Midsummer.. say what?

So I can't believe that it's already at the end of week 5. This is absurd! I'm currently sitting in my staff office with a few volunteers and some guest staffers, trying to get them to come back to be SITs later in the summer. John could really use some more testosterone so he can only hope...

This week was awesome! We made some serious progress on homes and I definitely made some deeper connections with homeowners. I also got to take my day off on Tuesday! I went with another staffer Torre to Beckley, which is about 2 hours from here. We went out to a Japanese restaurant and had Hibachi! It was awesome! Although while eating Torre and I couldn't help but laugh about the situation.. I mean think about it. We were dressed like dirty hippies in Appalachia at a Japanese restaurant. Score.

After dinner we had some custard from a local ice cream place, and then went over to Lake Stephens! We camped out (which was awesome because we didn't have to pay!) and the next morning we got some breakfast and laid on the beach for hours. It was awesome just getting to fully relax and not worry about doing anything ASP related, not to mention get some good quaaaality food and rest in our systems before heading back to work.

On Wednesday night we had a T-shirt auction! It was our first one yet-- we went and got some cheap and funny T's from the local thrift stores and then auctioned them off with the help of some donated T's from work crews. It went sooooo well and it was hysterical because we had some of the youth volunteers model the shirts during the auction-- by the end we raised $450!! That's pretty awesome for the first ever auction, they set the bar pretty high. Tonight we had another dodgeball tournament and raised over $200, so we did pretty well for this week on the fundraising homefront!

Today I had a wiiicked migrane. I've never gotten one before but it blindsided me while at Lowe's this afternoon, so Kelly dropped me off at the center and I literally laid in bed for 3 1/2 hours. Becca is soo clutch because while I was resting she did a bunch of finance stuff for me which really helped me out! I love my staff they're the best. Seriously though! They're all so great and wackjobs and I couldn't imagine what this summer would be like without them.


This last picture is of Jimmy, a homeowner, who calls me his "3 month girlfriend". He is absolutely hilarious and if I could I would move down to Appalachia just to listen to him tell stories every day. Super funny fact about him-- he used to own a nightclub with 7 go go dancers, and one of them was his now wife, Kitty! He has lived an interesting life. These Appalachian people rule.