Yankee Doodle Dandy...

I'm finally going to talk about my amazing trip to Boston in January! Shawn had a weekend gig with his old band (he lived in Boston for 10 years before coming to Nashville). After realizing that this southern girl had barely been north of Tennessee, he invited me to tag along. I'm not really sure what I expected the town to be like, but I definitely rode around with my mouth open for most of the trip in amazement. The city itself is so full of history that it's crazy. We rode around for most of the first day just looking at historical sites... & of course the amazing architecture! You can see in the pictures below how beautiful some of the buildings are. Shawn would point out these gorgeous faced buildings that he used to have an apartment in & I couldn't help but be a little jealous. It's like the perfect little city scene that I could dream up in my head :)

I was a little intimidated by certain aspects of the city though. The traffic was insane! We sat at one point for over half an hour before taking a back road (thankfully I was with someone that knew short-cuts!). & the snow was something I had never seen before. It was bitter cold to the point that it physically hurt to be outside and snow just hangs out all winter. It gets stacked up on the side of the roads like dirty ice mountains that you have to climb to pay the parking meters. It was up to the roofs of houses in most areas... & I'm told that really isn't all that fascinating to "yankees", but I couldn't get over it.

All in all, it was a fabulous trip! It was great to see a city with sites that are on my bucket list while getting a glimpse of where Shawn comes from too. I've put a few of the pictures from the trip below...

A heavy heart I bring...

I've gotten a little off with my 30 day challenge. Blame the spontaneous trip to Boston & then moving into my first house immediately after I returned. I promise I'll pick back up where I left off again very soon.

Tonight, there's something else laying heavy on my heart that seems more important to write about. The past few days have been filled with random tears & tears fall as I even type tonight. On Monday night a sweet sorority sister, Brittany Shepard Pugh, and her 15 month old son, Shep, were involved in a horrible car accident that claimed both of their lives. You can read about the accident here.

Although Brittany was two years ahead of me in Alpha Gam, you couldn't help but be drawn to her incredibly happy & loving personality. Every person I've talked with since Monday has spoken of Brittany's incredible love for life & how hard it is to grasp that this happened to someone like her. The memory that keeps replaying in my head is of the night that she shared the news of her engagement with all of us. I've never seen another girl so in love & so excited to have her dreams coming true.

It had been years since I had seen or spoken to Brittany, but I can only imagine that her life as a mother was even more full of joy & love than when I knew her.

I pray that God wraps His arms around Clint during this terrible time. I cannot even begin to imagine what he is going through having lost both his wife & child in the blink of an eye. It's a loss that an entire community is mourning, not just in the geographical sense but all over the map in our sorority. Please keep this family in your prayers....