September Adventure {part three}

After just meeting some of this women just six hours before (and five of those hours being spent asleep), I wasn't sure what I would wake to. But even after all of the months of sweetness, I never could have been prepared for what happened. 

Melinda had given me this beautiful journal the afternoon before. We shared a few sweet moments as we shared stories, hugs, and tears. 

Friday morning, I groggily woke up, and I wanted to write a little. So I grabbed my new beautiful notebook, and within moments, dear sweet Kimberly bounced in with coffee, and shortly after, Melinda brought me breakfast in bed. I joked that I must've landed at some resort, because this was just amazing. 

But then, so many many girls flooded our tiny room. I think at one point, I counted 12. There were 4 snuggled on my little twin bed, I think 3 or 4 on Annaliese's bed, girls on the floor, and girls in the doorway. We just snuggled up, sipped our coffee, and talked. 

When I think about heaven, I'm pretty sure it must look something like this. Different backgrounds, different stories, different people, all just gathered together, rejoicing in each other, and just pointing each other to Jesus. 

We girl talked a bit. Which actor was cuter, and what should we wear to the party. We shared funny stories. We laughed and we cried. We dreamed together, and encouraged one another.  We heard that Jen was feeling discouraged, so we paused our morning, and we just spent serious time praying for her. We sat in bed for hours that morning. I am so thankful that we had an open schedule, and had made margin in our time to make community important. 

We also ate A LOT OF BACON. 

After hours of lounging, we pulled ourselves together, got dressed, and hit the town. 

Annaliese drove, and naturally I rode with her. FTL Besties for the win. #babes

We went to Homeslice Pizza for lunch. It was ahhhhmazing. 

I tried Big Red soda, which was wonderful. It is a Texas thing, but tasted just like Michigan's Faygo red pop. ❤️

Just one of the tables of FTL girls on the loose in Austin. 

After lunch some of us wandered around SoCo, and hopped in and out of shops. We ended up at the famous "I love you so much" wall, and of course had to grab a pic! 

I have discovered that I'm mildly obsessed with food trucks. Especially when they are full of cupcakes. God bless Texas. 

Later that night, the Chicken Coop ordered Chinese food for dinner. After that, some girls got tattoos and piercings,  and other random things. I stayed at the house, and colored, and then later got a short run in. 

The next morning started with coffee in bed, snuggles, and sweet community. After breakfast, I decided to take a nap. Because late nights, early mornings, and being so busy was already wearing me out. So I napped for 37 min. (My sweet spot) 

Check out that tin and exposed beam ceiling. Beautiful. 

I got up, got dressed, and planned on running a couple of errands with Annaliese. (I needed chickfila again. Also we love to wander Target, but had never done it together. So clearly, really serious errands.) 

Before we left the house, I met Katy. She has been the one to manage all of us wild book launcher ing women. She works for the publisher, and is the marketing head on the FTL project. I have found such sweetness and a kindred spirit in her. 

Wandering Target with my ftl bestie. Love. 

I am not an animal person. But I kinda melt a tiny bit when I see some, like baby deer. Lucky for me, they were everywhere on this piece of property. So there was a lot of "awwwwweeee" moments. 

After errands, we got ready for the party. Hello For The Love Lanch Team Party at Jen Hatmaker's Farmhouse!!!!! This was a big deal. I would be meeting 240 of my new friends, taking a gazillion photos, and meeting Jen. So I spent the afternoon curling and recurring my hair, I put on false eyelashes, and pinned flowers into my hair. 

Picture perfect. 

Up next I'll walk ya through the whole party. But for now, coffee is calling my name. 💛 M