Hey Stranger!

Oh my, it's been way too long. I apologize for my absence. May has been a whirlwind. Kind of. At any rate, I've been staying somewhat busy/ill, so I've been staying away - to keep my germs from spreading to you. No one wants to be too close to a girl with a gross cold (I've learned the last few weeks, as people maintained a good 10 foot distance from me when I saw them...).

And now that the world has slowed down a bit, I feel like I should sum up my life from these last few weeks. It's kind of late tonight, and I need to go to bed, so I'm afraid the best I can do is give you a short list of the goings-on here.

May 2012 - the Haps:

My Birthday! I'm 26 now, and it feels so good. And kind of old. But generally good.
DC-Iowa-Missori-Iowa-DC. I flew to Iowa with a Congressman, a Senator, and my brother's boss - who was seated right next to me. Serendipitous! Ben, I deserve a cut of the raise you're sure to get after my friendliness and restraint on the plane - I restrained myself from being a total embarrassment in front of your boss. It wasn't easy. I was bursting at the seams, trying to hold the music in my soul from coming out in full Musical format for everyone to enjoy with me. You. Owe. Me.
Celebration Trifecta in Missouri. We celebrated my birthday (ice cream cake! so good...), Mother's Day (love you, mom!), and a baby blessing (Zoey, you are a doll) in one fun-filled, party-packed weekend. We of course celebrated with kickball, ultimate frisbee, turtle hunting, turtle racing, and fireworks. Z&J sure know how to show us a good time.
Stupid cold lasts way too long. I can't seem to fly places without returning home sick these days. Glad it wasn't strep throat again this time, but I haven't been able to fully kick this blasted cold since getting back. I've been working with sexy voice for the 6 days (it's a blessing and a curse).
Memorial Day Weekend spent at the Outer Banks in North Carolina. Duck Beach take two happened this weekend. I saw Boy from last year at one point, and it was super awkward, so that was fun. But beyond that, most of this year's experiences were pretty different from last year, mostly because this year I knew a lot more people, so I was less awkward in the many large group settings of the weekend. I put sexy voice to use when I could, and generally relaxed all weekend. Activities included playing in the powerful ocean waves, running away from ugly crabs who dared to near my towel, dangling my legs in the pool, getting to know new boys (and making some new lady friends - a girl needs his girl friends), {not} sleeping, doing a jigsaw puzzle (of course), and burning my skin in the only way I can - in weird splotches on random spots of my face and body. Awesome.
Job Interviews. Since my boss is retiring at the end of the year, other offices with scheduling needs have been asking about my plans, so I've had a couple of interviews. I won't lie, I'm not quite ready to quit my office yet...I don't want to leave! But it's been good to remember what interviewing is like, so this has been good practice, getting back into the search.
Selling my soul and getting totally sucked into the Bachelorette.  Which is totally more justifiable than the Bachelor seasons, so I don't feel quite as ashamed about it. I was ironing tonight (ironing! me! It felt so weird, especially because I was ironing, and I liked it...I know, I'm scared too), and watching the show on Hulu, and I was totally into it. I can't to tune in next week and find out who gets kicked out next. I hope it's Kalon and/or Ryan - they're total weirdies.

And that is my life these lat 31 days in a nutshell (not literally). And now, I'm so exhausted and falling asleep sitting up typing this (literally). So I'm going to bed. I'll do my best to not leave my next post until the end of June for a recap of that month...but this was fun to go back and relive it all. May was so fun! There's a reason why it's my favorite month of the year. And yes, a lot of that is because of my birthday, but it's also because good, fun things just happen in May. Hopefully June can keep up this year.

Anything that I missed recapping? I'm certain I forgot something awesome, but obviously I can't think of anything, so lemme know if you can!