So, July has been a pretty busy and fun month. Lots of exciting things happened, like seeing the workers at Costco wear elf ears, to celebrate Christmas in July.
I feel pretty bad for neglecting my blog. Like, I've majorly neglected it. It seems that writing two articles a week for my internship (articles like this), on top of running around and doing stuff, generally fills my writing craving for the week. So, I will try to summarize my summer in this one post.
To start off the month of July, I went down to Houston on July 3rd, and spent a week there with my grandparents and relatives. For several years, my grandma has had July 4th be everyone's birthday. The whole family gets together, exchanges cards and gifts, and then it's not such a big deal if you forget someone's birthday later on in the year. This was the first year I went down there to participate, and it was fun. I will probably try to head down to Houston in future summers, mainly because it's a great reason to see family, and July 4th is a holiday, so it's pretty plausible.
I then came back and celebrated my birthday with my family and boyfriend. I spent most of the weekend hanging out, watching movies, and playing board games. I'm pretty chill like that.
But, I did turn 21 on July 12th, so my sister bought me my first legal drink. She is a pretty fun person, and spending time with her has definitely been a positive side of me spending the summer at my mom's house in DFW.
#crazysistersatfunkybajascantina
I spent the next week, the 14th through the 18th, out in Lubbock. It may sound strange, but Lubbock is my home. Not only do I spend the majority of my year out there, but most of my friends stay/live there year round and it just feels right when I return.
Anyhow, I went to Wild West that Thursday, and it was the first time I didn't have to get the giant Xs (well, usually hearts) on my hands, and I got the 21+ wrist band. Exciting stuff. I had to buy a drink, of course, because it was my 21st birthday week. So, I asked for something strong and fruity. Man, drinks are expensive! (But they're also pretty yummy. . . especially when they're fruity and strong.)
Since I'm such a party person, I only had that one drink at Wild West, and my friends and I left around midnight. The next morning, I drove back to DFW to make the final meeting with my mission trip to mexico team. . . .
Somehow, the phrase "mission trip to Mexico" always makes me think of this song:
It's been years since I last listened to those old, Christian CDs, but this is just one of those iconic songs, I guess. Is it stuck in your head now?
So, that Sunday, July 20th, we got up early, piled into vans, and drove down to Reynosa, Mexico. That week was a blast. The team was filled with great people, and we were able to interact with fantastic people in Mexico.
Our sports outreach team had 60 teens participate, the VBS team had 280 children show up, the Bible Study had 35 ladies attend, and the medical team was able to provide eye care to several people.
We stayed at Big Heart Orphanage for the week, and we were able to hang out with the kids there, which was lots of fun. One of the girls was pretty upset that we were leaving so soon (possibly because I had the magic phone which played the VBS songs we sang and danced to every day), but was pretty ecstatic when I told her I was planning to come back in December with the house building team. That is one promise I really can't break now.
We drove back to the U.S. on Saturday, the 26th, and I've been chilling this week. I was actually pretty sick for a few days, all congested and coughing and headaches, and all that fun stuff. I had started losing my voice on Wednesday, it was really bad on Friday, and it's taken almost a week to get to get it back. That was mostly just annoying when I would try to sing, and nothing would come out. Singing is a part of my life (I start singing randomly without thinking about it, if there's no music to distract me), so that was lots of fun (sarcasm).
My boyfriend finished his 7-month internship last week, so we were able to hang out some this week, which was great. I think we watched six hours of Sherlock on Wednesday, and then we played board games with my brother and his girlfriend yesterday (Thursday) evening.
Today, August begins, and July is a fun month of the past. I also finally got motivated to write this overly long blog post. You are welcome.
A fan of July (and Christmas),
The Purple Writer
