Staying active this summer!

The weather is heating up in Cedar Rapids and so I have to find ways to keep myself cool and moving. Lucky for me, there are lots of inside and outside activities to keep me busy when I'm not working.

It wasn't until last summer that I discovered the magic of Coe's natatorium (aka pool). I loved swimming last summer and decided it must be an essential part of this summer. I am also fortunate to live with three other people who enjoy swimming! The last couple of weeks, Hayleigh, Millie, (and sometimes Anna) will meet up when the pool opens at night and swim for about an hour. Hayleigh and I do intervals and it helps to have someone next to me, pushing me to swim faster and harder. It makes for a super workout. We finish our swim with about ten minutes of treading water in the deep end. We like to chat while we tred and unwind. It's a really nice way to end our day.

Millie and I have also played some tennis at the Clark Racquet Center. Millie played in high school and for a year on Coe's tennis team, so we play short court. I'm making progress, which is good and maybe by the end of the summer, I'll be able to play long court with her! Millie also likes to play with our friend, Kyle, who also played in high school. They played the other day and I sat outside, soaking in the sun, cheering them on, and reading a book.

The sand volleyball court has been retaining a lot of water, so volleyball hasn't been happening very much. But, with the sun and lack of rain, the "pond" is getting smaller and hopefully this weekend we can play a few pick up games.

It's nice to be so active this summer. During the school year, I get bogged down by schoolwork and club commitments and it gets difficult to stay active. I'm hoping that if I stay busy this summer, I can carry those habits over to my senior year!

Update from Hailley!

Hello readers!

I'm sorry it's been a while since my last post. Summer has been crazy busy and by the end of the day, I'm ready to go to bed so I can wake up and do it all again! Thank goodness it's Friday and I have time to catch my breathe and catch you up.

My days have become pretty routine. I work during the day in Admissions, giving tours to prospective students and helping out with random jobs around the office. I'm currently working on a video for Iowa Private College Week, which has kept me very busy, from filming to editing to those final touches!

When I get done with work, I either hit the gym or work on some assignments as Assistant to the First-Year Experience Director. Then it's time for supper and then I either do some research for my senior thesis or hang out with my roommates. We love chatting or reading a chapter of Gone Girl. Suddenly, it's 10 or 11 PM and I go to bed!

I love it. I'm enjoying my job and I love my apartment and my roommates. And that's about all the updates I have for you. It should be a relaxing weekend; lots of reading and sun! Have a wonderful weekend!

A big old pile of ADVENTURES

It was another wonderful weekend in Cedar Rapids. The weather decided to be SUPER nice and I got a little sun in. But don't worry, I put on sunscreen so no burns!

After work on Friday, Millie and I headed over to the Kirkwood Hotel to hear author Gillian Flynn. She was speaking as part of the Out Loud Author Series sponsored by the Metro Library System (Cedar Rapids, Marion, and Hiawatha communities). You might have heard of Flynn with the recent success of her newest (well, it's a year old) novel, Gone Girl. This is actually her third published novel, her first book was Sharp Objects (2006) and then Dark Places (2009).

Flynn was out of this world. She was articulate, engaging, quirky, and fun. The first half of her talk was all about her journey to becoming a published writer. Flynn started off working at a magazine and eventually decided to write a novel. It was fascinating to hear her talk about her characters; the way she finds herself in their heads and writes scenes that will never show up in her published books. The last ten minutes or so were reserved for questions. I asked one; I wanted to know one of her most memorable memories that she had with the publication of her novel. Her answer: getting a good review clip for the book jacket from one of her favorite authors, Stephen King!

Millie and I couldn't leave without each buying a copy of Gone Girl and also having her sign it! The apartment is doing a group reading of said book. So far, the two chapters are wonderful but we know there is much more to come!

Moving onto Saturday...Millie, Hayleigh, and I walked down to the famers' market. It seemed to have gotten bigger from last year, which was good for us! We meandered around, saw some Coe friends, and enjoyed the nice weather. We even took goofy photos in a photo booth.

Once we had made a thorough lap around, we walked a little farther to the New Bohemia (Newbo) Market. I had never been (which people could not believe) and I definitely wish I had checked this place out earlier. It's basically a local food court and an indoor farmers market. We ate lunch down there and my meal was made entirely from local businesses and from food made in the Cedar Rapids area. It was fantastic and I recommend this place to anyone going through Cedar Rapids. Here are a compilation of photos I took while I was down there.

We also snagged another photo of myself, Millie, and Hayleigh:

L to R: Hayleigh, me (Hailley), and Millie

Adventured out, we walked back to Coe. We spent the rest of the weekend hanging out on campus, playing beach volleyball, and enjoying the beautiful weekend. 

We've Got the Best Apartment Around!

Our apartment decided it would be nice to have a roomie dinner this week. Not only did we want to cook and chat, we also wanted to go over basic apartment rules and discuss cleaning jobs and schedules. Tuesday night was deemed "Apartment Dinner Night," and boy, did we have a good time.

When we all got back to the apartment after our various day activities, we headed to Target to pick up supplies. Anna and Hayleigh were in charge of the main dish and a small side dish while Millie and I were in charge of a salad and dessert. We split up, picked up our ingredients and then headed back to campus.

Dinner was delicious. We were all cute; laying out plates and drinking raspberry lemonade out of mason jars. Millie and I also made name tags, not because we don't know each other's name, but because we simply wanted to craft. After our make your own salad, we ate mozzarella sticks and stuffed peppers. Dessert was a sponge cake with chocolate pudding, a strawberry, and a piece of Dove dark chocolate. See photos below:

Salad 

Main course

Dessert

It was such a nice way to end Tuesday night. It was good to catch up with my roommates and to make a meal together. I'm looking forward to more meals like this and once again, I was reminded that this summer is going to be pretty fantastic!

Weekend Adventures

Officially, last weekend was my first summer weekend on campus. I turned in my final May Term projects on Friday night and my brother came down for a visit! Once the project was sent in, we cooked up a meal in the apartment and then kicked back and watched a movie.

Saturday was a bit of a lazy day. I finally slept in (I had stayed up pretty late working on my final May Term projects...whoops!) and then made breakfast. My brother and I headed to Clark Field for a workout and then returned to the apartment for lunch. In the afternoon, we played some sand volleyball (whoo!) and worked up an appetite for dinner.

Then a Saturday night adventure began. Myself and a bunch of friends were interested in the Kernels baseball game. But, we got there a little late and there weren't many good seats left. We made the tough but right decision to skip the game and instead, wound up at a high school softball game. Despite us not knowing anyone playing, we still stayed for two innings. The excitement had kind of worn out by then, and so we moved onto another adventure: a movie at our local theater. We saw Now You See Me, a magical adventure about four magicians who try to pull off these amazing tricks. It was so nice to relax in the theater and not worry about a homework assignment or meeting with a professor I had to prepare for.

My Saturday night ended with my brother and I hanging out with my roommates, watching TV, and playing some card games. Not a shabby Saturday if you ask me.

Sunday was definitely a cleaning day. I got some stuff in order and prepared for the week.

Overall, it was a fantastic weekend. If every weekend was like this: full of friends, being outside, and cooking in my apartment, I could stay in summer forever.

One CRAZY week!

I've now been back on campus for two full weeks. It is so great to be back and finally settling into a spot for more than a few months. This was also my first full week back in Admissions. In some ways, I felt like I never left the Nassif House staff; I just mixed right back in with everyone. I got to give a few tours to some pretty fantastic prospective students, and TJ and I have been busy reorganizing the student workroom and storeroom.

On top of my eight-hour day, I've also been hard at work at my final May Term paper and scrapbook. It's made for some pretty late nights but the end results are worth it! As I was paging through my scrapbook pages, I definitely miss Germany and Poland. I've also checked out several books on the Holocaust and will probably mix them in with my summer reading because I am still exploring so many different avenues and topics I learned about on my trip. For me, that signals this trip was widely successful because I'm invested in the topic and want to devour as much information as I can.

So everything is good. Really good. My summer apartment is absolutely FABULOUS. I'm rooming with Millie, Anna B., and Hayleigh. It's an excellent group of girls and currently we are in major planning mode. Boards have been envisioned and events are being made. I'm really looking forward to getting closer to these girls.

I now should be regularly blogging again. I still have some final wrap up for May Term I'd like to do and a few introductory summer posts. And then I'll be off and running. I've got lots of things on my own personal summer list agenda and I'm planning on accomplishing them all! (Or at least as many as I can cram in!)