Visit from Shannon!

Shannon was in town a few weekends ago to tour Xavier & hangout with me! Friday I snuck them in to all the buildings on campus and even showed them the new pizza ATM. Saturday we did typical fall things, brunched, went to the cutest pumpkin patch (which had $1 wine tastings for 5 wines!!!), devoured tacos at Bakersfield & went to Muskie Madness (the kickoff of Xavier basketball). I'd say the weekend was quite a success! 

Oh Hey Blog!

So I completely abandoned by blog for several months....but I have a few great excuses of why!

First, I was studying insane amounts for my boards! My life was seriously so boring for a good 3 months--every free second I had, I was studying. Thankfully, it all paid off! I passed both my state and federal exams on the first try! It is very rare for someone to pass both on the first try, usually one or the other. Ever since those stressful exams ended, my life has gotten 10x better. I was promoted to Associate Administrator at my facility and have been loving it!

After I passed my boards, the next week I was off to Europe! A trip of a lifetime that I seriously think about pretty much everyday since I've been back. If I had the opportunity to go back tomorrow, I would. If you hear of any European nursing homes looking for an administrator, let me know....This trip will have a few posts of its own once I get the motivation to write all about it.

Once I got back from Europe, I was in a bad car accident that totaled my car...no my car did not look like what you are probably imagining but enough damage for them not to repair it. I was fine, only have scars from the airbag burns. Being the creature of habit that I am, I ended up buying the same exact car, in the same exact color. But hey, I loved that car so I am happy to have it back. The week after my accident, I had a work conference to attend in Columbus all week so I looked hilarious with my hands all wrapped trying to network and shake people's hands (I looked like I took up boxing as a sport, not to mention I was in a ton of pain when someone would actually shake my hand). I got a few laughs when people believed my story that my accident actually occurred on the autobahn in Germany, not a residential street in Cincinnati...

Trying to recreate a "Hugo"--drink I fell in love with in Germany.

Summer has officially arrived in Cincinnati, all 97 degrees of it...

Schwaben joke from Germany.

My people.

Drunk Stephanie in action.

Since being back in the US, I was able to spend Memorial Day with my family back home which was so nice. The following weekend my two best friends from out of town were in Cincinnati!! Javier came in from Colombia and Kacie was in town from Boston! Our mini reunion made me so happy-that weekend did not last long enough.

Just a quick update on what has been going on. I am going to try and be better with writing on here. I have a ton to write about Europe, so be prepared!!!

Far from Nashville...

I took a weekend trip up to visit Shelby at her college a few weeks ago. I was excited to see her & her new apartment, but Terre Haute, Indiana....well, there is not much going on. We deiced to take a day trip to Nashville, Indiana on Saturday. The small town was about 2 hours south of Terre Haute, and someone at work told me it was a mini Gatlinburg, just without the mountains. So my expectations were high and we decided to check it out!

 The drive was SO pretty! It was the perfect time of year to drive down some country roads. When we finally arrived to the town, it was packed! (the people there were very interesting...and thought this place was the best place ever) I think everyone in Indiana and Kentucky decided to visit that weekend. After finally finding a parking spot, we decided to walk around. The sidewalks were so packed you could barely move. The old buildings/cabins were so neat, but once you have been in one country store, you really have been in them all. Not to mention, Shelby hates tourist shopping, so it was pure torture for her. Therefore, there was not much shopping for us. I wanted to pick up a bottle of wine, but the two wineries were packed and you had to do a wine tasting first before buying so that didn't happen. 

The visit was short lived because, quite honestly, it was too crowded, the stores weren't stores we were interested in and it started to rain...We stopped at this brewery for lunch but were told that it would be 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours to get a seat so we went up to the bar and had crappy salads and breadsticks because that was all they offered. We did stop at Indiana University's campus on the drive back, it is beautiful!!!! All in all, the drive & catching up with Shelby was the best part and next time, we will be visiting the REAL Nashville. Although Nashville did not live up to our expectations, it is always fun getting out to explore!