Back on the horse...

At the request of family and friends at home, I’m welcoming myself back to the world of blogging. So to begin, a very brief and cursory recap of the last few months:

I lived it up Kauai and did lots of awesome things with lots of awesome people and made new friends and worked lots of hours and modeled for a photoshoot and started a band and got a staph infection and got hired as an intern content writer for a tourism website… and then came home to Ohio for two weeks and just returned to Kauai a couple days ago.

Here’s a visual (all iPhone) retelling of my time at home in Ohio:

Snapped this picture of the backyard as soon as I got home (July 4^th… after having a flight cancelled, staying in a sketchy hotel for a night, and hitchhiking to the airport the next morning) just because I miss the trees. We had a July 4^th party with relatives and a few family friends that evening, and I was so excited to see everyone even though I was so exhausted.

Went to Cedar Point with my brother, Brandi, Michael, and Kyle. It was the first time I’d been there in several years, so I got to experience the new rides (Maverick and WindSeeker) and my favorite old rides (Millennium Force and Magnum.) Amazing story of the day: Michael’s uncased iPhone flew out of his pocket on the Magnum, and when he reclaimed it a few hours later it was unscratched. That thing’s a brute. Also, Kyle educated us on the new phenomenon of “planking.” Yes, it’s exactly what it sounds and looks like... here's a picture of Kyle planking on the carnival game post right before I hit him with the mallot. :)

Went to the midnight premier of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2!!!!! Definitely a highlight of my trip home. Our group consisted of Bellatrix Lestrange (me), Luna Lovegood (Brandi), Professor Trelawney (Di), Sirius Black (Arch), Nymphadora Lupin née Tonks (Bailey), and Remus Lupin (Ethan). We also had two well-dressed Englishmen (Marc and Kyle) and two lame-os who didn’t dress up at all (Andy and Michael.)  

Got a small tattoo. (Can now cross that off my bucket list.) That will be a separate post in itself as I’ll want to explain the tattoo’s significance, but here are pictures of me and Brandi during the inking process. Brandi got “Perplexed but not in despair” (2 Corinthians reference) written down her side, and note that the look on her face is not a smile, but a grimace. The third picture is a plaque on the wall… if you can’t read the beginning, the word being defined is “die.” Heh.

Went to church, my dad’s class on “Erasing Hell” (a book by Francis Chan written in response to Rob Bell’s recent controversial release “Love Wins”), and the dedication service for our new church building. In honor of my return home, Chris Schenk made me a cake in the shape of a spider, which I shared with Dad’s class and my old band:

Went to Gervasi Vineyard with my parents and brother… it felt like a getaway vacation. We ate at the outdoor patio restaurant, where instead of a waiting room (because they don’t take reservations and the wait time can be over 2 hours) they open up the grounds and gardens for guests to wander about. There were people scattered all over the lawn beside the lake—some had brought picnic blankets and card tables, etc. There were three cornhole boards set up (Marc and I beat the parents) and two bocce ball courts (the parents beat Marc and I.) Picture of the lake:

And notably, though I don’t have any pictures to show for it, I also went to Bowling Green to visit my roomies Heidi and Julie, which is always a good time. Neither do I have pictures for the Girls' Day with mom (she treated me to a massage while she got a pedicure, then we went shopping), the multiple party nights at Kyle's, or the afternoons spent at my grandparents' swimming pool... but all were bliss.