It's been a while...

So this post doesn't have much to do with anything that's been going on in my life lately. If you want to know about my life for most of this semester, I'll show you my PR Organizations plan book for the Jabberwock Review! You should really buy a copy-- I highly recommend it!


Anyway, this post has more to do with something God reminded of me last week when I was on my way to take my younger sister to get her hair cut. See, I'm weird about trying to look "presentable" when I go to get a haircut because I feel like if I go to a salon with my hair looking bad, the stylist who cuts my hair is going to judge me and think I have bad hair.... I guess you would say I'm insecure like that. It's really a backwards way of thinking though because I'll try to make my hair look like it's totally fine when I'm going to someone else to ask them to fix it. Just by going to get a haircut, I'm admitting that my hair needs help!


It's the same way with God though... I hate to confess sin because I'm hate admitting that I'm broken; that I can't fix myself. I will even try to fix myself and my sin without Him so that I can feel more presentable before Him. How backwards is that? In His Word, God even tells us that His gospel and salvation are for the broken-- not for the righteous. Praise Him for His grace to a sinner like me; that He forgives my frailty so much that He says "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest" Matthew 11:28. God doesn't ask that I fix myself before I approach His throne, He will cleanse every impurity.

Country Roads, Take Me Home

Sorry I haven't posted in a while! Here's a quick recap:

• moved back to Starkville
• went through my 4th and final round of Panhellenic Recruitment at MSU
• celebrated bid day and reuniting with Grayfer and the Gamma Chi's
• began class
• RUF Ministry Team retreat
• RoadRunner retreat to ATL
• MSU beat Memphis!
• MSU loses to AU :(

Last weekend I went home for the first time since I moved back to Starkville! It's was great to have some time to catch up with Mom, Dad, Caroline, and Granny.

I ate at Local 463 for the first time last night! One of the many things I love about Mississippi (Jackson, especially) is vibrant local restaurant business. Local 463 is a new restaurant in Madison but it is owned by the owners of Walker's, a staple restaurant in the Fondren neighborhood. Mom, Dad, and I went for dinner and had the best time!

We had portabella fries as an appetizer-- I don't even like mushrooms but these were delicious! Dad got Veal Meatloaf. Mom ordered the pork chop over cheese grits with sweet potato fries and apple sauce on top. It sounds crazy but the sweetness of apple sauce (the texture was closer to an apple butter) complimented the savory-ness of the pork chop so well! The sweetness and crunch of the thinly sliced fries also added great flavor and texture. I thoroughly enjoyed my Redfish 463 (a new name for the Walker's classic "Redfish Anna"). The redfish is served over garlic mashed potatoes with string beans on the side. It was perfect! We finished off dinner with some of the best bread pudding I have ever had! The recipe was featured in the latest issue of Mississippi Magazine and I highly recommend it.

I had another great dinner with Granny and Caroline on Saturday night! We cheered the Longhorns on to victory that night and had a great time catching up. Church was excellent Sunday morning. I'm very blessed to have grown up in a church with the kind of teaching that I hear at First Pres.

So, the moral of this post? 1. I LOVE my family 2. I love good food 3. I'm so glad college football is back (whether or not the Dawgs win)!

You Can't Have a Baby Shower Without Cheese Straws

“Headed down south to the land of the pines…”

Airports are one of my favorite places. I love people watching and there are few places as rife with people-watching opportunities as major airports. I sat down in BWI the other day to wait for my flight back to Jackson. Three women waiting for their flight to Birmingham were sitting behind me and, as Southern women are known to do, they were having a conversation at a volume loud enough for their terminal neighbors to hear. They were discussing grand children and baby showers and my ears perked up when they mentioned cheese straws! I knew I shouldn’t invite myself into their conversation but the Mississippian in me was just dying to brag about Yazoo City’s very own Mississippi Cheese Straw Factory! These women were talking about buying Target brand cheese straws, which aren’t that bad, but they’re no MS Cheese Straws.
After a few minutes I gave into temptation and turned around and said, “Have ya’ll ever had Mississippi Cheese Straws?” They said they had not, but conceded that they felt better about the future of my generation knowing the great tradition of cheese straws would not die.
Cheese Straws are a staple of southern pantries. One of the women was talking about picking some up before a baby shower and said, “You just can’t have a baby shower without cheese straws!” And it’s so true. I could probably count on two hands the number of parties I’ve been to that did not include cheese straws in the menu.
Today I realized, once again, one of the many reasons I love food: it connects people. A simple discussion of cheese straws with perfect strangers made me feel that much closer to home. Food is rarely an important component to relationships, but it is often the conduit for good conversations and creating good friendships.

DC Wrap Up

I feel like I need to give a quick overview of the last three weeks I had in DC before I move on in my posts!


First, some of my best friends came to visit! We had the best time taking them around the city, going to visit museums, and showing them how we had spent our summer. They arrived on Wednesday and Thursday night was the Capital Club's Sinatra Soiree! The party was at the Building Museum (very cool building) and they had a great Sinatra cover band... it was so much fun to have my DC friends and my school friends all together! We had a great weekend with them, complete with a late-night visit to the Lincoln Memorial!


My friends left on Monday and Tuesday night several of us went to "An American Playlist" at the Kennedy Center! Going to something at the Kennedy Center was on my DC Bucket List so I was thrilled to be able to go to this concert-- especially since the performers included Smokey Robinson, The National Symphony Orchestra, and John Mayer! The concert was all about promoting music programs in schools and encouraging American children to invest in the arts.


On Thursday the Boy Scouts of America came to DC for the National Jamboree and so did my parents and sister (not for the Jamboree though)! Friday we toured around Capitol Hill and met Congressman Harper! It was so fun to introduce them to my boss and the people I worked with this summer. My family came for the hottest weekend DC had had that summer so we didn't spend much time outside on Friday! On Saturday we went to Great Falls (a beautiful part of the Potomac) and that night we went to see some of the monuments! I LOVE the monuments at night-- it's amazing to see them lit up and standing out against the dark sky. Sunday we ate brunch at the Chesapeake Room (restaurant review to come) and then Mom, Dad and Caroline departed on the train for BWI. I made my last trip to Eastern Market that afternoon and almost cried when I left!


The last week of work was a sad but a lot of fun! Work itself was busy then we had softball on Monday, a Nationals game Tuesday, and an SEC tailgate party Thursday! Chaille, Caroline, Lauren, Emily, and I went to the rooftop bar at the W Hotel for happy hour after work! The W is just a block over from the White House and you can see the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial so the roof has a beautiful view! We met some MSU Chi O alums for dinner after that and then made our way to the SEC party. We knew we were there when we saw guys with "frat swoop" haircuts in chacos, khaki shorts, button downs... it looked like game day! haha


Friday I went to the office to tell everyone goodbye and then took the train to BWI. I got home around dinner time and had my first night back at home. It's good to be back!

Tour de Vernon

The beginning of this weekend was really great and relaxed. I slept late on Saturday and spent the afternoon at the Newseum! The Newseum is a museum dedicated to news, which may seem strange, but it's so cool. They have a wing dedicated to Pulitzer Prize winning photographs and the stories behind them! It's a really interactive museum so it's easy to spend several hours there! They have six sections of the Berlin Wall and one of the watch towers used to guard the border between East and West Germany. It was kind of like the Holocaust Museum in that it was very humbling to see the oppression so many people have gone through and to realize how thankful I am for our country. I also loved the Sports Illustrated photographs section- it was cool to read about the personalities of the famous athletes pictured!

Sunday was just amazing. Allison Pace, her friends Amy Katherine, Daniel and I rode bikes to Mt. Vernon! Daniel had his own bike but Allison, AK, and I rented bikes from a place in Georgetown. When Allison, AK and I were walking over to pick up the bikes we were joking around about how we hoped they would have just some mountain bikes- not intense road bikes we would have to wear clips for, etc. I was already nervous about the 18 mile ride and knew that if I was going to try to ride a bike clipped in for the first time, it was going to be a long morning! We got to the rental place and the girl told us we could pick any bike-- any of the 7-speed cruisers! Needless to say, it took us a few hours to get to Mt. Vernon haha thankfully, the bikes did have hand-breaks, not pedal breaks. The Mt. Vernon Trail we took was a beautiful trail following most of the way down the Potomac River! The trail goes through Alexandria, woods, and some swampy areas so it was fun even just to see the area!

Allison, Me, and Amy Katherine happy to be at Mt. Vernon!

George and Martha's back porch... pretty sweet!

We left D.C. at about 10 am and got to Mt. Vernon around 1:30! We walked around the grounds for a while and went to Washington's tomb. We were going to take the Metrobus back but the bus only came every 30 minutes and could only take two bikes at a time so we rode 10 miles back to Alexandria and hopped on the Metro from there to return our bikes! I did learn a few things from the ride: 1. I have a new appreciation for cycling etiquette (such as the terms "passing", and "on your left") and 2. I really want a cycling jersey haha

Two quick anecdotes from the ride and I'll wrap up this super long post! First, the trail was packed and during the first 30 minutes or so we were getting passed by cycling teams non-stop. I heard a guy riding up behind me warn me he was passing and I tried to move to the right so he would have room. There wasn't much space for me to move so I apologized for not being able to move and he responded, "No worries! That's the great thing about this trail-- everybody can ride!" It may seem simple or cheesy but simply him saying that made me feel a lot better about enjoying the 3 hour cruise we were about to take! Second, about half-way to Mt. Vernon we passed a man going to town on a handcycle and he was wearing a jersey honoring veterans. It was so cool to see the determination in his face as he rode and easily kept up with the other cyclists... just another thing that makes me admire our troops and those who honor them!

The Boys are Back in Town/Independence Day

If there is one thing I realized over the Fourth of July weekend it is that Independence Day in Washington, D.C. is celebrated like most religious holidays are celebrated in the South... you could hardly go anywhere without someone telling you "Hey! Happy Fourth!"... and that's just how I like it!

Two weekends ago, four of my good friends came in town for the 4th of July! Brett, Blake, Matt and Joe drove all Thursday night and got here on Friday the 2nd. I was so glad to have Friday off because I was able to hang out with them most of the day! I tagged along with them for a Capitol tour (given by Val and Nathan!) and we even got to meet Congressman Harper! That was an unexpected surprise and it got even better-- he gave us a personal tour! He took us to the floor of the House chamber, to a special chapel in the Capitol building and... (drum roll, please!) out to the Speaker's Balcony! 

Blake, Joe, Brett, Me, and Matt on the Speaker's Balcony!

The guys with Congressman Harper on the Speaker's Balcony

Looking out on DC from the Speaker's Balcony was one of the coolest things I've done in DC! Congressman Harper was so kind to take a special interest in us and give us such a neat opportunity!

The fun continued on Saturday with a morning trip to Arlington Cemetery. I guess visiting Arlington isn't necessarily "fun" but it was a beautiful day and a special weekend to visit a place set aside to honor the many men and women who have given their lives to allow us to celebrate our freedom. We went to the Tomb of the Unknowns and watched the changing of the guard there and toured Robert E. Lee's home! We ate lunch at the Old Ebbitt Grill and I had a delicious crab cake sandwich (not soft shell crab this time)! Our crew for the weekend (the guys, Cat Randall, Val and myself) spent all afternoon at the Nationals v. Mets game and just took it easy, enjoying the "Great American Pass-Time". I was glad we spent all afternoon there too, because after a close game and a late falter, the Nats came back with a bottom-of-the-ninth rally to win the game! It was really fun to celebrate a great comeback with the Nats fans who have been here through thick and thin.

The flag in front of Robert E. Lee's house being flown at half-mast in memory of Senator Byrd.

We all went to Capitol Hill Baptist for church (the guys are big Mark Dever fans) and got lunch at 7th Hill Pizza! We parted ways after lunch and I went back to Nationals Stadium with Lauren, Emily and Rae Anne for Party on the Potomac 4th of July party! We had a great time hanging out with friends, dancing, and watching fire works to celebrate Independence Day!

The Week in Pictures

My internet was down this past week so I'm trying to condense this post by using pictures for the majority of it... Each one is 1,000 words, right?

Last week Gov. Haley Barbour came to DC to hold a fundraiser for one of his PACs that promotes Republican leadership! It was written up in POLITICO so that was pretty cool and I was really excited to go. We had a lot of fun hearing Governor Barbour speak and celebrating being republicans! haha

Caroline, myself, and Emily at Haley's Fundraiser!

I had the chance to go see my cousins who live in Connecticut this past weekend! I took the bus the NYC then the train to where they live and had such a great time catching up with them. I got to watch my cousin Jack play tennis in a big tournament and went into New York City on Sunday with my Aunt my cousin Charlotte! Even though it was a quick trip, I'm so thankful we were able to spend the weekend together!

saturday...

Jack making a good save!

The beautiful tennis center at Yale!

sunday...

Charlotte and myself eating lunch in Central Park!

The boat pond in Central Park

Charlotte at the Alice in Wonderland statue in Central Park

I had work Monday and then Tuesday was the 49th Annual Congressional Baseball Game for Charity. Congressman Gregg Harper wore a Mississippi State jersey! It was a close game until the very end when the Democrats got 4 runs to secure the win... Most of our office sat together and a group of people protesting for clean energy and against "big oil" sat behind us! Despite the protesters, we had a great time!

Congressman Harper is True Maroon... 

Myself, Lauren, Chaille and Caroline cheering on the GOP!

Mississippi on the Mall, etc.

fun summer flowers!

Then end of this week was awesome! Work was great Wednesday and Thursday because I got to do several things that I hadn't done before. I went to some cool hearings AND made me CSPAN debut-- big deal.

Friday morning I watched the U.S. world cup game (hopefully we'll come out with a win on Wednesday!) and then spent the afternoon at the Holocaust Museum. I was really glad to have the chance to go but it was tough to see the reality of what happened.

Julie (thanks for coming to visit!), Val, and I at MS on the Mall

That evening we had a DC Area MSU Alumni Association reception at Penn Quarters. It was so fun to get to visit with alums who are here in town and to see Dr. Abraham and his wife Mrs. Patsi! We have a great group of alumns in town so it was special to all get together before MS on the Mall Saturday. Before we left, we all sang "Hail, Dear Old State"... I felt like I was back in Starkville! haha Two school friends were in town so we all went to Georgetown for dinner and hung out with them!

On Saturday, Valerye, Lauren, and I went to the National Art Gallery for a few hours... It was amazing! I can't wait to go back and spend more time there. Our whole crew met up that afternoon for Mississippi on the Mall, a huge picnic put on by the Mississippi Society! They had McAllister's sweet tea (sweet tea is hard to come by up here-- as Cat Randall will tell you!), catfish and other southern food. We stayed at the picnic all afternoon just hanging out with other Mississippi folks. It was great to get to see everybody and have a little taste of home. The best part of the afternoon was before we left, Cat went to get her 5th (yep, fifth) refill of tea and the girl working just gave her a gallon jug that was left over!!

Cat Randall loves her sweet tea!

We wrapped the weekend up with church this morning at Capitol Hill Baptist. The sermon was wonderful and, as always it was so encouraging to fellowship with other believers and be taught from the Word. I'm so thankful to have friends here who want to be in church. As always, the Lord provides!

editor's note: for another/better synopsis of MS on the Mall, visit my dear friend (and Chi Omega sister) Caroline's blog!

My Soundtrack

Since I got a new computer, I don't have much music on it and I've kind of forgotten how much I love music... Now I'm a really big music person. I have music on all the time. One of my friends, Emily, is a member of a gym and she brought me to "bring a friend night" at her gym! Being the music lover that I am, I brought my ipod with my old music library on it. I was getting tired so I turned on the ipod and shuffle took care of me. Here's the playlist of the day:

Everyday- Live at Fenway Park- Dave Matthews Band

Manhattan- Kings of Leon

Brown Eyes- Andy Davis

Warehouse- Under the Table and Dreaming, Dave Matthews Band

Taper Jean Girl- Kings of Leon

Everybody's Working for the Weekend

This weekend was so much fun! Virginia, Sarah, and Kathrine came to visit for Virginia's 21st birthday. It was really great to get to catch up with them. Friday afternoon we went to this really great event called "Jazz in the Park". On Friday afternoons the Smithsonian Sculpture Garden hosts this event and there's a band and tons and tons of people... I mean tons of people. Grace and I walked around for about 30 minutes before we found a spot to land! It was totally worth it though! Ben and Hunter came to meet us and we ended up getting to see Braxton and Elizabeth Coombs. We stayed in the park until 9:30 when they closed.

Me, V Wegs, G Craig at Jazz in the Garden

Saturday we all met  up and watched the U.S. v. England world cup game at a bar in Eastern Market. It was a really fun crowd and I loved watching the game! We all ate dinner for Virginia's birthday at Vapiano's- this really great Italian place. It was fun to explore DC and continue to get to know the city better.

The girls cheering on the US!

Drew's birthday was Sunday and so, as promised, here are a few pics from his birthday present (a "shot book" of Drew's friends wishing him a happy birthday via photos)... my favorite part was getting random people on the metro to take pics with the sign!

 

Office Space

After my first full week of work, I am nothing short of thankful. The girl and two guys with whom I'm working have been so fun and welcoming! They are so patient when I ask a million questions (that's barely exaggerating) and always take me along if they are going somewhere in the building I may not have been to yet. I am really excited about spending the summer getting to know them! I hope that the jobs I do will lift a little bit of the burden from them and be a help-- since we work on the minority side, the 3 of them do the same work about 8 staffers do for the majority side.

I have a very nice table where I work and throughout the week I got more and more technology. I started with just the table on Monday, got the computer on Tuesday, and got internet on Wednesday afternoon! By Thursday I was hard at work on my first project which was very exciting.

Our group of interns has started to get really close, which I'm loving! The MS Society has a softball team so we all went and hung out at the Mississippi Mudcats game and ended up all eating dinner together Thursday night. Several of us also went to a Bible Study specifically for interns at Capitol Hill Baptist this past week. I had my day off Friday so my weekend began a little early! I spent Thursday night making my contribution to my good friend Drew's birthday present... It was a lot of fun and I'll post some pictures here after he gets his present (I don't want to spoil the suprise!).

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

It’s been a great first weekend in DC! Saturday I slept in a little bit and went for a run before lunch. I love living on Capitol Hill because I get to run around all of these beautiful buildings! Even at the end of July I don’t think I will be used to seeing the Capitol Dome, the Library of Congress, and the Supreme Court every day. When I ran Saturday there were people touring everywhere; it was funny to not be one of the people touring!


Sidenote: I think it’s really interesting that the Botanical Garden is right down the hill from the Capitol—I think Thomas Jefferson and our other “farmer” forefathers would be proud.


Saturday afternoon Valerye, Cat, Emily, Lauren, Nathan, Ben, Steven, and myself took the metro to what we thought was Baltimore… We didn’t think about the fact that just because the train took us to Maryland, it didn’t necessarily take us to Baltimore. We hadn’t done enough research to know that a shuttle came to the station so we split up into 2 cabs to head to Camden Yards! A $60 cab ride later, we were there. We made it to the Camden Yards (proudly designed by an MSU architecture grad and Kappa Delta sister of Lauren’s haha), though and got to watch my BoSox beat the Orioles!! It was my first Sox game and we got to see Papelbon warming up in the bullpen… it was great! We made it home late that night but travelled for a lot less than we did on the way out.

Top to Bottom: and I supporting the Sox; the girls at the game; 2 Bulldogs, Craig Tatum (Orioles Catcher) and Jonathan Papelbon (Red Sox Pitcher), talking after the game.


This morning we went to church at Capitol Hill Baptist Church that’s just a few blocks from TMH! One of the girls I’ll work with, Elyse is a member there and we met her there. They are renovating the church and it was packed. It was so encouraging to get to worship with some of my friends and other believers. They had a lunch for interns and an interns Bible Study will start Tuesday! I’m excited about hopefully getting involved with that.


Tonight we visited Grace DC, another church I had heard great things about. They had about 20 new members join and a baptism! That was also encouraging to see God working in the local church and bringing  people to make commitments to His church. We had dinner at Chop’t- this really great salad place, then headed home! 

Workin’ 9 to 5… kind of

Disclaimer: As part of my conversion to the PC world, I’ve decided that I would write this post on the Windows Live Writer program… with that said, please forgive any crazy formatting that may be part of this post!

My first days of work were really great! Since we were just getting started, we haven’t gotten any big assignments yet. One funny thing we did on the first day was a scavenger hunt around the Capitol and Senate buildings! I know all looked hilarious trying to navigate the different buildings and the train system that runs between the 3 office buildings and the capitol… at one point my group cut through the loading dock of the Hart Building—not part of the scavenger hunt!

On Friday we got off lunch early and several of us ate lunch at 7th Hill Pizza- delicious. A group of 8 of us walked over to Eastern Market  for lunch and we landed at 7H, I’m so glad we did! I would recommend trying the Love Bread (a flat bread with parmesan, and oregano along with a few other toppings that has a hint of lemon juice—excellent!)

We went and explored Alexandria later that day and ended up back in Georgetown for the night.  Needless to say, I feel like I know the metro system pretty well now! Even though we spent a long time “en route”, it was great to see my friends who are living and working in George Town! Looking forward to the rest of this weekend!

Trains, Planes, and Automobiles

 After a day of travelling (flying Jackson to Baltimore, train from Baltimore to Union Station, cab from Union to Thompson-Markward) I am all settled into my "humble abode" at Thompson-Markward Hall (TMH)! I was very thankful to have Cat Randall on the trip with me- she's a great travelling buddy. Even though were looked ridiculous with our 2 huge bags (2 bags each), the trip was very easy... I wish that I had counted how many times people asked us where we were going and for how long- there were several. One sweet older man decided to take us under his wing and made sure he pointed us in the direction of the taxis before we parted ways at Union Station (I'm pretty sure he thought Cat and I had never left Mississippi before ha).


 Three friends from State were already moved into TMH so we got to eat dinner together and catch up on how their internships were going. I'm really excited about the group of friends already up here!


 Here are some pics of the room... big thanks go to Emily for having a duvet cover I was able to use and to Mom for keeping it! It definitely served to brighten up the room. I also have a nice garden view from my window!

One last side note-- the original plan for this weekend was to take a bus to New York for the MS Picnic in Central Park but I don't think that's the plan anymore. I'm not too bummed though because some people are taking the train to Baltimore on Saturday for (drum roll please...) the Red Sox/Orioles game!! Yes, the BoSox are playing a series 30 minutes away. I'm so glad I brought my Ortiz jersey-T. 

Leaving on a Jet Plane/Be the Change

I'm packing up to leave for DC tomorrow! Just wanted to share a song that I heard this morning and it always inspires me... So thanks to the Disney Channel for providing this great motivational music. I hope you enjoy it- go change the world.

Send It On

Believe in the Delta

Back in April I text a good friend of mine and asked her, "If I think a freshly ploughed field is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen, does that mean I need to move to the Delta". Her reply? "Probably so, Stone".


I was on the way back to school, driving between Winona, MS and Starkville, MS, when from the crest of a hill I gazed upon one of the most beautiful fields I've ever seen. It's rows perfectly straight, the tilled earth dark and rich. It was the epitomy of a good Mississippi field ready to be planted.


I realized that afternoon, not for the first time, how much I love the Mississippi Delta. Full of farms with planted fields and small towns, the Delta defines the heritage of Mississippi for me. Life in the Delta seems to move just a little slower than other places in the world and having grown up "in the city" going to visit friends from such towns as Yazoo City, Indianola, Inverness, and Clarkesdale has become one of my favorite weekend activities.


Whether it is the B.B. King Museum and Homecoming festival, going to eat at Lusko's or just going for a ride around, the best part of the Delta is the people you spend time with. Southern hopspitality is still alive and well in Mississippi... but especially the Delta.


Mom, Emily and I took a girls trip to Merigold to visit the McCarty store and restaurant Thursday! It was great to take a day trip before I left for the summer. Emily was so sweet to drive over from Montgomery to visit. We stopped in Cleveland on the way home and did a little antiquing. As always, it was a great day in the Delta!

Summer Time and the Living is Easy

So, first post for my new blog...

I'm starting this blog primarily because I'm moving to Washington, D.C. in June and want to have a way to keep friends and family updated with what is going on! I hope that it will be a fun way to share what I'm up to and ways I see the Lord at work.

This first post will have more to do with God working in my life. Last week I was able to go to RUF Summer Conference. A group of 75 Mississippi State RUFers spent the week in Panama City Beach, Florida hearing great teaching, worshipping, and spending time together. There were students from schools as far as New Mexico State University and Penn State! It was great to get to know other MSU students who I did not know before the trip and to fellowship with other RUF students, and ministers. It was such a refreshing and encouraging week- I am very thankful I got to go.












I leave for Washington, D.C. in two weeks so the preparation is underway! I can't wait to be working in the District with my friends... it's going to be a great summer!