Everyone’s saying it, and I also can’t believe it’s July already. For many, that means that half the year has passed, but for me, this time, it means that I quit my job a year ago already (though I worked a few more weeks) – which seems insane. This month’s adventures were domestic but kept me quite busy nonetheless.

Posts on 10 Miles Behind Me in June:

• Slovakia | 12 Things to Do in Bratislava & 1 to Avoid
• Indiana | Why I’m Visiting for the 4th Time
• Queens, NYC | 6 Things I Learned About Long Island City with Brooklyn Unplugged Tours

Newark, Delaware

Last month when I returned to my alma mater, it was for my – cough – TEN YEAR REUNION. I know, I can’t believe it either. In some ways I don’t feel a day older than 22 and in other ways, I can barely remember what it was like – that is, until my friends and I start dancing to live music, taking pictures with the best mascot in the world, playing drinking games, and giggling ’til it hurts. While we were missing a few key players to our typical group, we still had a good showing. We were the oldest people on the dance floor after mug night, we “won” the 10-year reunion the next day by starting a drinking game while everyone else was talking about how cute everyone’s kids are, and we snuck into the 5-year reunion and were kicked out, but not before each guzzling our drinks. It felt amazing.

New York City & New Jersey

Right after the reunion, I had two travel events in NYC with my buds – a Traverse event at Solas and a Travel Massive event on the Weber Shandwick rooftop, sponsored by Ontario. I stayed at Marie’s cute apartment in Brooklyn and spent a day with my old roommate and her then five-week-old precious baby girl in Astoria. From NYC, I took the train to my grandmother’s. My dad met me there to visit and take me home again for a few days, just long enough to participate in full moon beach yoga with my family.

I came back that Saturday to dog-sit for my pal Jackson in Jersey City for a few days, while his owners explored Detroit (which Caitlin wrote about here). The World Wanderer {who I hadn’t seen since #Escape2Goa!} and her beau came in for dinner. We both felt at home immediately when we Uber’ed to Little India. I hadn’t had dosa in way too long. The next day, #BlogSquadNYC and I took a tour of Long Island City, Queens with Brooklyn Unplugged Tours, which I wrote about in this post. That day’s heat was severe, but I definitely found another neighborhood for me to apartment-search in when the time comes.

Indianapolis

I knew I was going to have a great time in Indianapolis as I’d been there three times before, but I didn’t realize just how transformative it was going to be. I was in town for Bloghouse, an intimate travel blog workshop with 14 other bloggers and 5 mentors. I met so many wonderful people, inside the conference and out of it on press trips and while seeing Indy as a destination for the first time. I have so many ideas coming your way to make this blog better for you and for me and I hope you’re in it for the long haul, because I am. Another awesome benefit of being in Indy was that I spent a few days visiting with my godparents, who are among the sweetest people I know. It was so fun to have them all to myself for the first time ever. I have a few upcoming posts on why I loved Indiana so much, so stay tuned.

I kept telling my aunt and uncle: I don’t know why it took me so long to return to Indy, but it certainly won’t take me that long the next time I head out there.

But first, the rest of summer, the 4th of July, (maybe) St. Louis, Ireland, five extra days in Europe that I need to decide and more. Let’s see how all that goes first.

xx