Besides the Wedding

Although the Hart/Cash wedding was the main reason for my Chattanooga visit, that doesn't mean I didn't take advantage of a trip to one of my favorite cities to see some of my favorite people!

Friday night I was reunited with Kelly at one of our "usuals" at Taco Mamacita! Yum. That restaurant always seems to be a "must" on each of my Chattanooga trips and it's no question why. After dinner, we went to Northshore Grill to get a drink and meet up with Ryan, Kelly's boyfriend. I am so glad I got to see Kelly and meet Mr. Bass himself. Yes, his name is Ryan Bass, I think he's related to Chuck Bass. Obviously they are meant to be.

Katie Woodruff and Carolann took me in for the weekend and I was so grateful for time to just sit at their house and catch up. After meeting up with Kelly and Ryan, I was excited to get into my pj's, pour a glass of wine and talk.

Try as I might, I don't think I will ever be able to sleep in....even after staying up until 2 AM, I was up and moving by 8:30. I am so glad that Carolann can make a good cup of coffee because Lord knows that I can't and I wanted some coffee that morning! Once I got up and dressed, I got to go to another Chattanooga favorite, Greenlife, with another Chattanooga favorite, Erin Kennedy! :) We spent time filling each other in on details and even had time to go shopping on Frazier and stopping by Julie Darlings for some after lunch treats. I could have eaten half a dozen, but cut myself off at two...

After lunch it was time to get ready and head up the mountain for Matt and Becca's wedding!

Sunday was a special treat because it's the first time I've been in Chattanooga on a Sunday since moving to Marietta, which means I got to go to 1st Pres! It was so special to be back at what will always feel like a home church to me. The worship, the sermon, and seeing so many wonderful friends just felt comfortable, like home. And as a special treat, I got to have lunch at Mojo with Allie and Mikah. I have missed honest conversations with those girls, getting to laugh with them, and just enjoy each others' company. Such a blessing.

After a lazy afternoon at Katie and Carolann's, I decided it was time to head back home so I could get ready for my week--aka my 3rd semester of grad school starts today and I was not mentally, or actually, prepared in the slightest!

"Just What I Needed" Kind of Weekend

This weekend has hands down been my favorite of the year thus far. Although, I guess technically every day other than Mondays and Tuesdays are a "weekend" for me (until I get a job....), I don't count them as one because Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are the days that everybody else gets to play too!

Friday afternoon as I was changing my bedspread from this: 

to this: 

My dad calls me to see if I had been keeping up with my school work (yes, I have) and if so, would I want to join him at the shooting range when he made it home. Usually, our daddy-daughter dates involve a bag of golf clubs and a basket of golf balls...but since it's mid-"winter" aka 60 degree weather and rainy lately, he opted for something inside...with guns. I have never shot a gun before. I wouldn't say I'm a sharp shooter quite yet, but I think we might be making this a more regular excursion so there's hope for me yet. (Funny note: every time after I shot the gun, I would do a little hoppy-jump...my dad said that was something we were going to have to work on...)

That night, Bonnie, Alexa, and I had a craft night and slumber party--complete with pizza and chick flicks. Bonnie loves crafts and went a little overboard when buying supplies, but I assure you that they will get put to use eventually.

Alexa's crafts--the one on the right is a mini chalkboard now thanks to chalkboard paint!

Bonnie's frames; the top on is one she made for Nick for a picture of their day trip to Chattanooga!

Just a plain ole frame that was silver and I wanted some color for my frames and then of course a Vegas frame :)

And this was my time consuming project! I'm going to get a white frame to put around it to have my monogram over my bed to replace what used to be the home of my outdated, lame, ridiculous sun and moon pictures...The monogram is much more me, don't you think?

The proof of a successful craft night :)

 Saturday was not all that great (laundry and 3-4 hours worth of reading about Freud...) until I went to the Oyster Barn to have dinner and trivia with Kathleen, Avery, and Avery's sister and brother in law. Although I did nothing very little to contribute, the rest of the team had trivia smarts and we tied for 3rd and won 2nd place thanks to the tie breaker!! 

Sunday morning, I went to Christ Church all by myself. Kirby and Daniel were teaching Sunday school during the late service so I braved the service solo. I ended up sitting by some friends of Kirby and Daniel's so that helped me feel less alone. The service was just what I needed to hear (isn't God funny that way?) and after the service was the newcomer's lunch. I met some great people, heard more about the church's mission, and their different ministries. I liked Christ Church before, but I definitely have found my church home in Atlanta after my great experience yesterday. You can be praying for me to make friends my age so I can have a community that holds a candle to what I had and loved about First Pres. 

The weekend ended with a long overdue phone call with Kasey, taking quizzes, and eating ice cream while I watched my fav Sunday night shows. 

I love weekends like this that have the perfect balance of friends, family, productivity, and rest. As close to perfection as a weekend can get and just what I needed in so many ways!

Top Ten of 2011

One of my favorite posts to do is always right around the start of the new year. I love my "Top Ten" post because I can look back every year and see how far I've come and have the chance to reflect on the things I'll remember from that year. So here's my top ten of 2011:

 10. This past year, I got to go on Spring Break to Southwind as an adult leader for Wyld Life. (When did I become old enough to chaperone things...much less be one of the most responsible?) I loved the middle schoolers that we had, but a highlight of the trip was getting close with Paige and Kelsey. I love these girls so so dearly and will always treasure memories from that trip!

9. When my life was in limbo from September through now, something that gave my days purpose was working with the Signal Mountain Guard. These girls were so fun and easy to teach. I really missed the sport and it amazed me how quickly it all came back to me. One of the biggest pulls for me to stay in Chattanooga for school was that I could teach this guard again. I hate that I won't be able to teach this group of girls again next year, but I am so grateful for the time I spent with them!

Part 2 of my time in limbo was working at Ribbon and Bows Oh My. Again. Although it wasn't my first choice of jobs and not something I really bragged about to people, I LOVED getting to know my co-workers. They made work fun to be at and I really valued their friendships more than they know. They made my time their feel worthwhile and I loved that we had friendships outside of work too. :)

8. This part of my yearly highlights has become a regular and I have a feeling it will be the case for the next few years: my friends weddings and babies and engagements!

The first wedding of this past year was extra special because I got to be apart of the wedding! I felt so blessed to be one of Hannah's bridesmaids! 

The others were so fun too (and less stressful because I got to just show up!)

And I will remember 2011 as the year that my friends are starting to have babies too! 

And I always love getting the phone call or text from close friends to share the excitement of their engagements! Mary, Kathleen, Shahrukh, Becca, Katie Lewis, and Samantha Stevenson are just a few that some to mind! I cannot wait to share each of y'alls special days with you in 2012!

7. Whenever I get the chance, I love to spend time in Athens. I get to reminisce over my days in the Classic City, go to football games or concerts, and catch up with friends! I definitely am trying to take advantage of the fact that I have very little tying me down so I like to make as many weekend trips as possible!

6. I love youth group in the summers and this being my 2nd summer was no exception. I felt like I had the hang of things a little bit better but man! this summer flew by! The two big trips we had planned were only a week apart so that threw off any kind of a normalcy for the month of July! But I will always remember my trips to RYM in Panama City and a second trip to New Orleans with the middle schoolers. Both of those trips came after I found out my contract wasn't going to be renewed so it was a wonderful, bittersweet time that I could really be intentional with the students knowing that would be one of the last big things I did as their youth leader. 

5. Time with my family is another mark of a great year that will always make my Top Ten list. This year, the 2 things that come to mind when I think about family time was the Mardis family Destin Trip and the annual Rover Rally. 

Staying in a huge house with lots and lots of Mardis' makes for a loud and fun week at the beach. I love that this is becoming an every other year tradition!

 Another family memory from 2011 is our annual Rover Rally! I'm so glad that Kirby and Felicity could make it! It was so memorable and fun to have a "redneck" type weekend of offroading, eating lots of barbeque, and getting to stop by the apple orchards on the way home. Even more memorable because we were stuck on the side of the road-thank goodness the Rovers that came soon after we stalled were well equipped!

4. The 3/4 of this year that I was the middle school girls youth leader at First Pres will be memories that I cherish forever. That job was my ideal. My dream job. And I know that God has some crazy plan worked out to show me something even better and He's already showing that to me by opening the door for me to go to grad school in 2012, but that doesn't make how bittersweet it was to say goodbye any clearer right now. The conversations, time spent together and the beautiful friendships that I had and still have with the students, parents, and volunteers of that ministry impacted my heart and guided my walk with the Lord. I have too many memories to recount, but I love that ministry and what it means to me. 

3. FB Goes to VEGAS. What else could be said? 

2. Living in the mountain Home, Bob and Lisa, my small group, and my friendship with Kelly and Cary. I don't even think words can describe the magnitude of how deeply each of these things/people have affected my year. I've talked several time about how much I love and respect Bob and Lisa and cannot thank them enough for their generosity to let me live in their guest house for free. They are so generous, understanding, and honest without question. The girls in our Monday night small group have been a consistant part of my life and so supportive when my life has been in limbo. And Kelly and Cary. I'm so grateful for K's continued friendship and our newfound friendship with C. The Trio will be around for some time to come and I don't think I could have handled the ups and downs of this year without them. 

My favorite memory that involves all of these people was my birthday weekend at the Franklin's lake house. I loved every minute of that weekend with them. 

1. And finally, what I will love to look back and think about when I think about 2011 is being an aunt. My nieces have held the #1 spot on my countdown for the last 3 years and 2011 is no different! I am so grateful to be close to both of my sisters which allows me a chance to be close to both of my nieces. And it's so convenient that the Newmans are at my parents house and the Clelands are a quick drive to Atlanta! I LOVE being an aunt--being apart of the milestones, spending time with them, and seeing them grow. They are such a big part of my life and of my heart! 

 Here's to a great 2011 and an even better 2012! I'm excited for what the Lord has in store for my life as a student, my friends' weddings and babies that will be arriving, and lots more quality time with my friends and family! 

Unplanned Weekend

This was one of those super rare weekends that I had next to nothing planned. I had a couple of things on my "to do list" that were mostly around the house stuff and got nothing done on it....until about 5 minutes ago when I cleaned out my fridge.

Friday night, Kelly and I were DD's for Bob and Lisa since they had a fancy Christmas party to go to on Lookout so we spent our night either driving from one mountain to the other or eating soup and watching "Say Yes to the Dress". It was perfect. We got time for the 2 of us to catch up with Bob and Lisa and with each other. And I love a good night in watching girly shows.

I slept in until 9 AM on Saturday!!! Big deal! HUGE  deal, even! I had a Skype date with my dad at 10 am our time, 9 pm Russia time! It was fun to see him and talk "face to face" and I'm excited to have him back in the States this Saturday. While I was skyping and working on my graduate assistantship application for West Georgia, Kelly and Lisa purged Lisa's cabinets of all things expired. Kelly was ecstatic to organize! After spending a majority of the day in oversized sweatshirts and leggings, we decided it was finally time to get ready for the day (around 3 pm....) Katie Woodruff had invited a group of UGA and LSU fans. We had a pretty even splits of supporters, and although the game got ugly the 2nd half, we enjoyed the company. It was unseasonably warm on Saturday night, so we had a bonfire and just hung out til way later than this kid is used to staying up!

Kelly and I miraculously woke up in time for church on Sunday. Kelly went to see a movie with her mom while Cary and I took her 16 year old family friend shopping for GPS's winter semi-formal that's coming up! After a few misses, we found H. a dress and spent the rest of the day shopping just for fun, stopping at Starbuck's and quickly spiraling to loopy because we were so tired/cracked out from sugary caffeine. We made it to the First Pres Christmas concert, but left early because I literally couldn't keep my eyes open! No joke, I was in bed and asleep by 9:15 last night!

I got the perfect balance of down time, productivity, and hanging out with friends. Weekends like this make it even harder to think of not being here in a few months for school, but I know that I'll be up here at least 2 weekends every month! More on that later...

lately

I cannot believe we're only a few days away from November!! I LOVE the month of November...my (25th!) birthday, LOTS of friends' birthdays, Thanksgiving and the official beginning of the holiday season; Christmas is less than 2 months away now! I also can't believe how much of a roller coaster my life has been these past 2 months since August. Here's a brief recap:

-Finished up my last few weeks at First Pres
-Moved out of my apartment
-Moved into Bob and Lisa's awesome guest house
-Spent lots of time traveling between in Marietta, Athens, and Chattanooga
-Vegged out for hours
-Job hunted like crazy
-Got burnt out with job hunting
-Started teaching Signal Mountain's color guard
-Prayed a lot about applying to grad school
-Applied to West Georgia for the Community Counseling program
-Swallowed my pride and started working at the ribbon place (more on that later)
-And now about to start applying to Richmont so I can maybe stay in Chattanooga (and be really broke)

All while this was going on, my favorite moments have been with friends and family. The initial shock of unemployment, sadness over missing the kids of the youth group every day, wondering what I'm supposed to do with my life, and beginning to pursue what I've had on my heart for some time now--my friends and family have stuck by my side and encouraged me. My closest group of friends have been Bob, Lisa, Kelly, and our newest addition, Cary Queen.

I have mentioned Kelly and Cary in the last several posts but never can seem to show our friendship justice in a quick blog post...I'll try my darndest though. Kelly and I have grown closer over the past 2 years and I have considered her a best friend for a little less than a year now. Cary just graduated from Tennessee in July and moved back to her parents house on Signal Mountain while she was looking for a job. During this past September, Lisa invited Cary to come to our small group that we have every other week. I wasn't there the first Monday Cary came, but the girls all told me how much I was going to love our newest addition. I was able to meet Cary the next Sunday when Bob and Lisa hosted a small group at their house. We found out that night that Kelly and I were housesitting for Bob and Lisa for 10 days while they were in Italy and Cary's parents were going out of town the exact same 10 days!! Oh yeah, did I mention Cary lives like 2 streets over from the Franklins?! Everything was falling into place for the 3 of us to be friends; it had to be a God thing. Ever since that week and a half, we have been inseparable. There have been countless times that we've said "What did we do before each other??" We can be honest, cry (which happens often), laugh (which happens 10 times as often), and do nothing together. I have never had a friendship fall into place as easily as our's did and it has hands down been the biggest, hugest, most unexpected blessing of unemployment (slash partial employment) that I wouldn't trade for anything.

PS-I also love that we have a blonde, a brunette, and a redhead as well as 4'10, 5'7, and 6'2.