Tribute to 2011

In light of it being New Year's Eve, I would like to recap what an amazing year I've had and thank all those who were part of it and made it so great!

In  2011 I...

• Played D league intramural ice hockey at OSU and slammed someone against the boards

• Dyed my hair brunette temporarily

• Set up Valentine's speed-dating fundraiser for a charitable organization
• Met and became friends with the guy I'm now dating.

• Bought my first car, a Toyota Yaris which I love.

• Took on debt and realize that I'm a big girl. 
• Turned 23

• Became Local Committee President of AIESEC OSU, worked my ass off, worked with wonderful and motivated people, contributed to a meaningful organization, and got them many steps closer to their goal

• Was in possession of the AIESEC Rowdie ball for most of my term

• Dyed a strand of my hair purple
• Had a 9 month internship with LimitedBrands' Victoria's Secret, worked on neat projects, helped drive national and international business, and worked with an amazing, supportive team.
• Got to go to the LimitedBrands sample sale and made an absolute HAUL of their awesome products
• Wrapped up my position as Marketing and Fundraiser Chair of Rotaract at Ohio State

• Celebrated Bridget getting married with some of the best girls I've met in college

• Senior Facilitated my 6th HOBY Youth Leadership seminar and had an awesome Junior Facilitator and  a bomb group! Love you Brown Bear

• Went to a Mudhens game in Toledo with HOBY and was reunited with my great group and friends

• Spent 4th of July rooftop in downtown Columbus to watch the fireworks with some kick-ass friends

• Went to a Clippers game with BA that got rained out but still had an awesome time.

• Went out on a breakfast date with a NYPD cop. 
• Participated in countless fundraisers with LimitedBrands for Pelotonia including getting pictures with the Angel wings

• Rode 102 miles on a bike from Columbus to Athens for Pelotonia and raised $2300 with One Goal: End Cancer

• Moved out of my first apartment which was lovely and comfortable for two years of my college experience.
• Went to the Katy Perry Concert with my cousin Katie. 

• Went skydiving with my Dad.

• Celebrated Thanksgiving with Mike and his family.
• Got matched to a traineeship through AIESEC to work with a beer brewery in Panama. 
• Graduated from THE Ohio State University with a BSBA specializing in International Business and Human Resources and a BA in Spanish. 

• Wrecked my first car by hitting a Raccoon, still waiting on what all work it needs
• Celebrated Christmas late because my mom was flying with her new job.
• Thanks to my cousin, Dan, found out that one of my great grandfathers was captain of the Mayflower.  

In 2011 I traveled to:

• Pewaukee Wisconsin by car with my mom to visit my dad and got to go ice fishing

• Miami, OH to visit with AIESEC friends and catch up
• Chicago, IL for the Winter Regional conference for AIESEC
• Washington DC for Cherry Blossom Festival with AIESEC in my new car

• New York City for National Presidents' Meeting with AIESEC where I fell in love with 43+ leaders who are changing the world and I couldn't believe that I was one of them

• Atwood Lake, OH to Alyssa's lakehouse and a relaxing and fun-filled weekend with great sailing friends

• New York City for a weekend to visit Mintai

• Chicago, IL for AIESEC's Summer National Conference with a bowling ball and visited my dad and cousin Trevor afterward in Chicago. 

• The Upper Peninsula of Michigan and stayed in cabins on the lake with 11 hilarious people
• Hamburg, Germany to visit Hanne from AIESEC Seattle who was on an AIESEC internship there and got to see everything wonderful in the city in 4 days

• Indianapolis, IN for sales training for my members of AIESEC

• Atlanta, GA with my newly elected successor for AIESEC's fall National Presidents Meeting to begin transition

• Logansport, IN for fall RoKS with AIESEC

• Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands

• San Francisco for the first time for AIESEC's Winter National Conference

I am so grateful to everyone who made all these things possible. Thank you to those who are making my life so worth while. 

My mom, dad, grandparents, family, and many, many friends along the way. If you were involved in anything mentioned above, thank you!

Graduation Present

For my graduation present, my parents wanted to finally take advantage of my mom's flight perks and go somewhere as a family. My vote was for Mexico so we could have warmth, a beach, and maybe see some ruins since I've been studying them so long. First destination was Cancun, second was Acapulco.

Unfortunately my dad only had enough vacation days left for Christmas, so on Saturday the 17th my mom and I hopped on a plane and made it down to Houston. From there, we were on the standby list down to Cancun and ended up getting bumped from 3 flights. At that point we started looking at other options but every single flight to anywhere coastal in Mexico was overbooked by like 8 people. Who knew so many people travel there right before Christmas? Either way, we switched gears and hopped on a plane to Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands.

We got in just before sunset and headed to the Comfort Suites, right by the water. The first night was low key; drinks at the hotel bar and dinner at the Guy Harvey restaurant. We shared the Red Snapper, Cayman style. Yummm.

Day two we woke up, got breakfast and headed down to see what the water was like. What was initially a brief look at the perfect blue water turned into a 2 hr beach stroll without sunscreen and we both got a little pink. But it was worth it.

First walk on the beach!

Our Hotel

Cool floating table I want to make!

That afternoon we hopped on a "bus" to the northern end of the peninsula to the Green Sea Turtle Farm. We went expecting to see a few turtles but man were we plesently suprised! The first area we walked up to was their breeding lake with a beach adjacent to it. They had over 400 adult turtles 20-45 years old in there and all about 3-4 ft in length. It was packed and they were so big!

Already impressed. we started wandering around this big lake area, and one of the tour guides came up to chat with us. Because the place was having a slow day (no cruise ships at port) he guided us around the whole place. He took us other to the handling ponds and showed us every age from 5-7 months up to 3 years. After those ages, we couldn't really hold any because they'd be too big. He also showed us one name "Sparky," the oldest at the farm, who had laid over 100,000 eggs in her day! All in all, it was an awesome experience to visit the facility. They even had additional attraction that we didn't pay to see like a snorkel lagoon to swim with turtles and other fish plus a window into the predator tank and a water-park for the whole family.

    

Mom and I both really loved the patterns on the backs of the turtles at their different ages. They were so pretty and unique. Plus the designs on the backs on their heads and fins were neat too. The surprise at the end of our little tour was awesome. They brought our a bucket of the babies hatched over the summer so they were all about 5-7 weeks old and so cute!

 

That night we watched the sunset on the beach in front of our hotel and wound up in the hot tub. There we met a family who had just landed and were getting excited about all their plans for the week. We told them that we were going snorkeling in the morning and they decided to join us.

The next day we woke up, ate breakfast with our new friends, rented gear and a car and headed to one of the beaches. The great thing about the Cayman islands is that the reefs are only about 100 ft off the beach so you can swim out and all the wildlife is nice and shallow. You can see everything or swim down and get a closer view without actually scuba diving.

My proud moment of the trip was finally learning how to pop my ears. I had to do it while sky diving a few weeks ago so i got my confidence up. I was always scared to do it but now i can finally learn how to scuba! and to think that was the only thing holding me back from doing it.

Halfway through the day it started to rain so we snorkeled a while longer then called it a day and went into town for lunch and shopping. Again all shops were open but not busy because no ship were in. We got went to one of the many jewelry stores and just had some fun trying things on. I found the gift i'm going to give myself after a few years of working. A gorgeous right hand ring in the shape of two leaves as pictured here. In LOVE with this ring!

At night we decided to take a drive around part of the island and go out to Rum Point. On the way we got some Jerk Chicken from a roadside stand and stopped at an outlook on the south side of the island. Rum point was quiet but very beautiful and would be tons of fun during the day.

Our final day we got up early and went snorkeling again before we had to have the car back. We went to this little cove and swam around for a while but there wasn't much to see under the water. So we hopped in the car and went to Cemetery beach which had a great close reef. Plus it was sunny again and was perfect snorkeling. I totally need an underwater camera.


The rest of the day we spent on the beach and flew out later that day. All in all a great mini vacation with my mom!