Swim Lessons

Emma had the greatest day of her young life Saturday. Brian and I took her to meet up with Walt, Allie's pup, at Shelby Farms. Emma had never been to the dog park before, and she really loved it. Though I was nervous at first, I eventually let her off her leash to swim with Walt. I felt like a new mom -- camera and all! I was nervous she would get hurt (or run away) but didn't want her to feel left out! So she had her first lesson in swimming...

Charleston

I'm in love with Charleston, S.C. I got to visit the city for the first time last weekend. I took Thursday and Friday off of work, and Leah and I met my parents in Charleston. They had arrived two days prior to celebrate their anniversary.

After my parents picked Leah and me up from the airport, we drove to Sullivan's Island just outside of Charleston. It felt great to stick my feet in the Atlantic! We had a pretty good lunch at a place called Poe's Tavern, and we had an amazing Italian dinner at Bacco's.

On Friday, we toured downtown Charleston by foot with a tour guide named Tommy. He explained the city's history. This tour was probably my favorite part of the trip. I learned so much. Dinner Friday was at Coast, which was within walking distance to our hotel. Our meal was OK, but not as good as dinner at Bacco's.

Like our matching T-shirts? We didn't pack well for the trip. It was much colder than we expected! We had to buy these T-shits to stay warm on our tour.

Saturday, we spent a lot of time shopping. I didn't expect Charleston to have such great shopping! We also watched the UT v. Florida game at a local pub. Dinner Saturday night was my favorite. We ate a place called Cru Cafe inside of an old historical home.

Meet Larry -- one of the city's tour guides.

I was sad to leave Sunday. The trip was definitely too short. But I plan to return one day!

Rocky Top

Over Labor Day weekend, I went to Knoxville, Tenn., to visit Leah.

I enjoyed seeing her roommates and new apartment. which she wanted me to help decorate. Her bedroom was mostly decorated but need a few more things on the wall to make it complete. So Saturday we went to a few places to find some stuff for her walls. At an antique store, we found a series of three photographs that we loved. We placed two over her desk and one in the bathroom.

At Home Goods, we found a wooden wall decoration that needed some work. We knew it needed spray painting, but we liked how it added some texture to the room. We painted it purple.

Saturday evening we had plans to watch the UT v. Montana game at Downtown Grill & Brewery. We didn't get tickets to the game, but were glad we decided not to once the rain started right before kickoff! Kickoff was delayed for a couple hours, so we spent our time at Downtown Grill eating pizza and drinking beer (or water for Leah) without football.

Sunday was spent running more errands, shopping and eating at another Knoxville favorite -- Chez Guevara!

I headed home on Monday after a great weekend with my sis! Glad I got to come for a visit.

Pizza with Molly and Hunter

On Tuesday of this week, I went to Jackson, Tenn., for another work project. It was the perfect opportunity to have dinner and catch up with Molly. Hunter met us for dinner at Picasso. Molly let me stay the night with her, so I didn't have to drive back late!