Roadie

Emily and me, after being stateside again for about a year :) 

This weekend was a crazy whirlwind. I went out downtown Chicago with the Milwaukee corps people (they will be teaching in the fall in Milwaukee, but are in Chicago for the summer school Institute teaching) on Friday night (supes fun), then drove up to Sheboygan County on Saturday for a meetup with friends and for Nina's bachelorette party later that evening. Before that I got lunch with my good friends Ryan and Nicole to hear about their crazy and awesome adventures in their first year of teaching. They both moved to Pittsburgh last summer and have successfully completed a whole year of teaching middle school (Ryan) and second grade (Nicole). They definitely have lots of wisdom to impart to a new teacher living in a new city! I ate my weight in chips and salsa during this lunch and loved every minute of catching up. Then I went to Sheboygan for Kristina's bachelorette party before her wedding in two weeks. I've known Kristina since we were 4 and 5 (we've actually been at the same school from Preschool until college graduation!) and bonded over having really big boxes of crayons that everyone wanted to borrow from Remember when popularity hinged on how big your box of crayons was? Mmmm. The good old days. 

On the way back on Sunday I got a HUGE treat. I got to meet up with a great friend from my time in SPAIN! Miss Emily Rottman happened to be in Milwaukee the same day that I was driving back to Chicago. We met up at Bayshore, my favorite mall, and caught up for an hour over frozen yogurt. There were lots of exciting details, laughter, and reminiscing. Spain people just speak to my heart. She is, obviously, being her amazing beautiful self in Santa Barbara and conquering the world with her new cool job. I'm starting to think another trip to California is in order...

This is what a group of TFA-ers looks like when you tell them
that instead of leaving at 6:30 in the morning, their bus will
from now on be leaving at 7:00 in the morning. A half hour
makes a WORLD of difference, people. Still smiling about this.  

On the road again. Wisconsin highways look
so different from crowded Chicago expressways. 

The DELISH blackberry jello shots that Nina's sister made for
her bachelorette party. They were so good. The top layer is
somehow incorporating sweetened condensed milk, so
obviously I was in full support of this appetizer. 

Kristina opening some of her goodies :) So great to
be able to be there for her in the days before her wedding!