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!

weekend in the sweet virginia breeze

This past weekend I was fortunate enough to travel all over the state of Virginia with my best friends. KJ celebrated her 21st birthday on Memorial Day, May 28th. So Alli (who I hadn't seen since December because she was in Florence all semester) and I drove down to Hampton, VA on Friday to visit KJ.

Despite the horrible Memorial Day Weekend traffic, Alli and I finally made it to Hampton in time for dinner at Surf Rider. We walked along the dock, looking at the boats and taking pictures.

To our surprise, our table was ready within minutes! We all had Surf Rider's famous crab dip and crab cakes...to die for!! I wish I had pictures.

After dinner we went back to KJ's to hang out, watch Revenge, and catch each other up on our lives. Not seeing Alli for a whole semester meant there was LOTS to talk about. We sure missed our Alli...that girl can talk!!

The next day we woke up early for a pancake breakfast and then headed to the beach for the day. We all got some much needed color! Some of us (Alli and KJ) got a little too much, and continued to complain about their sunburns the rest of the weekend.

After the beach, we went back to the Johnson's for a cookout to celebrate KJ's birthday with her family and Natalie. This was just the first of many birthday celebrations!

Despite our huge, delicious meal, we decided to go to Rebounderz to jump around in the trampoline arena for an hour. Safe to say my stomach was not loving me that night! But it was soooo worth it.

Since KJ's friend Eddie (who will be so excited to be mentioned in this post) did not join us at Rebounderz, we decided to take a trip to his house on the water to meet him! We took a golf cart tour of his neighborhood for about 30 minutes. Such a beautiful night in Hampton!

The next day we said goodbye to Hampton, and hello to Richmond! We met Jen at Short Pump for a day of shopping. I have never really been to Richmond or Short Pump before. I loved it!

After shopping, we went back to Jen's apartment in downtown Richmond to relax before dinner. We went to Conch Republic, and Savannah even met us for dinner! It was so great for all 4 of us suitemates to finally be reunited.

Upon leaving the restaurant, we went outside to take pictures and suddenly there were fireworks right above our heads. How perfect! Fireworks in celebration of KJ's birthday (and Memorial Day too, of course).

We headed back to Jen's apartment to open KJ's birthday presents, play catch phrase, and partake in other birthday festivities! At midnight, we took KJ to her first bar in The Fan. It was called Three Monkeys or "Tres Monos" as she insisted on calling it. Since I am the only under, I was the DD for the night but I was glad that I could help KJ celebrate her 21st! Savannah stayed in the car with me while KJ and the girls went into the bar. And the rest of the night is history!

Was this not the perfect way to really kick-off my summer? I can't wait for KJ to come visit me next weekend in NOVA!! Stay tuned for more summer adventures in the nation's capital.

the unpacking blues

I have now been home in Northern Virginia for 15 days. 15 days of relaxing with the family, 15 days of catching up with old friends, 15 days of rushing around NOVA, and 15 days to unpack from college. I have been doing all of these things...except for the unpacking part.

Typically I am the kind of girl who feels so anxious to unpack everything immediately after walking in the door. It makes me feel at ease and organized, ready to take on the next big thing. I am not sure why this summer is so different. Maybe it's because I am so "busy" doing other fun summer things. Maybe it's because I am lazy and don't want to organize my room. Or maybe it's because I am in denial that my junior year at Virginia Tech is over, and I am officially a senior.

I think it is a combination of all of these things to be honest. I have been "busy" since I've been home, but that is is no way comparable to how "busy" I was this year at school. The word has two completely different meanings.

Busy at home means driving my brothers to and from school, practice, physical therapy, the grocery store. It means watching The Bachelorette and Revenge with girlfriends, playing Mario Party with the boys, late night trips to Wendy's and Taco Bell. It means watching high school lacrosse games and 8th grade basketball games, shopping with Mom on the weekends. And it means going into Arlington 3-4 days a week for my internship at the Student Conservation Association.

Busy at school...well, you guys get the picture of what that looks like by reading my blog posts throughout the year. Basically at school I have no time to breathe, let alone unpack a few bags. So the fact that I am too "busy" now to unpack seems somewhat ridiculous to me. Everyday I have a Blackberry reminder go off saying "Unpack NOW". Do I do it? Nope. I don't know what it is. I could be unpacking right now since I'm not going into Arlington today and there is nothing else to do for the next 3 hours. But instead I am downstairs typing this blog post.

You could say I have the unpacking blues. Hopefully this will turn around and I will be able to get everything back in its place in a week or two. If not, I will be back to Blacksburg for Orientation in 5 weeks and everything will successfully be packed and ready to go! I guess we will just have to wait and see.

lots of time to reLAX

Well, I have now been home from school for a week. Most of my days have consisted of sleeping in until 2:00pm, driving Mike to physical therapy and being his slave, running errands with Mom, hanging out with the Fab4, playing Mario Party and making dirt cups with Tanner, Ryan, and Roy, and watching A LOT of lacrosse.

Last Friday was the District Championship game for both girls and boys lax. Oakton swept the district and won both games. Tonight we are onto the first round of Regionals. So I will spend another night at the high school lacrosse field watching the Cougars play. The best part is, I actually enjoy this reLAXation.

caps off to the graduates

Congratulations to my many friends graduating from Virginia Tech today!! I am so proud of each and every one of you! Thank  you for being the best role models I could have ever asked for. This is only your beginning. The rest of the world is just waiting on you and your talents!

Congrats Anna!

Congrats Savannah!

Congrats Alpha Phi seniors!

Congrats OLXI seniors!

Congrats Terrence, Carly, Monica, and Tommy!

Congratulations!

Today is your day.

You're off to Great Places!

You're off and away!

You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself

any direction you choose.

You're on your own. And you know what you know.

And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.

-Dr. Seuss

FUN and FINALS

Fun and Finals...two words you typically never hear in the same sentence. Well, it's that time of the semester...classes are out, the library and empo are in. We are well into finals season here at Virginia Tech. Luckily I have been able to enjoy some fun while also cramming and studying all hours for my final exams.
Here are a few snapshots from the past week:

On Tuesday, I attended the SAA Spring Banquet at the Inn at Virginia Tech. It ended up lasting 3 hours between the dinner, speakers, awards, and slideshow. But I decided to stick it out and avoid my studies.

Look at my precious SAA fam in our family colors...

On Wednesdays we have 2OL2 training. Last Wednesday we had joint training with Hokie Camp. We dressed as the "ultimate hokie" and went on a scavenger hunt around campus.

This Wednesday was the last training of the Spring...where did the time go? We took the OLs out to Radford University to do another scavenger hunt activity and wrap up our training program. I can't believe I won't see these goons until July. 

I miss you all already! Can't wait to hear our team name (wink, wink).

Recently I was chosen to represent Alpha Phi on Homecoming Court in the Fall. On Thursday we took our pictures out at the pylons for the website and posters that will be hung around Blacksburg. I am so excited!!

And today I received a care package from my family, congratulating me on Homecoming Court as well as wishing me luck on finals. I can't wait to be home in a few days to see them!!

I hope everyone is managing the stress of finals, while also taking the time to have a little fun! Take in every moment because your college years fly by way too fast.