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Wow, what a crazy, eventful and fun summer I have had!  I had a great visit with my aunt and cousin both here, Cook Forest Pennsylvania and in California, several trips to Wisconsin, including two visits to Madison!  Such a great town that is!  Chicago, which is always a blast and of course a wonderful relaxing vacation with family in Hilton Head South Carolina.  
Madison Wisconsin

Hocking...

Remember when my sister and I made a basket for my aunt and cousin that included all items from Ohio?  Well, they loved it so much they decided to make a California basket for us when we went to visit them.
They filled a reusable bag with all these goodies...

Included: Ghiradelli chocolates, sour dough bread, SF Giants pin and pen, olive oil, soap, candies, mustard and the cutest reusable bags...

Challenge...
And I continue to find ways to challenge myself.  When we talked about Parasailing, I talked more about the kids doing it, and then while watching I thought, why not?  But for some reason Zach wasn't up to it, so it turned out to be Chelsea, Ben and I.
We had to book it a couple nights before, and decided that a morning "flight" would be a good idea. We got up early and headed out...

I've been away for the past two weeks and wow what an amazing two weeks I have shared with family and friends.
Once Chelsea finally came home from her summer working with Wellspring in both Wisconsin and New York, we headed out to Hilton Head Island.
A week of hot sunny beaches with my family, swimming pools and relaxing.

Returned home for two days and left with Chelsea and my sister and...

Stranger # 8
We ran along together for a good part of the 10K, cheering each other on when we each took turns passing one another.  She was so motivational and fun to run with and we had never met before!  
Near the end of the run I took off and pushed it harder than I had in any race and ended up finishing before her.  When she did cross the finish I watched her walk off thinking I need to...

I finished my last day of school on Thursday and can't believe the summer session has already ended.  Now I have a few weeks off and I've already signed up for my fall classes and looking into what's ahead for the spring session... aka winter.
I turned in my final exam, formal essays and all required work to the teacher on Thursday and now I get to await my grade for my first back to school...

All along she knew she would be home on Tuesday the 26th, but she told Joel and I she would be home on Wednesday the 27th... 
So I made plans with Ben to pick her up Wednesday evening, and he went along with them....

and they arrived here Tuesday afternoon!
What a sweet surprise!

We've been trying for months to get together.  The four of us, high school friends, and it seemed every time we tried to plan something, it just wasn't happening?
Finally, having tickets for the Indians game, I threw it out there... maybe we could all go to a game? It worked, we were all able to go and so the plans came together!

Here we are just making it into the stadium before the rain began
...

Stranger #7
We met in Wisconsin on our second visit to Red Mango!  She was a blast to work with while deciding what we wanted to eat and continued to chat with us when she finished work.  We hung out for a bit to eat our yogurt, chat and avoid the rain outdoors.
It was also Jamie's last day at Red Mango, so what a chance meeting was that?  She is a full time dog trainer or as her card reads...

 Setting goals...
We've all been told about writing down your goals, and this past winter when I went to a motivational seminar the speaker there reminded me about the power of writing down goals and I was reminded again to update that list with this inspirational post Rhonda wrote on Jill's blog the other day.
The power of those written words can be magical.  I know they helped push me to make...