I'm baaack: Work, Hollywood Bowl, and St. Louis.

Wow, it has been a long time since I have blogged. When we got back from China, things got very, very busy. Work has really picked up lately and has been taking up a lot of time. July has seen my largest billable day so far ... and then the billable day to beat that billable day! Phew. (Also, I haven't touched my Google Reader in three weeks. I will definitely read each and every post of my pals, but I apologize for the lack of comments from me. I am back on the bandwagon, though, so you should be hearing from me regularly again!)

Despite work, there have been a lot of fun things happening over here. Last weekend, Josh and I took Bug and Ajax to the Hollywood Bowl to see Julie Andrews. Julie Andrews was Bug's childhood hero, and we watched Sound of Music countless times as little girls.

We packed a picnic in our new picnic basket.



Sandwiches from Gelson's.



Josh, excited about the pasta salad. (He is such a ham.)



Josh, Bug, and Ajax.



The picnic basket made an excellent table!



Bug + Ajax.



Some blurry pics of the Bowl.





Some big, tall dude sat directly in front of me, so this was my view.



(Luckily, I leaned on Josh most of the night.)

The concert opened with the opening scene from the movie, with a young Julie Andrews singing "Sound of Music." The real, live, senior Julie Andrews came onstage at the end and picked up, and Bug and I both got a little teary.

We saw The Dark Knight the next day with Jackie and PJ at the IMAX. It was awesome. After, we had dinner at Salsa and Beer, which was actually really good, and spent the evening hanging out at our place and talking about our trip (still no decision on where we're going, but stay tuned).

The week was long. Friday morning, I left for St. Louis to attend the Volunteer Training Conference for my sorority. I have been involved with my sorority since graduating, and after this weekend, I remember why. My new position can be summed up as risk management for the "western territory" (about 23 chapters).

The weekend was jam-packed (8:30 a.m. until 10:30 p.m. each day). I roomed with Schwee, and it was so great to spend time with her and with H and meet a ton of new sisters. Sadly, I didn't have time to see my friend, Peter, who is sort of local, but my Uncle Paul did pick me up from the hotel and drove Schwee and me to the airport (after a brief detour for lunch). I have cousins and other relatives in St. Louis I would have loved to see, but the weekend was a complete whirlwind!

Now, it's back to the grindstone. Josh and I leave for Alaska Saturday, so it will probably be a hectic few days. I'm sure there will be some Alaska posts soon, though ...