Remembering 9/11 ten years later… God bless America!

My favorite 9/11 tribute in New York City can be found in Bryant Park. 2,819 empty chairs on the lawn facing the site where the World Trade Center once stood, one chair for every life lost. The number of empty chairs captures the enormity of the lives lost and the stark emptiness of it just drives home the point that I hope is never forgotten. 2,819 people were here one moment and gone the next. 2,819 went to work or boarded a plane one morning ten years ago thinking it would be another ordinary day and they never came home.

(Source: jetgirl78)

Hey y’all! Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve posted!  I guess I took the rest of the summer off!  Preplanning, volleyball, and school all started so fast over the last few weeks I haven’t been able to keep up with the blog!  But I promise to try harder!

Here is a peek into my classroom!  This was taken before I got students and everything has been turned upside down, but it was all perfect to begin with (promise!)  So far, teaching world history has been a blast!  I really enjoy getting to travel through the world over time and show the students what it was all about!

I have more exciting things to share this week!  Stay tuned!

Claire and Ben’s wedding and reception was at the Ivy Hall at Roswell Mill.  They were married outside under an arbor and danced the night away upstairs in Ivy Hall.  Claire looked absolutely beautiful!  Everything about her wedding day went perfectly.  She was cool and calm the entire time and had a wonderful night.

Sandy B and the Allstars were fabulous and everyone was dancing until the moment Claire and Ben left.  The wedding was a lot of fun and could not have been more perfect way for Claire and Ben to begin their lives together.

Claire’s Wedding Part 2

Claire and Ben’s rehearsal dinner was held at Aqua Blue in Roswell.  It was really neat.  The dinner was served on a porch and we sat in the nice air conditioning.  Some of the food on the porch was even cooked right there in front of us!  It was a really great night of people sharing why Claire and Ben mean so much to them and encouraging words for their future.

After dinner, Claire and Ben parted ways until she walked down the aisle the next day.  All of the bridesmaids stayed at my parents house that night.  We stayed up late laughing, but nothing will quite top the ride home.  And for any of them who read this… THEY DIDN’T HAVE RED STARBURSTS!!!!  Claire and Ben had a really amazing wedding party.  It was so much fun to be apart of and get to know their friends.  Claire’s bridal party just clicked and got along fabulously.  It was amazing!

Tomorrow I will update with wedding details and pictures :) Get excited!

Here are some pictures from Claire’s wedding weekend!  She was absolutely gorgeous and the weekend was so much fun!  I took almost 400 pictures, so I’ve decided to share some photos with you per event.

I’ll start with the gorgeous bridesmaid luncheon my aunts threw at the Swan Coach House in Atlanta.  It is a tradition in my family to have your luncheon there.  We had the signature Swan House dish of chicken salad and frozen fruit salad.  After a couple people spoke to my sister the signature swan dessert arrived, yum!  Afterwards, we all went back to the garden area to take some pictures.

Later, Claire and the bridesmaids headed over to a nail salon and had mani/pedis. It was a great start to a wonderful weekend!

What a weekend!  I love weddings, especially ones that take me to different parts of Georgia and allow me to visit with family along the way!

After our volleyball tournament Thursday night, I headed straight for Kennesaw.  I hung out with my parents and Claire as they continued preparing for her wedding.  On Friday, we went to Claire’s last fitting!! (Only TWO more weeks!) And let me just say—she looks gorgeous.  Later that afternoon I relaxed and treated myself to a manicure and then the storms came rolling in, so we all stayed in for the night.  I watched old videos with my dad that he found on a video camera.  I got to see myself play volleyball, tennis, walk on homecoming court, and sing karaoke all over again.  It was really fun.  I hit the bed early though because David and I were leaving VERY early on Saturday to go to Thomasville.

On our way to Thomasville, David had some places he wanted to stop along the way.  David told me that we were going to a farmers market in Cordele to get watermelons.  And boy did we get watermelons.  The back seat of the car looked as if we had bought out the market.  In fact, one of David’s watermelons weighed in around 50 pounds AT LEAST.  It was huge!  Of course we were planning on sharing all the watermelon goodness with others (they were extremely well priced :)  We also picked up some white peaches and tomatoes that looked OH so good!  We also made a few other stops so that David could get some beef jerky and BBQ!

There’s just something about celebrating your friends on the best days of their lives, and just watching them soak in all the excitement around them, that makes going to weddings an awesome experience.  Needless to say, we love David and Jenn.  Jenn and I met our sophomore year of college when we started leading a high school girls small group together at St. James UMC Youth Group.  We had so much fun.  Later, we interned at the Wesley Foundation together.  We would always talk about the David’s and what they were up to.  And of course, how we were always right, no matter what the conflict was, haha.  David and Jenn’s wedding was beautiful.  We are so glad we were able to make it down there!

After the wedding, we headed up to Kathleen, Georgia to stay the night with my Aunt Mia.  Not only was her family there, but my other two aunts and one of my cousins family’s were staying as well!  It was a great night of catching up with family members and spending time hanging out.  The next morning, my Aunt Mia made some excellent pancakes and we went over to visit my granma (Dad’s mama!)  It was really nice spending time with her.

David and I finally made it back to Atlanta, where I hung out with my other grandma until I had to return to Athens.  I left a watermelon, tomato, and cucumber with her to lighten my load :)  It was a really great weekend.  We were busy, but it was the good kind of busy.  Teaching summer school has been uneventful, so it was a nice break and felt like a vacation.  

We have another wedding to look forward to for the next three weekends (including my sisters!) I’m sure I will keep you updated!

This weekend has been very relaxing.  I have gotten a lot accomplished but I have also had a lot of time to take it easy.  David had to head back to Atlanta tonight for work and also return Margo to my parents.  Before he left we had sushi at RuSan’s and it hit the spot!  Poor David gets suckered into taking a lot of photos for my blog these days, and unfortunately the lighting on these is weird.  However, we were just excited to see each other!

We were also very excited because we nailed down a place for our reception on Saturday!! And next weekend we venture down South for a good friends wedding in Thomasville and are excited to stay with my Aunt Mia for the night!

But now, I’ve got to get to cleaning my apartment.  If you didn’t know this, most dogs shed!