What A Beautiful Piece of Heartache

**In reference to the title, while this is the emotion felt from our trip and the return thereafter, you should seriously listen to Over The Rhine {specifically this album, Good Dog Bad Dog}. My absolute favorite band, even featured in our wedding.

Oh, guys. We had such an excellent time back east {how weird does that sound saying "back east" in reference to HOME?}.  From the moment we touched ground in Indiana I was giddy with excitement. I was HOME. I truly had believed that I was establishing a sense of home in Peoria, which is certainly true, but there will always be Home in Indiana. Simply thinking on it again while writing this has me reminiscing of the genuine good time spent with my incredible friends and loving family. I miss them all {you all!} already.

Wednesday was spent arriving, hugging, and smiling a lot. After family dinner and catch-up I spent some ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC time with my sisters dearest friends, Kari and Natasha. I hardly know how to put in to words how much these two ladies mean to me. They are both family....like, seriously. Both Kari and Tash mean so much to me and my entire family, including Mom, Dad, and Trey, of course.

The 3 of us fabulous friends walked the streets of Huntington to my new friend, Allie's, home where we then had more good times consuming too much ice cream and watching Harry Potter. We fell asleep on the couch and I felt as though I was back in high school staying out too late without a care. The plus being that now we are older and have evolved in our friendships and I don't get in trouble for being out all night :-)

The party on Thursday went off without a hitch. The night was complete with a surprise visit from Phill's parents and grandparents! It was SO great for them to make the inconvenient trip to be able to spend even a short amount of time with us while we were back in the Midwest. We had such a great time with family and friends over puppy chow and many drinks. Always a good time. Thank you so much to everyone who came! My heart was overflowing with love!

Friday was spent traveling up to Bay View, Michigan with the Carmien family cottage {aka, one of the best places in the world} as our destination. Our weekend was so good. Board games, food, bike rides, morning walks, a run that really woke me up in the best way, ice cream, winery trips to discover the wonderful treat that is cherry wine, lovely family time, and crisp, cool weather! I was LOVING wearing long pants and sweaters. Now that we're back in AZ I'm jealous of everyone feeling legitimate Autumn right now!

The whole Carmien family, minus Jenny & Tim. We missed you guys!

Good looking family, huh? My only regret is not taking more pictures. I will have some more iPhone photos to post later, though.

Now, we're getting back into the swing of things. I'm studying for my NRP test, job searching like a boss, and cuddling with Margot. This trip was truly a heart and soul refresher.