One last time.

Greetings from Myrtle Beach!

I'm on my last vacation of the summer...and I cannot believe how quickly it flew by. I feel like I had all of these plans and ideas of things I would do, but haven't done any of them. It makes me sad. I feel like I'm growing up and am not going to have time for fun stuff anymore. = ( But I'm so so SO excited to move into Wesley and get to see you all just about everyday!
Hmm...so I guess I need to update you on what I've been up to since going to Florida. I'd say for the most part, I've hung out around the house, played games, went out on the lake, spent time with family, and so on. As Brittaney talked about, I went out to ice cream/Target/Moes with her, which was really fun. We also went to Adventure Landing with Landon and Caroline, which was really cool because I never get to see Brittaney & Landon at the same time! I also got go to Charlottesville with my Mom to visit my Uncle and one of my cousins that we don't see very often. My Uncle is a pharmacist at UVA, so I went to work with him for two days (7am - 4pm were two LONG days) and he had me follow around one of the pharmacy technicians that worked there. It was really cool, because I've never actually been exposed to pharmacy, especially in a hospital setting. I helped deliver meds to the bins in each ward, and helped fill some of the pods with medicines for pediatrics, and I went in the IV room (where they make all the IVs--I had to wear a funny hat and shirt and boots and mask). I did other things too, but those were probably the most exciting. A couple days after getting home, I shadowed my other Uncle who works for Glaxosmithkline. That was a complete opposite experience of what I had done just a few days before. I basically just sat in his office and listened to him talk on the phone about lots of things I don't understand. But regardless, it was experience and it was seeing a totally different leg of the pharmaceutical world. Altogether though, shadowing my uncles just made me more confused as to what do I really want to do for the rest of my life. Because really, I just want to sit around and have fun, and not have to work. Don't we all. = )
The first week of August, I went to Hilton Head Island with Landon and his Mom and brother, and brother's friend. It was a lot of fun--we played putt-putt golf, went to see Despicable Me (which was really cute and funny), got Mango Sherbet ice cream, and rode our bikes all around the island. Our last day there, we were riding the bikes on a bike path on one of the roads, and I was looking straight ahead of me, and heard my name. I stopped riding, and who do I see? Matt Corbitt! It was the weirdest thing, because you don't expect to see people you know like that while bike-riding on an island during summer vacation. But it was awesome. So the next day, I get home and after eating dinner with my family, they had some news to break to me. Apparently, while some guys were at our house the previous afternoon fixing the roof, my cat Smokey got scared and ran off the back porch. She is about 13 years old and mainly an indoor cat, but she goes out in the yard all the time, and has never left the yard. For some reason, when she got scared, she ran off, and nobody knows what happened to her. My family looked everywhere for her, and posted signs around the neighborhood. Three days later, we left for the beach, no sign of her anywhere. We're still hoping that maybe she'll come back home, but it's probably not likely. It's been really hard on my family, because she's really been a part of our family for so long. She's the only pet I've ever really hard, so its extremely hard to know that she is out there somewhere, and we don't have any idea as to what happened to her. = ( Just keep her in your prayers.
So that brings me to now. I'm at the beach, and I've been soaking up the sun for the past few days. I've also been working hard on Week of Welcome plans and sending out emails and all that...if you haven't read them or signed up yet, do it!! It's been getting me really excited to go back to school. We also went to Dixie Stampede last night, which was awesome, and I think we're going to a comedy show tonight! It's been nice to have the whole family together before my sister and I go back to school, even though we'll both be in Chapel Hill this time!
I think that's about it. I'll be coming back from the beach on Saturday, packing stuff up on Sunday, and moving in Monday! So to whoever will be there...see you then! After I move in though, I'll probably go back home until Thursday or Friday to say goodbyes and all. But I'll definitely be back by Friday. I can't wait. Happy end of summer, and see you all so so soon!

BWilovethebeachL,
Rachel