One of my roomates from Romania lives just two hours away in Indiana so we met up for a day of hanging out. It was sooo good to see her and catch up on life and all that has been happening in our worlds. She is currently raising support to go back to Romania for an entire year so it was exciting to hear about her plans and share memories from the summer that we spent there. Here is a picture of us at this great little restaurant in Upland Indiana!
The morning after this picture I ran my fastest 5k by 3 minutes! It was so exciting! Unfortunately I do not have a picture to share, but i had gone to the run with a lady I know from Celina. It was a little country festival out in the middle of nowhere (literally) and the course was out around this huge barn and cornfield on a perfect sunny and 70 degree morning. It was beautiful running through the openness of the country surrounded by tons of other people. One thing I always enjoy about races is the cheering from complete strangers and there was a lot of that to be enjoyed that Sunday morning.
Next came the Fourth of July! I haven't spent the Fourth in Michigan in a few years so I decided to keep the streak going and have an adventure to Cedar Point! I haven't been to Cedar Point since high school and I LOVE rollercoasters so i was really excited to go! We spent the whole weekend there, two days at Cedar Point, a half day at Soak City water park there, and played some putt-putt golf before heading home on Sunday. We saw a little of the fireworks over Lake Erie which was really awesome and the weekend itself was a really good time with really great people. This is my favorite picture from Cedar Point..thats Ben and I front car on the Dragster...and me being obnoxious as usual:
After returning from a busy / awesome weekend in Cedar Point I had to prepare to leave Monday on a business trip to Franfort, Indiana-a town close to where Purdue University is located. As part of my Rotational program for work, all of us Rotational HR, Engineers, and Finance professionals attend training events at different locations every 2-3 months so it is usually a pretty good time with a lot of young professionals in my company. The training this time was on LEAN manufacturing and we were all mixed into project teams tackling a real problem in the plant. We got to work on the floor, research the problem, and come up with a solution that they are now in charge of implementing. I think it is a great experience to be able to take part in more of the manufacturing portion of work in the plants so this was great training for me. And, of course, we always make time for fun once work is over! This time, we went out singing karaoke one night after dinner! This was my very first time singing karaoke EVER but it was a lot of fun! Here is a picture of myself and some of the other Rotationals from my company singing a Carrie Underwood song
Training wrapped up on my birthday, which was a thursday, and I took Friday off work. Justin, one of my good friends from High School is in the Air Force was home on leave and came down with one of his friends to stay the weekend and hang out for my birthday. It was really good to see him and his friend was a lot of fun so it was a great weekend and a good way to spend my 22nd birthday! Thursday night we walked down the lake to town and went to a few little bars. Friday we sort of chilled, went to the beach, then headed down to the Kenny Chesney / Tracy Lawrence portion of something called Country Concert here in Ohio (think....a whole bunch of people camping in a field for four days of country music stars playing on a huge stage in the middle of nowhere...) It was a GREAT concert and we all had lots of fun! Saturday we all chilled around my place and Celina, then got dressed up and went next door to my favorite restaurant for dinner. It was a nice birthday dinner, right on the water, and I enjoyed just chilling and chatting with the guys. It was a great weekend with those guys for sure. Here are a few pictures: the first one is Justin and I out in Celina on my birthday and the second is all three of us hanging out at the concert.
I know it probably seems like that should be enough fun for one birthday weekend, but if you know me, you know that the fun never ends! The boys headed home Sunday morning so I headed to Dayton for brunch and some put-putt golfing with Ben (we interned together at Corning and Ben is spending the rest of the year interning for a company in Dayton) and his Mom. We stopped for some coffee and sat outside chatting before we walked around this little historic neighborhood full of old houses and cool architecture. It was actually really neat and something you probably wouldn't expect in a city like Dayton. After that we had brunch at this little organic deli and sat outside enjoying another perfect summer day with good food and good conversation. After losing a game of putt-putt I headed up to Findlay to meet my family for a birthday dinner. It was great to see them! I had seen my sister and brother in law at the end of June but hadn't seen my mom and dad in quite awhile so it was good to catch up and get to celebrate my birthday with them. AND my nephew was there too of course. He's getting so big and so adorable i can't even stand it! Here are some of my favorite pictures from dinner with the family:
All of us girls during dinner. I can't believe how much alike my Mom and sister look in this picture!
An Adorable picture of Gavin. He is growing like a weed and I just love every minute that I get to spend with him!
AND this is me signing "22" over a delicious sunday! There is never a dull moment when we are all together and everyone got a good laugh out of this picture.
Needless to say it was a VERY full weekend, but a weekend full of fun, good friends, and a wonderful family is really the only way to celebrate a birthday if you ask me!
AND the birthday celebrations continued on this past weekend when I made a trip back down to Dayton to hang out with Ben. We went out for my birthday Friday night and had dinner then played putt-putt golf again (I honestly have never played so much putt-putt in my life and I swear I'm not getting any better!) Saturday I went to this work picnic with him and some of the other interns which was really really fun (minus the fact that it was 96 degrees out!) There was a giant slip-n-slide going down a hill in their front yard so that was fun to watch. Plus we got to jump in a bounce houes (those inflatable things that small children love playing in at fairs) which was AWESOME, and eat some really good food. Sunday we went to this HUGE lake and swam and hung out at the beach all day. It was really a great weekend #2 of birthday celebrations and here is an interesting picture of me playing putt-putt that I thought you would enjoy (Dad, check out my form, though!...I haven't forgotten everything from those golf lessons!)
Wow, so it has been a busy month...and it isn't even over yet! To complete my birthday month celebrations i'm meeting my mom for some shopping and going to Kings Island this weekend. I'd like to say that August will slow down some but my first few weekends are already full. What can I say, i live for adventure!
Well, I think 22 is starting out wonderfully! When I think about all that has changed in my life in the past year and all of the exciting things that have happened I can only imagine what the next year will bring. People always say that 22 is less exciting because you've already turned 21 and the milestones have sort of ended, but for me, I think they have just begun! Birthdays are always a sort of reflection point...a place to stop and see where you have been while also loooking forward to where you are going. A time to grow from the past and to anticipate the future. Plus, I'm determined to make every year a good year, to look back every birthday and think of all the great memories I have made in only 1 year, and to continue looking forward to whatever life may bring!
I hope that you all have enjoyed July as much as I have and that the coming months and year will bring you new adventures, time with your family, friends to stand by your side, and all the love and happiness that you will ever need to get by.
So, here's to the next 22 years of my life. And yours.
