I Love My Dorky Family

 Yes, we are wearing matching shirts!

Kelly's Words of Wisdom

1. Pick a good seat on the bus. 

2. Go into debt.

3. Do NOT wear a fanny pack. 

And I always do everything Kelly says, so I should be totally fine over here :)

This Part Really Stinks (Part V)

Because words cannot describe:

This Part Really Stinks (Part IV)

I love these girls. A LOT! (Even when Mimi gives me bunny ears in pictures.) They make me laugh til it hurts, and I'm much more fun and adventurous with them than without them. One of my biggest hesitations about this adventure was knowing it meant that I would no longer see them everyday. They just make everything better. So we'll have to move the party to Amsterdam (in between Mandy and Mimi's weddings!). Is there anyone who doesn't want to see how Smitherman behaves in a foreign country?!

This Part Really Stinks (Part III)

I have known these girls for 10 years now. We have gone very different directions in our lives since our Carolina days, but still manage to get together at least twice a year, even with Katie living up in the Great White North :) And I love that when we're together, it still feels like the old days, even though we've added two husbands and a baby to the group! I am incredibly lucky that these girls are still my best friends, but I'm not surprised given that we were all witness to each others most embarrassing college moments and would not be able to handle the blackmail that would ensue if we ever broke up...

This Part Really Stinks (Part II)

I am very much in love with my sweet little house. I still remember pulling the for sale sign out of the yard when I first moved in.  After many failed attempts at becoming a homeowner, I bought this house all by myself. (I like to refer to her as Lucky # 4!)  I danced around this place when the walls and rooms were totally bare, right after I closed on it. I imagined it being pretty, and warm and welcoming - being a home.  And now it is a home. My home.  I painted my bedroom 3 times, with help from Kelly (and Lily!), until I found the perfect shade of blue for the walls. (I do not have any warm, fuzzy memories of paint color #2 that I like to refer to as Barbie's Aqua Dreamland. It was bad. Very, very bad.) Then there was the labor day weekend that produced two beautifully tiled bathroom floors after 3 rainy days with no working showers or toilets. Obviously Shawn was the boss of that project, but Kelly and I laid each and every tile in both of my bathrooms. I still hesitate before walking on the floors, they're so pretty! And my beautiful new wall that closed in the overlook and made a real third bedroom. I hammered and nailed and spackled and taped and sanded and painted (while Shawn and Dad did the hard stuff!), and built a wall. And it's gorgeous. See?

 (Flip flops are totally the new work boots!)

 Note the fancy new wall above the fireplace :)

I've learned that no matter what the project, about halfway through I will start to hate it and desperately want to quit. But I always feel dorkily proud of myself when it's finished.

In addition to all the additions, I have memories here now too. Sleepovers with Schmeeg, Smithers and Tooney, cooking dinners (there were at least 2 so I'm allowed to use the plural!), playing with Lily and Rory, and snuggling on my couch with Lucy that one time in snowed in Charlotte. All those little things that now feel like really big things.

It's my cozy little house that I've made mine. I can't (don't want to?) imagine anyone else living here.

3 months from today, I'll be on the plane, on my way to my new life. Three months is not enough time...