Dave Grohl and Buffalo

My bank account the day I was accepted into Nursing School.

 Well seeing as it's been since about February since I last touched this thing, I can honestly say that life has definitely taken a bunch of unexpected, yet amazing nonetheless, turns. If I had to sum up my last semester of college in a few words I would definitely say sleepless, broke, and bittersweet come to mind. My travels in Australia and India put a giant (but totally worth it) hole in my pocket so the remedy was working full time nights :( To add to the financial stress, I had to throw in a 22 hour semester only to find out a few weeks in that I was 2 classes short of graduating. The solution would be to take two summer classes at Parkland with the promise that I could still walk (errhhmm) with my class in May but not get my diploma until August.

The roomies since freshman year the last day of school

 Despite the mayhem, I still managed to have an amazing last semester dancing the nights away with none other than the love of my life, Shmanda McMandersons (my roommate Amanda :)) and having life talks with our roommate Sonita San. I had 15cents in my bank account the day I found out I was accepted into nursing school which I took as a big red flag that it wasn't something that was feasible in my near future/financial situation. Life talks with my mom and roommates definitely helped me see that it didn't matter what my post-grad plans were and that life would work itself out. I like to think that it was this care-free mentality, mixed with Rhea's complete disregard for alarm clocks, that contributed to me oversleeping and missing my graduation but we'll blame Jesse as well for that. Sorrrry mom!!

Graduation picture outside the Waffle House after I missed my
graduation ceremony. 80% Rhea's fault for letting us stay
out so late and hearing our alarms going off but not waking anyone up...

...and 20% Jesse's for not being a good friend
and carrying me home sooner the night before

 After the semester had ended and the shear devastation of Amanda moving back to Chicago had passed, I
decided that it was time to evacuate Champaign for a bit. I took some time off work and had a few weeks before my summer classes started so I was lucky enough to make it up to New York to see the one and only Sam Reed (S'America!). We had scored tickets to a concert in New Jersey to see a music festival so we spent a few days in NY then roadtrippped down to New Jersey where we both had emotional breakdowns when Dave Grohl (from the Foo Fighters) was close enough we could spit on him (but why would you ever spit on Dave??) while he say 'Everlong'. After returning from NY, I was able to make it up to visit my broski, Ryan, and  his girlfriend, Annie, in Canada and make it to Missouri to see my other brother, Jordan, and his new house and land that he bought before the mass chaos of two full time jobs and two summer classes set in.

The love of my life

Live Minnows vending machine in Pennsylvania

Sam and I at Niagra Falls.. so romantic.

The question we should ask ourselves on a daily basis
on a park bench ad in upstate New York

My brother, Jordan, with his Sold sign for his new house
and farm land in Missouri.

Memorial Day lake party with the Rantoul crew :)

Sports Fitness Camp crew in our spiffy camou t-shirts

  For the past four summers I have worked at the U of I's Sports Fitness Camp. It was through this camp that I met my ultimate partner in crime, Sarah, and we somehow managed to con our way up to Assistant Directors of the camp (who would honestly trust us with their kids?). This was the best summer that we've had yet and were blessed with an amazing staff and no kids dying. Sarah and I both worked nights at the hospital as well and I can honestly say I couldn't have survived the summer without her. We would go work 7pm-7am Friday and Saturday nights then work 7pm Sunday- 7am Mondays, go get coffee, then head into camp from 7:30am to 5:30pm and work full time days Mon-Thurs. We were completely delirious by the end of the day but we still managed to have a lot of fun, and the best part is that no kids died! Winning!

Kev and I in our AWESOME matching Tshirts at Mt Rushmore
in South Dakota

 During the course of this chaos, I had also managed to lure Kevin into going on a massive "last hoorah" roadtrip with me... poor kid :) So the week of August 4th I managed to pass both of my online classes (D for degree!), move out of my apartment, finish up camp, quit the job at the hospital, accept a job offer to teach English in Georgia for a few months, and pack for a roadtrip. We made absolutely zero plans for the trip and just decided on an ultimate goal of ending up at Yellowstone. So after I worked my last overnight shift at the hospital, and took a nap of course, we threw a tent, some sleeping bags, and a ridiculous amount of canned food in the car and set off for the West.