Hello, friends! I am so happy to be back and writing to you! I survived my whirlwind week, and I did it by putting one foot in front of the other and concentrating only on the task in front of me – whenever I didn’t do that, I got totally overwhelmed! It was a fabulous week, though: one where I got to take several beautiful drives through upstate New York; brave the streets of Manhattan in a rental car (the parking was actually worse than the driving!); stay overnight twice with two of my favorite New Yorkers; eat pizza with my Mom; see a ton of new pretty paper at the Stationery Show; have lunch with my three oldest friends; host a shower for my future sister-in-law and dear friend (can’t wait to share!); put on my bathing suit and lie in the sun; and get together with girlfriends new and old at the future sister-in-law’s bachelorette party (yes, both in one weekend!). The only thing I didn’t get to do enough of was squeeze John and my kitties, but now that I’m back in North Carolina, I’m making up for lost time! I definitely plan to share some highlights from NSS as well as shower details, but both will require me to gather my thoughts (and images!). In the meantime, I thought I’d share some of the inspiration I’ve been collecting for our wedding weekend welcome packs. (I haven’t decided if the goods will be housed in bags or boxes, so that’s why I’m calling them packs :) John and I have thought a bit about what we’ll put in our packs, but since so many of our lovely guests read this blog, I don’t want to spoil the surprise. I’ll report back after the weekend, though! In the