June has been a whirlwind month for me and given that I have three trips planned for July (three!), life shows signs of slowing down. Don’t get me wrong, I’m loving every minute of it, but it definitely takes its toll and make the quiet, peaceful moments like the one I’m enjoying right now that much more precious.

At the moment I’m sitting on my new back porch for the first time since I moved in at the beginning of June. We still don’t have any furniture out here to make the leisure time more comfortable, but things are slowly coming together. My life is finally coming back to a place where I can say I’m truly happy again since I’ve been back from South America. Maybe it’s the warmth and relaxation that comes with summer in the South. The lightening bugs are drifting through the air, and as the sun dips below the horizon the humidity and almost unbearable heat dissipates.

I was about to head to my room and sit down in my favorite place to be these days–my sewing machine–when the lush green and solitude of the back porch called to me. My mama taught me how to sew several weeks ago and gave me her old sewing machine which also belonged to my grandmother. I still haven’t finished the apron we started together, but I’m hoping to wrap it up by Wednesday so I can take it home with me and show it off. Along with my favorite new possession follows a passion for the crafts and I have at least five little projects in mind just itching to be started. I thought writing would be so much easier during the summer, but I’m finding that enjoying the peace of just living my life and soaking up every moment is what I’d rather be doing right now.

As I mentioned, I have three trips coming up in the next month. The first is back home to Birmingham, AL, for a long weekend and the 4th, the second is a short weekend trip to Savannah, GA, for one of my best friend’s wedding, and then immediately after I return to Atlanta from Savannah I will repack my bags and board a plane to Israel to spend three weeks satisfying my urge to travel internationally again and explore a different land and culture. There will no doubt be tons of photos, memories, and experiences, and I can’t wait to share them with y’all!

So it’s a week later than I expected, but I’m finally done with everything for Spring semester 2009. One more semester left before I graduate!

My dad is coming into town this weekend and I’m really looking forward to it. I still need to make dinner reservations for tomorrow night but it’s going to be so much fun to experience some of the best of what Atlanta has to offer! I can’t afford to do it, so I have to wait until the parents come to visit!

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend, and now that I’m done with school I should be able to spend more time on things I enjoy, which includes this website. I have a long wishlist of things I want to do this summer and I’m determined to make these next few months some of the best yet! I’ll be back on Monday with updates and hopefully some good pictures. The weather forecast has been nothing but thunderstorms all week and throughout the weekend and next week, but the weatherman has been wrong pretty much all week so let’s hope that pattern continues!