Wow, the gap that has elapsed in my blogging is embarrassing. But it speaks to the amount of work I have undertaken with my new position here at school. I have carved out 45 minutes to try to transcribe the events from the rest of the summer here. Let’s see if my fingers are up to the challenge and if I remain uninterrupted…

After the lovely time we had in CO with our families, we went back to SA for a few days of fun. Our days in SA were filled with food, friends and running, so they are blending together at this point. I do remember a few highlights. The day I returned from CO, I met up with some friends from my old school, Oak Grove. We have all since moved to different locations (some are still at OG, and everybody else is somewhere in SA), but we had a lovely time chatting over delicious Mexican food and remembering the good times at OG. I really miss working with all of them, and a little piece of me is sad that the era of us all together is over, but I’m really glad for moments like this when we are reunited.

Another highlight was getting to go to First Friday in downtown SA. This was one of our favorite activities, and we hadn’t had the chance to go since we moved away. We met friends at our favorite beer garden, then listened to the cool jams at Tuckers (our other favorite spot). It made my heart happy to be able to rejoin SA in the fun tradition of First Friday. It was a bonus that my friend was the DJ at Tucker’s and watching every body dance is one of my favorite past times. I really do miss nights like these.

All of a sudden, it was July 4th! Donnie had planned a secret trip for me (one where I don’t get to know the destination), but he had spoiled the surprise one night when he was super tired. But our secret trip was to Vegas! We were leaving on the evening of July 4th, so we would miss fireworks, but I still took the time to do a time-honored tradition started by my mom and carried on by me and my sisters-making a flag cake! My mom is super efficient with time, so it involves taking pound cake (this year I used angel food cake), slicing it, adding layers of cool whip, strawberries and blueberries, and constructing a flag. I taught Paul how to make it this year, although the only ingredient he really wanted to eat was the cool whip…oh well.

I didn’t even get to try a bite cause then Donnie whisked me away on a red eye to Vegas…

We got to Vegas around 10pm, and went directly to our hotel, The Venetian. I had never stayed there before, but I had stayed at the Palazzo for Andie’s 21st birthday. Our room was an exact duplicate of that room, so it was a flashback to a super fun trip with all my favorite ladies. We crashed after a few drinks, and then woke up to a brilliantly sunny scene. We did some shopping for some pool supplies, Havianas and swimwear. Then geared up to go to an outdoor concert/pool party. The party was at the Mirage swim-club (this is a thing now) and it was for Afrojack. We’d been listening to his music for a few months, so it was neat to see him in action. The party was basically a bunch of people wearing as outrageous swim wear as possible and dancing in the pool, until there was a lightening warning and they all had to vacate. LOL. I had fun people watching and grooving with Donnie, but we left before the set was done because the rain looked threatening and the USA Women’s soccer team was playing in the championship game!

The rest of our stay in Vegas was mostly poolside, and shopping. It was super fun and relaxing and I really enjoyed our time there. I couldn’t have asked for a better secret trip, and I think Donnie had lots of fun too. 🙂

We got back to TX very very late (or very early) and headed home for some sleep. Our days were numbered at that point, but I did have a really fun event with my favorite TX ladies.

BDC was held at the same restaurant that I suggested last summer, since we got rained out last time. It was a smaller crowd from last year, but they never fail to make me laugh. We pick up right where we leave off and it feels like home. I really love those girls.

Ok, my time runs short, so there will have to be a part three to this summer series.

Much love to all. xo j