Alone time is only lonely if you do not make it fun :-)

Hey everyone - hope you had a great weekend! As it is my last one here in the States, I did everything I could to make it the best...but, that proved kinda difficult when all day Saturday and Sunday (today) I spent with myself. Natalie went to Chicago for the weekend with her friend Steve from Detroit, and Katie and Patrick are visiting home.

Friday night was great - Natalie, Mark, Steve, and I all went to the Friday night soccer game. I did not play but did decide to go for a run around the neighborhood. About 15 minutes into my run, it started to rain! It felt so good, so I continued to run right through it...45 minutes later, soaking wet and sweaty, I ended back at the place I started, just as the soccer game ended. Definitely one of the best runs I have had in a while.

After shower and a little relaxation, Natalie and I went to The Backer, the place to be on Friday nights here in the Bend, particularly on football weekends. Although it was not as crowded as usual (students do not move in to the dorms until today), we had a great time. I saw a few guy friends that I have not seen in a while and also saw a group of SMC Chicks that live off-campus and were starting off their first weekend of senior year...fun times for everyone. Here in this posting I want to give a "shout out" to one of my girls Sarah Vabulas - Vab is usually at the Backer whenever I go and we always have a great time. Hey Vab - it was simply not the same without you, miss ya bunches! Here are a few pics I took from the night:

Natalie and Me, before we left for Backer













Awkward picture, hard to see, but this is a small SMC Chick reunion! Me with Sarah Wieber (we hung out a bunch this past year) and Catherine Wagner. Don't remember who the fourth person is who is half way in the picture - sorry!













Hahaha, this is me giving a "thumbs down" to a signed Silver Hawks jersey that hung on a wall at the Backer. We went to a Silver Hawks game (AAA team of South Bend) a few weeks ago and they were horrible! Now that I look at it, this is kinda mean...but whatev. :-)



















On Saturday, I was officially by myself as Natalie left earlier that morning. I bummed around all day, watching The Incredibles movie and reading outside. Around 10:00pm, I went to Nicole Boyd's going away party - she is leaving the Bend and moving to Phoenix, AZ to start a teaching position. Nicole's family has been so gracious to me over the four years at SMC and I even spent Thanksgiving dinner at their house freshman year. Nicole's party was fun, here are a few pics I took:

Nicole and Me, saying goodbye one last time













This is me with Heather Eich. As I leaving Nicole's party, Heather was driving in - I stopped in the middle of the street to say hi. It was soooo great to see her! Heather and I go back to Heather's freshman year and my sophomore year when hung out a bunch because we lived on the same floor of Regina Hall. Now Heather is a big SENIOR at SMC...my how time flies! Great to see you again Heather!













Thanks for the invite Nicole - best of luck and please keep in touch! After getting back to Moreau, I bumped into Nick and Kyle, two 24 year old seminarians that are way cool guys. They were watching Dodgeball and asked me to join - I had never seen the movie before, so I said "why not??" The movie was absolutely stupid and ridiculous...but was a lot of fun to watch because of the company I was with. Thanks guys for the invite :-)

And that's it for this weekend! Went to mass today at the Basilica and I am on my way to a picnic here at Moreau, complete with volleyball and a Hawaiian Ice stand, haha. Around 2:30ish, I am on my way to SMC again to visit Sr. Mary Elizabeth at the SMC Convent. My freshman year, I was assigned to visit Sr. Mary Elizabeth through the Friends to Sisters program, but continued my visits with her over my four years at SMC. I know it will be sad for both of us to say goodbye.

Have a great Sunday all - tomorrow will be my last post before I leave for South America on Tuesday morning!!