last one...

Just an update. Last Friday I took and passed my RD boards! It's a great feeling. A really great feeling.

Now I just need to get all the rest of my paperwork filed and I can start work! Which is very exciting. I'm ready to start living here! You know? I guess I'm taking this week as a little bit of a vacation, but I just want to start making our life here. I want to work and be involved in a church and KNOW people I go to church with and start building relationships and... all of that. If I'm going to live here I want to LIVE here!

We struck out at church a couple of weeks ago, but went to one we really liked on Sunday. We can both see ourselves going there and being involved there. It's out of New Roads, but there are two small groups that meet in New Roads. (That means there are other Christians here :))

We're also feeling settled into Glynnwood, including getting the mouse issue under control :) There's a lot of mice who have made this their home. Yep.It's fun living here. Much less creepy than you'd think. And it's beautiful!

Yay! I passed! I'm an RD!

EDIT: I just have to add to this one since Charlie already made crazy eyes at me for posting so much today. I'm just really happy right now.

I cleaned out the broom closet and front-entry-way dresser today. 

We put up more fall decorations, including a lovely fall wreath on the front door.

I blogged for the first time in a looong time (obviously).

I dug out an amazing old piece of art (huge.) from the attic. and hung it up. And it's amazing.

I made a corgi craft!! I'll post pictures later. Once Charlie figures out how to hang it.

Charlie also finished making our towl rack hanger for the bathroom.

it's just been such a lovely, productive day! 

(And I'm an RD :))

and Hello Louisiana!

Charlie was a packing-rock star. We had to stop a few times to readjust on the way home, but it was pretty amazing how he loaded everything up into an open trailer! 

Home, sweet home! We're both pretty humbled to be living here.

Morning views from our bedroom. Wow.

Rufus is adjusting pretty well to outdoor living. We are both amazed at how well he's doing... and really puzzled. Every once in a while he leaves (if he hasn't seen us for a while) and runs down the middle of the road to Charlie's parents' house. I guess looking for us? He's going to get hurt if he doesn't learn he can't stand in the middle of the road!!

amazing!!

Just in time for sugar-cane harvest

The courtyard

The ponds are filling up!

We've been thrown right back into the swing of things! Including birthday parties and showers! It's kind of fun knowing people again :)

County livin'

Punkin LOVES the banana trees!

The beginnings of Charlie's garden

Pop-Pop's birthday! 

A panoramic view of our bedroom! (from the bed)

Farewell, Minnesota.

During our last few weeks in Minnesota, we went to a St. Paul Saint's baseball game. 

It was a good time--probably mostly because we went with our friends Jess and Ryan. And we found good seats. That we may or may not have stolen. No one was sitting there! 

Poor Pernkie. Charlie was training her for Grand Isle. 

On our ACTUAL anniversary (not our trip to SD), Charlie took me to my absolutely favorite place in the Twin Cities. 

I'm not sure why I love it so much. Maybe it's the atmosphere of the park which is nestled in the big cities. Maybe it's the incredible people watching. Maybe it's the nostalgia from coming here as a child. Whatever it is, I'm always happy to visit this park. 

As part-two for our anniversary, we decided to borrow? a few succulents from the green house at the park. We planted them and brought them back to Louisiana with us. They have since expired :( 

4 Great years with this man. Here's to 80 more!

Charlie was just a -little- excited about counting down our last month up north

Our last weekend in town we went to the Minnesota State fair with our best friends from church. The state fair is kiiiiind of a huge deal here. 

Bye bye Minnesota house. This was our lovely living room

And our lovely kitchen. 

It's still hard for me to believe that our two-year Minnesota adventure is already over. It was invaluable. Irreplaceable. Memorable. Yes.

Duluth (July 27th)

This was a true highlight of our last Minnesota summer. We headed up to North-east Minnesota to a cute little town nestled against Lake Superior. It's cold up there. It was about 50 degrees at the end of July. We were kiiiiiind of freezing. But it was also magical. 

Lake Superior--we took a little road that follows the "lake" up to a little town called Two Harbors. 

Just past Two Harbors is a state park called Gooseberry Falls. It's amazing! 

It was cold and raining. But the park was packed with visitors! 

Then we rode back down to Duluth. We rode to the top of the city to get this view of the lake. It's pretty awesome. 

The wind was blowing about 30mph and it was raining and 50 degrees. I couldn't keep my eyes open! haha

We originally went to Duluth to go to the Tall Ships festival--but we were having so much fun walking around Duluth (and at Gooseberry Falls) that we decided to just look from afar and enjoy our day there doing other things. 

We ended our day at a true dive featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives--we thought we definitely had the wrong place, but the food was amazing! Charlie got his first (and possibly last?) taste of hash. I'm suddenly feeling like that's the wrong word. Breakfast hash? Corned beef hash? Whatever.

a few from the hospital...

This was how I started my rotation--nervous, scared, insecure. I was working at a 500 bed hospital just outside of Minneapolis. 

I stole this from my week of working with eating disorders. Which was pretty amazing. 

These two lovely ladies were diet techs. They were both SO KIND and helped me out with all sorts of things I didn't know how to do. I was very thankful to get to know both of them. 

These were a few of the RDs I worked with. They were all pretty amazing! 

The campus I worked on was beautiful. I believe this little garden was designed for patients to have a place to rest and find a little outdoor peace. 

And this was on the last day! I learned SO MUCH and became a fairly competent and confident RD! It was a great experience! 

Flash-back South Dakota Trip Aug 2-4th

Charlie and I decided on a whim to go on an anniversary trip to South Dakota to see Mt. Rushmore and some of the beautiful state parks out there. Imean--when will we ever ONLY live 10 hours from Mt. Rushmore?! So we loaded up the dogs one day after I got off from the hospital, and set out.

He loves road trips.

This was at needles state park. There are some amazing rock formations--we could drive through this piece of mountain!

The first night we stayed at the capitol--Pierre, SD. The second night, we camped at Custer state park.

Here we are at our campsite. We cooked ho-bos (chopped onion and bell pepper) and a baked potato for me, and home-made Minnesota hot dogs for Charlie. It was quite good!

We found huge fields of sunflowers. They were amazing.

Mt. Rushmore

Proof we were there?

It's a pretty amazing view!

Charlie found the Louisiana flag 

The highlight of the trip was a (Very) early morning ride down the wildlife loop at Custer State Park. It was incredible. It was slightly misting, and very foggy--and there was wilflife out everywhere we looked. 

We screamed when we saw the first buffalo....

Then we kept seeing them! It was incredible. 

I'm married to a 13 year old boy. He took this one. 

This was on our way home through the badlands.

It was an amazing trip. Even though we spent more time in the car than out, it was a memorable trip we'll never forget!