Group Photo

The Fam!  Almost everyone :)

Tourtellottes @ Litchfield

Last week, I spent the week at Litchfield Beach with 63 of my closest family members!  

Sounds crazy, I know, but it was SO much fun!  I know what most of your are thinking..."A week at the beach with that many of my family members - no thanks".  But, I tell ya, we've got something special.  It really was fabulous.


My grandmother Dot (whose maiden name was Tourtellotte), was one of 6.  She had 2 sisters and 3 brothers.  Them, their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren get together every other year for a week at the beach. This whole reunion thing was Dot's idea.  She is so missed.  This September will be 4 years since she passed away.  Everyone talked about her and Baxter all week and how much they missed her and how much they wished Baxter could be there.  He had his 93rd birthday while we were at the beach and he really sounded like he was having a great day.  


This year there were 6 houses of people and each family/household took a night for dinner. So we all share the expenses.  One night, we just did dessert.  People came from California - San Diego, LA; Hawaii, Houston, DC, Northern Virginia, Georgia, all of South Carolina, St. Louis, Kansas City, Oklahoma, and Santa Fe.  I think that's it.  Whew - what a crowd! 


This picture is from our immediate family - Dusty, Smith, Bud, Mary Stewart, Marifrasier, Kelly, Kennedy, me and Mom!  We were the ones left when we took our big group picture - Reed had been down and so had my dad!  I'm kind of shocked that he came but everyone was glad to see him and I was glad he came :)

We really did have a fabulous time.  

It was a welcome break from life.  Since May of this year, I have heard of the tragic, sudden, unexpected deaths of 4 people who have in some way been involved in my life.  My sweet Maeve, a dear friend's cousin, a neighbor my age from Greenville, and now a long time family friend.  Tonight, my heart aches. I mourn the loss of and celebrate the life of David Rogers.  I grew up just down the street from him and his family, attended church with his family and grew up with his children who are a year older and a year younger than me.  They're the kind of people you want to be like.  David was a wonderful man, a great dad, a great husband, a fabulous teacher, a good friend, and mentor. I am glad to know that he is celebrating with Jesus.  I continue to pray for his children and family as they mourn the loss of dad, husband, brother and son.

Part II

Ok, so...it's been a year.  I thought a lot about this post before I wrote it.  I realized that I've been saying a lot of the same thoughts lately and thought I'd take this reflection in a bit of a different direction!

A year in this "new" city.
A year in my new job.
A year with new friends.
A year with old friends.
A year away from Greenville.
A year away from my family.
A year away from Downtown Pres.
A year without a church home.
A year of emotions.
A year of change.

I have begun to think about the things that I've accomplished this last year and well, it isn't much - or I should say, it's not as much as I had hoped.  

• I have kept my job for a whole year.
• I have not gone in to bankruptcy (Thanks BBW3).  
• I have rented in apartment in Greenville.  
• I have kept my awesome apartment here in Knoxville.  
• I have not ruined my car.  
• I have gotten a library card.  
• I have a new roommate.
• I have made new friends.

Over the next year there are several things that I would like to do.   I'd like to use this time to set some goals and really make an effort to acheive those goals on a timely basis - like by this time next year!  In no particular order.....

1.   Begin to pay back debts owed.
2.   Think more positively.
3.   Work toward CPA certification.
4.   Advance in my career.
5.   Travel. (Plans already in the works)
6.   Find a church home and get involved.
7.   Make more time for family.
8.   Exercise more often than not. Continue to lose weight.
9.   Worship
10. Figure out what I'm passionate about in regard to His Kingdom.

A Year Ago Today (Installment 3)

I suppose that I should have written this on Wednesday last week or Saturday...But it's been a whole year since I moved to Knoxville.  I can hardly believe it! I sat down to write this post and now I realize that it's going to take a little more reflection time before I'm prepared to write it!  When I looked back through my blog on the events of the past few years of my life, I find it unbelievable.

Stay tuned...:)

July 4th Weekend

What a fab Independence Day weekend it has been!!

Friday night I grabbed a dinner with Diana and we perused McKays.  I came home and actually went to bed relatively early!

Saturday I drove up to Morristown to spend the day/evening with Whitney's family!  On the way there, I stopped and had lunch with Melissa.  It was so fun to see her, even for just a minute :)  I went on to Whit's and we just sat by the pool, swam, played cornhole, ate wonderful low country boil, and shot off (or watched as the boys shot off) fireworks!  It was great!  A lot of their neighbors were shooting off fireworks too so it was fun to watch those too!

Sunday, I met up with Latisha and went over to one of her friend's houses that has a pool.  We literally sat by the pool all afternoon! It was so relaxing and great!  There were a bunch of people over there and we grilled out burgers and just hung out all day.  It was so nice.  I am still full! We had burgers, guacamole, corn on the cob, grilled asparagus, baked beans, chips, watermelon, and homemade banana pudding! MMmmm!  After dinner we went downtown to another friends house that lives above Market Square.  We went up on the roof of her building to watch the fireworks in Knoxville over the river!  There were tons of fireworks going off in every direction and it was awesome to be on the roof and be able to see them all.  Knoxville put on a pretty great show - 20 to 25 minutes of fireworks so it was great!  We stayed there and hung out for awhile to let the traffic clear and came home late! It was even better because we didn't have to be in the "throng of wife beaters and funnel cakes", as one of Latisha's friends put it! Haha! Although, we did miss out on some GREAT people watching!

 This was our view of the fireworks from the top of Jenn's building.  The fireworks were on the river, just on the other side of the Hilton but we had a perfect view of them from the roof!

Monday - NO WORK!! It is so great to have this day to be lazy.  I'll probably do some cooking, finish up some laundry, read, watch a movie or two, sit on the porch in the sun...should be pretty relaxing.  I'm so looking forward to being lazy!  All the sun this weekend has been great! I haven't even gotten burned so I'm working on my pre-tan for the beach! Can't wait!

I can't think of a better way to celebrate this lifestyle that we've been grated as Americans by the people who have freely given their time and their lives to serve our country. Today I celebrate the One who paid my ransom and set my soul free. and I thank Him for all the men and women who have given their lives for my physical freedom. it is the highest honor to reap from no greater love. "Greater love hath no man than this-that a man lay down his life for his friends."