Sydney, Caroline, and Caroline's roommate Megan accompanied myself to Scottsdale for the Chipotle Cultivate Festival. IT WAS AWESOME! They had so many booths that you could go through and learn about Chipotle and how they make their food, and as an added bonus, we got a lot of free coupons to use later. Twenty-One Pilots headlined the concert and even though I didn't really know any of the songs, it was still really good!
In April we also had the YSA Old Tucson activity which was AWESOME as usual. Old Tucson is such a cute Wild West movie studio/attraction. They had a stunt show (where I was called up out of the crowd and had to throw a fake punch and kiss the cowboy on the cheek). There was also dancing and barbecue!
I flew home the first weekend of May to pick up Ellie with my family. It was so fun to be able to pick her up and see her! The rest of the pets warmed up to her really quickly.
She was so tiny when we got her! Like the same size as Dewey.
I went back to Tucson just in time for finals week to begin. To celebrate Dead Day/Finals, we went camping on Mt. Lemmon. I love going to Mt. Lemmon because I feel like I'm back in the real world with trees and wildlife. Tucson is pretty, just in a different way. And I love camping! Not sure if I could do it for weeks, but a few nights is fun and it's always nice to have a getaway.
I stayed in Tucson for an extra three weeks to take the last Spanish class I needed to fulfill my minor. It was hot and staying in town for an extra three weeks kind of sucked, but I feel good to have my minor out of the way now. For those three weeks I went to class every day from 9-12, then I worked three days a week from 12-5. The rest of the time I cleaned the house and got ready to move back home.
To celebrate the end of summer school: sparklers.
While packing and moving, I was experiencing some back pain. I have some prescription pain pills (Etodolac) that I was given for back pain and I take one occasionally. It had been about a year since I had taken one, but about five minutes after I swallowed it, my throat started tickling and itching and closing up. Not fun at all. I immediately drove to Safeway and popped a ton of Benadryl and felt better. However, when I woke up the next morning, I looked like I had received horrible lip injections.
While my lips might not look weird to other people, I normally have TINY lips that are basically nonexistent.
They were nice and puffy for a good week or so. Then they cracked and the entire inside of my mouth blistered, then the blisters popped. I couldn't really eat much for a few weeks.
The day after my lip fiasco, my dad and I started our drive back to California. We stayed the night in Costa Mesa and drove back the next day!
These next pictures are embarrassing, but too good not to post. When my lips were all cracked and filled with sores, this was as big as I could get my smile to be. I thought it was hilarious.
The summer job I got this year is at a place called the Growing Room. During the school year, it is a before and after school daycare center/enrichment program. During the summer, they do all day long daycare/summer camp. I got a job as a teacher there! Unfortunately, I spent my first few weeks back in town filling out paperwork for my job, getting fingerprinted, getting health screenings, etc. There were a lot of issues along the way and it took way longer than expected! I ended up having to leave town for Camp Summit before I even started my job.
I'm not supposed to share pictures of the campers, so I'll try to just post some pictures of myself. Since I was the camp photographer though, there aren't too many of just me.
One camper was very proud of this nose shot he took of me. So, enjoy it.
My favorite part of Camp is the food! I had a massive strawberry one morning.
But the most exciting part this year was when we got to see the Marine Mammal Center release two sea lions who had been rehabilitated at the center. We got to be so close! They were super cute.
One of Camp Summit's most popular activities is LARP. I got some time to get into it this year, and it was pretty darn great.
In the middle of a battle.
My fierce LARP face. Showing off the weapon I made.
A lot of my afternoons were spent at the beach watching the children and making sure they didn't die in the ocean.
We went on a cool hike with some kids and I got to Titanic at the top of the mountain.
For the dance, it was Space themed. Naturally, I dressed up as an alien. I think I might recreate this costume for Halloween this year because I love my googly eye shirt.
After camp, I finally got to start work. I've been working at the Growing Room forty hours a week and it is exhausting! But great work experience. My free time is primarily spent taking care of the pups. I don't mind because they sure are CUTE.
Ellie thought this was a good place to sit....
Summer has been busy so far but very fun! Lots of exciting things coming up. I still have about four weeks left working at the Growing Room, my mom and I are taking the dogs to Carmel this weekend for the annual Weenie Roast, and we are going to the Fall Out Boy concert next month! Lots of fun things to look forward to.
