July 2005: A month of changes! I took the plunge and started visiting new churches, having decided that my time at the Baptidome was coming to a quiet close. I spent the time furiously studying and getting used to pagers, webcams, and on-call schedules. At the end of July, I flew to B-More to visit Dave and got to see my college friend Shelley, who was three months pregnant at the time. After much uncontrollable giggling, Shelley left and David and I had a great time seeing Baltimore, including “The Merry Wives of Windsor” outdoor Shakespeare, a picnic at Loch Raven, and hanging out at the Bay. Like so many of my other travels, I fell in love with Baltimore, too. You should all visit there sometime – don’t forget your bulletproof vest though.
August 2005: The Montana Crew took a trip to Austin for the weekend to go tubing and enjoy the gorgeous view from the Cochran’s lake house (thanks again, guys!) The trip brought back a lot of great memories, and lots of fun was had by all, including Angela, who celebrated her birthday and the exciting news that she was expecting! After Austin, I started school again for yet another semester at UH and went to go visit Dave again in Baltimore. This time, we had fun going to Washington DC to check out the sites and see the International Spy Museum, as well as go to Pennsylvania to go to Longwood Gardens.
September 2005: Spent another fun weekend in BMore for Labor Day, including hanging out at Johns Hopkins (very interesting and fun, in its own quirky way), sailing in Annapolis, and going to my first ever Orioles game at Camden Yards! Shortly thereafter though, Dave and I broke up……...no details (some things really are too personal to share on a blog, people…), except to say that it was so sad, and a very hard decision. I’m still mourning the loss of a very true and faithful friend. (fade to Tony Bennett song here.)
Like the men of Greenday, I spent the rest of September wanting it to end, but a few notable and interesting things still happened to peak through the bleak! First, the crew said farewell to Greg Sauer, who moved off to distant lands to fulfill his dream of missionary work. At his farewell party, I was fortunate enough to have my friend Chad Smith “set me up” with a new girlfriend: Paula Muckleroy, who quickly became my running buddy and eventually (in January) my roommate! Also, I started attending Women’s BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) in Sugar Land. Having been in the Young Adult Co-Ed group for a long time, I was dreading this transition, but our group is amazing and I am having a blast – I even opted to stay in the group for the whole year rather than go back to YA….it is such an amazing blessing. Finally, at the end of the month Hurricane Rita struck the Texas Gulf Coast. Leah and I decided we would head towards safer territory which, ironically enough, ended up being in Baton Rouge, LA with my family. Not working, relaxing at my house, and going to LSU games with free tickets can be rough sometimes.
October 2005: In so many ways, October was just September Part Deux. Originally, I wanted to write a few lines about how much break-ups suck, but I realize that it is a universal truth, so I’ll switch gears. Sadly, my uncle Chris ended his long battle with multiple illnesses and paralysis and passed away. We miss him so much (especially during Trivial Pursuit games), but I’m so thankful that he is pain-free now. The funeral was great, with several old friends sharing funny stories of Chris’ escapades and quick wit.
I stayed in Baton Rouge the entire week, because on Friday Paul and Elizabeth got married! Mr. and Mrs. Thornhill’s wedding was great – we had so much fun family time and I was in heaven goofing off with everybody. The wedding was held at the Chapel on the Campus and Elizabeth looked beautiful. The reception was at The Women’s Club downtown, very classy and fun. Afterwards, all of the cousins headed to the Fox and Hound for drinks and snacks….we laughed and reminisced far into the night, and I went home exhausted, with a big smile on my face. Congrats newlyweds!
November 2005: November was, thankfully, a slow month. School, running, and time with the girlfriends occupied me – I couldn’t believe that I was about to end yet another semester of my Master’s! We also had our Bauer Honors Fall Mixer (rescheduled from a cancellation due to Hurricane Rita), which was a huge success. Pictured below is our team: Dr. Gardner (our director), Brent (my supervisor), and my three student workers Vivian (Junior in Management), Arina (Senior in Finance), and Gunan (Sophomore in Finance). I couldn’t be more proud of them. Rounding out the month was Thanksgiving, always a great time to reflect and be thankful for all of God’s little blessings.
December 2005: LOTS OF PARTIES! Christmas is always an amazingly busy time, chocked full of ornament exchanges, cocktail parties, dinners, gift stress, and maybe a little bit of sadness sometimes – its definitely a time of looking back and remembering all kinds of fun memories, which can be a good or bad thing depending on how you look at it. No boring details, but here are some pics. Also, notice the cute little butterball in the later photos……this is my new nephew, Aiden Gele! Val and Jason made the trek to Korea right before Christmas to bring him home to us – he is so wonderful. :)
Again, Happy 2006 to all….stay tuned for more Days
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