Let me just say....

.... (in typical hyberbolical fashion) that I LOVE RICHMONT. I can't believe it has taken me until now to begin grad school here. My first day of class was yesterday and I was continually blown away by the welcoming atmosphere, the passion of the professors, the kindness of all the students. When my first professor opened up the class and the day with prayer requests and prayer, I thought Where AM I??? Is it a school? A church? No... it's just Richmont. Being awesome.

I have Ethics, Personal and Spiritual Life of the Counselor, and Clinical Assessment. And two other weekend courses I'm sure I'll talk about later. I am trying to convince Hubs we need to move to Chattanooga so I can go to class every day, not just one day. It might take some work, considering our whole life is in K. But.... I'm a good convincer-er-er.

I will blog more about my exciting new life. Exciting in that my tail bone hurts today from all the driving, sitting in class, and sitting to read today. Exciting in that I am starting to learn new words. Exciting in that I am obeying God although I don't know where the heck our lives will be in three years. God is good. And big. Gooder and bigger than me.

Our Quick Getaway

So last Thursday night, Jack and I decided we should skip town for a night. Friday morning we packed up the Jetta and drove to Abingdon, VA. It's about 2 hours from here. It was really fun to spontaneously get away. We stayed the night at a B&B called The Shepherd's Joy.

Apparently, the lady "Joy" has lived here all her life and she and her husband "Jack" have turned it into a B&B. I think she channeled Mamaw in her decorating style.


The thing that we didn't like about it is that we had to eat breakfast with the other guests. At 8:30. Breakfast with people you will never see again is not our idea of a good time. But we obliged. Thankfully, one of the other guests was also a pastor and I don't think he wanted to eat breakfast with us either, so he and his group weren't too inquisitive. If you run a B&B, you have to give people the OPTION to eat alone or with people. Or in the company of others but not at the same table. There are lots of options. And lots of other times. Times that are double digits. And "Joy" really wanted us at 8:30, but I think we surprised "Jack" when we came down at that time. Oh well. At least it wasn't a hotel.

Our little room:


Does this not remind you of Etowah?


Jack looking over things:

We ate at Willa Jack's. Delish.


My dinner: grouper topped with crab and shrimp in a wine butter sauce. Ahhh-MAZE-ing.

Jack digging into his salmon. (Mine was better but he didn't admit to order envy.)



I was really proud to be staying at a mamaw's house:


The next day, Saturday, we went to play tourist. We visited an old mill in Abingdon. It was extremely crowded with an over 70 tourist group, as was every other infamous establishment in Abingdon. This is Jack at the mill. I asked him to stand in a certain place and he cooperated without really knowing why. Bwhaha.


We partook at the local winery and did a brief wine tasting. It was nothing like California, but it was nice.


Jack outside the winery. And the edge of my face.


And finally, us at the local Soda Shoppe in town. We had to get a coke float before we left!


It was a fun time to get away and a good end to the summer. Or start of the school year.

First day of class is Tuesday for me!

Domestic Goddess

Since this is my last week without working or schooling, I'm doing some last nesting things before it hits next week. I love to be busy, don't get me wrong, but I just want to feel "ready." Nesting.

This is what I did today.

Before:

After:

This is the fabric for those of you who are interested:


And then....
this is my favorite domestic project I have ever done! I almost forgot to take a before picture, but here is a little peek of the before:


Our friends gave us an armchair. Great size, comfy, etc. So I wanted to recover it. I wanted to use little to no money. So I thought, "what is big enough and soft enough to cover a chair?" Sheets, of course! So I used back to college sales, coupons, and store credit and paid ZERO for a pair of jersey sheets and a throw pillow. And... (drumroll please)....



That, my friends, is a chair covered with sheets. I tucked and tucked and used upholstery tacks. Of course, now I can't get it in the room where it's supposed to go, but that's what husbands are for.



And this is the little secret...



Sorry about the picture, I don't know why it won't flip. But the next time you are over, don't look at the back of my new chair!