Summer Recap

And just like that summer's over. It's been a super long summer of four months and today I go back to school and start off my sophomore year! I have spent the last few days settling into my very first apartment (woohoo!) hence my lack of posts these past 72 hours. I'm glad to be getting back into a schedule and into my daily routine. Towards the end of August I started getting bored with all of the time that I had on my hands. When I have a busy day, I am much more productive and get so much more accomplished.Despite how ready I am for classes to commence, a little part of my is so sad to see summer end. It has been a great four months of regrouping, refocusing, and preparing for another great school year.

I did so much this summer. Now that I'm sitting down reflecting on it, it really shows just how many adventures I went on. I started off the summer the very first day of May, I took my philosophy final at 8AM and was home in Richmond by noon. I came home to a relatively brand new house. We moved from the suburban Richmond area to the farming outskirts in the neighboring county. I had only stayed at the new house for three days during Spring Break in March, so coming home in May and staying there for four months was really odd and to be quite honest, I'm not too sure that I'm used to it yet. The place doesn't quite feel like home yet, but I'm sure with more time, Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations, it will start to feel much more homey and welcoming.

I didn't stay at the new house for long though because a few days after being home for summer my dad and I road tripped to Chicago to watch the Yankees Cubs series. My sister, Leslie, flew up from Austin, Texas and it was so nice to spend s few days with her. We shopped, watched sports, dressed up, dined, and even danced a little at Sluggers in WrigleyVille. It was the first time taking Jell-O shots with my dad and definitely a memory that I will never forget.

Once returning home from Chicago, I immediately jumped into two jobs. One at the Lilly Pulitzer store in Short Pump Town Center and another at a sports bar as a waitress. I worked 40-45 hour weeks but in the long run it paid off. I saved up enough money to pay for utilities for my apartment, pay off my sorority bill, grocery money, and even have a little left over so I can shop some of the upcoming fall trends. I had never waitressed before but I really did love it. All last summer I said I didn't want to ever work in food again and I was so wrong. You not only make pretty good money as a waitress, but the atmosphere is so lively. I worked with great people, including both of my sisters.

At Lilly, I worked through the entirely of the summer collection and half of the fall/resort collection. It was nice to be back with the Lilly fam once again. Really, the ladies that I work with are too sweet and always a ball to work with. I had a lot of in store events which always kept our weeks lively. I worked Splash Into Summer, a bunch of shop and shares, and we even had an event where we got to invite my blog readers to come and hang out for the evening. It was so great being able to dress up in Lilly 4 days a week, hang out with some great co-workers and help dress the RVA area in the happiest clothing. I added a few pictures below from the meet and greet that we had back at the end of July!

As far as vacations go, I never did end up going to Washington D.C. I'm still pretty bummed about it because that was the one trip I was dying to take. All of my sisters and I work a lot to it was tough to find a few days to set aside to explore the city. Maybe over Spring Break or next summer, I'll take a couple of day trips. We did spend a few weeks at the beach, however. I love going to our family beach house in Virginia Beach. My family spend a couple of weeks with our cousins, aunts, and uncles, and we always have a blast together. I managed to not get burned and my two best friends even made to the beach for a few days. It was nice to unplug, catch up with family, and catch a few rays.

This summer I also went to my very first concert. I know, I know, I'm almost twenty years old and have never been to a concert before. A few of my sorority sisters that live in Richmond all got together to see Lee Brice and it was so much fun! I love Lee Brice's music and the evening of the concert couldn't have been anymore perfect. The night air was cool and not humid at all. We sang, and danced, and had an incredible time catching up!

As far as the blog, I had a lot of fun spending another summer posting every day. Some days ended up not having post due to either a super exhausting day working a double, or I was too distracted with vacation to sit down a write. I started making a little bit of money of the blog too which was really nice. It wasn't tons of money but enough to use for going out to lunch with a friend or buying another dress from Lilly. I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked to this summer but I was working all the time so it was tough to find a few hours to set aside with a photographer to help me get some shots. The fact that I didn't really have a car to take whenever I wanted also had an effect on that as well. The good news is, I already set up a photographer this semester to help me take pictures two or three times a month so we can knock about 15 outfits out. This means an outfit every other day of the month, or even some to stock up on when school gets busy and we can't make it to a shoot.

As I wrapped up summer vacation a lot happened within these last seven days. For one, just before I left home we had out first baby cow arrive to the farm. She was born in the middle of the late afternoon and we weren't at all ready for her! We thought we had another month to prep the fences and everything but we were so off! She is a cute little cow and we named her Sunset because she arrived just as the sun was starting to set. I finished work on Tuesday and moved to JMU on Friday to prep my aparment, reunite with my friends, and prepare for classes to resume. We celebrated my sister, Lisa's, twenty-first birthday and even brought Lobbie up to celebrate as well.