short week, long weekend...

so a little late in posting this week, but it wasn't your typical week either. we had our second week of school--went well, not too many issues, and finally getting into the swing of things. the weather was crazy, with a heat index of over 100 early in the week and then tons of thunderstorms and rain at the end of the week, culminating with tropical storm ernesto on thursday night/friday morning. the flooding and rain was enough to get us out of school, so with justin's car in the shop, we headed to raleigh to put his macbook in the shop as well. both of these visits should hopefully take care of the immediate problems. i did get lunch at the cheesecake factory out of it (with a white chocolate peanut butter truffle cheesecake slice--yum!), so definitely worth the trip :)

saturday was spent car shopping--not terribly exciting, but necessary when justin's looking at getting a new car sometime next month. he's leaning towards a jetta or a civic--still a little bit of time for him to decide.
sunday we got up and headed towards pittsboro to have lunch with the family, and then back towards chapel hill for my cousin meghan's wedding. it was the first jewish wedding any of us had been to, so the boys got to wear the complimentary yamukahs (with the names of the couple and date printed on the inside) and the program offered some great explanations on the symbolism of the wedding ceremony. the ceremony was outdoors on a shaded patio area--overlooking the golf course and lake. gorgeous, a little warm, but overall, a very neat experience.



we were then able to go upstairs in the clubhouse after the wedding and enjoy the cocktail hour before dinner. it was great to see all of the family that had come in for the wedding and people that we hadn't seen since our own engagement. though our wedding will not be anything close to the size of this one, it was fun to pick up some ideas and enjoy being a guest while knowing you're also planning a wedding. we all ended up out on the terrace and enjoyed some of the drinks and snacks before heading into the ballroom for dinner.






dinner was served after the introduction of the couple, a few toast and a big welcome to all of us. they went all out with the dinner, including a four course meal, live band, chocolate fountain, and following the cake-cutting, lots of dancing. we got to see some of the traditional jewish dances, lots of beach music and shagging, and just some plain crazy wedding dancing. it was entertaining, to say the least. justin and i headed back before it got too late, and we were able to enjoy our labor day holiday with kenny, stephanie and kaleb, and a cook-out with the church crew.


i know i've been mentioning the changes i've made to my office at work, and i finally got a chance to put up some of the pictures. i painted it blue over the summer, and then this past week, i decided to add some butterflies to my main wall--just to brighten the place up a little bit more. i finished them today, so i thought i'd give you a nice view of what you see coming down the hall as you look into the window at my office. very kid-friendly, and it just makes me happier to be in there. i had a blast painting those, and it makes me miss my crafty stuff. gotta find an outlet for that at some point...





alright, that's all for now. later, y'all :)