Graduation Party

First of all I want to apologize for neglecting my blog. It's just when summertime comes I hate to be inside any longer than I have to. But, none the less I will continue to keep blogging!

Last weekend I had a party at my aunt and uncle's house to celebrate my graduation from The Ohio State University. Thank god we had a GORGEOUS day, which was unexpected since our town was flooded the whole week leading up to the party. So friday night and saturday morning was all about setting up and making sure the decorations where just how I wanted them, because after all it was "MY DAY!" Little joke! After rushing around all day long, I had 1 hour to get ready before I had to be back at my aunt and uncle's house to get the party under way. We had a pretty good turnout of people with considering the damage that was done around the town and people trying to clean everything up. My good friend Emily had her little boy Aiden with her and he has no fear of anything and poor Emily was running after him non-stop. I ran after him for a little bit, but I obviously don't have enough of me to be in 4 places at once!

A little later in the night we started playing Beer Pong, but the game was moving a little too slow and we didn't get as many games in as we had hoped. Plus, my newcomer uncle beat me, and then his wife(also a newcomer) beat him in the end, how that happens is beyond me! We also planned on getting a basketball game or volleyball game going but I think it became too cold and everyone was a little drunk to play. Around 12pm the party was coming to a close and I was quite tired so I didn't mind heading home to my nice comfy bed.

Thanks to all the people that came to my party to celebrate my long awaited graduation from college! It has been a long road and now I am ready for my Career to begin! Cross your fingers that I get this JOB!!!

In the picture: My good friend Emily Collins and Kaci Fell at the end of the night!

Flood of '69 Returns

Back in 1969 the Dam broke in Norwalk and the streets of Norwalk were flooded. And, as history tends to repeat itself, it indeed happened again on June 21 & 22, 2006. On Tuesday night, we had horrible storms rolling into town and the tornado siren went off, but luckily no tornado touched down. The next morning I couldn't believe what happened, several streets were closed because they were flooded and business' and houses where 6 feet under water! Trying to drive around town was almost impossible, it took me 45 minutes to get 3 streets over because the streets that were open were completely packed with cars trying to get where ever they were going. Plus, people were out walking around and taking pictures of the flooded streets! Also, a tree fell on my dad's house again. The last bad storm his neighbor's tree fell on the garage and did some damage, and this time his own tree fell on the back of the house putting a hole in the roof and ripping his back deck off. Unforunately he had just left town for work and my sister called to tell him about the damage.

Over 800 homes and business' were damaged by the water. The city of Norwalk was also afraid that the dam was going to bust and wash out the town, but luckily it held back and everyone is in the process of cleaning up the mess. The crazy thing is just 1 street way 6 houses were under water and we managed to stay completely dry. The town is trying to help out the victims as best they can. One of my high school teachers' houses was under water(Mr. Douglas) and he made it on the news today talking about his damage, he lives one street away from me.

We have had news coverage from all over the state and nation in out little town. At least we can say we are a known town now!

Kentucky Speedway

Yesterday my sister and I drove 4 hours to the Kentucky Speedway to see my dad, meet Monty Bailey(Motorsports Manager for Dollar General Racing), and watch the race from the Pits! It started out as a very early day for me, but I was still excited to get to the race. Of course we couldn't decide who's car we were going to drive down because I didn't want to take my Jeep because its a gas hog, and the mustang needs new back brakes, and my sister didn't want to take her car because she just didn't want to. It all boiled down until the last minute and Nicki showed up at her house and my mom said so who's driving and Nicki said I guess I am but not by choice! Yes! That means I didn't have to take one of my cars! And, I knew Nicki wasn't going to drive so I drove down there which was completely fine by me because I LOVE to drive, especially her Lincoln LS!

The road trip was a long one, I am not going to lie, but we made it there in exactly 4 hours, which was amazing because everyone wanted to drive so slow and we made a pit stop in Columbus. Once we got there we had to go to the Credentials building and get our in field parking permit and pit passes. My dad drove us where we needed to go and then...let the show begin!

My dad walked us around the track and introduced us to about 200 people at the race, we don't remember them after we meet them but its always nice to meet new people. The weather was just about unbearable yesterday, and I love hot weather but with the heat the track's temperature was 140 degrees. Wow, we were cooking! Finally, I got to meet Mr. Monty Baily, who I had a interview with yesterday to work with Burney Lamar(#77 Dollar General car), and it went great, he said he was very interested and would like to keep in touch with me and go over more detailed stuff about the job! The position won't open until the 4th quarter, which is around September or October, but I am really excited about this opportunity! After meeting with Monty, I was introduced to Burney Lamar(who is the nicest, down to earth guys you will ever meet, not cocky just extremely pleasant to be around), and we jumped on the golf cart and headed off to his signing booth. Fans just go crazy to get their shirts signed or pictures take with a racer! After that was over, we headed back to the track to watch the time trials, now I was exhausted and just wanted to sit down in some air conditioning. So we stopped off to get a bite to eat and then rested for a little bit in the truck before the race started!

Since the race didn't start until 8pm, the heat was alot more enjoyable, it was about 87 degrees outside and the track cooled off a bit too! So we took our positions behind the #5 Lowe's car(Kyle Busch) because that put us right beside the path to pull into victory lane! I also got some great pictures of the cars rolling in and out for their pit stops! Unfortunately we didn't stay until the end of the race because we wanted to beat the traffic out, so we took off at 175 laps. We got back in the car and I drove for about an hour and a half before I had to pull over, I was just too tired to keep my eyes focused, so my sister took over and drove the rest of the way home! Safe and sound, we pulled into town around 3 am! Fun road trips with my sister~ can't get any better than that!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAD!!

In the pictures: Nicki Fell, Burney Lamar, and Kaci Fell after Burney's signing session.
Next left pic: Nicki Fell and Kaci Fell standing in Pit row!
Right picture: Burney Lamar signing autographs in his booth.
Bottom picture: #38 car coming in to pit row after getting in an accident.

GRADUATION DAY!

On Sunday, June 11, 2006 I graduated from The Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Family Resource Management. My mom, sister, and Gram Cousino all came down the share my special day with me! And, to my surprise they were early! I asked them to leave Norwalk no later than 9am because I also had to move home that day, well the left at 8am and we loaded up my mom's TrailBlazer and my Jeep with as much stuff as we could! After loading everything up I had to go up to my bare room and get ready for my big day!

When we got to campus it was absolutely crazy. People everywhere, no where to park and I became worried that my family wouldn't be able to sit in the proper section of the stadium that I told them too. And, silly me, I didn't take my cell phone with me to call them to find out where they were sitting. So when I walked in the stadium I was looking in the wrong section, so when I got to my seat I called my mom from Cathy's phone(girl sitting next to me). It took a few phone calls but I finally got through and they told me to look to my left and up in section C! There they were, right in front waving at me! The ceremony went faster than what I anticipated, which was a very good thing! This was the largest graduating class in Ohio State History, I believe it was close to 7,500 students! The weather was great, not hot, but definately not cold~ just perfect!

After I got my dipolma, I walked right out of the stadium to meet up with my family to take pictures together! YAY! I didn't hang around too long because my feet were killing me and I wanted out of my shoes as soon as possible! So we headed back to the house to load up the truck and get me out of my clothes! I was a little bummed out because I didn't get to say goodbye to any of my roommates, so I guess I will have to make a trip back down to see them all!

In the Pictures: Kaci Fell standing outside of the Stadium with her college diploma
Bottom picture: Kaci Fell after she received her diploma!

Last weekend at OSU

This is my last weekend as a senior at Ohio State University! I am sad and extremely excited all at the same time. I will miss my girls so much and can't believe how much fun I had with them this year. Yesterday we had graduation rehearsal and it was about an hour and a half, but felt like 4 hours. And, the real graduation is expected to last 3- 3 1/2 hours so I can only imagine how long that is going to really be. I am just hoping for sunny weather because today has not been very nice or warm.

Last night we had a farewell party for 47 E. 12th and had a great time! At first we didn't think very many people were going to show up, and then night fell and people were coming in from every direction. It was kinda funny because groups of people would walk in and we would just look at each other and ask if anyone knew who they were? But, that didn't matter because we had 5 kegs that needed to be drank. Even with all the people that showed up we still have a keg left.

Today, we had to say goodbye to some of our roommates, the Snyder sister's, Courtney, Kelly, and Natalie. They are definitely the life of every party, so to see them leave was a little sad, but they kept it light and fun! I will miss all 10 of my roommates and hope everyone has a great summer and I will be back to visit!

In the Picture: Sarah Krygowski, Ryan, Stephanie Hasty and Kaci Fell at our end of the year party!

I am not sure what is going on with loading pictures, but as soon as I figure it out the images will appear!

Happy Birthday MOM!

Yesterday(June 7th) was my mom's birthday! Since I was home tuesday night and I knew I wouldn't be up by the time she left for work, so I left her a little birthday message! I would say her age, but she might get really mad! Most women would! I am not sure why that is, but I guess its normal when everyone gets older they don't want to tell the whole world how old they are.

When my mom got off work, she came home so Nicki and I could sing Happy Birthday to her before she went to dinner with friends and co-workers. I unfortunately couldn't join them because I had to work until 8pm. Once work was over for me, I met up with everyone at The Dinky to share my mom's birthday with her! My mom must have had 1 too many drinks last night because she was still in bed when I got up at 8:30 this morning. But, I guess that was kinda a good thing because then we were able to get my graduation invitations addressed and mailed out!

I apologize for not putting any pictures up, but there is something wrong with Blogger because it will not allow pictures to load. I will work on this so everyone has something to look at!

2 weddings in 1 day!

Saturday was a very busy day for me. I had two weddings that day, one was my cousin Lea's and the other was my friend Amy's wedding. The day started out smoothly, I woke up played with Charlie, went to Wal-Mart, washed my sister's car, then went running(where I ran into Chad, one of the grooms, as he was getting ready to leave for his wedding). Once I got home and showered I was in a rush to get ready because my grandma wanted to get to the church early, so I hustled along to be ready by 3:15. Lea and Tom's wedding was absolutely beautiful, they got married in a small church in Wakeman, OH. When she walked down the aisle I started to tear up, and lost it when they were reading their vows. I think I lost it when Tom started to get emotional while saying his vows and then Ellis (Lea's daughter) was crying so I couldn't hold back anymore. Wedding are just an emotional time, seeing two people come together in love! Lea's dress was unbelievably gorgeous, it was definitely something I didn't expect her to wear, but she was amazing! Then we headed to the reception for food and fun with my family!

The reception was held at the Expo center in Norwalk. It was huge on the inside, well I guess it would have to be to hold 300 people. My aunt and uncle couldn't stay long because my cousin Rachel had a concert with her new band. While at the reception I became the Designated Driver for my sister and Abby. Which wasn't a problem with me because I am used to being the DD for them.

After a while my grandma was ready to head home and Nicki and Abby were ready to head out to Amy's parents house for her wedding reception. They live out in the country and had the yard all light up with candles and white lights. Then they had a huge tent with a dance floor and tables. It was a little chilly outside, but the party was a blast because I got to see some friends I haven't seen since high school and others I just saw last weekend at Jessi's wedding! The one thing I am upset about is, I never got a picture of Amy and Chad together. How horrible am I? But, I do wish them the very best in life! Amy has an amazing personality that lights up a room when she walks in, and Chad is a very nice, down to earth guy with a great sense of humor. They compliment each other extremely well!

When we left Amy and Chad's reception, Nicki and Abby were not about to go home and go to bed, instead they wanted to hit up the local bars! So, with me being the DD, I took them to the bars and when they wanted to be picked up, I came back to get them. It's always a good night with Nicki and Abby!


In the Pictures: The New Mr. & Mrs. Friend! (Tom & Lea)
Middle Picture: (L-R): Nicki Fell, Kaci Fell, and Abby Chapin at the 1st wedding reception of the night!
Bottom Picture: Emily Collins and Kaci Fell(best friends) at Amy & Chad's wedding reception!