Today is a big day in our house. David starts big-boy graduate school today.

We moved to the mountains a few months ago to get settled in for this very day: his first day of classes. And honestly, I think I'm feeling a little like what I expect sending Lily off to her first day of kindergarten might be like. I have butterflies in my tummy for him.

Are kids going to steal his lunch money? Is he going to be picked on? Will he be sent to the principal's office?

Ok, maybe that's not really what I'm worried about. More like I sure hope he doesn't get a parking ticket, and I hope he doesn't get stuck in traffic.

David has already met all his colleagues and professors, as he did spend a couple of weeks in Montana with them earlier this summer and he had orientation and a departmental picnic this weekend. So he's good to go.

I, on the other hand, am filling the role of full-time mommy from here on out. My design schedule is thinned out for this very reason, and I imagine I'll be working late into the night from now on as Lily is not conducive to a productive working environment. However, we have some fun things planned, like shopping (which is one of her favorite activities; she requests it often).

In preparation for today, we took yesterday to leave town and do some shopping at a monstrous shopping center in Greensboro. Holy. Cow. We hit up Williams-Sonoma, Barnes and Noble, a couple of outdoor outfitters, and The Apple Store, where all three of us fell in love with the iPads (which are the "big iPods" to Lily) and I decided that a MacBook Pro is next on my shopping list. Lily also got a whole fall wardrobe, so I'm a little jealous. And we had some freak-tastic sushi, which I have been craving.

Needless to say, I'm ready for my Mountaineer to start school, as I know he is too. Because the quicker he graduates, the quicker we're moving to Europe.

More on that later.