This is Julie.

Oh my. It's been quite some time.

The first weekend of August, I had a family reunion in PA on Sauturday. Did an Applebee's goodbye with Soorma and gang on Sunday. That night I went out for ice cream with Jason Patch. Random!

Then on Wednesday the 9th started quite a run of craziness. We all dressed up that night for the SC formal. Which was just us sitting around a campfire in my yard until 4am. Shamus told our futures, which seemed surprisingly accurate.

Slept for two and a half hours and then I worked all day Thursday. Back at home, Dan DiRuzza came over and we went up to JCU together for Cyril's Farewell Party! The theme was black tar heroin and strippers but we had neither. Sigh. It was a good time though. Met Juke's crazy neighbor. "Lance Armstrong... yea man!" Went to bed at 3am...

Got up at 8am, ate some breakfast and drove back home for work. Juke called me at work and asked if I wanted to go camping with him, Cyril, Greg, and Stephen that night. So after work, I went straight back up to JCU. We camped at Punderson? It was a great time. Roasted some burgers, bought from the Amish Walmart, on the fire, and played Would You Rather. Juke's was the best. I slept in Cyril's car to avoid in the cold and dew. Fine, yes it was girly. But I had company in the morning :) From there, we went out to eat at Judy's Diner Place, then back to JCU where I grabbed my stuff...

And went straight to Thorn Acres for a CLC leader's retreat. It was really beautiful out there and just what I needed. I love all our leaders and I cannot wait to start!! :) So I was there for the whole afternoon and then spent the night. Left there at 9:30am...

And went straight to 10:30am Mass back in Uniontown. I just made it too! And guess what the first words out of Father John's mouth were? "So... the Jesuits" which turned into "the Jesuits in Cleveland..." which turned into talking about Ignatius High School and their Labre program, something I've done many a times! Weird! It was meant to be. And I was on the edge of my seat listening to every detail I already knew.

Other than that I've ran with Dara! :) Drove out to Canfield on the 16th to meet up with Mgt, Mel, and Gina! Hamlin 236 and 237! We ate at Rockne's. "A male has done that to me before." Katie left that night so we had our goodbye. Cyril left on the 19th for Detroit. The 20th I went to Peninsula with Megan and Shame and had a spectacular bike ride on the Towpath. It felt like fall! That night we went to Sevenoseven with Dan. Ate at IHOP later. The 21st we went ridin' dirty in our family's new bossy SUV my mom came home with. Ended up at Applebee's, imagine that. The 22nd was my last night at home. Naturally we almost watched Pocahontas in Dan's basement but we went to Shame's. Kevin Dean was there! So we all just hung out and then said our goodbyes! Went to bed at 3:30am...

Got up on the 23rd at 6:45am. Packed my last minute things and hit the road! It took me an extra hour to get to school because of the traffic :( But it's FAB to be back!! Moved all in to Hamlin 237 by myself again. Haha, it's tradition now. Team meetings, NCAA meetings, practice, UnderArmor fashion shows (team spandex and team Crocs?), running running running, laughing, loving, eating, hanging out at Juke's, running, and laughing. This is great. 7:30am practice this morning, tomorrow, and 7:30am time trial on Saturday. Four freshman. I love it. Lunch with the team now... then Target... then running again... :)

Disclaimer: I'd like to take this opportunity to write down every detail from Ron and Ellie HESS' wedding this weekend in order to cheapen all of said details. Thank you.

So I got up to JCU on Friday evening. Swung by the Pinchak residence and chatted with the lady of the house for a while, then proceeded to watch her son abuse her and her kind soul. It was heart warming. Kempf!! showed up and we went to Brett's. We all walked to Top's and I spent a whopping $.57 on a vanilla yogurt and four fireballs, while the boys bought the fun we'd be having later. And good fun it was. Ran some errands on the way back to Fairmount to drop Cyril off, haha, then to Hamlin. I hung out with Trish, Panek, and Falcon. Then to bed!

Saturday, Trish and I picked up Betsy from the airport around 9am. Then us three met up with Mary and did a light run. We debated cancelling it, reasoning that we needed at LEAST four hours to get ready for the wedding, but then figured that Coach would undoubtably ask how our running was going and it would be great to tell him we all ran together that morning. Long sentence. So after we showered, it was over to Betsy's for the AC! Dara showed. We ran around in our bras and underwear for most of the morning getting ready until it was absolutely necessary to put the dresses on and look stunning.

Met the boys at 1:09pm in the Belvoir lot. Exchanged hugs and hugs. Then we left for St. Clare's! I hope the image of Ellie walking down the isle stays with me for the rest of my life. I can't even tell you how beautiful she looked. The ceremony was gorgeous.

Back to Betsy's to kill time before the reception at 5:30pm. We did so with Coronas, oatmeal creme pies, star crunches, and plenty of pictures. Then to the Club at Hillbrook. It could not have been prettier. The decorations were elegant. The food was delicious. The open bar was fabulous. The band was phenomenal. The company was hilarious. The dancing was out of control. And the bride and groom were perfect.

Ron sang "She's Got a Way" to Ellie, which was precious. Coach Mo Banton busted it OUT on the dance floor. Mary got confused and dropped her glass of water and said "mazel tov." Ron's a cappella group sang. (You know me, I'm KINDA into that whole singing boys scene... so I enjoyed that a bit.) Jason and I had a wild dance-off. I booked the band for my wedding on June 5th, 2011. I tried my best to capture every moment on camera. See Facebook for details.

I wanted to take a T.O. half way through the night and come back the next day. It was happening so fast and I didn't want it to end. But it did. And we came back, exhausted, to Betsy's.

We woke up bright and early on Sunday thanks to Juke downstairs talking impossibly loud about black tar heroin. We all came down groggy and dishevled to rehash the our favorite memories. Then to Bob Evans. Noon Mass with Mary and Betsy. Then, us girls plus Trish got really really busy. We were cuddling on Betsy's bed, downloading D8's a cappella tunes, walking around posing for pictures in heels and pearls, eating Chipotle and a tub ice cream, and seeing how long we could resist saying something along the lines of "Wasn't Ellie beautiful?" "Ron's so cute" and "I had so much fun last night!" or reviewing the pictures on the camera. We got really silly from the cabin fever.

Finally, we pried ourselves off our asses when it cooled down and went for a night run. So our lives weren't a total waste that day. At first, we blamed our laziness on being exhausted and just wanting to relax after some weekend, but then we realized that it was because going out and doing something meant accepting that Ron and Ellie's wedding was over and we had to move on. We had basically taken it so seriously that it may as well have been our own weddings. And so in traipsing around the house in our heels and pearls from the night before, we could relive that perfect night.

I got home to Hartville around midnight and stayed up until almost 3am putting pictures on Facebook. It was an order from Mary and Tricia. I kind of wanted to obey though...

So that was most definitely the highlight of my summer. And as backwards as this sounds, I think the second best thing will be the end of summer and going back on August 20th. I don't want to see and accept all the change, but I miss it so much.

I'm eating a new vanilla Frosty right now and it's fab.

Can you believe it's almost August?!

I've been having quite a summer. Love every minute and love that every minute gets me closer to going back to Cleveland (for good, not to be confused with my frequent trips up there).

On the 8th, I went to Crocker Park in hopes to find a dress for the wedding. To no avail. I bought one, but it just wasn't right. That night was wild too. Reading by myself for four hours outside the garden cafe because no one was around... awesome. Actually, it was. Cyril was checking in every few hours on his way home from PA. Finally, at 11:30pm I went over to this apartment at Case with Cyril, Greg, and two Case runners. It was pretty random, but a grand time, you know, getting donuts at 3am and playing on the playground in Little Italy.

Finally, at 4am, I called Trish to ask if I could stay in her room for the night. Long story short, she didn't answer her phone after that and I had to hobo it up at Dan O'Malley's. They didn't even know when I crawled onto the floor of the spare bedroom at 4:30am and left at 8:15am for our morning run! How about that!

So after I ran with Mary and Trish, I went to church at Gesu with Mar and then hung around for a while until I returned back to Hartville! What a trip.

The next fun thing I did was the 14th. I decided last minute to run the Jackson 5k Glow-Run with Dara. I brought Shame with me and Ellie came down! What a crowd. Ellie did the damn thing and won, Dara did quite well herself, and Shame ran with me to place 5th in my age group. Ehh can't complain. I was a road race virgin!

Went to Shame's after that, showered, threw on some of his clothes, and met the gang at Applebee's for Josh's 21st! Appetizers all around :) I got home at 2:30am, then left for Michigan with the famo at 3am!

Michigan was fabulous. Plenty of sun and campfires and boats and cousins and uncles and aunts and little kids and people that I don't know how exactly they are related to me but I love every one of them. It was a spectacular time and felt good to get away from everything for a while.

Coming home was a diaster though. Last year the van caught on fire, this year the tire nearly fell off. I'll spare you the details but we probably should have died. Whew! Back home though!!! I love it.

And tomorrow I leave for Ellie's wedding. I absolutely cannot wait. It's going to be the highlight of my summer, I just know it. Stay until Sunday, then to Sandusky to go to Cedar Point with my cousins! Should be a blast.

I go back to school August 20th! Wow did this summer fly or what?! I can't wait!

Ahh there's too many things I'm excited for. I think I'm going to explode.

Life is so good.

I swear if my summer weekends keep getting better and better like this, I don't know how I'll handle the fun. Starting from last Tuesday, my last week was incredible.

Tuesday Katie and I went back to Cheeseburger in Paradise to see Terry T perform! He remembered us and our names, sang our song (3am by Matchbox 20), and even took his break between sets sitting at our table telling us about his kids and other jobs. We're tight now.

Wednesday I went to Dara's after work. We ran at the Massillon Towpath and caught up on life (since it's been a whole week since we'd seen each other) on a quick seven miler. Then we went to a cute little eatery for a sandwich. Yet another place I want to be a regular at.

Thursday morning I ran with a guy, Ray, from work at 7:30am. Don't ask how that happened haha. I left from work straight for JCU. I met up with Cyril and we did Ben & Jerry's which was double delicious. Then Warren took me out to this beautiful Japanese restaurant which was a blast because we watched the couple across from us obviously on their first date. Afterward, Betsy and Trish came over and we walked, talked, and caught up. I came back that night.

Friday I worked phones all day, but the office was so slow and so many people were out early for the long weekend, that they closed an hour early! Unheard of! So I took off for Mentor at 4pm to see Juker! He showed me M-town and we really hit it hard that night... sipping wine on his porch haha. Nice and relaxed. I was worn out too from playing with his five year old nephew. "Julie! You're sleeping in my bed, right? I'll sleep on the floor. And then we'll get up tomorrow morning and watch The Sandlot, right? And then we'll play basketball and go swimming at my friend's house!" How cute is that?

Saturday Juke and I got some Bob Evan's breakfast and then went to his friend's pool. We tanned, relaxed, and played a little cornhole. I left Mentor around 3:30pm to hit JCU on the way home for 4:30pm Mass at Gesu. After Mass, Trish, Betsy, and I went to a cookout. Yum. Then home again!

Sunday I shopped with Megan for our summer scents. Mmm. That night we went swimming in Drew's pool.

On Monday, Shame, Megan, and I took off for C-bus to visit OU runner Kevin Dean around noon. Well, Granville actually. Oh my Lord, this is Small Town, USA. Positively adorable. Scenes straight from a story book. I half expected to join hands at any moment and sing and dance our loyalty to Granville in a choreographed number led by the mayor. That night we played frisbee golf (I suck at hucking), got some ice cream, saw the Fourth of July festival (complete with old couples dancing, little kids playing ball and eating cotton candy, a ferris wheel, local live music, and EVERYBODY knowing EVERYBODY else), got a delicious home-cooked meal prepared by Mrs. Dean, and played an intense game of Boggle. We also enjoyed a concert in the Dean studio which was fabulous.

Tuesday morning was an early wake-up call. The Firecracker Five race started at 8:15am. Just Kevin and Drew ran it, so the rest of us cheered them on through the pouring rain. At the finish, even through the rain, the townies greeted and congratulated each other because, well, they are from Granville and they are the world's kindest people. We came back home to dry clothes, hot tea, fresh cut watermelon, and melt-in-your-mouth cinnamon rolls. Spoiled! We hit downtown for the parade festivities, which were exactly what could be expected from this quaint village. After that, just Megan and I took off for Columbus. I had the original intent of visiting the Otterbein boys but that didn't work out and instead, we shopped at Polaris and I got my haircut! Back to Granville, not against our will haha to chill before picking up Shame to head back to our real home (although we are in the market for a place in Granville). We stopped a large office in the shape of a basket on the way back. You know, the usual. See facebook for details on that. We got back in town around 8:30pm. I showered and crashed, I was exhausted!

What a weekend! Three day week at work, then Cleveland this weekend. A little shopping in Crocker Park for a dress for Ellie's wedding, and then long run with the girlies. Can't wait!!! Okay, back to work!!!

It is summer.

Last week I ran with DiRuzza at Quail. On Wednesday I met Dara at McKinley for a run and then we went to Fazoli's and sat and talked forever and ever. It was fabulous.

Friday, Nick Libertine had a bonfire. I got to see some people for the first time in a long time which is always great.

Saturday I had an 11:30am hug scheduled with Jason at the Eat 'n Park in Grove City, PA. A bunch of us met out there for a day of shopping and just to be together again. In all, Mgt, Gina, Mel, John Bednar, Pat, Cyril, Jason, and I showed. It was a grand time. I spent more on food than I did on clothes, but you'll have that. Especially when you have to avoid the ice cream place because the man inside is really pushy and won't stop talking about poop. Yes, true story. I had so much fun with them though. I miss them all immensely. Oh, and I picked up a homeless hitchiker named John and drove him over an hour to the Rt. 79 exit so he could continue on to Buffalo to see his daughter. Oops!

I came home to a little peace and quiet, and then my three little cousins arrived from Sandusky. Their mama just had a baby! New cousin! So we're watching them for a few days until my aunt gets settled in at home.

Last night I went running with Megan. Then the boys picked us up and we went out to the Sheraton in Cuyahoga Falls to swim in the hotel pool that overlooks the waterfalls. Then we played in the freezing cold fountains. Straight out of a old Southern novel about the simpler days. Then we attempted to dry off and hike down to the falls, then to a nook in the woods that the boys have affectionately dubbed "Hell" because it's scary beyond all reason. Applebees finished the night, big surprise there haha.

Now it's back to work. Columbus this weekend? Indiana the next? Michigan for ten days, then Ellie's wedding! Ahhhh....

So, I've been keeping busy with running and working. Took a day off work last Wednesday for important business. And by that, I mean traveling up to JCU on Tuesday night to playing kings with Trish, Kevin, Falcon, and some wine. Morning run on Wednesday with Trish, Mary, and Ellie! The girls minus El went for a giant breakfast at the Pancake House and then ventured over to meet the future bride at her future hubby's family home. We got to meet the Hess famo and their new puppy :) And then we hung out at the pool and swam and tanned. Amazing. It was one of those days that you don't do much, but that's why it was so great.

We had a great conversation about youth on our way back to campus. These are the best days of our lives! Trish and I got some Chipotle and watched The Notebook. Pretty feminine. Fabulous time though, even if the ride home was a bit emotional. I came home and picked up Kel. We met the boys out at Portage Lakes.

Thursday I ran at Quail with Dara. She brought Dustin who invited Shamus who invited Soorma. Hello Federal League reunion!

Saturday early morning, Katie and I took the 1am to 4am shift for Relay for Life. I ran for an hour of it and walked the rest. It felt like a complete 180 from last time I was there and running the joint haha. This time, I just got to stop in, do my thing, and leave. Couldn't exactly sleep in the next day though because the g-rents arrived bright and early. We got a great Olive Garden meal later though!

Sunday Katie and I loaded up my dad's truck and hauled the bikes up to Towpath. Saw a cute runner. We enjoyed ourselves very much.

This weekend is Grove City! I can't wait!!!

Another week. Where is June going?

This past week was working and running. Soorma and I got some ice cream on Tuesday. Dara and I met at the McKinley Memorial for a few miles on Thursday. Both were a grand time of catching up and talking running and life.

On Friday, I went to a meeting about the college aged group in our church. We're trying to breathe new life into them. I find this quite the mission and an answer to my prayers! How exciting!

Saturday was my second cousin once removed's (yes, I know her quite well actually) wedding. Oh Lord, did that make me want to get married myself. I'm sitting there crying and getting all emotional thinking up all the things I want to have at my wedding. Is that weird?

In typical Myers fashion we stayed in the seediest TINIEST EconoLodge in the nation. No joke, there was about twelve inches (if that) of walking space between the two double beds smashed against the walls. The water tasted like dirt. But I made a friend. Go figure, me and this old man get to talking late at night in the lobby where I was reading. That's how a lot of kidnapping stories begin. "So I was staying at this cheap motel when I get to talking to this old man in the continental breakfast nook..."

This morning we went to hmm my mom's aunt's daughter's house (what is that to me?). She is nuts. A bundle of energy and laughs cooking us breakfast at a hundred miles an hour (if that's possible). I love her and can't wait to be that kind of grandma. Wait, I guess I can because I can't wait for my wedding first.

Alright well MEGAN IS COMING OVER. So we're all home now. Weird. Must go!

Another week gone by! I started running again which has been my saving grace. I was getting way too emotionally unstable two weeks runningless. I ran with Ellie and Dara in North Canton one day. Katie and I had some Quail runs and maybe even a Ridin' Dirty bike loop complete with bell ringing. She is my new health partner. We had a delicious homemade meal last night. It was quite romantic with the candles and sexy dessert (even if you did need a jackhammer because the yogurt was so frozen).

This weekend was Ellie's bridal shower! I went up to school on Friday. Visited Warren and went shopping with Trish. We got a picnic basket assortment for El for those sunny afternoons with Ron in Central Park. Then we hung out with Mary and Greg for the night, while learning the O-Staff dance to Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie."

Saturday morning Mary, Trish, and I did a quick run and got ready for the main event. We were a bit late to the shower, but only because we were singing Disney songs WAY too passionately (to cover the silence in Tricia's radio-less car) so we missed the exit. The shower was a success and our gift even got an "Awww..." from the crowd. Score. A few champagnes and pictures later, we headed back to campus and I headed back home, listening to Shakira the whole way...

HELLLLO. So I've had a start to summer. Even though it doesn't quite feel like it yet... weird...

So last week I started work, joyous. I needed my mind off issues that are making me emotional. Haha, without running, my emotional stability is out the window. Me and Katie hung out one night watching Mr. and Mrs. Smith. We were up until after midnight! That's late for us now! Haha. Oh! And Kempf sent me a letter which is always a highlight.

And then it got like smokin' hot out! Teasing 90 degrees! And sunny! Hello Ohio May...?

Friday night, Josh, Dan, and his roomie Koichi (is that a butch job on the spelling or what?) went out to First Friends to see Mr. Friedline play. Yea, my old high school journalism teacher plays guitarist The Edge in a U2 cover band. Whose doesn't? So that was a blast, as to be expected.

Saturday night I spent the night at Katie's anticipating our last minute decision to make an OU trip. We left Sunday morning around 9am. I love road trips. And we saw some freaky stuff on the way up there, including but not limited to:

A sign directing us to Big Muskie Bucket.
A dog riding a Harley.
A steady trend of burley men (and one woman) in sleeveless tees driving trucks.

We also discussed the usual: plate techtonics, bike rallies, and the like. So we got to OU and Shame took a tour in the scorching heat. Met up with Megan and some the runners and ate some brunch. Hung out with some swimmers in their inflatable pool on the James yard. We mistakingly went to the wrong art show and were forced to listen to a very serious man give very serious thanks while a slideshow of pictures of people getting wasted on Natty flashed in the background. Confusing. Ate a little dinner and went to the Wet Hot American Summer Beach Party.

Too many memories. Shamus and Megan feeing people watermelon, the runner boys' dance (including Shamus as a strip pole), car wash/ people wash, discussion of previous conversation about tennis elbow, tendonitis, legal tender, and bartenders. Went back to Dean's for the singlemost amazing concert I've ever been witness to. There was some talent in that room and it wasn't Shame and I slow dancing. Then there was some water fountain breakage, The Beach watching, and finally Megan and I walked back to her room around 5:30am to the sounds of the morning birds. We slept a few hours before meeting up with the gang for brunch and then Katie and I took off for home! What a packed trip! We keep recalling random memories to laugh at, which is good fun. We also made up a great new version to "Where You Are" by Rascal Flatts. It's called "I am a vegetable."

So we got back around 3:30pm? And I've just been laying around, but might venture out to pick up a movie tonight. Wet Hot American Summer? Haha. Good night!

I'm just a few weeks behind. I have to keep this up so I can have a complete record of my first year at JCU. To. The. Last. Detail. Okay...

Sunday, April 30th, after Cyril's surprise party, a couple of us rented Mississippi Burning and watched it at Juker's. I fell asleep after 20 minutes though because I was exhausted.

Monday, MAY 1st! was the Putting the Oh in Poetry reading. I loved every second of it. Even when we had to vacate because of a fire alarm. And even Gramley complaining about the number of times "breast" was said.

Tuesday Jamie, Bryan, and I worked on our Hamlet movie for our English final. It turned out fab. Great lines included "Get thee to a nunnery," "I can't Hammy... my father," "You scream..." and a couple "fies" and "satyrs." Overall, a great performance. Not included in the final was "Say it under thy breath" and the two outtakes of me tripping.

Thursday = Ecuapalooza = candy apples. Yum. I hung out there for a while. After the wild animals of children stole the pinata fun, I went to the John Carroll Review over at Jake's. Ate some wings and enjoyed the company while listening to some fabulous poems. After Kempf's, me, Brett, and DiRuzza went to Cyril's to watch a movie. Naturally I fell asleep. I woke up when Cyril came home and we all talked and rocked before going back to campus.

Friday there was no class because it was a reading day, but the bus left for the Toledo Invite at 9am. I had about seven hours to kill before my race, so a bunch of us slept on the floor outside the gym for a while. Mary, Cyril, and I made a cuddle train. I had bruises on my hips from that hard floor. I ran the 3000m, which felt weird. I didn't think I was doing too well, but got 5th with an 11:04. I went out in a 5:39 mile or something, so that probably made a difference. I can't remember if we did anything afterwards or not.

Saturday it felt so strange not to have a meet. I took advantage of it by going to Starbucks to study Microeconomics with Tricia. Read about 200 of 400 pages. (I resorted to reading the book since I learned nothing in class.) We were badass studiers. Later, we had a N.P.P.D.P. at Char's, which was hilarious.

Sunday I did my running and then met up with some of the team to go to calling hours for Juker's grandma. I went to 6:30pm Mass with Father Gray and then studied Micro for the rest of the night.

Monday the 8th was my first and toughest exam: Micro. Got it done and did the best I could. That day, I got conned into an Oreo eating contest in Parkhurst. I would like to say I dominated once I mastered the soaking in milk technique, but I was one of two girls out of fourteen? I still housed 19 Oreos in three minutes though, so I was content with my personal record. Didn't beat the 45 Oreos of the winner though.

Tuesday we turned in our English movie and I took my BI 106 final. I chatted with Dr. Murphy and got into Father Gray's class next semester. I can't wait.

Wednesday I turned in philosophy paper and went shopping with Mary. We got food for the track team dinner and goods to make the nine senior gifts. Ate at Cyril's that night and read the witty poems that Kempf wrote for the seniors. Did a little studying with Juker and then came back to Cyril's to watch The Family Stone.

Thursday was my Religion and French finals, which were my final finals! Yay. Thursday was also had a power outage! Inconvinient. Okay, my French final was unbelievable. I can't exaggerate because it's too nuts to begin with. Okay, we had 20 fill ins... but the words missing were just totally arbitrary words of setences completely fabricated from this crazy woman's mind. One of them was: "_______ tes parents." Ohh, it's "Parlez a." WHAT? Talk to my parents? How in the world am I just supposed to GUESS that? It was unreal. We couldn't leave until we had all 20 right either. She'd just send us back to our seats and have us rethink. She'd give us hints, but coming from her that really means nothing. She was looking for us to fill in a personal NAME in one of them? I just was shocked at how insane she really is. I got five done and told her I had to leave. She got upset and asked me why I didn't care and I just said I needed to get somewhere. But it was really just the hell out of that room. So after practice, around 4pm, I get an email from my French professor to all the kids in the class saying "Oh, I forgot to collect binders. Turn those in to my office for credit." Excuse me? What binders? I just gave up. I didn't turn in a single thing to that woman and got an A in the class. Goes to show that she has no idea what is going on. Okay, end rant.

Friday I said bye to my roomie Nikki. We got close towards the end and I was sad to see her go :( The team left for OAC in Marietta at 11am. I didn't run on Friday, so Kempf, Brett, Jason, Greg, and I ran across the bridge to West Virginia (Mountain Mama) and played on the playground. We marveled at the swamps and bayous and splendor that is West Virginia. I watched the two most incredible 4x800m relays I've ever seen. Our boys and girls make me so proud. That night we did ice baths back at the hotel and I room hopped with Juker which ended in watching gay Next with the boys.

Saturday turned out to be decent weather. Ellie, Trish, and I ran the steeple at 2:20pm. I ran a 11:42 which beats my UNCW PR of 11:58. I got 5th. I felt like I should have done better but I was still happy that I wasn't hesitant about my jumps like I was in Miami. So we finished that up, and then a little later, ran the 5k at 4:05pm. I ran a 19:27 which is my third fastest time, but placed 9th. Oh well. So then my season was over. Wow. Too fast. I watched some of the seniors run their last races. Coach Banton summed it up in his speech at the end. He said he's seen 37 years worth of athletes and teams and this conference meet is one of the four most beautiful days he's ever coached. We brought nine girls to OAC, scored 99 points, and placed third. I was so proud of us. All of us. Coach's speech was incredible. Then all of a sudden Kempf was leaving and I just break down haha. Luckily I recovered later and could coherently say goodbye, but it was pretty emotional there for a while. Wow though. What a year. I can't even begin to review it or critique it except to say that I couldn't have asked for better. No regrets. I love those people. And I got to see a lot of them that night! It was a little too late to have my parents come up and move me out after the meet, so I had my room for another night. We had a little get together at Hoban's that night. Played some Kings ("W!") and the night led us to dancing on the living room table. Mary came! We walked back together to the sounds of birds chirping. Great, great night.

Sunday I packed up trusty Murphy 370 and my dad picked me up around noon. We took DiRuzza home and then I came back here to a big dinner. Took me seven hours to unpack and unclutter my room. Katie stopped over :)

Monday through Thursday I just read and read and slept and read. I got through two books in two and a half days and slept about twelve hours a night. It was great. Tuesday night I got a flat tire going out to see California Kacy. We caught up on the swings over Wendy's and then watched Along Came Polly at my house. It was great seeing him again.

Friday the 19th, I got my haircut in the morning. Then I picked up DiRuzza and we headed back up to school. We went to the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage because we're cool like that. I thoroughly enjoyed the Cradle of Christianity exibition. Chatted with the security guard who confessed to us that at night he gets bored so he likes to pick up the artifacts to feel how heavy they are. Nice. Ran into Cyril the birthday boy on the way out. Went to the Alumni dinner with the a capella boys that night. I felt like VIP. We watched the Cavs game on the big screen in the Dolan auditorium between making trips to sing. Afterwards we had a little gathering at Cyril's. I slept 45 minutes that night because I just could not fall asleep. I did some reading, did some laps around the house, got some water, studied my hands, listened to the birds. Wide awake. Weird.

Saturday we carpooled to McDonald's for breakfast. Yum. Bill was out of control and out of his mind. Came back to Cyril's and ran some errands (including our one hour hunt for a phantom Wendy's on Mayfield Rd.) until the Baccalaureate Mass at 4:30pm. Father Gray did the homily on love (what a surprise) which was fantastic (what a surprise), Cyril did a great family blessing, and the music was incredible. Excellent Mass. Ate at the reception afterwards once GINA arrived! :) Layed around on the fouton for hours and hours before finally retiring to the fouton for bed. Busy, I know.

Sunday I was awake at 7am and went to 9am Mass at Gesu with DiRuzza and Gina. Then we got some breakfast and coffee at Arabica, changed, Jason arrived, and we took off for commencement around 10:45am! We rolled in to the faculty/staff lot with the windows down and the tunes blaring. Didn't pay a dime to park because we're sweet like that. We went to graduation for two basic reasons. One, to see our friends walk across the stage. And two, to see Cyril's speech. The speech was absolutely wonderful. He did a perfect job. It made me cry, but I don't know if that's saying much. Anyways, we stayed for five of the twelve pages of names being read before we decided to leave. But not before playing a little tic tac toe and dots. And brainstorming how a flock of seagulls could be heard inside. And Jason making me laugh so hard I was shaking. The ride back consisted of positively JAMMING to NSync and Enrique with the windows down. It was marvelous. We also waited in the drive thru of a Wendy's for a while before pulling up to the window. There was an abandoned car parked there. It soon dawned on us that the place was shut down haha. We watched the first half of the Cavs game back at Cyril's before leaving for his graduation party in Wickliffe. More food :) Great time though. We hung out back at his house for the night. Juke, Brett, and Jake were in town. Woo hoo.

Today, I woke up around 7am again (I guess I just can't sleep at that house). Gina and Jason left for an Ecuador retreat this morning. I miss them. Then the house was empty which felt sad. I said goodbye to Cyril. I wasn't really that upset until I was in the car driving home by myself, then it just hit me :( I don't want him to leave. I still have this summer left though. Okay, so that was my freshman year. Graduation kind of ended the school year I guess. How about that, huh? Who would have thought...