our Airbnb while Brayden went to Sig Ep to see a band, Harvey Street, perform. The next morning, Brayden went to SEC Nation where she met Laura Rutledge, and also touched Jason Aldean’s hand as he was there promoting a concert happening next year at Sanford Stadium alongside Luke Bryan and others. She came back to her dorm where we met her and gave her two pillows with a photo of Myers on one and Charlie on the other. She loves them so much and sleeps with them every night! From there, we migrated to the Sig Ep house to tailgate for a while and then trekked 30 minutes across campus to the Sigma Nu house where an awesome band was playing. We then walked with Brayden to where she had to wait outside of a gate for an entire hour, which was three hours before kickoff, just to get a bracelet to sit in one of the more desirable student sections. Pretty crazy! It was at that point, that Trent, Hanleigh, and I decided we needed to get somewhere downtown fast before it got too crowded. Although, we may have been a little late for that. We waited in line to get into Paloma Park for about 45 minutes and didn’t even move but 10 feet. While we waited, Trent broke off and did some research for other places we could go, so we left the line and went to the Blind Pig for dinner and watched the first half of the UGA vs. Alabama game, then headed back to our Airbnb. The next morning, we took her out to breakfast to South Kitchen and Bar and made our way back home. I had some teary eyes on the way back home as it resurrected some feelings that I had when we had dropped her off initially in August. Yes, it does get easier, but that feeling of missing someone never really goes away. Later that day, she had her sorority initiation, which means she is now officially a sister! Congratulations! 

Meanwhile, back at our house, Hanleigh, Ray, and Hunter all convened at one of their guy crush’s house where they were all three asked to go to Homecoming together. More on how that all transpired in next month’s post. It’s actually quite comical, but I’m proud of these girls for standing up for themselves. Hanleigh also had her Curriculum Night, so Trent and I went to her school and met with all of her teachers to understand what the expectations are for the year, what the teachers needs are and any other miscellaneous information. It also helped us navigate the school more, which was nice. 

Hanleigh-ism: she’s on a kick now where she thinks that black trucks are super hot and plays a game called “Dad or Daddy”, meaning that you have to guess whether the person driving the car is a dad or a daddy, which means someone who is super cute. We decided to take it a step further after coming home from an NC State football game one evening and added “Baddy” to the list of choices, which means a female that’s driving the truck.

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