August pictures

Sanibel Island:

beautiful beaches and incredible shells!

golfing with the Knights

Roadtrip: Sanibel, FL to Minneapolis, MN

neither of us had ever been through St. Louis or seen the arch!

Back at home:

working on projects around the house: hubs fixing a hard drive (so smart!)

Reconnecting with our church: Hubs sharing at Wednesday fellowship

Staff retreat: 

watching the boat friends wakeboard (boat on left) on Lake Pepin

stopped by this awesome antique store in Red Wing, MN with some staff girls

 Wedding shower:

farmer's market flowers: 8 arrangements all for $10!

took old window from bedroom and put pictures of the couple in it

made fabric strip curtain for food table backdrop with greens, burlap browns and pink

made a few coffee filter garlands, but not quite this full!

color inspiration: made linen table cloth with burlap runner

these two pictures were flower inspiration: 1st one for colors and 2nd for mason jar +twine/burlap idea

made a few of these

To see where all these are from, head over to my pinterest "shower" board!

Life Recap, pictures coming soon

1. We left Sanibel and in two days made the 33 hour drive to Minneapolis (via, Orlando, Atlanta, Nashville, ole Paducah, KY, St. Louis and Iowa cornfields)

2. We had staff training and then a short retreat with our staff.  We discussed different theological topics and our church's stance for out training.  Then we headed south to Lake City which has Lake Pepin, which is the "birthplace of water skiing." Who knew? But it makes sense snow skis + lots of down time in winter + land of 10,000 lakes = water skiing.  It was a blast.  A friend brought his boat and we water skied and I learned to wake board. Such a blast!  Once I got up but then had no idea what to do, but it was definitely something I'd love to do again.

3. Next up we had a bridal shower at our apartment for a good friend Hannah who is not only from GA and a sorority sister of mine at UGA but is marrying a guy from MN and moving up here.  All I can say is hallelujah!  And, on a side note, Caroline, another friend from GA (who went to my high school) and was also a sorority sister of mine, has ALSO moved to Minneapolis. Double, Triple, Quadruple hallelujah! Who in the world would have thought.  Three AXOs from UGA who love the Lord would all be living in MN a few years later?!  I've been reminded of Ephesians 3:20 a lot lately.

Any who, the shower. It was a blast.  I was in charge of decorations so naturally I've been in a Pinterest pinning frenzy.  I sadly forgot to take pictures during the shower, but it turned out great.

4. Classes start tomorrow! Woah Nelly!  I'm going back and forth from excitement and feeling overwhelmed.  I know the Lord is in control.  God's really convicted me of my (lack of a) prayer life lately and I've been aiming for "expectant hope" especially toward the campus.

a few more weeks gone by

We've been down in the Southeast for nearly 2 weeks now.  We spent one week at our summer project down in Myrtle Beach and now after making our way through a fun coastal road trip we've been in Sanibel Island with my in-laws.

Though we're looking forward to being back at our home, it's been great to reconnect with students in SC, have sweet time with Andrew and seeing friends, and then spending time with his family.

where hubs played football!

Andrew's alma mater

last meeting of our summer project!

We stopped to see some friends in South and North Carolina before finally heading Jacksonville, FL to see my sister and brother-in-law.  On our way, we stopped in Charleston for some Baked, which sadly has new owners and is now "Bakehouse," and then in Savannah.

Andrew with his salted chocolate cupcake

just off River Street in Savannah

We of course stopped by River Street Sweets and grabbed some pralines before going to one of the coolest Starbucks in downtown Savannah.  Loved it!  So with a frappuccino in hand to cool off from the heat, we crossed into Florida and drove into Jacksonville.  They moved about a month and a half ago and have the cutest Spanish-influence house!  We had a great visit with them and are really grateful for their hospitality and having fun with them.

While in Sanibel, I got to read a book my Mom recommended.  She'd just finished it and let me borrow it: "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen.  It's been a great time with family, but it's rained every day- so I've gotten a lot of reading done! It was great!  There were a few seedy scenes, but overall there's a capturing plot.

After reading the book, I'm not sure if I want to see the movie