Hace mucho calor

Once again, I haven't blogged in awhile, but come on..it's summer!  I don't want to be cooped up inside writing a blog.  I want to be cooped up inside watching television shows like the Bachelorette, So You Think You Can Dance, and a new ABC family series called Bunheads.  Okay, so that's only half true.  I obviously do want to watch all of those shows, but I get time outside, too!!  I've been biking a little bit lately and I found a really cool bike path that leads to Racine and then around Racine.  I haven't been able to explore the paths in Racine, but I have ridden to Racine and back which is about 12 miles!!  That path is quickly becoming my favorite one to ride, even though it's not the one on the lake.  I'm really excited to keep exploring all of the bike paths around because there are sooo many!  Also, my dad provided me with a very subtly vibrant large orange vest that I've been wearing around on my bike so that cars see me....not really!!  I feel like if I wore it, cars would DEFINITELY see me and they would be so attracted to the orangeness of the vest that they would swerve into me and hit me!

You get the point, right?...

Other than biking and watching T.V. shows, I have also been working, obviously-that's the whole reason that I stayed in Kenosha for the summer.  It's still going great, I love all the people I'm working with and the days go by pretty fast!  The only semi-negative thing is that I get very cold in the office, but that's okay by me because it's SOOOO hot everywhere else, which brings me to the title of this post - Hace mucho calor meaning It's very hot!  It's summer!  Of course it's hot and humid and muggy and sunny and hot!  And the dorm rooms..with no air conditioning...are hot!!  However, while every other person on this campus is non-stop complaining about the heat of the rooms, I'm taking the positivity route and saying "It's not as hot as the Amazon!"  Haha, which is sooo true!  I guess it's true that miserable things can make you appreciate the things you have!  It was unbearably hot in the Amazon, but I'm so thankful for the lake breeze and my two fans that I have now! :)  Anyway, moving back to the subject of work...I've been hanging out with my coworkers a lot so far this summer outside of work.  Last night, I went to a bonfire with them, I've been out to dinner with them, and to the beach!  It's really great!  We also have a summer checklist of things to do.  For example, "Go to Scoops" (supposedly the best ice cream place in Kenosha), which we will check off our list after tomorrow! :)

Also, I've got to see my family a couple of times.  I was grateful to have my sister take me to the ILS closing ceremony this year and shopping.  As a reminder to those of you who have been reading my blog since the beginning, you know that the title of this blog came from a speaker at ILS (Illinois Leadership Seminar), which I attended as a sophomore in high school and returned two years after to be on the staff.  You also should know, after I begged you countless times to vote for ILS in this years Pepsi Refresh Challenge that ILS (and the people involved) is something that I hold close to my heart!  So when the opportunity arose for me to go to this year's seminar closing ceremony (and to see my sister), I took it!!  I was so glad I did, too, because it reminded me of all of the great times I always had with my ILS family!  I was soo happy also to see that many of the people from my original group back in 2007 are still involved with ILS today!  It's such a great non-profit organization and if you want to learn more about it go to their website:   http://www.illinoisleadershipseminar.org/ 

Me with my senior coach and 4 other leaders from my 2007 ILS group

Anyway, I was also able to see my family on Father's Day weekend.  We had a big family reunion and, to be honest, I didn't know a lot of the people because a lot of them were cousins, aunts, and uncles of my dad, but I was able to meet some of them and I did get to see my family that I'm closer to.  It was great, however, a storm did roll in pretty quickly, but it was SO cool to watch it.  As we quickly took a picture outside right before it came, the storm passed over us and then started to rain.  It was the coolest thing I had ever seen.  It was raining about 10 feet from us, but then in the other direction (where the storm was still coming from) there was no rain.  And then it started to pour!  So, we finished the reunion out inside, but that's okay because we got to watch a cool video of old pictures that my uncle put together and I was able to look at the family tree (also from my uncle).  Overall, it was a great weekend, I got to see my family, go to my church, and I also got the chance to see my boyfriend's family. :)

Although it's been an awesome summer, unfortunately, I haven't done anything yet that I planned to do this summer: choreograph, work on my education portfolio, and apply for the Fulbright scholarship.  Summer is going by fast, it's already been a month since graduation, so I need to start working on all of these things soon!  So wish me luck!  Thanks again for sticking with this blog and I hope you have a wonderful week!!!