"If this isn't nice, I don't know what is"

Fall break is one of the greatest things that Drake does for its students.  We get the Monday and Tuesday off of school following midterms week, and it is the perfect break that you didn't even know you needed.  I decided to make the most of it, and went to visit a bunch of my friends who live and go to school in Indiana.  I always say and wish that I could see them more often, so I decided to make the most of my time off.

After my last midterm on Friday, I jumped into my pre-packed car and drove home to Peoria and went to tennis sectionals.  I got a great big welcome home hug from Michelle as she was walking of the courts which was exactly what I needed.  I just love the girl and miss the days when we were both at home after school and would hang out and procrastinate and eat nachos together.  I got to see Coach Shaw and Tiffany and Claire and all the RHS tennis girls.  It reminded me how much I miss being on a team like that, spending all of your time together for an entire season.

After sectionals were over, we went out to dinner as a family.  It's rare and precious time when the four of us are all together these days, but I'm trying to treasure the moments.  It was good to just sit together and talk and eat and share stories and laugh and smile.  I love my family so much and have become even more grateful for them as I've grown older.

Saturday morning, I woke up to pumpkin muffins for breakfast, the epitome of fall, and then headed to Purdue to visit Kellie and camp friends.  Through all the craziness of homecoming and rain and road trip problems, I made it to AXO and got to meet Megan and Katie and Hillary and then go visit Maureen, my high school tennis doubles partner.  I love Indiana and it was great to just hang out and be real life friends with Kel for a while.  We're pretty good at maintaining our long-distance friendship, but it's just more fun to hang out together.

Sunday morning Kellie and I went to church together with her friends and then got to meet up with Jamie and Abby for lunch.  I miss my camp friends so much and all three of these girls have been such big parts of the past two summers for me.  It's crazy that we don't see each other for the majority of the year, but they're still so important to me.

Then I drove off towards Indianapolis, with a detour to Edinburgh Outlet Mall.  My mom and I met up to do some shopping and spend time together since she was on her way to Kentucky for work for the week.  It was great to be together just the two of us for a few more hours while I was back from Iowa.

In Indy, I got to eat Monical's pizza with Sarah and Julia and loved this mini camp reunion.  I loved hearing about Julia's freshman year in high school and being with Sar is always great.  We talked and told stories and quizzed Julia on Tecumseh counselors and then sang new Taylor Swift at the tops of our lungs in the car.  Nothing could have been better.

Since Sar had school on Monday, I got to hang out and have Indy adventures on my own.  I went for an awesome morning run on the Monon, which I am officially obsessed with, did homework at Starbucks, took an afternoon nap, and drove around Indy.  Then I met Sarah at the new HSE junior high building to see her classroom and where she loves spending so much of her time.  She's so good at making it a fun and inspiring environment for learning and writing and creating.

Next on our agenda was HSE Young Life leadership and dinner.  I loved meeting Abby and Ryan and Molly and @kcraiginthehouse and everyone else.  They're such a fun and hilarious group of leaders who are really figuring out what HSE YL is going to be.  Going to club and seeing everyone pumped to be hanging out together is so much of what Young Life is about.  Being there really made me miss it, but also remember how great and impacting this community is.  Seeing camp girls like Maddy and Hannah and Ellie was a great surprise.  I love that they're still walking with God and that it's a priority in their lives, not just a camp thing.

Sarah is such a great friend to be with and I loved that we could hang out in person for a few days.  I'm thankful that she's someone who I can be crazy with, have real talk about life, will encourage me and challenge me, and is constantly a great example of friendship in my life.  So glad that we got to live life together for a while.  We keep dreaming and talking about the day when we will be friends and Young Life leaders together.

On my way back to Peoria, I stopped at Illinois State for lunch with Alyssa.  Neither of us could remember the last time we saw each other, so needless to say, it was overdue.  I love talking to this girl and even though we had so much to catch up on, she just gets me and knows me and my heart and who I am.  I'm so glad that she's so happy at ISU and in AGD and loves life like she's so good at doing.

When I rolled back into Peoria, Michelle had just arrived home and we spontaneously decided to drop by the new Sletten residence for a visit.  They were heading off to gymnastics class, but I loved surprising Lyza and Lucy, seeing Alice and how much she's grown, and just catching up with Summer.  Thankfully, Lyza hasn't forgotten me and we're still best friends, Lucy is obviously as cute as can be, Alice is the cutest toddler, and Summer still loves me like I'm still her high school senior Campaigners girl.

I found this quote on Pinterest and it totally describes this Fall Break for me.  I loved that it was all about seeing friends and catching up and loving them in real life.  It's complicated to have friends all over and so far away sometimes, but it was so "nice" that I had the opportunity to see so many of my favorite people and be reminded of how great my friends are.

Bugaboo

After a little more than a month, I’m finally starting to get back into my routine at Drake.  Recruitment is over, we’re right in the middle of Anchor Splash week, and my Drake life is back in full swing.  I’m trying to make blogging a more consistent part of my routine because I love being able to look back through my posts to see all the things I’ve experienced over the year or semester.

One of the things I miss most when I’m at Drake is this girl. 

I miss being there for all of her tennis and senior memories this fall, but I am thankful that I got to Skype with her before homecoming this past Saturday.  She’s such a beautiful seventeen-year-old in so many ways and I miss that presence in my day-to-day activities. 

It’s weird to think that I used to spend so much of my life with her and she’s a big part of some of my favorite memories.  Camping in the back yard, dancing to ATeens in my room, watching movies on the way to grandma and grandpa’s, going to Young Life together on Monday nights, riding to school together every morning,  and just being sisters and friends all the time.  I miss her incredibly, but at the same time, I'm thankful that in our time apart, I'm realizing how much I value our relationship and never want to let that go.

Love you bugaboo.