Orienting Camille to Nashville

This week has been dedicated to orienting Camille to the wonderful city of Nashville. 

This included [almost daily] trips to Las Paletas, Jeni's, Donut Den, Fido, Taco Mamacitas, the Purple Cow, etc. and tours of every trendy Nashville area...including fun places like East Nashville and Radnor Lake.

Camille already fits right in in this beautiful city...and we can't wait to have her!

It was a pleasure for me, seeing as I am obsessed with this city. It was also a good introduction for Camille, since she plans to move here in the coming weeks. And, most importantly, Camille finally won over Aunt Bea's love before she departed yesterday. 

 

Aunt Bea awaits her move to Nashville!

xoxo

Post Travel Thoughts

It is crazy to think back on my life 6 weeks ago when I was still fully immersed in  life in Wald-Michelbach, teaching the dragons by day and hanging out with my German friends by night. It is even weirder to think about where I was a year ago, just meeting my students and wondering how I was going to survive a year in a country where I knew no one and only about ten words of the language.

Departing Nashville on July 19, 2012. Clueless on what lay ahead.

But today, I am far from both of those places. Adjustment back to life is Nashville has been incredibly easy, certainly due to the welcoming friends and my accommodating family. It also helps that I have had zero responsibilities these past six weeks. But I have been soaking in all things America and loving it, to say the least.

As I think back on everything that happened in the past 13 months, I am overcome with feelings of thankfulness and gratitude to the people in my life. The encouragers, the visitors, the friends who avidly skyped and sent e-mails and loved me well through this roller-coaster of a lonely but fun adventure. 

These two quotes accurately sum up how I feel upon my return to Nashville....I could not pick just one because they both capture my feelings so well.

“No one realises how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.”

Lin Yutang
“Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.” 

Terry Pratchett

Another humorous part of being back in America is the communication with the sweet dragons. Many of them have e-mailed and WhatsApp'ed me, and I have responded and sent cute Nashville postcards to them. Today, I woke up to this hilarious e-mail from sweet 9 year-old Eva...

I think this e-mail alone should nominate me for world's best english teacher...right?!

xoxo

A Lovely Weekend of Sendoffs!

This weekend was packed few days of doing exciting Nashville-y and really made me thankful to be back in this wonderful city that is filled with people I adore. 

The past few days have been full in the best sense of the word. I tried to capture moments and fun outings courtesy of my iPhone, so here is a glimpse of the fun that was had these past few days.

Paletas with my parents for a Friday night treat :)

 

Giving tandem rides to my precious neighbor kids who adore the cat that I despise.

Friday night reunions with cookie dough to celebrate Grace's return from the west coast!

Showering Lucy, who will be getting hitched in October, with fun gifts and spending time with old friends all the while!

The Nashville hear has suddenly taken a turn for the worse, but the shaved ice truck makes it so much more bearable!

Saturday night we ventured to East Nashville for one last American burger (a delicious one!) before Emily leaves for a year in Asia.

We walked the walking bridge to soak in the beauty of Nashville.

Sunday afternoon we had a sweet prayer time and send off for Em, blessing her travels and work across the world!

 

Another dear friend, Claire, is about to move to Savannah...so Sunday night was a music filled send off party full of Nashville talent and fun old friends.

This weekend really solidified how much I love this place and the people that occupy it....I am glad to be where I am :)

xoxo

Kiva

I sometimes feel overwhelmed by the millions of good organizations out there that I'd like to give money to...so I don't want anyone to feel bogged down by this request...but Kiva is an incredible micro finance agency that lets you LEND money to people all over the world. And the best part...you get your money back! If you have never loaned before, here is a link for a free $25 to start with!

My loan was just fully repaid, so I reinvested to help Antonio from El Salvador buy livestock.

Even if you don't have $25 to spare at the moment, the Kiva website is a fun place to peruse and they do gift certificates which a meaningful gift for anyone and everyone! Check it out!

xoxo

Lake Weekend

When asked if I am a beach or lake girl, I always struggle to answer. I adore the beach, but growing up in landlocked Tennessee, I have countless fond memories of weekends at the lake with friends.

This weekend, in preparation for Emily's departure for a year in East Asia, we spent one last weekend on Smith Lake. It was fabulous. Warm, sunny days, great meals made by our gracious moms, and plenty of laughter and great conversations.

Emily, myself, Betsy and Rebekah just catching some rays on the dock.

 

The neighbors let us borrow their paddle board (which I had just learned to do!) and we had so much fun trying to balance on it.

On Saturday afternoon, a thunderstorm quickly blew in and my mom pulled out paints and canvases for all of us to pass the time. It was a nice, social activity and it was neat to see everyone's interpretation of the same beautiful view from the Crane's front porch.

Here are the finished products. Can you guess who is the artist of each one?!

 

 Skiing is always a favorite lake activity, and I was a little too excited the first night (middle picture) and completely forgot my life jacket! Luckily there were no injuries involved, but we were much more careful after that. My mom and Mrs. Crane both showed up all the girls with their amazing skiings skills (especially for their age!!).

As a celebration of Emily's last days in America and Rebekah's birthday, per Mrs. Crane's suggestion, we whipped up some jello shots.

And we could not stop laughing as we all took them with our moms! Woooooo!

And, last but not least, we celebrated 24 years of Reb's life with some delicious coke cake!

What a wonderful weekend.

xoxo

#tallpeopleproblems

I saw this on this website and could not resist reposting...its the story of my life! My friends love making tall jokes to me and I just thought this cartoon captured the pros and cons so well!

xoxo

Thursday's Things

My friend Kate shared this fascinating dating experiment with me yesterday. Its about two friends who agree to date for forty days and write about it everyday in order to work out some of their reoccurring dating issues. I could not stop reading it last night and now I cannot wait for the next days to be posted!

Yesterday was my brother Peter's birthday...we are getting old! Happy [late] birthday Petey!

My dad and I are officially training for my first ever half marathon...and I am already dying! But it will be a treat to go back up to Harbor Springs in September.

I am loving trying all these trendy, new Nashville places. We went to Legato Gelato the other night and it was divine!

"Gossip is like junk food: It’s easy to consume, it feels good in the short-term and satisfies a craving, but ultimately leaves you feeling like shit and much less healthy for having given into it. It should be beneath all of us, especially about people we actually care about, and it certainly doesn’t add anything beneficial to our lives. Only the simplest of people fill their time with talking about other people."

I stumbled across this article that I thought would be cheesy, but it had this honest quote and several other good pieces of advice!

And last but not least...I am headed to the lake today to spend one final weekend with my best friend Emily before she leaves for a year in Asia. It'll certainly be bittersweet, but I am ready for a fun weekend of tubing and sunning!

xoxo