Memorial Day Weekend!!

Wow!  We've had a great weekend so far!  Last night (Saturday) we went with Erinn, Joey, Keri, and Nathan to an Irish pub called Celtic Crossings.  We had a lot of fun just having some drinks and hanging out with some good friends of ours!  Then, after we were done we decided to walk around a little bit.  The bar is right in the University of Memphis area, so there are some interesting mom and pop shops around.  Just down the street there was a cat shelter with cats running around.  Keri and Erinn love cats, so they had a GREAT time looking in the window.  All of them were adorable!

This morning, Tyler and I helped volunteer with fellow FCO (Fellowship of Christian Optometrist) members at St. Luke's United Methodist church, also by the U of M area.  We served breakfast for the homeless working from 7:00-9:00am.  It felt really good to serve the community and I think that's something I've been missing out on.  I live for the joy in your heart you feel when you brighten someone else's day.  It just keeps me going, and I was very thankful for the opportunity to serve this morning.

We came back and napped because I would say we only got 4.5 hours of sleep before having to wake up to serve.  Then at 1:00pm, we went over to our neighbor's apartment (next door) to have a Memorial weekend cookout!  We brought baked beans, Pringles, and our own drinks, while the neighbors took care of the meat, buns, and condiments.  It was wonderful getting to know them.  Also, since we are the only two apartments on the 3rd floor, we've made an agreement that the 3rd floor open area outside our apartments can be like a community place for plants or patio furniture, especially since the sunlight for the plants changes on our back patios.  The plants can get more sunlight if we're able to put them in the right spot :)  They had a couple of their friends over, too, who live at an apartment complex down the road.  It was nice to actually "break the ice" and meet.

Finally, we went to Lowe's to get a ceiling fan and a nice plant for our back porch.  We've been trying to make our porch somewhere we could go out and sit.  We got a burgundy lilly plant.  I'm excited because they're perennials and grow very tall with lots of blooms!  I cannot wait to see them bloom (pictures to follow)

AND THE BEST NEWS OF THE WEEKEND!  Tyler passed his praxis tests with flying colors!  :-D  He was worried because they were very difficult, but he did fantastic.  Hopefully, this means he can get his TN teaching license soon!  Yeah for a great weekend of fun and success!