Erin Akin Carroll

*I’m linking up for Pinnable Me with Stefanie from Paw Prints and Pastry Bags.

It’s no secret that we’re big Gamecock fans around here. We’re also big SEC fans in general. Things may get a little cut throat during football season, but when it’s bowl season, you better believe that I want every single SEC team to win their games.

I am also fascinated by and so interested in the SEC football culture. I love putting together cute outfits for games (while still wearing comfortable shoes) and planning fun tailgates. It’s an all-day event and it’s about so much more than the football. I love all the traditions and customs and it’s my goal to visit every SEC school for a football game. So far, I’ve been to LSU, Auburn, Alabama, Georgia, Florida and obviously South Carolina. I still need to visit  Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Arkansas (I’ve been to the Little Rock stadium, but it was for the Eagles concert), Tennessee, Kentucky and Vanderbilt.

And now that Texas A&M is definitely joining the conference, I can say that I’ve been to a game in College Station, which is a great place to watch a game, in my opinion.

So this post is for SEC fans and for new SEC fans! And there’s a fun giveaway for you SEC girls at the end of the post!

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of meeting, Christie Leigh Mueller, who just wrote a book about SEC football for women. The book is called Gridiron Belles: A Guide to Saturdays in Dixie. I went to a little meet and greet/book signing at LaRoque in Columbia.

The book is a bit of a travel guide through the stadiums and tailgates in the SEC and it provides every girl with what she needs to know about football, tailgating and the SEC opponents.

The book is so cute and it has a section on every SEC school complete with photos, lists of traditions and histories of the schools. For the Southern Belles who are newer to the game, there is even a rules section.

Christie Leigh is currently on a book tour of all the SEC cities and she is visiting every city this fall and experiencing every SEC school’s game day!

Her tour schedule is listed below! Visit her website for updates on where she’ll be in each town so you can get meet her and get your copy of the book signed! This map totally cracks me up!

One lucky Blue-Eyed Bride reader is going to receive her own autographed copy of Gridiron Belles by Christie Leigh Mueller!

To enter, just leave a comment! That’s all you have to do!

I have already given a copy of this to my mom and I have 3 more copies that I bought to give as gifts to some of my SEC ladies. It’s such a cute idea!

1. September 3, 2011
Oregon v LSU (Arlington, TX)

2. September 10, 2011
MS State at Auburn

3. September 17, 2011
Tennessee at Florida

4. September 24, 2011
Florida at Kentucky

5. October 1, 2011
Auburn at South Carolina

6. October 8, 2011
Georgia at Tennessee

7. October 22, 2011
Auburn at LSU

8. October 29, 2011
Arkansas at Vanderbilt

9. November 5, 2011
LSU at Alabama

10. November 12, 2011
Auburn at Georgia

11. November 19, 2011
LSU at Ole Miss

12. November 26, 2011
Alabama at Auburn

13. December 3, 2011
SEC Championship in Atlanta, GA

*Apparently my blog posts this week need to be named after song lyrics. Thanks, Brad Paisley, for today’s post title.

As I get closer to turning 30 (yes, I still have a full year ahead of me, but I tend to jump ahead a year. As soon as I turn 29, I’ll start saying, “I’m almost 30.” Just like when I turned 28, I was already saying, “I’m almost 29.” Whatever.) … Anyway, as I get closer to turning 30, I’m kind of looking back and thinking about what I’ve done and accomplished and also what I’ve missed.

So if I could write a letter to myself, this is what I’d say.

Dear Erin,

Let’s just get this out of the way. You spend way too much time putting yourself down. Apologizing for your size, your skin and your height. Love yourself. Don’t worry about those things. People can be mean, but ignore them. They obviously don’t care anything about getting to know you for who you are. And the day will come when you actually enjoy exercising and those freshman 40 will come off!

Enjoy being single. It’s hard not having a boyfriend when everyone else always seems to have a boyfriend, but there are only so many years in your life when you’re single. Being married is absolutely wonderful, but the best part of that is sharing your life with your best friend. So, in the mean time, spend time with your friends and enjoy every second of it. Enjoy your youth. Take advantage of long weekends and go on trips.

Travel more. When kids (and pets) come along, it really makes it difficult to just scoot out of town. Go places! See things. Do the things you’ve always wanted to do while it’s easy!

Stop looking to the next thing. Stop wondering when you’ll get married or when you’ll have babies. Life isn’t about having a checklist and marking things off the list. You want to experience every little thing and live in every moment. Don’t wish those moments away because you’re looking for the next big thing to happen.

Other people, and their opinions, do not define you. Don’t worry about what people will think if you don’t go out that night. Quit putting pressure on yourself to say “yes” to everyone. Focus on God and run to Him when you’re looking for your self-worth.

There are very few things in this life that you need. There are a lot of things that you want. But if you get everything you think you want, you’ll forget why you wanted any of it in a month anyway. Save money. Be responsible. This is the one area where you should look to the future and not live in the moment!

Try not to let things get you worked up. Don’t cry. Things may seem like a big deal right now. You may be stressed about which job you’ll accept and you don’t know where you want to live. It’s hard to make life choices when you’re just deciding for yourself. But it’s also a huge blessing! You’ll see very soon that your tears and stress weren’t all that necessary as things start to fall into place. God’s perfect plan will reveal itself.

Cling to your friends and family. Your family is forever and your good friends and the memories made with them will help shape your life.

Don’t be defined by insecurity, lack of contentment and things. These are your “problem areas” but you can overcome them if you fix your heart on the Lord.

Don’t be overcome with worry. Fulfill your responsibilities, but don’t let things keep you awake at night. Don’t procrastinate and just hurry up and get things done, so you can avoid that worry later.

Enjoy your youth. You’ll be looking at yourself in the mirror one day and the slight physical changes will be very obvious to you. You’ll find yourself wondering where the time went. But you’ll also be looking forward to what’s ahead and hopefully looking back with appreciation.

Love,

Me

I’m excited about entering the last year of my 20s. I’ve heard already from so many of you that the best is yet to come. The next decade should not be filled with a lot of the struggles, heartache, doubt and worry that I mentioned above. We learn so much in our 20s, don’t we? There is so much freedom that comes in this decade and we have to figure out what to do with all of that.

What would you say to your then-self in a letter?

Hey, friends!  Some of you may have seen a post in your Google reader from me about an eyeshadow giveaway and then were surprised to see that it wasn’t actually on my blog. It’s coming. I accidentally posted it instead of saving it. So stay tuned!

I’ve got a few little confessions on my mind this morning.

1. Apparently I sigh a lot. My mother and my husband have brought this to my attention. It’s obviously not intentional because I had no idea I did this often enough for them to comment on it. But I sigh when I’m tired. Or I sigh when I’m exasperated. Or I sigh when I want to say something but can’t think of what to say. I’m a sigher. I think it helps me to release stress and frustration. Big breath in, big sigh out.

2. I was reading in a parenting book early this morning that we shouldn’t talk or show emotion when disciplining. Both of these things are hard. I’m emotional because it’s my child. I want the best for him. I talk because I want him to know what he did wrong and why he’s being punished. This is something I definitely need to work on. (By the way, the book was 1-2-3- Magic for Christian Parents.)

3. Also… I know I should follow my gut when it comes to parenting. But so far, my gut isn’t working. But I have a few different parenting books and they all give conflicting messages. This is why I’m reading them all and deciding which fits us the best. Oh, the responsibility is so great, but so rewarding!

4. I love cookies. That’s all.

5. I was thinking about this past weekend. Hudson and Hayes had all four of their grandparents here. I was watching Hudson and he was absolutely over-the-moon to have all of his grandparents there. And you know what? He shows no preference or favoritism to any of them. He just makes the rounds and loves on them all. And I love that! I love that he has a great relationship with all of them and I know how unbelievably blessed we are to have such loving grandparents for our children.

6. My birthday is coming up. It’s 11.11.11. Isn’t that great? I’ve been looking forward to this birthday my whole life. It only happens once every 100 years that all six digits in the date are the same! My lifetime of anticipating this birthday has intimidated my husband, though. Oh. I’ll be 29. And I actually have no issues with being one year closer to 30.

7. I am beyond tempted to see the remake of Footloose. I really like Julianne Hough. But I have principles, people, when it comes to unnecessary movie remakes. But I am so tempted! My mom rented Footloose for me from National Video in Ruston, Louisiana when I was in the fifth grade. I resisted because it was an “old movie.” But she promised I would like it. And I loved it! And Lori Singer was just the prettiest thing I’d ever seen. And the soundtrack! A favorite!

8. Halloween party plans are coming along and we have some fun weekend plans with a fellow blogger and her family. I absolutely can’t wait!

What are y’all up to?

P.S. I’m putting together a lengthy post about baby products and my registry tips, but writing the post actually overwhelms me. But I know some of you have asked for it and I promise to get it done!

When I chose my bridesmaids almost five years ago, I had one criterion. I wanted to choose the people that would be first on my list to call when I had good news to share or sad news to share. I wanted to make sure that the people I chose would still be in my life years later so we could share our joys and sorrows with each other.

As the years have passed and the life events have happened, I realize that I was correct with making that criterion my priority. Those five girls are the ones that I call first with my news. I don’t get to talk to them all very often because of time, distance and responsibilities. The closest one live 90 miles away and the others are all across the country. But those are my most special people. Still. We rejoice together when the good stuff happens.

I have been fortunate over the years to meet new people with whom I can share my news. Some of them have come from blogging and some are from church, Junior League, mutual friends and just meeting folks around town. That’s how it works in the South, right? Some of these women are more like acquaintances and some are good, good friends. Like stop what you’re doing to pick up the phone and listen to what’s happening in that person’s life. That kind of friend.

Lately, I have been watching and listening to my friends announce engagements, plan wedding, announce pregnancies, announce baby genders and announce new jobs and opportunities. My life is pretty boring right now in terms of having “news,” but I am overwhelmed with happiness for these friends of mine. I wake up in the morning thinking about how happy I am for these people. I still have plenty of people to pray for and enough news that’s not a ray of sunshine that keeps me up at night.

But isn’t that what friendship is about? Taking the focus off yourself and focusing on these important people in your life?

A lot of this has to do with me and my contentment issues that I’ve struggled with over the years. Sure, having a bigger house with more space would be fantastic. But that’s not where we are right now, so I can be genuinely happy for someone who does move into a larger home. I’d love to be skinny and be back to my pre-baby size right now, but I’m not. But that doesn’t mean I can’t be happy for someone who made that happen in two weeks post-baby! I’d love to go shopping for a baby girl. And just because I have boys, I choose to go shopping for my friends’ baby girls and celebrate those miracles with them.

It’s a choice every day. I can choose happiness or I can choose bitterness. And when it comes to friendship, why would I choose to rain on someone’s parade? I truly enjoy being happy for other people and being genuinely happy for them. A great vacation, a big promotion or a shiny new car would be great! I’d love all those things, but just because I don’t have them doesn’t mean I can’t be happy for someone who does.

I’ve reached this point in my life where I realize that life could be a pretty lonely journey without love and support of wonderful people helping to build me up.

This isn’t a post about “Oh! Look at me, I’m such a great friend.” But it’s about evolution and contentment. And friendship. You all know this if you’ve been reading my blog for a while. You know my struggles and battles.

I love these people and love celebrating their successes and joys rather than focusing on myself. Isn’t that what friendship is all about in the first place?

*post title from the lyrics of the song “Free to Be Me” by Francesca Battistelli