28 Birthday Things

Happy Monday, y'all!  Today is a pretty good Monday for me because it's my birthday!  In the spirit of this (national) holiday, I thought I'd share 28 random facts about myself:

1 || I have the same birthday as Gwen Stefani, Ashlee Simpson, Tommy Lee, Seann William Scott, Kevin Richardson, and Dave Winfield (Baseball Hall of Famer).

2 || Snapchat and Instagram are my favorite social media channels... although I don't post to either nearly enough.

3 || I'm currently reading Amy Schumer's book.

4 || She taught me that it's okay to be an introvert, and I love her for it.

5 || I've only ever owned cats, and until Ruxin and Shadow, they were all named after baseball players.

6 || Halloween has always been my favorite holiday.

7 || Water, beer, and lattes are the only things I drink.

8 || I don't have a favorite color.

9 || Ask me if I've seen a certain movie?  There's about an 80% chance I haven't.

10 || However, ask me about 13 Going On 30 - I can quote any line #seenit100times #embarrassing

11 || I met my husband at my 21st birthday party in college.  If you asked me then which one he would be, I would have been very confused.... and probably wrong!

12 || I am an outlet shopper all the way.

13 || I've never missed a Baseball Hall of Fame Induction in my life.

14 || I always hated spicy food growing up, but now, the spicier the better.  Carolina Reaper, I'm coming for you!

15 || My teams: Yankees, Cubs, Panthers, and Eagles.

16 || My life bucket list: own a Wrangler, a pickup truck, visit every MLB stadium, and move South.

17 || Half of my life bucket list is now complete since I inherited a pickup from my uncle.

18 || I grew up in Rhode Island.

19 || I've only ever successfully completed two New Year's Resolutions: sending birthday cards to all friends and family last year and wearing makeup everyday this year.

20 || I've played golf since I was 5, and I'm a 3 handicap.

21 || This time last year, I had never seen a Star Wars movie, but now I'm seen the first six three times through, and we saw Episode VII three times in the theater.

22 || I have a killer sweet tooth.

23 || Manicures and pedicures are my favorite splurge.

24 || I hate when my nails are naked.

25 || I am always hungry.  If I say, "I'm full," I really just mean I'm tired of eating what I'm currently eating.

26 || I'm still driving the same car I had when I was 15 - Jeepy the Jeep Liberty (original, right?).

27 || Mike does 100% of the dishes in our house, and I do 100% of the laundry.  We split cooking about 50/50.

28 || I share my birthday with Mean Girls Day!

Don't Ask Me Why

Hellooooo there!  I'm sorry again for my unintentional blog absence!  This work week and two golf tournaments in 8 days has kicked my butt.  I cannot wait to finally relax on Sunday.  So, almost two weeks ago, I asked y'all if you had any questions for me (thanks for all of you who responded.  Today I thought I'd answer some of those questions for you.  And yes, I've had this song stuck in my head the whole time while writing this post...

Since you're living in the South now, do you prefer living in the South or the Northeast more?  Mike and I always joke that if we could move all of our families and friends down here, we would never leave Charleston.  It's seriously a wonderful place to live: the people are friendly, the weather is perfect (I don't mind the heat), and the scenery and history are unbeatable!

What are some suggestions for a New Englander who wants to visit Charleston?  Honestly, if you are not used to the heat, I would definitely not visit in the summer.  I'm used to the humidity, but it can get very overwhelming.  The best time to visit is between April & May and September & October.  The crowds aren't too big and the weather is great.  Also, I'd suggest using airbnb and staying in a fun, unique location on the peninsula downtown.

Have you found yourself "speaking Southern" yet?  Oh, yes.  I don't even think twice about saying "y'all," and "bless your heart" has been added to my vocabulary.  I also might be entering Stage 1 of the "Modern Southern Accent" ...the "i" in South Carolina seems to glide a bit more than it used to.

Tell the truth, do you really just go golfing all the time and play with kids?  Why thank you for that one, sister (yeah, she gave herself away with "wicked fah away" and "put up more photos of your beautiful bridesmaids" comments - haha). For those of you who don't know, I'm the Program Director for a youth development non-profit, and yes, I get to play golf and hang out with kids, but you can read more about it here.  

How long have you been playing golf?  I was five years old when I started playing, or in Southern terms, since I was "knee-high to a grasshopper!"

What's the best part about being married?  Oh boy, difficult one here.  I'd say the best part is having someone in my life who truly loves me for me and with whom I look forward to spending each and every night.  

And from the same person - What's the hardest part about being married?  Changing my last name?  Honestly, we are loving married life, and I wouldn't change a thing.  

What is your favorite part about blogging?  The people.  I met my best friend in a blogger swap 3 years ago and moving to Charleston, I've found an amazing group of lady bloggers in the Charleston Blog Society.  

Thanks again to everyone who asked questions and gave suggestions for posts.  I'm so glad to see that so many of you enjoy my "Outfit of the Month" posts and everything about Charleston.  I also plan on doing a "day in the life" post and things I do and don't miss about the Northeast post very soon - thanks for the ideas, Anonymous #8!  Have a great weekend, y'all!

Blogger Bliss - Favorite Things

Wow, it's already time for another month of Bliss with Heather and I.  New around here or never heard about Bliss before?  Click here to learn more about it or just trust us and use #bloggerbliss to share your favorite photos on Instagram and Twitter, and link up with us on the last Wednesday of each month!  Disclaimer: I wrote this a week ago before leaving Charleston for my wedding, so don't be surprised when you don't see anything wedding-related.  Obviously, next month's Bliss will be chock-full of wedding favorites.  

<center> <a href="http://myborrowedheaven.blogspot.com/search/label/%23bloggerbliss"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4He5eOQ_seAMcGuVSWcKqBpwxiBwc-oTgan5y73L4c5aoaqrTmWGipR2tBOpDEKrBroumxgEkZowBgQqQEoIq-4zqcjcUfNizxPijDvqc6QDGwp09qtADlSrU45ap35ziSmIDhIhRHX8/s207-p-no/" border="0"/></a></center>

Favorite YouTube video: DuckTales with Real Ducks!  Oh man, the 90s girl in me went crazy for this one.  And oh my gosh, it's so accurate!! Check out the original here.  

Favorite song: Josh Kelley's version of Mandolin Rain is seriously amazing!

Favorite Pandora Station: Guys, guilty pleasure.  I've been rocking out to 90s Pop way too much, recently :)
Favorite Funny Article: Secret McDonald's Menu Items
Favorite Person: YOU  ...if you link up below :) 

You're Gonna Miss This...

Part 3
Last goodbye post, I swear.  I am SO EXCITED to get to South Carolina in 7 days!!  This week has been absolutely crazy with the PGA Tour in town, and I can't wait to share about that, my best friend's wedding last weekend, and everything we've been doing in CT very soon!!
While I am so thrilled to move South with my love, there are so many other people I am going to miss.  We only have two close friends south of the Mason-Dixon line, so it's going to be hard to leave every single person we love.  Luckily, I'll be back once a month for a few months for our bridal party trip, my shower, and our wedding!
Childhood

High school

College

Post College

Family

I'm going to miss my first ever Hall of Fame Induction this year :( The 25-year streak is over

Luckily, I've been able to say goodbye to many of them over the past couple of weeks...
Part 1 and part 2... 

In case you missed it...

Today is the last day to sign up for my fun swapventure [see what I did there?!] with Dannielle and Patty!  Click here to read all about it.

<div align="center">
<a href="http://myborrowedheaven.blogspot.com/search/label/splendid%20swap%20party" title="Borrowed Heaven" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz0G0P5x6nfl52w3XPjY3hPemBe1Lnn2_u8TVMGHhm4O1utZN7eoRXOh3tB6PmLMguemEgXCeazI8TUtwiPQmKTM4Maw8TWJE64PRa5L8Uwl67FHdoc_ed_SQRpiKQZ4ks7RK365FZgE0/s224-p-no/" alt="Borrowed Heaven" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Also, thank you to everyone for the well wishes yesterday!  If you missed it, I accepted a new job in South Carolina and start in less than 3 weeks... craziness!

Happy weekend, friends!  

My First Love...

On Monday afternoon, I had to say goodbye to the first ever love of my life.  I always wanted an orange tabby and the summer after second grade, my mom called every animal shelter near our home, looking for one.  She finally found one that was 10 weeks old and had was found attached to a limb by his little pink collar.  He was skinny, sick, and the shelter didn't know if he would make it.  I didn't care; he was perfect to me.  Just like our other cats [Robin Roberts Yount, Ernie Banks, and Mr. McCovey], we decided to name him after a Baseball Hall of Famer.  I chose the name "Stan the Man" Musial.  We went to pick him up and he just crawled into my arms.  He was my Stan.  Now here's the funny part, Stan had a cellmate... a little cow cat with asymmetrical black and white markings.  We had only planned on taking Stanley, but when they opened the cage and the other cat crawled onto my dad and licked his face, we knew we had to take both.  We named that cow cat Fergie after Ferguson Jenkins and they were the best of friends.  Here are a few of my favorite photos of my Stan the Man...

Fergie and poor little sick Stan

When I studied abroad, Stan and I videochatted

17 years apart

Stan gave kisses, purred so loud that the vet could never hear his heart beat, and drank straight out of the sink.  He was the most loyal cat ever; my dad had a minor surgery a month ago and didn't leave his side for two weeks.

Goodbye, Stanley, I hope you are having just as much fun with your brother as you did when you were kittens.  

#FlashbackFriday

I love me some embarrassing #FlashbackFriday photos!  Mike found this awesome site of animal before and afters.  You can check it out here.  Seriously, they are the cutest photos ever!  So, when we were in Westerly last weekend, we tried to recreate a photo from almost 17 years ago with my baby cat, Stanley.

We also decided to take one of Ruxin.  She's only 3 and a half, but she's gotta quite big since Mike got her!

And I know these next two aren't really "flashbacks," but they are some cute "then and now" photos!

I guess it's a sister thing!

Besides the eye color, don't these two cats look the same?  Well, the left photo was Shadow on the day we met her back in November and the right is my family cat Fergie, who I got with Stan when I was in 3rd grade.  Don't they look identical???

Letter to Me: Dear 18 Year-Old Meghan,

I love this song.  Combine that with a blog post I saw Kristin wrote a couple of weeks ago, I thought it would be fun to write a letter to my 18 year-old self.  In February of 2007, I was 18 and a senior in high school:
Dear Meghan,
Don't let your friends tell you you're dumb for your self-timered "group photos."  They'll be asking you for high school photos after college since you're the only one who took them. 

You know how people always tell you that girls cause drama?  Well, honey, it's guys that do.  Take a look at these photos, it's those two girls who are going to stand next to you on your wedding day... true friends.

Give it up with those big, poofy prom dresses.  You look silly and they're so hard to walk in.

He's not the one; stop trying to convince yourself otherwise. Watch out for that hole/rock on the fourth hole in your Senior Day golf match at Shelter Harbor.  You're in for years of pain, steroids, physical therapy, and frustration.

[yes, I was on an all-boys' golf team]

Stop worrying about your weight... you look beautiful and will wish you could fit into that size 4 Winter Ball dress for your college 100 Days Ball.

Going along with that, if you're so "worried" about it, stop eating macaroni and cheese EVERY DAY after school.

I know you've been thinking about a college for years, but trust me, you'll pick the right one.

When you do get to college, do a better job of opening up to people.  Make as many friends as you can, and enjoy the events at school.  Your GPA does not matter!

Oh, except maybe study a little harder in Philosophy that first semester.  

PS I'm hanging out on Kallie's blog today.  Check her out Vlogging Like a Boss!