My Summer Break

I can't believe it's already been two weeks! Class started back yesterday morning, and I'm still in denial about it. I has a busy/productive/eventful break, though, which makes it easier to focus on classwork... Or more difficult... Not sure which yet. ;)

I took the first couple of days to catch up on sleep and visit wedding venues; this was both exciting and stressful considering that everywhere was already booking up and that all other decisions/aspects of the wedding depend in the venue, date, and time.


The first weekend, however, focus shifted to my little sister as we traveled to Milledgeville to watch her graduate with honors from undergrad! It was a surreal experience watching her all dressed up in her cap and gown knowing she's about to move to New York City to attend NYU for grad school. I was and am so proud of her and so excited for her!!

When we returned from Gisela's graduation weekend festivities, we hit the ground running with wedding venues hoping to have something booked by the time we left for NYC for a few days of fun. Tensions were high with everyone as we all seemed to have a different ideas of what we expexcted out of both the ceremony and reception, but in the end it got done and now we can move forward with less stressful aspects of wedding planning like flowers and cake tasting! :) And so, I'm thrilled to announce that Tim and I will be getting married on May 21, 2011 at Sacred Heart Cultural Center!





The last part of my summer break consisted of a trip to NYC with Gisela, Kate, and my mom. We had a great time! It was my second trip, but I loved doing/seeing things again as much as I did new experiences. We had so much fun at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum that my fully charged camera was already flashing the low battery symbol by the time we left! We went up into the Empire State Building our first night there; the views were amazing! We probably would have stayed up there longer if it hadn't been so cold and windy.

Friday, Gisela and my mom spent the better part of the day around NYU doing school stuff, so Kate and I explored on our own. We spent some time in Central Park, and I loved it! We spent 1-2 hours walking around and not only did we maybe see 1/4 of it but we also never walked the same path twice! So pretty!

We then ventured to the Rockefeller Center area (Eadio City Music Hall, Rockefeller Center, Rockefeller Plaza, and NBC) before heading to the Brooklyn Bridge. The view from the bridge was great! There was a plaque that showed the bridge  throughout the years, which was really neat to see.

That evening (Friday) we got all dolled-up and went to see "La Cage Aux Folles". We laughed so hard! Kelsey Grammer played the lead and he was perfect in it! It was great and I definitely recommend seeing it. 

Saturday, my cousin and his fiancée came down from Troy for the day and met up with us at the Statue of Liberty. It was such a beautiful day!

Afterwards, we went on a tour of Ground Zero. Kate's brother-in-law's aunt gives tours through the Tribute Center and was gracious enough to give us a personal tour. Last time I visited Ground Zero was 5 years ago, and at that point nothing had been even begun to be rebuilt. It was very powerful to hear the personal stories and hear all of the details that are generally overlooked as well as to see all of the progress that has been made over the years toward rebuilding the World Trade Center.


From there we went shoe shopping at the largest Macy's ever and made a quick run-through the African Mammals exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History. That evening we had a great dinner where we were joined by a couple of my middle school friends, Jill and Shannon. It was so good to see and catch up with them! Sunday we returned to Augusta and I got ready to start class again on Monday. Boo. But it was my last first day of school ever, and I officially have <1 year before graduation!

On May 15, Tim and I celebrated our 8 year anniversary. It's crazy that it's been that long. I remember our first outside of class conversation and giving him my phone number and every detail of our first date so clearly that it feels like it was so much more recently that we started dating. And now we're getting married! I'm so excited and so blessed and so in love with him! I don't know where or who I'd be without him in my life. I could go on and on, but suffice it to say that I love love love him.  ♥

Official countdowns:
353 days until graduation
368 days until our wedding!!

I'm more excited and looking forward to the latter, but more ready to get the former over with. It's going to be a busy year!