A nice afternoon in downtown McKinney!

I have been very M.I.A. since school started in August, and for that, I am bummed. Not to mention that I haven't so much as set foot in a Goodwill or thrift store since then. I have hinted some, I think, but this year is not shaping up to be what I thought it would, and I've been working my tail off constantly without much end in sight. Needless to say, I'm pretty down about my job right now and not really sure what to do about it other than just bide my time this year. Surely next year will come with some...ironing out of sorts. I truly hope and pray that by the time we have a baby that I can find a way to stay at home with him/her. We shall see! In the meantime, I'm counting down the days until Thanksgiving break (we get a whole week off) and trying to get better from being so sick all the time! I've missed 3 and 1/2 days of work in the last 2 weeks, which is NOT helpful in any way. What can you do?

Anyway, on a happier note, last weekend (in between my 2 bouts of illness), I met up with my mom, aunt, cousin (and her 2 daughters-- my 2nd cousins!) and a dear family friend in McKinney to celebrate my mom's birthday. (I have repeatedly tried to post about my mom's surprise birthday party, but blogger refuses to let me upload my videos! Very frustrating, but I will keep trying.

We enjoyed a nice lunch at The Pantry, a yummy little restaurant that used to be a hardware store. Check it out!

The hardwood floors are incredible!

How awesome is that exposed brick??

I saw this when I was walking back to my car that day; it's the outside wall of the restaurant, the hardware store that used to be there! Wow, huh?

Awww....sisters.

Sweet girls with Mommy

We went into some other great shops, but this was my favorite:

It was actually a shop dedicated to refurbishing and repurposing old items into something new. I wish I had taken more pictures of some of the more creative ideas, but I was too distracted!

I love this chandelier for a little girl's room!

All in all, a fun afternoon was had by all. :)