Thursday July 26 started the adventure! Dan had planned a surprise for my mom and I and did an awesome job!! I love surprises, and it's hard for people to keep surprises around me. I just seem to always figure things out. But this I didn't see coming!

My mom and I drove to Indy Thursday afternoon and checked in at our 5 star hotel the Hilton Conrad. Even the lobby was gorgeous, as expected and the workers were all so friendly and helpful to my mom and I who were not the usual customers.

We got to our room and took everything in, the comfy bed with a soft, fluffy, heavy comforter, the keurig, and the tv mounted on our wall + the tv in our bathroom. Crazy!

After settling in, we made our way up to the floor with the spa on it and really got our girls day started! First we got massages. They felt sooo good. I was so calm and relaxed and didn't ever want it to stop. I could really go for one of those right now in-fact, or even one from my mom! I am really missing those!

Then we got manicures and pedicures. They also felt good, having really clean, filed, shaped, painted nails and massaged hands & feet as well as looking pretty! It was fun talking with the girls who did it, though I was still in a very calm trance from the massage earlier.

My mom and I sat by the pool for a little while, talking on our phones and sharing our fun afternoon with our friends and let everything around us and that had been happening soak in. It was a very calming atmosphere.

After going back to the hotel room, we got all dolled up and ready for dinner.

We walked downtown to Palomino's. Yummy! Though we sat outside near the road and felt every car as it went by, the food was so good! And we both felt pretty and pampered as we talked about my fear and expectations and what I was looking forward to about Saint Louis University. This was the whole point of Dan's plan. To give my mom and I time to be together just the two of us before I left for school. I am so thankful, and still impressed, that he did that! What a guy.

After dinner we walked back to our hotel room, changed clothes, and hit up Circle Center for a little while before it closed. I ended up purchasing 3 tshirts and 2 pairs of jeans from American Eagle and a cute dress from H&M.

We ended our night by talking and watching tv before falling asleep in the so comfy bed.

The morning of Friday July 27 we woke up and walked to Panera Bread for breakfast (after asking the valet hotel man for directions and it ended up being directly across the street from us. Whoops.). It was also really good eating. My mom got an egg healthy thing and I got a cinnamon bagel with cream cheese and milk. Perfect.

We went to Circle Center for another quick round of shopping. I got a pair of jade green capris and my mom got some cute clothes from the loft, all on sale- yay! Then we went back to the hotel, checked out, and headed home. It was all so much fun!!

I spent the afternoon by my grandparents pool and the night in a tent camping with Hilary and Colby and their friends. It was definitely drastic going from sleeping in a 5 star hotel one night, to a tent the next.

Saturday July 28 Dan's parents came down. Some how whenever they come I am always busy, but this time I was able to go downtown to the shops with the ladies while the guys golfed! They are very delightful people and it was so good to get to spend time with them. Then, that night we went to my dad's house for the week.

I also organized the bathroom drawers really well that morning. Just saying.

summer days. still.

Okay. Well. Obviously I haven't posted on my blog in a long time. And am still behind. And am now farther behind and a lottt has happened that I would like to write about! So I'm going to try to start writing about past stuff and catch up (as I have been doing I think since March. Eeek.)

Sunday July 22 was a long time ago. But it was a great day in my life! After going to church Maria and I went to say hello to Sally Pinkstaff who was visiting with my mom and Dan at my grandparents house. She is so sweet. Then Maria and I took off to an adventurous trip to Lafayette.

We spent the day looking around Vons which is a unique, really cool shop in West Lafayette filled with so much it is overwhelming! After looking at books and clothes and purses, I purchased jewelry and somehow Maria ended up buying nothing. This isn't bad or anything, just surprising for Maria. I bought a silver chain necklace and some charms/pendants I planed on switching off and on the necklace. I bought a crescent moon that says i dream, an anchor, and a key. I also bought 2 beaded pearl rings similar to the one I have been wearing a while just in case something happens to it again like loosing it in the swimming pool, I have backups! Lastly, I purchased a ring that was with the claddagh rings, but didn't quite resemble them. I looked it up and believe it is considered a fede (meaning faith) ring and was before the claddagh rings. Later Maria ended up purchasing one when she went back to Vons with her friend Emma and we decided they are our sister rings since there are 2 of us and the ring consists of 2 hands holding each others hands.

Driving to Vons is basically just driving straight on the same road the whole way. Which is great. But there was a detour. I followed it correctly on the way there, but struggled as we tried to come home. I was going to back track until I got on it correctly, but miss Maria decided to navigate us using her phone. And oh dear what a trip that was. Sometimes she wouldn't tell me which direction it was that I was supposed to be turning, and a few times she wouldn't be sure if I was supposed to turn on a road until we had already passed it.

Then while driving we decided to stop at the Lindy Freeze which is usually on the straight road on the way home. Since we were coming from a different direction we had to back track and take  a few more country roads but we made it! Maria got a vanilla ice cream cone and I got a delicious strawberry shortcake yummy!

When returning to my dad's house we finished off our sister day by eating popcorn and watching She's the Man. It was perfect and we had so much fun!

Oh also some point during the day-I think before we watched She's The Man we made lists of what we expect/desire in our future husbands and then compared our lists and had fun talking about that.

Monday July 23 I spent my entire day with Jensen! From 7:30am-5:45pm. What fun! As I have stated in previous posts explaining him, I love him and love that babysitting him is a real job and I get paid for it. He is the best.

Tuesday July 24 I met Hannah at Steak'n'Shake for shakes then house sat with her again. This time I was just unsettled (?) and a little freaked out and anxious. The night consisted a lot of my heart beating fast from thinking I heard someone trying to break in (thankfully that was never actually what I was hearing) and texting Josue who stayed up the whole night with and for me and who helped to calm my nerves. The night also included an adventure of picking up Michael and running him to Taco Bell.

Wednesday night Josue came over and we hung out watching tv with my family for a while, though we were both tired from getting little sleep the previous night. It was so good to see him though because I felt like we hadn't hung out in a while/as frequently since my North Carolina vacation. Josue ended up going home earlier than expected and earlier than usual.

Before I got the chance to go to sleep two exciting things happened- 1) Brother Trent came over. 2) It started storming! It hadn't rained, let alone stormed, in ages in Crawfordsville. I ended up staying up and watching the storm for a while and hanging out with Michael and Trent which included a late night Taco Bell run with me driving in the storm so that I could hardly make out what was going on in front of me, and watching 27 Jump Street.

(Maggie comes inside and finds her spot on the couch during storms)

July 16-21

Monday July 16 was spent doing lots of laundry and packing then going to my dad's house for the next week and then some.

That night Sarah came over to hang out. We went to Walmart and bought chips, cheese dip, chocotacos, Dear John, and the best investment-mango passion fruit juice! Yummmy. We sat outside on the porch and ate our picnic. As I drank the juice Costa Rica all rushed back to me.

Tuesday July 17 I drove to Greencastle and did my cleaning job for Sue.

Then that night after Hannah got off work we went to house sit and dog watch for a family she knows. The house was so cute-it looked like something for a magazine. We brought clothes we no longer wanted or fit into then looked through each others piles since we are basically the exact same size. We also made friendship bracelets and read through a journal we used to write back and forth to each other in.

Wednesday July 18 I spent a little while at the pool with Hadley then went and babysat Jensen!

Thursday July 19 I also babysat Jensen and had so much fun! Like the following day, we spent time playing with tractors and cars and trucks like usual. But also painting with water color! And during his nap I got a few more thank you cards and a letter written. I felt very accomplished and like the time was well utilized.

That night for dinner Maria, Michael, my dad, and I went to Applebee's together. It was fun getting to eat dinner with all of us.

Then I spent the rest of the night hanging out with Morgan. It had been way too long since we had seen each other, especially to hang out. It was good getting to catch up on our summers and our lives! We went to my moms house and sat on the couch and talked, but we also sat with Michael and Trent for a little while watching youtube videos, before going outside to sit on the porch and talk more.

Friday July 20 my dad got his new car. Well it is new to him for now until his actual real car is ready. It is a ford Flex (the current new one) and I love it! We took it for a drive to Linden and both got ice cream cones at the Lindy Freeze. So good!

Then I spent the rest of the evening hanging out with Josue and telling him more about our North Carolina trip and I honestly can't even remember what else we did. Possibly watched more White Collar or another movie?

Saturday July 21 I woke up early and went to help at the Lord's Pantry with my dad. I made friends with a girl named Shirley. She was so sweet and it was fun getting to do tasks with her like separating the artichoke and bagging the cactus. I usually am just on my own the whole time.

When we got home I showered and got ready then met my mom at my grandparents house. We all rode together to the church downtown for the memorial service for Mae Pinkstaff. It was fun getting to see her daughters and grandkids who I have always known my whole life and been fond of, but at the same time rarely know and get to see them really. Some of Mae's favorite Bible passages were read by the pastor and many people talked about her. Her 3 daughters, some of her grandkids, a close friend, my grandma, a neighbor and friend, and my mom read a poem. It was so fun getting to hear about other stories and pieces of Mae's life that I had never heard before. Everyone glowed as they talked about her, such a beautiful, kind, loving, confident, fun, charisma filled woman who really enjoyed life and lived to the fullest all 97 years. There were also songs sang by the ladies of the church choir, a reflection by the preacher, and food to eat afterwards. As sad as it was, they were there more to celebrate Mae and her life rather than mourn her death. Many people said the memorial was like Mae in a way and that she would have been happy with it.

That evening I got ready and went to work for Bon Appetit. Because of the memorial service, I missed most of the step up. It was a wedding and I was there to help serve dinner and clean up afterwards. I love weddings and feeling like I was almost a part of it just by being there and involved with the guests. I wish the best for the couple and thought it was especially cute that each table number was a small booklet for guests at that table to write comments and thoughts and advice in for the couple to open on their anniversary that matched the table number. So they had something from their wedding to look forward to and cherish for almost the next 25 years.

That was a long day with lots of emotions. I don't think I could have packed more into one day- volunteering at a food pantry, a memorial of a dear soul, and catering a wedding.