Because I've been so neglectful...

...and I don't want Krystle to harass me about not writing anything.

So...I guess so far this summer a lot has happened, just kinda a little bit of a lot. As most of you know I spend a week in Memphis, TN over my birthday for a horse show. It was fun. It was the first time I kinda got to act like my college self in my home environment. Very strange but it was alright. There was a boy. Nothing came of it (as some of you may know from my moping; BUT apparently May is trying to play fairy-godmother so we'll see...). The week was pretty relaxed just spent a lot of time by the pool and hanging out with my little Mason man (which if you haven't heard FINALLY said my name and now uses it on a regular basis :) ).

The only other thing I've done was last week when Nadine and I went to Myrtle with my family. Hopefully then didn't scare her too bad; I'm sure our friendship will hold strong! No, seriously it was a lot of fun. It was funny though because when my stepmom was having some wine Nadine and I asked for a glass as well and my Dad poured us just a little bit less than what he had poured her. We laughed at him. He claims he did it because he didn't know if we would like it, but I think he just still thinks I'm 5 years old. It's gonna take him a little while. Nadine and I went to Broadway on the Beach one night (which was actually a little weird without the rest of y'all there) and we went out to a couple of the clubs there. Nothing too crazy, though Nadine was in a happy place. I guess the best story of the night was while we were dancing these 3 boys came up and two of them were dancing around her acting like little gangsta white boys (they thought they were the shit) and Nadine just looks at them and then flicks the guy's hat across the dance floor. It was hilarious! By far my favorite memory of that night. But yes, I believe Nadine had a very good time...as many of you probably could tell from the lovely little drunk texts she sent on the car drive back :) (love you boo!).

Other than that I've just been working camp at our barn. The children are precious, but the heat this summer has got to be the worst its been in years.

I leave for Europe on Friday!!!!! I can't wait! I get to go to Rome, Florence, Naples, Athens, Santorini, Mykonos, Istanbul and Ephesis. I'm very excited and I'm sure I will come back with TONS of pictures and plenty of good stories to share. I miss you all terribly. I will try to give each of you a call before I leave, but if not know that I love you and I will talk with you as soon as I get back. Keep having fun! Can't wait to see you all at the end of the month!

Lots of love,
Linds

Because updates are necessary...

Well, Krystle - I might just have to be a girl and ask how great Andrew Davis is. I'm glad he makes you happy, though. Amy - Kenya sounds fantastic! I want to see pictures and hear all about it.

There hasn't been much new going on out here in Utah. Still jobless for the summer, but considering that I'm in a town with two colleges that get out ahead of us, that's not much of a surprise at all. For the moment, though, it does leave me with some good time to spend catching up on reading, and getting together student loan forms and visa forms for grad school in the fall. Not to mention planning for Sebastian's visit.

So, Boo, to answer your question, he hasn't come to visit yet, but two weeks from today I will be jumping up and down at the airport like a bad outtake from Love Actually. :-) There will be lovely pictures for you all and (should you ask for them) stories of stomach-turning sweetness. Let's face it - it's been over a year, so we're both a bit impatient for the next two weeks to go by.

You know, I miss you all, but I have no idea what a central location would be considered any more! And I definitely can't fly out anywhere - and I wouldn't ask everyone to hop a plane out here. But if everyone else does get together, I want to see pictures...or get a phone call at the house out here.

Oh, and Arienne, I'm sure we'd find a way to see each other, even once I've moved to England! It's not like I'm never going to come back (Krystle, I'm calling you out on that one!)...I have my family and all you gals to visit. Not to mention, with me over there, you guys have someone to crash with if you ever make the trip! :-)

Love you, ladies! I want to hear how everyone's doing!

I've been texting Nadine today

and realized that a lot of stuff has been going on and I wanted to share with yall. Also Lindsey, Sarah, and Hill, I'm going to start getting on you guys if you don't post anything. RAWR. Expect facebook messages/wallposts, and if that doesn't work I'll send you angry texts. I want to know what is going on in your lives because I'm nosy and I love you.

So basically Mike and I officially split up about three days after graduation, which was what we had planned on doing all along, but it didn't end as well as we'd hoped for several reasons, the main one being that I have been growing kind of distant from him since probably thanksgiving and it was tough but I had mostly gotten used to the idea of being not attached to him and he hadn't started the process of separation yet. That was a super long sentence, but I'll spare you a lot of the drama and fighting and things and just say that Mike and I decided not to talk to each other for about a month and see how we are at that point. I still miss him and am really used to depending on him for basically everything, but I guess it's easier now because he's kind of beign a jerk. Andrew Davis decided to come visit me a few days later and things went well so I actually went to Birmingham to see him this week. Everything went well! I spent almost a week there, met his family and his best friend and his dachshunds and we all got along quite well.

Here's the part where I could be a girl and talk about how great he is and how much I enjoy spending time with him and frankly how much better he treats me than Mike ever did, even in the beginning, but y'all get the idea so I figure I don't need to elaborate unless you REALLY want to know.

Anyway, we need to plan a meeting for the summer at a somewhat central location because I really want to see all of you! Everyone check your calendars; I'm moving to Charleston in August but I have most of July free. When are y'all free?

Also Jess I want an update on Italy pronto! And Lindsey, your birthday in Memphis! And Boo, has Sebastian come yet? We need details! Please! Basically I miss you all and I love you all and I wish you were in my life more.

safe and sound in kenya

To the loves of my life:
I am officially in Kenya and still cannot believe it! Here's a quick recap of everything so far:\
The plane ride wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. the plane was AWESOME, soooooooo many movies to choose from and games and music. they were also constantly feeding us which, lets be honest, we all know that i greatly enjoyed. javin and i were also able to get our seats together so that was good.The second flight was more of a drag. the woman who sat next to me kept elbowing me in the side. i slept most of it though. but when it was time to wake up, my eyes were burning because they didn't want to stay open.i made it through customs with no problems and javin's mom met us with a beautiful boque of flowers with white and red roses for me, it was very sweet.

we just hung out at his house, which is really nice. the only problem is this dirt road you have to take to get to the estate where he lives, it was the bumpiest thing ever (imagine the road that goes down past mavima at camp fitch). but the house itself is really nice, and quite a good size. i have my own room (his sisters) with a bathroom attached to it.

basically, we spent the whole night desperately trying to keep our eyes open. they forced me to stay awake till 8pm, at which point i immediately went to bed. javin managed to stay up to 10:30 apparently, i have no idea how. i was exhausted. needless to say, i immediately passed out without any problem.

Right now, we are at an internet cafe in one of the main malls. i'm not sure what we are going to do the rest of the day because apparently traffic is horrific on fridays and it's nearly impossible to get anywhere. and speaking of traffic, oh my gosh! there are no such things as lanes, it's just a free for all. quite scary actually.

let's see, the other things i've been surprised at are the fact that everything is in English (even the road signs and all of the stores) and the maid that does EVERYTHING at his house. I felt so bad just leaving my dishes out on the table, but, apparently that's what you are suppose to do. And breakfast was waiting for us on the table when we finally woke up this morning.

That's about all i have right now. I know there will be more to come and hopefully i'll be able to keep you updated.

Much love to all!

Craziness aka Job and Kenya

So............I HAVE A JOB!!! I know, crazy right!
It's a really long story, but bottom line is that, after much stress and deciding to TURN DOWN a job at the CW, they made me ANOTHER offer, causing me more stress but ultimately leading to me ACCEPTING the offer! I'll be working for Sales of New Business, meaning I'm coming in without a client list and have to find all of my own clients to sell air time too, which is terrifying, but I get 20% commission on all sales, which is AWESOME (WTAE, the place i was at this summer, only gives 10%, so that should give you a better idea). The reason I originally turned it down was that they were only going to give me 6 months salary before I had to live solely off of commission, but they called back and said they would give me 9 months, so now I have 9 months to establish a client list and I can live off of. While sales isn't what I ultimately want to do, I feel like it will be a good start. I mean, what's the worst that can happen, I earn some money while developing interpersonal skills I will need for life and do tons of networking (which is really the key, I'll be working with ad agency's which is where I ultimately want to work and other marketing departments). I really like the people I'll be working for as well, in fact, they are the reason I actually took it. And get this: I get to write off my cable bill on my tax forms because it's considered "competitive analysis"! Crazy! And, I get a blackberry and they pay my cell phone bill.

So, the second piece of craziness is that my treck to Kenya starts tomorrow. I'm taking a bus from D.C. to N.Y at 11:30 and will arrive at around 4:15. Then I have to help Javin with shopping for his sister (he said she sent him a huge list, mainly of makeup stuff, and he nearly cried looking at it so desperately needs my help), get dinner with Neha, then sleep over at his aunts in Brooklyn. Then we'll leave at 8 in the morning to head to the airport for our LONG trip. He's going to call the airport tonight to see if we can get seats next to each other, and I really hope he can otherwise it will be even worse.

Ok, well that's all I have. I'm going to try my best to write while I'm in Kenya, but I'm not sure how successful I'll be considering that Javin's house doesn't have internet connection. But don't worry, I'll give you a full report when I get back.
Other than that, I LOVE YOU ALL LIKE CRAZY!!!!!!!