Dayton: Monthly recap

February: I arrived home in Dayton but didn't stay put for long. I traveled to Chicago for the long President's Day weekend to reunite with some of my JVC housemates/my cross-country road trip gals. We had a blast catching up, visiting Chicago hot-spots (although it was freezing!), and kept things simple by all sleeping in Jacqueline's studio apartment. It had been 6 months since we had seen one another and we had the best time hanging out! And then, at the end of February my college best friend, Emily came to visit Ohio and we enjoyed a relaxing weekend (prolonged due to flight changes) and played the strategic yet oh-so-fun Settlers of Catan board game more than 10 times!

March: I was settling into a state of "decompressing" at home. It was the first time in over 10 years that I had not had work or school to report to and it gave me time to process not only my time in Liberty but also the end of JVC and what I had learned at SLU. I was able to visit with family and friends in the area and then took another weekend trip to St. Louis over St. Patrick's Day to meet up with Sam (one of my Liberty co-workers). I was able to show off my favorite city and the weather was perfect for walks around Forest Park and the Arch. Also, I lead some retreats at Bergamo Center and enjoyed working with the high school juniors that came through retreats.

April: During April, I continued to work on making plans to visit Australia (the next "big chapter") while hanging out with family and friends. I was babysitting, leading a few more retreats, going to the farmer's market downtown and even spent a special evening helping one of my best friends shop for her wedding dress! Perhaps you have seen our group blog, A Whole Pan of Brownies, but we are a very close group of six from grade/high school and the first one is getting married next summer and we are all bridesmaids....dreams come true! Easter brought together my mom's side of the family and we enjoyed a delicious meal at my Grandpa's nursing home.