"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife" -Jane Austen

Well this has really been an exciting week. On Monday (June 21st) I started my first full time job at the audiology clinic that I will be working at until I graduate (and hopefully after). Andy knew that I was really nervous so after I left for work (which btw I got there 30 minutes early) Andy dropped off some pink roses at my apartment before he went back to his apartment to sleep for the day. I was SO excited to come home from work and find these waiting for me!! (We'll overlook the fact that he put them in the really cute water pitcher that Rachel gave me for being her maid of honor. )

On the drive back to Knoxville Andy and I had talked about going camping at Elkmont in the Smokey Mountains during the upcoming weekend and we decided it would be a lot of fun. Now when I say camping I don't mean the "hike through the woods, dig a hole for the bathroom, eat wild berries" camping. Andy and I are more of the "park the car at your campsite, sleep on an aerobed, buying ice for the cooler" camping. Andy went out and bought a new tent (the last one he had was a victim of mold/mildew) and we were going to take the really nice queen sized Aerobed that I gave Andy for his birthday this year. Well let the laughter ensue. When Andy bought his new tent he read the measurements wrong. He was so excited that he found a tent for a good price that was 7 feet tall.....umm try again the base of the tent was 7 feet x 7 feet....but it still said on the box that it would fit a queen sized air mattress. After we set up the slightly small tent we tried to blow up the air mattress with Andy's portable generator....oops what do you mean the generator doesn't have enough power to blow up the bed? Finally we got the bed inflated (not completely) and realized that when the box said the tent was "large enough to fit a queen sized air mattress" they actually meant "large enough to fit a queen sized air mattress and nothing else...seriously don't even try to put anything else in here".After setting up camp we walked down to the stream that's next to the campground to stick our feet in the water to cool off (apparently my feet regulate the temperature for my entire body). Then Andy and I drove to an old town that was right next to the campgrounds we were at to look at some old "rich people summer homes". We decided that staying in the car's AC was preferable to sitting outside around our campsite so we drove around the Smokeys eventually finding a grocery store and enough cell phone bars to check the score of the USA vs Ghana game (sad day). Then we made our way back to the campgrounds and Andy cooked dinner (for my own safety I don't cook over open fires) and we had hamburgers.
That night after Andy walked around the campground and met some of the other campers (Andy could talk to a brick wall) it started to get dark and Andy said that we should take a hike to see the fireflies which blink at the same time (the fireflies had stopped blinking together at this point in the year but I didn't know that) so we headed off on our walk. When we reached the place with the fireflies (which was unremarkable...since all the fireflies were gone) we started heading back to camp. Andy told be another fib...a guy from his work said that if you skip rocks off this particular bridge they make a spark. Apparently I'm really gullible. Andy told me to pick up 4 rocks and he only picked up 3 and when I was finished throwing my rocks off this bridge (dissappointed that they didn't spark) I turned around to find Andy down on one knee with a ring.Well DUH I said "YES"! Andy preceded to tell me about my ring. It was the ring my great grandfather proposed to my great grandmother in 1924. The diamond in the middle of the ring predates the 1920s (and now I'm terrified to lose it....not quite as scared as Andy was walking around with a very expensive ring in his pocket all day while camping).
The nice thing about getting engaged in the Smokey Mountains is the excellent cell phone reception. I'm being sarcastic of course but it was nice only having Andy and I know for the night. Once we woke up the next morning....after a very uncomfortable sleep on our 1/2 inflated aerobed....we packed up our stuff and headed back to Knoxville. Around Gatlinburg I was able to call my sister and her new hubby and then my brother (he was so happy to be the 3rd to know).
We spent the rest of the day with family members on the phone and on skype telling how it happened and showing off the ring. I'm so excited to start planning our wedding!!!

Not to switch to a dramatic note or anything but, honestly, I'm just trying to keep my head above water right now. Between full days of clinic, 2 online classes, trying to clean the apartment, spending time with Andy and all of the new projects my new boss is piling on it's getting stressful. Hopefully soon I'll have a weekend without any plans so I can really get stuff done. Really soon Andy and I have to pick a place for the wedding and reception and I haven't even thought about it yet...well it's time for me to head off to bed. Night everyone.

"You gotta keep your head on a swivel....remember that"- my brother Ross

Talk about your wild and crazy past two weeks. Since I've moved back to Knoxville things haven't calmed down one little bit. I am looking forward to falling into the routine of working, working out, spending time with Andy and my friends.

About two weeks ago I left Knoxville and drove to Gainesville, Fl to help out my family in preparation for my sister's wedding to her boyfriend/high school sweetheart/fiancee of 6 years, Travis. I love my family's home in Gainsville and because I am a horrible friend to all of my high school friends and don't keep in touch very well visiting Gainesville tends to include lot's of Wii games with my brother and sister and family dinners while watching "Deadlest Catch".

My grandma told me recently that around the time of my parent's wedding my uncle Brooke made an observation that weddings are a lot like water circling around a drain. The water starts off moving slowly and then gradually picks up speed. My sister's wedding was no exception to this because as the big day got closer more and more people arrived and we had event after event to attend.

The wedding week started with the bachlorette party for Rachel and her bridesmaids (me, our cousin, 2 elementary/ middle/high school friends from Gainesville and 4 friends from Knoxville) when we left Gainesville on Wednesday morning and headed to the beach at St. Augustine (with strict instructions from my mom that with all the money being spent on pictures we were not allowed to get sunburnt). After applying sunscrean liberally we enjoyed laying on the beach and cooling off in the water. Once our hotel room was ready we headed up for showers before heading into St. Augustine. At dinner the waiter looked at us funny when we all ordered Amarillo Sours but he dutifuly brought all 9 of us our drinks and dinner at Oasis ended up being delicious. Per Rachel's request our next stop was Sangreas (sp?) where we tried two different kinds of Sangreas before heading out on a walking ghost tour. I'm not sure if I believe in ghosts or not...we didn't see any on our trip but we did get to hear a lot about the history of St. Augustine (America's oldest city). Our second (and last) day on the beach was mostly spent huddling under a tailgating tent that we brought. It seems that no matter how much sunscreen we put on the sun sill left her mark on all of us on the first day and we would have rather sat under the tent than suffer the wrath of my mom. A little after lunch we headded back to Gainesville after stopping to check out Rachel and Travis new apartment (very cute).The night we got back to Gainesville all of my mom's side of the family had arrived in town so a cookout was held at our house. I loved getting to see my two young cousins (ages 2 and 4) who were the flower girls as well as the rest of that side of the family.

Friday morning was the bridesmaid's luncheon and it was fun to see all of my aunts, cousins and both my grandmothers. Rachel handed out the gifts she put together for the bridesmaids which included: earrings for the wedding, flip flops for the reception, a hankerchif from Europe with our name embroidered on it and underwear that she got for us when she was in Paris. I was helping Rachel pass out gifts at this point and had COMPLETELY forgotten about the underwear until the first bridesmaid pulled hers out and the aunts, grandmothers, and cousins let out a "wooooah" and started laughing. I have to say that one thing I never though I would do is show my newly obtained scanalous French underwear to a table which included 2 women I had never met, my aunt from Las Vegas, my cousin, and my 80 year old great aunt.

Friday night was the rehearsal dinner where I got to catch up with everyone from both sides of my family. This was strange for me because until I was about 9 or 10 I didn't realize that my families had ever met...well now I know that is just dumb because they all met at my parent's wedding but when I was 9 it just made sense. Now would be a good time to point out that I have been maid of honor in a wedding before for my friend K-lo. The differences between being the MOH in a wedding when you're not part of the family and being the MOH when you're in the family are really big. The two biggest things I noticed were 1)you don't get to sit down....I only sat down to eat at the rehearsal dinner and stupid me I wore really tall shoes and 2) you talk to EVERYONE. At my friend's wedding I only knew the other bridesmaids and the bride's immediate family. While I did have a blast and I got to introduce Andy to everyone I'm tired just thinking about it. After dinner my uncle Catsby (a singer/ songwriter) sang a song for Rachel and Travis and the dad's gave a toast. I don't know how I'm going to handle it when my dad gives a toast at my wedding because he started crying and then it was downhill for me.

Saturday morning all the bridesmaids met at the church at 11 am to do hair, nails, makeup and pictures. The wedding didn't start until 5pm so we had some time to kill. Surprisingly we had all 8 bridesmaid's hair done with time to spare. On a side not I have found a new favorite hairspray for up dos!! YAY! A family friend came with lunch around 12 (it was very yummy) and Rachel came and we got her into her dress. Ah...the dress. This dress was originally worn my grandmother in 1951 and has since been worn by my mom, aunt and now Rachel (I plan on wearing it too). My sister was also using our other grandmother's blue garter that had a small pocket for a good luck penny. When we looked inside we found a penny from 1944...wow! I have realized that being the maid of honor is all about doing things you never in a million years thought you would do. For example, at my friend's wedding I got to help her now mother-in-law into her strapless bra and got to see a little more of her than I would have liked to. for her wedding my sister had bought very cute blue underwear to wear under her dress but once the dress was on she discovered that it wasn't that comfortable. Guess who got to change her underwear under the dress. Thank GOD we told the photographer no photos for that part. LOL
The wedding we off without a hitch at thank goodness Rachel had gotten all the bridesmaids hankerchifs because we all needed them. No one tripped, fell down the stairs or passed out (although being the prepared MOH that I was I had smelling salts hidded in my dress just in case).

The reception was held at the country club next to my family's house and by that time all of the bridesmaids were more than ready to change out of their high heals and into the flip flops. We danced the night away (I even saw my grandmother dancing to the Cupid Shuffle). I got to see EVERYONE...I'm not joking I'm pretty sure 1/2 of Gainesville was there. I got to spend some much needed time with Andy while we danced, ate cake and had a few drinks (half way through the night my mom told me I could put drinks on my dad's tab...thank God because I had only been drinking water). I caught the bouquet (thanks to the exceptional aim of my sister) and Travis's brother, Scott caught the garter. Since this is the 2nd wedding I've been to where I've caught the bouquet Andy is a little nervous but according to him the 3rd time's the charm so I might have to find a Knoxville wedding to crash just to catch the bouquet again. (I'll keep you posted about how that turns out).Rachel and Travis (after a small delay were I had to race home to get Rachel her purse which was in my car) were on their way to Jamaica and I am extremely jealous. I can't wait to talk to her about her honeymood!!

Well it's time for me to turn it since tomorrow is my 1st day working at Appalachain Audiology for my externship and I guess it wouldn't be good if I walked in late. I'm sure I'll get more pictures soon from the wedding since I realized I don't have any of myself...oh well. Talk to you soon!