Can it really be true?

as of today, i am finished with summer school for the rest of my life....unless i go back to school one day.  i don't see that moment coming anytime soon, so for now i am going to celebrate today as the last day i will ever anxiously sit through a lecture on a warm, sunny, summer day!!

also today...

i awoke early this morning to arrive at the fountain city panera at 7:45.  this usually isn't too bad, but this morning i had to drive from maryville on about 5 hours of sleep time.  it was a two coffee morning.  jess and i met with abbie and haley.  we are studying the book of luke.  today we did something really cool.  at least i think so.  last week we read chapter 6.  this chapter instructs on how to love and even pray for those who mistreat us, lie to us, etc.  this chapter was hard for us all to hear and apply to our lives.  we decided that we had a lot of things we needed to let go of if we were to truly obey and love our enemies.  today we each brought in a rock and with a sharpie. we all wrote the things in our life that we wanted to release out of our hands and give it to Jesus.  after much thought and a lot of writing we drove down to a pond to through our rocks.  it was a relief for us to physically...in a way...let go and give our worries, fears, enemies to Jesus. 

golly, i love those girls!!

WAAHOO!!!!

Here are more photos from the treacherous hike Hallie, Jess and I took last Saturday.  Thanks Hallie for the pictures.  You can check this sweet girl out at http://halliescreations.blogspot.com

self-timer, large rocks, on the top of a mountain takes much skill

i love her

WE DID IT!!!

always ready for a photo shoot

and i love her too

This past weekend my mom, uncle, cousin and i headed out for another east tennessee adventure.  we ziplined through the mountains!! i loved it and highly recommend taking some time with friends to go. here are two pictures from the zipline.  i will post a video from the day in the near future.

in both of these pictures it looks as if we are posing for the camera.  in reality we had no clue what was going on and were just hanging on for dear life.  right before this picture was taken my guide told me that my trolley was broken.  that was great to hear right before you step off of a super high platform...

An East Tennessee Weekend

i don't think i have taken advantage of east tennessee as much as i did this past saturday.  my friends hallie and jess spent the night at my house in maryville on friday night.  we ate dinner at los amigos...yum...and had a movie night with my mom.  i have never heard jess and my mom laugh as hard as they did.  we woke up saturday and went hiking.  it was an absolutely beautiful day to hike the chimneys.  we researched it before we left and everything talked about how strenuous of a hike it was.  this made us a little nervous, but how bad could it possible be?  well let me tell you now from experience it is strenuous! at one point i thought to myself...why did i think this would be fun?  could i have been more negative...i think not!! my mind quickly changed as we made it to the top for a little devotion and sweet girl time.  here are just a couple of pictures.  more are on their way!!  

as soon as i got home from the hike i changed in my bathing suit and board shorts :) and headed out to norris lake with my young life team.  my sister went with us!   we spent the night tubing and wakeboarding.  i am still incredibly sore from the wakeboarding, but the good news is that i got up and was able to to make it outside of the wake.  it is the getting back in that is the problem.  i post a couple of pictures of tubing.  my camera died about 10 minutes after we got out on the water :o(

east tennessee was so fun and so pretty this weekend.   

this is me right now

this is me right now.  here are a few updates from my life...

i spent this past weekend with a dear friend and boss, joy, at the atlanta gift market. we shopped, laughed, cried, and learned a lot about each other. i look forward to these trips because i learn so much from such a sweet friend. i always leave time with joy so encouraged. she really does have the gift of bringing joy!

i am going to be teaching algebra ii honors and geometry this 2009-2010 school year. i couldn't be more thrilled.

i will be teaching in the law, business and public affairs academy at Hardin Valley Academy. maybe all those years of watching legally blonde will pay off?! will carver, will you come be a special guest speaker one day?

i have been inspired to develop a new hobby. i want to sew so bad. here are a couple of items i hope to make one day. they are pictures from amy butler designs.  she has to be one of the cutes girls ever.  my first project is going to be curtains for my room under the supervision of my meme.

last but not least...i have twitter.  i love it!!  i am following kris allen.  i don't know if he updates because he has been driving through the mountains since june 20. hmmmm.   my roommate and i have so much fun tweeting!! 

An American Low Country Boil

I LLLLLOOOOOOVVVVVEEEEEEE the 4th of July at my Mom an Dad's house.  Anyone and everyone is invited to come and eat, play games, dance, watch fireworks, you name it.  One of my favorite parts about the evening is the dress code I have established.  Everyone must dress in red, white or blue.  I love dressing to a theme!  It only seemed fitting to have a patriotic dress theme.  My pup even met the dress code with a navy blue bandana.  He was the cutest there.  I fell even more in love with that night.  

A SayBaugh Wedding

My friend Lindsay Baugh "saybaugh"  got hitched last Friday!! It was a quite a wedding.  Saybaugh is a friend from high school.  She is now married to Most Attractive of the class of 2005 from MHS.  They are going to live in Argentina.  Saybaugh makes her own clothes, doesn't wear shoes, and has an overly free spirit.  Her and her husband had not seen each other for four months, and the first time they saw each other after 4 months was when she walked down the aisle.  They hadn't talked in a week until they said "I Do."  And, their first kiss in a year was at the sound of, "you may kiss your bride."  Some other extravagant wedding details include...4 hours before Saybaugh would walk down the aisle, we were out on the lake tubing;  she had me organize and coordinate the wedding,  there was an amazing choir, and she made the paper for her programs.