Thursday, August 5, 2010

The Final Stretch at Home

I'm finishing off my final time in Northbrook, and boy did I enjoy these past 11 days! They have been packed with family, friends, errands, my online history class, packing, Skype, Tokbox, fun, and definitely not sleep :)

After a mental debriefing of where the time this summer has gone, I compiled this list of the 13 states and two other regions I have been to in the past two months, with the majority occurring in these last three weeks. An asterik denotes that I only drove through that state and didn't really spend time there, but it still counts!
  • Illinois
  • California
  • Baja California, Mexico (Tijuana, Rosarito, Ensenada, etc)
  • Washington DC
  • Virginia
  • Maryland
  • Delaware*
  • Pennsylvania
  • New Jersey
  • New York
  • West Virginia*
  • Ohio
  • Indiana
  • Michigan
  • Missouri
Wow! Overwhelming much?! I love traveling and think that the 6 to 7 hour drive to Mizzou Saturday morning won't even feel long based on how much time I have spent just chilling in cars, trains and more on the way places. But pray for me, I'm doing the drive in my new (well, used) 2002 Honda CRV that's a 5-speed (yay stick shift!)....and I'm doing it alone! Just me and my iTouch!

People have asked, based on how their summers have been spent, either: aren't you bored at home/what are you even doing here/don't you want to just go back to school? And the answers are no, a lot, and yes but I need a few more days. I underestimate how much time back-to-school errands can take, but have packed them in between the other exciting events over the past week. Here's a photo explanation!


The day I got back, my dad, Hannah, Jessie and I went to the Sox-Seattle game where the White Sox won 12-0! Kalyn was there too and we all had excellent seats! I realized that my dad and I also look alike, ha.


Mizzou reunion below! Andrew, Shaina and I relaxed at Glencoe Beach while enjoying the idea of being with MU-friends IN Chicago. Always cool.


Saturday, we had Yiayia and Papou's 50th Wedding Anniversary Party at Pinstripes! Below are them with their six grandchildren. A fun day of commemorating their marriage and a family get-together!


...And playing with Lena of course. Her (2), Dean (7) and Drew (5) have memorized Katy Perry's "California Gurls" and even dance to it as they sing along. Pretty classic. Yes, I have video footage of this.


What better way to spend a Sunday then going to the beach after church with our Greek friends, and get tan while doing it! Nick, Christina, Dean, Eleni and I smile in the water at Gillson Beach...or more accurately...the free beach next to Gillson. What can I say, we're cheap.


Brooke, Irina and I at Irina's 19th Birthday dinner at a Russian restaurant! It was a phenomenal meal and great to meet her family!


Kalyn's surprise 19th birthday party at "That Little Mexican Cafe" in Evanston! HIGHLY recommend it, the carne asada was lovely and it was so replenishing to have another quesadilla con carne asada, I was feeling a little withdrawal. The salsa was excellent, the only downfall was the $4 charge for guacamole on the side...heck, in Mexico, $4 can buy you the entire quesataco (a huge quesadilla with meat, cheese, guacamole, cilantro, onions and salsa). But she was SO surprised and it was a great time!


Besides these daily adventures, I've spent my evenings on my new favorite invention(s) of this generation...Skype and TokBox. For those who don't know, Skype is video chat/conference calling and more, but TokBox is a website where you can video chat with up to 20 people...at the same time! Anna, Emily and I (the best Project Mexico OBT interns/roommates) have had some trial runs on TokBox....

A photo of my computer screen, you can even see me holding the camera!
We then proceeded to take photos for all of our missed Project Mexico staff members...with signs with messages to them! This one says "Tok Box Success," which it definitely was. Three hours of catching up with my favorite Greek Orthodox people to live with for four weeks. We were even able to plan a Thanksgiving Break trip to Boston online! My Thanksgiving Break will now consist of visiting Boston and Kansas City!



Today we had one last Sts. Peter & Paul goodbye at LazerZone...typical, then Steak n' Shake...more typical. Photos to come soon.

With time limited, I've altered my summer to do list to the "once I'm back at Mizzou" to do list, always fun to conquer all those small things. Only I would feel the need to put all of my Facebook friends into groups based on privacy level and how I know people...yes, sometimes it's nice to add mindless things to 'to do' lists for organization and productivity purposes!

Hope you enjoyed this update and the next one will probably be back in CoMo (slang for Columbia, Missouri if any adults are confused :P)!


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