Fall break and what not

Hello y'all!  Since the last time I posted, I have done some fun traveling not involving work at all what so ever!  Last week was our 10 day fall break.  For the first half of break I stayed on campus in Vicksburg.  I was with Sam and Tiffany so we pretty much did nothing.  I slept everyday until 11 and watched movies every night.  On Thursday the three of us woke up nice and early, hit up Enterprise, packed the little whip, and hit the road to Nashville!  A nice little 7 hour road trip with two of the best friends ever.  Awesome trip.

We arrive in Nashville at about 3:30-4ish where we got to meet Tiff's friend from home who we named Mo for the weekend.  And shortly after we got to the sweet digs at the Ramada Inn, Jill came!  Finally I got to see my best friend for the first time since August.  Couldn't have been any happier than I was, UNTILLLL MaryKathryn came and brought Rachel with her! All in one weekend I was with my 3 best friends from AmeriCorps, my sister, and my best friend from home, PLUS we all made one more friend that weekend.  Pretty solid crew.  It was awesome how quickly we all became a little group of friends and clicked all weekend.

Allow me to give you some high lights of our weekend...
Thursday night I turned 24 at midnight, so we broke out the party hats that Mom sent, obviously.  We gave one to the singer of the band and he sang me a great country version of Happy Birthday.  Ringing in a new year of life.  Three Nashville Predators were at the bar, one being Shea Webber.  They are not friendly at all what so ever, but very nice on the eyes.  It was nice to look at them, but not talk.  Pretty successful night.

Friday was my actual birthday...we woke up and found a Dunkin' Donuts...after an HOUR of searching.  Thanks to MK, Rachel, and Jill having conflicting GPS's on their "smart" phones it took a little bit of time.  We lounged then hit Broadway Street to do some walking around and listening to some live music.  It was a perfect day.  We all went back to get ready to go to dinner.  We went to a place called the Big River Brewery.  My lord it was delicious.  I got Mac 'n Chicken, my mouth just watered typing that.  This meal along with some nice brewery beer was the best way to kick off the night.  After that we went to a few bars, but ended up at Big Shotz, what became the greatest bar.  Sam told the band it was my birthday so I got called on stage.  The singer asked me what I wanted to hear them play and I said anything country.  They came up with one of my FAVORITE country songs, Wagon Wheel.  I was singing right along when he nudged me toward an open microphone.  Yes, I sang live with the band, solo a couple of times, which obviously I have the voice of an angel, so it went really well.  A literal cowboy pulled me off stage to "two-step" with me.  He had a cowboy hat on, tucked in plaid shirt, and cowboy boots.  He talked me through the steps, spinning me, and me spinning him.  It was magical.  Pretty much the highlight of my weekend.  This was literally the best birthday I have ever had.



The crew at the Grand Ole Opry.

 Saturday the whole crew went to do some site seeing, country style.  We went to the Grand Ole Opry and took pictures outside since it costs $$$ to get inside.  Saw my girl Carrie's picture everywhere, so it was a great success.  We visited the hotel near there which was MASSIVE, and where I will me getting married someday, hypothetically speaking I get married.  The day was great, wore my plaid shirt and fit right in.  Saturday was our last night to go out and with the help of social media, we found out that Kellie Pickler was playing a show at the Hard Rock.  We immediately went down and waited in line.  It was a breast cancer awareness concert so we purchased pink bandanas at a near by store.  We took a picture and I Tweeted it to her.  Guess what happened?!  She quoted the Tweet and responded to me!  I am famous.  People came up to us in line and asked if we were the girls with the bandanas...NO BIG DEAL.  The concert was a bust and the Hard Rock sucks, so we left.  We eventually went back to the bars and enjoyed ourselves, me a little too much.



Very proud of my social media shout out

 Sunday I woke up with the dark to drive MK to the airport.  I couldn't be happier that she came to spend my birthday with me.  It was actually the first time it was MK and my friends, not me with hers and it was a lot of fun.  She fit right in and provided a lot of entertainment for all of us.  Her spending my birthday with me was the best present ever.  We had to be out of the hotel by 12 so we packed up, drove Jill to stay another night and hit the road.  Jill and MK, the dynamic duo the two of them are, were the BEST boost for the next 2 months of this program.  I felt like I was missing home and they provided the little taste I needed.  Our drive was long, but bed was great that night.



Me and MK

 This past week was crazy.  Getting things ready for Virginia.  Unfortunately, we found out Jamie is leaving us.  Tuesday she told us she got a real person job at home and was leaving the amerilife and our little family, River 10.  I am going to miss her a lot since she was one of the best teammates anyone could ask for.  Our dynamic will be a little different when we start our project without Jamie there, but we couldn't be more proud of her for the job she got and how successful she is going to be. 

Our team takes off tomorrow to drive 17 hours and 40 mins to Great Falls, Virginia.  I am really excited about the project and I can't wait to get started on 4th round.  I can NOT believe it is 4th round already.  It seems like yesterday I got in the 15p for the first time in February to come to Vicksburg.  Fastest 10 months ever.  I am excited to spend time with my team and enjoy being a family for one last round.  It is hard to believe the next time we come back to Vicksburg it will be graduation week.  Time is flying by.

That's all from me.  I hope you enjoyed a little sneak peak of my birthday vacation!  Thank you to all who sent me cards, gifts, etc for my birthday!  Nicest surprises out there!  Mail is the best gift anytime of year, especially around your birthday.  Until next time!