Long Overdue

So, I know you were in desperate need of a long overdue post.  I can't help it!  There has been so many things going on and I hardly know where to start.

The most obvious is to start with one of the most important events, which is also the one that happened right after I left off last.  My sweet AOPi big sister, Jill was married to her life love on September 20th.  I was bestowed the honor of being one of her bridesmaids (matron to be specific).  Jill was stunning in the gown her mother, Jan, made.  It also included lace from her Mimi's veil that adorned Jill's veil.  The location of the event, a llama farm, was almost as amazing as the bride.  I know you are thinking, "How in the world is a llama farm pretty?"  Let me tell you it was a perfectly manicured world of it's own.  Now, you did pay an extremely SMALL price of swerving up Signal Mountain to get there, but it was DEFINITELY worth it!  The reception was held in an open air barn, and was so beautiful not much decoration was needed.  We had a wonderful time with wonderful people, location and weather.  You couldn't find a more deserving person as Jill, to have such an absolutely amazing wedding to her absolutely amazing prince charming!

The end of that fabulous weekend started a bittersweet week of Knox being with his Grammy and Grandaddy.  They and Knox's uncle Brian and aunt Julie meet us in Chattanooga, where we had a fabulous lunch at Big River Brewer and made the "hand off".  Thankfully, the wild man was asleep during that process, so my waterworks weren't engaged.  I think all parties involved had a great week.  I worked on one thing or another, continuously while he was gone and it made me realize that it's amazing that I ever get anything done when my sweet baby is home with me.  Again, I would never trade that for the world, but I got a little impressed with myself.  Okay, so it's not a major task, but I'm proud of myself!

After our little "break", we headed back to TN/AL to pick up the wild man.  In addition, Daddy got to go hunting and Mommy worked on more reunion stuff.  (I think I have said this before, but I would now like to restate that I'm excited about the reunion, but SO READY to NOT be planning it anymore--and so will Keith!)  We will be returning to the homeland yet again for my big TEN YEAR REUNION that myself and a new friend from high school, Jessie, have been planning for OVER a year!  Our turn out isn't quite as high as we expected, but it will incredibly fun to reconnect with old friends.

In more current news, I am now in LOVE with yet another food market--the Dekalb Farmers Market.  It is amazing in a complete different way than Aldi. :)  This is not your average farmers' market, either.  It's your normal fresh produce (and by "normal" I mean, any and EVERY form of fruit and vegetable), fresh cut meat of any form, any kind of cheese you could possibly dream of, a whole wall of spices and herbs, fresh made bread, pastries and bagels all with organic flour, walls of exotic and natural grains, teas, canned goods--you name it, they had it.  In addition to the heaven spread before Bridgette and I, they have a cafeteria and pastry/dessert counter.  We decided to have lunch and OH MY HEAVENS!  All ingredients are straight from the isles and oh so good.  We didn't even make it to the "salad" side of couscous salad, chickpea salad and etc.  The hot side was anything from Indian, Greek and homestyle cooking at it's finest.  EVERYTHING on both Bridgette and my plate's were fabulous.  And of course, we had to grab a few desserts on the way out--and some for the boys.  Even with all the amazing food, we managed to get out of there with only spending about $25 each--including lunch and desserts!  I wish I had my camera because their website doesn't do them justice!

So that's an extremely brief summary of our past 2-3 weeks.  Pictures will follow (or precede, depending on how you read the posts!)