And the end is here.

So these last few days have FLEW by. First and foremost, I starting packing (somewhat) which is honestly the earliest I have ever started packing for ANY trip EVER.

CoMo (Columbia, Missouri) was an epic night and I am eternally grateful for one final trip before Africa. Some of the hilights include meeting two of the lead singers from Lady Antebellum (see pics below), the Tim McGraw/ Lady A concert at the Mizzou Arena, El Ranch for dinner, a hot dog from the hot dog stand, a Thursday night at Harpos for 25cent draws, a lunch in Greek Life during a crisis and then a Shakespeares/ YogoLuv trip with Max, Kelley and Claire! It was a jam packed 24 hours.

In addition to that I have been doing quite a bit of last minute shopping for random things I would like to bring with me and even made a trip to the St. Louis Home and Garden Show to see my dad in action.

All in all, it has been a great couple of days and I have sincerely enjoyed getting to see everyone one last time (or talk to you on the phone, those of you who live too far away).

Here are some pics from the past few days.


Mr. Jonas (new Greek Life Advisor/ President's Cult chartering member) and I in Greek Life!


Dave Haywood and I, guitarist and singer for Lady Antebellum :)


Brittany and I with Charles Kelley, lead singer of Lady Antebellum.


Going away cookie cake from my friends at Bath and Body Works.


A Pi Phi and Topher dinner at Pi (Barack Obama's favorite STL joint)


Oh Sean!


Max, Kelley and I at YogoLuv.


Two amazing women, Carrie and Brittany!!

I cannot believe I am just over 28 hours away from moving away for 27 months, but I guess I have been preparing for over a year now. I had a minor freak out this evening but all is going better now. I think its all going to be okay :)

Big day on tap tomorrow, church, meeting, PACKING, dinner and probably no sleep, oh well!

My life is about to change, big time, and I think I'm ready!

T minus 4 days and counting.

So the final sprint to the finish has begun. Not that I know anything about what sprinting fast in a race feels like, but I can imagine it feels something like this, exhausting.

The past few days have been filled with jam packed dinner and lunch dates leaving my belly full and my heart satisfied.

Heres the rundown.

Sunday:
Grand Slams with my friends, provided of course by my awesome live-in chef who has double duty as my mother
Dinner: NEW WONDERFUL FANTASTIC Dominos pizza with the family (the ones who live in STL at least)

Monday:
Lunch at Cracker Barrel with my Dad, for some of their world famous Chicken and Dumplings
Dinner with Danielle Hohmeier at Hodaks for some great friend chicken

Tuesday:
Lunch at Mom's Deli with Brittany Perrin
Dinner at Pi with some of my Pi Phi loves (Danielle LeCompte, Erin Cover, Christy Solberg and Jenna King) and Topher aka Christopher Timmerman

Wednesday:
Lunch at Imo's with Julie Fitzler
Dinner at La Fuentes with my mom, Aunt Carol and Eva K!

Now its off to CoMo for the Tim McGraw/ Lady Antebellum Concert at Mizzou Arena and a Thursday night at Harpos, followed with a late night snack at the one and only El Rancho for some shredded chicken nachos :)

The days are getting more intense since I havent started packing and I made my first (of what I am sure will be many) trips to Wal-Mart. There is a lot to do in these coming days and I am just praying/hoping it all gets done before 6:15 am on Monday!!!

I know I am going to miss this chaos, since after all, I feel like I thrive on it but change is good and needed!

Love you all.

Going away..... PARTY!

Hello:

Well I am still recovering from the epic night that concluded my time in America. Wow! Thank you to everyone who made the trip to come and celebrate my last few days in St.Louis, I sincerely appreciate it.

Here are some hi-light pictures from the party.

















During the party I learned that I have some AMAZING friends and family who are here to support me through my crazy dreams, people like McCarther's strawberry filled cake, my mom is a great cook (I already knew this though) and it is not that difficult for ex-college kids to consume massive amounts of alcohol as if they are still in college.

A big thank you to all who attended.

I got a lot of useful and thoughtful gifts and a scrapbook with pages made by each of my closest friends, needless to say I cried, and I think it may be the best thing I take with me to Morocco.

The last week isnt going so bad and I know the good things will only continue. To my family and friends, I love you. Period.

Its going to be a rough 2 year without guys but really, whats 2 years in comparison to the rest of my life!!!!

Love you all.

The beginning of my last days

Today started the long, slow process of "last days". I am the first to admit that I am terrible at saying goodbye and even worse at reacting to other people's emotions regarding goodbyes. All people who know me can attest to this inability to deal well with emotions of others, especially sadness and anger. This is the reason I dread these "last days" so much but I guess they are inevitable.

Today was my last day at the Saint Louis Zoo. Seven months and a lot of new friends ended my second round of employment at this Zagat rated number one zoo (The first being my food service stint during High School). Here are some pictures of my last day.


Myself and Pat McCaffery, my fellow cashier. Hopefully she will be a Supervisor by the time I get back.


My going away cupcakes. Thanks Pat.


"Safety Phil". Hes quite a trip.

All-in-all it wasn't as terrible as I expected and I will sincerely miss my fellow colleagues and my time in Guest Services. I learned a lot, had some fun and made some new friends. Thanks for a great experience friends, and I look forward to hearing from you about the latest Zoo adventures.

A new gadget and a new friend.

Well today was quite an eventful day, as far as my last days in America go. Today I went to lunch will a fellow Mizzou Alumni, TJ Graven who is also leaving for the Peace Corps.

First off, we went and got Indian food and we enough naan to hold me over for a little while at least. Then we took a trip to all future PCV's favorite store, REI, where we found lots of nifty gadgets and plenty of backpacks with enough straps to make any true outdoorsey person go crazy. From there we headed to the world famous (or at least Mid-West famous) Ted Drewes frozen custard for a Cardinal Sin. All-in-all the lunch meeting was quite successful and it was nice to talk to someone who is in the same boat and is going through the same things I am.

TJ is leaving for Madagascar a week from today. While Madagascar sounds like a great place to visit, especially if King Julian and the Penguins are there to greet you, the harsh reality is that Madagascar the movie is not the same as Madagascar the country! I wish TJ the best of luck and I know he's going to love it there! The diversity of plants and animals alone is enough to make any scientist drool, and the prospect of adopting a lemur as a house pet could make the lack of electricity easier to overlook.

If you want to follow his Peace Corps adventures. http://www.tjargon.com/index.html

After I got home and took a much needed nap, I woke up to my Kindle on the kitchen island :) Yes, I broke down and bought the second generation Amazon Kindle. This way I am not using my very limited weight limits to bring books, instead I can bring hundreds of books in my purse.

I just started downloading books, but so far so good. I can keep you posted on my first impressions of the Kindle if you are also interested in getting one.

All-in-all it was a great day and I look forward to the going-away party this weekend :)