Bags are Packed

The suitcases are packed (... Or the rubbermaid bins I'm using instead of boxes), car is cleaned/detailed, Annabelle is at the groomers now, and I am off to the beach house for my last 24 hours of PCB Sunshine.  Lord, please let the rain leave and the sun shine for just a bit.  I need my sunshine fix to make this move lovely!

The packing begins!

The packing is beginning.  

Although I'd rather be here:

at the world's most beautiful beaches

But mom and I are buckling down so that I can have pretty monogrammed things up in Louisville!

Today's agenda: Towels and pillows. I got new beautiful white towels that I want monogrammed in light pink. As for pillows, we're making white pillows with pink monogramming too. For the living room, we're still working on what I want.

Hey, it's my last time to have a pink apartment! 

Xo

Retiring the "Young Professional" Title for Now...

{Banana Republic was my "go to" place for my new working woman wardrobe}

This morning was my very last time putting on business causal clothes, making my "to go" mug of coffee, grabbing Annabelle, and heading out the day to work...

It was a lovely surprise to come in to this email from a favorite volunteer:

There are many things I will miss including Kelly! But ironing skirts and blouses is not one of them...

Happy Thursday!

Mornings

Thanks to Marianne Greg for her beautiful picture that clearly portrays what I felt Jesus was speaking to me this morning

Small reasons I am beginning to love mornings:

My puppy Annabelle wakes up so excited to see me! It's like she thought in the middle of the night I was going to sneak out on her!

Fresh ground Coffee: Sadly my 15 year old brother introduced me to this, but there is nothing more comforting than a cup of freshly ground coffee

Jesus: Waking up to Jesus is the answer.  Why I fail to do so every morning I do not know.  Isaiah 40 was my prayer this morning.  I am reminded that we are to be in awe of our great God; to walk humbly before him, not to just be spiritual... 

Dream "Need" List

I have 3 days left of being employed so I have 3 days left of receiving a pay check. After these 3 days, I will become a poor graduate student and then in 8 months add the dental student's wife title too.

So, I am purchasing a few wonderful things before this happens.  Here is a wish list of some of my favorite things:

{lily dress}

{Tory Burch Wedges}

{Obnoxiously Cute TB Sunglasses}

{And a classic Tan Bag}

These things would all look so wonderful being in my closet...

I'll let you all know what I decide on!

American Cancer Society

It is so hard to believe that I have 1 week left working here at the American Cancer Society. What a ride it has been!  Although there are TONS of things I enjoyed about working for the American Cancer Society, I'd have to say my top 3 are:

• My Co-Workers:

Crazy Alisha: (this pic describes her perfectly!)

This has been an eventful year for Alisha! She got engaged, married and had a beautiful baby boy, Mason.  It has been a blast/thrill/honor to be with her during all of these changes.

Mya

Sadly, Mya moved away this past Christmas :(  But before she left we got SCUBA certified! We had a BLAST doing it.  She was definitely my post-work hang out buddy!

My Boss Lisa

She honestly was amazing to work with.  She taught me so much about what a dedicated work ethic looks like and ways to be more professional.  She also was a hoot and had so many fun stories for us.

Ms. Connie

I spent every morning in her office catching up with the last 12 hours that we had spent apart.  She has the most beautiful, happy and wonderful family.  I aspire to be her when I grow up!

• The Volunteers.  What a BLAST I had from them.  I learned so much from them about love and dedication to a cause!

• The cancer patients and families.  They showed me how strong the human spirit is and how resilient we are!

It's been an honor working for such a great organization!

Rainy Sundays

Rainy Sundays could be my new favorite thing... Usually I complain the house down and am so irritated by rain, but today, I embraced it.

It began with church at LHUMC in which I was accompanied by my bff K and her lil sis Abbey... Although we were a bit late, we got there in time for some solid worship (thanks Nate) and a relevant (for K and I at least) message.

After, I had a lovely late morning bagel, coffee and Harry Potter 7 book reading party. 

Since then, I've done a few productive things, but I'm enjoying embracing "Chilling Out"....

Happy Sunday!

Realizing

If you know me, you know I am not good at foreseeing/preparing emotionally for the future. For some reason, until I am there, I really can't get myself to realize what is coming up.  Also, I HATE change.  I really don't like not knowing for sure what's coming up.

This has been proved true again with the whole moving-to-Kentucky-thing.  For some reason, it hasn't sunken in that I will be moving to another state in less than 3 weeks.  It also hasn't nearly sunken in that I will begin studying in a dream program of mine in less than 3 weeks.  

See, I knew that I had a month and a half from leaving Chris in Louisville to moving there myself.  I knew that this was the time to fit in all the visits from friends, beach time and family time that I could.  Different excitements have distracted me from acknowledging the move.  First, my lil brother went off to FSU...  So that was a roller coaster of emotions in itself.  Then, my friend Kirsten came home from DC before starting law school in a month.  After having a cyber/phone friendship for the year, we could hang out!!  Also, I got the new love of my life, miss Annabelle!  She seriously has been just a package of joy for me! Next, my sorority little, Amanda came to visit me this weekend.  We had the most amazing weekend (which I'm sure to blog about in a bit), but it was after her leaving that it sunk in the huge change that's about to happen... I began realizing not only am I just moving to KY for school, but that I am moving for the love of my life and will soon be marrying him.  Although I am beyond ecstatic to marry him, these goodbyes and last slumber parties that I'm having with my girlfriends may not be just for this move, but in preparation for getting married, a whole new and very different world from the one I lead. 

So, stresses about financing this move/school, planning a wedding from afar, moving away from my family that needs/loves me being home, saying goodbye to seeing my close friends as frequently and most importantly, the BEACH, has all hit me last night and this morning. Mostly though, the fact that my familiar network of friends, family, church, coffee places, relaxing places, gym, run routes are all about to change.  I'm going to have to get real good at phone communication to keep up the friendships I hold most dear because our weekly or monthly visits might be spaced out a bit more.  

So thanks little for being such a high that the crash allowed all this :) 

Just from writing this I feel more at ease, confident and excited about that scary future.  

July 4th L O V E

I don't think I ever really contemplate the blessings Jesus has bestowed upon our Country.  When I do though, I realize that with those blessings also comes "To whom much is given, much is required." What is required by me, my friends, my generation? My heart really felt the burden, or the calling of what it is our country was blessed to do.  It's my prayer that my generation looks past the little day-to-day endeavors and focuses on what part we play in the global picture of moving our world forward.

With that being said, my 4th was filled with the glorious day to day endeavors that the 4th brings:

As with most "Panama City-ians" my fourth of July was filled with the beach, a grill, good friends, wonderful family and amazing fireworks!

I started out the day with having some alone time bonding with my new baby, Annabelle:

Saturday my dear ole dad and I drove to Wetumpka, Al to pick the princess up.  It being a Holiday weekend, we had not gotten much alone bonding time since I brought her home so Monday morning was SO nice. I'll most definitely have a blog entry devoted to her and all her cuteness!

After that, the real 4th of July festivities began:

Riley, Kirsten and I beached it!

Kirsten also brought along the lil sis!  Abby was such a delight and made the day much more rich, full and exciting... Thanks K for sharing Abby!

It didn't take long until we got too hot for our own good.  So we went to Panera to get drinks to cool us off, and give us the caffeine needed to give the rest of the day the proper energy it required (even after being up every 3 hours the night before to let the baby out).

Driving to Panera, Annabelle whined for Abby... She just couldn't get close enough:

Yummy Drinks:

Then once we were done, the girls headed in to enjoy the fireworks with their own families, and I did the same.  We were blessed to be joined by Ms. Jill, Joy-Joy, Gracie and the new bf, Joe! We played lots of cards while waiting for the food to be grilled.  We enjoyed all-american hot dogs and hamburgers before going down to the beach.

We played our traditional family/friends wiffle ball tournament.  Sadly, my team lost.  Then we retired to our chairs to watch the sun set and the sunlight make way for the night time sky.

Annabelle's first time to the beach!

Joined by the BEST lil bro in the world (He carried her heavy play pen down to the beach!!)

And last but not least, a pic with mom, Annabelle's obsession:

All in all it was an absolutely wonderful day filled with most of my favorite things... I really missed Chris and I am stoked for next year when we'll be together for it!!

Until next time <3