Happy Friday: Singles Day Version!

Kelly, from Kelly's Korner, is having a Singles Link-Up today and I decided to join in. I participated the last time she did this and figured why not try it again. 

so, a little about me. My name is Staci and I'm 24 and currently living in the beautiful upstate of South Carolina. I went to Clemson where I got a bachelors in finance and a masters in accounting. I ended up in grad school simply because I couldn't imagine leaving Clemson after only 4 years and my advisor suggested the graduate program. I enjoyed my 5 years more than I ever thought I would and sometimes I just really want to go back. Thank goodness for football games!

{fall 2011}

{homecoming 2011}

I just passed all 4 sections of the CPA exam and I'm pretty excited/proud of that! Currently I am a nanny for the cutest 17 month old twins ever. I love being with Jackson & Riggs but I'm excited about finding an accounting job. I think the thing I'm most looking forward to is getting dressed up for work...and I'm sure that will wear off after about a week. 

{jonathan's graduation, May 2012 with our parents}

I have one younger brother, Jonathan, who graduated from Clemson in May. He is engaged and getting married in January of next year. My dad retired at the beginning of this year so he and my mom have been traveling a lot and enjoying the retired life. 

{master's graduation, August 2011}

Earlier this year, I joined the special events committee at the church I attend. We plan all the events for the children's ministry. VBS was our big production of the year and I think that had to be one of the most stressful things I have ever done. We are moving on to simpler things now, like trunk or treat for halloween. I also recently committed to start going once or twice a month to a children's home that our church works. A group goes occasionally to hang out with the teenaged girls there. I really want to start being more involved with this age of girls so I'm excited to see how God works in this situation...even if it is slightly out of my comfort zone. 

{Easter 2012}

I like to think I'm a pretty crafty/creative person. I enjoy sewing, even if it's been a while since I've had my machine out. I think pinterest is an amazing site and, as i told my brother, I was on pinterest before it was cool to be there. I'm really excited about fall weather because it means layers, tights and boots. I also love fall for the football games and tailgates. Glitter terrifies me but I just got a pair of glitter flats. I panic when I see black and brown together but for some reason I'm excited to wear my brown boots with my black leggings. So maybe all that means I'm expanding my comfort zone even more. I love happy hour at sonic, my teal bubble necklace and I have a slight (or major) addiction to buy clothes for Jackson & Riggs.

{spring 2010}

{may 2010 graduation}

{christmas eve 2011 at my grandparent's house: jonathan, me and my parents}

if you have any questions, let me know! I can't wait to see what happens with all of us linking up this time!

this crazy thing called life

my life has been rather boring recently but exciting stuff has been happening in my family. 
my brother got a job...yup like a real, full-time, grown-up job. and i'm honestly really happy for him. and yes, this is the same brother (i only have one) who is engaged and getting married in january of next year. and yup this brother is just graduating from college in may. it's funny how his life is turning out exactly how i had mine planned. actually it's really not funny at all. and if i think about it too much, i get a little sad. and if i'm being honest, maybe a little jealous. i had slowly come to terms with the fact that he would be getting married before me. (but i can still beat him...any takers people?) but this whole job thing is a completely different can of worms. and yeah i kind of hate that his life is all coming together and mine is basically a colossal train wreck (which is ironic since he's going to work for the railroad...) but in all seriousness, i just wish some small part of my life would start to make sense...i'm not even asking for it all anymore...just something. 
and it's not like i want his life to be floundering like mine is, i guess i just wanted to accomplish something before him (besides the obvious like graduating and such). i'm a little less than 2 years older than him but i always knew i would be employed and married before him. and yes, i did extend my college career by a year so there has really only been 9 months between our final college graduations...which is slightly more acceptable than 2 years. 
so there you have it blog-land, i'd like to be employed with a ring on my finger. but since we obviously don't live in a perfect world and my plan is clearly not correct, i'd take an interview...or a date. 
i think another reason i would really like either of the above (other then that it would hopefully ease my feelings of failure) would be the companionship/friendship/the relationship. i'm so, so, so hesitant to write what i'm going to next, but i really feel like i need too. sometimes i think the reason i haven't found the job yet or met the boy yet is that i'm not suppose to be where i am. like instead of just looking for jobs in/near greenville, i should be looking all over. (which i have been doing...just not as seriously as i've looked in greenville) maybe God doesn't want me here and he's trying so hard to tell me to let go of what i want and to look somewhere else (as if i haven't had to let go of most of my awesome plan already, i mean can't i just hold onto this little piece?!?)
so maybe i need to move and just start over. i would enjoy some friends who aren't married and don't have kids. or maybe just someone to go to lunch with on a Saturday...or meet for coffee one night. i absolutely love being with Jackson and Riggs but it's isolating in a way. but if i was at home, i'd just be hanging out with my parents and their friends and honestly that would be even more isolating because at least in greenville there are people i like that are my age. 
it doesn't really help that everyone  i hang out with from church is married and most have kids. which again, is awesome, but doesn't leave a lot of time for just hanging out. i've written about this whole idea vaguely before (and here as well) but i guess i'll touch on it again. i seriously hate when i feel like someone feels obligated to include me. i promise i may sound really weak and whiney on this blog but i like to think i'm a lot stronger in reality. for example, while out earlier, i heard on the radio an advertisement for a greenville drive game. i considered going for a split second but i thought going all by myself would make me seriously sad. but then i realized that i didn't even have anyone to ask to go with me and i got sad anyways. so just simple things like that. i guess my question to the world is where does someone find people to go to a minor league game with...or to spend a saturday afternoon with? and i came to the same conclusion that i've been reaching a lot recently...
i don't think it can happen for me in greenville. i really think God is seriously telling me to get out. look outside my comfort zone and just go. i mean i'd obviously have to find a job first but now i'm very seriously looking in cities throughout the u.s. and maybe i'll find something perfect. okay so i'm obviously still hoping something will come up in greenville but i doubt that a little more each and every day. so if God wants me to move on, then move on i will. and maybe then my life will all come together. or hey maybe it won't. i have a ton of fears about moving anywhere but i don't think i'll blog about those until i have a job offer that will require me to face those fears. which i don't have. 
so back to fun & non serious blogging tomorrow. i will confess that i wrote this a few days ago while in starbucks and clearly blogging in starbucks bring out the depressed/crazy/emotional side of me. 
and i think i'll end this blog post with the following tweet that pretty much sums up my thoughts on finding the boy.
via Southern Weddings @iloveswmag Southern Phrase of the Day: on finding the right man: Good Men are as scarce as deviled eggs after a church picnic. 

What a year...

today Jackson and Riggs turn one.

and what a crazy year its been.

it's seriously crazy how much i remember about this day one year ago. i know exactly what i was wearing and everything. one year ago today, i took the first part of the cpa exam and began a crazy adventure.

Jackson and Riggs also decided to make an appearance. two random events that have both had such an impact on my life this past year and will forever be tied together in my mind.

if you would have told me a year ago that i wouldn't have a job in accounting yet i probably would have cried and seriously freaked out. and okay i would definitely love an accounting job. and i promise that i'm working on it. but i also wouldn't have believed you when you told me that i would be lucky enough to spend my days with Jackson and Riggs.

i feel like now would be a good time to admit that when i found out that Cindy was pregnant that her kid(s) i was (slightly because i'm not crazy or anything) worried that they would have no idea who i was. and all babies need a cool auntie staci

so i'm continually amazed at how everything has worked out. and i seriously hope the twins know who i am...i mean i do dress them in awesome outfits and let them climb all over me as if i am a human jungle gym.

 so while i'm still on the hunt for a job where i can use my degrees, i'm so thankful that i get to spend my days with the babies until that happens.

i thought about writing each of the twins a letter...full of awesome advice and cool stories but i haven't yet. i still think i'll end up doing it. and i might even post it here...or maybe i'll just include it in their birthday cards...which i'm still in the process of picking out, much less even writing in them. but regardless of if they get the awesome letter today or in 2 years, i think they'll always know that they can always come to me with whatever. and i'm kind of super excited for the first time they say staci...or some variation of my name. 

so happy birthday to my favorite twins...i can't wait to see what happens this next year!

okay so maybe accounting is the perfect job for me...

while i'm not yet employed as an accountant, i just feel like it won't be that much longer. and i'm running out of blog posts that don't center around either being single or taking photos of the twins...so i thought i'd share a few things that i'm super excited to purchase once i'm working in the world of accounting...and by things i mean clothes, office supplies and the like. i know, i know...

sticky weekly calendar from poketo

fun skirts

teal pencil skirt from jcrew, polka dot skirt from banana republic, and a tweed skirt with a slight ruffle from nordstrom

the yummy lunch ideas can be found here and i'm oddly excited about making lunches...especially if they occasionally look like these 

another reason to love mason jars! (pinned here)

and seriously what's not to love about these legal pads?!?! 

it's a new year

i have never really made any resolutions...but i do love a good list and being able to mark things off of said list. so in honor of the new year and all of the resolutions being made, i decided to post a few of the things that appear on my "big life list" for 2012. hopefully i can be marking some of these items off sooner rather than later. other items are not really things that can be marked off but just things i want to be more consistent about in 2012.

• find a job in public accounting---i've had my graduate degree since August and i should probably put it to use sometime soon...however i will be really sad to end my days with the twins
• finish the CPA exam---i only have one section left and i know that i can pass it, i just need to buckle down and focus on it.
• get engaged---okay so i'm kidding (slightly) with this one. i would like for 2012 to be the year that sees some major advancements on this front...but we shall see what happens
• get more organized---so this can truly happen once i have my own place and can finally have all my stuff in one place...as opposed to 3 different places
• be more diligent in with my journal---i know i go through cycles of journaling but i'd really like for this year to be the year that i fill the journal up...even if it's with all kinds of randomness
• be better with sending people random cards and such---i may hate the post office but i love getting unexpected mail so i'm assuming others do as well
• be nicer---as unbelievable as this may sound, i sometimes have a mean side. i think that if i can look at (some) things with a more positive outlook then i will only be happier (but i can't give up the sometimes not-so-nice sarcasm all the time...or else i wouldn't be me)
• be involved---this applies to pretty much all aspects of my life...be more involved in the lives of my parents and with jonathan and nealee...work on being more involved with my friends...and on making new friends...and (once i'm working) involved at work...and at church...and with outreach activities...this goal will definitely be a year-long work in progress

i'll be sure to give updates on the "big life list" as things progress this year. maybe by putting this out there, i'll be better at actually working on some of these things (aka being nicer...and more involved)

oh the job search

i just realized the other day that i've been looking for a job for over a year. okay, sure i just graduated in august, but last september (2010) a lot of recruitment in my field happened for the fall of 2011. and people (including my college roommate and awesome friend) got job offers for the fall of 2011. and i did not. which was okay because i figured i had an entire year to find something and of course i would. and here we are...over a year later. (i promise no super sad posts here...but i don't really have a ton of things to blog about and maybe one day (soon) i'll look back at this post and laugh...or just remember where i was at this time)
and if i'm being honest, i'm not super-duper sad about not having a job yet. i kind of assumed that even if i got a job offer this fall, they wouldn't want me to start until january anyways. so i'm thinking come january maybe i'll be a little more sad. or maybe i'll be so busy with the cute twins that i won't even think about. (i think i've made this pretty clear but just in case, the cute twins belong here and are totally not mine)
i think that the worst part about not having a job [yet] is the whole feeling of disappointing my parents. i mean i would love to actually use my degree(s) for a little while. i think that the public accounting world could use a little bit of staci-flair. there is definitely a cubicle out there just begging for me to decorate it ;)

25 things about me

on facebook a few years ago (february 13 of 2009 to be exact) i jumped on the bandwagon and wrote a note of 25 things about me...and it recently appeared on the side of my facebook again. I really enjoyed reading them and thought I'd post them here...and add a few comments about things that have (or haven't) changed since then

(also I was in the spring of my junior year at Clemson at this time)

1. I'm easily addicted to teenage drama television shows....just to name a few: The O.C., One Tree Hill, Gossip Girl....
*i've moved along to different, but still smut, television shows. I now enjoy the real housewives of where   ever & most eligible dallas but I've upgraded and now watch How I Met your Mother, The Big Bang Theory and lots of others
2. I eat at Moe's 2-3 times a week while at Clemson but the idea of eating at Moe's while not at Clemson does not appeal to me at all.

*i don't eat at Moe's that often anymore, mostly because I'm not in Clemson. But I will always remember all the time I spent at the Moe's in Clemson

3. I'm very O.C.D. about random things.
*very true 
4. I really enjoy cleaning, especially the kitchen.
*still love cleaning and honestly I'd rather just clean the kitchen myself because I'm pretty sure that your way isn't sufficient for me...

5. Black and Brown are never okay to wear together.
 *duh-some things will NEVER be okay
6. There was a phase in my life where sheep were really important and if we ever sang the song 'I am a Sheep' at church I had to leave the room.
7. I love happy hour at Sonic....diet coke with cranberry is my current favorite.
 *.99 drinks early in the morning were clutch with Becker and studying for the CPA exam. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have made it without Sonic!
8. I really like cooking and especially baking but I rarely eat what I bake....

*still true, i miss having groups of people to bake for
9. My closet was organized by color all throughout high school and I can't wait for larger closet so I can so that again...in fact I'm probably gonna try as soon as I get done with this.
 *one of the things I'm most excited about in my new apartment (which will happen once I get a job) is organizing my closet....seriously like I can't WAIT!
10. I love Sharpies and have a jar of them on my desk...and a lot more in a box on my desk...

*my love of sharpies is still going strong
11. I've started going to the gym this year and I am really surprised that I have stuck with it for this long.
 *the gym lasted until March maybe...and it hasn't started back yet...one day...maybe when I have kids to take on a walk or something
12. I'm currently obsessed with tights....my favorite pair are hot pink....

 *still obsessed with tights...best thing about it getting colder is I get to pull out my box of tights
13. When the weather is nice outside and I'm walking around on campus I'm reminded of why I love Clemson...not that I ever forget...
14. I really want a tattoo but can't decide on the what and where of it....
*nope, I no longer have any desire to get a tattoo...AT ALL
15. I can't wait to get my class ring....April!
*i love wearing my Clemson ring and if I forget to wear it one day, I feel really awkward and wrong
16. I have random pieces of Rachael Ray cookware and can't wait until I can buy the entire set.
*got a complete set of cookware for undergrad graduation...and i LOVE it!! 
17. I sometimes worry that I won't be able to find a job when I graduate...next May....
*I pretty much always worry that 23 year old me with a Masters won't be able to find a job....
18. I had a pretty great childhood, which I definitely did not appreciate enough at the time.
19. I love Christmas time because wrapping gifts is one of my all time favorite things to do.
*gift wrapping = love (pinterest will only make this even better!)
20. I really enjoy reading The Message Remix version of the Bible but I don't take it to church because it's hard to read out loud in class due to the way the verses are split up.
21. I have a lot of music (mostly random) in itunes that I have never listened too and probably never will....
22. I actually like school and I'll be sad when I'm done.
*i definitely needed a break after grad school but I do miss it, especially the structure 
23. I use different shampoo and conditioner depending on if I'm straightening or curling my hair.
*okay doesn't everyone do this?!?
24. I think DVR might be one of the greatest inventions ever.
*obviously...and having netflix stream through the wii is also pretty clutch
25. I wrote this list out before I typed it in Facebook to make sure I included everything I wanted too and that I liked the order...O.C.D. I know...

So there you have it...now you know a little more about me. I find it amusing that all of these (except for the tattoo) are still completely true about me.  In place of the tattoo fact, I would just say that I really like sending cards in the actual US postal service. I think that people really like receiving an actual piece of mail, not just a facebook wall post. 

to-do list

today I made a list of things I wanted to get done. I'm not going to lie, I've really missed making lists and getting to cross things off of those lists. I'm super excited that this list doesn't contain anything about becker or studying, so yay for that. But I do have a few cards I need to write and messages to send. I feel the need to be more organized with that and really who doesn't love a good list. Getting dressed is also on my to-do list for today. More often than not I've recently been in leggings and a t-shirt until 3 or so...and then I might change into jeans. If you know me at all, you know that's so very not Staci behavior. But I do love my leggings so it's all good...and spit-up goes much better with a t-shirt then a cute dress anyways. 
the career fair and recruiter's picnic were interesting. I'm still hopeful that something awesome will come from that...preferably in the form of a job offer. I did get a cool cup that I'm pretty excited about, so at least there's always that. Exam scores should be released sometime next week possibly and that's a terrifying thought. But more on that once it actually happens. 
so basically I'm probably a little too excited about my to-do list. and I'm really not even sure why I'm posting this but hey, it's what I'm doing today. Having a to-do list does make me think about all the things that I want to accomplish and I still haven't crossed off my list yet. But I'm definitely thinking that's a new blog post all in its own. 

Job Search: Take 2

I really would like to blog but i don't think I have anything to say. Which, if you know me, is somewhat of a shock. I'm currently watching Teen Mom and it's a 90 minute episode but I'm pretty sure I'll be asleep before it's over. Good thing MTV will re-air this episode only a million times in the next week. 
Tomorrow is the Career Fair and then the Recruiter's Picnic. I haven't really been thinking about the whole job thing because I've known that there was really very little I could do until this picnic. Now that it's here, I'm slightly panicked but I still think I should feel way more anxious and nervous than I do. But I guess that's really a blessing. Anyways the job search really, officially starts again tomorrow...and I really, really need to find a job. I definitely have my idea of what my dream {accounting} job would be (which is obviously different than my dream job, because hello who dreams of an accounting job). But, unlike my list for my future husband, I'm willing to make serious adjustments for the job hunt. I would love to stay in Greenville but I'm obviously not in a position to turn down a job offer in another city. That would just mean that I'd have to visit all the time and start over in another city, but those are both things I could do. 
So yeah, tomorrow is a big day. And watching Teen Mom is making me feel a lot better about my life, but it always does that. I guess I should finalize what I'm wearing tomorrow...but I really, really need Amy for that! Guess I'll be sending her pictures so she can help me look professional and then business casual. I seriously need an accounting job where I can wear cute dresses, cardigans and ruffles to work each day.