I'll Celebrate That....

I was pleasantly surprised with this in my email this AM:

IRS - New Withholding Tables

N O T I C E
The Internal Revenue Service has released new withholding tables reflecting the "Making Work Pay" tax credit, a provision included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The University of South Carolina Payroll Department will begin using these tables on the March 31, 2009 payroll. The tax credit provides a tax cut of $400 for single filers with an adjusted gross income of no more than $75,000 for 200


Attached was this note from one of my favorite co-workers (this wonderful woman brings us the best cakes you've ever put in your mouth): You may notice a slight difference in your direct deposit for the 3/31 payroll. Be good Americans--go forth and spend!

My respose: Being as I am in Atlanta I will go forth and do my part to spend!
If you could only see the visions dancing in my head right now....

Her reply: That’s the spirit. God Bless America!!!

Then, when I went to Victoria's Secret I learned that they are giving 20% off today for purchases of $50 or more! As if it is possible to get much of anything under $50 in there. I needed new, umm step ins, shall we say. Yes, I just called them step-ins. It's a very old fashioned word. My beloved zebra print swimsuit from VS, that the ex got my for Christmas one year, has mysteriously gone missing. I've been really sad about that because it fit so well. It was time to replace it since I haven't been finding it, despite my best efforts to tear my house apart searching. This year, I went with a green swimsuit. I'm excited about it!

Last night I went swimming with my co-workers at the hotel pool and then watched Knocked Up on HBO. That movie is so funny and so sweet at the same time! Katherine Heigel is so pretty in that movie. I love to see another woman as tall as I am!

Tonight I'm going to eat and shop in Atlanta....I'm thinking shoes, H & M, maybe the mall...and maybe something good for dinner...

XOXOXO
Gamecock Queen

Loving Lilly, wishing I was in Augusta this week....

Lilly Pulitzer's company is 50 years old this month. I love Lilly Pulitzer. Her dresses are just too cute...but usually a little too Junior League for me...unless it's a very rare occasion like the Carolina Cup or the Masters (more about that later). I love her swimsuits, Lilly stationary, and I am crazy about my Lilly Pulitzer journal. I wish she made Lilly bed sheets. In honor of her 50th Anniversary, Lilly has made a special Jeep Wrangler and Monopoly. I dislike Monopoly and will only play it with the kids at the children's hospital. I mean, does it even have a point? And does it ever end? Does it exsist just to teach kids to count money? Taboo, Mad Gab, and Scattergories are more my faves. I think this Jeep is too cute. There is also a piano and special OJ sold in FL in Lilly containers.

This time two years ago I was in beautiful, warm, sunny Augusta GA for the Masters Tournament. What a fun week that was. Oh to be a 22 year old college student again...
This week I'm in ATL (& it's cold!) until Saturday. I want to do a tiny bit of shopping while I'm here. I either want to few small things or else a new pair of jeans. My Arden B jeans that I love are 4 years old and very worn and my other good jeans (Citizens of Humanity) are awesome, but not long enough to wear with all of my heels...
XOXOX
Gamecock Queen

Really Friday

Yesterday I thought it was Wednesday and posted a Wordless Wednesday, but it was Thursday. Weirdly enough, I went to the Children's Hospital, which I normally do on Thursdays, but still thought it was Wednesday almost all day. Luckily, someone told me before 5, so I still had to time change into my gym clothes and make it to the gym for my class. Body sculpt yesterday was insane! Everything hurts today. I also went tanning, got to be looking my best for ATL!

Tonight I'm stopping at home overnight on my way to ATL. The Frashleys will be going out. In college, my best friend Ashley and I spent to much time together (we were roommates) that everyone started calling us "Frashley". It is my name (Fran) meshed with her name (Ashley). The bottom picture us now and the top picture was several years ago in the dorm. I'm sporting that weird hair color yet again.

Tonight we are going to The Islander, where I worked from the time I was 16 until I was 20. The Islander was my very first real job. I started out as a hostess and then waitressed. Then, after I came to USC (I went to a community college/technical school for 3 years after high school), I worked there over college breaks. I love that place. They have the best food in the world and the best atmosphere.

Any time I'm at Mom's house, this sweet thing sleeps with me. This little one is named Addie and she gets so so excited when I visit. She especially likes it when I visit without my own pets so I can give her undevided attention. I have a Critter Sitter this week. It's so hard to get petcare when I travel. I sort of think of myself as half way a single mom. It's not easy to have the responsibility of four pets all alone with no one to share it with. Speaking of, my ex-boyfriend wants me to have dinner with him on his 33rd birthday in two weeks. I'm OK with dinner, just dinner, just as friends, but he'll probably see that as encourgement that we are getting back together. Not possible. He's dishonest. More on that later.

I have a new TV show and I love it. I had never seen "My Name Is Earl" before last week. On Thursdays for the last several years I was always waitressing at The Islander or out and about with Ashley. Now I go to bed early like a granny during the work week so I'm home on Thursday nights. I love this show! It's hilarious. I love Jamie Presley's character Joy. She makes the show. She actually reminds me of one of my roommates from back home. Jamie Presley is so pretty and is a really good actress.
And lastly, I got my headshot fixed. The earring was crooked so my photographer fixed it. I used the headshot with the brown background for state. I think the turquoise pops more so I'm using it next time. I want to do a preliminary (it's also a festival pageant for my favorite place in the world) in the Miss USA circuit. USA is Donald Trump's pageant.Photography by Jeanna Beasley. She's amazing and really easy to work with. I just love being around Jeanna. She's a really strong Christian woman and one of the sweetest girls you will ever meet. I love having her around the day of a pageant because she's very laid back and calms my nerves! Jeanna has been in tons of pageants so she knows everything you are going through and I think that is part of what makes her so good at her job.

I'm out...have a good weekend!

Wordless Wednessday....

Real fast, as I'm on my way to the local children's hospital on my short lunch break. So Grateful, Thank You God! - it's been raining for two days. There is a major drought in the SouthEast. The lake where I'm from is way, way down in it's water level. Every summer growing up I've spent a lot of fun times out on this lake and now it's nearly dried up to nothing but a big mud hole. Not only does the drought impede everyone's recreational plans on the lake for this summer, but food for farm animals has gotten really expensive. Here is the lake.

I found this to email to my best friend J. Ryan Reynolds is her man. Yes, that's so 14 years old of me, but it will brighten her day when she opens her email! I like this picture, it makes me want summer.
XOXOX
Gamecock Queen

Mashed Potatoes and Banana Pudding

Yesterday at work I was bored and I was reading online about Vanna White. When I was a little girl I was very impressed by Vanna. Until yesterday I did not know that she is from South Carolina. She is from one of my favorite places in the world, Myrtle Beach. In an interview I read, the interviewer asked her what foods she would like to have as her last meal. Her answer: Mashed Potatoes and Banana Pudding. Oh My Goodness - those are some of my favorite foods! My friend A and I do dinner about once a week and I'm seriously considering serving mashed potatoes and banana pudding the next time it's my turn. Speaking of eating, I brough a boring lunch today (PB&J sandwich and chips) and I really want to get one of my friends to meet me at California Dreaming so I can have their chicken fingers.

I have at meeting soon, so I'll keep this short and sweet :-D

Totally Tuesday...

I'm beginning to pack to go to ATL for work again. It seems like I just got back - yikes! Actually I LOVE my job and love going to ATL (especially for the shopping and eating), it's just the organizing, planning, and packing that goes into the preparation. I don't know how all you Momma's get a whole family ready and packed for a trip! My biggest challenge is getting a Critter Sitter for my sweet babies.

I have applied for another job with the university I work for, since given our grant situation, I'm out of a job in September when our grant year ends. You can go online and check your status and first mine said "under review by HR", then "under review by department", now it says "interview pending". I'm hoping I can go on an interview soon. I've been praying that I can find another job within the university because I love it here - love the atmosphere, hours, and vacation schedule. It would be an easy transition for me and I already know a lot about the procedures for accounting, purchasing, so forth...I don't want to bore you. I'm ready to move on to a new job, not because I'm not still happy here, but because I'm tired of the uncertainty. I don't like not knowing what my plans are and if I'll be able to find a job and keep my lifestyle. I don't even know if it is smart to go on my annual vacation with my best friend (that we've gone on since high school) without something lined up. I'm vacation dreaming, can you tell?
The Masters Tournament starts on Monday and I wish I was going. I have been before, in 2007, and it was a good time. I'm not into golf at all, but the atmosphere and food are reason enough to go. WOW...that was some light hair I had...I think it didn't look that good with my skin tone so I'll stick with what I have.
XOXOX
Gamecock Queen

Sweet as pie....

my Trinket is. I get way too much entertainment from watching my tiny little dog. Yesterday I took her to the park around lunchtime and she made friends with the hugest Great Dane you have ever seen. It was the cutest thing and people kept stopping to look at the two of them together. I think his owner may have been flirting with me :-D. However, I've been out of the game so long that I don't think I can even tell anymore. I'm on hiatus from dating after the fiasco that was my last relationship. I don't usually write about it, so I'll just give you the history that it lasted 5 years, I thought that person was the love of my life, and it ended badly after they were dishonest with me about something BIG. Anyways back to Trinket - I took a picture on my cell phone, but it didn't come out very well so this photo from google will have to do.

I also went to church. It's time I really find a church here and start going on a regular basis. This is my church at home (non-denominational, really cool, although I was raised Catholic) and there's not really anything like it around here. They are supposed to be getting a campus here soon, which I hope will be close to going to the original. Newspring has grown a lot in the past few years and I always like to say I went there before it was cool. I went to the Catholic Church yesterday and liked it, it's just that I like a church like Newspring because they have fun music, young people, and I feel like the message is always very easy to relate to, easy to understand, and applicable to everyday life. I will more than likely keep going to the Catholic Church here until the Newspring campus opens up in my town. On holidays such as Easter I go to Catholic mass with my family and don't go to Newspring. Speaking of Easter, I love it! I love seeing all the Easter candy in the stores. I even have some hiding in my desk to nibble on...

I have to go get something laminated so have a great Monday!

Photo Friday

Here are some pictures from state. In bathing suit I am second from the left and I'm wearing a purple suit. In the opening # I'm wearing silver and in one picture I have my hand up and am in the front and center of the stage. In the rehearsal pictures I am wearing jeans and a brown tank top.












I went to the track where the university team does their practices and ran yesterday. I used to live in a dorm right by there. This dorm was also right by the baseball stadium and you could hear a "ping ping" noise every afternoon when they practiced hitting. Trust me, that was just what A and I wanted to hear when we were trying to take our afternoon nap! I'm still not 100% where I want to be for my swimsuit body. I'm also rethinking the choice of a purple swimsuit. What do you think?

I like Britney's stomach here:

Yesterday I jumped hurdles for the first time since I graduated high school. I ran track in high school and loved it. I remembered how to do my old warm up and how I was supposed to count my steps and jump, but it felt really clumsy. Seems like I remember feeling really graceful and swift, like a gazelle, in high school. Maybe not. It also seems like running used to be easier than it is now.

Have a great weekend!

Remember These?

Does anyone else remember Tinkerbell Cosmetics? I used to get this stuff all the time for birthdays and Christmas. I have been a girlie-girl from way back. This was an off brand and was not affiliated with Disney. Later, Disney won a lawsuit against this company and put them out of business, which is why you don't see this stuff anymore.

I had the Tinkerbell BOPO Nailpolish...Brush-On, Peel-Off...except mine would always flake off when I was outside playing with our horses. This is little me.

Today Morgan is 5 years old! Happy Birthday Morgan! Morgan isn't on my blog a lot because Trinket is so high maintenance that a lot of my time is devoted to caring for her. Triket also gets to go a lot more places with me because her tiny size makes her easily portable. I love both my labs, but I have figured out that I am a small dog person. Chihuahuas are a handy size and that makes for easy traveling. I got some dog cookies from a pet store near my work yesterday for Morgan's birthday. They are Easter egg shaped and actually look really yummy and smell really good.

Here is a new photo from state. I'm all the way in the back row, center, white dress. My Mom says she is 50% in withdrawl from pageants and can't wait for the next one (she now watches Little Miss Perfect on WE) and 50% hopes I will hang up my tiara and never do one again. I can't decide, but I will say that I'm getting old in the world of pageants and the last one wore me out so much I'm just now back to normal.

Wordless Wednesday and Watermelon...

To start wordless Wednesday, here are two photos of the opening number for state two weeks ago. It was to Britney Spears "Circus". Yes, I know Britney is a terrible role model, but I love her music. I'm not ashamed to admit it (OK, not ashamed anymore). Of course, since I'm tall and was in the third row, you can't really see me. I think I can see one of my legs. I was wearing silver.

I thought I would also put up a few pics of the Amazing Barbie Dream Studio that is where I go for coaching. Every girl should have a dressing room like this, and one day, I will! My dream is a big nice bathroom with a jacuzzi tub, granite counter tops in my kitchen, and a big walk-in closet/dressing room with lots of pink. I don't like a lot of dolls and stuffed animals (they never stop staring - creepy) so I will have a lot less of them. However, if anyone ever gives me the Elvis and Priscilla barbies I have wanted for forever, I would display them with pride.





Finally for wordless Wednesday, we have this heinous crocheted watermelon wreath. Would you EVER? I came accross this hideousity because I googled "Watermelon Wear". You see, boys and girls, I want to enter a Watermelon Pageant in June. It's only $50 to enter and I may as well use all the stuff I spent a fortune on for state. Plus, how great would it be to be Miss Watermelon? I mean, I can eat watermelon like a champ. I have been a Christmas Queen before, why not Watermelon? It seems like almost every county in the south has a watermelon festival and a watermelon queen. The part that makes me nervous is "Watermelon Wear". That could be cute if you are 4, but since I'm 24 that worries me. I just hope if I win no one gives me anything tacky like this wreath. I know this wreath is hanging in someone's home somewhere and that they are very proud of it. It makes me wonder what other crocheted monstrosities could be in such a home!

St. Patty's Day Post...

This is what I am wearing today. This photo isn't from today, it was taken about a year ago {see highlighted hair} and I'm outfit recyling. The purse is my favorite part of this outfit. I love this bag because it's so fun. Green is one of my colors anyways {because I have green eyes} so today isn't really a speical effort for me. I just realized that also in this photo, you can just barely see on my left hand, I'm wearing a ring from my ex-boyfriend. It wasn't an engagement ring, but I loved that ring and was so proud of it, it was the first thing I ever got from Tiffanys. I got it for Christmas right after I graduated college. But, that's another post for another day...

Yesterday I started my new babysitting job. On Mondays and Wednesdays after work I'm keeping a little girl {2 years old} that lives in my neighborhood. She is as sweet as pie and was super easy to watch. I made $30 so I was happy about that, especially after my shopping spree on swoozies yesterday. One of my friends just got engaged and my best friend Jenna will be MOH. I immediately directed Jenna to swoozies to look at invitations for bachelorette parties and bridal showers. Before yesterday I could care less about anything monogrammed or about buying stationary, but now I have a new addiction. And I love expecting a package in the mail. It's thrilling to check my mail box everyday with anticipation.

Barbie just turned 50 and I found some photos online of her Real Life Dream House in Malibu. This was designed especially for her 50th birthday bash. I love Barbie and I wish my house looked like this.

Pageant Patty

Pageant Patty is actually the name of one of my best friend's car. He calls his car this because he loves pageants so much and drives all over to attend them. I feel like Pageant Patty with competing last weekend and judging this weekend. Judging was a BLAST! I loved it. And what a nice change it was to be on the other side of things. I judged a middle school pageant. It was for the middle school that feeds into my old high school. I didn't go to middle school there because I went to private school until high school. The girls were adorable and it was hard to judge. Even though they were in middle school, they looked so tiny. I don't think I was ever that small in middle school. I'm one of those girls that has been almost 6 feet tall and looked 20 since they were 12 years old. The dresses that the girls wore were all so pretty. They had big full tulle skirts (like Southern Belles or the Barbie cakes I used to get every year for my birthday) in bright colors like hot pink, yellow, electric blue, & turquoise. It was so pretty when all the girls were on stage in their evening gowns. When the curtains opened at the end of the night to name the winners all the little girls were holding hands. So many of the girls did so well and were so pretty and that made it very difficult. I wanted them all to win. I got my heartbroken when a 6th grader that didn't win anything started crying on stage. It really, really broke my heart. The middle school girls were just too cute and what's more is the school fed me really well. I love homemade salad dressing, which they had, along with salad (to go with said dressing) and homemade lasagne.


I've gone a bit crazy today with gifts to self. I ordered some birthday gifts for some friends and decided it was only fair to treat myself as well. I got monogrammed notecards and a Lilly Pullitzer journal. I love to keep a journal. The site I have been shopping from today is swoozies.com. They have great stuff on here.


XOXOXX