Well, the "vacation" portion of my summer is over. I've been to Destin twice, then England, then New Orleans, then Destin again, and now I'm home for good. Until I move into my apartment on August 8, anyway.

I'd never been to New Orleans before. It's SOOOOOOO hot. Heat index of 115. Just going outside meant you'd sweat about a gallon - ew. I liked the French Quarter though, and for the Fourth we went on the steamboat Natchez for dinner and to see the fireworks. Before we got on the boat though, we had to wait in a long line to board. Apparently I hadn't had enough water or food or both, because I almost passed out from the heat, but Dad came to the rescue with a bottle of water and a cold rag. I still felt really sick the rest of the night, but regardless, it's been one of the best Independence Days to date!

Destin was fun, if uneventful. I ate fish, went to the beach, and rented a ton of movies (we don't have internet there). I also bought some of the first few things for the apartment. I'm particularly proud of my pots and pans - a 10 piece set that also came with 3 utensils, 5 glass (or clear plastic... I don't know) mixing bowls, and a covered roasting dish. All for fifty bucks! I don't know exactly how much cooking I'm doing to do, but I have the stuff to do it in!

On a completely random note, my laptop is sick. It doesn't have a virus, but the Internet Explorer has started to freeze my whole computer, and sometimes the fingerpad decides it wants to go wacko. So I took it to Best Buy, where the Geek Squad is running a diagnostic on it, which will take two to three days. In the meantime, I'm using an ancient Gateway that my mom brought home from work.

I've also finally started working on one of my two 15-page term papers for the Oxford classes. Since I don't have my own laptop, and therefore my iTunes, I'm using Pandora. I've had "All That Jazz" from Chicago stuck in my head all day, so that was my radio of choice. The first song it came up with was "Roxie", also from Chicago. But this wasn't the movie soundtrack version that I'm familiar with, it was the actual Broadway version. It's really different... and I really don't like it.

I have to say, summer is incredible. I've been AWOL for a while, and I apologize. I haven't really been up to much. I finished finals and got my grades back. I earned my first B in my life: a B+ in my Latin American history class. Honestly, I don't even care. I'm just glad to get out of that class!

I also moved back home. I haven't unpacked everything yet, so our guest room is full of boxes, bags, and some other miscellaneous items, but regardless, it's really nice to be back in my bed and have my own bathroom. Never again will I have to live in a dorm!

This past weekend I went to Destin, FL with one of my friends from Thursday to today, Monday. She's married and pregnant, her husband about to deploy overseas, so this was a last hoorah for her before she enters mommy-hood. We both had a really good time - I got enough sleep that I actually started waking up at 8:30. On my own.

I'll be leaving again for Destin on Thursday for Memorial Day with my parents to go see my grandmother. At this rate, I won't be blending in with all the pale British people after all!