My last few adventures of the summer...

Three things I've missed immensely:

1. Friends
2. Tennessee
3. Mountains

I was reunited with all of the above this past week, and it was awesome. (Also, I've noticed that "adventure" in any form is becoming my new favorite word...)

Darren's baseball team won state, so it was off to Lewisburg, TN, for the regional tournament. Lewisburg happens to be close to where Audrey and Mike are working camp for the summer. I was really excited because they're two of my best friends, and I was going to get to see them, right? Um, yeah, apparently, they decided that the one weekend I was going to be within 15 minutes of them would be an opportune time to go to Ohio. Thanks, guys.

Unfortunately, Darren's team didn't win their games, but they did play pretty awesomely, so I was still proud. Kristi came to see him play, too, so it was great to see her and to have someone to brave the heat with me! (For real, it should never be 100 degrees at 10:00 in the morning. Let's not try that again.) Her friend, Jeff, got bored in Murfreesboro, so being a flight instructor, he flew over to hang out with us for awhile. That evening, he took Kristi, Darren, and me up in his plane, which was pretty awesome! I had never been up in a small plane like that before, so it was cool to get to do that.

On Sunday, Kristi came to pick me up and I went to her house for a few days. Being us, we managed to have plenty of adventures crammed into a couple of days, and most of them involved the outdoors. Always a plus.

We went hiking, of course. We went to Abram's Creek, but it was super hot, so we didn't make it very far. We attempted to go down a side trail to see one of the Appalachian Trail shelters (just because), but it turned out you basically had to hike up the mountain to do so. We went about half a mile before deciding that it was entirely too hot to attempt anything more, so we turned around and went back towards the creek. Maybe in the fall. Anyway, we just waded in the creek for awhile, took a few pictures, then drove around for a little while. Typical us.

Later that evening, we dressed up a little more (the only time I looked halfway decent all week, I think) and we, along with Kristi's brother David, went to Pigeon Forge to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat! We got free tickets (typically $40) from Kristi's church, and even though none of us are particularly into that sort of thing, we didn't really have anything else to do, so we decided to go. Besides, my roommate has told me about a billion times how awesome it is, so I kind of wanted to see what the big deal was anyway. :) It ended up being a lot of fun (albeit slightly long towards the end...), so I was glad we decided to go.

On Tuesday, Kristi, David, and I went jet skiing with their friends Russell, Amy, and Kate. That was definitely fun, even though we only had one jet ski and weren't there all that long. It was just nice to be on the water, especially since I haven't even had the chance to go swimming this summer!

After finishing up at the lake, we went back to Kristi's house to pack up for a quick camping trip. We loaded up the truck and finally started making our way towards Cades Cove where our campsite was. (Kristi, of course, stayed true to form and packed 2 floats--never mind that our campsite was not near water.) It was around 10:30pm when we got there, so obviously, it was dark. However, Kristi, David, and I managed to set up our tent without a problem. As soon as we finished, David's friend Aaron got there. Perfect timing, I'm sure. The four of us played cards for awhile and then got ready for bed, since we were planning to get up before the sun.

We woke up at 5-something the next morning. Kristi and I ate Lucky Charms (very nutritious, of course) and finally managed to drag the guys out of bed and got them to eat, too. Then, around 6:30am, we got on our bikes and headed off to bike the 11-mile loop at Cades Cove! It was a perfect day to do something like that. It was early, so it wasn't hot, plus it was pretty cloudy. That made for some pretty awesome pictures. I've decided that, if I can't live in Colorado in the middle of the Rockies, I think I'll be happy to settle for the Smokies. Seriously, so gorgeous:

Is there any question as to why they're called the Great Smoky Mountains? Pictures totally don't do it justice. It was beautiful. When I see stuff like that, I can't help but be like, "Holy crap, God, You're amazing!!"

We did a few more random things during the week, and then yesterday, we decided to drive through Cleveland and hang out with Jon for a little while before heading to meet my parents. After driving around campus to see the random changes and sitting in the PCSU waiting for Jon to get off work, the three of us headed to Chick-fil-A for peach milkshakes (sooo good). Jon mentioned something about Will being back in town, so I texted him and he invited us to come over. We did, and after being there for about 5 minutes, Tuna* came down the stairs! We all thought he was at work, so that was definitely a nice surprise! I wasn't expecting to get to see either Will or Tuna, but I am so glad that I got to. I love those guys so much. It was sooo good to see them and hang out with them for awhile. It made me really glad that we'll all be reunited a little more long-term in just 2 weeks. YESSSS.

So yeah--definitely a good week! I can't believe I'll be going back to Lee just 2 weeks from today. I can't say I'm looking forward to classes and homework and such, but I am definitely excited to be with everyone again! This semester kind of has to be awesome. There is no way that junior year is allowed to be as lame as last year! The fact that I'll have an apartment, my brother will be there, and pretty much all of my friends will actually be on the same side of campus for once makes me really happy and excited and yeah, I pretty much can't wait. Okay, I'm done. Maybe I'll actually have a short post one of these days?
* Every now and then, it occurs to me what a ridiculous nickname Tuna is and what people who don't know him must think when I call him that. Oh well. It's pretty much impossible for me to look at him and think "Michael." It just doesn't work. He doesn't respond to it anyway.

End of the semester adventures!

Sorry for my lack of updates...life kinda picked up after break, I guess. Just in time, too--I was starting to lose hope for the semester altogether! The last month of it ended up being really great though, at least for the most part. :) Get ready for a picture overload.

I've done a lot of random fun stuff, but two of the biggest: Thunder and the Owl City show!

A few weeks ago, a group of about 11 of us went to Mike's house for Thunder Over Louisville (a big fireworks/air show to kick off the Derby). That was definitely fun, even if it was a little chilly at times...

Kristi, Mike, Will, Jon, Jaynese, and I walked around downtown Louisville for most of the day, doing exciting things (or not) like visiting Fourth Street Live...

We found a bookstore somewhere along the way, so we spent awhile in there (Kristi and I found Boyfriend Training Flashcards, so we decided to test the guys' knowledge. Fortunately, they're doing well enough). We eventually made our way back to where Mike's parents were holding down the fort to watch some of the air show.

We met up with the rest of the crew (aka Christy, Courtney, Pookie, Jesse, and Emily) at Panera for dinner, after which we proceeded to take a million pictures by the fountains outside.

Girls:

Guys (this picture is proof of why I love them):

After dark (and a little bit of a delay...), we got to watch some awesome fireworks!

After church the next day, Kristi and I decided to reunite with the tire swing in the backyard.

Sooo much fun (especially when the guys helped us out by pushing us)! All in all--definitely a great weekend!

Next up was the Owl City/LIGHTS/Paper Route show in Atlanta! In a word: amazing. For real. After making it to ATL, we found a place to park and discovered the adventure that is an Atlanta parking garage:

We then found a semi-sketch-looking deli where we got some surprisingly great food that we ate while waiting in line at the Tabernacle:

First up was Paper Route. I'm not really a fan in general, but they're really good live!

Next: LIGHTS! I love her, and she is just as amazing in concert as she is on her album. Not to mention that she's one of the cutest people ever.

And finally...Owl City! Adam Young is just awesome. Even more awesome? Throwing Matt Thiessen into the mix!

And, of course, Breanne Düren (the girl whose voice makes "The Saltwater Room" one of the best songs ever), who is quite possibly the most adorable person alive:

So yeah--definitely a good time! I am so glad I decided to go. It was definitely worth the money!

The rest of the time, I've done fun stuff like hiking (twice) with some of my favorite people:

We ended up going past the marked trail to climb up to see two other waterfalls. The second time around, this involved Kristi, Will, and I climbing rocks and hacking our way through the forest. Gooooood times!

And now I'm home for the summer. Sort of. In about 4 weeks, I'm off to Europe, and after that, I'm probably going to be working something called Camp JOY. I'll definitely have to update you all on that one! It'll be a good summer, I think. It's entirely possible that I won't go crazy this year. Let's hope so, at least.

Highlights of break so far...

(Okay, so I really like making lists!)

1. Hiking...here. What?!

Apparently, some pretty great trails exist like, 20 minutes away from my house. I've lived here for 7 years and never had a clue. I'm not exactly sure how this happened, but I am sooo glad I know about them now! Darren and I went on a nice 7-mile hike on Thursday, and it was seriously one of the most beautiful trails ever. See for yourself:

Gorgeous, yes? There are, of course, more on Facebook. :) I think I've decided I'm going to forget psychology and become a nature photographer instead. I'll just spend all my time in the woods, taking pictures, and living a happy life. Okay, not really. It's a nice thought, though.

God always tends to talk to me the most when I'm in the middle of nature like that. I just get so amazed at His creativity. I mean, everything from how the light reflects off the water to the different colors of the rocks...it's incredible to think that He actually bothered to think out every single detail. I always end up discovering some new analogy between life and His creation, and that's pretty cool to me. :)

2. Listening to music in the car with friends...especially Christmas music!

Tonight, I was with Darren, Quintin, and Tahir, and we spent the first half of the trip singing along to stuff like "Down" (of course) and "Whatcha Say" (it has become mine and Quintin's song for the time being. I love that kid!). The second half? Relient K's Christmas album, "Let it Snow, Baby...Let it Reindeer." In other words, pure awesomeness. I don't know what it is, but loudly singing "The 12 Days of Christmas" and "Deck the Halls" in a car with friends tends to make me feel really happy and Christmassy like nothing else. I love it!

3. Owl City concert plans?!?!?!?!?!

Uh, yeah. Owl City, along with LIGHTS (who I started listening to about a week ago), is playing in ATL on April 20. I'm going. You should, too. (In my case, all I can say is, thank goodness for Christmas money. Heh!) I am reeeeeeally excited. In case you weren't already aware, I really like Owl City. But I'm pretty sure you knew that.

4. Family!

My 5- and 6-year-old cousins are hilarious. They can be bratty for sure, but they never fail to make me laugh. At our annual Christmas family get-together deal at my grandparents', Eli was refusing to eat his ham because he insisted that it looked like shark skin. Um, okay. He also informed me that Copper the dog from The Fox and The Hound (which I still love) has very large ears that resemble steaks. ...Yeah, I kinda love him a lot. Levi, on the other hand, has a thing for cars. Like, really. As soon as he walked in the door, he was like, "Hey, Brittany," and proceeds to give me a 10-minute breakdown on every detail of his toy car. (He's 6 and knows more about cars than I do. Great.) Fortunately, I've become a pro at pretending I know what car-loving people are talking about (I've had lots of practice), so he and I get along just fine.

5. The Polar Express!

Well, this technically hasn't happened yet, but tomorrow, I'm going to see The Polar Express in 3-D with my family...at the IMAX I didn't know existed in my city? (I'm discovering all sorts of new things around here!) I am sooo excited. That is one of my all-time favorite Christmas movies. I love it!

So yeah, I'm thoroughly enjoying my break so far. Amazingly, I'm perfectly content still being at home (usually, that only lasts about a week. I've made it two so far!). I mean, I do miss everyone from Lee, but I am totally okay with the fact that there are still 3 weeks left of break. Still not quite ready to go back. I'm still recovering from last semester! Heh! This break has been good for me, though. :) Anyway, hopefully, there will be more Christmas break adventures to tell you guys about, coming soon!