Throwback Thursday: The Legacy of the FLOCK

It's Throwback Thursday!

Today, I'm throwing it back to my college days at the University of Wisconsin. 

In college, I was involved in the ministry of Cru (the same ministry I work for now). It was sort of a tradition for people from Cru & the Christian community in general at UW-Madison to live in houses together on campus. Most of these houses gave themselves a name to identify their house (The FLOCK, The MOB, The Satellite, The Commune, etc.) All of these names had a significant meaning to the people that lived there, but it was also helpful in identifying where ministry events were taking place (i.e. "the party is at The MOB", "women's time is at The FLOCK," etc.)

My junior & senior year of college I lived at the FLOCK. The FLOCK stood for : Females Living Out Christ's Kingdom. It was a pretty big house with 17 women living in it. Yes, 17 women in one house!! It's as crazy as it sounds. (But, also as amazing as it sounds.) :)

I recently found out that the FLOCK will no longer be a Cru or Christian community house on campus. After 12 years, they are putting it up for another tenant to rent out. The FLOCK has an amazing legacy, one that goes way beyond the time I lived there. 

This brings some sadness that it is ending, but mostly great memories of the two years I lived there.

FLOCK photo shoots were a must :)

The house is located directly across the street from the historic Camp Randall Stadium where the Wisconsin Badgers football team plays. (ON WISCONSIN!)

Every home game, the FLOCK held an epic (non- alcoholic) tailgate party. (Dancing on the roof, sometimes included.)

You never truly experienced a FLOCK tailgate until you danced on the railing. 

You could say the first tailgate of my senior year was pretty epic. 

There is no better atmosphere than Madison, WI on Game Day! 

We held lots of other events & parties (once again, nonalcoholic :)) our house throughout the year.

My favorite memories, however, include just the time spent with my college roomies!

This picture totally describes the antics of the FLOCK! ;)

That one time we had a Ke$ha party! 

Christmas time at the FLOCK! 

Roommates turned into best friends :)

Graduation day at the FLOCK...

Like I said, dancing on the railing was our thing :)

No matter what, we will always have a bond like none other. 

FLOCK girls at our roommate Sarah's wedding 

If I'm being honest, our house was totally jank (falling apart), we definitely had to catch bats (believe me, I died) & we often had conflict over dirty dishes (passive aggressive white board notes anyone?!), BUT I would not trade a minute of my time spent living in that community.

I totally cried (& laughed) when looking through all these pictures & remembering all the crazy times we had. I realize that a place like the FLOCK is really hard to come by. There were 12 years of God glorifying friendships in that house. Countless Bible studies were held in that living room. That house made an impact for eternity & the fact that I was a small part of it, makes me feel extremely blessed. 

To my fellow FLOCK ladies -- I love you all & am so thankful for the time we lived together! 

Do you have a favorite memory from the FLOCK? Please share!

Click here to read another post my roommate Brynn wrote about the FLOCK after we graduated. 

What are some of your favorite college memories? Let me know in the comments!

Happy Thursday!

What I Wore Wednesday

Happy Wednesday! 

Today, I am linking up with The Pleated Poppy for "What I Wore Wednesday" to share one of my favorite outfits from this summer.

I was very cautious of rompers for awhile thinking they wouldn't look good on me & wouldn't be comfortable. I was walking around JCPenny one day, and saw this romper. 

It was on sale, so I thought "why not just try it?" 

To my surprise, I actually really liked the way it fit! It's easy to wear & really light for hot summer weather. I also like the army green color!

What is your favorite outfit from the summer? Join in on "What I Wore Wednesday"!

Tomorrow I will have a throwback from my college days...you don't want to miss it!

End of Summer Bucket List

Hey, it's Tuesday! August is here, and that means summer is coming to an end soon. Today, I am going to share some things I want to do before summer comes to an end. 

1. Go to the beach.

My hometown of Racine, WI actually has a really nice beach on Lake Michigan. I went a few times last summer, but have yet to go this summer. I'm hoping to make it once before the month is over.

2. Play tennis.

Tennis is my favorite sport to play, and it's really good exercise! My sister & I have played tennis a few times this summer, but I definitely want to try to play a couple more times before the summer ends. Also, I'm pretty pumped to watch the U.S. Open this month. My favorite player is Andy Murray! 

3. Visit the Wisconsin Union terrace.

I'm hoping to make it to Madison one more weekend this month & I want to spend some time at one of my favorite summer spots -- the terrace at the Wisconsin Union.  It's also not too bad to visit in the fall. ;)

Doesn't it look beautiful?! It's even better in person. 

4.  Make a "summery" recipe. 

I really like to cook, but I defiantly don't do it as much as I would like. I want to try a new recipe this month! Do you have a go-to summer recipe? Share it with me in the comments! 

5. Spend time with my family.

My mom goes back to work (at a school) and my nieces go back to school soon, so I want to make the most of the time we have left as a family this summer. We are heading to Wisconsin Dells this weekend & I couldn't be more excited! 

What's on your end of summer bucket list? Let me know in the comments! 

Enjoy your Tuesday!

Weekend Recap!

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a great weekend! 

I can't believe how fast the summer has gone & that it is already August.  

I had a really busy & really fun weekend. This weekend I was in Madison, WI to coordinate a beautiful wedding! :)

The weekend started out on Friday with me picking up a couple buckets of flowers in Racine and driving them two hours to Madison.

 Just me and some flowers on a road trip. My car smelled so good!

Once I arrived in Madison, My sister Amanda & I grabbed dinner at Grays Tied House in Verona, WI before we got down to work! 

The wedding reception took place at the Paoli Mill Terrace in the little town of Paoli, WI. (About 9 miles outside of Madison.)

Doesn't it look like the perfect summer wedding setting?

After dinner on Friday night we arranged the flowers for the tables. We worked in the bridal dressing room while listening to country music. It was pretty laid back & a nice calm before the event on Saturday. 

In a sea of flowers! 

We got back to Amanda's apartment with plenty of time to get a good night's sleep, but I think that we had so many details running through our heads that we both didn't sleep that well. :)

We woke up Saturday morning, got Starbucks and headed to the venue by 9am. From 9am to 3pm we were in venue decoding mode. We put out tablecloths, runners, flowers and jars first. 

There were 260 guests attending the wedding, and thirty four 8ft tables in total. 

Next, we placed the vintage china and vintage napkins. There was a beautiful mix of different patterns and colors on all of the china and napkins. These, along with the burlap table runners were all rented from Something Borrowed in Fort Atkinson, WI. 

Next, we moved on to all the details you see. A friend of the bride hand lettered all of the chalkboards. Isn't she talented?!

Set up was finished around 2pm. Amanda left to head to the ceremony & I stuck around to finish last minute perfecting of the details. At 3pm vendors started to arrive & we were all set for cocktail hour at 4:15! 

The rest of the night was spent running around working out details and keeping a timeline. (Not much time to take many pictures!) It was so much fun! 

Seriously?! Doesn't Emily make the prettiest bride?! That flower crown. That dress. Perfect bridal style! 

Dinner was served from food trucks. Such a cool idea! 

GORGEOUS bouquets!!!

The night ended with dessert, late night eats & one epic dance party. 

Like I said, I don't have many pictures from the night because we were working the whole time, but I am so excited to share the professional pictures taken by the amazing Maison Meredith when they are posted.

Overall, the night was one of the best summer weddings I've ever experienced. You could feel the love between and all around Emily & Zack the entire day and night. I feel so blessed that they trusted the details of their day to Amanda & I. 

We made it back to Amanda'a apartment around 1am on Saturday night, and I fell asleep the minute my head hit the pillow. :)

On Sunday morning we got brunch with some of our best friends who were in Madison for the wedding. The rest of Sunday was spent on the couch trying to recuperate (our legs were sore from walking literally the entire day) & scrolling social media to look at pictures from the day before. 

I hope you had a great weekend! Enjoy your Monday!