SQUOOSHED: Cupcakes, Commencement, and a Campfire

How is it possible that our "Tour de Midwest" is nearing an end and I haven't even started blogging about it yet?!?

It's true --- we made a nice, leisurely loop around the Midwest, starting in Ohio and making our way through Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and Colorado (and everywhere in between). Now we are back in Ohio before heading off to Los Angeles next week and then South Korea.

Though some may think we're a little crazy for dedicating an entire month to driving around the Midwest, it was incredibly scenic and we were able to see so many people in the span of a few weeks that we normally are lucky to see in the span of a few years!

Now that I have a bit of downtime again, I think that means it's time for the second half of my blog-a-thon... this time the Midwest Edition.

Let's back up to nearly a month and a half ago when we were still in D.C. (Yes, I'm that behind).

Before taking off, we had to say goodbye to our Flagship friends (the same friends who accompanied us on our Annapolis Adventure). We had a nice farewell dinner at this upscale Asian fusion restaurant.

Their drinks are a bit expensive, but if you're lucky like me, your salmon will come with a piece of plastic in it and they will then give you your meal for free...

For dessert, we headed down the street to Red Velvet. Check out these beauties.

Luckily we don't have to wait too long before seeing everyone again since Katie and Joung are getting married this fall :)

The next morning we woke up early, all bright-eyed and energized - fueled by wild anticipation for the fun and exhilarating moving process that awaited us. (If you've ever moved before, you don't need me to tell you just how fun and exhilarating the process is. Especially after our movers canceled on us an hour before they were scheduled to arrive.)

After living in this apartment for nearly two years and filling it with love (aka lots of junk), it was strange to see it so bare.

And strange to think about how all of our earthly belongings fit perfectly in this Penske moving truck... much like a successful game of Tetris.

As I mentioned in *this post*, we dropped our stuff off at my in-laws house (thank you Bill and Sue!) and headed to Northwestern for a Chinese business conference. I finally got to check out our new digs - a cute one-bedroom in the heart of downtown Evanston and just a few blocks away from campus.

We then back-tracked to South Bend for Mary's (my sister-in-law's) graduation from Notre Dame. We missed a few of the preliminary departmental ceremonies, but made it just in time for a celebratory dinner at J.W. Chen's.

We had a variety of dishes, like Mary's favorite - sweet and sour pork.

And Patrick's favorite - sizzling beef.

What can I say? When I require important China expertise, like knowing what to order, it's good to have these two around.

I think the whole group will agree.

Since you're dying to know, here's my fortune:

... in bed.

Anyways... after dinner we headed to this new fro-yo place called "Let's Spoon."

Yes, please.

They had an assortment of toppings... I went with my go-to choices - fruity pebbles, mochi, blueberries, and mango.

And this is the part where I was too busy stuffing my face with fro-yo to take anymore pictures. It's probably best left unseen anyway.

Following dinner, we headed to my old stomping grounds, D-Pac. I spent many a-night in this building attending film classes, editing films for said classes, working in the equipment check-out lab.

That night we were there for a concert held by the ND Glee Club. It was great until they decided to read out a lengthy biography detailing all the seniors' lives... during which we ducked out.

Sunday morning was the commencement ceremony, held in the stadium.

It was a hot one! I'm telling you... not a cloud in the sky, which meant not one moment of reprieve from the sun's scorching rays. I can't imagine what it was like for the students to be swathed in those heavy black robes.

Luckily my father-in-law had the forethought to bring baseball hats. My head was thankful.

The guest speaker at the graduation ceremony was Haley Scott DeMaria. She was a 1995 ND graduate who was injured in a bus accident that was carrying her and her fellow swim team members. The accident killed two students and left her paralyzed. Though told she would never walk again, she managed to defeat the odds and make a full recovery, allowing her to participate once more on the Fighting Irish swim team. They are currently making an independent film about her. Her story is very poignant, as was her speech.

Later that afternoon, we attended a separate Arts and Letters ceremony where they read out every single student's name. (For better or worse, they did not do this when Patrick and I graduated.)

I brought my Kindle and made some decent progress on my book before Mary's name was called.

She got to appear on this huge Jumbo-tron which was pretty sweet.

Congratulations, Mary!

After the graduation ceremony, we headed back to Columbus to hang out. We ended the week by going "camping" with some of Patrick's friends from high school.

I say "camping" because we were basically in one of his friend's front yards with access to A/C, a bathroom, and a kitchen.

Right away Patrick got to work setting up our tent.

We managed to buy one at Target for $25. You can imagine how quality our accommodations were.

We compared it to the "twin beds" of tents since you could really only squeeze two people in there. Compared to the other tents that Patrick's friends brought, ours kind of looked like a doghouse.

But I still liked our little tent and wouldn't trade it in for any other (except maybe for one of the tents in Harry Potter). It even survived a three-hour thunder and lightning storm that night.

The remainder of the camping trip was spent relaxing. Here we are with Jack and Alicia.

Later we made it official and started a campfire.

We grilled some burgers and brats and basically hung out around the fire for the rest of the night. Not a bad way to spend an evening.

Later we roasted marshmallows with this makeshift campfire stick - a skewer that I soaked in water, then taped to a stick with masking tape. What can I say? I like my camping trips to be sanitary.