let's go to the beach

After lots of talk of a beach trip, SC12 and friends finally made it happen last weekend. We all went down to Virginia Beach on Saturday throughout the day and stayed with the Michaely's at their timeshare right on the beach until Sunday night.

Roy, Tanner, Coleman, and I were the first to head down to the beach! Roy picked me up around 6:30am and we hit the road. We got to Virginia Beach around 11 and were on the beach by noon.

We definitely made the best of our 40 some hours at the beach. We played in the ocean, got scorched by the sun, played midnight baseball on the beach, lots of beach volleyball, paddle ball, and football, ate lots of cheese fries, tacos, and ice cream, made new beach friends, had one giant sleepover, and of course took tons of pictures.

I sure am going to miss my SC12 friends this month, but I can't wait for "play month" in August once we are all done working for the summer.

take me out to the ballgame

Nothing says summer like a good old American baseball game. Last night the Fab4 went to my first Nationals game ever!

First, we met Kelsey at the Rosslyn metro stop (where she works) for dinner at Chop't. It was delicious! I had never heard of it before. We all got salads and wraps before getting back on the metro to Navy Yard.

We got to the game right as it was starting! It worked out perfectly. The stadium is absolutely beautiful! So new and clean...and American. Love all that red, white, and blue!

At the game, we ate some Dolci Gelato and KZ got some fresh-squeezed lemonade. The lemonade took us forever to find, so we really got a full tour of the park. As we were walking, we found the presidents posing for photos. So we got a picture with them!! That was by far the highlight of my night.

We stayed for awhile to watch the Nats beat Tampa Bay! Gotta love that Bryce Harper. Despite the scorching heat, it ended up being an awesome night with my best friends! I am definitely going to miss them when I go back to Blacksburg next week for Orientation.

the graduate

Yesterday evening my little brother walked across the stage and graduated from Oakton High School. Congrats Michael!

Your whole family is so proud of you. I cannot wait to see what is in store for you at Gettysburg college, both in the classroom and on the football field. Go Bullets!

in 41 hours...

This weekend my best friend and roommate from Virginia Tech came to visit me in Northern Virginia. Between both of our busy work schedules (well, mostly her's), we were able to plan one last short weekend together before I head back to Blacksburg for Freshman Orientation. KJ arrived around 8:30pm on Friday night and left at 1:30pm on Sunday afternoon. Although her visit was short and sweet, we managed to do a lot in those 41 hours...

On Friday night, after feeding KJ some orange chicken, we met up with SC12 at Woody's Perils of the Lost Jungle mini golf course. We played an intense round of mini golf and were the last group on the course. We finished just in time before they closed it down at 11pm.

Saturday was a crazy day! Afterall, it was our only full day in NOVA together. We woke up around 9:30am to help my family get ready for Mike's Grad Party. We layed out all the food, filled up balloons, decorated the yard, made an awesome playlist, and got ready for the many guests!

KJ was also able to meet Katie and Kelsey, which was a long-anticipated meet and greet! We sat outside, enjoyed the Famous Dave's bbq, and reminisced on high school memories as Mike and all his friends prepare for Graduation next Tuesday. It feels like just yesterday the Class of 2009 was hosting all these grad parties!

After the grad party, KJ and I relaxed for about an hour before making our next move. To Reston Town Center we went! We shopped around, checked out the free summer concert, and went to Vapiano for dinner. So delicious!

After our trip to RTC, we picked up Tanner and went to Roy's to start our DC adventure. By the time we got to the metro it was about 9:30pm. Little did we know the metro would be doing some serious construction over the weekend. That caused for some unnecessary metro delays and complications. But we finally made it to Federal Triangle around 11pm.

Not going to lie, I was a little nervous about going into DC that late at night. But the monuments in DC at midnight was probably the most peaceful setting in the world. We saw the Washington Monument, WWII Monument, and the Lincoln Monument before making our way back to the metro for another hour and half ride back home.

It was the perfect ending to a weekend in NOVA/DC. On Sunday morning we were planning on going to the pool, but KJ and I ended up sleeping in until noon. I guess getting off the metro at 3am does that to ya. Miss you already KJ! I hope you had a great taste of the NOVA life last weekend. See you in a month or so!

prom night

Even though I am 3 years removed from high school, I still get excited about the thought of Prom. Luckily I am still connected to Oakton because of my darling brother, Michael, who is a senior there this year. And tonight is Oakton Prom! So you would expect that I would be heading to take pictures in a few minutes, wouldn't you?

Well, guess again. Michael decided to "ditch" prom this year. And I guess he has a good enough reason...he recently had surgery on his knee and wouldn't be able to "bust a move" or be a "fun date". Safe to say I am more disappointed than he is. Boys will be boys.

Since I can't blog about his prom, I am going to take you all back 3 or 4 years to my Junior and Senior Prom. Wow, I can't believe it's been that long. I remember it like it was yesterday.

The months of "prom dram" preparing for the big day, waiting to be asked, making hair, nail, and make-up appointments, picking out the perfect dress, buying the boutineer. Then being picked up by my date, driving to pictures, smiling until our faces hurt, getting in the limo, going to dinner, dancing the night away, and then the after party.

Junior Prom 2008

Senior Prom 2009

I feel so blessed to have these great memories of high school. Sometimes I wish I could go back to Oakton where high school life was easy and carefree (although I never thought I would ever say that about high school). I love Virginia Tech and everything that comes with being a Hokie girl, but life is starting to get real. One more (amazing) year of college left and then I am done with school. Unless I decide to go to Grad School, but that is highly unlikely. Let's not think about all that too much though...

Enjoy your night Oakton. Happy Prom!