Edit: I went back and added a few entries about notable events. Enjoy!

Okay, so sorry I haven't written in a while. Wow. I can't even think back on what all has happened to recount it all now. That's what happens with me, I get in a good writing habit for a while. Then I miss one thing I want to write about but don't have the time so I don't write anything else new thinking I'll get back to writing about that and get back on track.... Then a month goes by and I find myself explaining my absence.

Ahem, that being said, hi. I plan on doing better. I always do. :)

Not a whole lot happened really that was so exciting. More of the same... work, online classes, applying for jobs, and hanging out with Blake. It's crazy to think that the summer is already wrapping up. Wednesday will be my last day at work, and Kathleen is flying up here that night. She hasn't been up here in about 10 years - when she was 7, I guess. So, we're going to spend Thursday and Friday hanging out in DC or seeing whatever she wants to see. This Saturday we're starting the drive home. I'm fairly certain we can do it in 2 days with just one major stop in Nashville. That'll get us home Sunday night, which I'm really looking forward to.

Other than that, I'm just getting details ironed out for my class schedule and housing this fall. I'm excited that I got things moved around so I'll only be taking one class at UCO now, and I'm taking a class with Prof. Smith at OC instead. He's pretty cool, so I'm looking forward to that class for sure now.

I'm also living with Hippie Hanlon and his wife, Elsa, this fall. I really enjoy living in houses as compared to apartments, so I'm looking forward to moving into my room there too. I just need to find out what furniture they have or will have for me - if any. I have some time to get what I need, I just need to know what I need to be on the lookout for.

That's about it for now. Wrapping up another 3 months of my life to move on to the next 3-ish months. I've pretty much mastered the art of juggling how far ahead I can really worry about, but I'm so ready for graduation and having a little more consistency in my life. Of course, that is assuming that when I graduate I find a job that offers more consistency than my life has had these past 4.5 years. I quite literally have not lived in the same place for more than 4 months in 5 years. Maybe I'll get bored with it. I think it'll be a new kind of exciting to have regular activities that I do or places I go to hang out pretty often.

Anyway, I'll write some other time about my dreams of the future. For now I have enough planning and juggling to get me through August to worry about. I'll pick up that dream in September. :)

I had dinner with Blake Wednesday. I just went over to his apartment, and he cooked for us. It was really good - Costco Eggplant Parmesan and 3 minute mashed potatoes. :) Then we went on a walk around a trail near his place. It was fun watching the fireflies and making up our route as we went, trying to decide if we were allowed to build fires or not. Not right then, just for future reference, of course. Haha! Then on the way back, we came across a deer! It was pretty big too, and we weren't very far from it when we saw it. We'd been walking and talking and suddenly we stopped and watched it as it took it's time walking away into the woods. Pretty cool!

Every time I'm with Blake I learn a little bit more about him, and it's been really fun so far. As always, can't wait until next time :)

Ten Things I Wish I Could Say to Ten Different People:
1. If you're trying to impress me, you're going about it all wrong.
2. I know it's your goal and within your reach, so why aren't you going for it?
3. Just letting it go would be much easier than this act you put on.
4. I wish I knew the right words to show you the truth.
5. You might think of me as a sister, but I don't think of you that way.
6. I'm pretty sure I can't trust you the same anymore.
7. I'm only doing this to keep the peace.
8. The times you do call almost make up for all the times you don't.
9. Stop measuring yourself in relationships and be happy being you.
10. I hope you can see how much better off you are now even though things didn't turn out as planned.

Nine Things About Me:
1. I'm way more introverted than I let on.
2. I fall too hard, too fast.
3. I stay up way too late at night.
4. There are things I've closed myself off to so much I can't cry about it when I want to.
5. Graduating doesn't scare me as much as not graduating does.
6. I truly want to live in the UK at some point in my life.
7. I honestly believe I can will myself to never have Depression.
8. Being recognized isn't nearly as important to be as making a positive impact.
9. I wish I was more organized.

Eight Ways To Win My Heart:
1. Love God
2. Make me laugh
3. Do small things to show you care
4. Impress me with your intelligence
5. Dream of foreign adventures with me
6. Be honest, even if it hurts
7. Show kindness to everyone else around you
8. Be patient

Seven Things That Cross My Mind All The Time:
1. I miss Pac Rim
2. I love Coldplay
3. Hmm, Career... Go abroad... Career... Go abroad....
4. I should get ahead on my homework. Oh, look, I'm behind.
5. Is this really what I want to do with my life?
6. I wish I had some kind of view from my cubicle.
7. I wonder what I'd be doing now if I had...... (this part varies)

Six Things I Do Before I Fall Asleep:
1. Check my email
2. Put forth a weak effort at tidying up
3. Brush my teeth
4. Search for the best pillow arrangement
5. Try to read for a while
6. Turn out the light

Five People (or groups of people) Who Mean A Lot:
1. Mom
2. Family
3. Lindsay
4. Pac Rimmers
5. Lambda

Four Things You Love Wearing:
1. Jeans
2. Tank tops
3. No shoes
4. Sunscreen

Three Songs You Listen To Often:
1. Yellow by Coldplay
2. 22 by Lily Allen
3. Why Do You Let Me Stay Here by She & Him

Two Things You Want To Do Before You Die:
1. Live in the UK
2. Change someone's life for good

One Confession:
1. One of my biggest fears is that I'll never let myself take the risks I need to in order to really enjoy life like I want to.

Originally, Blake had talked about going into DC to see the fireworks for the 4th, but instead a coworker of his, Andrew, invited the guys he works with to a 4th of July barbecue at his house. We've both seen the DC fireworks, so we decided to go see what this party was all about. When we got there, Andrew and his wife said they were expecting anywhere from 30 to 300 people to show up! Apparently he's been putting together a 4th of July party at his house every year for the past 20+ years!! It was a big mix of people that we mostly had never met before, but everyone of all ages had a great time watching the live band, lighting firecrackers, or hanging out inside.

We started out watching the music outside, but after a while we moved inside to find Blake's roommates, Matt and Josh, who also came. They had found the one other guy they work with, so we all hung out for a while watching the Return of the Jedi with the occasional trivia and opinions about each movie. It's been a while since I'd seen any of them, so it was fun enjoying an "American classic" on our nation's birthday. At one point Blake left to talk to someone outside he knew, and a lady came in joking about the geeks outside talking about things she didn't understand. Hahaha! How cute.

Around 9 or so, the Fairfax City fireworks started up, and we had a great view of them while sitting on the lawn at Andrew's house. It was just a really fun, relaxing day overall, and I had so much fun again hanging out with Blake and joking around with Matt and Josh.

Besides Virginia's personal attack on me with it's allergens, I had a pretty nice day off today. It's almost crazy to think about how much I did today.

I got a very slow start today as my allergies were keeping me down most of the morning. They hadn't bothered me at all this summer yet, so I thought I was in the clear. Wrong. Yesterday I started sneezing a lot, and by this morning I was in allergy city. Of course I was too lazy to go get some allergy medicine, so I mostly just decided that as long as I had the day off anyway and not much that I had to accomplish, I'd just sleep it off. I also hoped that this would help my sleep schedule get back to normal, and I think it just might have worked!

Around lunch time I gave Blake a call to work out plans for the 4th. He had mentioned going into DC, but then a coworker invited everyone he works with to a big 4th of July party at his house in Fairfax. So now that's the plan. :) Neither of us was doing much so he invited me to come over if I felt up to it. I figured it was about time I did something about my allergies, so I went to the drug store for some medicine and went to hang out for a little while.

Meanwhile, Lindsay called to invite me to go to dinner in DC with her, a friend from Future Leaders, and some other friends of her friend from Liberty University. After going to Blake's I went to Lindsay's new place, and we picked up Morgan to head to the metro. We all immediately got along great telling lots of stories and taking pictures to record Morgan's adventures in buying her own metro ticket. We promised to take lots of pictures throughout the night, and we did a great job of keeping up with that. We met up with the rest of the group - Aaron, Tim, Rob, and Kendra - and went to Union Station for dinner at Uno's. As we stopped to pray before eating I realized that no matter where you are, you can always find amazing, Christian people to hang out and have fun with. After dinner we walked to the mall, planning to just walk along it from the Capital to the Washington Monument. When we got to the Capital, there was a huge crowd with a concert going on - a rehearsal for the 4th celebrations. So we hung around for a little bit to listen to Aretha Franklin and Barry Manilow before walking farther where we saw the cannons firing. We walked down past the Washington Monument to the World War 2 Memorial, and it was just beautiful to see all of those places lit up at night. Then we walked and walked and walked some more to find a metro and finally found Faragut West. I say this just to remember how far we walked. :)

All in all, today was a very long but rewarding day. Tomorrow should be fun too since I'll be spending the evening with Blake and his work friends and watching fireworks at night. I think this weekend will turn out to be one of the best out of the entire summer.

Friday marked the end of one of my summer classes, so it was nice to have some time this weekend to finally relax a little bit. I had good intentions for Saturday to clean up around my room, but in the end I kind off took the day off. Sunday was fun because not only did I spend the day meeting new people and eating great food, but Lindsay is finally in town!!

Blake had told me that he was putting together a bar-b-que for some friends at his place, so Sunday afternoon I headed over there. The weather wasn't the most ideal for an outdoor get-together, but we ended up having a lot of fun. Most of the people there were people he worked with, and two girls came also who are girlfriends of some of the guys he works with. The guys all packed up the food to take out to the grill while the girls decided we were fine with waiting inside. The food was all delicious, and the company was really fun to be around. I really enjoyed getting to meet some more of the people Blake hangs out with all the time.

From Blake's house, I went over to Frontline church service at the McLean Bible Church to see Lindsay! She's doing a one-year internship with the church, and she just got into town on Saturday. Her host mom lives in Reston, which is really close to me so hopefully we'll get to spend some time together this summer before I head back to college. I loved seeing her mom and sister, Natalie, again, and it was fun meeting some of the people Natalie worked with this past year and who Lindsay will be working with as well now. It's always nonstop laughter when there are Bingies involved, and they definitely did not disappoint!

This is a continuation of my last post, so if you haven't read that... do that now.

Okay, now that you're up to speed, we'll continue.

I had a kind of rough day at work today. I was confused and frustrated and tired from being at work all day, so when I got home I put everything aside, threw on my Snow White dress and joined Bailey and Brylee for some quality princess playing time. It's always so fun to watch them, and I try very hard to keep up with them. I didn't (still don't) have much of an imagination growing up, and they just amaze me with their ability to make up stories on the fly. Sometimes that's just as much work for me to follow as my programming assignments at work in languages I don't know. Haha, anyway, after dinner I headed back up to my room to finally settle in for some homework time.

That's when I checked my phone to see if I had any missed calls or texts, not really expecting anything. But yes! A missed call! And a message.... It was Blake saying hi, hoping I had a good day at work, and was wondering if I'd like to see a movie sometime this week. :) I called back, and we decided to see Up on Wednesday after work. Awesome! I'd been wanting to see that, and of course hearing from Blake was exciting!

>>Fast forward through the work/homework routine to Wednesday evening.

We ended up meeting up near the theatre to get kabobs for dinner before the movie. Neither of us had been there before so we asked the guy at the counter what he liked. The guy next to him had a great sense of humor and told us that guy #1 liked HIM, but sadly he was not available. Haha! We got our food and talked more before heading over to the movie.

For anyone who has not seen Up, it is a great movie, and I will definitely be buying that one when it comes out. It's sad, funny, and altogether adorable. I'd say it was probably one of the best picks for a first date - or second date, I suppose. :)

The rest of this week has been absolutely chaotic in my life. Today was the last day of my Western Civ class (HOORAY!) and a test day in my APE class. The only way I could get everything done just for classes was to take today off from work. I haven't heard from Blake since the movie, but he mentioned having a bar-b-que at his apartment Sunday, so I think I'll give him a call tomorrow to see how those plans are coming together and explain my recent hermit-like activity.

Ok, so here's the post my mom wanted me to write... Honestly, I'm somewhat ashamed to be writing this and still seriously shocked at my mom's reaction when I told her about it. That being said...

This past semester, my friend Tracy and I joined an online dating site. As a joke. At 3am. Out of boredom.

*sigh* There's just no cool way to say that.

Alright, now that you think...whatever you think...I'll tell the tale of my bike riding date. Without explaining all the ins and outs of online dating, I received a message from a guy about a week ago. Now, messages are quite varied in content. For emphasis, I'll go hunt down some random ones I've gotten:

you look like a fun girl. You actually travel instead of just claiming to like to travel, you go sky diving... I'm curious, why are you interested in moving to the UK?

Hello, I'm a professional male from Reston, Va. I'm a laid back down to earth kinda guy. Was wondering whether you would like to chat and see what spurs up.

ill be really honest, i didnt even read your profile, you seemed cute enough to msg, hi there :)

For the most part, the guys are nice and I'll at least message back to say hi, but for the most part, I find myself to be pretty picky. And I don't see anything wrong with that. I'm really not in a good position to date long-term right now anyway, but it's nice to chat and get to know people all the same. With messages anyway, there is always that underlying tone that can make things awkward sometimes. I mean...obviously...we're on a dating site. So, what are we looking for? Well, dating I suppose. :) Then this past week I got a message, that was truly the sweetest I'd ever gotten. (And I told him that, Haha) Blake...we'll call him Blake...mostly because his name is Blake... wrote this:

Good luck with your cs degree, wow you've done awesome things! Keep it up.

:) How sweet. Of course it was getting close to 1am by the time I finished my homework and saw it, and I knew I couldn't stay up any later but I had to at least respond. So I thanked him for his sweet message and hoped we could talk soon.

We did. A couple times, just talking about work (both in the tech world), being out in this area (he's from California), our college experiences, and hobbies. I mentioned that I really enjoyed biking every now and then, and he told me about the W&OD Trail. In fact he was going the next day, and I should join him! :) So, of course...I did!

Let me pause here to say that when I say I enjoy biking, it's because it is a freeing experience for me to get away by myself, feel the wind on my face, and go wherever I feel like going for no other reason than because I want to.

About a half mile into our biking trip, Blake told me his biking distance record was 100 miles. Ah, sheesh.

But we had a lot of fun. :) We started in Herndon and headed west, away from DC. Along the way, we talked for about half the time which was nice for getting to know each other. In Ashburn we stopped at a place with picnic tables for bikers to chill at and took a breather then hopped back on the trail heading home. Overall, I was really impressed with myself, and only about the last...2ish miles was I really slowing down and getting worn out.

In the end, we got back to his apartment and chilled on the couch talking to his roommates drinking lots of water. It was fun, but at that point we were past being able to make good impressions on each other. Haha! When I left, I really wasn't sure how he felt, and while I hoped he'd call me back...I didn't want to get my hopes up. No matter what it was a great day, and I felt great having pushed myself to go those 15 miles. Blake is a really nice guy, and it was a fantastic way to spend a Sunday afternoon and to meet for the first time. :)