Longest Vacation Recap Ever

For all of you (how many readers do I have now? 2?) who have anxiously been awaiting the day-by-day recap of my most fabulous vacation to Ohio. Indulge yourselves.

Wednesday, July 2

Katie picked me up from the Dayton airport and we began our trek back to the city I love--Columbus. It was a late night so we pretty much hit the hay when we got back to the 'Burg and the Koebel residence--but only after I met Sloopy, one of the coolest dogs ever. We became pals.

Thursday, July 3

We had every intention to hit up the water park on Thursday, but the cold rainy weather put a damper on that. Instead, we headed to the gym and then ventured on to Clintonville to the photography store. Then we met up with Katie's sister Amy and headed to my favorite restaurant in all of Columbus, Northstar Cafe. The Northstar is an organic restaurant in the Short North (and now Clintonville, too) area of downtown Columbus that gets all of its ingredients from local farms. They have a great variety of salads, flatbreads, sandwiches, and baked goods. I love the food and the atmosphere. After lunch, Katie and I headed over to Easton Town Center to do some shopping. I did some hardcore shopping and found some fabulous deals. I got a pair of shoes, a pair of navy blue pants, a pair of plaid shorts, a short navy blue jacket, a pink and purple sundress, and an umbrella all for only $100. Not too shabby if I do say so myself. Katie talked me into the navy blue jacket at Ann Taylor Loft and it was a definite good buy. I also met up with my dad at the mall and got my SLR camera from him. So excited to be taking pictures again.

After we wore ourselves out with shopping we headed back to Katie's house. I cleaned up and got ready to go out with Adam. Adam and I headed to Cap City Diner in Gahanna. It's a Cameron Mitchell restaurant and soooo delicious. We enjoyed dinner and caught up for a while before heading back to Easton to pick out my new Mac at the Apple store!!!! I haven't bought the Mac yet, but know exactly what I'm getting. Adam had superb advice and we also had a bit of time left to play with the iPhones. When we realized we were the last people left in the Apple store we headed out and realized we still had time to make it to the fireworks. We met up with Adam's parents at a golf course on the west side of Columbus and attempted to enjoy the fireworks although the smoke was hanging in the air and we couldn't really see them. But it was fun talking to Adam's parents and hanging out. Adam made fun of me most of the night because I had jeans and a jacket on and I was still cold.

After the fireworks we headed to ODU's campus so he could show me all the changes that are going on around campus. It's crazy what happens when you're gone for a year. I definitely miss the place!! Adam and I ran into Nicole and Chrissy and then we explored campus a bit more. It was almost like we were on rounds like our old RA days. Eventually, Adam took me back to Katie's house after a super fun night.

Friday, July 4--Happy Independence Day

It was still kind of chilly and rainy so we didn't go to the water park on Friday either. Katie and I headed to the gym again and afterwards I met up with my friend Phil for lunch. We headed to Phil's favorite Greek restaurant (not mine...I still argue that the Happy Greek is slightly better!), The Mad Greek. We enjoyed a delicious lunch and were finally able to catch up after not seeing eachother for 11 months!!! Ridiculous. I made it very clear that we shouldn't go that long in between seeing each other again. After lunch Phil took me to his new house and we played some indoor soccer in which I completely and totally dominated!! Our visit ended all too soon as I had to meet up with Katie to go to Juan's house. At Juan's we assisted in making a Jello Stapler (reference The Office). Mostly Katie and Juan did the making and I did a bit of picture taking and some sleeping on the couch. After Jello Stapler creation was completed Katie and I headed back to her house to relax. Later in the evening we got a game of Bourre going with Katie, Amy, Scott, Emily, Eric, and myself. Bourre is kind of a mix between poker and euchre. I won $20...some call it beginners luck. I call it skill. Ha.

Saturday, June 5

I got up bright and early and met up with Laura and Blacklick Woods Metropark. We used to run there a lot in college for cross country and so it was fun to go on a run again there together. We did a lot of catching up before I had to go back to Katies. Katies parents made us a fantastic 5th of July breakfast and then Katie and I hung out for a while before heading to Old Navy in search of flip flops with a detour at 1/2 Priced Books (I bought a photography book, Katie bought an Amish book). Saturday night we went to Katie's uncle's house for the annual Independence Day Party (a day late) complete with Ladder Golf , homemade Sangria (sooooo good), cookout, quality music (played on a record player...cannot beat that), and of course, Reynoldsburg fireworks--Q-U-A-L-I-T-Y.

Sunday, June 6

It was FINALLY warm enough and not raining!! We got up early and headed to Mass at St. Pious and then to Zoombezi Bay! We went into the Columbus Zoo first to check out the Aquariuam and Manatees before heading over to the water slides. The slides were pretty cool (minus the lazy river that you had to pay to rent tubes for. Lame). We even enjoyed our nice tropical drinks on the adults-only lazy river. Good times. After we were competely sun-soaked and waterlogged, we headed back to the 'Burg. I cleaned up quickly and my sister and her boyfriend picked me up so we could go to dinner at On The Border (yes, I ate out a lot...). After dinner we headed back downtown to Goodale Park so I could take pictures and show them around the Short North. After walking all over Victorian Village and the Short North, we headed back to the 'Burg and Kal and Jordan headed back to Lancaster. Katie, Scott, and I enjoyed watching some episodes of the Office and hanging out.

Monday, July 7

Katie and I hit up the gym for the last time during my visit. Then we went to German Village where Scott met up with us at The Old Mohawk. They are apparently known for their Turtle Soup, so yes, I ordered it. And ate turtle. Does that make me a bad person? After lunch Katie and I did a toooonnn of walking around German Village. I took pictures at Schiller Park and around German Village. We went to the Book Loft, the absolute cooooolest book store EVER. And then we drove around downtown a bit more before heading back to ODU to say hi to a few people. We saw Juan again and I stopped by the Alumni office to say hi to my friend Jen.

Back at the Koebel house we hung out for a bit and played a rousing game of Scrabble. (Don't mock us. It was intense!!). Then Adam picked me up again so we could hang out one more time before I had to return home. We never get to hang out enough so I was excited I got to see him twice while I was home. Adam and I went for ice cream at Graeters and sat talking for well over an hour. Then when the place was closing down Adam took me to see where he'll be working before heading back to Reynoldsburg. It was really hard saying bye to him. Adam and I spent a lot of time together in college both as friends and fellow RAs. We have some ridiculous stories from doing rounds together and some really crazy adventures too. I'm so lucky to have such a great friend and I was excited he promised he'd visit at least once before the end of the year.

Today

I got up at 4:00 A.M. after only about 3 1/2 hours of sleep to return back to Florida. It was a really great visit. I have amazing friends. It was hard saying goodbye to Katie this morning too. It made it much easier knowing that she'll be here to visit me in just a few weeks. But it was also hard not knowing when I'll get to see Phil next either. Like Adam, Phil's been a great friend for over 5 years now. We joke around that we don't even know how we're friends because we have absolutely nothing in common. But I wouldn't trade my friendships with Katie, Adam, Phil, Juan, Laura, and all of my other amazing friends for anything in the world. I wish I could have seen everyone while I was home, but the visit was much too short. Luckily, Liz will be here in a few weeks as well so I'll see her soon and I'm crossing my fingers that Molli will make it down here soon too. I feel very incredibly and amazingly blessed.

And now...it's back to work. The craziness never ends. True story. It really doesn't. So there's the recap. Major props if you made it all the way through!!