I have returned!

Well, to be honest, I returned a while back, but I haven't gotten around to posting in a while... there's so much to write about.

First things first: the White Mountains were awesome, in a literal sense. I had the time of my life. I don't think of myself as a religious person, or even a spiritual one, so what I'm about to try to explain doesn't make much sense even to me, but the mountains changed me. I suppose any and every experience one has creates a change, though one doesn't always recognize it. I feel differently than I did before I left. Susie said I seemed more "confident," and I suppose that could be part of it. I won't attempt to explain further than that.

The week I got back, I went back to working at Hilltop Hanover (the organic farm) at their children's camp, which was just as fun as the first week. Given that I never liked little kids much before, I'm very surprised that I enjoyed working with the campers so much.

This past week, I haven't really been doing much... We had our family reunion, which was as fun as always (and we came up with a plan for discouraging redundant questions about college during Thanksgiving. :P). It's really amazing to see how much my little cousins have grown over just the past year...

My parents and I also went out to do some college shopping. That was interesting. I never realized how attached to my blankets I was until I realized I would have to get new ones. I still need to go clothing shopping, though, as my closet currently consists of stuff that is either too big on me, or is in rags. I'll have to drag Rebz along with me, as I never go shopping, and I wouldn't know the first place to go for clothing. Hopefully she does.

I've been trying to hike as much as possible, between family events and trying to get ready for school. Yesterday, we took Daria along on a hike, and I think she enjoyed it. We went swimming in a lake on the trail, and it wasn't until we reached the parking lot that I realized that I had lost my car keys. I remembered taking them out of my pocket at the lake, and so John (a fellow hiker) and I doubled back to try to find them. No luck. We both searched my bag multiple times, as well as all my pockets, and still found nothing. So we went back to the parking lot, and Daria and I got a ride home from him. It was only when I got home, and searched through my bag again, just to make sure, that I found them in my wallet. So... that was an interesting episode.

Well, I hope everybody is doing well.

-Tasha