La Belle Vie♥: End of Vacation

Hi All! Just finishing up a wonderful vacation of visiting family and friends all up and down the east coast. I have finally finished packing and have managed to get everything I own into one GIANT rolling duffel bag, one GIANT pink suitcase (i am very happy about this much to my mother's dismay) and my first totally authentic real hiking backpack (I am most excited about tooling around europe with this pack). I took the pack on it's inaugural voyage up to the east coast this past week. Graham and I trekked all the way up to Boston and then headed our separate ways for a few days. I went to Manhattan and tooled around for two days. I must say, I have fallen in love with Manhattan. It is officially my most favorite city I have ever visited. I got to spend two nights with my old friends Ollie and Daniel, and spent most of the time eating everything in sight that NYC had to offer! Papaya dogs, cupcakes, pizza, beer, wings, I swear I have gained about 10 pounds on vacation from food and booze alone. 4 Glorious days on Cape Cod (only 2 of which were sunny), and lots more glorious food later, I am back in Knoxville TN bidding farewells to old friends and my parents. It is overwhelming to believe that in about three weeks I will be leaving everyone for over a year! Graham and I are off to Houston TX on Thursday this week to acquire a visa for myself. I must say this has been the longest and most trying process that I have ever been through. I look forward to having that piece of paper in my hot grubby little hands...then and ONLY then can I finally book my flight to France!! That will most definitely be a big blog day! I just want to say a quick thanks to all of you that made it out to my benefit concert last week as well. It was a wonderful success, and I am most grateful for all of your support and generosity in my newest journey. I've attached some photos at the end of vacation, Hopefully I'll be writing to you soon with photos of what I hope will be a French Visa!:)