The Better Part

It was Abraham Lincoln who said "The better part of one's life consists of his friendships." True friendships are not only rare, they are often fleeting. I have had many true friends in my life who were removed from my life by time or distance...but there are a precious few who remain life-long friends. You know the ones...those who you can sit down with after weeks, months, or even years, and it is as if no time has passed at all. One such friend of mine, Amy, came to visit this from North Carolina past week and we had such a great time together.

It happened to her birthday the weekend prior, so we crammed lots of celebrating in to just a few days. We did all of our favorite things...we baked, we crafted (next blog post for sure!), we shopped, we took pictures, we drank coffee and caught up! It was wonderful. Monday night was especially fun. I took Amy to Market Square which is one of my favorite places in Knoxville.

Market Square is a great little block downtown that has several unique shops and restaurants. There are regular farmer's markets, live music, movies on the square, and an ice skating rink in the winter. It just has a lot of character. We ate at Cafe Four. Amy had a club sandwich and I had the tomato avocado grilled cheese which was absolutely as delicious as it sounds.

After dinner we walked around downtown and took photos of Amy. She graciously agreed to model so that I could practice and we got some gorgeous photos of her which I will definitely be posting soon! Here is snapshot in front of the Tennessee Theater.

We had "dessert" that evening at Coffee and Chocolate. It is a great little coffee shop at Market Square that is one of they only places in Knoxville that I know of where you can get a bacon chocolate chip cookie! I passed on that this particular time after the avocado and cheese...but I did have a raspberry latte on ice and Amy had a hazelnut coffee. So good!

We finished up the evening in Bliss which is my favorite shop on the square. It is an adorable boutique with unique clothing, accessories, and gifts. Here I am striking a pose in the back of the shop. There was a huge mirror and I couldn't resist.

The entire visit was just refreshing and I was sad to see it end. One more snapshot before I go...Amy will probably kill me for posting this set because we were just being goofy but it is so descriptive of our friendship I couldn't help myself. We have such great conversations and she always make me laugh. I am extremely thankful to have her in my life.