My lovely Anne - 8.8.09

One of my great friends and co-workers, Anne, moved at the beginning of the summer to persue an internship in Walt Disney World! I miss her very much. She added some spice to my life! She graduated from MTSU in August and I got to spend a little bit of time with her before she left me again. She is a very smart and beautiful girl, and I wish her the best of luck in her future, wherever it may take her. I will never forget our crazy conversations and all of the random silly things we have in common. MUAH!

7.31.09 - And then there was Four...

Since Scott and I got serious years ago, we became easily inseparable. Scott was also adored by my parents so my family quickly turned into a 5-some, rather than just my parents and my sister and me.

Now, it's not rare that I hang out with my family without Scott, I often go over there for hours while Scott's at work, but it is rare that we take an outing that's made up of my parents and me and my sister - she's usually out, or my dad is working or I'm not in town. In the beginning, about 12 years ago, we were all we had. Just my parents and my sister. We grew up of course, and found our own ways, which was usually outside of the nest. So when we found ourselves all hanging out at my parents' house on a random Thursday, I suggested we go OUT - do something. A few hours later, we were all in the car headed to a Nashville Sounds game!

I had a blast! It was the perfect summer night. We watched baseball, sang and danced and laughed! We missed Scott so much, but it was nice to be reminded what our past was like. These sort of outings are few and far between and I know we all took something from it.

This is a very sweet moment for my parents! 29 years and still going..

Life's a beach - 7.25.09 - 7.28.09

I was treated by luck to be able to venture down to Florida in July with my husband and our friends. All the stars were aligned: we could afford a few days away, we were staying with our friends' mom, so no accommodation expense, we had the means to get there!

I absolutely love the beach. It's relaxing, and just thinking about being there makes me glow. I love the ocean, the sand, and I love having the freedoms to do whatever. It's so warm, and you can see the ocean whenever you want. Flip flops and dresses and beer and holding hands and ice cream and sand and shells. My heart actually hurts when I have to leave... So when Scott, Alli, JP and myself started planning this trip in April, I was as good as ready. It will be the last trip I make to the beach for about a year (Cape Cod 2010, here we come!) and it's likely to be over a year before I go see my beach (Clearwater) again, so I enjoyed my trip as much as possible!

Here we are with our wonderful hosts, Alli's mom Wendy and her husband Nathan.