SUMMER 2011

In one word? AMAZING. Besides the overall awesomeness of my job, one of the perks is that I had the summer technically “off”. I got home April 30 and had until mid August to pretty much live it up. As a disclaimer, no I didn’t sit on my butt all summer and drink beer by the pool (at least not for the majority of it). Since my job is physically demanding I was committed to staying in shape and working on my game which I am proud to say that I did religiously. I joined a great gym right by my house (shout out to Planet Fitness….now can I get a discount for next summer?) and picked up a workout buddy in Kristy Rapps, my Fairview friend since kindergarten. I also was lucky enough to have 2 alma maters’ gyms to go back to for some workouts. I snuck into the still-deathly-hot-in-the-summer facilities of Belleville East High School a few times and got to go back to SLU and play pick up with my girls a couple times a week. This was helpful for the 5-on-5 competition and also great because I got to hang out with the team again and pretend like I was still a college hooper, just minus the 6am workouts the next day! :) (Ps- my girls are gonna be GOOD this year. You heard it here first. :) ). Overall I have to say that my workout regimen was a good one and makes me excited and confident to go back over as an improved version of myself!

Ok, enough about workout talk that I’m sure most of you don’t care about. Although I’ve always spent all summer working out, this one was a little different because I got to completely set my own schedule which allowed me to workout whenever I wanted to and pretty much do whatever else I wanted for the rest of the day. I helped coach 2 basketball camps this summer- the always passionate Shimmy Gray-Miller camp at SLU and also the Belleville East summer camp. I also ended up helping out with the East girls at a few more open gyms throughout the summer and had a great time sharing my bball knowledge and working with a great staff and fun group of girls! Now I just hope everything I taught those posts players stays with them throughout the season as they fight for a trip to state! :)

One of my fave SLU campers!!

After being away from family and friends for 8 months and only communicating via internet, it was my mission for the summer to take advantage of my flexible schedule and visit with as many people as possible. Well, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! My first vacation was one that had been years in the making, a pact made with my college roommates, Katie and Liv, that we would one day go on a vacation together on our own terms, minus our SLU travel sweats and bed check times. We settled on a trip to Riviera Maya, Mexico and had the time of our lives at an all-inclusive resort. Sleeping in, laying out by the ocean and pool, eating and drinking anything we wanted at will, and overall mostly non-stop laughs… our “Mexication” was a definite success! It was so great to reconnect with 2 of my closest college friends and it was a huge kickoff to what we want to be an annual roommate reunion vacation. And contrary to popular belief, it only slightly resembled an excursion worthy to be dubbed the Hangover 3- we did all make it back in one piece! :)

*~AKL4LYFE~*

My next vacay was a short getaway with my often-mistaken-as-my-sister-BFF Tyler. Ty’s family has a lakehouse out in the mountains of North Carolina that her and I stayed at for 5 days. This wasn’t as wild of a vacation as Mexico, but it was a trip that was both amazingly relaxing and also jam packed with adventure. We spent a lot of time sunbathing, floating or reading outside, but also managed to go swimming, canoeing, boating, tubing, hiking, running and even white water rafting! Although the rapids weren’t life-threatening it was still something I’d always wanted to do and it thoroughly fulfilled my wishes. More than the activities themselves, it was great to do all this stuff with my adventure partner, Ty, and to just spend time hanging out with her (and her fun extended family) at a destination that I’d consider pretty close to heaven.

Before our rafting excursion!

Not more than a week after being home from N.C., I was off for yet another vacation! This time, Dad, Mom, Kate, her boyfriend Joe, Aunt Cheryl, Uncle Tom and I spent a week at the Sax’s condo in Destin, Florida.

As you can imagine our family vacations are always filled with fun times, crazy stories and lots of laughter. This one definitely held up to that standard! It was extra exciting because it was Joe’s first Kemezys vacation! Also, any vacay with T-Bone and Shirley (Uncle Tom and Aunt Cheryl) is always an adventure! As expected, the majority of our days were spent sunbathing on the beach or venturing out to wade in the ocean. But no worries, there was excitement involved in that too. First we learned that Joe has an extremely keen eye as he ended up finding 4 pairs of abandoned sunglasses in the middle of the ocean! One pair of oakleys, some raybans, and one pair that unbelievably was the pair that Kate had lost out in the ocean the day before! Also, the boys had a minor animal sighting one day when they were pretty far out. The story has of course gotten more elaborate with each telling, and if you ask Dad he’ll tell you that it was a great white that skimmed right past him. However, Joe and T-bone claim that while it was a really large shadow of an animal it might have more likely been a manatee or something. Still, a good story! But I have to say that the biggest adventure came on the last day when we all (to my persuading) went on a jet ski tour. Yep, all of us. Kate and Joe on one boat, T-Bone and Shirley together, Dad on one and one with me and Mom together on what proved to be the ride of her life. Although this was my first time jetskiing (mark it off the bucket list!), I think it was more the choppy waves than my driving that made Mom almost get down and kiss the ground when we finally reached land! Haha. Besides our ski’s over-excitement we all had a good time on the tour, capped off by the time our guide directed us to an area to see some dolphins. In fact, we stopped our boats and I even hopped off and swam with them out in the wild! So cool! That however was the end of the good excitement. When we got back to the dock Dad ended up slipping getting out, cutting a huge gash in his pinky toe (which as we all know, according to Kramer, is the most important! Lol.). It resulted in him and Mom spending the evening in the ER and 5 stitches for the big guy. He’s finally all healed up today but it was an excitingly gruesome way to end the trip! But like we all said- luckily it was on the last day and not the first. The whole week was a blast, telling funny family memories or stories, or just enjoying the beautiful sunny weather and each other’s company.

Our whole crew at Ballyhoo restuarant

(also the place of Linz and Darren's rehearsal dinner last summer!)

Our awesome sand castle!

Kemezys Christmas card pic!

A few weeks later was my birthday where I turned *gasp* 24 (which as all my fellow athletes know is really like 87 in basketball years…kinda like dog years). But it turned out being a great week spent with family and friends. My favorite Canadian, Courtnay, even made the trip in for the week to celebrate! After spending 8 months in Lithuania together sharing all our life stories, it was so fun to show her around my neck of the woods and introduce her to all the people she’d always heard so much about! She got to experience Dandy Inn, indulge in Taco Tuesday at Sax’s store, get the requisite tour of M-town, see Busch Stadium, go up in the Arch, go to the zoo, play pick up with my SLU girls, eat Chipotle, swim at Aunt Marlene’s pool and take in some of the STL nightlife. All in all a great week, right?! So doing all that made my birthday week extra special, highlighted by the actual day of my birthday where I had dinner with my closest friends and fam and then went to the midnight premiere of the final Harry Potter with my cousin Maria!!! And yes, we stood in line for 3 hours and of course made shirts for the occasion. Hey, you only turn 24 once right? Might as well do it big! :)

Courtnay and I continuing our awesome picture taking in STL!

(copyright Katie Kemezys photography ;) )

Friends out for my bday!

Ready for HP DHP2!!

 

My next and last vacation was a trip Kate and I took to go see Linz up at school. She’s in grad school at Purdue Calumet, about an hour outside Chicago. It was the perfect mix of a weekend as we spent all day Saturday downtown (even getting to stop and have lunch with my Chicagoan friend KTM!), and then had a low key Sunday going to church, watching movies and just having some good old fashioned girls times. With our spread out living arrangements and busy schedules these days, it was great for us to hang out just like the old times. I’m so glad I could finally visit her and spend some much needed time together! :)

Kate, Linz and I in Chi Town!

 

So, in a nutshell, that was my summer. :) I obviously only hit the big points but there were also tons of other great times including some Penny Pitchers nights at Humphreys with the one and only Lacey Shalenko; lots of dinners and sleepovers with Mal; countless movie nights at the Wambolds (and playdates with Dalton!); a stellar Mascoutah Homecoming weekend; a surprisingly low key county fair excursion with the Poe-Nelson clan; and lots of quality family time. All in all, I don’t think “awesome” even sums it up. More like- PERFECT!