Updates before Summer!

Hey!

So it's been a while since I last posted, but wanted to make sure that I posted something before heading out to summer camp. The last two months have flown by SO FAST! I can't believe it's two weeks before the school year is over, and there's still so much to do.

So I left the blog saying that I had gone to the Buffalo Zoo at the end of February. March was pretty good. . .I went to see one of my best friends named Scott in Vermont, which was great. I was able to see him on his birthday (YAY!) and also spent some quality time with him. It was nice being on the farm, relaxing, and doing chores. Plus we played a really cool game called Quirkle, which I will more than likely buy at some point haha I also learned how to make cheese curds from scratch, which was WAY cool!

Early April, I went to Wisconsin to visit some friends I hadn't seen in a long time. I visited Mitch and Suzannah, great close friends of mine. We all worked together for a while at Crex and it was so GREAT to see them! Mitch is getting married next year, and I'm super pumped that he's happy with Britt! Suzannah is doing great too, and I loved spending time with them both! I was also able to see Chelsea, a good friend of mine that attended Northland with me. She just had a baby and he is such a cutie! I really wanted to see this little bundle of joy, as he is the most important thing in Chelsea's life now. So I had to meet the competition haha JK.

On my way back to Buffalo, I met with Mav as well -- who was a good friend of mine at Northland as well. She lives in the Chicago area, and it was great to spend a little bit of time catching up with her as well, especially since we hadn't talked in a long time.

It was just really great to see a bunch of people that I really love and care for, and was so glad I was able to make it out on that trip.

Lately, I've been preparing for summer camp and working, but I've also been spending some time outdoors -- well, as much as I am able to. I recently went hiking to Zoar Valley, which is this really cool park that has a creek running through a gorge. Definitely a cool Western New York park to visit (I want to visit it again sometime soon)! I ran the Bully Free 5K at Lorraine Elementary, to support the bully-free program at one of the schools I work at. I went to the Lilac Festival in Rochester NY to celebrate the arrival of spring and flowers. Spent some time at Canalside with my friend Taharra, and a few of her family members -- soaking up the sun in the first really nice day before summer starts. And finally, I went home Memorial Day weekend to see some family, which was especially nice since I hadn't seen them in over 5 months. And finally, I went to a Northland College alumni event here in Western NY - who knew that a small college in Northern Wisconsin would have alumni here? It's so far away from where we all were, and that's crazy! But awesome at the same time! So I've been here, there, and everywhere I guess. It didn't seem that much, but now that I am writing this all down, it is A LOT!

Anyways, summer camp season starts soon. And I'll be even more busy than I am right now. I. AM. PUMPED! Enjoy the pictures I posted below!

This is my friend Scott watering the seedlings in the Greenhouse. Lots of healthy looking plants here! 

My friend Scott peeling an egg to go with dinner. YUM!

The cheese curds I made! With help from Scott, of course! These cheese curds were going to come home with me, but I accidentally left them in Vermont. Scott ate them for me so that it wouldn't go to waste. I think it was planned all along.

The two people to the right of me are Mitch and Suzannah! They're such great people and I miss them so much!! The woman to the right of Mitch is Suzannah's friend, and she was super nice! She brought a board game over to Suzannah's house that was really fun! And Arbor the dog was pretty cool too! We ate brunch at the Delta Diner, which is world-famous. Definitely a diner out in the woods!

We went on a hike on the North Country trail, near Mirror Lake in the Chequamegon Forest. As you can see, it was definitely still snowy and wintery in upper Wisconsin, the complete opposite of where I had come from in Buffalo.

My friend Chelsea with her baby Asher Channing. It was a kind of cold day out, so we wanted the baby bundled up. He was only a month old at this time! His birthday is March 14th!

The Northland-famous Mavrelis. It was great to eat dinner with her and chill in Chicago for a bit.

Shoot. I forgot I did this, but now am going to post this up. This is a really good friend of mine named Grace. We went hiking at Chestnut Ridge, a cool park in Western NY. It was a day hike, and we were hiking to the Eternal Flame, which is something that everyone in the Western NY area should see at some point. Just because it's a cool hike. And where else will you see a natural gas formation lit up?!?

Chestnut Ridge hiking can be pretty intense. You may or may not survive.

The group that hiked Chestnut Ridge. Can you see the Eternal Flame behind the waterfall??

Meetups and Exploring the ZOO!

So I'm not sure if any of you have heard of meetup.com. NO. It's not the dating website (although I think from time to time that it sounds like it). It is a friends-meet-and-enjoy-the-event site!

Meetup.com is a website and app that basically allows one person to invite people that are interested in going to an event so that he/she doesn't have to go by themselves and can enjoy other people's company. For instance, if say I wanted to go to the Buffalo Zoo -- all I would have to do is post an event (Going to the Buffalo Zoo for the day) and other people that are also interested in going to the Buffalo Zoo for that day and time can join me. It's a really cool website/app that gets people to know other people and have fun at various events in and around the city as well as in other places. Most larger cities have meetups, although there are some smaller towns here and there that may have a few groups in the area.

Anyways, the reason that I brought it up is that I've been going to several different Meetup events around Buffalo and have met cool people, but also have done cool things. One day, I volunteered with a group of people to set up food donation boxes that would be handed out to families that needed it at a local food bank. We ended up packing 225 boxes that were about 35 lbs each -- making it a total of 7,875 lbs of food packed by our group! Another time I played volleyball with a bunch of people at an indoor court. I've also gone to a lot of meet and greets -- where I meet people involved with a specific group and just talk to them. It's been really great.

I also went to the Buffalo Zoo at the end of February. The Zoo in Buffalo is I believe the third oldest zoo in the country, and is actually a lot nicer than some people in Buffalo said it was. There are a wide variety of creatures (not as much as the Detroit Zoo however) and they just opened the Arctic Exhibit a few months ago which has one polar bear cub currently housing it. The other polar bear cub was one that a friend of mine had taken care of at the Alaska Zoo before it was actually brought to Buffalo. I believe that cub was moved to a different zoo (no idea why though). So that was exciting seeing all the different animals.

Bills Game Extravaganza!!

So I realized I started this entry way back in January. . .and just never posted it. Hmmm. Sorry. That was my fault.

In early January, my roommates and I (along with our friend Grace) ended up going to a Bills game. If you've never been to a Buffalo Bills game, and especially one in the middle of winter, it's a whole 'nother world. I've never seen so many people out in the cold just hanging out and talking! It was really cool - literally and figuratively. It was also nice that someone near us ended up having a firepit. I think that's what kept my fingers and face from freezing.

All in all, it was a really fun day. Definitely one I recommend experiencing in the snow. Bills won that game too. It was all because we were there haha