It’s been more than a week since I said goodbye to Caroline. I know you all thought that we were attached at the hip, & you weren’t wrong, but now our hips are going to have to stretch across the country. We don’t know when we will see each other next, but we know that we will always be a part of each others lives (a.k.a. our kids will be best friends). So, because our apartment was lonely without her & I miss her so much already, I thought I’d write a little post on the 5 things that I’ve learned from Caroline, my college roommate (but more like twin) these past four years.

1. Anything can be solved with a list.

Yup. Instead of being overwhelmed by all those thoughts & decisions running through your mind, just write them down & create a list of steps you need to take to complete them. Whenever I was stressed or couldn’t figure out how I would ever get anything done, Caroline would pull out a her note pad.

2. It all ties together.

In order to be one of the country’s best wedding planners, you have to have an eye for design. I’m not exactly the greatest at deciding what rug matches which coffee table, but Caroline is pretty amazing at it. Lucky for me, she was around to help decorate our apartment & paint a flea market coffee table yellow to tie everything together.

3. Sometimes it’s better to have a plan.

Although I like to have some idea of what I’m doing or where I might be going, for the most part, I like to just go with the flow. However, going abroad & traveling through a new city every weekend with no phone or Internet requires a little planning. Between Google Maps, Air B&B & all the travel blogs she reads, Caroline had it all figured out. Although I learned that having a detailed plan is never a bad thing, we have taken more than one spontaneous trip to get McFlurries.

^^ I wouldn’t have found cute places like this without Caroline’s research…I also probably would have been very lost & very alone.

4. The art of the hand written note.

Even though I am a writer, in this day & age, our first instinct is to text. However, I’ve quickly learned that there’s no quicker way to make someone’s day than with a hand-written note, from a proper letter to just a little post-it note.

5. Blogging!

So, I’m not sure you would be reading this without Caroline. She introduced me to the world of blogging & showed me several bloggers that inspire me today. So, you can thank her for posts like these.