Home Again!

           This weekend marks the end of an era. So much so that in order to appropriately celebrate this momentous occasion I have ventured back up north for the weekend. Yes, I was just here. Yes, I just road-tripped 14+ hours back to Nashville. And yes, I was just whining about how much work I have to get done. Needless to say, this is not the best time for me to get out of town. But this weekend is the very last time that all six members of the Ball Family will be at 837 Maplewood together…ever. Tear. We moved into this house a few months before I was born and have been here ever since. With four kids, three dogs, 11 hamsters, and three full house renovations…this place has seen a lot of life and is filled with a heck of a lot of memories. As my brother Scott says, we are in the walls of this place. No but really…I think we may have lost a few hamsters in the walls back in the day when Katie and I had hamsters that mated. Which is a whole other story. But seriously. I love this house so much and am going to be really sad come Monday morning when I have to leave it for the very last time. I plan on taking my doorknob with me (like Mattie did in Father of the Bride II) and hitting the white picket fence on way out just for good measure. Lord knows how many times people have done that!

Note the broken fence post...

            But in reality, a house is just that. A house. And this one is special because of the people inside it rather than the walls around it. And lucky for me, I have five people that go with me wherever I go, whether in reality or spirit, so I think I’ll be just fine.

            In the meantime my family and I, along with a bunch of good friends, will be celebrating the fabulous 24 years spent in this house with one last big bash on Saturday night. I think a game of run the bases and a fire pit are in order…just for old time’s sake :-) Pictures to come!

Ugh.

            When I was at Wake, my friends and I cherished a little time known as orientation or syllabus week.  This was the first week of the semester where classes consisted of little more than a quick once over of the attendance list and a brief run through of the syllabus.  The rest of the week was filled with Chi O sisterhood and more frat parties than we could pencil into our newly purchased day planners.  How quickly times have changed.  

Flashback to orientation week of years past...

            You would think by my third semester of grad school I would be used to the overwhelming feeling that results from reading over the syllabus, discovering that you have 138974 assignments due in the next five minutes, and then jumping right into a three hour lecture.  But no.  I still left each of my classes today with the distinct feeling that my head was about to explode.  But I have decided to take a new approach this time.  Instead of sitting here worrying, I am going to get to work.  Estimates on how long this new motivation is going to last?  I give it a week. 

Back in the Swing

          It’s that time again.  The first day of semester 3 of 5.  After this summer I will have officially finished more than half of my grad school education.  Wooohooo!!  Not that I am wishing away time or anything, but it will be really nice to have a paycheck instead of being swallowed up by student loans.  School is school so it can’t be all that thrilling but I do think this semester is going to be great.  Though it will certainly be a challenge to stay focused while the rest of the world is enjoying a somewhat more relaxed summer time, I am excited for new classes and a new clinical placement. 

My placement for the next 2.5 months is at the Pi Beta Phi Rehabilitation Institute at Vanderbilt Medical Center.  And don’t let the name fool you.  It may be named after a sorority; however, there will be no date functions or theme parties in the near future.  Instead, I will be working with adults in an outpatient rehab center that serves those individuals with acquired brain injuries.  Many of these patients are recovering from a stroke while others may have experienced accidental head trauma, which resulted in a brain injury.  I am a little nervous since I am used to working with tiny humans rather than full grown ones but I am excited at the prospect of trying something new.  Orientation starts on Thursday so I will be back with a full report very soon!

Picture me here for the next 2.5 months straight...

The First One Bites the Dust

            I have to apologize yet again for being MIA from blogland.  But life has been very full this past week.  Full of fun and friends that I have been savoring as I know that the start of school and stress is quickly approaching.  The big event this past weekend was the wedding of my good friend Coleman from Wake Forest to his fiancé, Sarah.  This, however, was not just any wedding.  Coleman was the first of my WFU friends to tie the knot and man, does this couple know how to throw a party.  Just to give you an idea of what this wedding was like I thought I would provide you with a few stats:

• 550 wedding guests
• A cozy rehearsal dinner for 160 people
• 28 person bridal party
• Not 1, but 2 eight-person bands
• 6 open bars

            Needless to say, we had a fabulous time.  The ceremony was beautiful and Sarah and Coleman are pretty much the world’s most perfect couple.  It was so fun to see great friends from college and we all kept comparing the weekend to a classier, more grown-up version of the fraternity beach weekends we loved so much at Wake.  We danced until our feet hurt so badly that we had to be piggybacked home by the boys, found a random apartment complex pool at which we reenacted summer school by our beloved Crown Oaks Pool, and just generally lapsed into our pre-graduation selves, loving every second of it.  Does it get any better than that?

Rehearsal Dinner Dance at the Angus Barn Pavilion

Gorgeous couple dancing at their rehearsal dinner

Chi O's at the Reception...sorry for the poor quality I-phone pics

Fabulous flower arrangements

First dance

More girlfriends at the reception

Playing Hostess

            One of the best parts of having out of town visitors to your hometown is that you get to do all of the fun tourist-y things that you wouldn’t EVER do on your own because you are a local.  But when your friends are in town you have an obligation to take pictures with giant guitars and Elvis statues, visit the Country Music Hall of Fame, and eat such excessive amounts of biscuits and good old Southern soul food that you can’t breathe (right, Ally?).  And that is pretty much what happened this weekend when Ally and Hannah came to visit Nashvegas.  Despite terrible travels for both girls that included buses through Spanish Harlem, gypsy cabs, and multiple rum and cokes consumed solo at the airport bar, the weekend was wonderful!  I showed the girls my city and was happy that they got the full experience.  Which, of course, included a Saturday spent dancing the night away as our heels stuck to the beer soaked Astroturf at Paradise Park while we entertained a group of gentlemen (that term used very loosely) who were in town for a double bachelor party.  Gotta love the charm of the Music City honky-tonk!