Making lemonade

One of my status updates today (notice I said "one" because today was a very status-y day!) was about squeezing every bit of goodness out of summer.  It's like getting that last bit of lemon juice out of the freshest lemon for your lemonade.

And boy, am I squeezing. 

I went back to Atlanta this weekend to celebrate the boy's birthday.  We met at our favorite neighborhood pizza place, where we ordered drinks and savored the sunshine on the patio while we waited for our pizza...pepperoni with roasted onions and mushrooms, if you were wondering.  We went back and forth about our plans to go to the drive-in since thunderclouds were rolling in, but our fun side got the best of us.  We headed down and stopped by Zesto's for a brown-crown turned upside-down ice-cream and rolled into the perfect spot for the movie. 

Saturday morning was spent in glorious fashion...sleeping in and cooking breakfast for a king.  We spent some time shopping to get Charlie ready to look all European on his adventures in a few weeks, and then ended the night in wonderful company as we celebrated the retirement of his boss. 

Jesus, forgive us, but I'm confessing that we skipped church for coffee and soccer.  The Lord must have heard our prayers since Germany came out on top. :-)

And the topper tonight came when I found out that Brooks and Dunn had to reschedule their concert...I'll be in the crowd the night before classes start!  Talk about ending summer on a bang!

Each day I am reminded how truly blessed I am by my friends, family, and my sweet husband.  In a few shorts weeks we will be celebrating our fourth anniversary...I cannot believe how time is flying by!  Life is so sweet and so rich when you share it with your best friend!

Perfect Summer Day...

I've been on a blog hiatus for, oh, the past month.  Maymester was just as stressful and busy as everyone had warned me it would be.  I couldn't find the time or the motivation to write anything really worth reading.  But as always, this too shall pass, and I lifted my head to find myself facing a glorious week full of whatever I wanted.  And, boy, did I ever make the most of it.  I was able to catch Charlie's softball game, run errands, get some new clothes for clinic, see Stacy and baby Harrison, have breakfast with sweet Miriam, pack all my stuff, and move.

Oh, did you catch that last one?  Yep, move.  One of the great things about this degree is our 8-week clinic rotations.  In a nutshell, we have four clinic rotations, and we pick on a lottery system.  It's very fair (and since I'm a rules person, I would know fair when I see it (-: )...however, there are not always clinic sites available in Atlanta.  You know, where I live.  And already pay rent on an apartment.  And where my husband and two lovely dogs stay.  Yeah, that place.  Hence, the move. Let's call it a temporary relocation to my old bedroom in my parents' house, because, well, it's rent free.  Although I will say that Charlie and I are very good mulch spreaders and wreath hangers and garden pickers and getting-stuff-off-high-shelves-and-changing-light bulbs-in-22-foot-ceilings people (those last ones are most definitely all Charlie!).  So here I am, sitting in my favorite chair in my room, incredibly thankful that my parents are allowing me to be a boomerang child for 8 weeks. 

I should probably change the title of this post to "Perfect Summer Weekend," but I'm just too lazy.  Today was wonderful...we went to church this morning and then stopped by the Chattanooga Market.  My favorite.  We came home with peaches and strawberries and some amazing German rolls.  We made it home just in time to fix lunch and squeeze in a game of O'Shoot before watching our 6th-ish World Cup game (sorry Caroline...the Aussies didn't stand a chance).  Then Charlie and I took the dogs down to the creek, where I laid in the grass by the swing and read while they did their frolicking.  

Friday and Saturday night were spent down by the river at my favorite music festival, Riverbend.  Sheryl Crow opened the festival on Friday night.  Last night, we got an amazing show from Alison Krauss and Union Station (who, by the way, are only performing one other concert ALL YEAR!). 

The day started to wind down as I stood on the front porch and waved goodbye to Charlie as he returned to Atlanta.  While I'm looking forward to my time at clinic, the days are harder when you don't wake up next to your best friend.  But we are going to squeeze every bit of goodness out of these summer days.

Summertime, and the livin' is easy...

And since we're on the topic of love...

One of my favorite mash-ups with my two favorite instruments.  Enjoy. 

How do you make love last...

No words needed...

I swear, I'm alive!

Hi friends.  I've been noticeably (or unnoticeably) absent these past three weeks.  That's because I've been in the midst of PT hazing, er, Mayterm.  And tomorrow is my very last day of class for the first year of school!  At approximately 5 p.m. tomorrow afternoon, I will emerge from my hole and partay! 

For now, I have to finish my paper on the use of thermal capsulorrhaphy as a surgical intervention for patients with multidirectional shoulder instability.  It's due tomorrow. :-)