today

I'd like to tell you that you're really pretty (via). 

I'm dreaming of making these coffee popsicles.

I'm tempted to buy these booties.

I'd like to snoozy in these cozy jammes.

I want to share this read about Instagram photos.

I hope you have a happy Wednesday!

summerfall

Hot coffee mornings & iced coffee afternoons. Over-sized shirts with jean shorts and sandals. Almost jeans weather, but not quite. Early morning journaling, shocked each time that it's just so dark.  A light quilt at bedtime, with the window wide open, a candle lit and the Civil Wars playing.

It's that almost-fall-but-not-quite season where everybody is yearning for pumpkin everything and scarves and boots. It's the time of year where I feel wholly confused: like I'm so excited to make those pumpkin muffins, but just can't bear the thought of letting go of summer. Where I'm mourning, just a little bit, the end of 9:30 p.m. sunsets, noisy crickets and sticky, humid nights. And yet, these cool mornings excite me to my bones - making me reminisce of early high school cross country races. 

These cool and hot days always draw me into a state of reflection; thinking about last year and the year before and five years ago (when I moved to Atlanta!). They make me evaluate everything and cause me to purge my closet and rearrange rooms. The changing season makes me go quickly and slowly all at once. 

And I think it's a little bit like life right now. It gives me pause to see our sweet Atlanta life changing - I want to cling to this right now for a little bit longer. Let's enjoy every minute of our engagement, I tell Chris. It feels like it's already going so quickly and it's such a sweet, celebratory season! I want to embrace these last few months of living with Melly and Duke (upstairs!). And yet, I couldn't be more excited to marry Chris and move into our first place together. I can't wait to be his wife and for him to be my husband. 

I cling to summer and yet want to race to fall. I find myself landing here in summerfall. And, it seems, I love it here. 

checking in // hello!

Hi, friends! Happy Friday! I just wanted to quickly check in - I promise I didn't quit blogging :) I had my blog transferred to SquareSpace and we're having some ma-jor issues with everything working. I've been so focused on fixing it, I haven't had time to write. 

But, ah, hello. It feels good to pick the pen back up. 

Here's what's happening around here right about now:

Last week, I went home to Indiana for my BFF since first grade's wedding. It was amazing. She was a stunning bride and I'm so overwhelmingly happy for her. It brings me so.much.joy to see one of my very best friends SO happy. She glowed the entire day. 

A personal highlight from the wedding was when I was welcoming her groom, Alex, to our trio of friends (Sara, Katie and myself) and said: Welcome to the threesome, Alex! and then paused, and said, that sounded dirty, didn't it? Nothing like the accidental innuendo when you're holding a mic in front of 225 people, eh? 

It was an awesome week at home in Indiana with my parents and friends. I'm so grateful to have a job that gives me the flexibility to work at home from time to time. 

In other news, Chris and I found our wedding venue! We'll be getting married next May in Atlanta and are thrilled. I also got my dress while I was at home. Two big, fun things checked off that list.  :) 

I hope you've all had a lovely two weeks. Thanks for hanging in here with me while I sort out these bloggy kinks!

the end of an era in atlanta

Chris and I have recently had the pleasure of honeymoon planning, which has opened my mind up to all of the incredible places I'd like to visit. We've been tossing around ideas about living for short stints in foreign countries and volunteering here and visiting there. We've been building different versions of our paradise. 

It has me thinking about where I really want to live. If we weren't tied to a jobs and residences, where would we go? What would our next step look like? 

The answer is actually quite simple.

I'd go where my people are. Not just some of them, though. Where all of the people I love are is my paradise. Even though I strongly dislike winter, if I knew all the people I love could live within a few minutes of my front door, I'd bear months and month of winter. I'd don all sorts of coats and hats and I'd walk over to their front doors and knock my glove-clad hand on them. 

For me, home and happiness are much more clearly defined by people than geography.

{our atlanta framily}

During the last two years, I've had the absolute joy of living in a mini paradise. You see, all at once, during the summer of 2013, my brothers moved to Atlanta, I met a great new friend, Megan and I met wonderful Chris. And then, Megan, Duke and Sam all moved to Melly and my street. And then I fell in love with Chris. And then? Our friends Katie & Austen moved to our street. And before I knew it, seven people I loved dearly were all within reach. Not just within reach, but within a half mile walk.

And I started thinking that if I could just convince another couple hundred people to move to our little neighborhood, I'd stay here forever. We could bunk up if we ran out of space, I think. 

{a very tearful goodbye}

Life has been so good during the last two years. Time has suspended in a way; it has felt like much longer than two years and has become a defining period of our lives. And yet, it has been a blink. It feels like just yesterday Duke & Sam moved here and it's hard for me to fathom that things are already changing. 

But, change, they say, is good for us. Which I'm trying to remember as Sam moves home to Indiana and this season comes to a close. He's starting a new job and getting to live in the same city as his beautiful girlfriend, Abbey.

I am thrilled for him. And I am so excited to see what adventures are coming for our group of friends. 

But, with every bit of joy I have for the next season comes a little bit of sadness. I can't imagine not living and working with Sam. I am so grateful for the last two years we've had as friends and housemates. We've grown closer, learned to understand one another as adults and he has become one of my very best friends.

So today, I'm pausing to reflect on what the last two years have meant. They have been, in no uncertain terms, lovely. They have prepared us for the next chapter of our lives and taught us who were are. They have been, at times, idyllic. And I couldn't feel more grateful for every minute of them. It is with absolute gratitude that we send him off into the next season. So, here's to you, Sam, and the last two years we've had you in Atlanta.