Fun and Friends

This past month has been very busy for me for a variety of reasons including work and travel, but mostly because of fun and friends:

• I joined a great group of Cancan dancers and performed at a festival in Milwaukee after only three lessons,
• I competed in the North American National Champtionships with my wonderful team in Nashville and we took second place, and
• The Dayton Celtic Festival is this weekend - what a great way to celebrate my birthday!

The two most exciting bits of upcoming fun and friends events happen today and next month, respectively:

• I am getting together with one of my roommates from Prague, Alice, this afternoon before she moves to California for grad school, and
• My best friend, Amber, is coming to town next month (she lives in Minnesota - at least a 10 hour drive)!

I can't wait to see these lovely ladies! It will be so nice to catch up with them!

Welcome to the World

Monday morning, Kaden Allen entered the world. I'd like to congratulate mom Lori, dad Chad, and big brother Kegan!

Good Friends, Good Food, Good Times

I flew to Minnesota yesterday morning to visit my bff Amber and her husband Adam while her school is on Spring Break. After getting up at an obscene hour to catch my early early flight, I flew into Minneapolis/St. Paul. It snowed yesterday, and we decided to say stay in town at the Mall of America. It was such a trial ;) Amber and I got to spend some quality girl time shopping and stocking up on cosmetics and such from Sephora and Lush while we banished Adam. We finally got back to Rochester in the evening after the roads had been cleared and had dinner a Hu Han, a Mongolian grill.

Today we had a lazy morning followed by more shopping and a wonderful dinner at a nice restaurant in town, Prescotts. We will be gathering with a group of their friends for Easter dinner tomorrow, and I will be returning home on Monday afternoon. I would post pictures, but I have yet to take any. Maybe I will rectify that tomorrow.

Happy Easter, friends!

Quick Post

I promise to update soon with pictures from my trip, but here is a quick video of the Atlantic Ocean I took on Friday morning while walking the beach. You can see my friend Marie walking in the sand :) (check my flickr page for more photos--it's on the sidebar!)

Reunions

This past week has been a time of reunions. I've seen most of my family, my friends who live here in Dayton, but the reunion I really anticipated was seeing my best friend Amber.


We've known each other since we were 7 years old, and have been best friends for quite some time. She lives in Minnesota now with her husband, so our opportunities to see each other when I'm stateside are limited. Last week, she came into town with her husband Adam for her birthday on Friday. We spent most of the weekend together renewing our friendship and hanging out, shopping in various stores and spending good time together.

Here are Amber and Adam at my house this weekend playing on my brother's Wii. Well, Adam is playing Wii tennis & Amber is doing a Sudoku puzzle.

sounds of summer

It is so nice to be back home. I had forgotten what it sounds like here at my parents' house in the summer. At night, I fall asleep to the sounds of crickets and the wind blowing through the trees, and in the mornings I hear the birds outside. (Ok, and also the dogs barking--between my house and our neighbors to either side, we have 8 dogs total. It's a little ridiculous.)

Today, there is a Salsa Festival (not really sure, but it is the style of music I'm hearing) at the Garden Center behind our house. I had forgotten that you can hear everything that happens down there from inside the house, even! When I was younger, the local playhouse would have outdoor performances in the summertime, and you could hear them as well. This is definitely a change from what I would be hearing in Prague. Evidently the weather is cool there as well--not so in Dayton. Today I spent some time with my friends Marie and Kat at a friend's house with a pool in the back. It was so relaxing and refreshing to spend time with my girls and to get some sun as well. I'm a little pink, but my 50 SPF sunscreen purchase from the Lekarna in Smichov was much appreciated today!

I'm having problems hooking into the wireless network at my house--I hope to have that fixed soon, and I will be able to post with pictures again. Happy July!

More pictures from Glasgow

Here are some more pictures from my trip to Glasgow in April for the World Championships of Irish Dance. It was a wonderful trip!

This is an international street market that happens twice a year in Glasgow. I was lucky enough to be there when it was operating. I walked through this every time I went to the Royal Scottish Concert Hall (where the Worlds took place) from my hostel.

This is a French cheese booth. It all looked so delicious. Yum!

This is Kathleen and I at an Italian restaurant in Glasgow. Kathleen was one of my first Irish Step Dance teachers when I was in high school. It was great to see her and her family when I was in Glasgow. I'm really looking forward to seeing them again when I'm home in Ohio this summer.

Prayer Warriors!

So, Tuesday at our Women's Bible Study ( graciously hosted by Shanna ) I made a couple specific prayer requests for myself. One that I would get all of the paperwork for my end of year student assessments done that because they are due tomorrow, and one that I would temper my feelings & reactions to a certain member of my household (I believe I used the phrase "seething ball of hate"). The ladies of this Bible study rock--they are true prayer warriors! Not only am I finished with my paperwork, a good 24+ hours before the deadline, but I am no longer a seething ball of hate!

Thanks, ladies. You know who you are!

Showers Galore . . .

Not those kind of showers, I'm talkin 'bout party showers (although it was kinda rainy earlier last week)! In the past 3 weeks, I have had the opportunity to attend a couple of different showers for my friends here in Prague. Both of these showers celebrated new beginnings. At the end of May, our women's Bible study threw a baby shower for our friend from South Africa, Alta. As this is her first baby, it is a new beginning for Mom Dad and baby. It was fortunate that we got the shower in before baby Isabella put in an appearance, because just 16 hours after our shower started, she arrived! How exciting :)



The second shower I was fortunate enough to attend was this past Saturday, an engagement shower for Tim and Laura.


Both showers were hosted at Villa Davis, which proved to be a wonderful venue both times!