i need to be inspired, so inspire me. it’s not that i’m particularly under-whelmed or disappointed even, just un-inspired. i’m ready for fall. i’ve become disillusioned with summer. since working at this montessori school, i’ve decided a) i’m gonna have to be one heck of a better person (with more patience, kindness, etc) to have kids and b) summer’s way too short. when did that happen? when we were kids, summer seemed to stretch on and on and on. now we just work through the heat without a vacation or anything. lame. and kids. the kids are absolutely the worst. they don’t want to be there. we don’t want to be there and we certainly don’t want them there. we’re fighting a losing battle just by showing up each day.

i love fall. when its not 104 degrees of sweltering heat at dinner time (like it was at 6pm yesterday). when the clothes are the cutest–scarves, sweaters, corduroy jeans, jackets, layers and layers of wonderful softness. i love it! and it’s totally romantic. chill in the air makes you want to snuggle. football games (pray for night games) with your hunny bunny (or hubby!). camp fires and smores and hiking and playing at night. fire-flies and candles and cedar in the air. i freaking LOVE the fall. plus the leaves are changing and falling and the colors are amazingly beautiful. and my very favorite holiday of all time is in the fall: thanksgiving with all the love and family of christmas without the pressure or spending or finding “the right” present.

i think i just inspired myself: one last week of hell (aka montessori) and then starting my LAST semester of stupid grad school and THEN the very best of AUTUMN in all its glory and THANKSGIVING!!! yay! and then grant’s bday (the big 2-5!!! what?!) the day after thanksgiving. oh. much better. now i’m quite inspired and can continue without loathing everything between now and then. great! ttyl.

heyo! both duggars here, writing to say YOU HAVE TO COME VISIT US!!! seriously. we love ya and miss ya and you should totally come visit [grant: you need to receive it!].

we saw the dark knight this weekend and it was totally awesome. very scary and really dark [excuse me, grant says it wasn’t that scary… yeah right] and violent and rated R. i thought comics were for kids. apparently not. the joker was such a conflicted character heath ledger–who did an incredible job and should be nominated for something for sure–was losing sleep over it and the sleeping pills prescribed to him were part of the od…. crazy. the movie was amazing and i’ve never seen anything like it–dark and yet so well done i really liked it.

we’re thinking of going to athens tmrw, but are still not sure about those plans. we love and miss sweet athens so freakin much.

grant says he’s glad he gets to play golf tmrw. sounds nice. it’s for work. i on the other hand, will be herding cattle, i mean snotty-nosed children around for 6 hours, counting down the seconds till go time. but then again i get at least the month of august off.

highlights:
we had allison and leen over for dinner–so fun!

i got to talk to maggie who is currently on vaca in CALI! sweet!

coco passed her boards, so she’s a Registered Nurse! and is job searching! please, God let it be Atlanta!

megen is visiting us next weekend [get out your planners and pick a weekend to play right now!]

carrie and andrew are getting married august 9th, and we’re excited to be a part of that!

ashley’s back from europe and i got to talk to her today–LOVE!
PS. WE ALL NEED TO PLAN A REUNION/ ASH BDAY/ VISIT ASHLEY AT GRAD SCHOOL play date asap!

nida’s bday was a few days ago and i called her at midnight. perf. she’d just gotten back from hawaii so she was jet-lagged and tired–sorry nids, but i love you so much i had to call to celebrate your birth on georgia time! xoox

georgia (our great dane) and layla (allison’s dog living here temporarily with her) are not yet friends… sad day… actually layla doesnt know what to do with GA, so she just shows her teeth, and GA licks them… it’s hilarious to say the least.

i’m finally becoming a full Georgia resident tmrw by getting a fulton county license plate [OMG! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!] crazy.

i will no longer have anything to do with day care or children as of august 7th. praise jesus. jk… well kinda not really… xoxoxo

steph is totally due a visit to marietta and ROSWELL! let’s petition her to get her here asap. xoxo missssss you!

hoping to go to a braves game next week to celebrate john neal’s bday [25!] but it’s a surprise get together, and those never go to plan, so we’ll see.

oh, and ps HEIDI’S MOVING TO FINLAND?!?! we’ll miss her so so much. i think she’s flying out Sept 4th or sometime right around then… sad sad day.

ok. grant’s now napping which means this blog is over and we should eat. i’m trying to ease him into blogging. attempt number 1: hard to tell: half success, half nap time. we’ll see about duo posts in the future.

WE LOVE AND MISS YOU! COME PLAY! XOXOXO

we have new neighbors and it’s ANDREW AND ALLISON! how crazy and wonderful is that?! God’s plan is so awesome! here i am praying for fellowship, wanting to find community in a new city, and God gives me an old friend and a new one–Drew and Allison–at the SAME season of life (getting married in October), in the same city, same apartment complex, SAME BUILDING!! how incredible it is when God works in the details of life. we are truly blessed to be called His.

it’s been so nice falling off the earth. i’ve been so out of touch for the past month, for several reasons. first and foremost: marriage is a BLAST! it’s a dream everyday. seriously. it’s so worth the wait b/c nothing is better (except children, i hear, but that’s at least a decade or so off). but now back to reality. i’m working two jobs and only getting paid for one of them–the other’s an internship for school (working 8:30-6:30 ea day). i will [FINALLY] graduate in december, but the road will be long and arduous for sure. all that to say time and money are very little at the duggar home so we don’t have cable/ internet. i check it when i can about once a week–hence the blog snobbish behavior or lack thereof and falling off the earth.

back to my favorite: marriage. it’s seriously so much fun. we had the best time at the wedding and then spent most of the honeymoon remembering it and talking about our favorite parts. it was amazing. the trip itself was pretty perfect, too. puerto vallarta, mexico is beautiful and… HAS A RAINFOREST!?! did you know that? we had no clue, but when we found out, we, of course, did a zip-line canopy tour of the rain forest from about 450 feet up. 8 zip lines. 450 ft in the air. repelling down 2 water falls. hiking through the rainforest. and riding mules. did i mention that there were large animals involved? it was great. another day we swam with DOLPHINS! they were beautiful and so smooth and playful like Georgia [ps. if you’re reading this blog and you haven’t met georgia our great dane yet, your life is seriously lacking.]. we got to kiss them and let them pull us around by their fins and push us with their noses. it was an experience like none other. what a blessing.

i am currently job searching for the fall/ spring. i’d love a part-time job just to pull in some income until i graduate in december, and if it could be in the field that would then turn into the full time job i want and need, that would only be better! pray for me, please that i 1) find a job, 2) find a small group [girls only], 3) find a couples bible study, 4) figure out the monetary dilemma of working while commuting back to tuscaloosa for school in the fall.

[in re: to this title, please know that i WANT TO STAY IN TOUCH with my girls, it’s just hard for me right now without the time, money, and internet. but calling or texting is GRRRREAT! i love you all to much to let too much time go by.]

until then, know that i’m enjoying being a newly wed (cooking every night for my love, spending so much time together, washing clothes, watching movies, and pinching pennies–as do most newly weds ;).

like hannah said, we have so little but we have so so much. xoxo

i’m so excited that we’re getting married in just 5 days! it’s bittersweet, though, b/c my family and i are doing the “lasts” of some stuff: the last time i’ll be home again without grant (for a while, at least), last heath-only trip to the lake, last time they’ll help me move without grant, last family cook-out, etc. it’s been really fun spending quality time at home and being with them during this last month of engagement; i would have missed this time later, had i not spent it at home. my fam and i are really really close and they’re all kinda sad that a new hero has stepped into my life–new family, new home, new love, new allegience–but they’re so happy that its grant and they love him so much, the love outweights the longing in their hearts. i am using this time to really saturate in prayer and meditate on the ceremony and what the next chapter of my life will hold. we’ve waited so long for this week, counting down from the 130s, and i’m so glad it’s finally down to only 5 more days.