Electroluminescent Excitations: My Life in pictures: Summer Edition.

As the summer winds down, I'm thankful that I had lots of adventures, but wish that I had more than 3 days before classes started again. I've had many frustrations and complications, but these are the bright spots of July & August:

I spent all afternoon at the Little Creek naval base pool with the Dowdys & Leslie. There were water slides galore & we had a blast & a half.

I spend lots of time at Mt. Trashmore, walking around the lake & the hills with tantalizing tunes in my ears.... thinking & reflecting. A few days ago I had an almost psychedelic experience while strolling; the clouds were so fluffy & gargantuan. The most 3D, heavenly, glorious clouds i'd ever seen with a beautiful cerulean blue peeking out from behind the white puffs. I felt like i was trapped in a sphere of globular sky. And then they turned into these dark, grey rainclouds.

I had the pleasure of celebrating my dear friend Leslie's 20th birthday on Saturday. Food, fun, festivities, and Filipinos! ;] Monika & I were the only un-Filipinos at the Filipino fest. We watched Coraline & it is a delightfully creepy film! [Last week, we also went to see 500 Days of Summer with Leslie & her sister & it is one of the best movies i've ever seen!]

Speaking of birthdays, We journeyed to Williamsburg to celebrate Sarah's 27th birthday! We spent the evening at Busch Gardens, riding coasters... thrilling as usual, to say the least. We kicked it up a notch with some funfetti rainbow chip cake, gift giving, and then hanging out at the pool the next afternoon.

One of the biggest highlights of my summer was my birthday! "MORE birthdays!?", you say. Yes indeedy appleseedy. Our friend Becky, who just happens to be a flight attendant, flew to Virginia Beach to visit. Two of our Tennessee friends, Adam Agin & Stephen Gordon, traveled across the east coast sharing their music in each city... one of their stops was here in VA. So we invited them to my little birthday bash, along with Tashia, Leslie, and Sarah! We had a little dinner & the boys played us some of their stellar songs by the lake as the sun was setting, followed by a nighttime walk at the beach.

Stephen Gordon:

Adam Agin:

The next morning we had a fun photoshoot in the hotel parkinglot & then at pancakes at Ihop before saying goodbye to the boys.

We took Becky to the mall & she went on a mini shopping spree before we dropped her off at the airport. It's so sad saying goodbye to friends who live so far away. I can't wait for more adventures in the future!

The last week of Busch Gardens' summer concert series featured Tobymac, Brandon Heath, & Mandisa... so we hitched a ride to Williamsburg with our friend Delia, her brother, and friend.

These photos are courtesy of Sarah, because it was SO crowded that Monika & I couldn't see a thing, due to being wee in stature.

We spent a day at the delightful Dowdy household when Tashia's marvelous Mexican boyfriend, Josué was in town. He made us an amazing meal: enfrijoladas. DEELICIOUS. we watched WallE & played wii for hours. Tashia & Josué are hula hooping extradordinaires.

I FINALLY got some hair hacked off after a year of letting it grow wild & free. I got five inches cut off and looked 5 years old for a couple of weeks.

Monika got her hair cut too.

We stumbled upon this glorious red & white chair in the mall & it reminded us of Jason Perry from Plus One.

Yet another fab Busch Gardens adventure was had with Leslie & Sarah. We rode every single ride in the park several times until our hearts were content and our heads were spinning.

Riding coasters are a stress reliever for me. LOVE it.

One of the most epic moments of my summer/life was the night we met Tyler Burkum! Monika & I have been waiting to meet him for YEARS. Each time we saw Audio Adrenaline, we were never able to meet him. We hung outside the NorVA until midnight, since he is touring with Mat Kearney, and finally after a decade, met Ty; and a glorious conversation we had! I felt honored that he know who we were before we officially met!

While waiting outside the venue, we made a new friend, Annie, who was filming an audition video. [She was going to submit her video to the local Face of Fox competition, coincidentally, we knew two of the finalists who made it into the top ten!] She was a such a doll & I hope we run into her again.

After running into Leslie at the gym, one afternoon... we spontaneously decided to meet for some delicious Skinny Dip & then played baseball in her street. I felt like i was 10 years old, but it was amaaaazing.

We got caught in summer downpour while on the road. Thunder after lightning... that's the way storms go.

We spent July 4th with the Kellers, as usual... since this is our Independence day tradition. Balderdash is the game of the century! our favourite. good times indeed.