Bumin' around.

I know what you're thinking..."Even when Lauren's at home, she doesn't make time to give us updates." Yeah, yeah. I think the bigger issue here is that when Lauren's home, she doesn't do anything worth sharing.

So last week, I spent the night at Annie's (former roommate) in Luling. Dawn (my great Baton Rouge/LA Tech/4-H friend, Annie's best friend from childhood) also came to visit, which was wonderful. I hadn't seen Dawn since we worked at National 4-H Conference in DC in March, and Annie since we moved out of our apartment in May. We had a wonderful time watching the Olympics and playing Phase 10 (hehe). The buckeyes I made were a huge hit; I'll have to remember to bring more next time. ...And of course, we stayed up wayyy wayyy late talking. But that's okay, we missed each other, alright?

Graduate Day. It was sooo nice to see everyone back at school. The FACS department is such a special family for me, and everyone seemed really interested in hearing about my summer as well as sharing our internship plans. I could have stayed around forever just catching up with everyone. However, it was a day of business, afterall, and there was plenty to be done.

All 15 or so interns met with our teachers to go over the syllabus and explain the details of how to turn in paperwork, that sorta thing. Needless to say, I'm starting a month after everyone else and I really hope I remember everything I have to do. Then, we had to get signatures and turn in our application for graduation, buy our cap and gown, and see about other random, optional things. After all of that, I met up with Annie and Jen (other former roommate) for the assembly-type thing. There were speakers from the Alumni Federation and Career Services, cool door prizes (I won a Starbucks gift card--yay!), and tasty food and wine. It was really great to see Jen (and wish her luck on her recent engagement to Logan!); the three of us enjoyed our time together, the last little bit of it before graduation in December...

I've come to refer to last weekend as one filled with camp love. Mike B., the former CBC drama instructor who is currently working on his second graduate degre at Ohio State, came to Lafayette for a visit on Friday night. In honor of his visit, a group of local camp people went out to eat and played a rousing 2-hour game of Phase 10 at the pottery studio afterwards. (heh) It was great to see Mike; he didn't come to camp this year so it had been a year since we'd all seen him. Lucky for me, I'll be seeing Mike again in just a few days when I head up to Ohio for a visit of my own...more about that later.

Another camp friend was in town for the weekend, this one, however, from Camp Aldersgate! Yep, that's right, one of the Bostie Boys came down to Cajun Land for a visit. Allie Alligator (from Baton Rouge), of course, joined in on the fun. Kyle, Allie, and I had a great time hanging out, eating Cajun food (even though Kyle refused to try the gumbo at Prejean's--what a tragedy), and goofing around. We even dragged him with us to see Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (great movie, btw). I have to also say a very special thanks to Kyle for making Allie and I some sweet bracelets using the colors of the cabins at camp (Orange, Lime/Moss, Yellow/Khaki, Blue, and Eggplant)--they're great!

And alas, my week at home has been rather bum-like, but that's quite alright with me. Who says watching tv, reading, scrapbooking, and interneting is a bad thing? Not I. ;-) It's called "Lauren time," and I definitely need(ed) it.

Next week I'm going to Ohio to see camp and 4-H friends as well as visit two graduate schools and perhaps a child life hospital program. It should be fun. And, only 13 days 'til "I'm leaving, on a jet plane..." to Idaho! (Yeah, I just realized this is my last Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in Louisiana until December. eek!)

Until next time,
Lauren