Champions

Have you ever had one of those moments that in the middle of it, you stop and realize that this is a story you're going to tell your future kids one day?

I had a moment like that last Monday night.

So back story: part of the reason I decided to come to Clemson (aside from stellar location, gorgeous campus, and top notch academics, of course) was that it is a GREAT football school. Being a cheerleader for the better part of my life, I have always liked being around football and schools with lots of spirit. Ultimately the size and spirit of Clemson is what lead me to choose it over my second choice, which was a much smaller Division 2 school.

Over the past three years, I have gotten to watch some amazing football games. Freshman year was a little rocky with our inconsistent quarterback and inability to stand up against some of the great teams like Georgia and Florida State, but I got to watch as the Tigers broke the University of South Carolina's seven year winning streak in the Palmetto Bowl, our rivalry game. Sophomore year, football was amazing. We went undefeated in regular season, beat Florida State finally, defeated Notre Dame during the pouring rain of a hurricane (without a doubt the most exciting football game I have ever been to, totally worth the cold I got after), beat South Carolina again, became ACC champions, celebrated making it into the College Football Playoffs with a massive pizza party in the stadium, and took on the Almighty Alabama in the National Championship. Unfortunately, we lost.

This year, we came back with a vengeance and so did every opponent we faced. Whether it was our cockiness after being #2 in the country, or the other schools' desire to dethrone the team that did so well the year before, I don't know, but almost every game was close....very close. Friends joked that Clemson athletics needed to pay for the anxiety medication they would be needing after some of our really close calls - like against Louisville, where we scored two touchdowns in the last seven minutes of the fourth quarter to come from behind and win or against North Carolina State, where their kicker missing a field goal with no time left kept the game tied to go into overtime and we were able to score. See how we were kept on the edge of our seats?

After losing to Pittsburgh in  November, everyone thought we were done for. What kind of team chokes in an easy game like that? I think it was just over-confidence catching up to us. The Tigers came back to show we weren't out yet by winning our final two regular season games and securing the ACC title to land a spot as the second seed in the College Football Playoffs for the second year in a row. On New Year's Eve, we defeated Ohio State 31-0, despite the Buckeyes being favored to win. 

So that brings us to Monday night. The College Football National Championship. A rematch between my beloved Tigers and the Alabama Tide. I only wish I had been lucky enough to be in Tampa for the game, but I was pretty happy where I was, standing in the middle of College Avenue - the main downtown street in Clemson - in the freezing cold, watching the game on big screens setup in the street with my boyfriend, one of my closest friends, and tons of fellow Tigers. We knew going in that Alabama was likely going to win. No one beats Nick Saban and the Tide. And it started off not looking so good. Alabama got up 14-0. The Tigers scored in the second quarter, once in the third, and at the start of the fourth, but were still trailing. Then, with four and a half minutes left, we got another touchdown. We were beating Alabama.

The crowd downtown had dwindled around halftime. Understandable, considering it was below freezing and our prospects didn't look good there for a while. But all during the second half, as the Tigers continued to show that we were still in the fight, the crowd grew. By the time we were leading the game, the street was nearly packed. The energy was electric. The Tigers were up. We were going to show all the naysayers that Clemson has a great football program that shouldn't be questioned. Then Alabama scored again to take back the lead. I have never felt a collective mood of a group change so quickly. That was it. The end. Tide wins again. There was no way that with two minutes left we would be able to secure the lead to win the game. 

But the Tigers drove on. And with every gain, the crowd in the street of downtown Clemson, seven hours away from where the game was taking place, got more and more excited. With literally seconds left in the game, the Tigers were yards away from the goal line. Back in Clemson, we were all holding our breath. Could we do it? Could we dethrone the Tide? Winning felt so close, but we didn't want to jinx it. Then it happened. The touchdown catch to end all touchdown catches, in my opinion. Deshaun Watson and Hunter Renfrow made becoming national champions look easy. They started going crazy in Tampa and we went nuts in Clemson. Tears were streaming down our faces as we hugged everyone in sight, even people we didn't know. The Tigers reclaimed the lead with a second left. We had to wait to completely let loose and start celebrating since there was a challenge on the last play of the game. Then it was official. The Clemson Tigers won the National Championship!

I cried... a lot. Over a football game. Silly right? But it was so exciting to watch and there were so many emotions throughout the game that the only way to let them out was to cry. We cried and hugged and cheered and did the cadence count a million times. We jumped up and down with strangers and screamed that we were champions at the top of our lungs. It didn't matter that we were surrounded by strangers, we were all Clemson Tigers and had just shared the most surreal experience.

It's taken me a week to put everything I felt last Monday night into words, but I'm so glad I have because even if no one else reads this, I want to remember what it felt like to be a part of the 2016 National Championship win. Football talk definitely won't be the norm on here, I'm still just so excited about it.

I hope your Monday is going well!

Merry Christmas! + Blogger Secret Santa

Merry Christmas Y'all!

I am wishing you a wonderful holiday filled with family, yummy food, and lots of love. Christmas is my favorite holiday and I cannot believe how quickly it has come this year. It's one of the few times a year my whole family is under the same roof for an extended amount of time. It can get hard to be away from home for the majority of the year, but being back in Texas has been exactly the recharge I've needed after this long semester. 

Once again, I cannot believe how quickly this year has flown. It has been a long, hard year for me and so many people I know. Today, I was scrolling through Instagram and I saw someone captioned a picture with the lyrics to O Holy Night, "the trill of hope, the weary world rejoices." How perfect of a perspective is that for the holiday season this year? No matter what your year has looked like, I feel like everyone is just worn out and weary by the time December rolls around. But rejoice, there is hope! There is always hope in God, Jesus, and the new year. So rejoice in the hope and happiness of the holidays and enjoy the time with loved ones. 

One of the things that helped add some happiness to my Christmas was the Blogger Secret Santa gift exchange hosted by Abigail and Cathleen. These sweet girls (and fellow SC residents) had the fun idea to host a gift exchange between bloggers all across the country. Funnily enough, even though there were girls from all across the country who participated, I sent a gift to and received gifts two other Texas girls! What are the odds?!

I received a secret santa gift from Alison from Beauty & Blazers. Check out all of her links here:

blog // instagram // twitter // pinterest // facebook

Alison is super adorable and crazy talented! Seriously, her photography and hand lettering skills are killer. And her insta theme is perfection. She announced on her blog in November that she will be going through a rebrand in the new year. I wish her the best of luck with it! Here are a couple shots of my gift from her. She did a great job of picking out things for me: I love mugs (too much), the stocking matches my room perfectly, I'm a total sucker for the pretty packaging of the tea box and who doesn't love chocolate? Thank you so much Alison!

Once again, have a wonderful and blessed Christmas!

November Top 10!

It's the last month of 2016! Can you believe it? As per usual, since it is the beginning of the month, here is my top 10 for November.

1 // November was equally crazy and relaxing. The first weekend of the month was fall break which meant a four day weekend, which was MUCH needed! Fall break was delayed this year due to the election (they wanted to make sure everyone had the day off to vote), which meant everyone was burned out long before we got a break. Just a week and a half later, it was Thanksgiving. Mike and I headed to his sister's for both breaks. I was not productive at all during the time off, but a full on break was so nice. Occasionally, it's really great to get out of a college town and be around people who are not within the 18-22 age range. 

2 // Another awesome part of November is always the Clemson-South Carolina game the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Clemson broke a seven year losing streak my freshman year and has started a streak of our own! This year, the Palmetto Bowl was a night game (so fun!) and the first cold football game we had. Not everyone agrees with me, but I love getting all bundled up for football games. We were all packed together since there were so many people at the game, so you couldn't even really feel the cold. We spent all day tailgating and then handed South Carolina one of their biggest losses in the rivalry's history. Rushing the field with friends was the perfect way to end another great football season.

3 // Also this month (so many things happened!), Mike and I celebrated our two year anniversary. It's crazy to me that we have been together for two years already. I am so grateful for him and we have had such a great time over the past two years experiencing college and growing up together. For our anniversary we went to a really neat wild game restaurant called Saskatoon. Mike was adventurous and got elk, I was not and just got a steak. The dinner was delicious and we had a nice time going on a fancy date, definitely a treat.

4 // This year I actually did some Black Friday shopping! I wasn't about to brave the crazy to get deals, so I shopped on my phone, in my pajamas, while watching the Gilmore Girls revival. I ordered some new things from Old Navy and placed an order with elf cosmetics. I'm still waiting on my orders to come in, but I'll put up a haul/review once I get everything in.

5 // One of the most exciting parts of the month was the Gilmore Girls revival. I love Gilmore Girls! I would come home everyday in middle school and watch an episode at 4pm on ABC Family, ah memories. I've also watched the whole series on Netflix. Needless to say, I was super excited for the revival. It was good and I liked it for the most part. I wasn't super into the ending, unless they were setting it up for another revival/new series, which I would be down for. 

6 // Early in the month, Mike and I went out to see a movie and landed on Hacksaw Ridge. It sounded like a horror movie, so I was hesitant, but it ended up being amazing. It's the true story of a conscientious observer, a soldier who won't carry a gun, during World War II, who single handedly saved a number of his men in one of the most dangerous battles of the war. It's a great, heart warming and just amazing story. I was so surprised Desmond Doss isn't a more well known figure because of his story. It's still in theaters and I highly recommend it.

7 // On the beauty side, for the past few months, I have been using the Morphe Brushes 35 K - Koffee eyeshadow palette. It is the perfect neutral palette. It has all of the same/similar colors as my original Naked palette with just as good, if not better quality, for a fraction of the cost. I got mine off of Hautelook for around $15!!! I've heard great things about the other Morphe palettes so if you're in the market for something new without paying an excessive amount, definitely look into them.

8 // It finally got cold in November, mainly towards the end, but I was so ready. It has been an unusually warm fall in Clemson and I was dying to break out the jeans and sweaters. For the better part of the last 6 weeks, I have been living in my favorite jeans from Old Navy. Lately I have been pairing them with one of my classic cable knit sweaters from Ralph Lauren and my riding boots.

9 // Also when I ordered my Morphe palette, I ordered a foundation brush. I've never used a brush for foundation before. In high school, I just used my fingers and when I started getting into watching youtube beauty videos, I started using a beauty sponge. Over the past year, I have been watching Jaclyn Hill's makeup video and she recommended the M439 Deluxe Buffer brush for foundation. When I saw it on sale, I decided to go ahead and try it out. Man have I been missing out! Using a brush makes putting on foundation so much faster and easier, especially since this one is kinda large; it's also cheap which is always a plus.

10 // I'm so glad it's finally December! In a matter of days, I'll be headed home for the first time since August. Christmas is my favorite time of the year and I love spending time with my family, especially since I'm so far from home. Having a whole month home is going to be amazing and I can't wait to just soak it all in.

What are you most excited for in December?

Festive for Finals

Finals week is upon us! Unfortunately the happiness and excitement of December that comes with the Christmas season is also accompanied by the stress of final exams for college and most high school kids. It seems almost cruel that the fun of the holidays is dampened by the most dreaded week of the semester. I am very lucky to get out of school two weeks before Christmas, leaving plenty of time to get into the holiday spirit, but for those of you who are still in school closer to Christmas, here is a definitive guide of everything you need to stay in the holiday spirit as you study!

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7

Everyone knows that a serious study session requires the comfiest of attire, but who says your library ensemble as to be your normal oversized t shirt? Swap it out for a fun Christmas graphic tee so you can stay in the spirit as you make endless notecards.

If you're the kind of person who prefers to study in your room over the insanely crowded library (same!), a festive environment is essential. I bought this adorable gold mylar Christmas tree from Target and it has been up in my room since early November, judge me. I also got these mini ornaments and star tree topper to decorate it. It looks so cute in my room and makes me so happy. 

When you need a little study break, break out the bright red nail polish and a Christmas movie to give yourself the perfect holiday manicure. 

Of course, finals week would not be complete without an excess of coffee. Make your caffeine kick a little more merry with a themed mug and holiday flavored coffee - I just picked up the Donut Shop Peppermint Bark k-cups and I'm dying to try them!

Cozy footwear is also an essential. I love these gold moccasins, because they could easily go from your last-minute, early morning cram sesh while still in your jammies, straight to your exam in normal clothes and no one would think anything of it.

If you want to be a little more inconspicuous with your holiday cheer, these funny reindeer socks are right up your alley. Only you will know that you've had a Christmas countdown going since December 26.

Last, but not least, after a long day of studying, nothing helps you unwind faster than slipping into some comfy Christmas jammies. I ordered this set during Black Friday (unfortunately had to get them shipped home instead of to school) and I am so excited to try them out!

Good luck to everyone on their final exams!