Sarah and Shay in Savannah in September

The third weekend of September, I met my high school friend Sarah for a weekend in Savannah!  It's only 2.5 hours north of us, so it was a perfect little getaway.  Sarah spent a couple years there for grad school, and she was a wealth of information for all the great spots to visit!

Sarah and I have been friends since we tried out for Drill Team at the end of 8th grade.  She was going to be starting high school at TCA that next year.  We've literally been friends ever since.  She is a wonderful listener, a go-getter, a planner and an incredible chef.  I am so blessed to have friends like this!

I loved the historical charm surrounding the city and the Spanish Moss that hung from the trees.  The first thing we did was take a tour on the historical trolley ride, which was hop-on, hop-off, and it was so neat to hear all that has happened in Savannah.  I would definitely recommend this activity!

For the rest of the weekend, we basically ate our way through the city.  Savannah is so walkable, based on a grid pattern (totally my style), and is easy to navigate.

We took a little stop for drinks & an appetizer at the Olde Pink House, and it was so cool that I decided my family needed to eat there for Thanksgiving!  I made reservations on our way out.  :-)  (In the photo below, Sarah's friend from grad-school, Dana, joined us for the weekend, too!)

We grabbed ice cream at a famous shop that I can't remember.  It did not disappoint.

Sunday morning, we ate brunch at the Mansion, and all three of us shared different dishes.  It was absolutely delicious!

We stayed at the iconic Thunderbird Inn, and I didn't know they had Krispy Kreme donuts in there until I left on Monday morning!  I grabbed some for the road.  (Can you say sugar high?!)

It was a wonderful weekend celebrating friendship in a historical town.  I can't wait to go back!

Ordinary September Days

September was a big month for us, with visitors, our anniversary and my trip to Savannah, but there were a lot of ordinary days in there, too.  Those memories are just as special, and I don't want to for get them, or take for granted the beach that is only 30 minutes away!  So here's a little photo dump of the "regular" days around here.  (And most of them have Rye in the picture.  Because we're obsessed with our dog.  He's the best.)

Saturday Selfie

Sic'em Bears.  (Rye's new trick is to "Sic'Em," and it's so stinking great.)

Baylor Game watching at the Flagg's house.  Rye got to come, 

and you can see that he made himself very comfortable!

Rye LOVES his Aunt Becky & Uncle Aussie!

We were invited to a birthday lunch for a friend at church, and we enjoyed it.  It was so nice to be included!  This is Nathan, the worship leader who I sing with.  The bearded guy next to him is our ministries pastor, Rob and his girl, Becca, who is my newest friend.  We love our church!

Since I work from home, I try to get out around lunch time, even if it's just running to the library.  Rye loves to go for car rides, and he's come to expect a mid-day drive.  

One Friday night for our date night, we went out to the beach and took a walk with Rye, and ate at Panara Bread for dinner.  We enjoyed the beach and the porch dinner at Panara!

Beach Boys.

Sometimes at the end of the workday, now that the weather has gotten less-hot (not cooler!), Rye and I will sit on the porch and wait for Adam to drive up from school.  It's a great way to decompress after working at a computer all day, and it's always fun to greet our favorite guy!

Well.  This is anything but ordinary, but this is where I work.  Mom took this photo for me to put on my Merit Media website, and it's been a good out-of-the-box challenge for me to get it set up.  I'm grateful to be able to work from home and do a job that I was really cut out for.  It's so much fun!

Celebrating 3 Years of Marriage

We celebrated our 3 year anniversary on 9/24, and it was a very happy day!

My new friend Becca (from church) is a hairdresser, and I asked her if she would trade curling my hair for dog sitting her new puppy some time.  :-)  It was fun to get pampered and to meet little Miss Nugget!  (She is all of six pounds.)

As is my usual tradition, I wore my wedding shoes on our anniversary.  A very happy reminder of that special day.

Adam came home from school with roses for me before we left for dinner!  We headed out to Maggianos for dinner, a special place to us, since our rehearsal dinner was there.  (Special thanks to Mike & Norene for the gift card!  It was well spent!)

 We'd agreed that in lieu of gifts, we'd do a silly card & a serious card.  It was great.

Our waitress was very, very chatty (too much?), but she did ask us if we were celebrating something, and she treated us to an Apple Crostini for dessert.  It was truly delicious.

When I asked our waitress to take a photo for us, she didn't like the nice, wooden pillar I'd picked as a backdrop because of a light there, so she had us move and gave us this as our background!  I was so flustered I didn't even think about it, and now we have a great photo with crazy legs coming out of my head!

Here's our annual selfie.  Hopefully I can find the other two years where we're doing this, too!

What a year it's been!  We've moved (twice), quit jobs, started school, started a company, changed churches and everything in between.  Here's to the start of year four, and I'm hoping that we can at least stay in this house and not move for a while longer!  I love you, AMP!

September Visitors!

We ended up getting two sets of overnight guests in September, and I am so thankful!  Mom found a great deal and offered to come the third week in September.  It was a quick trip--only 44 hours--but we made great use of our time together!  It was just what my little heart needed, and I'm so thankful that she came.

I picked mom up about 9 p.m. on Tuesday night, and we stayed up until midnight talking.  Adam was still awake when we got home, and so we all three hung out.  Mom brought a toy just for Rye, and of course, he loved it.

Mom offered to cook for us on Wednesday night, but I asked if she would treat us to dinner instead!  Since most nights are spent cooking & then cleaning up the kitchen, I thought it would be more enjoyable to go out to dinner.  We went to Carrabba's and enjoyed every bit of it.

This seems to happen with all of my friends, but when your mom comes to visit, they find things that you just "need," and then proceed to purhcase them for you.  It's a really great deal!  :-)  Mom and I had a ball shopping at Marshall's for the empty nook in the mudroom and also a few finishing touches on the mantle, where I'd just put a new mirror to help reflect more light.

And in case you're curious, Rye is definitely a fan of this happy little spot.  Isn't it cute?!

(These night time photos don't do it justice, but I think you'll get the idea.)

We headed back to the airport on Thursday afternoon, just after we'd found the chair for that corner.  (Phew!)  Mom's plane was delayed, so we stopped at Chili's near the airport to grab a bite to eat and get in a few more (thousand) words.  I loved every minute Mom was here, and I'm so glad she came to visit.  I only cried a little when she left, because we had more visitors coming in three short days!

Papa & Jonita arrived on Sunday afternoon, after they'd spent nearly a week in the Atlanta/Savannah/Hilton Head areas.  We had Austin & Rebecca over for dinner that night with them and enjoyed a great meal of grilled pork chops, thanks to chef Adam.

I think I get my night-owl-ness from Papa, because if I had it my way, I'd stay up 'til Midnight and sleep until 10.  Sunday night after everyone left, I played 5 Crowns, a new (to me) card game with Papa & Jonita.  Then, Papa and I stayed up and worked the USA Today crossword puzzle on his iPad together, and I snapped this selfie.  :-)  I called it a night at 1:30 a.m., but I'm not sure when Papa went to bed!

Yep, just hangin' out with Papa and his iPad!  Papa & Jonita are very tech-savvy, and they had a few questions for the grandkids, but they are way beyond basic things.  It's so fun to help them and be able to talk to that kind of stuff with them.

Monday, Austin invited us to lunch out at the PGA Headquarters/Sawgrass, which is where the Players Tournament is held each year.  Papa, Jonita and I joined Austin for lunch in the clubhouse and enjoyed time out on the patio.  It was fun to see Aussie in his work atmosphere, and we enjoyed having the four of us at lunch.  

Jonita saw me cooking the night before with old hot pads that were Adam's, so she wanted to take me to Bed, Bath & Beyond to get some new ones.  I did not object!  (I like the old ones because they're soft & broken in, but she had just gotten some new ones that were the Calphalon brand, and she assured me that they were really great.  Indeed, they are!  I'm enjoying using the new ones in our kitchen!)

Monday night, we went out to the lot where Austin & Becky are building their new home, and got to see where they'll be living.  It was great to see the other houses in the neighborhood and see all the different finishing choices they'll have.  They're on a great corner lot, and I know their home will be beautiful.  

We finished the evening at Salt Life for dinner, where I'd never eaten before, and it was delicious!  I love this group shot of all six of us.  A year ago,  I couldn't even imagine this as an option, and look...here we are, in Jacksonville!

Papa & Jonita left on Tuesday to go back home, and I will say that I cried a lot more after they left.  (No offense, Mom!)  I think I'd just been on a "visitor high" and it hit me that I didn't have anyone coming, and plans to attend Baylor Homecoming were a good six weeks away.  But I got over it and time has flown by.  I'm so grateful for our visitors and the fun that we had!