The sun is shining, the birds are chirping and the weather forecast predicts snow on Friday -- it's truly spring in Maryland.

Jokes aside, I think I speak for many of us when I say I am excited to be out of the winter blues. I love winter, its coziness, chilled air and snow storms...but only when I can stay curled up with a hot cup of tea and my friends from One Tree Hill (if you haven't seen the show, stop what you are doing and start watching!) Once school and work enters the scene, I am ready for the cold weather to go.

Check out the professional photos from this shoot I styled with

Joy Michelle Photography

This spring is an exciting one for me, as I both graduate and move house!

Our new home under construction!!

I am undoubtedly excited about moving and ready for the DIY projects I can craft, rooms I can design and blogs/videos I can create.

Enter graduation.

Now this is where the bittersweet emotions come in.

When asked daily if i'm excited to graduate from college or what my post-grad plans are, I typically respond with two answers:

1. It's terrifying & exciting.

2. I am ready to be out of school, but not ready to be out of school.

I'm not alone in this feeling either, most of my friends and classmates feel the same way. So why is this? Why are we both nervous and excited to begin our lives?

My guess, because it's not the beginning of our lives, but the next step.

We are often told that the "big bad real world" is a place to be scared of and told to "enjoy college while you can, working sucks." Call me optimistic, but I would like to think the next 60 + years of my life have not plateaued at the experiences I've had in college. I love my university and I love the experiences that come along with it, but I believe there is still much more to come.

So, while the scary thought of graduation, a career, bills and a "big kid" life terrify me, I aim to focus on the fact that these thoughts also excite me.

If you are graduating soon or are coming up on a new life experience, remember the excitement over the fear and watch as the opportunities unfold.

xoxo

HaileyGrace

I know the drill. New outfits, fresh notebooks and syllabus week. Beginning my senior year in college is quite surreal, but it leads to a thought-provoking start to the semester. Some will say these are the best four years of your life while others believe post-grad life is where the real freedom and experience steps in. So, what do I believe?

My past three years in college have given me more independence, confidence, responsibility, motivation and knowledge. I have met some of my closest friends along the way in both my first school in New Jersey and the University of Maryland. These positive elements of college have also been mixed with stress, sleepless nights, anxiety and pressure. Like most things in life, it is not about the situation, but your attitude toward it. I learn daily how important it is to take the good things with the bad because that is life itself.

As I embark on this last year of school (unless by some circumstance I go to grad school in the future) I am excited to spend more time with friends, further enhance my knowledge & skills in the public relations field and better myself daily. But I am not entering this year with the mindset that these years are the best of my life, rather that they are a part of the experience of life as a whole. I like to think that I have better things coming in regards to this blog, my career, my relationships and more. That these are some of the best years of my life, some of many.

Happy first day of school.

Watch this space for a "Through the years: Back-to-school Fashion"

xoxo
HaileyGrace