On the 19th, my beautiful Aunt Jamie took me to sushi and then dropped me off at the Louisville airport. From there I traveled to Dulles, and on to LaGuardia. Once in New York, I bravely hailed my own cab, and hopped over to Manhattan to see my Big, drop off my stuff, and catch the subway to Brooklyn. Once in Brooklyn, with a dying phone, I had to find my old roomie and her sister. Luckily, Katie came to my rescue and found me with a dead phone battery, on her street. We had a delightful night catching up, went to the Peanut Butter & Co. restaurant for lunch, and the American Museum of Natural History afterwards.
From the Museum, I hopped on a train, by myself (AGAIN!), and met MacKenzie and Co. at Rockefeller Center to watch Jimmy Fallon. I recommend that everyone attend a live recording, at least once in their life. It was so much fun and I loved being a part of such a loud and vivacious crowd. From there, we enjoyed a delightful Italian meal in the Village and headed back to Kenz's apartment, crashing early.
Jordan, Big, and I awoke at 5:30 to get to Times Square by 6:30, just so that we could celebrate the Summer Solstice by doing Yoga in the middle of Times Square at 7:30 a.m. As grumpy and exhausted as I was upon awaking, it was such a rewarding experience. Who would have thought it possible to find peace while in the middle of one of the loudest and busiest places on earth?
After yoga, we CRASHED, but were awakened by the sweet reminder of the Chocolate Tour we got to embark on, in the Village. Two and a half hours of walking around the village, combined with delicious chocolate. Could it get any better? Answer: IT DID! The tour guide showed us the "Friends" apartment building. Talk about a dream come true, chocolate and my favorite show ever? Sold.
(It's so pretty, I could die!)
Finishing the chocolate tour, I couldn't decide if I wanted a salad or a steak. But my lovely vegetarian friend, Jordan, convinced me to try Quantum Leap, one of her favorite vegetarian restaurants. I know it's ridiculous, but I was so proud of myself for willingly going to a vegetarian restaurant and then excited that I had loved my Pesto Portobello Burger. Who knew?
That evening I met up with some of our old volunteers from Hoboken, NJ. We met at this awesome place filled with pool tables, ping pong tables, cards, and board games.
Look at the cute Courtney and myself! It was such a blast to see my favorite volunteers, I only wish we could have hung out for longer. I would move to Jersey/ NYC to be with these peeps constantly. After all the games and fun, we enjoyed some delicious New York pizza and parted ways.
(Some of the good looking people I am blessed to have met this year, through ASP!)
After getting a great night's sleep, I awoke to a very excited MacKenzie, who was anxious to get married! We spent the morning how we had spent most of our days together at USU. Big sitting on her floor, in front of the mirror, doing her hair, and me sitting on her bed, talking about life and the future. It was surreal to realize that the woman who became my Big Sister, five years ago, was now about to start the next step in her life: marrying the love of her life. I am so blessed to have this amazing role model in my life who was there to help me through some of the hardest and greatest years of my life. It's crazy that this girl:
has turned into this:
I am so proud of the woman that Kenz has become and I am so excited for her and Oliver's new life. I am blessed to have such an incredible Big Sister, that has become such a crucial part of my family over the last five years. (Love you Biggie Wiggie!) Also, the Reception was at the Boat House in Central Park, greatest food, absolutely gorgeous, I almost died from happiness.
After the wedding, I went back to Big's apartment to pack, then saw a friend from ancient history. I grew up with my lovely friend, Conr, who moved to California after we started high school. He came back to Kalamazoo for half of our Senior year, but that had been it for six years. On Saturday night we met in Columbus Circle, and spent a few hours walking up Central Park, just catching up on life. It's funny how even after years, things really can go right back to normal. Catching up with Conr Bonr was such a highlight, plus, I now get to tell people that I have a model friend. WHO, by the way, told me by saying "Amber, you have to look at these pictures, they are ridiculous." I wish I had copies to post.
We spent hours catching up, which meant that I got to back to the apartment after 2, having to catch a shuttle to Newark at 7. To say I was exhausted was an understatement. BUT, I was on my way to Portland to see my family! After sleeping on two different flights and a bajillion hours later, I finally made it to PDX and to my family. Being reconnected with Brittany, Mason, and Gabby was the biggest and best moment of my whole trip.
Being the oldest of the Fantastic Four is quite an honor, I mean, they are the coolest people I know. It was so incredible to finally be reunited with them and the time went way too quickly. On Sunday, we grabbed dinner and then headed to the house. Monday was filled with helping Jen, having time just Dad and his kids, doing some last minute errands and seeing our family as they got to Portland. Tuesday, Jen gifted us with manicures and pedicure, which I greatly needed after the ridiculous amount of walking I did in New York.
It was Brit's first pedicure, and she enjoyed it immensely. After a great lunch, we relaxed back at the house. Wednesday we had the rehearsal dinner and got to check out the venue! We had so much fun getting a little dressed up and exploring Edgefield! The best part of the night was our younger cousins finding out that Brit and I had been the flower girls at their parents' wedding. "We were wondering who those two girls were!"
Mason even wore jeans! Aren't we the cutest freaking grouping of siblings ever created? Our exploring involved getting Brit to climb up an old silo while Dad was distracted with Jen's parents. Talk about us never growing up.
Mas' face of terror is priceless. Afterwards, we picked up Nolan, Brit's boyfriend, and separated for the wedding. The men stayed at Edgefield, while we stayed home.
Thursday, we woke to find Jen had brought us home bagels and was very relaxed. Which was a great surprise! We got our hair done and grabbed a quick lunch at Noodles, before heading to Edgefield to finish getting ready. I know that it was just a matter of circumstance, but the fact that Jen was happy and content spending her few last hours as a single woman, with her three step-daughters was such an incredible gift and insight for me. We are so lucky that Dad found such an incredible woman to join our family, who's love for everyone is always apparent. Brit, Gabs, and I grabbed our hotel room and finished getting ready before pictures.
Aren't we just fantastic? Kailee (on the end) is our adorable cousin. The wedding was beautiful and we enjoyed taking delightful pictures throughout the evening.
The reception was an all night party, I'd like to think that it's because of the four offspring rocking out on the dance floor, ALL NIGHT. Proof:
(Nolan and Brit rocking out!)
After the reception, we all crashed! Our beds were so comfortable and we only awakened to the promise of a delightful breakfast that was awaiting us downstairs. After check out, Brit, Mas, Gabby, Nolan, and I took the Camry and went exploring. Wanting to show Nolan our favorite parts of Portland. These included Multnomah Falls, Powell's Bookstore, and VooDoo Doughnuts.
(Multnomah Falls)
After all of this, we got to enjoy the company of our huge family, at our house for a great dinner. Which later included a great game of Say Anything with my three siblings and three cousins. It was a great night and I loved the amount of laughter that ensued with every turn.
On Saturday, we spent the whole day driving to and along the Oregon Coast. One of my favorite places. We had breakfast at Camp 18, with one of Dad's childhood friends, played in the ocean, stopped to enjoy the lovely scenery, went to the Tillamook Cheese Factory (YUMM!), and ended our evening with a cookout and bonfire at the Lincoln City beach, with the seals. It was a perfect way to end my trip and I don't know anything that is better than my favorite people on one of my favorite beaches.
Sunday was a terrible day, we went to bed after midnight, had to wake up at 3, and had to say good bye to my three favorite people. There is nothing I hate more in this world than saying goodbye to Brittany, Mason, and Gabby. As complete and happy as I know my life is, it is never more complete and happy than when I am with them. I can't even tell you the amount of tears, or the disgusting sobs that escaped my lips. I know that "West Virginia is stupid" and "I'm just going to quit my job." were spoken quite a few times.
Nevertheless, I boarded my flight and started my long journey back to Brenton. After a layover in Chicago, I landed in Lexington and was greeted by my aunt, uncle, and cousins. Which I am beyond grateful for, being greeted by family is such a good way to soften the heartache of leaving family. I hung out at their house, where they made me nachos (!), until I could no longer procrastinate. I said my goodbyes and tried to start my car, only to find the battery dead.
After Jon and I jumped my car, I started my long journey back to West Virginia. Only to have the scariest thunderstorm of my life follow me throughout my 4+ hour drive, most of which without cell service. I made it back safely at 2 and fell into my bed. I woke up at 7 to begin the job and was greeted by an enthusiastic Carly and Nicki who were excited to see me.
Unfortunately, that week did not result in great volunteers, they were grouchy and didn't understand why we didn't want to hang out with their youth, who were beyond rude and distant. We made it through the week, enjoyed our Saturday off, and started over again. Luckily, last Sunday was much better.
Though we had 80 volunteers, 3 staffers, and 11 work crews, last week was incredible. I had my very first work crew and it was so much fun to pretend to understand their different construction ideas, though it was terrible and stressful having 3 full time jobs to do and not enough time to do all of them. Programming was incredible, I made up a whole new County Info night that is based on Who Wants to Be A Millionaire and has the work crews try to guess the correct answers, it was a success. I was excited. We had a ball with all of the youth and the adult leaders were incredibly uplifting.
Unfortunately, on Wednesday, one of my worst nightmares came true. After a crazy downpour I was heading to the store to grab some groceries from dinner, in the small truck with a terrible turn radius and bad brakes. Going the normal speed, I realize that we had just had a flash rain, slow down around a curve, fish tail, over correct, and spin out of control, into the side of a mountain. The terrifying parts/ secret blessings: 1. Before I over corrected, I was heading over right towards the guard rail and would have had a long and nasty fall down. 2. While spinning, I was blessed to realize that if I turned the wheel in that direction, I could make sure the truck bed took most of the damage, leaving me relatively unhurt. 3. I walked out with two bruises and some very tense shoulders. I could remember all of my information and I was only 2 minutes from the Center. A man who saw everything, drove up and grabbed Nicki, Nicki grabbed the Fire and Rescue volunteers, along with the tow truck. One of our volunteers saw the crash and stayed by my side the entire time. As terrifying as it was, I am so incredibly blessed by where it happened, that I was safe, and that I didn't kill the truck completely
The funny parts: I had just grabbed a Pepsi from the Clines' and after the crash, it looked like dirty water was covering the cab, so I started checking myself for broken glass and cuts. After finding none, and realizing that the windows and windshield were undamaged, I had the realization that my Pepsi had exploded throughout the cab and had successfully covered EVERYTHING.
Overall, it was a terrifying experience that I do not want to happen again. Everyone was super awesome about it and when I had to call HQ, Gail just was happy I was ok. We had to go to the ER, because InstaCare was closed, but the PA gave me a clean bill of health and the advice to take some pain relievers. Let me just tell you, the people you meet in the Beckley ER, they aren't all keepers. All of the volunteers were deeply concerned, and it was awesome to feel so supported and cared about, especially by people who had known me for 3 days.
I was exhausted and sore, but survived the rest of the week, enjoying the great volunteers and the time I got to spend out of the office! On Saturday, we made our sad goodbyes, wished them luck, and went back to bed for a few hours. Carly and I spent the rest of the day watching movies, and getting stuff done for our futures (her-Med. School Secondaries, me-job applications).
It's crazy to think that we have a month left in West Virginia. I, honestly, don't know where all the time has gone. But I am so grateful that I get to spend my last four weeks with two incredible women who make me a better person, and who always are there to make me laugh.
I am not entirely sure what the future holds for me next, but I know that I am in good hands. I'm sorry this was such a long post, there has been so much going on in my life and I wanted to share my news and new memories with my friends and loves. Thanks for being my incredible support system and cheerleaders!
LOVE!LOVE!LOVE!
Amber
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